El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

[Maybeachbride]

Ok so it has been almost 2 months from my wedding and I am finally getting around posting on here.  First off I will say I LOVED EDR.  The resort was AMAZING!  I would recommend it to anyone!  We stayed in a swim up casita and it was amazing!  The only thing that was kind of a drag was how far we were from the rest of our guests.  We arrived the Thursday before our Sunday wedding and stayed until the Friday after.  I decided just to stay the whole time at the casitas instead of trying to change rooms and avoid the hassle of checking in again.  It was so worth it!  We spent a lot of time at the main pools while we were hanging out with our guests and didn’t really use the pool at our casita until people left after the wedding.  We loved all the food and if there was something we didn’t care for we just ordered something else! 

Since our wedding was on Sunday we had a few days to enjoy the resort and our guests.  Me and a friend did a dive excursion on Friday and it was great!  Then after the wedding my friend and my new husband did another Dive excursion and it was awesome too!!!!   We had originally decided on getting married at the presidential gazebo because they said it would be the best with the amount of guests we had.  Once we got down there we decided we wanted Gazebo 55.  They changed the location no problem and didn’t give us any hassle over it.  I decided against sheers on the gazebo and just went with two flower arrangements on the posts.  They then brought them back to the reception and used them as the decorations on the bride/groom table and the guest book table which was perfect!  We also had hot pink chair ties which I brought.  They charged me $1 a chair to hang it them but still came out cheaper than renting them and I used them on the chairs at the AHR we had.  I did not have aisle runner at all which was fine.  I had decided on flip flops but I ended up kicking them off right before I went down the aisle which my guest found amusing.  I had sent a script for the ceremony in beforehand and did not even meet the minister until I was up at the front.  I don’t actually think she followed the script exactly but I can’t remember now what she changed.  I found out later that she talked to my husband before and told him that if she went by just what I had the ceremony would only be like 6 min long!  So he told her she could add whatever.  It ended up fine! 

We decided to take photos beforehand since our wedding was at 6pm and I wanted to make sure we had some good sun light plus I did not want to take forever after the reception.  We booked with Sarani and just booked a 3 hour session.  We ended up getting James Torres not Sarani.  When she first emailed me I was a little bummed because I heard such good things about her but I was NOT disappointed.  James was GREAT!  He was so easy to work with and had such creative shots.  We ended up getting 400 photos and 11X14 padded print as well.  I was worried about not booking more time but it ended up perfect.  He came around 4 and we did tons of shots before the wedding.  Then he did the wedding and shots of our guests after.  After the wedding we did another 45 min of shots beside gazebo 55 in the rocky area.  They turned out great!!!  He stayed for our first dance and to get some shots of the set up and food.  It was plenty of time and I am so glad I went with Sarani!  I would not hesitate to use her!!!

I took my own artificial flowers that I purchased from a girl on this site.  They were amazing and no one even knew they were fake so I don’t have any advice on ordering flowers from the resort.   Although from what I hear I am glad I brought them.  I also used them as decorations for the AHR and may possibly resell them!

For the reception we had 24 people including us. We had it at Tucanes.  We had 2 tables of 6 and two of 5 then a small half heart for us.  It turned out great!  We rented glass bowels for $10 each and then paid $10 a table for them to set up the centerpieces for the 4 tables.  I brought a candle and shells from home and they provided the sand.  I really liked how they set them up.  Then we had pink and orange bows on the chairs we paid $1 a chair to set up.  We ended up going with the petite gormet instead of the bbq buffet since it was cheaper.  They had a minimum of 30 people but we just paid that even though we only had 24 guests.  The food was great and there was plenty!!!!  We did not get a cake since there were like 5 kinds of deserts.  No one seemed to miss it.  We didn’t pay for extra candles or anything and it was beautiful.  We did rent the ipod speaker system and it was great! My friend announced us and I had a playlist for the music.  It was simple and easy!  If I had one complaint about the evening was the bugs!!!  Once the sun went down I started noticing everyone was swatting.  They bugs were so bad at the reception.  Luckily two of the guest went up to the gift shop and bought some OFF.  After everyone sprayed down it was fine!  You may want to have some on the tables for your guests I wish I would have!!!  I guess I just want to restate what most people are saying… KEEP IT SIMPLE!  The place is so pretty and they will try to up sell you on items but it is not necessary!  I am really happy with EDR and would recommend it to anyone!

 

 

 

[j3jenny3]

Originally Posted by LKocelko 

 

http://proofs.gntphoto.com/enterEvent.php?id=836944&returnURL=/collection.php?event=836944 Lemme know if that doesn't work - my maiden name is Kocelko We did the ceremony at the Presidential Gazebo and the reception at Health Bar - there were 20 people including us and our photographers.

 

Just flipped through some of your pics.  They are absolutely beautiful and I love your dress!  We just finished signing all of the contracts to get married at EDR in June of next year.  Im hoping to get over for a site visit in the fall.  Im just having such a hard time picking anything out without seeing it in person!

[AllieH]

Jen these are GORGEOUS woman!!!!! Sarani did an amazing job!!!! 

Originally Posted by jnitschke 

ok, so we just got some more photos from Sarani.  I LOVE THEM!!!! No joke, picking just a few to print is going to be hard, right now I just want about 100 around the house.  She gave us 472 photos in the 3 1/2 hours we were with her.  Seeing these, I wish I had just spent the entire budget on getting her photos the whole day.  Best money hands down.  Plus, she sent along an 11x14" padded print as a thank you gift!  Bonus!  These are obviously just a few, I put about 100 on facebook.  So if anyone really cares to see more here's a link to the album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.453210464774940.1073741835.100002579708923&type=1&l=8d44bf64b5. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AllieH]

Jenny - you may want to check out the Official EDR/EDCR thread. There are tons of photos of EDR venues there, along with a resort map that has references of where the venues are on the resort. One good thing about EDR is that all of the photos really represent the resort well - no fluff. 

 

If you can go in person, definitely do it, it'll make you fall in love with EDR even more! And if you can't, and there are places we don't have photos of that you want to see, let me know. We're going back in November and I'll be taking more photos of the resort for our brides. 

Originally Posted by j3jenny3 

Quote:

Originally Posted by LKocelko 

http://proofs.gntphoto.com/enterEvent.php?id=836944&returnURL=/collection.php?event=836944 Lemme know if that doesn't work - my maiden name is Kocelko We did the ceremony at the Presidential Gazebo and the reception at Health Bar - there were 20 people including us and our photographers.

Just flipped through some of your pics.  They are absolutely beautiful and I love your dress!  We just finished signing all of the contracts to get married at EDR in June of next year.  Im hoping to get over for a site visit in the fall.  Im just having such a hard time picking anything out without seeing it in person!

 

 

[jackiep]

Hi all. I have been a reader for months and you ladies rock! I am getting nervous and my mind is being flooded with questions so thought it was time to throw my hat into the ring. I am getting married in Gazebo 55 with a private reception at Tucanes on Monday, Nov. 4th. Super excited and so far things have gone well. A few questions:

1. I have read that tipping is personal but for those that did tip (cause that is the kind of girl I am) WHO did you tip?

2. Did you invite the officiant to your reception? I know with at home weddings you would invite him/her and their spouse just wondering if this transferred to a destination wedding.

3. Did the resort charge you for putting the welcome bags in the rooms? I asked Valeria and she said there would be a cost of $4 a room.

3. And finally (for now) how did the transition go if it was raining and the locations needed to be switched?

 

Thanks ladies!
 

[LKocelko]

I sent our TA a (much delayed) email letter her know how happy we were with her recommendation, the resort, staff, etc. I included a link to our wedding photos as well. As it turns out, she forwarded to her contact at EDR, and they liked the pictures so much they reached out to our photographers to get permisisons to use them! Crazy!

[MB972013]

I was just wondering how easy it was for you to register your marriage when you returned to the states?  I am up in the air if we should do the legal Mexican marriage at EDR or just do it in the States.  We are having 60 people for a September wedding at EDR this year- looking for any other do's or don't esp. with such a big group of people  Thank you

[AllieH]

you will be famous!

Originally Posted by LKocelko 

I sent our TA a (much delayed) email letter her know how happy we were with her recommendation, the resort, staff, etc. I included a link to our wedding photos as well. As it turns out, she forwarded to her contact at EDR, and they liked the pictures so much they reached out to our photographers to get permisisons to use them! Crazy!

[TheWolferts]

Cool! My cousin got married at EDR in Sept 2009 and when I was flipping through some of the flower, cake and table set up options on the Lomas site, I saw pics from my cousin's wedding

Originally Posted by LKocelko 

I sent our TA a (much delayed) email letter her know how happy we were with her recommendation, the resort, staff, etc. I included a link to our wedding photos as well. As it turns out, she forwarded to her contact at EDR, and they liked the pictures so much they reached out to our photographers to get permisisons to use them! Crazy!

[jackiep]

Hey ladies. I tried to post before but it did not seem to work so let's try this again. First love the thread!

Next-I know tipping is personal but if YOU did tip how much if you don't mind me asking?

Also at a stateside wedding you would invite the officiant and their spouse to the reception. I assume this is not the case here but thought I better ask.

And finally did they charge you to put the welcome bags in the room?

 

Thanks!