El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

[TammyWright]

Have you heard of the Karisma's Guaranteed Double Upgrade Promotion going on NOW?

[AllieH]

Murmel - these are SUPER HELPFUL! thank you so much for taking the time to do these. I'm definitely set on Tucanes as our reception site. still a little torn on the gazebo for the ceremony. the chapel is kind of cute..and it might be nice to be out of the sun for the ceremony. hmm decisions, decisions. 
 

Originally Posted by murmel 

Okay, so finally downloaded the photos with descriptions. I have put them onto my profile, since there was lots. Hopefully this link works, if not click on my profile and go to the bottom where my photos are.

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/gallery/album/view/id/104294/user_id/27758#page=0&sort=display_order 

 

If you have any questions feel free to ask. Hope these help someone! Good luck with all your planning 

 

 

[AllieH]

I'm on pinterest!! here's my link: http://pinterest.com/TxAllieGrl/

 

so a total of $1300 for up to 5 hours for the DJ? that is REALLY inexpensive!!!! WOW. hmmm...will consider that too. thank you! 
 

Originally Posted by TheWolferts 

Thanks! If you aren't on Pinterest, you need to be! I have found a lot of great ideas and vendors for decor items that we are bringing down.

 

I'm not a huge bow person, but I knew I wanted some color on the chairs and a more official looking isle, so I actually saw the idea for the starfish on the Wedding Bee board. We made them this weekend and they are really easy to make! I did a lot of research for pricing and the quality of starfish ( i know, Im a dork ) and found a great site http://www.seashellcity.com/

 

Since our colors are cobalt blue and tiffany blue, there werent a lot of options for naturally blue flowers, so I wanted to keep all the flowers white. It took me a relaly long time to find the BMs bouquets at a reasonable price, but I love them!

 

As for the hair, I have very fine, long hair and when I went in September 2010, my hair wouldnt hold a curl (I think they dropped out before I even left our room) and was crazy frizzy. I really want to do a long curled, side pony tail so I think it might work, as long as we do the curls really tight, so that when they inevitably drop out, they are a nice soft curl haha.

 

I pulled up my original email with DJ Doremixx from July 5, 2011 (see below). We loved that they had a ton of GREAT reviews, and came with all the little extras that will add to the fun! He includes the cold fireworks (EDR charges about $150 or $200), he does balloons, masquerade masks, and glow jewelry! They are also very easy to work with and provide you a spreadsheet to help you organize your reception timeline and music. I was VERY hesitant to go with the Lomas approved DJs because I couldnt find any reviews or websites for any of them! Thats a red flag for me! My cousin used an approved DJ and they mixed up all of her wedding party's intro music, which they had actually spent a lot of time selecting based on passed experiences with each friend! They also did not get to meet their DJ prior to the reception. I have already scheduled my meeting with Doremixx for the Monday before our wedding. They are just so on the ball and for the price, I cant understand why anyone would chose an "approved" vendor over this guy! I am sooo excited, we are going to use the cold fireworks for our introduction at the reception! I think it will make for quite a grand entrance and great pictures!

 

 

DJ Service equipment:

• 02 Speakers JBL 15”
• 02 Robotic Lights
• 04 Par 64 Led’s (lights)
• DJ Booth (With Mixer Rane and Double CD player CDJ400 Pioneer, or turntables Technics 1200)
• Wireless Microphone (Speeches and announcements)
• Professional DJ (He can do the announcements)
• 02 Cold fireworks (See enclosed photo, ask to your wedding coordinator if they permit these cold fireworks)
• Smoke machine, Bubble machine (Available only Indoors)
• Music from the 70’s, 80’s to the best music playing today with different genres.

PRICE 2012 $800 US From 1 to 5 hours. if your wedding is just for 3 or 4 hours apply the same price)

Additional hour $150 US

 

Slide Show

Tripod screen 1.72 * 1.72 = $60 US

Big screen 3*2 meters = $200 US

Projector $150 US

If you reserve one of the screen and the projector we will provide you the lap top or the DVD without any extra charge.(please see attached the pictures)

 

 

 

 

 

[TheWolferts]

I just followed your boards on Pinterest! Im at http://pinterest.com/newinitials/

 

The outside vendor fee is $800 so the total is about $1,600. Still a way better option than the approved DJs as they are at a minimum $2,000.
 

Originally Posted by AllieH 

I'm on pinterest!! here's my link: http://pinterest.com/TxAllieGrl/

 

so a total of $1300 for up to 5 hours for the DJ? that is REALLY inexpensive!!!! WOW. hmmm...will consider that too. thank you! 
 

 

 

 

[AllieH]

Ah ok - I saw the outside vendor fee for photographer/videographer is $500, and it's lumped under the heading Entertainment/Photography/Videography, so I assumed it was the same. 

 

I'm stalking following you on pinterest now - thank you for sharing! 
 

Originally Posted by TheWolferts 

I just followed your boards on Pinterest! Im at http://pinterest.com/newinitials/

 

The outside vendor fee is $800 so the total is about $1,600. Still a way better option than the approved DJs as they are at a minimum $2,000.
 

 

 

 

[ashbrooke3ou]

Just a suggestion but I would be very hesitant to just accept the $800 fee.  If anyone has not already signed a contract I would ask that a lower fee probably $500 be used for all outside vendors.  I really fought those fees as I am bringing on 3 outside vendors as well as have a pretty large guest list.  Hopefully you all can get them to work with you as well.

[TheWolferts]

Ashbrooke3ou-

 

When my cousin got married in September 2010, the outside vendor fees were only $500. I was told they went up to $800 and there wasnt anything we could do about it. Since we are only using 1 outside vendor and the price is still less than it woudl cost to use one of their approved vendors, we let it go.

 

When is your wedding? How many guests are you expecting?

 

 

All-

 

Off topic, but we are less than 3 months away and owe our final guest count to our WC in 2.5 weeks, and I am having a couple of people that have already put down deposits, now say they arent coming! Im so frustrated!!!! We have been engaged for 18 months and let everyone know about the wedding over a year ago. To make matters worse, these guests arent even calling us to tell us! One sent a text with an "FYI, if flights dont go down atleast $40, we arent coming" and another we had to call because we hadnt received his RSVP card and we needed to know which menu option he preferred. My fiance keeps telling me that he wishes I didnt take it so personally, but I am having a hard time not to. Help!

[murmel]

 

 

Originally Posted by TheWolferts 

 

All-

 

Off topic, but we are less than 3 months away and owe our final guest count to our WC in 2.5 weeks, and I am having a couple of people that have already put down deposits, now say they arent coming! Im so frustrated!!!! We have been engaged for 18 months and let everyone know about the wedding over a year ago. To make matters worse, these guests arent even calling us to tell us! One sent a text with an "FYI, if flights dont go down atleast $40, we arent coming" and another we had to call because we hadnt received his RSVP card and we needed to know which menu option he preferred. My fiance keeps telling me that he wishes I didnt take it so personally, but I am having a hard time not to. Help!

First of all, your WC doesn't need final numbers until 4 weeks prior (and I had 3 guests join us in the last 10 days and they accommodated it no problems). So don't stress about that....not sure why they are telling you that they need the numbers that soon! Silly! If they ask, tell them an approximate 20 guests, 50 guests, etc. (BUT guess your numbers under, not over what you expect) and that you'll send your final numbers 4 weeks prior! The reason they are trying to get your numbers is to complete your spread sheet and know how much they have to charge you (for chair covers, private receptions, flowers, etc.), you can always pay the money for extra guests later, trying to get a refund might be tricky! If I remember correctly you had to pay the wedding fee in full 21 days prior to the wedding. 

 

As for your guests not being honest, or committing one way or the other. That a deep breath, and realize you can't control this. I was so worried about who was or wasn't coming, and then I realized that all destination brides must go through this same stress. It is frustrating, but it's also a lot to ask of people, and I had to remind myself of that quite often.

 

Concentrate on those guests that you know are coming and making their trip a wonderful experience. If you have some people drop out or join last minute, know that the WC will work to accommodate this and that you will enjoy your wedding no matter what happens! 

 

As for those guests that didn't reply about meal choices, etc. We actually had added a clause on our menu cards, "Please RSVP your dinner choice by December 31. If you do not reply you will receive choice A". That way if I had not heard from people they got meal A. For your guests that don't reply on time, I would just make a dinner choice for them, and be done with it.

Good luck! And know that we're all going through the same things (or have gone through the same things).

 

 

[TheWolferts]

Thanks Murmel! I dont think my FI totally gets why I'm upset, so its nice to sympathize with other DW brides that have gone or are going through the same thing.

 

My WC said she needs our final guest list 6 weeks before our wedding date. I am also eager to figure out our total number of guests so I can start accumulating the OOT bag supplies and other various things we are ordering based on how many people are attending the wedding. We are also trying to decide on our honeymoon options and it would be great to see how much, if any, we have left over from our budget.

 

I know it is asking a lot for people to come down to Mexico from our wedding, but to be honest, most people were going to have to travel to my hometown and pay for hotel, rental car, food/bev, and flights as well. When we decided to do a DW, we literally ran the costs and compared them and the DW cost people less than $100 more, so we figured people would rather go to Mexico than VA lol.

 

I think I am just disappointed to have people say they cant afford to make the trip, then I see them post pictures on their Facebook walls of trips they have recently taken. I know we cant make people decide that our wedding is a priority when it comes to them deciding how to use their vacation money, but I think im just hurt that if I only had enough money to take only one trip, I would, without a doubt, choose their wedding.

 

At the beginning of the DW planning process, our guest list of who was seriously considering making the trip was 64 people, which I had to convince myself would be a decent number. Now, we only have about 35, including us. I am trying to see the positives, but the negatives keep creeping in... like, we are hiring a DJ, for what I thought would be a sizable party, but now I am thinking it will look strangely "over the top" for 35 people. Also, we are having the wedding party announced by our DJ at the reception, but all I can think of is 10 people standing in the reception hall, since the majority of the guests now are in the wedding party and will be waiting to be introduced LOL. *deep sigh*

 

I need to stop thinking about what I thought it would be, and be grateful for the close friends and family that will be down there to share our special day, which is really what the day should be about anyways.

[ElDorado2012]

Wow. Your concerns are EXACTLY what I have been stressing about recently. We also had 60+ guests who had confirmed coming, many of whom had made reservations. Then, one-by-one, they started dropping off and now we are down to 32! It's extra disappointing/frustrating/confusing as well because I know a lot of these guests can totally afford the trip, and many go on one big vacation a year, so I too am questioning why they wouldn't make their vacation our wedding (selfish, I know, but I can't help it). (By the way - many have just sent "no" replies on their RSVP cards and canceled their reservations without giving us a reason...)

 

Also, I paid the deposit for a DJ when I was thinking the number was in the 60's, and just as you said, I'm feeling weird about having a DJ for such a small number of guests. It's seems excessive and kind of embarrassing. I feel like the dance floor is going to be empty! I am definitely considering eating my deposit and canceling the DJ I really don't know what to do at this point.

 

I actually wouldn't worry that much about the DJ thing if our guests that were coming were wild dancers. I feel like our group is really divided as far as the music they like (and would dance to), so I'm envisioning only some guests dancing to a certain style of music and others only dancing to a different style. Does that make sense? So really, we'll have about 10-15 people dancing at any given moment. UGH. I'm embarrassed just thinking about it LOL

 

 

Originally Posted by TheWolferts 

Thanks Murmel! I dont think my FI totally gets why I'm upset, so its nice to sympathize with other DW brides that have gone or are going through the same thing.

 

My WC said she needs our final guest list 6 weeks before our wedding date. I am also eager to figure out our total number of guests so I can start accumulating the OOT bag supplies and other various things we are ordering based on how many people are attending the wedding. We are also trying to decide on our honeymoon options and it would be great to see how much, if any, we have left over from our budget.

 

I know it is asking a lot for people to come down to Mexico from our wedding, but to be honest, most people were going to have to travel to my hometown and pay for hotel, rental car, food/bev, and flights as well. When we decided to do a DW, we literally ran the costs and compared them and the DW cost people less than $100 more, so we figured people would rather go to Mexico than VA lol.

 

I think I am just disappointed to have people say they cant afford to make the trip, then I see them post pictures on their Facebook walls of trips they have recently taken. I know we cant make people decide that our wedding is a priority when it comes to them deciding how to use their vacation money, but I think im just hurt that if I only had enough money to take only one trip, I would, without a doubt, choose their wedding.

 

At the beginning of the DW planning process, our guest list of who was seriously considering making the trip was 64 people, which I had to convince myself would be a decent number. Now, we only have about 35, including us. I am trying to see the positives, but the negatives keep creeping in... like, we are hiring a DJ, for what I thought would be a sizable party, but now I am thinking it will look strangely "over the top" for 35 people. Also, we are having the wedding party announced by our DJ at the reception, but all I can think of is 10 people standing in the reception hall, since the majority of the guests now are in the wedding party and will be waiting to be introduced LOL. *deep sigh*

 

I need to stop thinking about what I thought it would be, and be grateful for the close friends and family that will be down there to share our special day, which is really what the day should be about anyways.