2011 Iberostar Brides

[canmaya bride]

Wow Tara your profile pic looks beautiful! I'm sure your photos are going to be amazing!!

 

So i guess photocarribean is no longer the photographer at the iberostar. They are now using adventure photos and it is $500 for an outside photographer + $50 for a day pass. Yeesh!!! Super expensive to go with anyone outside the resort. Reyna sent me some wedding pics that adventure photos have done at the iberostar and i thought they were decent. Has anyone here used adventure photos?If so could you PM me your photos please ...

 

Erin, you talked about place cards?  Is this a menu with food selections or a pre selected meal? How does this work? Do you pick the menu you want to use prior to Mexico then email 

their choices and then everyone is suppose to choose their meal plan prior to the reception? OR do you write the choices down on a place card for the night and then everyone selects? I just don't quite understand what you mean when you say red for meat blue for chicken etc. Do you have a pic of this?

 

My wedding is not until January but i want to get a head start so i am not AS stressed when we are closer to the wedding date

 

[nucci]

Tara- I love the picture!  You look amazing!  That is SO exciting you get to see all your pics soon!!  

 

What has/is everyone doing about tips?  Who did you tip?  How much?  If you don't wait to discuss money on the forum I can email you ladies...Trying to figure out all expenses now and what travelers checks we need, etc.

 

Thanks!

[Hanna20]

Hello!

 

My wedding is at the Beach/Del Mar on April 6th (coming up sooooo fast!!!) and I did the same thing with the place cards as Erin. So just to clarify.... if you're having a private reception then they will allow you to give your guests a choice of 2 entrees (since you have to have a set menu). You need to find out ahead of time what each of your guests want to eat (ie. beef or chicken) and then you must make placecards that have the person's name on one side and their entree choice on the other side. You also have to prepare a seating chart which you have to send to the wedding coordinator. They need you to do all this so that on the day of they know where everyone is sitting and what they are having for dinner. Does that make sense? I think that Erin just chose to do colour coding but I don't believe that is mandatory.

 

I also agree with you about the fee for external photographers.... It is ridiculous in my mind! We hired an external photographer and we have to pay a fee of $300 (which was the fee with the old company and they are honoring it since that was the deal when we booked). We also have to pay $50 each for day passes for them and also for the DJ (we hired DJ Doremixx).

 

All in all its not cheap but it will be great!!!
 

Originally Posted by canmaya bride 

Wow Tara your profile pic looks beautiful! I'm sure your photos are going to be amazing!!

 

So i guess photocarribean is no longer the photographer at the iberostar. They are now using adventure photos and it is $500 for an outside photographer + $50 for a day pass. Yeesh!!! Super expensive to go with anyone outside the resort. Reyna sent me some wedding pics that adventure photos have done at the iberostar and i thought they were decent. Has anyone here used adventure photos?If so could you PM me your photos please ...

 

Erin, you talked about place cards?  Is this a menu with food selections or a pre selected meal? How does this work? Do you pick the menu you want to use prior to Mexico then email 

their choices and then everyone is suppose to choose their meal plan prior to the reception? OR do you write the choices down on a place card for the night and then everyone selects? I just don't quite understand what you mean when you say red for meat blue for chicken etc. Do you have a pic of this?

 

My wedding is not until January but i want to get a head start so i am not AS stressed when we are closer to the wedding date

 

 

[radiochic10]

Just so you know, even though they said that was champagne only-mine was a total open bar and no one said a word about it!  I was shocked seeing everyone walk around with fun frozen drinks, but they were!  We had the Mac Daddy package and were told it was just champagne & cold apps, but people were able to get whatever they wanted!  So-I wouldn't stress about that.  It is right outside of the reception itself...on the terrace.  Everyone loved the apps-so I'm glad I didn't upgrade to hot ones because there's PLENTY of food at the reception

 

[mshoevlin]

After reading these posts - I am so glad that my fiance and I have chosen the Iberostar to have our wedding at - thank you to all of you that have posted (especially brides that have just returned)!!

Our big day is 4.11.11 - less than three weeks away.  We are staying at the Lindo but the wedding is at the Del Mar.  Ironically, we have booked DJDoormix - I am so glad that he was the way we decided to go after reading these blogs.

We are going with the basic package - while the Dream would be nice, some of the extras that it included we didn't need.  We are paying extra to have a private reception at the open air restaurant and mariachi band during the ceremony - the cost will still be around $1200 less to do the basic package. 

Out of curiosity, those of you that recently returned, what was the ceremony like?  I know that in Mexico it is a legal ceremony that a judge presides over --- but do they personalize it in any way?  I was told that I could have people read poems or scriptures or have a sand ceremony or something, but am not sure how that would fit in.  I would really appreciate input as I'm not sure if I should include any of those things.  I have asked Karla for details on the ceremony but I don't think that she understands what I am asking .

 

P.S. I agree that Karla is awesome - I have given her all kinds of pictures and asked all kinds of questions and (other than that listed above) she has answered right away and has stated that she could accommodate my requests.

 

[amyr610]

I was wondering how to personalize the ceremony as well but I haven't emailed Karla yet.  My fiance has an 8 year old son and we'd like to do the sand vase or a frame with three colors ( I saw on the knot you can buy three:)), where he pours sand in as well. 

I decided to bring a photographer from chicago to our wedding because of the outrageous fee.  Unfortunately she is not coming for travel expenses only:( but she made a good enough deal that I was willing since it avoids the day passes and outside photographer fee. 

Is everyone doing the rehearsal dinner?  Do you know how long the actual rehearsal takes.. because I think we'll do the welcome cocktail hour after the dinner with the rest of the group.

Thanks Erin for letting me know about the cocktail hour before the reception!  I was a little worried about all the upgrades on top of the dreams package:)

 

 

[amyr610]

Congrats on getting married! Also I hope your fiance is still doing great! 
 

Originally Posted by nucci 

Hi everyone!  It's been a few weeks so thought I would drop in to say hi!  WOW so many new girls...welcome!!  Things have been so crazy lately.  Jeff had his back surgery and is doing well.  I had my shower and bach Saturday and it was awesome!!  So many great family and friends to celebrate with and it was so much fun.  We got SO MANY presents it's insane.  Out dining room and kitchen are packed!  We also got married yesterday haha!!!  YAY!!!!  We went to City Hall for our legal marriage since it seems like such a pain in the butt to legally get married in Mexico.  It was amazing...now just have to get through Mexico in a few weeks!!!

 

So I feel like I still have a lot to do...AAHHH.  We sent all our final details to Karla.  I'm finalizing the centerpieces with the outside florist now.  We have to get DJ Doremixx our music list in a week and I'm stressing about that.  I want to just tell him to play good fun music haha.  He sent us a list to look through that is 50 pages long.  Jeff and his guys have to get shirts still and their suits altered.  I'm going to my 2nd fitting today, which is making me nervous b/c I ate my way through this weekend .  We still have to do escort cards that are color coded with people's dinner choice.  Have to make table numbers.  Have to decide on a welcome book/idea.  Have to figure out how I'm getting all this crap to Mexico haha.  Lets see...what else.  I just feel like I can't even concentrate any more!!

 

[klc52379]

Hi ladies!  March came and went!  I just realized that I haven't been on here all month.  After my full on panic last month, I'm happy that people have finally booked their trips.  We're up to 31 right now, which I'm more than happy about!  I'm so thankful for those that are coming and know that we'll have a great time no matter what!  Our RSVPs are due at the end of April, so hopefully a few more can join us   And thank you to all of you who calmed me last month.  It made a big difference!!

 

I am a pure slacker on this wedding!  I read everyone's posts and write another thing to do   June 25th is quickly approaching!  I need to start thinking of flowers, meals, rehearsal dinner and such, but I don't know where to start.  For being so Type A, I'm surprisingly too laid back on this wedding.

 

I haven't spoke with Karla (I"m at the Del Mar) since last fall.  So, of course, I have a wide range of questions for her, so I'll get some input from you before I bombard her

 

1.  Rehearsals?  Is there a run through of the ceremony and can we select a restaurant to do a rehearsal dinner?  I'm guessing that it would come off people's meals.  Our guests are asking me and I keep telling them I'm planning it.

 

2.  Private Reception?  Probably going to upgrade our package as we're at the basic right now.  I'm not 100% if we're going to be able to get four more guests for the private reception (when I booked they told me you needed 35 guests for the reception).  So, I may just bite the bullet and pay a little bit more.  Doesn't that seem to be the theme   Plus, I already booked DJ Doremixx last summer, so i don't want to lose my deposit and a battle with the FH about jumping the gun on booking things

 

3. Meal choices - with the private reception, you can select a couple of meal choices, correct?  I was hoping that I could also add a meal for my niece and nephews (who will be 2, 3, and 8).  Chicken fingers can't be too hard

 

4.  Ceremony?  Does anyone know what the ceremony entails?  I want to make sure I have everything that we'll need in case they have any kind of sand/unity ceremony in it.

 

There's a few people I owe PMs to, and I apologize for not getting back to you! Hannah - I started the diet and it works!  I got sick for a couple of weeks with the weather (it's almost 60 one day and then back to 20 the next in Chicago these days), so I had to lay off.  It's amazing that I'm not even craving Diet Coke anymore!  And this is coming from someone who would drink two big gulps a day!

 

If anyone is looking for bridesmaids' gifts, check out Thirty One.  They have the world's cutest bags!!  I bought my bridesmaids' a beach tote, makeup bag, flip flop luggage tag from them.  Very reasonable prices.  I also will throw in their earrings and sandals in the bags.  I'm actaully going to give them their bridesmaids' gifts at the wedding shower because I want them to have the items for the trip, so it's one less thing for them to buy.

 

Thanks ladies
Kelly

 

 

[amyr610]

As far as the rehearsal, you pick the restaurant and it takes away from an alotted dinner reso for everyone there. If you have more than 25 at the dinner you need to do a set menu. You pick 6:30 or 8pm. The choice of restaurants was in an email I got from Karla awhile back. That's about all I know I need to email Karla too! Good luck!

[cj122638]

Hi Ladies! This is my first time on here. I am getting married at the Paraiso Maya on May 21, 2011. I was hoping to get some info from you girls to save me from a bunch of emails with Lily. We booked the Dream Blessing package. Are table linens and chair coverings included in that? If not, how much are we looking at spending on that? Does anyone have some photos of the bouquets and decorations that are included in the package as well as some ideas about the pricing for various upgrades? I have barely heard anything from the resort. Our wedding is in less than 2 months and I feel like I have no idea whats going on!

 

Thanks so much!