Now Sapphire Weddings Formerly Paradisus Riviera

[AmyG]

Hi joda,

 

It is so exciting that we are at the same points in planing!!   My ceremony is at 5:00pm, so at this point I was thinking kind of the same as you and having my cocktail hour start at 6:00pm...to allow time for the ceremony, champage toast, pics, etc from 5:00pm to 6:00pm. 

So if my cocktail hour ended at 7:00pm, I think that would be a good time to start the reception...I also don't know if they serve dinner right at the beginning or do you wait.  I don't really have a preference, but my guests might get hungry.
 

 

How are you doing with the rest of the Planning Form?

 

Originally Posted by joda 

Amy,

 

Not surprisingly I am at the same point as you. What I was thinking is ceremony at 4:30, should take us to 5 or almost. Then sparkling wine toast, hugs, some pictures, then cocktail hour 5:30-6:30. Then I was originally going to do reception 6:30-9:30 but I was advised it might be nice to give people a quick half hour break if they want to freshen up or grab something from the room. So now I am leaning to reception 7-10. But Sandy I would also love to hear your thoughts on this!

 

[RFinger]

We are also in the process of completing our planning form.  We were almost thinking about doing the cocktail hour on a different night entirely kind of like a meet and greet type migle, but haven't decided yet.  The Reception is free drinks anyway and it's anall inclusive resort so thats why we were maybe thinking about doing the cocktail hour on a different night.

 

Are either of you doing a signature drink?

 

 

[AmyG]

Hi RFinger,

 

That's a good idea about utilizing the cocktail hour another night!  I am already planning a non-formal meet and greet at one of the bars two days before the event.  I guess the only reason I wanted a cocktail hour on the wedding day is because photos after the ceremony may take a while and I don't want my guests standing around and scattered, plus I wouldn't want the reception to start without me.    :-)

 

At this time I don't have a signature drink yet.  If I come up with one I may let her know when I get down there but I don't really care about it too much since everyone has their own preference of drinks.  I saw your ideas for yours, did you finalize your pick?

 

Also, don't stress too much about the Planning Form.  Anel told me she doesnt really need it until one month before my wedding date....so yes of course I am waiting till the last final days to complete it, lol.

How are your other plans coming along?

 

Originally Posted by RFinger 

We are also in the process of completing our planning form.  We were almost thinking about doing the cocktail hour on a different night entirely kind of like a meet and greet type migle, but haven't decided yet.  The Reception is free drinks anyway and it's anall inclusive resort so thats why we were maybe thinking about doing the cocktail hour on a different night.

 

Are either of you doing a signature drink?

 

 

 

[RFinger]

We haven't decided on a signature drink yet.  I gave my best man the task of trying the different ideas to se what he likes the best ha ha.

 

Things are going pretty well we have 12 rooms reserved and all are booked except for 1 which is supposed to be booked by one of the bridesmaids tomorrow.  Currently we have exactly 25 people going and that is how may are included in the packages so thats good that I will not have to incure any other costs.

 

I found some chair sashes for about 61 cents per so I just ordered 30 aqua and 30 purple ones one for the wedding and one for dinner which is a lot better deal than paying $5 per at the resort. 

 

No nervousness or anything with yours almost exactly 1 month away?

[AmyG]

Great Job for your best man!!

 

That all sounds very famiiar....we have 14 rooms booked and one actually JUST booked today.  Luckily I don't have to deal with last minute reservations, I left that up to my travel agent!  hehe!  We also have exactly 25 adults going (+ 1 infant) so I am very happy we won't incur the extra cost either.

 

That's awesome you found the chair sashes you wanted especially at that cost. 

I am just finalizing what the tables will look like at this point and try to figure out what exact decor I am  bringing down on my own.

 

I have absolutely no nervousness at this point, I am very confident that the resort can handle anything and it will go smooth.  I do have a house under contract right now so that is taking up a lot of my spare time but I am back to the wedding planning!

 

Originally Posted by RFinger 

We haven't decided on a signature drink yet.  I gave my best man the task of trying the different ideas to se what he likes the best ha ha.

 

Things are going pretty well we have 12 rooms reserved and all are booked except for 1 which is supposed to be booked by one of the bridesmaids tomorrow.  Currently we have exactly 25 people going and that is how may are included in the packages so thats good that I will not have to incure any other costs.

 

I found some chair sashes for about 61 cents per so I just ordered 30 aqua and 30 purple ones one for the wedding and one for dinner which is a lot better deal than paying $5 per at the resort. 

 

No nervousness or anything with yours almost exactly 1 month away?

 

[HeatherViolet]

Ryan- Where did you end up finding sashes so cheap?  I looked at Hobby Lobby and the tule stuff just comes in a roll, so I don't know how much I would need.  We too are looking for aqua.... but I am also looking for orange.

 

What are you guys doing for decos during the ceremony?  Getting flowers from the resort, or making something for the "pew bows"?

How about the reception?  Any decorations there?

 

Heather

 

[Sandy Planner]

Dear AmyG: Sorry for not getting back to you earlier!!

 

The ceremony  at 5:00 pm , I really suggest to you  give at least 30 minutes for pictures ....and then have the cocktail hour ... you may request Anel or Ramon serve at the end of ceremony , either sparkling wine or  your signature drink...it is always refreshing after ceremony have something to drink...and then  30 minutes after  start the cocktail hour...

 

I would said  6:00 pm for cocktail hour  and 7:00 Reception starts...please note that most of the time the wedding couple miss half of the cocktail hour because the  photographer make photosession only with the couple.

 

You can request during your first meeting a taste for signature drink ...if you can include a picture in the planning form it is VERY appreciated jeje

 

Sandy 

 

 

Originally Posted by AmyG 

Hi Sandy,

 

Maybe you could assist me with this as you have a lot of experience with the weddings at the Sapphire...I am filling out my Wedding Planning Form.  My ceremony time is for 5:00pm on the beach and it asks what time I want the cocktail and dinner reception to start, do you have any recommendations for the start times of each of them?  I would not want to go over an hour for the cocktails.

 

Thanks!!!!

 

Amy

 

[joda]

So Sandy you would recommend going straight from the cocktail to the reception with no break? It was told it would be a good idea to give people a small break between the two, but I wasn't sure about that.

Dear AmyG: Sorry for not getting back to you earlier!!

 

The ceremony  at 5:00 pm , I really suggest to you  give at least 30 minutes for pictures ....and then have the cocktail hour ... you may request Anel or Ramon serve at the end of ceremony , either sparkling wine or  your signature drink...it is always refreshing after ceremony have something to drink...and then  30 minutes after  start the cocktail hour...

 

I would said  6:00 pm for cocktail hour  and 7:00 Reception starts...please note that most of the time the wedding couple miss half of the cocktail hour because the  photographer make photosession only with the couple.

 

You can request during your first meeting a taste for signature drink ...if you can include a picture in the planning form it is VERY appreciated jeje :)

 

Sandy 

 

 

 

 

 

[ps31]

Well I just got back from our wedding at Now last weekend.  It was WONDERFUL!!  The staff there was amazing and I didn't have to worry about anything the day of the wedding.  I had been communicating with Anel the entire time, but Ramon took care over our wedding once we got there.  I was really impressed with the service he provided and all the information he was able to remember;)  I absolutely loved the flowers we got and we used their florists.

 

As far as your last discussion about when do to cocktail hour/reception/etc, I didn't have any idea when to schedule that stuff either.  Once we had our meeting with Ramon he lead us in the right directions for a time line.  I wouldn't worry too much about the planning forum, it doesn't seem like they look at it until shortly before you arrive and you can change a lot of things once you get there.  We had our ceremony at 4:30 and didn't start the cocktail hour until 5:30.  We did some pictures after the ceremony so from 5-5:45.  So the guests had plenty of down time to enjoy cocktail hour before dinner was served.  I think any more time would have been too much standing around time.  Like Sandy said my groom and I missed half of the cocktail hour doing other things, I didn't even get to try all the tasty cocktail treats!

 

I'll post a link to some of the pictures.  The resort was beautiful!  If anyone has any questions feel free to ask, this forum was super helpful for me so I would love to help out anyone else needing reassurance;)  If you picked Now Sapphire, I don't think you'll be disappointed with your wedding day!

 

http://sbphotoblog.com/?p=2148

[RFinger]

Hi Heather,

 

We didn't really talk about other decorations yet.  We bought the divine package so I'm not sure what all comes with that.  Right now we just are looking at the bow ties around the chairs.  I found one of the websites somewhere on this thread I will see if I can't find it again and those came to be about 70 cents per each one, then I found the ones we bought on e-bay.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120756237189&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123

 

 

Originally Posted by HeatherViolet 

Ryan- Where did you end up finding sashes so cheap?  I looked at Hobby Lobby and the tule stuff just comes in a roll, so I don't know how much I would need.  We too are looking for aqua.... but I am also looking for orange.

 

What are you guys doing for decos during the ceremony?  Getting flowers from the resort, or making something for the "pew bows"?

How about the reception?  Any decorations there?

 

Heather