My Wedding Review

[puravida2015]

I don't understand it either. Every site I've been on says they have to be shipped ground only. So I assumed I wouldn't be able to pack them in my suitcase for Costa Rica. I'll talk to a few of my TSA friends and try to find out. If not, I'll have to find another alternative.

[spjwedding]

You look gorgeous! I wan to go to Cabo now

[hp520]

Your wedding looked fantastic @@flo628, and even though you didn't like your hair and makeup, you still looked great!

 

I'm getting married at Casa Dorada next year and have Illeana as my wedding coordinator also.  I was a little worried because all the reviews on here have said she was great and responsive, but was a little disappointed or confused as to why she wasn't responsive with me.  Now that I know that that's how she is, it makes me feel a little better.  I thought I was being an annoying bride to her or something, that's why she wasn't responding to me.  I've read on your other posts before you got married saying that you were going to have her go to Costco to buy the alcohol.  Did you still end up doing that, or did you just end up using the hotel for the drinks? 

 

Sorry for all the questions, but I loved the idea of having the pingpong table and foozeball table for the reception.  I always see these pictures of games at weddings, but didn't know how I could do it for a destination wedding.  Did you rent them or were they from the hotel?  Also, did you ship any other wedding items through Casa Dorada's sister hotel?  I live in San Diego, and Illeana gave me this option to send my any wedding items when I first talked her about 5 months ago, but I'm not sure if that's still an option that Casa Dorada offers anymore because I heard that a lot of items shipped ended up being broken so they stopped offering that service. 

 

Any other feedback you have would be great!  Communication with the vendors was hard enough before, but with Hurricane Odile, I'm sure the communication will be worse...

 

Thanks!!

[flo628]

Thank you @@hp520!

 

Yes, basically you will have to get used to long responses from everyone in Cabo, and constantly having to follow up with them - it's beach/island mentality there...but they get better as you get closer to your wedding (well, most of them...).

 

CD had the foozeball and ping pong by the pool, so they let me "borrow" them for free at my wedding.

 

Illeana DID go to Costco for me- she bought the perfect amount of alcohol for me, and we were able to give our guests great quality tequila. CD charged us for water and wine, make sure to ask for cheap water or they will give everyone the expensive stuff. I also heard their corkage fee has gone up, so just ask Illeana if it's still worth it. I gave CD a cap for the bar (wine and water) and they abided by it and we actually came in quite a bit under.

 

I shipped 2 boxes to SD, they wouldn't let us drive it to them, and some items did break, but we expected that- just pack it good. They charged us $50 i think to drive it over, which i thought was pretty good, the only reason why we didn't ship more stuff was b/c we didn't have enough time- it took like 2 or 3 weeks, depending on their delivery schedule, for it to get to Cabo. I found CD to be very honest, I never felt like they were trying to get me or pull something, and Jazmin, the WC at CD, is a sweetheart.

 

Please ask away, I got so much help from other brides here

 

Your wedding looked fantastic @@flo628, and even though you didn't like your hair and makeup, you still looked great!

 

I'm getting married at Casa Dorada next year and have Illeana as my wedding coordinator also.  I was a little worried because all the reviews on here have said she was great and responsive, but was a little disappointed or confused as to why she wasn't responsive with me.  Now that I know that that's how she is, it makes me feel a little better.  I thought I was being an annoying bride to her or something, that's why she wasn't responding to me.  I've read on your other posts before you got married saying that you were going to have her go to Costco to buy the alcohol.  Did you still end up doing that, or did you just end up using the hotel for the drinks? 

 

Sorry for all the questions, but I loved the idea of having the pingpong table and foozeball table for the reception.  I always see these pictures of games at weddings, but didn't know how I could do it for a destination wedding.  Did you rent them or were they from the hotel?  Also, did you ship any other wedding items through Casa Dorada's sister hotel?  I live in San Diego, and Illeana gave me this option to send my any wedding items when I first talked her about 5 months ago, but I'm not sure if that's still an option that Casa Dorada offers anymore because I heard that a lot of items shipped ended up being broken so they stopped offering that service. 

 

Any other feedback you have would be great!  Communication with the vendors was hard enough before, but with Hurricane Odile, I'm sure the communication will be worse...

 

Thanks!!

[cassie06]

Awesome @@flo628 - Thank you so much!! I love all your pictures and am so happy for you! I am also going to look into your DJ! At first I didnt think I wanted one, because I wanted to cut costs, but now I am wondering how I would get my music for the ceremony and all of that done. UGH! haha, those little things are starting to add up! 8 months and counting for me! SO close, but yet so far! 

 

 

@@cassie06 I DID have my dinner at the 12 Tribes Terrace area. That whole area is considered 12Tribes.  You can certainly have the dance floor in the open area, but depending on how many people you have, it might be too large. It was my original plan, but my WC said i had too few guests (48) and it would be hard to get the party started. The center area where we ended up having it was indeed perfect amount of space for the amount of people I had. We instead had ping pong and foozeball and polaroid center out there, and we did have a fire dancer (which was a surprise for me by the hubby ) with lounge chairs.

 

You are going to LOVE CD!!!! It's just so lovely there. We won't stay anywhere else now when we go to Cabo.

 

PS- Fire dancer was from Lunas de Fuego and they were a delight. Forgot about them in my review.

[flo628]

@@cassie06 I would def get a DJ- I was not going to have one either to cut cost, but he honestly wasn't that pricey, made the proper announcements, and played great music and got the party started. I liked him a lot and so did my WC and all my guests. (And you really do not want to think about anything like music etc on your wedding day)

 

 

Awesome @@flo628 - Thank you so much!! I love all your pictures and am so happy for you! I am also going to look into your DJ! At first I didnt think I wanted one, because I wanted to cut costs, but now I am wondering how I would get my music for the ceremony and all of that done. UGH! haha, those little things are starting to add up! 8 months and counting for me! SO close, but yet so far! 

 

 

@@cassie06 I DID have my dinner at the 12 Tribes Terrace area. That whole area is considered 12Tribes.  You can certainly have the dance floor in the open area, but depending on how many people you have, it might be too large. It was my original plan, but my WC said i had too few guests (48) and it would be hard to get the party started. The center area where we ended up having it was indeed perfect amount of space for the amount of people I had. We instead had ping pong and foozeball and polaroid center out there, and we did have a fire dancer (which was a surprise for me by the hubby ) with lounge chairs.

 

You are going to LOVE CD!!!! It's just so lovely there. We won't stay anywhere else now when we go to Cabo.

 

PS- Fire dancer was from Lunas de Fuego and they were a delight. Forgot about them in my review.

 

[cassie06]

@@flo628

 

Can you let me know how much alcohol your WC bought for you and for how many people. I am trying to figure out what would be cheaper. CD is saying there is a $35 per bottle fee to bring in the alcohol. But if I understand her correctly, that price includes 6 mixers and their bartenders. Thank you ahead of time!!

[palmtree99]

Absolutely beautiful pictures!

[AmorDeMiVida]

Wow your pictures are beautiful...

[flo628]

@@flo628

 

Can you let me know how much alcohol your WC bought for you and for how many people. I am trying to figure out what would be cheaper. CD is saying there is a $35 per bottle fee to bring in the alcohol. But if I understand her correctly, that price includes 6 mixers and their bartenders. Thank you ahead of time!!

@@cassie06 yes, but they didnt' care what size i brought, so we had costco size. I'm not sure if they have changed this rule or not. I told my WC I had 42 drinkers, and i think she got:

 

3 bottles of tequila

2 bottles of vodka kyrkland

1 bottle of whisky

1 cases of beer of each type

 1 Ketel one 

 

Another bride brought in alcohol from the duty free shops.