We were at the EPC Jan 8 - 21, and the wedding was Jan 12th.  We booked the Gold Wedding Package.  The whole experience was AWESOME! It was the best day of my life. Seriously, the resort is beautiful and Livia Dickson, plus the staff, did a phenomenal job.

We met with Livia on our first full day at the resort (upon check in, they gave me a letter from her telling us where and when to meet.).  The meeting was quick and we reviewed the questionnaire.  Based of her guidance, I made a few changes to the menus and flowers.  We also walked around to all the event sites and picked where we wanted everything.  This was my biggest stressor prior to the wedding.  I didn't know where anything was going to be, and had no way to communicate a schedule to my guests.  The week before the wedding Livia was not responding to any of my emails.  But, if you can, don't stress out about it.  It ended up fine.  (FYI: if you're planning a schedule, Livia would have everyone meet at the Martini Bar 30 minutes before the event started, and she would escort the group over all at once. This was actually genius because it kept everyone together, nobody could get lost, and everyone always knew where they were meeting because it was familiar.)

I brought in an outside photographer (this is expensive! I paid, $600, but I think/hope it's worth it!) but we did end up buying all of the ceremony photos from Beach Weddings Studio because we got a good deal. I'm glad we had PhotoPhil though. The pictures from BWS are nice but not stellar. I think they take pictures of "things" better than people. I love their photos of the ceremony space and details, so much more than I do of the pictures of us. (unflattering angles, eyes that are closed, etc).  I LOVE the DVD of the ceremony.  This alone makes the extra cost of the package worth it.

I got my hair and make up done by Isabel at the Mille spa and was 90% happy! My makeup was gorgeous - loved it. My hair was good, but there was one tendril in the back that never got placed right. Its hanging awkwardly in the back, and It still bugs me in the pictures. Luckily, my hairspray held up really well... it felt like I was wearing a helmet. Good thing too because it was really windy!

Loved the horse drawn carriage, Cinderella feeling, for sure.

For the ceremony, we paid extra for the chair bows and two half heart flower arrangements. They were pricey, but I loved the ceremony set up (and bonus, I think everything got moved to the reception site afterward - double duty!). I look at the pictures from the ceremony and cannot believe that was my wedding. The set up is simply stunning, the extras were worth every penny.

We used a bose speaker rather than renting a sound system from them, and it worked out well.  I loaded playlists onto an old iphone and Livia took care of the music.

We had our 3 pm ceremony on the beach, cocktail hours (we paid for an extra hour) was 4 - 6 pm at the Club House and reception was 7 - 10 pm at Las Olas. These were GREAT DECISIONS! I loved all of the venues, and it was awesome to be on the beach. 

Pastor Rick York did our ceremony and it was beautiful.  

We extended cocktail hour, and actually got to spend a little time there before taking pictures.  This was awesome because the food and drinks were delicious!  We had the music trio (included in the gold package) play for the first hour during the cocktail hour, and it was awesome.  They gave us (wedding party) some instruments an we "jammed" with them.  They also sang my husband and I a special love song that we danced to.  I can't wait to see these photos.

I had brought a lot of stuff for the wedding: napkins, straws, cake topper, cake table decorations, mad libs guestbook with glue and pens, toasting flutes, escort cards, favors (that needed assembly), chair signs, candles, and everything was set up perfectly. This made me so happy!

At the reception the staff was great, and drinks were never empty. My only teeny tiny complaint was that of all the food we ate for our entire two week stay, the wedding meal was my least favorite of everything. The salad was okay, but the potato leek soup was too salty, and my beef and lobster were totally overcooked. BUT, the cake... the cake was delicious (chocolate cake with strawberry filling). The cake seriously made up for the entire meal. I was so sad that my unfinished slice got taken away. (But no worries because we took the leftover cake back to our room and the whole wedding group enjoyed it again poolside the following day!)

Other wedding related events that we hosted:
Welcome Reception: I used the concession from the room block for our welcome reception. We held this two days before the wedding at the Cascade pool and it was beautiful. The food was delicious, and the drinks flowing. The staff was awesome and let us stay an hour later than we were supposed to.

Day After Brunch: This was just so-so. We held the brunch at Spice, and the staff was totally late setting up. After 15 minutes of waiting, we just walked to the restaurant and luckily they let us sit down. But we had to wait to get our food, and drinks were kind of slow to arrive. My uncle went out to the bar to get me a drink it was taking so long. I asked a waitress for a cup of coffee and it took like 20 minutes and the cup was less than 1/2 full (as someone who likes a caffeine IV, I was so sad!)

A few other minor issues: after the wedding, I lost my "Mrs. Jordan" hanger for my dress. I looked for it for two weeks, checked with lost and found, the concierge, the spa, etc, and it's just gone. I also had a hankie from my grandmother that disappeared, never to be found again. And, despite asking twice, we never got our storage tub (which had been full of wedding stuff) back from Livia. This is all pretty small potatoes though.

We did our couples massage the Friday after the wedding and it was nice.  Although, I booked two other spa treatments and both of them were better than the wedding package massage.  

I loved having my destination wedding at the Excellence.  It was awesome spending a week in paradise with my loved ones.  It was amazing walking into a restaurant and saying hi to your parents and in laws, and best friend (who all randomly were there for lunch).  I loved staying an extra week and having a honeymoon at the Excellence.  We were total slugs all week, and loved every moment of it.  The staff is phenomenal and they really take care of their guests.

You can't go wrong with the Excellence.