El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

[laurenmc]

I'm getting married in a week and a half (WOW!) and since I only am having 18 guests and am doing a larger reception when we return home, decided to stay with the Always & Forever package that we received at no cost. We also were able to get a free 2 hour cocktail hour.

 

My questions are for brides that took advantage of this free package:

 

Was the dinner boring? Did you go out to one of the bars afterwards? We're your guests disappointed?

 

For anyone that received the free cocktail hour, how'd that turn out? I am renting the speaker system for $250, so I hope that will work out well. Did they provide any decor, was there enough food? Did you need to do dinner after?

 

Thanks!

[starpapaya]

Hi Lauren!

 

I got married at EDR last month. I also had the always and forever package. I had a total of 78 guests and we used our free cocktail hour before a free dinner which was our rehearsal dinner. We also had the sound system which we played music for the entire event and gave speeches/toasts.

 

There was not enough food to go around during cocktail hour. I was too busy greeting and mingling with guests. My parents actually got sick (diarrhea for days) so they weren't eating but they observed the event and informed me that there was a serious lack of food being passed around. Some of my guests ending up rushing to another restaurant to get a second dinner since the portions were tiny and there's nothing open after 10 pm so your only option is room service which takes over an hour during late night hours.

 

We ended up at Guacamayas pretty much every night because there's a guy making tacos there but he limits how many you can get. My husband got 2, I was able to get 3, but I've seen him serves others 4. These were delicious but very sad that at an all inclusive resort, there was so little to eat. My now husband actually lost weight from this vacation (we had a 7 night stay at Casitas).

 

Pro tip: do not hesitate to ask for additional servings, order extra, make sure your minibar gets restocked! No food after 10 pm (room service is unappetizing) and they do not allow you to take food to go so plan ahead!

 

Good luck!

[carrieandsam]

Hi I am getting married at Azul Sensatori in about a month and for the past month I have not been able to get a hold of my WC at Karisma. In the past few months one of my cousins coming to my wedding got engaged and would now two like to have a destination wedding in Mexico. She was looking at the El Dorados and asked me how it was working with Karisma. I told her great except the last month. How has everyone's experience working with Karisma that is getting married at the El Dorado? I was wondering if maybe you all work with a different crew at Miami headquarters. I am not sure. Let me know so I can give my cousin feed back. TIA!

 

Carrie

[starpapaya]

Hi Carrie,

 

I didn't have a problem working with the offsite WC. I had Marisol and it did take her a few days to respond to me each time but I began my communications early and was able to get everything planned.

 

I would highly recommend visiting the resort and making sure you like it. We were not happy with the lack of service and meager portions. Onsite coordinator and hotel wedding coordinator weren't very helpful. The groomsmen took over executing the wedding and moving the timeline along so that everything was captured by the photographers/videographers before they left (we opted for half day package).

 

We had a dispute with the hotel that was not resolved. The hotel manager told us to contact customer service manager Ana Pegler who never responded. Our travel agent ended up trying to negotiate for us. We were looking for over $3000 refund (bridal makeup resulted in eye infection, entire bottom tier of cake was not served, guests did not get individual slices- rather 3 large slices placed in the middle of the table to be shared, did not get everything as promised in the DJ/MC package including bubble and fog machine, wrong flowers used in wedding gazebo corsages) and the hotel only offered $500. 

 

Other issues: Over 40% of our guests had diarrhea/stomach cramps. Hotel would not accommodate double beds for non-couples, not even one of my friends who was 5 months pregnant, clearly showing, who was traveling with another friend. Groomsmen had to argue and complain in order to receive room service for the bridal party (they would not send more than 4 entrees even though there were 5 of them, 4 groomsmen plus groom) on the day of the wedding.

 

At the end of the day, everyone still had fun and the pictures are beautiful... but that would have been the same regardless which resort we went to.

 

Good luck to you and your cousin!

[carrieandsam]

Thank you for the feedback. 

Luckily I to started out very early to get everything in due to some girls on the Sensatori blog mentioning their WC's were not very responsive. I only have the food count left to upload to my wedding builder but I sent that to my WC way ahead of the 45 days and she has yet to upload it. So that is the only thing I am missing but one or a few girls from the Azul Sensatori blog posted her WC did not send the food count to the hotel and still ended up with all the food requested by her guest. So I guess I am not to worried about that.

 

I am sure it will all work out, but who knows maybe I will get all my food for free since it is not on the wedding builder, that would be awesome. However I did send the food count to the onsite WC some hopefully they will have enough food.

 

Thank you for the feedback on El Dorado, I will pass along to my cousin. If anybody else has feedback that would be wonderful.

 

-Carrie

[wpro333]

Hi!  I am getting married at EDR in April '16.  I was so excited when I book this resort, but I have become incredibly frustrated as the planning has started.  The off site WC has been awful.  I don't get a response for weeks at a time…I don't even have a locations confirmed.  This is so stressful considering we are have over 80 guests booked.  Can anyone please shed some light on what to do?  Can I switch WC?  At this point I'm committed to the resort and I fear what lies in the months ahead  

[murmel]

Hi!  I am getting married at EDR in April '16.  I was so excited when I book this resort, but I have become incredibly frustrated as the planning has started.  The off site WC has been awful.  I don't get a response for weeks at a time…I don't even have a locations confirmed.  This is so stressful considering we are have over 80 guests booked.  Can anyone please shed some light on what to do?  Can I switch WC?  At this point I'm committed to the resort and I fear what lies in the months ahead

There is a phone number which you can call and try to speak with the manager to get a different WC. However, they are all rather slow. A few suggestions:

1) type an email with numbers to the questions. That way they can see more clearly, what they need to answer.

2) try to arrange a phone appointment/online chat. That way you have a set time and their full attention. (follow up the call with an email with the points you discussed for follow up)

3) almost all the brides have found that the WC become more attentive the closer your wedding date becomes. I realize that's not much help right now, but as the date approaches, they seem to respond faster.

[wpro333]

@@murmel Thankfully I was able to get a hold of her and communication has improved.  She is super nice on the phone and the numbered points was a great tip.  Patience just seems to be the key as they are very, very busy.  I trust things will get better! Thanks for your help! 

Edited September 21, 2015 by wpro333

[Tagliatti01]

Hello,  My wedding at EDR is coming up in January!!!  Can any past brides please let me know their experience with the Salon / hair stylists onsite and if you had professional makeup done??   

If you have names of people you used, that would be awesome!    All info is welcome!!

 

THANKS!

[starpapaya]

Hi Tagliatti,

 

I had hair and makeup done for me, my 4 bridesmaids, my mom, and MIL. My suggestion:

 

Keep hairstyling simple. Don't expect intricate designs to be well executed. If you are very particular about how you want something done, I'd recommend a trial first before the wedding day.

 

Makeup: I think the MUA did a great job making me look my best. Adding falsies was expensive, it isn't included. Don't be afraid to voice exactly how you want to look. Sometimes makeup might look overdone but it usually looks better that way in professional photos.

 

I ended up with some kind of eye infection/irritation... If I was better prepared, I would have brought my own makeup and brushes. Consider that if you can.

 

Good luck!