KellyMN

They are so cute! I love the colors too!

OH... and their photographer was named Richard May - Wedding Photographer in Costa Rica - Richard May Photography And, I think the planner was through Weddings Costa Rica.

Hi there, I was at a friends wedding right outside of Tamarindo in May. It was lovely! Tamarindo was a great area because it gave guests many hotel options and there lots of things to do - many bars and restaurants, shopping, great surfing, tours, central location, etc. They were married at Cala Luna on Playa Langosta, which a lovely hotel. The wedding was on the beach and they had a cocktail hour there as well, until it started to rain (rainy season is in May). Later that evening, we went to Bistro Langosta for their reception. They rented out the whole place and had a DJ and lovely dinner. It was great! Check out their wedding website at shawnandlisa.com. It will give you an idea of what their wedding was like and prices for different hotel accomodations in the area. I'm sure Lisa wouldn't mind if you were to contact her via email with a couple questions. She had a great wedding coordinator there that set up the DJ, photographer, hair stylist, nail artist, etc. And, even more helpful for you to see. I was the videographer - check out the videos on youtube! Wedding and Reception: YouTube - Shawn and Lisa's Wedding - Part 1 YouTube - Shawn and Lisa's Wedding - Part 2 YouTube - Shawn and Lisa's Wedding - Part 3 YouTube - Shawn and Lisa's Wedding - Part 4 YouTube - Shawn & Lisa Best Wishes Tours: YouTube - Costa Rica Buena Vista Combo Tour Congrats!

My mom is getting married in January at the Grand Pineapple in Negril and I'm helping her plan. I got married last January in Playa del Carmen, although I didn't know about this forum until about 2 weeks before departure so I missed out on all the benefits the forum offers! I'm excited to have this resource as I help plan her weddding. Does anyone know anything about weddings at the Grand Pineapple? Or does anyone have any suggestions? I'd love to see some pics! We'd appreciate it!

People bring a gifts to the wedding and the shower. Where I'm from, shower gifts are a lot of things off your registry, if you have one. Wedding gifts are a lot of cash. It's a lot different for a DW than a traditional wedding I think. And, it probably varies a lot by generation and geographical location. If you do go to a shower though, of course your wedding gift is a little less.

You deserve a shower! Especially after all the ones you thrown! And, once again, I felt the same way, but people really expect them. They are so excited for you guys and want to give you a gift. I strongly advice against inviting people that aren't invited to the wedding or the AHR - pretty tacky in my eyes. Although, as long as they are invited to the wedding or the AHR, invite them to the shower, whether they are coming to the wedding or not. I had a few showers - aunts, friends, and my boss threw them. We told all our DW guests that their gift was their presence - which it was the best gift of all - but other than showers, we wouldn't have gotten any gifts. We are very thankful. I had the traditional wedding shower too - ladies sitting around taking about detergent and cooking - boo! How about a co-ed shower? they are great! We had two co-ed showers that were really, really fun. My friends threw one, which was a "Entertainment" theme party. They got a keg, we played some fun women vs. men games, and all the gifts revolved around us entertaining in our new house - so anything from Margarita glasses and chip and dip trays to wine and welcome mats! It was great!!! I've also been to "Build the Bar" and "Backyard BBQ" themed co-ed showers. I think the co-ed showers are WAY better! There's no reason the women should have to do this stuff alone

Oh no... it's so sad to hear someone say that! It's too bad he didn't share a proof with you?!?! BDW brides to the rescue! I'd get new ones, personally. He'd never know... and it's your big event! You deserve to be 100% satisfied!

Those will look so nice - I want one!!! or five!

I love them - the beading adds a really nice touch. And I love the fun, bright colors! Way to go

Here's one of Ben and my mom in here Junior Suite. They had one of the nicer Jr. Suites, which had the divider between the living and sleeping area. See the edge of the couch and the short wall Sorry these, pictures aren't great for this purpose!

Here are some shots from inside my sisters room and a friends room.... This is the interior of the room without the divider - notice the chairs, rather than a couch Looking into the bathroom area... sorry about my friends pose They all have the important things! All rooms have a luggage bench near the bed Here, Michele is standing next to the bed. The photo is taken from the living area where the chairs are. If you look behind here, there is a large closet, your mini bar, and the door to the room in this area. Behind that area is the bathroom - which has a jacuzzi tub, tub sink and is beautifully filled with marble. Hope those help!

Here's a few shots I stole from my friends and family. They loved their rooms and the resort. I had many comments about how much they loved the landscaping, the food, the pool, even the beach (with sandbags even)! I also got several comments about the rooms being the nicest they'd even seen in Mexico, the biggest bathrooms, the cleanest, how they would be nice rooms for a hotel in the US, etc etc. Everyone loved it and all my guests had the regular, run of the house rooms, which they call Junior Suites. I've seen some companies say that all Junior Suites have couches... this is NOT true. All the junior suites have a lounge area with a TV, but some have a couch and a coffee table. The rooms with a couch and coffee table are divided into two areas, with a short 4 ft wall between the bedroom area and the living room area. there is one or two steps dividing these areas. The other rooms have nothing dividing the areas and only have two chairs with a small table in between. Either way, they are all nice. These are the views from their balconies. You can see, they were placed in the back of area of the hotel.

The suite was about $2,750 more, but that was for two weeks. For one week, I'm sure it would have been slightly more than $1,000 (probably half of what we paid - $1,375). It was so nice to have the extra space to entertain guests and store all the wedding crap we had. The room has a big walk-in closet, where we could all the vases, gift bags, etc out of site, which was really nice. They say you get an automatic upgrade, but I wouldn't count on it. I've heard from a lot of people that expected to get that and were very disappointed. If you're getting married in June, July, or Aug. there might be a chance, but otherwise, I think it'd be pretty unlikely. The regular suites are very nice though, so don't feel like you need to spend more. The regular suites were by far the best rooms I'd ever seen in Mexico before! I'll post some pics of the regular rooms. Hope that helps!

Yes, our wedding dinner was private. We ate in the Mexican restaurant at 6:30 pm. It was delicious! It was just open to our 50 guests. We had to be out of the restaurant for the second dinner seating though, which was at 8:45, which was fine.

Thanks for the nice compliments ladies! For those of you that asked, my dress was from JCrew. It was the only one I tried on. I loved it - light weight, somewhat casual but dressy enough for the wedding, and only $330! Thanks again!

Hope that helps with your decision! Sorry those images are so large - that's annoying! Feel free to contact with questions! Best of luck, Kelly

Beautiful tile, all over the property! List of dining options

some other random pics: Taking over the sportsbar Gourmet Rest. - yum! One of the run of the house rooms, regular rooms, very nice too! Good nightly entertainment! Within walking distance of 5th Ave, ruins on the way

Now onto the wedding pics. We were married in the gazebo, which we liked because it's SLIGHTLY more private than the beach. We always wanted to get married in the sand, but after seeing the beach (no barriers around it, wide open, in the middle of the masses of people), we decided we liked this area better. There is a small amount of landscaping dividing this area and the pool area, so strangers can't walk right up to your wedding. Don't get me wrong, we still had strangers turning around their lawn chairs to view our ceremony, but that's about a resort destination wedding is all about, right? We loved this location! We had dinner in the Mexican Restaurant. First dance to live music in the courtyard after. Then, we went to the Riu Tequila bar and disco for dancing. The Music - Trio - I think it was $450 for an hour. They did a great job, traditional mexican music. We asked if they knew anything by the Beatles - we were outta luck! Music at the cocktail hour, following the ceremony, outside of the Lirico Bar Wedding dinner in Mexican Rest. The cake. We paid an extra $25 for this flower topper.

More images of our room. Read details on previous post. Up to our bedroom area Wedding night romantic decor, done partially by the maids and partially by our friends. Our balcony

My husband I stayed in one of the "Suite with Jacuzzi" rooms. These rooms are the same as the suite, except all rooms have balcony with an open air jacuzzi (which is up the winding stairs, on the 2nd floor of your balcony). They all have a fountain view and ocean view. We loved it! It was more expensive, but for perfect for the occasion. We were there for two weeks, had a lot of decorations, and wanted to be able to entertain in our room, so we needed the extra storage space! There are only 8 of these rooms within the whole property, so if you're interested, request asap. If you can't spring for the "Suite with Jacuzzi" room, don't worry, all the rooms are nice! Much nicer than any other hotel rooms I've been in in Mexico! Our room was the top two floors in this tower. Most the photos I've posted show the view from our room. Our living area Cocktails for the wedding party in our room Our bathroom - huge! Open air jacuzzi on the upper level of our balcony. Don't mind the goofy photo Bedroom, looking into the bathroom Walking up to the open air jacuzzi All rooms have these We were able to have all the bridesmaids up in our room for wedding hair do's!

You can see, there's a wall that divides the upper beach area from the lower beach area. The property was built post hurricane Wilma, so they did this to prevent erosion. The sandbags in the water seemed to have really helped. Palace Riv Maya has more sand bags than the other Rius, but also have the largest beach, by far. I was bummed about it at first, but when we got there, it was just fine!

Sorry... there's still more.