Beloved Hotel/La Amada

[dmccamey]

Hello everyone! Beloved Brides I hope planning is going well...It does look like they have a different photographer for their vendor:

 

http://www.lancelottiphotography.com/

 

Just FYI, anyone else have any updates, advice etc? Alejandro is great, he's been super responsive to my emails. We are writing our own wedding ceremony, because the one they sent us is good but we wanted more of a Christian feel to it. The one they provided for us was general but meaningful. We are using the Minister they have and will also make it a legal ceremony as well.

 

Good luck everyone!

[dmccamey]

Hey Susieqt,

 

What did you do for your ceremony decor? Did you do one of the fancy gazebos? Aisle runner?

Originally Posted by susieqt 

Our wedding started in Las Vegas on Friday, then we flew to Cancun on Monday, went to Akumal then North to La Amada on Wed. I did make sure my guests always had assorted sunscreen, bug spray, magazines, games (dominos are great for beach fun cause they don't blow away), snorlels, shot glasses and tequilla. We went all out on accomodations and excursions for everyone rather than doing some of the traditional wedding things. But I do love the idea of gift bags. Sunscreen is a great gift bag idea, but I found that there were so many different skin types that not everyone uses the same strength. Also, The Beloved is fully stocked for your guests with a mini bar containing sodas, waters, beers, shots, candy bars, and other snacks. I racked my brain to think of things to put in a bag, but couldn't think of a thing anyone would need. There were these really cute towels that fold into bags that would have wedding date and names, but it was over $180 to ship. The hotel will make your guests feel special upon arrival with glasses of proseco and cold towels, and they will han out your itineraries. There are drinks and food everywhere at any hour. There are great blogs on this site about bags and ideas, I just didn't use them. Of course we had gifts for our wedding party that we handed out at the rehersal dinner. Jewelry, flip flops, and some cheap matching sunglasses for pictures sake. I work with weddings and have seen a ton of different little gift ideas handed out at the reception, but I'm not sure any would work well at the beach, but I know there are zillions of websites that have beach gift ideas.

Good Luck!! You will have the time of your life, but it will fly by quick, so remeber to keep things simple for yourselves. This hotel and beach are so amazing you don't need much more to impress, so enjoy your family and friends!!

[Kim7799]

Hi everyone!

For those who had their wedding at the Beloved or are in the planning stage, what's the best advice regarding how your guests should book? My fiance and I are going back and forth on signing a contract where you need to put 10% of the total cost down very quickly vs. having everyone book individually through Wendy. BTW, we're expecting 30-40 guests and are planning on having our wedding in June 2013 if that helps.

[dmccamey]

It just seemed easier to work with a travel agent for me. I didn't want have to work on coordinating details with the Hotel and the guests etc. With the travel agency they negotiated rate that was much more reasonable than booking directly with the hotel. The only caveat, that I wish i would have asked for in the beginning was having the option of including AIR in the package with the travel agent. But other than that it's been convenient the guests pay online under our name with the TA. The TA also is looking up air fares for guest and coordinating any other small details like emailing guests to make sure the reserve/pay/book etc. and also arranging airport/hotel round trip transfers. 

[suzanni84]

Hi Ladies,

 

I am glad to have found this thread everyone seems to be so helpful in sharing information.  I have a lot of time before my wedding here November 9th 2013.  However, I am trying to get most things done as soon as possible.  I will be visiting the hotel this Nov 2012.  Working with Alejandro has been great!!! He has answered everything for me so far except for if I should use  travel agent or not for room blocks.  We will be having about 35-60 people and i have not heard back yet from the hotel regarding a room block discount for guests.  Do any of you know if it is best to go threw the hotel or book with an agent..? and if anyone has booked a room block what is the average cost per night...??

 

Thanks

suzanne

 

I also have been sent price list and options for flowers/gazebo if anyone need it.

[ashley927]

Thanks for all the information it was very helpful! I'm getting married at The Beloved on April 13th and still haven't decided on a photographer. Could you maybe email me some of your pictures so I can see you'd photographers work? Thanks - Ashley

[Kim7799]

Hi girls! To everyone who used a travel agent when booking your guests, I have a couple questions:

1. Did you have a group contract for some of your guests (like immediate family/wedding party) or all of your guests that were coming?

2. If you did have a contract where rooms were being blocked off for your group, what kind of timeline did you give your guests for participating in the contract and booking their stay?

 

Basically, I'm in the process now of signing a group contract. I'm waiting to hear back from my friends and family so that I can get a better idea of who wants a room before I sign the contract. I'm then thinking of giving everyone a date that they need to book through our travel agent before letting their rooms go. Any advice on this process because it's really not fun at the moment.

[TammyWright]

Hello Excellence and The Beloved Brides,

 

We posted the registration information for our Excellence and The Beloved wedding webinar.  It will be super informative.  Space is limited so register TODAY!

[Alysonh57]

Hi Kim, It is definitely not a fun process so i understand your frustration. I did a group contract for everyone i invited. I tried to estimate at most how many rooms i would need and signed for that amount. In our contract we had several deadlines for times and penalties for releasing rooms. I basically told all my guests they had to book by our first deadline which allowed us to release any number of rooms for no penalty. I think it was around 120 days out. At that point i released all rooms that werent booked. Hope that helps.

[Kim7799]

Thanks for the responses on booking! This process has certainly been interesting to say the least! Our problem has been that we couldn't get enough Junior Suites for all of the guests we were inviting and I'm starting to feel bad about the cost being a little bit more than people expected.

 

We want to have an at home reception after (because there are friends and family who can't make it to the Beloved), but some people in my family seem to think this is a weird idea. I thought a lot of people had these at home receptions following destination weddings, but are they only for guests that couldn't attend your actual destination ceremony? How did you all handle having an at home reception (if you had one)?