I know I have not been very active with this site, but I wanted to
share because I have gotten so much information from everyone that
was so helpful. I appreciate it! (and I posted this same message on yahoo's group too..)
**Disclaimer: The reason I had this wedding in PV was because I did
not want to deal with the stress and time of planning a big wedding
back home, so I came into this with a very carefree attitude and that
absolutely helped me stay calm!**
We arrived in PV 9 hours late on 10/18. US Airways canceled our
flight out of Des Moines because of the weather, even though 6 of our
friends were on different flights going out the same time and they
were fine, but they couldn't get us on any of those flights. So we
got routed to St. Louis, then Dallas and spent 7 hours in the Dallas
airport. We finally get to PV at 10:30 pm where all of our friends
and family are already there waiting for us at Dreams.
On to the reviews…..
Wedding Coordinator:
Eva and Michael from Vallarta Weddings vallartaweddings.com. They
were absolutely wonderful. I just found them online and communicated
via email. I sent them photos of what I wanted and everything was
exactly perfect. Michael was the one that stayed with us from the
church to the very end of the reception dinner. I don't think he
stopped for more than 5 minutes because he was running around doing
so much. All of our friends and family commented about how great he
was.
Location:
Our Lady of Guadalupe church- downtown PV. The church was absolutely
beautiful. One comment, they are repainting all the trim around the
entire church. We went there for a quick rehearsal and there was
this enormous scaffolding in the back. They were able to move it to
the side and honestly, the day of the wedding I didn't even pay
attention or realize it was there. There is also plastic on the
altar, but you can't even notice it any of the pictures. I did
overhear them saying that this will be done by December. We had a
lot of people coming in to watch and take pictures, but again, we
didn't even know until the end when we turned around and saw all the
people. We also did not get to meet the priest before the ceremony
or know which one was performing it. Our coordinator told us there
were 2, one speaks good English and the other one doesn't. And we
got the one that no one understood…I am going to apologize because I
don't even remember his name, but I asked my coordinator and
hopefully I can let you know so you can try to request the other
one! We were able to follow the mass because 90% of our guests were
Catholic, but all you could do was laugh a little because the priest
was about 100 years old.
Reception Dinner:
El Dorado Restaurant. We wanted to pick something that was on the
beach and had an authentic feel, I mean we went to Mexico for a
reason! So this was perfect. They had this little section for us
and the trio we hired had their own little stage. There were only 30
people total, so we had a small group and I wanted an intimate casual
dinner. We are having a reception this weekend in Chicago, so we
thought we would save all the 1st dances, etc for that. Totally not
the case! As soon as we got there, all the servers never left our
side. We didn't even have to order a drink because they were so
attentive. We didn't even notice that the appetizers never came out
right away! The food was excellent and everyone loved what they
had. We hired the Trio Jaque Mate (our coordinator recommended them)
and they were amazing! They weren't your typically Trio that play
soft music, they were like a mini-Mariachi band! They even played
some music in English! Everyone got up and danced and I really don't
think they would have stopped if the food didn't show up. Even when
they took a break, Michael (coordinator) went up right away and
played music from his I-pod, I didn't even ask him to do that. He
even did that when the Trio was over and we stayed for another 45
minutes. We had so much fun and I can't imagine doing it any other
way.
When we were done with that, we went back to Dreams (all our guests
stayed there too) and danced and drank there.
Other services:
Hair/make-up: Dreams spa- I don't remember who recommended Blanca,
but she did my hair and make-up and I loved it and she was so nice.
All of my bridesmaids and my mom got their hair/make-up done there
too.
Transportation: we got a charter bus to take everyone to the church
and then to the restaurant. Me, my bridesmaid, and parents were
supposed to get a suburban to pick us up, but we got a van.
Hotel: Dreams- this place was wonderful. Great service, food,
everything. All of our guests want to make a yearly trip down there
from now on. Originally I wanted to have my reception there, but
when I contacted the coordinator back in January she told me they
only do one reception there a day. Totally not true, but I am not
disappointed about it. I think it was nice leaving the resort for a
little while.
Photographer: Marisa Bridge- bridgecolor.com
She was a funny lady. I got the package that included 2
photographers and a videographer. She met me at the hotel and she
came to my room and the other photographer went to Matt's room and
the videographer went from room to room. She was all over the place
during the ceremony and stayed for the entire reception. She mingled
with all the guests and made everyone feel very comfortable. Matt
and I met her in town to pick out our pictures that Tuesday and she
met us at the airport before we left to give us everything but the
video, which she will mail later. Not only did she print 200 photos,
but I got to have the photos on a CD (all 1100 that she took).
I put all my photos on Walgreens.com, if you would like to see them.
Here is the link.
Walgreens Photo Center: Error Page
46550/cobrandOid=1009/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Let me know if the link doesn't work.
Overall, we had a wonderful time and the little things that happened
along the way were so insignificant that it is more funny to laugh
about them now than be mad they happened.
We actually got married at the church downtown and had a simple dinner at El Dorado, so they did the food. Your wedding will turn out wonderful and the best thing is you won't have to worry about anything because they will take care of all the details!