El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

[CanadianLindsey]

Your already a step up on everyone else since you've done a site visit! 

 

I went in completely blind and my wedding turned out great so you'll be fine.

 

We used the Casitas Spa for hair and make up and they did a great job with all 6 of my ladies!  Rafa was amazing!!!!!!  We also bought our flowers through Lomas and they were very accurate to the online photos and the prices were very reasonable.  My bouquets lasted all week!

 

I did see a wedding reception set up on the beach while we were there and it looked like a big group so you could ask about that.  We used Health Bar for our cocktail hour and it was great, as long as it is big enough for your group.  What about another Gazebo down the beach from #55? I agree with the previous poster, maybe look into switching your date or time if your set on Tucannes and Gazebo #55.  Sorry, wish I could help you out more but we didn't hire a dj, just rented speakers and used our i pod. 

 

Originally Posted by rivierabride430 

Hi all - My fiance and I are getting married at EDR on April and are beginning to stress about all the details the come along with planning a destination wedding. This is my first post to BDW. We have 60 guests already booked and that number can increase to as high as 75.

 

EDR has selected vendors through Lomas Travel that they provide. Has anyone used their DJ or Hair/Makeup vendors? Any other feedback or advice would GREATLY be appreciated from someone who previously got married at a Karisma property. We are considering using outside vendors as we can't seem to get enough information or a good feel of the vendors that are provided.  We are hoping that someone out there can either vouch for EDR's vendors or recommend others.

 

We did a site visit last April to pick the resort and fell in love with Gazebo 55 for the ceremony and Tucanes for the reception. Unfortunately, we found out last summer that both of those locations were booked by another wedding for that night  

 

As a newbie, I can't wait to hear from other brave destination brides/grooms. Please help.

 

Thank you, thank you!!

[punkie569]

I think every single one of our guests complained about the showers and how they got everything wet. Didn't matter where they were either. The few guests also staying in the Casitas(but without the open concept bathroom) just showered in the outdoor shower just to keep the floors dry. Definitely a design problem there and you'd think they would do something about it so the water didn't cause any damage to the rooms.

 

Also for those wondering about the open concept bathroom I'll try to attach a picture so you can see what I mean. I believe this style of bathroom is only in the Casitas that have their own pool and not the ones with the lazy river. Yes your toilet has it's own room(we called it the toilet closet) but it is with shutter doors and it's open from the top. Let's just say I could see myself in the mirror through the shutters. AND that is the only place you can have "privacy" because there is no door to the bathroom hence the open concept. So your shower, sinks and stuff are all out in the open. My advice to you is if you are going to order room service don't have a shower until it comes otherwise they'll see you in your full glory as my husband found out the hard way

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally Posted by CanadianLindsey 

Lol!!  We had lots of comments about those open concept bathrooms.  Not so romantic when one person is "sick"!!   Also one of my guests said he had water all over the floor of their bathroom (and all over his GF toiletries!) because of the open concept showers!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by punkie569 

Congrats on your wedding. Glad you were happy with your wedding. We stayed in building 31 (3116) too. Wasn't a fan of the open concept bathrooms but the rooms were amazing and the service can't be beat. Where else will they bring you lunch and fruit kabobs on the beach? Looking forward to your review
 

 

 

[punkie569]

We used Caribe for our wedding and I was more than happy with them. We got the extra hour of time and we were still under $1000. I guess it depends on how important the pictures are to you and what you had in mind. I mainly wanted group shots and a few good shots of me with the husband and we got those plus some. But if you want fancy pictures that are photoshopped and played with for hours then they might not be for you. I just couldn't justify spending thousands of dollars on pictures. The best part though was because they are on site all the time I got my photos before we left. They printed a bunch of them and put them into an album for me and gave me a bunch more plus a disc with all the shots taken that day (701 shots). Not having to worry about my pictures being shipped was a huge relief. If you'd like to PM your email address I can send you a few shots so you can see some of their work.
 

Originally Posted by MrsDimond 

Thank you for your review.  It was very helpful.  We are considering the EDR for fall 2011.  I would love to see photos if available.

 

Also, does anyone have any feedback on Caribe photo?  My DW agent recommended this vendor but I was a little underwhelmed by the website.

 

Thanks and congrats to all the brides!

[punkie569]

Great review! I really need to get on mine now that my AHR is over....

 

Sorry to see you had issues with Sun Wing as well. We flew from Vancouver with them and I'd never fly with them again. Our rep there was horrible and actually called all my guests and threatened them that if they didn't book something with them they wouldn't have a shuttle back to the airport. We booked all our excursions with Lomas because of the Sun Wing rep and his attitude. I went there and told him if he didn't stop harassing my guests I'd file a complaint but of course he says he never called any of my guests and of course we had a shuttle back to the airport. Turned out one of my guests wasn't on their list on the day we left so we had to pay $25 so they'd let her onto the shuttle and it wasn't even full. For the flight home we got on the plane and someone from the previous flight had gotten sick. They didn't even clean it up and someone from another wedding party put his hand in it and they gave him attitude before finally cleaning it up. Meanwhile we were stuck on a puke smelling plane for almost an hour while another crew slowly made their way off the plane. I'm sure if they didn't chat so much or have to switch street clothes with our cabin staff they would have been off much sooner. Horrible company and horrible staff!

 

Guess I better save something for my review...LOL
 

Originally Posted by CanadianLindsey 

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanadianLindsey 

I should be posting my full review of EDR this weeked!   Sorry it has taken me so long future EDR brides, but as I started to write it, I realized I had a lot to say!!   And I wanted to add in some photos.  It is coming though, I promise!!!  

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/el-dorado-casitas-royale-by-karisma-all-inclusive

 

My review is up!

[rpingree001]

here are a couple of other ceremony locations.....

 

 

 

 

Quote:

 

Originally Posted by rivierabride430 

Hi all - My fiance and I are getting married at EDR on April and are beginning to stress about all the details the come along with planning a destination wedding. This is my first post to BDW. We have 60 guests already booked and that number can increase to as high as 75.

 

EDR has selected vendors through Lomas Travel that they provide. Has anyone used their DJ or Hair/Makeup vendors? Any other feedback or advice would GREATLY be appreciated from someone who previously got married at a Karisma property. We are considering using outside vendors as we can't seem to get enough information or a good feel of the vendors that are provided.  We are hoping that someone out there can either vouch for EDR's vendors or recommend others.

 

We did a site visit last April to pick the resort and fell in love with Gazebo 55 for the ceremony and Tucanes for the reception. Unfortunately, we found out last summer that both of those locations were booked by another wedding for that night  

 

As a newbie, I can't wait to hear from other brave destination brides/grooms. Please help.

 

Thank you, thank you!!

[rpingree001]

Also you should know - for flowers or the cake - you can send you Lomas wedding coordinator pictures of what you like and they will obtain a quote and let you know if they can do it for you.  I sent pictues of the bouquets and they were almost spot on.  I also sent pictures of a cake and while it was a little off (they made it pink frosting rather than white), it was still beautiful.  I was very happy with the work that was done. 

 

And I had my bouquet and all the flowers from the tables and gazebo placed in our room after the reception and it made our room smell fantastic for the entire next week. 

 

Originally Posted by rivierabride430 

Hi all - My fiance and I are getting married at EDR on April and are beginning to stress about all the details the come along with planning a destination wedding. This is my first post to BDW. We have 60 guests already booked and that number can increase to as high as 75.

 

EDR has selected vendors through Lomas Travel that they provide. Has anyone used their DJ or Hair/Makeup vendors? Any other feedback or advice would GREATLY be appreciated from someone who previously got married at a Karisma property. We are considering using outside vendors as we can't seem to get enough information or a good feel of the vendors that are provided.  We are hoping that someone out there can either vouch for EDR's vendors or recommend others.

 

We did a site visit last April to pick the resort and fell in love with Gazebo 55 for the ceremony and Tucanes for the reception. Unfortunately, we found out last summer that both of those locations were booked by another wedding for that night  

 

As a newbie, I can't wait to hear from other brave destination brides/grooms. Please help.

 

Thank you, thank you!!

[angi111111]

Hi There!

I am also a EDR bride to be 11-11-11. I just booked Caribe Photo for our wedding based a a review by a previous bride who was married there last November. She did not have anything negative to say and suggested booking them an extra hour for pictures at different locations on the resort. She said they were "great" to work with. They were very responsive to my emails and questions. The Coordinator also suggested them, to us as well as Claudia during our site visit. Claudia has great reviews also, just more $$$.

Hope that helps!

 

Originally Posted by MrsDimond 

Thank you for your review.  It was very helpful.  We are considering the EDR for fall 2011.  I would love to see photos if available.

 

Also, does anyone have any feedback on Caribe photo?  My DW agent recommended this vendor but I was a little underwhelmed by the website.

 

Thanks and congrats to all the brides!

[CanadianLindsey]

I was just on the lomas site and I saw the fee for bringing in a non approved vendor jumped to $800!!!  Wow!!  Thought I would let you girls in the planning stages know.

[msmarmar123]

If you have already been quoted the $500 for outside vendor fee...you will be honored that price.....make sure you keep your detail sheets....or attempt to get that taken care of ASAP and show them any older paperwork you have that states it was only $500.

[rivierabride430]

Thanks for all the feedback. While our first choices of Gazebo 55 for the ceromony and Tucanes for the reception were booked, we are happy with Fuentes (other beach Gazebo) for the ceromony and La Isla (open air restaurant) for the reception. The made an exception to allow us to have the reception at La Isla because we were 60-70 guests.

 

Has anyone had experiences shipping items prior to arrivial -- i.e. stuff for welcome bags or alcohol. My parents and their friends love this fairly inexpensive wine and would love to have a case there for them. I am new to this website, but can already tell this gets addictive. I appreciate the responses so far and looking forward to learning more.