El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

Twatts83 · November 16, 2014

Hey guys, I just have a quick question. We're getting married at El Dorado on Sunday, December 7th. Our ceremony is at 3:30PM at Fuentes Gazebo and then a 2 cocktail hour right next to the gazebo afterwards. Since I know the sun will go down around 5PM, does any of the past brides know if they will supply any sort of lighting? We can't get into the Tucanes until 6PM and I don't want people wandering around in the dark.

AllieH · November 19, 2014

Hi @@Twatts83 - unfortunately I don't know the answer. I would assume they will, but it'd be better to ask. If you can't get your planning WC at Lomas to answer, then definitely ask when you meet with the onsite WC. I bet they will take care of it for you.

Hey guys, I just have a quick question. We're getting married at El Dorado on Sunday, December 7th. Our ceremony is at 3:30PM at Fuentes Gazebo and then a 2 cocktail hour right next to the gazebo afterwards. Since I know the sun will go down around 5PM, does any of the past brides know if they will supply any sort of lighting? We can't get into the Tucanes until 6PM and I don't want people wandering around in the dark.

NickiLynn1116 · November 23, 2014

@@Twatts83 I just got back from my wedding so I have lots of information. Our wedding was at 4pm, but it didn't start on time. I would say it started more like 4:15 and was over about 4:45. We originally had a cocktail hour, but we nixed it last minute and decided to add more time with our videographer instead. TOTALLY WORTH IT!! You are taking so many photos that you don't even have time to enjoy the cocktail hour. Most of our guests even were needed for photos as well. So all of our guests went to JoJos bar and had some cocktails and food until we were done with photos. There is lots to do in between the wedding and the reception which was a main concern of mine. Your guests will be thrilled to freshen up too if it is a hot day.

Our reception was at Tucanes and it was WONDERFUL! We all even jumped into the pool at the end of the night!

The onsite wedding Coordinator Erin is simply amazing and will help you with everything. Feel free to private message me if you have more questions because I literally just got home last night hahaha. I know this board helped me a lot along the way

@@SoontobeMrsP2014

How was your wedding on Sunday???? Wasn't the weather AMAZING??? We really got lucky!! I hope yours was as beautiful as ours. What a great place El Dorado really was

@@kamelia054

We went to dolphin discovery and swam with the manatees and dolphins. Worth every penny!! However, we didn't plan any tours with our guests because we wanted to make sure everyone had time to have a vacation while they were there. Some guests did excursions and some just laid by the pool all day.

We also did half day at the Tulum ruins. They were a beautiful site to see as welll

SoontobeMrsP2014 · November 26, 2014

@@NickiLynn1116 - It was amazing!! I want to do it again!

@@Twatts83 - We did a two hour cocktail event after the wedding, and the night before we hosted a separate two hour event at night (8:30 pm - 10:30 pm) and the resort did not supply any additional light outside of lighting the bar and dessert stands we had. We used tiki torches both nights and that seemed to be enough. For the cocktail hour the tiki torches provided a bit of ambient light as it started to get dark so I'd recommend them (and they're cheap).

Wedding recap:

The wedding overall was amazing, and our guests loved the resort. We had 64 (or 62, I can't remember) in our group and ended up hosting several events, which I think made a huge impact on our guests. We did the free rehearsal dinner with family members, then hosted a two hour dessert reception after for all guests. The day of the wedding, between ceremony and reception, we hosted the deluxe two hour cocktail and also did a steel drum player and a cigar roller. That was the BIGGEST hit ever and our guests were in love. The reception was standard, but everyone was on the floor the entire time and so happy. The Generations pier was absolutely gorgeous and the set up was perfect. The day after the wedding we held another cocktail event as a "farewell" (since we left the resort Tuesday for our honeymoon) and casual happy hour. I was a bit worried about the events overwhelming guests, but it didn't at all. We arranged them around dinner times so people could eat where they wanted and everyone loved extra time together and the many special "events." It really made it a weekend-long celebration, which is exactly what we wanted.

I have one major (and some minor ones) complaint with the resort though related to our wedding cocktail. We purchased the deluxe cocktail event because we wanted everyone to feel full and we knew the dinner portions would be small. The cocktail was more expensive per person than our dinner entrees and should have provided 24 pieces of food per person. We did not get a fraction of that. Most of our guests were only able to get a piece or two of food total. We are incredibly disappointed by this and we talked to them about it at the resort, as well as by email after, and have not received a response. Luckily our guests didn't know what they were supposed to be getting but we did and we're not happy. Between the room costs for our group, our wedding, and the extras we did, we are confident we brought over $100,000 to their resort for our event. To have such a deviation from what we paid for is egregious.

On a more positive note, I will say that the wedding department does a fantastic job. They know what they're doing and they do it well. Our on-site coordinator was Ingrid and she was amazing. Lunic from Sarani Photography was also incredible. I had her and her assistant for 8 hours and she was so much fun. I can't wait to see the pics. And we did the DJ/Emcee package (from DJ All Music or something I think?) and that was a blast! Not only were the emcee and DJ fantastic, guests loved the glow sticks, balloons, and fun lights.

So many people told us it wasn't just the best wedding they'd been to, it was the best vacation overall.

Twatts83 · November 29, 2014

Thank you ladies for all your input! I'm glad both of your weddings went well!

We have 50 people coming and we don't know how close everyone's rooms will be (the resort is completely full the day we get there due to a travel agent convention). Did you guys have some sort of plan so all your guests knew how to contact each other? I'm just planning on handing out a room guide so everyone can exchange room numbers, but I don't really know how else it'll work. I'm assuming most people won't buy the wifi so they can stay disconnected. Some guests are just nervous they won't find each other easily.

Also, are there any must try restaurants? They all look amazing. If we're staying on the Dorado side, are we still allowed to make reservations? If so, did you just call when you arrived and reserved the specific restaurants you wanted for the week?

Thank you so much!! 6 days till we leave. WOOHOO!

@@NickiLynn1116 - It was amazing!! I want to do it again!

@@Twatts83 - We did a two hour cocktail event after the wedding, and the night before we hosted a separate two hour event at night (8:30 pm - 10:30 pm) and the resort did not supply any additional light outside of lighting the bar and dessert stands we had. We used tiki torches both nights and that seemed to be enough. For the cocktail hour the tiki torches provided a bit of ambient light as it started to get dark so I'd recommend them (and they're cheap).

Wedding recap:

The wedding overall was amazing, and our guests loved the resort. We had 64 (or 62, I can't remember) in our group and ended up hosting several events, which I think made a huge impact on our guests. We did the free rehearsal dinner with family members, then hosted a two hour dessert reception after for all guests. The day of the wedding, between ceremony and reception, we hosted the deluxe two hour cocktail and also did a steel drum player and a cigar roller. That was the BIGGEST hit ever and our guests were in love. The reception was standard, but everyone was on the floor the entire time and so happy. The Generations pier was absolutely gorgeous and the set up was perfect. The day after the wedding we held another cocktail event as a "farewell" (since we left the resort Tuesday for our honeymoon) and casual happy hour. I was a bit worried about the events overwhelming guests, but it didn't at all. We arranged them around dinner times so people could eat where they wanted and everyone loved extra time together and the many special "events." It really made it a weekend-long celebration, which is exactly what we wanted.

I have one major (and some minor ones) complaint with the resort though related to our wedding cocktail. We purchased the deluxe cocktail event because we wanted everyone to feel full and we knew the dinner portions would be small. The cocktail was more expensive per person than our dinner entrees and should have provided 24 pieces of food per person. We did not get a fraction of that. Most of our guests were only able to get a piece or two of food total. We are incredibly disappointed by this and we talked to them about it at the resort, as well as by email after, and have not received a response. Luckily our guests didn't know what they were supposed to be getting but we did and we're not happy. Between the room costs for our group, our wedding, and the extras we did, we are confident we brought over $100,000 to their resort for our event. To have such a deviation from what we paid for is egregious.

On a more positive note, I will say that the wedding department does a fantastic job. They know what they're doing and they do it well. Our on-site coordinator was Ingrid and she was amazing. Lunic from Sarani Photography was also incredible. I had her and her assistant for 8 hours and she was so much fun. I can't wait to see the pics. And we did the DJ/Emcee package (from DJ All Music or something I think?) and that was a blast! Not only were the emcee and DJ fantastic, guests loved the glow sticks, balloons, and fun lights.

So many people told us it wasn't just the best wedding they'd been to, it was the best vacation overall.

murmel · November 29, 2014

Thank you ladies for all your input! I'm glad both of your weddings went well!

We have 50 people coming and we don't know how close everyone's rooms will be (the resort is completely full the day we get there due to a travel agent convention). Did you guys have some sort of plan so all your guests knew how to contact each other? I'm just planning on handing out a room guide so everyone can exchange room numbers, but I don't really know how else it'll work. I'm assuming most people won't buy the wifi so they can stay disconnected. Some guests are just nervous they won't find each other easily.

Also, are there any must try restaurants? They all look amazing. If we're staying on the Dorado side, are we still allowed to make reservations? If so, did you just call when you arrived and reserved the specific restaurants you wanted for the week?

Thank you so much!! 6 days till we leave. WOOHOO!

It is a large resort, but you will find each other. Lol. Few ideas- love the room list idea. Connect with people before they head down and suggest a meet and greet spot. That way most people can come out to one spot and see who is there and connect. You can suggest having a central meeting spot once a day for a drink. And don't forget it is a hotel...so guests can always call the front desk and ask to be connected to "'John Smith's" room.

I personally LOVE both the Italian restaurants on site. Try to visit one at least!

Have an amazing trip and wedding!

AllieH · November 30, 2014

Miriam (Murmel) is right! The room list is a good idea. It's a big resort, but what we found is that folks generally gravitated towards the same places, so it's easy to find others. You can always do a round of calls to the rooms to meet at the beach by the volleyball court, or Fuentes pool, beach bar, or La Isla pool, etc. And most of our guests did get the wifi - so we'd message each other on Facebook quite a bit.

Restaurants: D'Italia Casitas is our favorite overall - we will eat dinner there at least 3 nights during our stay. Fuentes and Santa Fe are also very good for dinner. Kampai is also pretty good. We did not care for D'Italia Royale (just not the same as Casitas) and we never ate at Jo Jos for dinner, just snacks or lunch. We found La Isla and the mexican restaurants "just ok" for dinner.

Reservations: The concierge assigned to the building your room is in will make the reservations for the restaurants. Guests in the Casitas can make reservations for any restaurant for dinner. Royale guests can only make reservations for Santa Fe & Fuentes. Note that Santa Fe & Fuentes can be booked out days in advance, so you will want to book those as soon as you arrive.

Our other favorites are La Isla and Las Olas (Casitas 32) for lunch, Santa Fe and Cocotal for breakfast. Room service is great any time.

HTH!

Thank you ladies for all your input! I'm glad both of your weddings went well!

We have 50 people coming and we don't know how close everyone's rooms will be (the resort is completely full the day we get there due to a travel agent convention). Did you guys have some sort of plan so all your guests knew how to contact each other? I'm just planning on handing out a room guide so everyone can exchange room numbers, but I don't really know how else it'll work. I'm assuming most people won't buy the wifi so they can stay disconnected. Some guests are just nervous they won't find each other easily.

Also, are there any must try restaurants? They all look amazing. If we're staying on the Dorado side, are we still allowed to make reservations? If so, did you just call when you arrived and reserved the specific restaurants you wanted for the week?

Thank you so much!! 6 days till we leave. WOOHOO!

NickiLynn1116 · December 3, 2014

@@Twatts83 I made a welcome guide for our guests and they could record the room numbers on there. The first day that everyone arrived we all met at the Martinis bar for drinks and everyone was able to exchange room numbers. However, the front desk will give out the room numbers if you need them. A lot of our guest did purchase wifi and used facebook messaging to get in contact with one another. I have attached a copy of our welcome guide

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SoontobeMrsP2014 · December 5, 2014

Hi everyone, just wanted to follow up on our issue with the resort not providing the correct amount of food purchased. They did respond to us and are actually upgrading us to a swim up infinity pool casita for as many days as we want so we're very pleased with that response. I'd still caution those doing the two hour cocktail between ceremony and reception just to be aware but hopefully they'll improve on it.

As for connecting people, our TA requested to keep people in groups and for the most part that happened. We also included some locations and times in our welcome letter for everyone to gather to hang out (the casitas pool of whatever group we were in, the beach bar, etc.) and that worked really well. I don't think we had a single issue with people feeling like they were lost/out of contact with others. The resort will also give out room numbers so guests can call you and figure it all out.

HancockBride · December 8, 2014

Hi Ladies!

Just got back from my honeymoon! 17 nights in EDR! Anyways, wedding was amazing, went off without any problems. Super stress free. Just make sure you enjoy your wedding bc it comes and goes in a blink of an eye! Everyone loved it and had a blast. Don't have all my pics yet but here is a preview.