Wedding:  March 5, 2011 at the Majestic Elegance Resort Hotel

Beach ceremony at 5 p.m.

Private Reception at 6:30 p.m. at the Wet Bar

WC:  Sandra de los Reyes (email only).  When I got there, Stephany Peguero Garcia

 I got to Majestic the Wednesday before my wedding and I booked my flight with Orbitz.  I never went through a TA because it was cheaper for my guests and us to book our own travel. 

 I emailed extensively with Sandra and a month before the big day, she sent out a document for you to choose your selections for the ceremony and reception.  I don’t think I ever spoke with Sandra on the phone.  Everything was done via email.  She answered all of my questions before the wedding.  When you get to the hotel, you will have a letter from your WC at the hotel lobby with your appointment and ours was the following day at 10 am (Thursday).  I didn’t meet with Sandra however.  She delegates to another WC and that is when I met Stephany.   When you meet with your WC at the hotel, she will reconfirm with your selections from that document you sent a month prior to your wedding.   You can make all the changes there.  You bring your wedding attire (my gowns and  his suit) so she can take to get steamed.   You don’t see them again until the day of the wedding.  I then chose my flowers, liquor bottles, dinner menu decorations, cake, ceremony setup, etc. and gave her the items I wanted to include in the ceremony and reception.  Stephany is really good at improvising and saw my items and let me know how she can add them in.  I just bought some additional decorating for the tables and the cake along with flower basket, ring bearer pillow, autograph book, etc.  I chose my bouquet there from her book and told her the colors I wanted and she listened because I loved my bouquet.  Make sure to have an idea of what colors and flowers you’d like incorporated.  I also chose the guy's boutonniere which was just dark pink/fuschia to match my color scheme or yellow and hot pink/ fuschia.   The bride's bouquet and groom's boutonniere are included in the ceremony price.  I didn't order flowers for the bridemaids and moms because I used parasols instead.  That was a way for me to cut costs.   The parasols looked great and matched my scheme. I went ahead with the decoration package #2 for the ceremony/reception.   

The days before the wedding were great at the hotel.  The staff treated us well.  I brought bigger cups for everyone so we can get more cocktails without going to the bar as often.   Just a $1 tip here and there really makes the staffs’ day.  We took care of them and they definitely took care of us with the drinks. 

EVENING BEFORE THE WEDDING:  Stephany set up a wonderful rehearsal/group dinner for everyone that arrived.  It was a long table for 41 of my guests and there was a set menu at the See and Sea Restaurant.  It was mostly seafood (obviously) and it was really good!  I was so impressed.  It looked so pretty and decorated so nicely.  My guests loved this extra touch!

WEDDING DAY: 

My dress was sent to my room by 11ish along with bouquet.    My sister in law did my hair so she came to my room to do it.  I did my own makeup.   My bridesmaids went to the salon and didn’t care for the women that styled their hair but had no choice.   I think 2 of them just wanted tighter curls so they can loosen up during the day.  Their curls loosened up quickly after that so my sister in law (my stylist) touched them up some so they were ok.  Room service was brought to my room around noon and it was fruit, nuts, and small sandwiches for me and my bridesmaids which I didn’t ask for but was a nice touch.  Phil, my photograher came to my room at 12:30 to start taking pictures of me and my bridesmaids.  .  I haven’t mentioned Phil just yet but I will mention him later.  I will tell you now, he’s AWESOME.   We then met the guys at 2 pm at the hotel lobby staircase.  I had to do this because I had a 5pm ceremony therefore I had to get as many pictures before the ceremony.  I haven’t seen all the photos but he did show us some and they looked so nice.  I really think we got some great shots.  We got done about 4 and I went back to my room and my fiance went with his groomsmen.  The ceremony started at 5 or alittle after.  The ceremony looked great.   Everything was set up nicely.  I gave my WC a cd with the wedding music and the DJ played it perfectly.  The day of our wedding was super windy at the beach which wasn’t the best thing for my long veil.  My MOH had to hold it for me because it was whipping in the air!  If I had known early on, I would have never ordered the veil.  However, I did get it cheap so it was okay for the 60 min I wore it.   Otherwise, the weather was perfect.  82 degrees, sunny and just gorgeous.  I wore sandals under my dress.  I started photopraphy with PhotoPhil early on so I didn’t put the heels on until after my ceremony.  I had white wedge sandals on most of the day that were sooo comfy.  My husband’s father is a pastor so he married us which was a great touch.  After the ceremony, we toasted with the group and got some more shots with family and  friends.  After that, the bridal party  and took another hour of photos and then we were ready for the reception. 

Reception:  My reception was at the Wet Bar.  They set up it so nicely.  We had a private dinner and it was set up buffet style.  The food was pretty good for a buffet!  DJ Mannia was my DJ and he was great.  I booked with him many months before and all we did was email.  I never spoke to him on the phone.  I touched base a month before, 2 weeks before, a week before and even a day before.  He was always responsive.  I gave him my song list via email which we confirmed along with the bridal party names right before the reception.  Please keep in mind, I had to pay for 2 day passes because he brings another person to help.  We tried to get this down to 1 pass or at least cheaper but no chance.  He really kept the party going and I danced sooo much that night.  I had 41 guests and ordered 2 bottles of vodka and rum and 1 bottle of Jack Daniel’s.  I have no idea if they ran out because they never told us.  I think the whole mingling with the staff and just tipping didn’t affect if the bottles ran out.    We ordered liquor bottles because that was way cheaper than the open bar which is a joke.  It’s so expensive and we were not going to pay those ridiculous prices.  Instead we chose liquor bottles we knew our guests liked and the mixers are free.  We def spent under $100 for liquor for this private reception.  They really shouldn’t charge but it’s a private reception so there is nothing you can do but suck it up. 

Photo Phil:  Let’s talk about Phil Steingard now.  He was a wonderful photographer and all my guests loved him and could see how great he is!  He took so many pictures and had so many ideas of making the picture better.  It was a long day of picture taking but the end product will be so worth it.  He knows the ME and MC like the back of his hand.  He can help you get things done, if necessary.  He was so helpful and accomodating and I really appreciated his passion for it all.  When I was running out of juice from taking so many pictures (and I love taking pictures) he would show me how he used his special lighting and color and take my breath away from the picture.  I’m still waiting for my pictures but from the 20 or so I peeked at during the day, they looked GREAT.  We also did the “trash the dress” which he includes in his services and that was done 2 days later and I had so much fun taking artistic pictures around the hotel and ocean. 

Overall, I had a great experience and we had the best day of our lives. 

Here is an album of pictures that my friends took so you can see my wedding.

https://profiles.google.com/Chendy3.5.11#Chendy3.5.11/about