michandwarr

@@kmk2016 Thank you; I hope it was helpful! Yes, you can see "unprofessional" photos at http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/user/265990-michandwarr/?tab=gallery

Hello Ladies, It has been a month since I was married at the Azul Sensatori so I thought I would post a quick review. Check-in: We arrived in the evening, so we didn't receive a grand welcome, but we didn't run into any major problems. A few guests received the wrong room type but they were moved promptly the next day. We were not offered an upgrade and when I inquired about one they said to check back the next day. When we did go and check back, they wouldn't offer us anything for free. Somewhat disappointing considered all the money our guests and I were spending there. If you do want to pay to upgrade; at the end of the front desk by the fish tank there will be a screen that displays what the cost is to upgrade to different room types. The front desk staff don't tell you that...I just noticed it on the last day. So unfortunately based on what it said on the screen we overpaid to upgrade to the honeymoon suite for 5 nights but with everything going on we didn't feel it was worth going back to fight to get some of our money refunded. Wedding Coordinators: We had Victoria and Janet. They were excellent. They were very detail oriented and accommodating for any last minute changes or hiccups. They really put you at ease. I forgot batteries for our ring-bearers bubble blower and after seeing they were $26 US in the gift shop I asked the Coordinators if they had some I could borrow and alas they did! I wouldn't hesitate to ask them for anything you may have forgotten. Janet also translated our wedding ceremony and did a beautiful job. Smores BBQ Party: We had this as our welcome reception. It was great. The only thing I would recommend is that you bring bug spray for your guests as the sand fleas were terrible. Also ask for napkins. Spa Services: Angelique did my hair and she was terrific. I only had to ask her to make some minor changes during my trial and she remembered the style on the day of the wedding. Make-up was fantastic - I got the MAC products (not Chanel). Angelique also did my fiancées haircut and he said it was the best haircut he ever received. She took her time and made sure he was happy with it. Overall the spa was very accommodating. I decided the day before the wedding that I wanted to book in our mothers and flower girls for up-dos and while they were stressed about it, they made it happen. Decor: I brought a suitcase with me full of paper lanterns, papel picado, paper goods, tissue poms, photo frames, garland lights, tealights, table runners, luminary bags, etc, etc. It cost $200.00 US to have everything set up. I had ordered 4 of BC08 and had five tables so I rented one extra hurricane lamp and they mixed everything between the tables. I felt there were definitely enough flowers to go around. I also brought a box of freeze-dried rose petals and they scattered those on the tables too. On the entrance table and bartender table they used their own table runner that matched our colours. I didn't have any problems with customs on bringing in any of our decor. Food & Drinks: For our reception we had the BBQ deluxe. Yum Yum Yum! Our guests continue to still comment on how good it was. They left it out for people to have seconds and came over to ask if it was okay to take it away. Our wedding cake was chocolate and vanilla with butter-cream and it also tasted great. The wedding coordinators put together a signature drink based on our colors..we didn't expect that and our guests loved it. Our wedding package included a group private dinner, a group brunch with the newly-weds, and breakfast in bed. If you are worried about scheduling too many activities for your guests I wouldn't bother doing the group brunch or group dinner. The food at both was mediocre. We also got about 5 bottles of champagne while we were there...I'm not sure why we kept receiving so many but we gladly took them! If you order meals for your vendors tell your coordinators when to bring them out. Halfway through supper I realized my vendors hadn't been served yet so I had to ask for their meals to be brought out. Music: We had DJ All Music and he did a great job. He used our play list (that we sent to them 30 days in advance) but also took guests requests. We used our own MC -they met with the DJ 15 minutes before the reception to work out the details and it worked seamlessly. However, I didn't notice until the end of the night that we didn't get the neon bracelets and balloons that were part of the package so I anticipate that they likely don't bring them out unless you ask for them. We used our IPhone for the music during our ceremony. My fiancée brought the phone with him and gave it to the Coordinators thirty minutes before the ceremony. It worked great. Photography: We used Samuel Luna...he was amazing. I felt bad for him though as security was following him around the resort up until our ceremony. I think if we pay the $800 vendor fee for vendors to be there, they should treat them like any other guest. We had 1 hour of photography with Caribe photo included in our wedding package so we had that done earlier in the week with our guests. The photos were okay but it felt like the photographer didn't guide people enough so half the photos have people's hair blowing straight up in the wind, or dress flying up, etc. They also didn't touch up any photos. I was happy to have gone with Samuel for our wedding day. Wedding Locations: We had our ceremony on Zocola Beach (by the pier). It was beautiful. A 5:00 pm ceremony time in April worked great as the sun doesn't start to go down until after 8:00pm. Our reception was in Zavas Plaza at 6:30pm. Again, beautiful locale. The only downfall is that there are hotel rooms directly to the side, so you have a lot of onlookers and they don't close the pool directly behind the sweetheart table, so you may get swimmers in your photos! We did also get a few folks that tried to crash the party but they were quickly and quietly escorted away. I took it more of a compliment as anything else. Waitstaff and bartenders: The wait staff and bartenders at all of our events were amazing. At the reception you are paired with your own "butler" which I thought at first was interesting but it was actually really helpful. All of the staff never let a guest's drink go empty, or a plate sit...it was truly outstanding service at every function we had. Dress steaming: You have to take your dress down to your concierge (with the laundry request paper you find in your room's closet) to have it steamed. It cost $16 US. I would recommend having this done atleast two days before the wedding as they did a crappy job on mine the first time, so I had to send it to get steamed again (at no charge). Time Share sell: We didn't get approached about the time share but many of my guests did by their Concierge. Some of my guests attended the presentation as they then received a free 45 minute massage and free wifi in the lobby (15 minutes at a time). All in all we had a wonderful time at this resort and we felt that the staff and wedding coordinators did their best to make sure our wedding day was magical. We had 35 guests with us and the resort was large enough to find your own space but also small enough that you could easily find your guests. It's also a great resort for older folks as they don't have to walk very far to get from one end to the other. Most of our guests said they would love to go back to the resort and we plan to as well!

@@Jennypert I recall seeing earlier that tables of nine can be pretty tight. Perhaps that was on the official thread. @@nikkicraig10 I stumbled across this thread awhile ago and thought it may be helpful to you for budgeting. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/74241-budget-and-planning-thread-azul-sensatori/ As others mentioned the lomas website http://www.weddingsbylomastravel.com/planning/ is very helpful for pricing on decor and the private banquet kit that shows private reception meal costs is available on the azul hotel website. My costs for the gold package, a private reception and s'mores beach bonfire event was $7,600.00 USD. I would check out the official sensatori thread on here too as it includes really good basic information and doesn't have as many convo posts. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/72018-official-azul-sensatori-thread/ Hope that helps, Michelle

Hello All, I was wondering what everyone is doing in regards to food for their DJ and photographers? I think I read somewhere that you can by a "boxed lunch" for around $10.00 but I'm wondering whether that's rude or not! My gut is saying it is. Jenny, for my centrepieces I only have five tables so I have ordered four of BC-08's (in white and like pink) which will be centred around a hurricane vase. I then ordered freeze-dried rose petals which will be scattered around the hurricane vase. I'm hoping it will look good! I'm also bringing my own lace table runners and organza chair sashes. I wasn't a fan of the hanging corsages that were included in my package so they let me substitute for the centrepieces..that really helped with the cost.

Congratulations JMK, your wedding week sounded wonderful and is all that I am hoping for too! My date is exactly two months away. Your review was really helpful - I was wondering whether they used an ipod for the ceremony music and now I know! I think I will also now request the walk-through the day before...it sounds like it was really useful. Disappointing to hear about the set-up charge..$250 sounds pretty steep! Two quick questions I was hoping you could answer. Do the safes in the room take a key or are they keypad type? Also, did you happen to notice if they have a lot of natural flowers around the resort? I was hoping to maybe pick a few to make some boutonnieres there. I've purchased some but could use a few extra and at $30-45 a pop it adds up! Thanks so much and congrats again! Michelle

Hey there! I'm getting married on the 23rd and gave booked Samuel Luna as well. Are you just paying the vendor fee? I think I may look into 3 night accommodation cost first. Michelle

Hi there, Elizabeth actually left about six months ago to go and do her Masters. When Fabio responded it was as if he hadn't even read our file (e.g. Didn't know about our reception location, etc), which I found pretty frustrating....hopefully it gets better or I get a new planner assigned!

Hi

Hello all! Just wondering if anyone else has been experiencing any troubles with their Miami wedding planners lately?? I've been planning my wedding since February and have already gone through 3 planners (elizabeth, perla and now Fabio). Fabio doesn't seem to have a sniff so I'm starting to get concerned! Hopefully they hire some more experienced planners before my date!....

Hello Everyone, would someone be able to email me the 2013 price list and or booking forms they received from Rose Hall Beach? Thanks so much...this Forum looks awesome! Michelle [email protected]