***Iberostar Laguna Azul Brides***

[VaraderoBride]

Hello Ladies!

 

I just got back from my ILA wedding, so I thought I'd give you some details that might help you all out!

 

Wedding Coordinator:

She was great and really tried to make our day how we wanted it. She was quite busy on the day we got married (3 weddings!) and forgot to put out the wedding favours (which had names on it to designate the seating) so the seating arrangements got a bit screwed up for the dinner. I would be specific and have someone give her reminders on the day of.

 

Preparation:

- Had my hair done in the salon for 50 CUC. Not exactly what I wanted, but she was able to fix things as we went along. I brought my own pics and she also had pics there. Overall, turned out great.

- The bridal party got ready in our suite. I HIGHLY recommend you pay extra (we only paid $50 for entire trip) to book the Junior Suite beforehand. The suite is double in size, with two bathrooms, a bathtub AND walk-in shower, a walk-in closet, a separate living area, etc.

- Flowers and buttonholes were delivered to our rooms (buttonholes to guys room, flowers to our room). Extra bouquets were 15 CUC each and extra buttonholes were 3 CUC each.

- Yahimara picked us up from our room and had a driver drive us out to the ceremony.

 

Ceremony:

- Was supposed to be on the beach at 2pm. At 1:45pm is started to drizzle so Yahimara made the quick decision to have it moved inside on the terrace. Good decision! All the decorations and archway were moved promptly. The ceremony was delayed an hour, but so worth it! The terrace is GORGEOUS with a view of the ocean in the background. Also, a LOT less windy. I almost think it worked out for the better.

- I brought my own music on CD for the entrance.

- I couldn't really fully understand Yahimara as she translated...but I sure did try! The legal servant and Yahimara were great and the ceremony lasted about 15 mins.

- There was a live band and champagne at the ceremony. The servers handed us our champagne before we even walked out! LOL. In hindsight, I would've asked Yahimara to let the wedding party do the traditional walk-out first...then come back in for the booze.

- We didn't have too much time on the terrace as we were behind schedule and the next wedding was coming up.

 

Dinner (6:30pm):

- We had dinner at The Steakhouse restaurant, which I would not recommend if the weather was really cold. It worked out for us because it stopped raining and it was warm.

- We wanted a private dinner, but Yahimara explained to us that they were having troubles with the A La Carte's so we would only have the first hour to ourselves. We ended up having the whole restaurant (which is quite large) to ourselves the entire time because people would come and see that a wedding was going on, and leave!

- I had the lobster, which was really good. Groom had the steak, also good. The appetizer was a bit messy (burrito).

- Wedding cake was AMAZING. And I don't usually like cake. I didn't ask for anything specific, but they did a great job. It had two layers with some chocolate design thing at the top. A cake-topper wouldn't been nice had I remembered to bring one.

- We had a head table (7 of us) and 3 tables of eight. The tables were all decorated nicely and they even delivered a nice flower arrangement to our room for when we got back.

- I went to the Romantico restaurant one night and it was GORGEOUS. The best food on the resort. This restaurant would be great especially for smaller wedding parties (We had 31 people).

 

Private Party (8:30pm):

- We were supposed to have a private beach party at the beach bar. Since it was drizzling throughout the day, we ended up having it in a large enclosed hut (exactly like the Steakhouse restaurant, but on the opposite end of the restaurant). I'm sort of glad it worked out this way, because I think everyone would've been bitten by mosquitoes had it been on the beach.

- The price was 8 CUC per person per hour. I had it for two hours. It included full bar service and a DJ. I brought a couple of my own CDs, but the DJ also had great music. Warning: he DOES NOT have slow music, so if you want some slow songs bring your own.

- The staff was nice enough to stay until 11pm. Then the DJ had to head to the disco (where many of our guests ended up).

 

Payment:

- The wedding plus the extras (private party, hair, guests staying outside the resort) were all charged to our room and paid at check-out. The only thing we had to pay in cash was the flowers.

- I tipped the wedding coordinator the night before the wedding...I think this helped =)

 

Other things:

- I had a "meet and greet" lunch at the buffet on the second day because we had guests from all over. The staff were so great and set-up a really large table for us, as well as gave us 4 bottles of champagne! Although we did not continue to have large parties at the buffet, the staff did offer to set this up again.

- The photographer stayed at another resort and had no problems getting in. There was no charge for bringing in the photographer, although I did say he was a "friend". Also, he coincidentally had the exact same colour wristband, which I think is the reason why he didn't get hassled at the gate.

- Yahimara allowed the wedding party (7 of us) to remove our wristbands on the wedding day. We got new ones the next day.

- Careful of the ocean. My mom got stung by a jellyfish.

- The staff count EVERYTHING. Do not lose anything! I.e. the umbrellas in your room, your beach towels, etc.

- The average wage in Cuba is 8-35 CUC PER MONTH (this includes professionals!). The people who work in tourism obviously make a lot more (with tips). I wish I had brought more things like make-up, soap, shampoo/conditioner, clothing as these are very expensive in Cuba. They also don't have a lot of the products we are used to (importing laws) and if they do it's $$$. A can of pringles, for example, was 5.10 CUC (around $6 canadian!) If you go into Havana, do bring pesos and things to give away.

- If you're booking a large group (10-12 people) to Havana, talk to one of the reps (E.g. Air Canada rep) about making it a private trip. It will cost you 40 CUC per person, which is a lot cheaper than the tours. This way, you can do what you want and you won't have to pick up multiple people from different resorts. The tours tend to be a lot of cigar, rum & souvenir shops.

 

Overall, we had an amazing week! No really big mishaps on the wedding day. The resort was great (5-star Cuba is like 4-4.5 star Dominican). I do not recommend going with something less than a 5-star in Cuba (I've been, trust me!) If you have any questions, feel free to message me!

 

Jen

[RonNMel]

Awesome! Thanks for the reviews.

 

For the seating arrangement, were the tables round or rectangular?

 

When did you make most of the decisions? All there, or some over email?

 

You said there were lots of flowers leading up to the archaway, was that included in the price or did you pay extra?

 

For the private reception, was is just 8$ per hour, or was there an extra charge of 150$ (I think I've read that somewhere)?

 

We would love to see pictures if you have some. :-D

[VaraderoBride]

To answer your questions:

 

- Tables were square, but put together to make large rectangular tables.

 

- Most decisions made over there. The only real decisions I made beforehand was 1) Location of ceremony, 2) The Restaurant and 3) Having a private party afterwards.

 

- All the decorative flowers were included. For the ceremony on the terrace, there were flowers on the ground lining the pathway where the wedding party walked. I can't really remember where else the flowers were...I'll have to look back at the pics when I get them. I remember Yahimara saying something about flowers for the archway, but I don't think that happened. Maybe they couldn't affix them to it so they went elsewhere!

 

- I believe the 150 CUC was for a private DINNER. The private party was just 8 CUC per person per hour and I had this after the dinner reception. I highly recommend this, especially if you have a large group (we had 30).

 

- How do I post pictures on here??

 

Jen

[RonNMel]

Thanks.

 

To post pictures, you need to first upload them to a site like photobucket. Then you copy the link that has IMG in brackets and paste it here. There are more detailed instructions somewhere on this forum. If you search for uploading photos, you should find it easily.

[JNL2011]

Thanks varaderobride for all the details, sounds like you had a amazing wedding day. I would love to see pictures too. If your not sure how to post them on here. Facebook has a iberostar Laguna Azul group that you could post on. Just a thought

thanks again for your information.

[RonNMel]

JNL, do you have the link to that facebook group? I know I have come accross it before, but lately I can't seem to find it...

[Tilly in the Sun]

Welcome to Facebook | Facebook

 

 

Here is the facebook group :-)

[JNL2011]

The group in under Iberostar Laguna Azul Brides- Varadero

 

and i think i pasted and copied the link:

 

Login | Facebook

 

hope it works

[ma ma smurf]

Any HELP

 

Would be REALLY appreciated.

 

Hello ILA Brides,

 

We had booked our wedding for 14th November this year, only to discover 2 days ago that we are expecting a baby on 1st Dec. OMG.

 

We have luckly managed to bring our holiday forward without to much problem, going to book up tomorrow for flights on 28th April, I am waiting to hear back from Yahimara, about available wedding slots, we would like 1st May if available.

 

We are from the UK.

 

Any info would be appreciated, we now have 4 weeks to arrange our wedding instead of 8 months and I am panicing as you can imagine.

 

thanks Lola x

[VaraderoBride]

Congratulations Lola!!!

 

And don't panic! You have plenty of time =)

 

These are the things you need to plan through Yahimara now:

1) Email her a copy of bride & groom's passports + birth certificates, the 2 witnesses passports, and the "mandatory documents" which is an info package for you to fill out. This should be the first thing you do as she requests it 30 days prior to wedding. But don't worry, I only sent this 3 weeks before!

2) Choose location of ceremony (beach or terrace...both are nice!)

3) Choose location of dinner. I would say Romantico is the best for smaller groups (Less than 40). Steakhouse was also good!

4) Choose whether you will have a private party after dinner.

 

Of course, you'll probably want a dress and dresses for the bridal party...as well as attire for the groomsmen. You don't have time to order dresses, but I'm sure you'll have no problem finding them! Not sure where you're from, but Lululemon has the wicked tan coloured pants for men that look like dress pants in photos!

 

If you have ANY questions, just message me! I've still got the ILA fresh on my mind since my wedding was 1.5 wks ago =)

 

- Jen