El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

[Jillsepher]

Hey Allie! She ended up getting back to me with three different Mahi Mahi choices. I just have to pay more for that dish (of course.) But I'm do glad I got it done! The only thing I'm waiting on now is an example of the Cocotal menu card, she's sending me a form I need to fill out to have my gift bags delivered to the rooms, and she's checking into what I have to do in order to get a signature drink. Been waiting about a month for those but I think she had to request it from the hotel and they are slow at responding. The last thing I'm trying to figure out is getting an ASL interpreter for my brother. I don't want him to miss out on knowing what's going on during the ceremony. I also just went to my jeweler and am getting this starfish pendant that my FI made me when we first started dating into a bracelet for the wedding. I'm so excited! How are things going with you? How are the responses coming along?

[TheWolferts]

Jill-

 

We had a signature drink at our cocktail hour. Valeria had to check with the hotel to make sure they had all of the ingredients to make our requested drink. They werent able to make our first choice, but they confirmed our second choice and even made one, took a picture, and sent it to us to make sure it was the color we wanted!

 

The cocotal menu card is pretty plain. I will try to drum up a picture of it and post it here.

Originally Posted by Jillsepher 

Hey Allie! She ended up getting back to me with three different Mahi Mahi choices. I just have to pay more for that dish (of course.) But I'm do glad I got it done! The only thing I'm waiting on now is an example of the Cocotal menu card, she's sending me a form I need to fill out to have my gift bags delivered to the rooms, and she's checking into what I have to do in order to get a signature drink. Been waiting about a month for those but I think she had to request it from the hotel and they are slow at responding. The last thing I'm trying to figure out is getting an ASL interpreter for my brother. I don't want him to miss out on knowing what's going on during the ceremony. I also just went to my jeweler and am getting this starfish pendant that my FI made me when we first started dating into a bracelet for the wedding. I'm so excited!
How are things going with you? How are the responses coming along?

[TheWolferts]

Here is the Cocotal menu they provide:

 

 

Originally Posted by TheWolferts 

Jill-

 

We had a signature drink at our cocktail hour. Valeria had to check with the hotel to make sure they had all of the ingredients to make our requested drink. They werent able to make our first choice, but they confirmed our second choice and even made one, took a picture, and sent it to us to make sure it was the color we wanted!

 

The cocotal menu card is pretty plain. I will try to drum up a picture of it and post it here.

[AllieH]

ah ok - so your friend eats fish, that's good that there are still some choices! 

 

the hotel is bad at responding. it took about a week to confirm our changed arrival date. 

 

can't wait to see your bracelet! I hope they are able to find an ASL interpreter for you. any chance one of your family is able to do it? 

 

I'm doing good. the responses are a little faster than before, but still too slow for my tastes. but what can I do? grin and bear it, and focus on the more positive/fun stuff. 

Originally Posted by Jillsepher 

Hey Allie! She ended up getting back to me with three different Mahi Mahi choices. I just have to pay more for that dish (of course.) But I'm do glad I got it done! The only thing I'm waiting on now is an example of the Cocotal menu card, she's sending me a form I need to fill out to have my gift bags delivered to the rooms, and she's checking into what I have to do in order to get a signature drink. Been waiting about a month for those but I think she had to request it from the hotel and they are slow at responding. The last thing I'm trying to figure out is getting an ASL interpreter for my brother. I don't want him to miss out on knowing what's going on during the ceremony. I also just went to my jeweler and am getting this starfish pendant that my FI made me when we first started dating into a bracelet for the wedding. I'm so excited!
How are things going with you? How are the responses coming along?

 

 

[Jillsepher]

Thanks Nikki! Were you able to pick the color for the menu or was blue the only choice? Also, if you don't mind me asking what drink did you decide on? Allie- why did you change your arrival date? You guys decide to stay longer? What else to you have to straighten out with Natalia? My MIL wants the interpreter for him. They are really nice to have and I want all guest to be able to enjoy the ceremony as well. I found a company I think might do it but they haven't emailed me back. I emailed Natalia, the hotel and my TA so hopefully someone can help me. Oh by the way the online chat is back online and I noticed they increased some of their prices. I'm assuming since I booked the stuff before and gave that price on my spreadsheet that I'll get the lower price. Might wanna check your stuff out just to make sure.

[TheWolferts]

I think the default color is blue. I believe my cousin's Cocotal menu was blue as well and her wedding colors were orange and pink.

 

We decided on a drink that we named Carribbean Crush. It had coconut rum, blue curaco and pineapple juice. Very tasty!

Originally Posted by Jillsepher 

Thanks Nikki! Were you able to pick the color for the menu or was blue the only choice? Also, if you don't mind me asking what drink did you decide on?
Allie- why did you change your arrival date? You guys decide to stay longer? What else to you have to straighten out with Natalia? My MIL wants the interpreter for him. They are really nice to have and I want all guest to be able to enjoy the ceremony as well. I found a company I think might do it but they haven't emailed me back. I emailed Natalia, the hotel and my TA so hopefully someone can help me. Oh by the way the online chat is back online and I noticed they increased some of their prices. I'm assuming since I booked the stuff before and gave that price on my spreadsheet that I'll get the lower price. Might wanna check your stuff out just to make sure.

[chiquita8302]

Hi girls,

Just figured I'd give a little update since it's been a busy week!

 

We've got our room block booked for 25 rooms... Kyle and I did decide to stay in a Casita once we realized the discounted rate would apply to those as well. Having the free wedding makes it a reasonable upgrade in my mind, although I still feel we would have been happy and impressed with the regular suites!

 

I sent out our invites... I did passport invites... I'm going to try to post pics. They were WAY more work than I anticipated, but I think that is because in my head I was planning for maybe 40 invites, but then once we got going wiht the guest list, Kyle would think of more people that we had to invite... so our invite list is up to 76 couples (or a single person plus their guest). I know that most of them won't be able to come, but I got a little overwhelmed as the numbers kept growing! I am not going to worry about how many people come, as now that I've decided to do the private reception, it shoudn't matter too much, as it will just be a matter of paying for the extra plates. If it was a standard wedding reception with $100 plates or something like that I think it would be more stressful, but since it is the way it is, I'm not going to worry about it. We went through the list and guessed who would come, and we counted i think like 58 people that we think will genuinely come.

 

I've been in touch with Valeria, and so far she seems very nice and positive, and has lots of ideas/reccomendations to share. I think I'd like to have our reception at Tucanes, so she has reserved that for us. She said that the reception will start at 6pm, and the wedding is at 4pm (per her reccommendation), so I'm not sure exactly what people are to do between. I really don't want to pay for another whole cocktail party. I asked her what they expected guests to do between, but haven't heard yet. I was thinking that if there was a bar near or between the wedding site and the reception that maybe i could just reccommend people stop for a casual cocktail on the way, or something like that? I don't know. I don't want to be ghetto!

 

I know you girls talked a lot about the set-up charge for additional decorations... it says on my spreadsheet that it will be $5.00 pp charge for this. I don't think we're going to be going crazy with decorations, so I'm assuming I will be able to have a friend or someone place whatever we need. But at least I have an up front idea of what it will cost worst case scenario. Now I can budget for that.

 

I've decided to go with Coral and white instead of hot pink for my colors... I think it's going to look nicer especially given the tropical location! Since our wedding is in February, and we have another wedding that myself and my bridesmaids are in in September, I want to make sure we get going on dresses before it gets crazy... every time we order BM dresses it seems to take FOREVER so I'll probably get going with that next! As for bridesmaids... There are 8 girls total, 1 of which can't come. I am thinking of having a maid of honor as well as a matron of honor, because I really feel these two girls stand out among the rest as far as being there for me over the years... how awkward do you think that will be?? My FI thinks it's kind of strange, but obviously wants me to do whatever makes me happy.

 

I think that's everything for now... thanks for listening and thanks for your feedback!!

 

 

[AllieH]

We changed it for the airfare - I used my miles for one ticket, and wanted to make sure the outbound flight is direct. The only way I could get that on the reward ticket was to move the departure date to a day earlier. So didn't really save much at the end of the day, but we get an extra day before everyone else arrives. 

 

I had asked Natalia to send me some of the cakes that the chef had created for previous/recent brides. She said she attached them to her reply email, but she didn't. So I asked her again. She keeps saying to send them pics of what I want, and the chef will confirm if they can do it. But I don't want to get them to try to recreate something - I want to see what else they have done so I can have realistic expectations (besides Nikki's cake). 

 

We haven't confirmed any of the extras, although she's quoted them for me. You can bet if the price goes up we'll have a discussion. We probably won't do too many extras though, the prices are just more than I'm willing to pay. I love this process so much! 

 

 

 

I need a "serenity now" smiley... 

 

Originally Posted by Jillsepher 

Thanks Nikki! Were you able to pick the color for the menu or was blue the only choice? Also, if you don't mind me asking what drink did you decide on?
Allie- why did you change your arrival date? You guys decide to stay longer? What else to you have to straighten out with Natalia? My MIL wants the interpreter for him. They are really nice to have and I want all guest to be able to enjoy the ceremony as well. I found a company I think might do it but they haven't emailed me back. I emailed Natalia, the hotel and my TA so hopefully someone can help me. Oh by the way the online chat is back online and I noticed they increased some of their prices. I'm assuming since I booked the stuff before and gave that price on my spreadsheet that I'll get the lower price. Might wanna check your stuff out just to make sure.

 

 

[AllieH]

PS - I missed somewhere that they do a "custom" menu for the Cocotal dinner. I had one created/printed for our guests that matches the rest of our wedding stationary. It was cheap enough with the other stuff I had printed. It's a 4x8 postcard. (and now you have a preview of our wedding stationary!)

 

 

[murmel]

Originally Posted by TheWolferts 

 

My father in law passed away this past Saturday which in itself is terrible, but we were also scheduled to go on our honeymoon in 10 days. My husband doesnt think he would be ina good place mentally to honeymoon and I completely agree, but now we are stuck trying to find a place to go, preferably not in Mexico, later in July. The place we were originally booked (thank goodness we got insurance) is sold out that week, so we looked at our second choice Secrets Wild Orchid. If we book through DW.com, the cheapest/worst room is $3216, with the mid level room being $3966. If we book on the Secrets website, we pay $2900 for the mid level room, but there is a chance that we could get there and they could move us to a lower level room or even the sister resort next door. I kinda think we should take the chance and book through the site because the worst that can happen is we pay the $2900 and the demote us to the worse level room, so we will still be paying less than DW.com quoted us for that room level. Plus we have the chance of getting the better room. So 1) what is everyone doing for their honeymoon? and 2) What would u do in this situation?

 First of all, I am so sorry to hear this news. This must be a very difficult time for you and your husband. Take some time to recover. And know that I am thinking of you both.

 

The idea of a honeymoon right away is nice,but it's also nice to have something to look forward to later. (we went our honeymoon almost 10 months later to south east Asia) Thankfully you have insurance, so you can just plan another trip. In July (if that's when you are able to go), the caribbean is extremely hot. Could you go somewhere else? Europe maybe? Rent an Italian villa, and enjoy the great wine? If you are set on the Caribbean, look at other resorts- Sandels St. Lucia is stunning; Excellence in Punta Cana, Cuba; Rui Palace in Los Cabos, Mexico; St. Maarten is a beautiful island (we visited while on a cruise, but I don't know any resorts there directly).

Originally Posted by TheWolferts 

 

Murmel,

 

I saw that you got married at Azul Sensatori. How does it compare to EDR?

 

I know kids are allowed at the Azul resorts, but I thought I read something about there being an adults only section to the resort. Is this true?

 Yes, there is an adult only section. It's one of the buildings (there are 4 main buildings with rooms) and a pool with swim up bar. We love the Sensatori! It's a great size (only about 400 rooms), so it's big enough to find a quiet spot, yet small enough to wander around in 5 minutes and enjoy the whole resort. They also have one of the most amazing restaurants there called Le Chique. If you go, you must MUST try this. The chef was trained in Spain and does some really fun playful things with your meal. (don't expect a meat and potatoes meal. It's very different!) But hubby and I enjoyed this so much (we're foodies), that we picked this resort for our wedding, just based on this restaurant. (we also made good friends with the chef and the sous chefs) We have gone back multiple times, and always have a great time. The staff and service is wonderful, the rooms modern and nice. The only downside is the beach area. It's quite narrow, and in the water it's rocky. It's right on an old coral reef, so you have to be really careful. But if you walk down the beach (to the north) about 500 yards, there is a stunning area of white powder sand and you can walk right out to have a great swim.

 

If there's anything else specific you'd like to know, just ask! Even though it's a family friendly resort, if given the choice between Sensatori and EDR- I would go back to the Sensatori. They are both beautiful, but I love the size and service at Sensatori.