Azul Beach Hotel - POST HERE!

[photoisforever]

Welcome to the forum boards, AnneK, and Congrats on your dw coming up next Apr!!! you'll find lots of great info (like Allie's above) here to help you will your planning decisions.......Cheers!

 

 

 

 

Photography Is Forever Studios

[AggieKat]

Can past/future brides comment on what they have made for menu selections?  Did you give your guests options or just choose one dish for everyone?  Thanks!

[AllieH]

Hi AggieKat,

 

Do you have the catering/banquet options? If so, what I'm about to share will make more sense!

 

We got married at EDR, but they have the same menu options.

 

We did the pick & choose dinner menu through Lomas for our reception/dinner. We chose the filet & lobster as one entree, and the pork chop as the other. We also had a couple of vegetarians who had one of the pasta dishes. We chose our starter & dessert from the Pick & choose lunch menu - spicy sea scallops & 3 milk cake.

 

With the pick & choose option, the guests chose their entree ahead of time, and we had to provide their selections to Lomas as part of the wedding planning. We did an RSVP card with the entree on it, and then harassed those who didn't bother to return the RSVP   it was fairly painless.

 

Most of our guests got the filet & lobster option. I think we had 5 who got the pork chop, 2 vegetarian, and the other 28 were the surf & turf. Everyone was really happy with their food!

 

I've also heard brides rave about the BBQ Deluxe (buffet style) and the Italian Family Style meals too. The BBQ Deluxe option requires a minimum of 30 guests (or at least require you to pay for a minimum of 30 guests). The family style options require a minimum of 16 guests. They also have other family style meals, with the minimum guest count varying from 16 to 30 depending on which meal it is (Mexican = 30, other menu = 16).

 

Lomas also offers several set menu options, where everyone has the same entree. They have cocktail and brunch menus too.

 

The pick & choose menus and set menus are based on the price of each entree. The buffet, family style, cocktail & brunch are a per person fee.

 

hope that helps!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by AggieKat 
 

Can past/future brides comment on what they have made for menu selections?  Did you give your guests options or just choose one dish for everyone?  Thanks!

[AggieKat]

Thanks Allie!  This was extremely helpful!!  I really like the idea of the pick and choose menu.  As far as the invitations went, did you last the surf & turf, pork, and pasta option all on there?  Then I've been told by the hotel that I'll need to have some sort of meal indicator per guest so the servers know what to give them.  Say you had 1 check for pasta and 1 check for the surf & turf on your RSVP- How did you know who wanted what on the RSVP?  Sounds like they didn't give you too hard of a time picking some things off of the pick and choose lunch menu vs. dinner menu?  Thank you again for the reply! 

[AllieH]

We were really happy with the pick & choose menus - it offered some choice for our guests, but wasn't as expensive as the BBQ Deluxe or the family style meals. They didn't give me any push back when I asked to choose from both the lunch & dinner menu. We just liked the starters & desserts better from the lunch menu.

 

My RSVPs only included the surf & turf and pork as options. I emailed the two guests that I knew would want the vegetarian options to let them know to write that in on the RSVP for me. I was able to get Lomas to do the vegetarian as a 3rd option because we only offered it to the two guests (vs. making 3 options available to everyone). If you think a bigger portion of your group would choose the vegetarian, it may be a better choice for one of the options vs. trying to get it approved as an add-on.

 

Our photog took pics of all of the food they served, and I included them in my review of EDR if you'd like to see some of their presentations. It's the middle link in my signature.

 

I did place cards for the meal indicator - the starfish is the surf & turf, the blue scallop shell was the pork, and you can't quite see it, but there's a different blue shell that was the vegetarian option. And then I TOTALLY forgot to tell the resort which shape went with each entree - but I had given them the entree list, so they were able to match the names to the list when they served dinner.

 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by AggieKat 
 

Thanks Allie!  This was extremely helpful!!  I really like the idea of the pick and choose menu.  As far as the invitations went, did you last the surf & turf, pork, and pasta option all on there?  Then I've been told by the hotel that I'll need to have some sort of meal indicator per guest so the servers know what to give them.  Say you had 1 check for pasta and 1 check for the surf & turf on your RSVP- How did you know who wanted what on the RSVP?  Sounds like they didn't give you too hard of a time picking some things off of the pick and choose lunch menu vs. dinner menu?  Thank you again for the reply! 

[AnneK]

Thank you SO much Allie! Unfortunately, Azul is turning out to be a nightmare! They overcharge for EVERYTHING and are pretty much forcing me to use their own vendors for everything! 

[AggieKat]

Allie - I looked at your photos and everything was beautiful!  Love your meal indicator cards as well. We decided to do the pick and choose dinner as well with the mahi-mahi and filet mignon as options.  I emailed the WC today to let her know what we selected for the app, main courses, and dessert, but it's been crickets on her end lately!  She was actually really good about responding early on, but recently her response time is taking forever.  Frustrating.  I asked if they could do churros for our dessert, even though they're only offered on the Mexican Buffet dinner, so we'll see what they say.  Thanks again for your help!!

[AggieKat]

Anne - Sorry to hear about your frustrations!  Anything inparticular that they're being sticklers on?  We're using an outside vendor for our photography.  Thankfully, our photographer discounted our price a little to help us with the fee, but that fee is extremely ridiculous in my opinion.  

[AllieH]

You are so welcome Anne. I know it can be frustrating working with Lomas from a distance, and their policies about outside vendors are among the most strict in RM. BUT, their events are completely amazing, and once you figure out what's most important to you as far as budgeting and spending, it works out. If there's any additional information or help I can provide, please don't hesitate to ask!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnneK 
 

Thank you SO much Allie! Unfortunately, Azul is turning out to be a nightmare! They overcharge for EVERYTHING and are pretty much forcing me to use their own vendors for everything! 

 

thanks AggieKat! it was truly one of the best days of my life. I'd bet it's taking them a while to hear back from the resort on doing the churros - since Lomas isn't onsite, they correspond with the resort behind the scenes and for some reason that takes a while. How far out is your wedding?

Quote:

Originally Posted by AggieKat 
 

Allie - I looked at your photos and everything was beautiful!  Love your meal indicator cards as well. We decided to do the pick and choose dinner as well with the mahi-mahi and filet mignon as options.  I emailed the WC today to let her know what we selected for the app, main courses, and dessert, but it's been crickets on her end lately!  She was actually really good about responding early on, but recently her response time is taking forever.  Frustrating.  I asked if they could do churros for our dessert, even though they're only offered on the Mexican Buffet dinner, so we'll see what they say.  Thanks again for your help!!

[Amanda Hammett]

Anne, Try not to get frustrated. I kept it simple. After stressing for months about how to budget all the vendor fees, I finally found Blue Lens photography who deducted the $800 vendor fee from my package, since I chose the Royal Photography package....pics and video were the most important to me. Then, I decided not to use a DJ at all and just rent the amp & microphone for $250. I was extremely happy with my decision. I chose the chicken & veggies plate for my reception. It was only $14 per person. My thought process was, "why pay all this money for ONE dinner when the resort is all inclusive?" If someone wants something different to eat, eat before you come to the wedding or after the wedding. There are TONS of choices that are already paid for AND they have 24 hour room service. We even brought our own decor and had them decorate. I was extremely happy with everything and their willingness to work with me. All the negotiations made before we arrived were basically a waste of time. Everything truly happens once you arrive and meet with the Wedding Coordinators. Good luck! Try not to stress!! You will regret worrying!!!! I PROMISE!! I still kick myself for stressing! It was truly a fairytale and everything ended up perfect!!