RIU RM Palace Brides??

[elissae]

Originally Posted by slstriednig 

 

Wow Girl!  You really did it right!

 

Thanks for the cost breakdown...super helpful.  Erika responded today about the DJ and said that she made a mistake in her email and it really is $1250 for the DJ and Lighting.  Whew...but you make a great point, we will need to think about how much the lighting is really worth to us. 

 

I love the idea of bringing our own chair ribbons...do you know if they can move the chair ribbons from the ceremony to the reception during the cocktail hour?

 

The chairs in Chili's are wicker and like a country blue in color.   I am sure they would move the chair covers and sashes to Chili's if asked though.  :-)

 

My mom and I were talking last about the reception at Chili's.  Erika sent me the menu and there are a few choices for meats,etc.  How does that work?  Do we have our guests make their selections prior to the reception or do we all order at the reception as if we are in a regular restaurant?

Your guests order off the menu at the actual reception like a restaurant.

Did you bring any table centerpieces?  

We brought table runners (that matches our ceremony chair sashes) and starfish and small votive candles.  Erika added these pretty crystal like gems/little stones to the table .  We then ordered floral centerpiecesC

 

So let me get this straight....you had a semi-private dinner and then a private reception with a DJ...for FREE?

 

Another question for you about the cocktail hour.  Is it solely based on your guest count or can we decide to have minimal apps at the cocktail hour.  Example, we currently have approx 60 guests who are planning to come...the price sheet Erika sent me states the apps are $15 per person and amount to ~8 pieces per person. Do you know if it is possible to order the apps for only 30 guests but split it among all guests so there are 4 pieces per person instead?

Erika was great with this.  She suggested it & it was EXACTLY what we did.  We had 65 people (including Bill & I).  So we ordered based on 30 people at 4 pieces to a person for $9.00 per person ($270).  We had more than enough food.  We did not want to waste food, plus we had dinner to eat, too!  I let Bill choose the apps - I think we had 4 different ones.

 

Would love to see your pics! 

 

~Shannon & Dennis

[elissae]

Originally Posted by slstriednig 

 

Wow Girl!  You really did it right!

 

Thanks for the cost breakdown...super helpful.  Erika responded today about the DJ and said that she made a mistake in her email and it really is $1250 for the DJ and Lighting.  Whew...but you make a great point, we will need to think about how much the lighting is really worth to us. 

 

I love the idea of bringing our own chair ribbons...do you know if they can move the chair ribbons from the ceremony to the reception during the cocktail hour?

 

The chairs in Chili's are wicker and like a country blue in color.   I am sure they would move the chair covers and sashes to Chili's if asked though.  :-)

 

My mom and I were talking last about the reception at Chili's.  Erika sent me the menu and there are a few choices for meats,etc.  How does that work?  Do we have our guests make their selections prior to the reception or do we all order at the reception as if we are in a regular restaurant?

Your guests order off the menu at the actual reception like a restaurant.

Did you bring any table centerpieces?  

We brought table runners (that matches our ceremony chair sashes) and starfish and small votive candles.  Erika added these pretty crystal like gems/little stones to the table .  We then ordered floral centerpieces - 2 x table.

 

So let me get this straight....you had a semi-private dinner and then a private reception with a DJ...for FREE?

 

Another question for you about the cocktail hour.  Is it solely based on your guest count or can we decide to have minimal apps at the cocktail hour.  Example, we currently have approx 60 guests who are planning to come...the price sheet Erika sent me states the apps are $15 per person and amount to ~8 pieces per person. Do you know if it is possible to order the apps for only 30 guests but split it among all guests so there are 4 pieces per person instead?

Erika was great with this.  She suggested it & it was EXACTLY what we did.  We had 65 people (including Bill & I).  So we ordered based on 30 people at 4 pieces to a person for $9.00 per person ($270).  We had more than enough food.  We did not want to waste food, plus we had dinner to eat, too!  I let Bill choose the apps - I think we had 4 different ones.

 

Would love to see your pics! 

 

~Shannon & Dennis

[elissae]

Originally Posted by slstriednig 

 

Wow Girl!  You really did it right!

 

Thanks for the cost breakdown...super helpful.  Erika responded today about the DJ and said that she made a mistake in her email and it really is $1250 for the DJ and Lighting.  Whew...but you make a great point, we will need to think about how much the lighting is really worth to us. 

 

I love the idea of bringing our own chair ribbons...do you know if they can move the chair ribbons from the ceremony to the reception during the cocktail hour?

 

The chairs in Chili's are wicker and like a country blue in color.   I am sure they would move the chair covers and sashes to Chili's if asked though.  :-)

 

My mom and I were talking last about the reception at Chili's.  Erika sent me the menu and there are a few choices for meats,etc.  How does that work?  Do we have our guests make their selections prior to the reception or do we all order at the reception as if we are in a regular restaurant?

Your guests order off the menu at the actual reception like a restaurant.

 

Did you bring any table centerpieces?  

We brought table runners (that matches our ceremony chair sashes) and starfish and small votive candles.  Erika added these pretty crystal like gems/little stones to the table .  We then ordered floral centerpieces - 2 x table.

 

So let me get this straight....you had a semi-private dinner and then a private reception with a DJ...for FREE?

 

Another question for you about the cocktail hour.  Is it solely based on your guest count or can we decide to have minimal apps at the cocktail hour.  Example, we currently have approx 60 guests who are planning to come...the price sheet Erika sent me states the apps are $15 per person and amount to ~8 pieces per person. Do you know if it is possible to order the apps for only 30 guests but split it among all guests so there are 4 pieces per person instead?

 

Erika was great with this.  She suggested it & it was EXACTLY what we did.  We had 65 people (including Bill & I).  So we ordered based on 30 people at 4 pieces to a person for $9.00 per person ($270).  We had more than enough food.  We did not want to waste food, plus we had dinner to eat, too!  I let Bill choose the apps - I think we had 4 different ones.

 

Would love to see your pics! 

 

~Shannon & Dennis

[elissae]

Sorry ladies, did not mean to post that 3 times!!!  Brunette moment.

[kirab22]

Originally Posted by slstriednig 

 

Thanks for your insight, Kirab22...  You are totally right! 

 

I was just trying to think of a way to add that nice touch without the expensive cost ($15 pp adds up).  In all reality, if someone is hungry during the cocktail hour, they can always go to the buffet or the bar and order a snack (for free).  We don't really need to have a server walking around with tiny apps.  Any other advice or personal experiences on this topic are welcomed!

 

On a side note, we got our personalized coconut flavored chapsticks and personalized sunscreen favors in the mail yesterday.  They are sooo cute!  And one of the chapstick seals was broken so we got to test it out since ofcourse we will not give an open product to a guest.  Mmmm, tasty!  I'm a chapstick addict!

 

~Shannon & Dennis

Yeah, I don't blame you! Maybe you could skip a cocktail hour and recommend your guests go get a snack and drink at the bar. Honestly, I say this because I'm the easiest going person, but I wouldn't care if a wedding I attended had a cocktail hour or not! It's just nice to have an option for guests to do between events!

[slstriednig]

Thanks for the responses, ladies!  I hear ya, Kirab...I'm kind of like you...I could go either way.

 

Elissa,  Thanks for the detailed info!  I was able to find luggage tags and straps afterall...but may use your links for the lanyards...still deciding on the last items to go in the welcome bag gifts.  That's great to hear Erika worked with you on the apps to help reduce the cost.  I'm gonna see if Dennis will be down to try the same thing.  

 

Yes, we went ahead and emailed Erika to request the downgrade to the Royal Package.  She notified and cc'd the Wedding Manager, Mina, who went ahead and made the change on our forms.  We are saving over $400 ... woohoo!  Every penny saved counts!  Thanks so much for the suggestion.

 

Courtney - your husband, Sears, was so sweet to email us your photos...which were AMAZING by the way.  Thanks for sharing...Dennis and I really enjoyed looking through them.

 

We just purchased 20 navy blue satin chair ribbons (less $1 each) which will be used at the ceremony to indicate reserved seating for family.  I'll brainstorm a little bit to see how we might use them at the reception too.  Still trying to decide if I want to bother with table decorations/centerpieces.  I went to Home Goods yesterday for the first time ever...my oh my...that is a dangerous store!  So many fun items;)

 

Happy Friday!

~Shannon (& Dennis)

[CarolinaM]

alright..here's the breakdown cost of our wedding day: harpist-$400 Mariachi band--$640 private cocktail--$600 ($15/person) DJ for private reception-$560 (we just did the dj you do not need the lights, the lights are extra like 1500 or so!) royal wedding package--$1660 extra food--$440 Beach tax--$150 (there's no way around it if you want a wedding on the beach) Adventure Photos-$1150 (for the whole day photography) oh and rose petals and a basket for the flower girls--$20 We saved money by doing the following, we convinced Erica to give us a semi-private dinner at the 630 time only because the wedding was at 5, then the cocktail hour from 530-630 and it only made sense for it all to flow together to have the dinner at 630.  She checked with Chili's coordinator the day we met with her and they were able to do this for us for FREE....HUGE savings! <--SHANNON & DENNIS look in to this when you get there!! Then we dropped down the wedding package to the royal and paid the difference.  We saved by x'in the fireshow ($750) but like I said someone else already paid for it so we were able to see it before the reception. All in all prior to us leaving we were planning to spend on our wedding between $7854-$10250 depending on if we wanted a photographer....and our final bill after speaking to Erica when we got there was $5620!!!  SO needless to say we were stoked! a lot of the savings came from having the early dinner at the semi-private price (FREE!!) which saved us $2730...just in the dinner! But in all actuality I wouldn't of minded if there were other people there...because for the semi-private dinners they put you in the corner of the restaurant  that over looks the ocean and you don't even know other people are there...and if you have enough people you basically can take over the whole restaurant anyways!!! Stephanie...to answer your question, I was looking through my emails and unfortunately there is a minimum for a private dinner and that number is 40.  But like  I told you...where they seat you it's really private and away from the other guests.  I'll be more than happy to share photos with any of you to give you an idea of how things were set up for us (ie wedding, happy hour, dinner and reception).  Just sent me a PM with your email.  I would put it in an attachment on here, but I don't even have enough posts to view these attachments! LOL Oh another thing that we did, we brought our own sashes down, and Erica put them on the chairs for us for free. They were Royal Blue and we actually gave them to Erica afterwards (40 of them)...so if you need Royal Blue sashes for your chairs tell her she should have some from Courtney & Sears' May 10th wedding...I'm sure she'll remember us Once again I'm Jealous of Both of You!! -Courts

[Amberya17]

Hi Shannon!

 

We're getting married there on November 11th and are expecting 80-100 guests, so two big weddings in one weekend at the Riu. Should be alot of fun.
 

[Amberya17]

Can someone pass on Erika's email address?

 

Thanks,

Amber

[Amberya17]

Hi!

 

How did it work out with bringing the bags to the front desk each day. Did they distribute them properly?