El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

[AllieH]

Thanks Nikki! I think there are 5 of them coming in at that time, so a private van will work for them. Hopefully if I bump it back to 7pm that will mean they get there in time, or not too terribly late.

Originally Posted by TheWolferts 

It took some of our guests over 3 hours to get through customs and to EDR. If your guests are landing at 5, I would suspect they wont get through customs any earlier than 6:15. If they happen to be on a shuttle that is only dropping off at EDR that would be faster, but some of our guests were on shuttles that had multiple drop offs on the way to EDR so it took forever.

 

 

 

[murmel]

Originally Posted by AllieH 

 

We have 17 RSVPs back so far!! A little less than half what we expected, and we asked to have them by Sept 1st. That makes me pretty happy!! 

 

Do any of you past brides have a good estimate on the time it takes to get through the airport & customs, and actually get to EDR? Some of our guests aren't getting in until 5pm on Saturday, and right now our welcome dinner is scheduled for 6:30. wondering if I need to bump it back 30 minutes so they can join us. I think they will do a private shuttle vs. shared, if that helps at all. 

 

 So hard to say. Sometimes I have been through customs, picked up my bags and on my shuttle in 30 minutes. Other times it's been 2 hours.

 

But on average, I would say about 30 minutes for customs. 5 minutes to pick up bags. 10 minutes to get through the xray section. 10 minutes to find shuttle and get it all figured out (make sure to tell your guests to EXIT the airport completely before trying to find their shuttle service. Inside the terminal it's all time-share folks.And if they can have it arranged in advance.) If they are arranging a private tranfer (especially for 5 of them), I would expect them to get on the van and drive straight down to EDR, about 25 minutes. Then arriving at hotel-check in and getting to room about 20 minutes. So total average =1 hour 40 minutes. Plus I am sure they will want to freshen up a little, so I would bump it to 7pm for sure!

[jnitschke]

Originally Posted by AllieH 

 

We have 17 RSVPs back so far!! A little less than half what we expected, and we asked to have them by Sept 1st. That makes me pretty happy!! 

 

Do any of you past brides have a good estimate on the time it takes to get through the airport & customs, and actually get to EDR? Some of our guests aren't getting in until 5pm on Saturday, and right now our welcome dinner is scheduled for 6:30. wondering if I need to bump it back 30 minutes so they can join us. I think they will do a private shuttle vs. shared, if that helps at all. 

 

 

Allie, hearing about all your RSVPs is encouraging... the only people besides us who have booked are my FI parent's and that's it.  .. speaking of your welcome dinner I would push it back, maybe even to 7:30.  I can't remember the last time I had a flight that left on time, seems like I've had bad luck lately, so that will give you some leeway for late flights, custom stops, etc... You might want to say something to your coordinator about escorting them to the dinner from their rooms too, since once they get to EDR they'll need to check in, be astonished by the resorts beauty, find their rooms, freshen up a bit or whatever, and then navigate EDR to find your dinner.  All of that might slow things up a bit and giving them an escort might help-plus maybe the WC could get them to the head of the line for checking in also.

[AllieH]

Jen - when is your wedding?? 

 

We have 40 people booked right now, 4 more supposed to be at timeshares (but we didn't get confirms if they actually booked), and 2 more that are maybes (my travel agent/friend). So maybe 48 of us total - waaaay more than I expected. Our final payments from the guests are due 8/17, so we should have a final number shortly after that. The RSVPs were requested by Sept 1st. We're at the 90 day mark!! 

 

I think 7 is as late as I want to push dinner, since some of our guests are coming from the east coast. If they late comers don't make the dinner, then we'll tell them to meet us at the bar later!  

Originally Posted by jnitschke 

Allie, hearing about all your RSVPs is encouraging... the only people besides us who have booked are my FI parent's and that's it.  .. speaking of your welcome dinner I would push it back, maybe even to 7:30.  I can't remember the last time I had a flight that left on time, seems like I've had bad luck lately, so that will give you some leeway for late flights, custom stops, etc... You might want to say something to your coordinator about escorting them to the dinner from their rooms too, since once they get to EDR they'll need to check in, be astonished by the resorts beauty, find their rooms, freshen up a bit or whatever, and then navigate EDR to find your dinner.  All of that might slow things up a bit and giving them an escort might help-plus maybe the WC could get them to the head of the line for checking in also.

 

 

[Jnadair]

So I'm probably just getting paranoid, but EXACTLY what paperwork do I need to have for a legal ceremony?  I've read different things on different sites.  Neither one of us as been previously married before and both live in PA.  I submitted forms to Val last year, but I'm not sure if there's anything else I need to provide?  Do I need anything Apostled?  So confused.  Can anyone shed some light please?  Thanks! 

[jnitschke]

Oh, we're not getting married until Memorial Day... of course somehow I missed that 2 different cousins are graduating from college on Memorial Day next year.  So that means both of them, their siblings, and parents won't be able to attend.  All told it's about 8 people I had been counting on, and I'm actually kind of sad that my one aunt and uncle won't be able to attend since I was always closest to them.  Plus, when my parents split in high school my aunt really stepped up to make sure that I wasn't being forgotten in the mix.  But, it's a bit too late to change things now, and I don't really know when else I would want to do it.  Since I teach an AP class I don't really want to do it before the first week of May, last thing I need while teaching two AP classes is to be in crunch time while doing final wedding prep, talk about stress.  I picked Memorial Day weekend since most people would have the Monday off and would need one less day of leave (something in short commodity for some people), not to mention that Todd and I would need one less day also.  Plus, when I picked it I was sure that college graduations were always done by Memorial Day, what are the chances that their schools would both have the same graduation date?  Especially since they're the only two family members even in college right now.... sigh... oh well... I suppose this is just part of a destination wedding, some people you really want there just won't be able to go.. Todd's sister won't even be able to come, since her husband just told us that his doctor put the kabash on going to Mexico.  He has some kidney problems that he's been dealing with for most of his life, and Mexico is on a list of countries he's not allowed to travel to...news to us...would have been nice to know this before we put down a deposit and sent out save the dates.. but whatever... I just need to come to terms with some people not attending... especially since I currently have 3 friends who all just got pregnant and our county doesn't give maternity leave, meaning none of them will be able to take the time off to attend-even if they could some how scrounge up the cash.   But your group of 48 sounds ideal to me... 3 months to go is pretty awesome.  I'm still trying to figure out what all I need to DIY before summer is over... must mean I need to get moving since there's only 2 weeks til school starts back up.

Originally Posted by AllieH 

Jen - when is your wedding?? 

 

We have 40 people booked right now, 4 more supposed to be at timeshares (but we didn't get confirms if they actually booked), and 2 more that are maybes (my travel agent/friend). So maybe 48 of us total - waaaay more than I expected. Our final payments from the guests are due 8/17, so we should have a final number shortly after that. The RSVPs were requested by Sept 1st. We're at the 90 day mark!! 

 

I think 7 is as late as I want to push dinner, since some of our guests are coming from the east coast. If they late comers don't make the dinner, then we'll tell them to meet us at the bar later!  

 

 

[murmel]

Originally Posted by Jnadair 

 

So I'm probably just getting paranoid, but EXACTLY what paperwork do I need to have for a legal ceremony?  I've read different things on different sites.  Neither one of us as been previously married before and both live in PA.  I submitted forms to Val last year, but I'm not sure if there's anything else I need to provide?  Do I need anything Apostled?  So confused.  Can anyone shed some light please?  Thanks! 

 Hmmm...not 100% sure, but from what I was told:

1) birth certificates

2) passports

3) if you were previously married, the full divorce papers

4) another photo id (driver's license, etc)

 

As well, if you have friends signing as witnesses, they will need passport and one other photo ID.

 

I would make photocopies of your birth certificate and passport, so that should they need a copy you can give them the photocopy and not your originals. Also once you are in Mexico they will do a blood test.

 

Hope that helps. I know the legal wedding certificate is in Spanish. So the resort will have it translated to english for you (which can take up to 4-6 months), and then I think you have to register it locally in the US/Canada to make it legal (otherwise you are just married in Mexico-not at home)

[chiquita8302]

Hi Girls! I've been too busy to think about wedding stuff for a while, But I'm back and trying to play catch up. So much helpful stuff has been posted since I last read, so thanks for that everyone!!!!

 

ElDorado- Everything you've posted has been super helpful. Did you guys have a DJ? I think you said you had approx 40 people, is that right? If so, with or without a DJ how did you feel it went? We're having our reception at Tucanes, and I have no idea how many people are actually going to make it (since it seems like all of the girls I know have suddenly decided it's time to get pregnant- Argh!) and am wondering how it will feel (too empty or not?) with a smaller group and with or without a DJ. It seems kind of overkill for 40 people, but I don't want to miss out on the first dance and allt hat fun stuff!

 

Thanks!

Originally Posted by ElDorado2012 

Yay!! Congrats!!

 

Our schedule was:

 

6:30 - Bridal party enters, followed by my husband and I

6:35 - First dance

6:45 - Dinner was served

6:55 - Toasts (during the salad course)

7:25 - Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dance (we did this at the same time)

7:30 - Dancing/party begins

 

I didn't bring a second dress, but I was so hot and over being in my dress at the reception, that I ended up running to my room to change into casual a maxi dress. If you are staying in the regular side of the resort, this is feasible. If you are staying in the Casitas side, it's bit of a hike. If you are on the Casitas side and you really want to change, maybe see if the wedding planner can have a shuttle take you there and back or even give her (the wedding coordinator) the change of clothes ahead of time and maybe you could change in the bathroom or in another guests room which is closer... BTW - the public bathrooms around the resort are nice - they aren't gross or dirty - so it wouldn't be super gross if you had to change in there.

[chiquita8302]

Hi!! I have to agree with Jill... from my first ideas i had in my head when i first thought DW, to where I am now, I have changed my mind and ideas on everything, and my priorities, like a million times!! It's impossible to make so many decisions at once and I just have been trying to let the decisions fall into place as I go.

We originally were going to do the free dinner, but then, again- like Jill, I didn't want to miss out on the first dance and all that stuff. So we are doing a private reception at Tucanes... I have no clue how many people will be going- right now we have 29 definates including us, but there are probably 40 or so people we haven't heard from yet and the RSVP date is by Nov 15th.

Good luck wiht your planning!!

Originally Posted by mstigger 

Well I stumbled on to this site while I was searching for pink starfish ribbon!!! So glad that I did........I am getting married at EDR April 21, 2013.

Soooo excited!! Just dropped my save the dates in the mail today. Has anyone just done the dinner that comes with the package rather than an actual reception? That's what we have opted for, but I'm just not sure about it. I guess the good thing is that we are going to visit in September....it was a spur of the moment decision, but we are going Sept 16-21 for a quick get away and to check things out. Right now we have the Fuentes Gazebo booked for the ceremony, but I am just so uncertain on everything.....anyone else feel like that at first?

[chiquita8302]

Hi!

What flowers did you reuse for your reception? I've heard of incorporating the girls bouquets or something into centerpieces, and as the flowers are so exensive, this was kind of appealing... but for now I've just decided to do non-floral centerpieces. I'm curious to hear what you did!

Thanks,
Chris

Originally Posted by Cvantine 

 

Just an FYI that I had my mom and bridesmaids do all my set up for me and they allowed it at no cost. For us, this included candles and flowers on the tables (we used the flowers from the ceremony) and name cards. They had told us the set up fee and I said "forget that!" Just as a precaustion, I e-mailed our WC to let her know that my mother and bridesmaids would be doing it and I didn't expect to be charged and then I printed her acknowledgement of my message to take with me in case I needed it. I didn't =)