Can'tHardlyWait

Thanks - I would really appreciate any info you have

Quote: Originally Posted by Adamsgrrl HOLY S$$#!!! Royal Hideaway @ $277, Damn!! I would go for that one! I know!!! I was so excited when I heard but I am going to be an aunt (WOOHOO!!!!) in a month so adult-only resorts are out. It's such a beautiful resort and the ratings are through the roof. That having been said, I wouldnt give up having my first little nephew at my wedding for a million eternity pools

I was just wondering if anyone knew the policy/law on fireworks in RM. My wc says the Xcaret doesnt do them, so i was thinking about maybe doing the welcome dinner somewhere else that will allow me to do them. Anyone knew of any public or private places that allow fireworks?

Woo Hoooo!!!! Congratulations Jaime! Details, pics... can't wait to hear how it happened!

Quote: Originally Posted by LALA I didn't get engaged until a year and a few months after I took the bar so I'm no help. But, I totally planned my wedding (using this site) between the test and results and getting a job. I wasn't engaged then, but I had all this time so I just planned it. Maybe that will help - just know that there will be time after the test to do wedding stuff!!! And you really don't want to have to take that crappy test again!!! Your post has motivated me to do two things: 1) pass the bar and 2) hold off on getting a job until I get this wedding organized!!! Just kidding... sort of

Wow Jessica! You get serious props for all this effort! Your pictures totally motivated me to committing to this project as soon as I take the bar!

I thought these might be helpful to anyone considering Occidental hotels. They are the final group rates that we got from Ocicdental's group rates person. We asked for rates for a bunch of different locations - cozumel, aruba, dominican republic - before we settled on riviera maya so they just sent us EVERYTHING. Some of these numbers (riviera maya and aruba especially) are the product of serious negotiations on the part of my FI (he's actually a contracts negotiator in real life so he loved doing it!). Also, keep in mind that we got these rates because we "guaranteed" 50 rooms. If anyone knows a better place to post this (or if you think I should post this in multiple place) please let me know! I am not sure exactly what to do since it covers a bunch of different locations. Group Rates.xls

Welcome! You definitely came to the right place! In the 2 weeks that I have been on this forum, I have gotten TONS of wonderful advice and everyone has been super helpful. I am actually in the process of planning my wedding at the Xcaret. I know a bunch of people that went there and loved it so I decided to trust them and go with it (although I am hoping to do a site visit in the end of august). If you are having a large group, I just got the group rates for a bunch of the Occidental hotels today!

Quote: Originally Posted by LALA Another bar taker!!! Good luck lady - a few of us have been there. It sucks, but it's the best feeling ever once you get the "passed" results!! Thank you so much!!! I am definitely going to need some good luck considering how distracting this wedding has been! How can anyone think about crim law when there are STD to design?!?!? (hehe) Were you planning while you studied? I could use any advice you have to offer... for the most part, studying when I want to be searching for wedding dresses feels like this:

Quote: Originally Posted by MikkiStreak There were a few reasons why I wished I would have just skipped the tentative RSVP on the STD. First, my instincts were pretty accurate. I got back responses that pretty much matched 90% of my assumptions. That alone would have been enough of an idea for what to do with room blocks and planning numbers. Second, I think when I got the no's back, I sat there thinking to myself, 'so now what? Do I ask them to tell me that again in a formal invite a couple months away from the wedding?' About half of our guest list is older generations, so I think it might be a little confusing to have to submit 2 RSVP's from the STD and the formal invite. Third, I opened the door to hand-written comments on the response cards. And, some of the family was pretty vocal in expressing their displeasure over a destination wedding. That kind of deflated my enthusiasm a bit and now I'm more hesitant about wanting to include people.... I just wasn't very prepared for those responses from family... I would say that if you're inviting 150 and you already expect 100 confirmations, then drop about 25-30% of that number and use that for a starting point in room blocks and such. Just talk to your TA/resort about what happens if you need to add/remove some of the rooms in your block so you're clear on how it impacts your finances... Maria - that totally sucks! I completely sympathize with you... especially because the most vocal opponents of a dw were my fil! Just like you, I assumed people would be really excited about attending my wedding, even more so because they get to go to mexico! Needless to say, I was wrong... Atleast all our friends a really enthusiastic about the wedding I guess I'll give myself a little more time to decide. If I want to make the STD myself (which I do), I have to wait until the end of july because I am studying for the bar right now which is a 10 hour, 7 days a week thing at this point... just one more decision to procrastinate about ...

Quote: Originally Posted by dragonfly Are you letting people know ahead of time that the accomadations, and ai are paid for? This will surely determine if people say yes or not. By the way really great of you fil. All our friends and family know that the hotel and ai are paid for. The only people who wouldn't know are fi's friends (most of whom me and and my fi don't know at all). I wasn't planning on announcing it on any of the std's because, the truth is, I am not so excited about not knowing over half the guest list at my destination wedding! Is that awful? I just think that the people who love us and want to be there will be there, regardless of whether they get a free vacation out of it. Sorry about the multiple posts - I am still learning how to navigate the forums

Quote: Originally Posted by Adamsgrrl So wait your FIL's are paying for ALL your Guests Yup! Not to sound ungrateful (because I am SOO thankful that they are paying for our wedding), but it came with a catch. Originally, FI and I wanted a really small, intimate (and affordable) wedding on a beach somewhere. His parents took personal offense, "why were we excluding all their friends," etc. Before we knew it, we were having a 250 person wedding in Manhattan! Long story short, after about a month of arguments, we compromised on a large, not so intimate wedding... on a beach. Unfortunately, his parents still couldn't hate the idea more... they just fely like it was wrong to ask people to travel when we were both from NY (clearly, they had forgotten that we wanted a really small wedding with just family and close friends). Anyway, they promised to stop insulting th e DW idea if they could pay for the guests. We agreed and now everyone is happy... for now Sorry to rant - it's been a rough couple of months and I am still very new to all this!

Quote: Originally Posted by MikkiStreak We asked them for tentative information. We included a postcard and explained that because the resort books quickly, we wanted to have a tentative headcount for reserving room blocks, etc... We didn't ask for quantities of people, just yes, they knew they were going to attend; no, they knew they couldn't; and a still up in the air option.... We got about 3/4 of the ones we sent out back from people. I can say this tho---- in our case, after I had sent them out, a part of me wished I wouldn't. Like they say, 'hindsight is 20/20'.... If I would have stepped back from the guest list and looked at it objectively, I would have had a realistic idea of where to start with room blocks, head counts, etc.... Can I ask why you would have done it differently? Is it just that the rsvp wasn't necessary because you could have figured it out or was it something else? The thing is, we are inviting 150 people and I know that 100 or so are definitely going to come, but the other 50 people are complete unknowns. I originally wanted to put the rsvp on my website like Ashleigh suggested, but I am worried not enough people will go to the website for it to be effective. Hmmm...

I LOVE those! I can't believe a STD could be so creative and so useful! I was just stressing about how much info I am "allowed" to put on my STD ... You did an AWESOME job!

Since I am officially in the process of booking the Xcaret, (YAY!!!) I am now starting to think about STD. Here is my issue: Is it tacky to ask guests to rsvp to our STD? The thing is, my FIL are going to pay for our guests' rooms and AI (I know, how great are they?), which means we need to have atleast a rough estimate of how many rooms to book. Would it be better to just send them out without an rsvp and just make phone calls to everyone a couple of weeks after they get them? I know its still really early, but I am just SOOO excited about everything and I really want to have this all booked!

I am coming in a little late to the conversation but - WOW! There is NO WAY anyone should pay the $500 fee to bring in a photographer! After reading this post, I called my WC at the Xcaret and asked if they charge a fee for outside vendors. An assistance informed me that there was "some sort of charge," although she wasnt 100% sure how much and she would call me back when she could. I - being all talk and no action - called my FI, got him all fired up, and had him call back to tell them we would be willing to pay nothing more than a day pass ($85). I am not sure if that is the policy at Occidental anyway, but when he called back and told me they agreed, he was totally my hero So, the point of my long story is... if you haven't already, test out whether the WC is willing to stand by the policy in the face of an unhappy bride who is spending thousands of $$$ at the hotel. And... if that fails, put them on your guest list. One of the guests at my wedding actually is a professional photographer (although she is coming strictly as a guest)... how would they know "in what capacity" she is taking pictures? I totally agree with all the photographers on this forum - do NOT give in to the $500! Even though it could cost as much, I think it's better to resist the charge and put the photographer on your guest list.

Quote: Originally Posted by rob4ever Thanks for all of the advice! I am going to talk to Rob's sister and another couple who I know that had an inter-faith ceremony. I will let you know when I find out more! I don't know if you have already worked out the rabbi situation, but I am in the process of tracking one down myself. Like Glenda said, most of the Mexican Jewish Community lives in Mexico city, but one of the WC's I talked to this week gave me a phone number for the Jewish Community Center in Cancun. It's 011 52 998 892 1006. I believe she said the rabbi/cantor is reformed so he may be open to performing an interfaith marriage. Hope this helps! Galit

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcomes and helpful replies!!! I can't tell you have excited I am to have found this site... I was definitely getting to that point where the frustration sets in and I felt like I was never going to figure all this out I guess it's time for me to venture out into some of the other parts of the forum and get some advice on specific topics. Thanks again!

Steve (my soon to be hubby ) is already in touch with the "group rates" person from the Xcaret trying to coordinate a package deal for all our guests (my inlaws are insisting on paying for every single guest). We are just waiting for a final package. My job is to figure out the airfare and I have NO idea where to start. Do I get a TA to just coordinate the airfare for our guests? Does anyone know how that works as far as using multiple airlines, group discounts, etc?

Thanks for the warm welcome! I am SO excited to have found this forum - there is so much helpful advice here Unfortunately, as Adamsgrrl noted, the Xcaret's email system is not very good. Most of the emails just get returned. I am just so excited to plan this wedding already... I really want someone to call me back!

Hi All!!! The big day for Steve and I is (hopefully) May 25th 2008. I have been attempting to plan a destination wedding for almost 3 weeks and I am finding it more and more difficult to get anywhere. I have my heat set on the Occidental Grand Xcaret but I can't seem to get anyone on the phone there. Suggestions, advice, and words of wisdom would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks, Galit