El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

[ElDorado2012]

Another thing I am struggling with is the type of music to play. My fiance and his friends all like 50s doo wop/Frank Sinatra/60s-70s rock-and-roll music and really won't dance/have a good time to anything other than that. (Literally, when we have a party at our house, as soon as the "girly" music comes on the boys leave the room. It's like a 7th grade dance where the girls and boys are separated.) The girls in the group don't mind the kind of music the boys like, but we also want to dance to pop/dance/hip hop songs. I just know once one of the "girly" songs come on, it's only going to be us few girls dancing, which I think is really awkward. I also feel like the adults of the group will lean more towards dancing to the oldies music, so I'm wondering if I should just not play the pop/dance/hip hop music at all, or limit it to only a few songs...? Why can't anything be easy...

[TheWolferts]

ElDorado2012-

 

While I wouldnt wish this situation on anyone, it is "nice" to have someone that can sympathize.

Where is your reception? We are having ours in a fairly small space in the Salon Dorado, so I am thinking that I will just put 5-6 people at a table so people have more space and the room doesnt look so empty! I remember stressing about getting our number under the 64 maximum capacity for this space! HAH!

 

I'm so torn, because I cannot imagine not having a DJ and I think I would regret it if I canceled him, but it almost seems like a waste of money and like you said, a little embarassing. *sigh* I think the "embarassed" feeling might be stemming from the fact that my MOH just got married in June and had a lavish $100k wedding with hundreds of people and for some reason, I care what her opinion is on mostly everything. I  know she wont "judge" our wedding because she is one of my best friends, but I cant help but compare the overall "pomp and circumstance" of the 2 weddings.

 

I'm hoping that as people arrive throughout the week, I just relax and grow more at ease with the fact that we are having a very small wedding. We planned the wedding the way we wanted it, and it really shouldnt matter who is there or in our case, who isnt.

 

I say we unite, go with our first instinct, and keep our DJ! At one point, we thought it was a great idea, so lets stop second guessing ourselves!

 

 

 

 

 

Originally Posted by 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

 

 

 

 

[murmel]

Wolferts and ElDorado2012- I say keep your DJ! Most times your DJ will quickly notice what type of music your guests are enjoying and change things up to make sure your guests are having fun. An iPod can't do that! And although I don't know which DJ's you have hired, a lot of them bring fun props to the party to help keep the party going

 

Don't worry about "how" things look- enjoy yourself. Don't fool yourselves- a destination wedding of over 20 people is a great size! Plus you'll actually get to spend time with your guests- not jump from one table to another, say hi to your guests and then run off to the next table. You'll actually remember who was there, and what you did with them over the week. Plus you can make time to have lunch or dinner with everyone during the stay (not all at the same time). Enjoy it for what it is, a beautiful wedding, in a beautiful location!

[ashbrooke3ou]

I agree with Murmel.  I am actually getting married on March 3 (not long at all!).  My original thoughts were that we would have around 60 guests as well and I wanted to use the Salon Dorado.  I love the looks of it!  Anyways we actually have 70 guests and had to pick a different location for the reception.  I was kind of bummed at first but we are doing it on the white gazebo beach area and I think I'm going to enjoy it even more.  You should both make the most of your 30-40 guests!  I think that's a great number for a DW and so much more personal.  For me that's one of the reasons I wanted a DW in the first place.

 

I would still go for the dj if I were ya'll.  It will take pressure off you worrying about the music and people can just make requests if they want to hear something in particular.  We are going to be in Mexico so I don't see how anyone would not have a good time whether we have 10 guests or 100.  

 

It's your day so don't let the little things get to you.  I've also had trouble with rsvp's and people not responding or coming when the excuse seems kind of lame but I've just tried to chalk it up to sometimes learning who your true friends are.  I've had my share of gripes about this but I figure in 20 years I probably won't remember or care that most of those people weren't there anyways.  

[ElDorado2012]

Great advice - thank you
 

Originally Posted by murmel 

Wolferts and ElDorado2012- I say keep your DJ! Most times your DJ will quickly notice what type of music your guests are enjoying and change things up to make sure your guests are having fun. An iPod can't do that! And although I don't know which DJ's you have hired, a lot of them bring fun props to the party to help keep the party going

 

Don't worry about "how" things look- enjoy yourself. Don't fool yourselves- a destination wedding of over 20 people is a great size! Plus you'll actually get to spend time with your guests- not jump from one table to another, say hi to your guests and then run off to the next table. You'll actually remember who was there, and what you did with them over the week. Plus you can make time to have lunch or dinner with everyone during the stay (not all at the same time). Enjoy it for what it is, a beautiful wedding, in a beautiful location!

 

[ElDorado2012]

Also great advice - thank you
 

Originally Posted by ashbrooke3ou 

I agree with Murmel.  I am actually getting married on March 3 (not long at all!).  My original thoughts were that we would have around 60 guests as well and I wanted to use the Salon Dorado.  I love the looks of it!  Anyways we actually have 70 guests and had to pick a different location for the reception.  I was kind of bummed at first but we are doing it on the white gazebo beach area and I think I'm going to enjoy it even more.  You should both make the most of your 30-40 guests!  I think that's a great number for a DW and so much more personal.  For me that's one of the reasons I wanted a DW in the first place.

 

I would still go for the dj if I were ya'll.  It will take pressure off you worrying about the music and people can just make requests if they want to hear something in particular.  We are going to be in Mexico so I don't see how anyone would not have a good time whether we have 10 guests or 100.  

 

It's your day so don't let the little things get to you.  I've also had trouble with rsvp's and people not responding or coming when the excuse seems kind of lame but I've just tried to chalk it up to sometimes learning who your true friends are.  I've had my share of gripes about this but I figure in 20 years I probably won't remember or care that most of those people weren't there anyways.  

 

[ElDorado2012]

Alright - I'll keep the DJ then - thanks for the words of support!! Our reception is at the Tucanes Bar. I like your idea of seating five or six to a table to fill it out more...  Murmel had the great point that because of the lower guest count, we will be fortunate to have time to hang out and spend time with everyone who came. There's nothing we can do about the number of guests, so we have to just relax and have a blast with those who are there
 

Originally Posted by TheWolferts 

ElDorado2012-

 

While I wouldnt wish this situation on anyone, it is "nice" to have someone that can sympathize.

Where is your reception? We are having ours in a fairly small space in the Salon Dorado, so I am thinking that I will just put 5-6 people at a table so people have more space and the room doesnt look so empty! I remember stressing about getting our number under the 64 maximum capacity for this space! HAH!

 

I'm so torn, because I cannot imagine not having a DJ and I think I would regret it if I canceled him, but it almost seems like a waste of money and like you said, a little embarassing. *sigh* I think the "embarassed" feeling might be stemming from the fact that my MOH just got married in June and had a lavish $100k wedding with hundreds of people and for some reason, I care what her opinion is on mostly everything. I  know she wont "judge" our wedding because she is one of my best friends, but I cant help but compare the overall "pomp and circumstance" of the 2 weddings.

 

I'm hoping that as people arrive throughout the week, I just relax and grow more at ease with the fact that we are having a very small wedding. We planned the wedding the way we wanted it, and it really shouldnt matter who is there or in our case, who isnt.

 

I say we unite, go with our first instinct, and keep our DJ! At one point, we thought it was a great idea, so lets stop second guessing ourselves!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ElDorado2012]

By the way - March 3!!!!! That's so soon!!!! Yay! When do you leave??

 

Originally Posted by ashbrooke3ou 

I agree with Murmel.  I am actually getting married on March 3 (not long at all!).  My original thoughts were that we would have around 60 guests as well and I wanted to use the Salon Dorado.  I love the looks of it!  Anyways we actually have 70 guests and had to pick a different location for the reception.  I was kind of bummed at first but we are doing it on the white gazebo beach area and I think I'm going to enjoy it even more.  You should both make the most of your 30-40 guests!  I think that's a great number for a DW and so much more personal.  For me that's one of the reasons I wanted a DW in the first place.

 

I would still go for the dj if I were ya'll.  It will take pressure off you worrying about the music and people can just make requests if they want to hear something in particular.  We are going to be in Mexico so I don't see how anyone would not have a good time whether we have 10 guests or 100.  

 

It's your day so don't let the little things get to you.  I've also had trouble with rsvp's and people not responding or coming when the excuse seems kind of lame but I've just tried to chalk it up to sometimes learning who your true friends are.  I've had my share of gripes about this but I figure in 20 years I probably won't remember or care that most of those people weren't there anyways.  

 

[mrendic]

Hey ladies,

 

So I've been silently stalking, errr.. I mean, reading EVERYTHING on this entire site. This will officially be my very first post! Exciting! I've been now engaged for about 2 years and wedding planning on and off for about a year. We are also getting married at El Dorado Royale-  on June 9th, 2012 at Gazebo 55! It seriously took us forever to figure out a location and a resort, but we ended up going with Mexico for the sake of our friends and family  She's awesome. We are now less than 4 months away and I'm FREAKING out. I honestly thought a destination wedding would be a whole lot less planning (and I'm sure it is compared to a wedding in the States) butttttt I can't believe how much I still have left to do! Luckily I have this site, which has helped tremendously! 

 

I see that a lot of you are having issues with people backing out- I know how it feels, it is ridiculously annoying. We just recently had one of the groomsmen back out and his reason was that he was going on a trip to Hawaii and couldn't afford to do both. My FI considers him one of his close friends, so he is really bummed. I know I would be too if one of my girls backed out! Either way, now we have an uneven number of bridesmaids and groomsmen which bothers me a little, but I will live. We only invited about 40 people and about 10 of those we definitely knew would not come (grandparents, etc) so I'm estimating our number to be around 20. We really just wanted something small and intimate, that way we can concentrate more on the people who really matter, and make their trip unforgettable. And the way I see it, the fewer people that come, the more money we will have to spend on excursions, private events & such! 

 

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi to my fellow EDR brides! xx 

[murmel]

Welcome mrendic!  Good luck with all your planning, and don't worry about the uneven number for the wedding party. I ended up with 3 girls, while my husband had 5! And at the end of the day it really didn't matter that it was uneven. We all had a great time!