Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda Brides post here

[aliceo]

Hi Krs182,

 

I was referring to picture number 132 (of 152) in your Snapfish album - There are tables very nicely decorated...

[cdt_seattle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aliceo Another couple of questions - -Does anyone know if you can use the "lounge" area for cocktails? Is it near a bar? A.

Good news - the lounge area IS a bar! Except it only has two "tables" which have really big comfy chairs. The lounge area is in between the Italian and French restaurants. (Note when I was there in Jan. it was slow and Italian became steak-house and French became I think Asian every other night).

We had our ceremony in the outdoor part of the lounge area and dinner at the Italian, and during the time in between guests got drinks at the lounge bar (open to anyone though I don't think anyone else was really there). Also, after dinner during the dancing people stepped out for drinks and fresh air. Perfect location really.

Chris

[meredithlang]

OMG You no clue how excited I am to find yall here!!!!!!!

I am getting married May 16,2010 at the BBGE and man I am right there with you, I guess CANDY is no longer there and some new lady NADA is suppost to be doing head of the wedding's at Blue Bay! Now I can tell you this is the resort that I got engaged at! We had a blast NO complaints at all, now for my wedding I would like to hear back or for Nada to tell me what I need to be doing. Do I just show up and then pick things out or what If I am making our play list who controls pressing play and that kinda stuff. I am alittle frustated can you tell!! lol

also what about decatrations?? what do they provide??

[aliceo]

Thanks cdt seattle! That sounds great!

[rainmaker002]

Hi Everyone,

 

Just thought I would send a quick followup. We got married on January 29th, 2010 and had a blast. Our dinner was at the steakhouse, we hired a mariachi band for a reception in the "VIP" bar area and the wedding was at 3pm which left us plenty of time to take some pictures between the ceremony/reception/dinner.

 

The food for dinner was *fantastic* (steak for most, fish for some vegetarian types). Probably the best meal we had all week in fact.

 

We hired outside photographers from De Sol Photography, a fellow named Vincent was the main photographer and he had someone there to take pictures of the guys while they got ready and to assist later on. We were thrilled with Vincent (who was really nice, fun and hillarious) and the final results. They are kind of pricy but we're glad we spent the money because the end product is amazing.

 

Our stay at the resort was pretty great, as soon as we arrived we learned we were upgraded to the "honeymoon suite" which was the top floor suite in the building closest to the beach (2, I believe). It was huge, with two flat screens that never got turned on, two bathrooms, and all the chocolate covered strawberries we could handle.

 

We really only experienced two frustrations with the resort. One was the size, which was great for most of the week but awful when we were trying to get in touch with people we needed (ie., to get documents signed). Our best advice is to bring walkie talkies for the wedding party- those would have come in super handy to help coordinate.

 

The other frustration was that they mucked up reservations we tried to make for our "rehearsal dinner". It should have been really simple but they messed it up and sent us back and forth around the resort 3 times (see above frustration about the size of the place). In the end it wasn't a huge deal but my dad has diabetes and didn't end up getting to eat with us because of the delays.

 

Candy and her assistant were really swell when we were down there. We had to take people's advice that you just have to trust things will fall into place when you're there in person and they did. It was annoying to not really get much info in advance (she did communicate with us a few weeks before to send us the various options/prices for food/flowers/other accessories) but it was so awesome to plan an entire wedding in 1 and a half hours. They are like a well oiled machine down there. As long as you're not crazy picky about the colour of your table clothes you should be fine.

 

Oh and one concern we had was with the sound system for music and dancing, which turned out to be a non-issue. We hooked up a laptop to it and even though it was only a single speaker it was definitely loud enough for 30-40 people to dance to.

 

I suppose it's worth mentioning that dinner in the steakhouse is extremely hot- it's sort of open air so there's no AC in that restaurant by the beach, and we ended up getting pretty toasty. No big deal I guess but worth passing along.

 

We've posted our pictures from the week online if anyone is curious about the general look of the resort or our private lives (hah). We can also share our pro photos from De Sol Photography but out of respect for their work we won't publish the url publicly.

 

Here is the link to our pictures from the week including the wedding itself:

Picasa Web Albums - jkurtz - 2010-01-31 We...

 

Happy to answer any questions anyone has.

 

Jason & Michelle

[aliceo]

Hi Michelle -

thanks for posting your review! I am going to be married there in early June!

A few questions if you don't mind?

Did you have a private event? If so were they strict about the 50 person minimum?

How was the Mariachi band? Would you recommend them?

Did you have a cocktail hour/appetizers? Would you recommend doing this before dinner?

Also, on their price list they have a "cd player/speaker option" - is this what you used?

 

Thanks so much for sharing your pics and story. Congrats to you!

[aliceo]

Hi ladies!

 

Did any of you arrange a "private" reception? If so, how much were you quoted? I was told $63 per person.... is this correct/standard?

 

@krs182 - how was the big day!?

 

Thanks

[staciw]

I love your pictures, you looked beautiful! Can i ask you a bunch of questions?

- was that the standard ceremony set up or did you request/pay for anything extra?

- your hair looked great, was it done by someone from the resort?

- were the bouquets standard?

- was the cocktail hour at their VIP bar?

- was the reception the steakhouse? it looked like there were buffet stations?

- were the tabletops standard? the petals, flowers etc. or were each a separate fee?

- what i know you said your ceremony was at 3, what time was your cocktail hour? what time did you end your ceremony.

- so you did your own music for the reception? no dj?

- what about music for the ceremony, how did that work?

 

I am so looking forward to your responses!

[aliceo]

*bump*

 

How is everyone's panning coming??

Any more reviews?

[Nicole&Matt]

aliceo,

 

I'm getting married at the BBGE on Jan 26, 2011.

 

for a 'private' reception I was told $45/person if wanting it on the beach OR $40/person if wanting to have it in one of the a la carte resturants (closed to everyone else).

 

***however, you have to pay for a minimum of 50 people even if you dont have that many guests