August 2014 archive

What does Sandals Offer for Honeymoons?

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The most luxurious of all inclusive resorts, offering more than any other, and the one everyone has heard of is…Sandals! Did you know that Beaches and Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts are also owned by Sandals and offer the same amount of quality for families? There are 20 resorts on 8 islands!! In this blog I am going to focus only on Sandals, 15 resorts for couples only. The perfect resort for your honeymoon! Sandals are in Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia, Bahamas/Nassau, Bahamas/Exuma, Grenada & Barbados!

Why book a Sandals honeymoon when there are a lot of resort options out there? There are MANY reasons. The #1 reason is Sandals has more QUALITY inclusions than any other resort in the world! Lets take a look further into this…

1. Sandals offers so much value!

  • Direct roundtrip airport transfers
  • Tips, gratuities & hotel taxes included (except for Butlers & Red Lane Spa therapists)
  • Well-appointed room accommodations (luxurious furnishings & sheets, in-room bar, lots of upgrades available) 35% of all Sandals accommodations are suites.
  • All meals & snacks with anytime dining (they even handle dietary restrictions). They have 156 individual restaurants spanning over 19 different international cuisines in all their resorts (including Beaches & Grand Pineapple), up to 19 in each resort.
  • Unlimited drinks including Beringer Wine, beer & premium brand liquors (up to 9 bars in each resort)
  • Nightly entertainment
  • Unlimited land sports (tennis, basketball, billiards, table tennis, shuffleboard, beach volleyball, fitness center). Unlimited golf (Ocho Rios & St. Lucia).
  • Red Lane Spas (fee)
  • Unlimited watersports with instruction. Sandals has a fleet of 270 boats! They offersandals_snorkeling waterskiing, wakeboarding, knee boarding, snorkeling, tubing, sailing, kayaking, aquatrikes, paddle boarding, hobie cats, glass-bottom boats, windsurfing & scuba diving.
  • Unlimited Scuba diving (non-certified divers must take resort certification, $90). Over 240 dive sites with up to 30 per resort & 6 dives a day!
  • Extraordinary service from the staff!
  • Exotic offshore island adventures included at Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay & Sandals Royal Bahamian (complimentary boat transfers to a pristine beach)!

2. Stay At 1 Resort and Play at 3 in Jamaica!

  • Sandals Montego Bay is “an upbeat resort on Jamaica’s largest private beach” with 250 rooms & suites on 26 acres. There is only a 5 minute airport transfer! It has 19 global restaurants on the shoreline and has its own wedding chapel.
  • Sandals Royal Caribbean – “Britain to Bali-Exotic adventures in Old World Jamaica” with 197 rooms and suites on 15 acres with a refined atmosphere. Even the queens and kings have stayed here and to celebrate this they even have an English high tea service daily.
  • Sandals Carlyle is “an authentic Jamaican boutique resort” with 52 rooms and walking distance to Montego Bay’s hip strip. A great price offering here!

3. Sandals offers many locations for your luxury vacation, honeymoon or wedding!

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  • In Jamaica you can choose from the 3 resorts listed above in Montego Bay, Sandals Negril (with a 7 mile beach), Sandals Resorts on the South Coast: Sandals Whitehouse (European flair) and Sandals Resorts in Ocho Rios: Sandals Grande Riviera (the grandest of all resorts in Jamaica) & Sandals Royal Plantation (All-Butler Boutique Resort).
  • In Antigua there is the Sandals Grande Antigua resort (this is the “Most Romantic Resort” voted by Brides Magazine).
  • In St. Lucia you can stay at 1 and play at 3 also!!! Sandals Regency La Toc is “The Emerald of the Caribbean” resort with suites having a 180 degree view. Sandals Grande St. Lucian is the best resort for beach lovers! This resort is very popular for honeymooners!! Sandals Halcyon is “A True Garden Of Eden By A Tranquil Bay.” There are 23 global restaurants here!
  • In the Bahamas there is Sandals Royal Bahamian, “The Bahamas Most Elegant Resort” and Sandals Emerald Bay, “The Ultimate Golf & Spa Resort.”
  • The Sandals La Source is in Grenada and the newest of the Sandals properties.
  • And finally, Barbados…Sandals Barbados is currently closed but will reopen January 28, 2015 after a $65 million renovation!!

4. Honeymoon Extras

  • The couple will receive a bottle of bubbly chilled wine in their room.
  • A special turndown service that includes flower petals on your bed on the first night of your honeymoon.
  • Delight in a delivery of a decadent breakfast in bed one morning of your choice.
  • Have an intimate couple’s massage.
  • Have a romantic private dinner for two by candlelight.
  • Use the butler service for the upmost personal attention.butler_service

When you add up all these great inclusions the value is really extraordinary compared to other resorts where you pay for all the “extras.” If you would like more information about the Sandals honeymoons, WeddingMoons or vacations, please contact Trudy Scott with Royalty Event Parties at 210-595-9263 or you can go directly to the Sandals website through this blog or my website.

 

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San Antonio Wedding Consultant Offers Invitations

I have been working diligently this past month ordering invitation albums, learning all the etiquette, affiliating myself with printers and invitation companies, learning their ordering process, and updating my website. I have been so excited about when I could finally launch and tell the world that I now offer invitation services. The time has finally come!

I have actually been dealing with invitation companies for over 9 years with my previous company, Royal Tea Princess Parties. I ordered in bulk, created all the invitation wording myself and took orders for my customers, typeset the invitation, sent the proof, printed them myself and then mailed (or even dropped them off – I really feel strongly about customer service!). After doing this for so long, adding wedding invitation services was a logical one for me!

I will devote half of my blogs to invitation & party etiquette. The rest of the time my blogs will still focus on other wedding related topics. Here are the invitation lines I am working with.

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I have 2 online storefronts…one with Carlson Craft and the other with the remainder of the invitation & stationery companies. You can click on the above images to go directly to them.

For a limited time I will be offering 10% off all online and in-person orders (excludes Disney from Carlson Craft)! I will have a SPECIAL offer for brides that use my consulting services – 15% off all invitation & stationery orders (except Disney)!

Here is my current promotion as well (for in-person orders only):

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I offer a huge selection of:

  • Shower Invitations
  • Bachelorette Party Invitations
  • Rehearsal Dinner Invitations
  • Wedding Invitations with Enclosures
  • Ceremony Programs
  • Save The Date Cards
  • Menu Cards
  • Place Cards
  • Stickers
  • Notecards
  • Thank You Cards
  • Personalized Items
invitations_roseanne_beckwedding_invitations_showers_bachelorettecarlson_craft_invitations_san_antonioContact me today to schedule an appointment or if you have any questions. I want to make your event a success! 210-595-9263, info@royaltyeventparties.com

Should I hire a wedding coordinator?

austin_wedding_expo_2014Recently, I attended the Austin Wedding Expo and heard many great speakers talk about goal setting, marketing ideas, SEO tips, etc. One of the most interesting comments I heard there was by one of the speakers who stated, “Based on case studies, brides wish they would have hired a wedding planner (after the fact).” Hearing that is so frustrating as a wedding consultant in San Antonio, Texas. I went up to the speaker after the presentation and asked, “Well, how do you convince the bride BEFORE the wedding just how important planners are?” That’s a hard question to answer! Some brides will never get it but there is that small percentage that DO (thank you!). Here is a list of reasons to consider using a wedding planner & if hiring a wedding coordinator is the way to go – maybe I can convince those other brides.

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  • Have you planned a wedding before? There is a lot that goes into it…someone experienced can guide you and save you a lot of time trying to figure it all out. Have you thought about your plan B if it rains or who is going to move all those chairs from the ceremony to the reception? I have! How much time goes into planning a typical wedding (10 months prior)? “Say I spend 5 hours a week thinking about, researching for and crafting the wedding – which is probably a conservative estimate. At 5 hours a week, 40 weeks of planning = 200 hours,” blog from Wedding Bee, Time Well Spent. http://www.weddingbee.com/2008/11/06/time-well-spent/#ixzz3AIcX5ktk. Do you have this much time to plan? Wedding coordinators can cut that time in half!

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  • If you opt to hire a wedding planner, you can focus on the fun details of planning the wedding while your wedding planner takes care of the technicalities. Do you really want to spend time on the phone with transportation companies and hotels?

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  • I understand that planning your dream wedding is not cheap and you want a good deal on everything or you just don’t budget for it at all – like coordinators. However, couples need to keep in mind that this is one of the biggest days of their lives. I’ve been married for over 14 years and I still think back on all the details and the things I should have done for my wedding…I have regrets! I don’t want you to have regrets too! We really are essential for ensuring a smooth and stress-free day! Trust me, we are worth every penny!

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  • Do you think that your family, friends and wedding party really want to be given tasks to do for your wedding? They may say they would love to help but is it really fair to ask them to do all this manual labor work? Wouldn’t you much rather have them around you relaxing and enjoying one another’s company as they come together to celebrate this very special day with you? Think about those memories!! A coordinator’s job is to make sure all these tasks are done so others can relax too.

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  • So, going back to my question…how do I convince bride’s that consultants really are essential to have BEFORE their wedding? Here’s some reasons…vendor recommendations, give advice, review contracts (it seems like I always catch something), create timelines (I give one to the DJ, caterer & bride), do the leg work (calling vendors), attend rehearsal (make sure everyone knows what to do), pin boutonnieres & pass out flowers, ensure vendors arrive & set up, manage the entire event from start to finish, take care of problems (At one wedding I coordinated the toilet was overflowing in the bathroom….there I was with a plunger and cleaning up the floor so others wouldn’t slip – the bride never knew this!), load up cars with gifts and couple’s items, make sure vendors clean up (I want you to get your deposit back) plus so much more.

Consultants put in hours and hours of their time for each and every wedding they assist with. We love what we do and are passionate about it! I hope you will consider hiring an expert. I hope this blog has helped convince brides-to-be. If you need consulting or invitation services please contact Trudy Scott, 210-595-9263 or info@royaltyeventparties.com. I service the San Antonio, Texas area.

Follow Up: I posted this blog on a Linked In Wedding Group and here are some comments I received. Pretty interesting….https://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=86275&type=member&item=5906130834867372036&commentID=5906532529652912128&report%2Esuccess=8ULbKyXO6NDvmoK7o030UNOYGZKrvdhBhypZ_w8EpQrrQI-BBjkmxwkEOwBjLE28YyDIxcyEO7_TA_giuRN#commentID_5906532529652912128