Now Sapphire Weddings Formerly Paradisus Riviera

[KelsDavidson62]

Originally Posted by nlh1227 

 

Hello! I have a question about the chairs in divine package. What would be the price difference for having white chairs with the white cushion rather than the white covered chairs? Also, do you transfer the chairs from the beach to reception?

To upgrade the chair, it is $10 per chair. You can save money and transfer the chairs from the ceremony site to the reception but they charge $2 to transfer all the chairs plus you will be charge for the chairs you did not have at the ceremony i.e. for those that are in your wedding party. Or you can pay $10 per chair at the ceremony and $10 per chair at the reception. I was at a wedding that transferred the chairs and it wasn't a big deal. I don't even think the bride and groom where there to even notice them doing that because they were taking pictures. This wedding was at the pool terrace so there was a little more room compared to the tequila terrace but if you do group pictures after the ceremony you could have your guest stick around to watch the photos before sending them to the cocktail hour. It would give the resort some extra time to make sure the reception it set up and ready to go.  

[TinkerSofi]

I noticed that you send STD cards with quite a bit of info on them and also had a website. Did you send invitations as well?

[leigh3124]

Hey everyone! I haven't been on in awhile, so I thought I'd chime in on a few topics.

 

We sent our invitations before finding out that we could give two meat options, so our reply cards just said beef or vegetarian. Once we selected the 2 meat options, we contacted our guests that selected meat and gave them the choice of beef or duck. We gave Ramon a seating chart with tables, names, and food choice. On the backs of our escort cards we wrote B, D, or V to indicate it for the servers. I didn't see any food being auctioned off, so I was very pleased.

 

We got special kickbacks from the groups department with the number of rooms we had booked. For each night that we had 5 rooms booked and paid at double occupancy, we recieved the 6th room free for that night (up to 3 free rooms per night). All of our guests arrived and departed on different days, so the number of free rooms we earned varied day to day.

 

Many of you were asking about switching to one of the Dreams properties after the wedding for your honeymoon. We considered that too. We only stayed at Now for 4 nights (Thursday-Monday, with a Saturday wedding). Because we were very tied up doing family things the whole time we were there we knew we would not be able to use some of the inclusions of the divine package (breakfast in bed, couples massage, dinner on the beach, etc.). We asked if we could transfer to the Dreams resorts and take our freebes with us since they are sister resorts. We were denied and told that we not recieve any kind of special upgrades or treatment at Dreams just because we had been married at Now. I was quite offended, so we transferred to a completely different resort in a different parent company for our honeymoon.

[KelsDavidson62]

Originally Posted by melnryluvco 

 

OH MYYYY GOD!! I literally lol'd...the FI is staring at me like I'm a crazy lady. "The Duo of Beef is a A Duo of Beef" Hot  Damn that is hilarious! Sorry I know it's probably not as funny and more frustrating but you have to laugh at this kinda stuff or it'll make you cry or pull your hair out or drink excessively. So to my understanding they need a seating plan so they know what dinner goes where and to whom. You may be able to get away with this by saying "There's 4 Chicken and 6 Beef at Table 3"  and then have the guests with corresponding colored name cards (ie Coral = Chicken Aqua = Beef). We only have 25 going and we're doing one long table so I kinda had to do a seating chart. Honestly, I'm ready to just say throw the food down and we'll take care of it family style. Way less stress then worrying about who sits where and who's going to be offended if they're not seating in a certain place. Anyways, let me know what they have to say.

I thought that was really funny as well. I was actually at a wedding at the Now in January so here are the foods I tried...and what we ended up with selecting for our wedding.

 

For apps, my friend had pizza, meat balls and quesadillas. I think she also has sushi but it never came around to me so I did not try it, but I did tried the sushi at the sushi restaurant and it was okay. My Fl and I are big sushi eaters so don't expect a lot from an all inclusive resort if you eat sushi a lot or are picky about it. Nothing was bad that I tried but we selected different options for our apps. We ended up selecting, mini cordon blue (read another post that recommended it), spring rolls, cheese and bell pepper turnovers, fried chicken taquitos. We wanted some veggie options and some with meat.  

 

For the dinner options, Spinach Salad with goat cheese, roasted apples and walnut confit; mustard dressing - it was a really good salad but we ended up selecting the cesar salad as our option since my Fl and I both love cesar salads 

Tomato and basil soup with cheese balls- I am normally not a fan of tomato soup but this was actually good, my Fl did not like it so we ended up selecting the french onion soup

Beef tournedos duo; tomato and green pepper sauce- this was great probably one of the best meals I had while staying at the Now (my second favorite meal was beef tacos that were served in the buffet, they are not served everyday but I suggest checking them out when you are there) - we ended up selecting the beef and salmon- which was the other option my friend had at her wedding, we stayed with the salmon because we have people in our group that do not eat meat but will eat sea food. I also read someone else post about food selections that picked the chicken who said that was really good as well.

I can't remember the dessert options that we had but we ended up selecting the strawberry cheese cake

 

We didn't do save the dates and created a passport book with boarding pass RSVP card as out invited and sent them out 8 months prior to the wedding to give people time to plan and save money. Since we sent our invites out a while ago, we did not include the food option in the return RSVP. I have all our guest e-mail addresses, so I just e-mailed them and ask them to get back to me by a certain date. I know it is not as formal as including them in the invites but nothing I am stressing about. I also plan to communicate more with my guest as time gets closer like sending them tips on traveling internationally, what to expect when arriving in Mexico, etc. 

[KelsDavidson62]

I was a wedding at the Now in January so here are the food options that I tried and what we ended up selecting. 

 

For apps, my friend had pizza, meat balls, and quesadilla. I think she also had sushi but it never came around to me so I did not try it. I did have the sushi from the restaurant and it was okay but my Fl and I love sushi so we are a little picky. Anyway, all the apps I tried were good. We selected different options though. We decided on mini cordon blue (read another persons post previously that said they were amazing), spring rolls, cheese and bell pepper turnovers, fried chicken taquitos. For the apps, we google some of them since the description are not helpful and that helped some in making our selections. 

 

For dinner, my friend had spinach salad with goat cheese- it was really good but we ended up selecting the ceaser salad since that is favorite for both my Fl and I.

Tomato and basil soup- I am not a huge fan of tomato soup but this was actually really good, my Fl did not like it so we selected the french onion soup

Beef tournedos Duo and Grilled salmon- I had the beef for dinner and it was great. Probably, one of the best meals I had while staying at the Now. We ended up selecting the same options for dinner mainly because we have people coming that do not eat meat but will eat salmon. I also read a previous review about food and they had the chicken with spicy almond sauce and said it was great too.

For dessert, I can't remember what we ate but we selected the strawberry cheesecake.

For cake, we went with three milk. I don't know what my friend had but read review that three milk was delicious. I will say though I tried a chocolate cake at the coffee shop and it was really dry and didn't taste the same as chocolate cake here in the states.  

 

We sent our invited out 9 months prior to the wedding because we skipped the save that dates and did pretty detailed passport book and RSVP boarding passes. Since we sent them out a while back, we did not include the foods options. I just e-mialed our guest to see what they would like, so I am not stressing too much about it.  

[melnryluvco]

Originally Posted by KelsDavidson62 

 

Thanks for the response. We actually selected our foods options this weekend. Google was great help with the apps since the descriptions for some items are not helpful. I actually met with Anel back in January and she informed me you don't need a seating chart just a key for the servers to know what guest is getting what type of food just like a wedding back here in the states. For example, she just needs to know if you put a purple sticker on their name card to represent a beef option. Also, if you want to cut cost and still do the divine package you can select food options from the eternity menu and just get charged extra for the eternity menu if you are over 25 people. I think it is $94 (eternity) vs $99(divine) plus tax and service charge. Not a big difference but every penny counts when you are planning a wedding. We are still debating if we need all the extras in the divine package though since we decided on food options from the eternity menu and the $600 extra to upgrade to the divine package could help with paying for the extra food for the 44 guest that we have coming. I know if the wedding booklet under the divine package it gives a description for the wedding set up with white chair covers, etc. Dose anyone know is that set up the same for the eternity package?     

 

The chair set up is the same for the eternity package. That's the package we have. Since you have so many guests you may be able to qualify for the buffet option instead of plated. That may save you some $$$.

 

Originally Posted by TinkerSofi 

 

I noticed that you send STD cards with quite a bit of info on them and also had a website. Did you send invitations as well?

 

We didn't send out STD because the guests that are going to Mexico already knew so from the moment we were engaged. We knew we wanted a DW so we made sure people knew well in advanced. We just sent out invites and on our invites and RSVP we put our wedding websites.

[melnryluvco]

Originally Posted by leigh3124 

 

Hey everyone! I haven't been on in awhile, so I thought I'd chime in on a few topics.

 

We sent our invitations before finding out that we could give two meat options, so our reply cards just said beef or vegetarian. Once we selected the 2 meat options, we contacted our guests that selected meat and gave them the choice of beef or duck. We gave Ramon a seating chart with tables, names, and food choice. On the backs of our escort cards we wrote B, D, or V to indicate it for the servers. I didn't see any food being auctioned off, so I was very pleased.

 

We got special kickbacks from the groups department with the number of rooms we had booked. For each night that we had 5 rooms booked and paid at double occupancy, we recieved the 6th room free for that night (up to 3 free rooms per night). All of our guests arrived and departed on different days, so the number of free rooms we earned varied day to day.

 

Many of you were asking about switching to one of the Dreams properties after the wedding for your honeymoon. We considered that too. We only stayed at Now for 4 nights (Thursday-Monday, with a Saturday wedding). Because we were very tied up doing family things the whole time we were there we knew we would not be able to use some of the inclusions of the divine package (breakfast in bed, couples massage, dinner on the beach, etc.). We asked if we could transfer to the Dreams resorts and take our freebes with us since they are sister resorts. We were denied and told that we not recieve any kind of special upgrades or treatment at Dreams just because we had been married at Now. I was quite offended, so we transferred to a completely different resort in a different parent company for our honeymoon.

Thanks so much for your input!! I asked our TA about transferring resorts and she said we could only really go to the other Now without having to make a whole new reservation. But it was going to cost like $500 more and we wouldn't be in the same room category so it's just not worth it. We did a honeymoon registry and we're planning on going to Europe for our 1yr anniversary so I guess we'll just get our honeymoon time in then.

[melnryluvco]

Originally Posted by KelsDavidson62 

 

I was a wedding at the Now in January so here are the food options that I tried and what we ended up selecting. 

 

For apps, my friend had pizza, meat balls, and quesadilla. I think she also had sushi but it never came around to me so I did not try it. I did have the sushi from the restaurant and it was okay but my Fl and I love sushi so we are a little picky. Anyway, all the apps I tried were good. We selected different options though. We decided on mini cordon blue (read another persons post previously that said they were amazing), spring rolls, cheese and bell pepper turnovers, fried chicken taquitos. For the apps, we google some of them since the description are not helpful and that helped some in making our selections. 

 

For dinner, my friend had spinach salad with goat cheese- it was really good but we ended up selecting the ceaser salad since that is favorite for both my Fl and I.

Tomato and basil soup- I am not a huge fan of tomato soup but this was actually really good, my Fl did not like it so we selected the french onion soup

Beef tournedos Duo and Grilled salmon- I had the beef for dinner and it was great. Probably, one of the best meals I had while staying at the Now. We ended up selecting the same options for dinner mainly because we have people coming that do not eat meat but will eat salmon. I also read a previous review about food and they had the chicken with spicy almond sauce and said it was great too.

For dessert, I can't remember what we ate but we selected the strawberry cheesecake.

For cake, we went with three milk. I don't know what my friend had but read review that three milk was delicious. I will say though I tried a chocolate cake at the coffee shop and it was really dry and didn't taste the same as chocolate cake here in the states.  

 

We sent our invited out 9 months prior to the wedding because we skipped the save that dates and did pretty detailed passport book and RSVP boarding passes. Since we sent them out a while back, we did not include the foods options. I just e-mialed our guest to see what they would like, so I am not stressing too much about it.  

Haha we chose a lot of the same things! I think we're going to go with another app instead of the soup though. We don't get married till the very end of the month so I can only imagine how hot it'll be. Soup and hot weather don't sound like fun...especially soup and a white dress. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen for me! We decided to chicken and salmon becuase I couldn't find a good description of Beef Duo and I didn't want to gamble on it. But good to know it was delish!

[KellawayandHank]

I was a wedding at the Now in January so here are the food options that I tried and what we ended up selecting.  For apps, my friend had pizza, meat balls, and quesadilla. I think she also had sushi but it never came around to me so I did not try it. I did have the sushi from the restaurant and it was okay but my Fl and I love sushi so we are a little picky. Anyway, all the apps I tried were good. We selected different options though. We decided on mini cordon blue (read another persons post previously that said they were amazing), spring rolls, cheese and bell pepper turnovers, fried chicken taquitos. For the apps, we google some of them since the description are not helpful and that helped some in making our selections.  For dinner, my friend had spinach salad with goat cheese- it was really good but we ended up selecting the ceaser salad since that is favorite for both my Fl and I. Tomato and basil soup- I am not a huge fan of tomato soup but this was actually really good, my Fl did not like it so we selected the french onion soup Beef tournedos Duo and Grilled salmon- I had the beef for dinner and it was great. Probably, one of the best meals I had while staying at the Now. We ended up selecting the same options for dinner mainly because we have people coming that do not eat meat but will eat salmon. I also read a previous review about food and they had the chicken with spicy almond sauce and said it was great too. For dessert, I can't remember what we ate but we selected the strawberry cheesecake. For cake, we went with three milk. I don't know what my friend had but read review that three milk was delicious. I will say though I tried a chocolate cake at the coffee shop and it was really dry and didn't taste the same as chocolate cake here in the states.   We sent our invited out 9 months prior to the wedding because we skipped the save that dates and did pretty detailed passport book and RSVP boarding passes. Since we sent them out a while back, we did not include the foods options. I just e-mialed our guest to see what they would like, so I am not stressing too much about it.  

Thanks for all the food info, it's good to know. I need to get all my paperwork sent in next month so we are working on that now.

[KelsDavidson62]

Originally Posted by meganator22 

 

I see all you ladies saying you guys get a kick back for booking so many rooms. Should I ask our travel agent? Also did you guys have to choose from having people put down "deposits" or a "promo code (which apparently you don't get a locked down rate, you may or may not owe more) If that makes any sense at all. Thanks so much. 

We booked through a travel agent that actually booked through Apple Vacations. Apple was having a deal that if you booked 5 rooms you would get the 6th room free up to 3 rooms free. Also, for every 12 people that booked air fare you would get the 13th fare free. We needed everyone to book by the beginning of December for our May wedding to get that credit though. It wasn't that big of a deal because most people book by then. Most people put down a deposit of about $250 and then they do not have to pay for the rest of the trip till 45 day prior to leaving. Once everyone pays, from my understanding you get the credit back on you credit card. I am not sure if they are still running that promotion though. I would contact someone through Apple Vacation because they own the Now Sapphire and would know what discounts they would have for a large group booking. I have heard from others that have done a block of rooms at a discounted rate through the resort still get charge for rooms that were never booked, so if you don't know how many people you will be having at your wedding I would not book a block of rooms.