Yari

Quote: Originally Posted by Abbie yari, its not that actual hotel names Los Arcos, with the buffet/restaurant right next to their little pool, in the romantic zone, is it? thats where doug and i got engaged! Oh my gosh no way! Yes, that is the place. I love that you got engaged there!! Celina the price for the breakfast buffet was $10. Definitely check it out, very yummy. They made the best quesadillas!!

Quote: Originally Posted by LC_Rachel hahaha OOOPS! Please apologize to him. Oh so that explains it. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why you had no beach. A hurricane- DUH! Dancing in the surf looked so fun though. That thought never once occurred to me. I guess I didn't really have a whole lot of dancing time to consider it. Did the change the carpet thing on the dance floor? It doesn't look as green in your pictures. It's pretty in yours! Now I need to finish looking! LOL, I told Brian yesterday about your comment and he just laughed and laughed. We all mocked the GM about it. The funny thing is my officiant and his wife started the whole dancing on the beach phase. I am so happy they did. Yes, they must of...cause it was tan and looked like it was sand.

Yay! So happy this has been resurrected! Mrs: Erica (CessyBoston) BTB: Casey

Quote: Originally Posted by starchild Yari, thanks for the candid review, I'm sure future LC brides will find it helpful. I must admit I'm pretty surprised at some of it, having been married there myself and not had some of the issues you did. Nicole shouted at your parents about the cake, really? That so doesn't seem like her, not that I don't believe you, but wow! She was sweet as pie to us and our guests, especially my parents who raved about her. She packed up the cake for us...we weren't thinking towards the end and would have left it if not for her. I'm sorry your stuff didn't get passed out, I didn't have that issue, but I know how much work you put into your stuff. It sounds like our boat rides were similar...I think all brides with a boat related wedding anywhere should know that seasickness is a very real possibility. Was your boat ride back smooth? It seems like the ride to LC is far worse than the return trip. Overall I'm glad you are seeing above the details and are just happy to have married Brian in a beautiful place. Your pics are awesome!! I was as shocked as you and sad that it had to happen to me. Yup, it is all true. You should have seen the cake in the container, it was a mess. I couldn't believe it. There are seriously quite a few more things that I didn't list out cause I feel I am getting petty at this point. I think the sea sickness was the least of my problems. Yes, the ride back was definitely smooth. All in all, I would recommend LC to any bride. It was magical. I think it is important that other brides are aware of situations that can occur and to be ready for them.

Quote: Originally Posted by bca33 hey yari, i was wondering what dj you used. do you know is it the same person or do they have options to choose from on there djs thru las caletas Quote: Originally Posted by bca33 yari sorry hit the enter button and had more to say, the reason i ask is because you had said the dj was great. we were originally going to do the whole ipod thing but now am wondering if we should do the dj!!?? did you make them cd's to play? I do not know his name...but I would think it would be the same one. I would ask Nicole or Kelley for his name. I did not make any cd's except for the ceremony songs and the first dance, father daughter dance, and mother son dance. He really played a great selection of music and added some Spanish stuff. It was a perfect fit for a Mexican wedding.

I didn't realize Rachel had a bad transportation experience either. Yes, I would use it again. BUT I would make sure the bus picked up my guest at the hotel.

I can ask my BM's if they are willing to sell them.

That really stinks! Are you working with a travel agent?

It is on the beach near La Palapa.

I sort of think in your mind and heart you were hoping for a reconcillation. The fact that she dissed you again makes you hurt and mad. At least now you can write her off for good!

Lauren, I did think about sending her a letter. I'm not sure if I want to though. I sort of figure that she will read the thread, especially since it wasn't the best review they have had...word is sure to get out.

Michael Wachniak I found Michael (Mike) Wachniak on BDW earlier this year. He was a new vendor and I really liked his website and blog. Brian and I enjoyed his style too. I emailed Mike regarding pricing and such. He responded right away and sent us a contract. Brian and I decided to go with him, signed the contract and sent the deposit. As the months went on I was a little apprehensive since I really didn’t know Mike and we were flying him in from Canada. People were telling me that I was crazy for hiring a photographer from the internet. I started to believe them. LOL! Well before we left for Puerto Vallarta, I finalized the plans with Mike and kept my fingers crossed that he would show up. As planned Mike arrived and was ready to work that night. The first event he was going to photograph was our Rehearsal Dinner at Vista Grill. Mike was great and took lots of candid shots. He got along great with everyone and I was thrilled. The next event was to take pics of our zip lining tour. Mike took various shots of us going up and down trees like monkeys. He is energetic and fun. It was cool having our own paparazzi following us around. That evening was our welcome dinner and Mike was on time with his camera. He took various shots of people mingling, at their tables and overall having a great time. By this time Mike felt like family to us and we had a great time with him. The day of the wedding Mike was amazing. He took off his shoes and pulled up his pants and got wet…literally. He was in the water taking all sort of wonderful shots. He was everywhere with the camera and he worked alone, no assistant. I received my pictures within a week. Brian and I were floored with the quality and artistic nature of his work. They were remarkable. We are both so happy with his pictures, I can’t stop raving about them. He is a true talent and great photographer. Mike was a joy to work with and I wished he lived in Los Angeles so he could do more work for us. If you are looking for a top notch, professional, fun photographer Michael Wachniak is your guy! I am so happy we hired him for our wedding and would do so again in a heartbeat! Please let me know if you have any questions about Mike. I would be more than happy to answer them. Also, he is a member of the board so PM him if you would like to talk to him directly.

Los Arcos Welcome Reception Review Brian and I decided that we would find a place once we got to Mexico, since we didn’t like any of the quotes we received. My parents found a cute restaurant while walking called Los Arcos and asked us to have breakfast with them on Tuesday. The breakfast buffet was very tasty and inexpensive. My dad said we should talk to the manager and ask about having the welcome reception there. We talked to the “Captain†and he said he would give us a private area, entertainment, food, and drinks for $10 pp. I was like sold! The night of the welcome reception everything went very smoothly. Well except for Hurricane Norbert. He decided to visit us that night. There was a huge thunderstorm and rainstorm. It was hilarious, within minutes of everyone arriving the rain came. Back to the food and stuff…it was delicious. We had enchiladas, chicken taquitos, chips and salsa, guacamole, beans, and other yummy food that I can’t remember. The drinks were good and flowing. I highly recommend Los Arcos. The staff was very attentive, kind and quick. I can’t believe the price we paid, it was a steal!

Quote: Originally Posted by LC_Rachel ok so I lied- i'm looking. hahaha. I LOVE your night pictures. 296+ beautiful sky!! Your GM were soooo wet! Was that from holding the chupa? WOW- I can't believe how the tide came in. I wonder why- I haven't seen that in anyone elses photos. So I read your review and after looking at the pics, when you say there was no aisle to walk up- was that when you guys are walking up the front of the chairs? How come? Was the tide in so you couldn't walk up the middle? You are too funny. No it was him sweating...LOL! I believe the tide was because of Hurricane Norbert. When the tide came up it washed up the chuppah, so they had to realign everything. Well I am assuming this, since Nicole never told me what happened. There are pics of how it looked before the tide came in and I love it. I don't see why they could have pushed things back to make the aisle.

Quote: Originally Posted by LC_Rachel Man- I don't have time to drink a cup of tea! I wanna look but I leave in 15 mins- no way I can do this. I will come back tomorrow morning with tea in hand. Sounds good...

Yup, I cried too! I got through it okay though.

Quote: Originally Posted by LC_Rachel Great review Yari. I certainly know how scary it is for posting something "negative" so kudos for doing that. I too had some mishaps and I was really nervous how my review would be received as well. I think you are really helping all the future brides make their day picture perfect. That's a shame so many people got sick. At least they got over it quick and still had a great time. I thought your set up was beautiful in the pictures, and I wondered why the groomsmen were holding the chuppa. I assumed it was the waves, but it still kinda looks cool- like the Jewish ceremony. They had to WALK to the bus? That totally sucks. This is one area that I wish could be improved. It was totally chaotic for my guests at the marina. They had NO idea where to go- actually 2 still missed the boat cause they were at the wrong area. I'm sad you didn't like your bouquet. I will have to check it out. Was it the one you requested? I'm so happy all these things didn't ruin your day though. You can't recreate your wedding, so keeping it positive really does help. It looked beautiful in the pictures though. Thanks Rachel! I was scared to post this, but thought it was only fair to the future LC brides. I remember your review and that I sort of read through the lines. I remember sending you a PM asking for more detail. LOL! Like I said earlier, overall I would have done it all over again. Yes, they had to walk to the bus...can you believe it? In pictures the bouquet looked pretty, but in person not so much.

Here is the link to my pro pics. There are around 700 of them, so get a cup of tea and enjoy. They are of the zip lining tour, rehearsal dinner, welcome reception and wedding. http://www.pictage.com/565495

Quote: Originally Posted by Andi Thank you for posting this Yari! I am glad you were very honest about what happened that you did not like. and that REALLY sucks about no aisle... I would have been MAD too! Couple questions for you... - the bus ride where your guests had to walk...was that the bus service that can be arranged through LC? Yes, it was paid and arranged through Nicole. - A few of your guests got sick on the boat ride...did they take dramamine at all? Yes, they all did. - on your mom taking the cake...did Nicole just not want you to take the cake or what? I dont understand what the big deal would have been on your mom (or other guests) taking it home! I honestly don't know what the deal was...I think Nicole just wanted the event to end. well anyway reading about your LC day and wedding is so exciting! thanks for posting! Let me know if you have any other questions...

Sarah your cards were just amazing!

Quote: Originally Posted by tvt No, I'm taking that sucker home! kidding Yeah, I'll totally leave it for you! LOL, you are too funny. BTW, I just posted my review. I am not sure how people are going to take it. In fact I am a little frighten in how it will be received. If you have any questions, please ask!

Las Caletas Wedding Review I am going to start this review with a general summary of the day from my point of view. In all, I did have a beautiful wedding and I am not going to let the bad get to me. Please remember that this was my experience. By trade I am an event director and have high expectations. I wish I could say that everything was perfect and wonderful, but it wasn’t. My experience was not the best, but I would still recommend Las Caletas. At the end of the review I will list the good and the bad. The day started early as my mom, bridesmaids and hair stylist met in the lobby of the Hotel Tropicana at 8am. We took a taxi to the marina and Kelley was there to greet us immediately. She ushered us to security, where our bags were searched. My hairstylist’s hair razor and comb were confiscated, but thankfully my mother is fluent in Spanish and was able to get them back. Once on the boat we sat on the upper deck and were given the most delicious Mexican bread ever. The ride over was calm and beautiful. As we pulled up to Las Caletas I was filled with excitement and butterflies. I couldn’t believe my eyes, the place was beautiful. The bridal casita is breathtaking and very comfortable. It fit all six of us quite nicely and we started off the day with a nice glass of champagne. As a gift I gave a one hour massage to my mom, BM’s and hairstylist. It was seriously the best massage I have ever had. There was drama regarding the massage payment and they refused to give three of my BM’s massages. I thought it gotten taken care of, but when I was in the shower I had to get out cause Nicole arrived and said I needed to pay for them. After our massages we had a wonderful lunch of ribs, chicken, salad, etc. It was scrumptious! I have to say that the day I spent at Las Caletas was extremely relaxing and fun. I am so happy that it is available to us. The weather was very hot and humid and the casita does not have air, but there are fans. It didn’t start getting uncomfortable until after we started to get dressed. My poor hairstylist Michelle was working her butt off and probably sweated off 10 pounds due to the heat. Thankfully Michelle brought her ipod player and we rocked out to great tunes as we got ready. Before I knew it, Nicole informed me that the boat was here. I started to cry, cause I couldn’t believe that my moment was finally going to happen. I found out later that five people on the boat got sick and the ride was hell on water. People were very scared. I feel so bad about this, I am happy that the wedding was so great they were able to forget about the ride over. I was told by a BM that arrived on the second boat that the bus was one hour late and they had to walk four blocks to get to the bus, cause it couldn’t get down to the hotel. Brian was livid, since it was so hot and humid and Nicole told him that it would meet our guests at the hotel. I still can’t believe our guests had to walk to the bus. I guess the bus driver wanted them to walk further and Brian flat out refused. Liquor was served on the boat ride over and when they arrived on the island. I did not know this until afterwards. I was upset with this, since I told Nicole numerous times that I did not want alcohol served until after the ceremony. I am happy I didn’t know until afterwards. I was finally ready to go and Nicole came back and said the tide came up and washed away the ceremony table and they needed to fix it, so it will be a few minutes. A few minutes turned into a half hour or more. Then we were told it’s time. I could hear the music for the mom’s, and then the grooms men and Brian, it was so surreal. It was now my BM’s turn and mine. During the walk thru that day I decided to go on the right side instead of the typical left side. Do not do this! It was extremely rocky, the stairs were hard to maneuver around and I felt like I was going to fall. Once I got down to the beach, I noticed that there was no aisle for me to walk down, so my dad and I went around the chairs to the chuppah. I also noticed that all of the GM’s were holding the chuppah up. It was all very unorganized. I was pretty shocked and didn’t know what to think. The ceremony was wonderful, but the waves kept on crashing onto the chuppah and getting us wet. No one from LC came to hold up the chuppah or fix the problem. I focused on Brian and we got through the ceremony with a few laughs since we were getting wet. After the ceremony, we didn’t know where to walk since there was no aisle. This bugged me a lot, especially since I have always dreamed of walking up and down the aisle on my wedding day. I was never told that the aisle was removed due to the tide. I felt like there was a lot of disorganization and I was very disturbed at dinner. Nicole was nowhere to be found after our pictures, so we didn’t get announced to the reception. We just sort of walked in, I was pissed. Also, I noticed that the programs were not handed out, nor were the bubbles. I spent a lot of time on these things and was irritated. I barely ate, but everyone said it was delicious. It looked very good. Nicole was a doll and brought food to us, but Brian and I decided to visit each table instead of eating. The toast was given, we cut the cake (which was beautiful) and then the dancing began. Many of our guests were disappointed that they didn’t see the cake get cut, because they didn’t hear it get announced. I am not sure about this, but I have to believe my guests. The dj was amazing! I highly recommend him. After all of our “dances†the dj said that there was a special surprise for the couple and it turned out to be the fire dancers. Um, not sure why it was a special surprise, especially since we paid for them. All of our guests were impressed, as were we with the dancers. Brian and I were annoyed that they said it was a special surprise as if LC gave it to us. They should of said it was a special surprise to our guests from Brian and Yari instead. We then partied the night away and danced in the ocean. The boat ride back was so much fun and the dj was great. We were singing and dancing, it was hilarious. Yes, it was amazing and magical! Brian and I had the best time and our guests rave at how beautiful and fun the wedding was. I would definitely say get married at Las Caletas! Good: •I loved my centerpieces and the way the tables were done. They were exactly what I had imagined. •The boat ride over was fun. •Massages we got were unbelievable. •Food was very good and my guests are still talking about it. •The dj was awesome and played the right type of music. •Definitely get the firedancers, they were worth the money. •I haven’t seen the video yet, but the videographer was great to have. The evening went by so fast, I am glad I had it captured on tape. •My photographer Michael Wichanek was amazing!!! I will write his own separate review, but I highly recommend him. •I married the man I loved! Bad: •Drinks were served on the boat ride to LC and before the ceremony. I asked Nicole numerous times to not have alcoholic beverages served until after the ceremony. •Guests had to walk four blocks to the bus. •There were two missing place cards that my guests informed me. They said they asked Nicole and she just said I don’t know. Basically two of my guests didn’t have table numbers or almonds. •Programs and bubbles were not placed on the chairs before the ceremony. This upsets me only because I worked hard on the little things and the fact that they weren’t displayed correctly makes me sad. •Guests were confused as to where they should sit during the ceremony and took the place cards. There was no one there to tell them to take them after the ceremony. •There was no aisle. I am now aware that it was due to the tide coming up, but to this day Nicole has not said anything to me about it. •The MOB & MOG didn’t know where to stand and were told by three different people to stand here, no here, why are you here, etc. They were so confused. •Announced that the fire dancers were a special surprise for us. WRONG, we paid for them. •My bouquet was not that pretty. I was disappointed with it. The flowers were brown on the tips. •Nicole asked if we needed ice for the champagne at about 3pm, we said yes and were looking forward to making a few toasts before getting ready. Well, the ice never came. My MOH asked at about 5pm for some ice and Nicole said it was coming. It didn’t get there until 6ish. •This one gets to me. My parents asked to take home the leftover cake and Nicole got upset with them and started to yell. I know that she didn’t see me standing there, but I was. I couldn’t believe it. My mom asked nicely for a container and then Nicole just walked away. I decided to go to the boat and let my mom and dad deal with it, I didn’t want anything to ruin my night. Well, when my mom got on the boat and showed me the cake. Basically Nicole picked up the cake and dumped it into a container, it was now cake mush. I couldn’t believe it. This was uncalled for, but they still ate it with many of my guests the next day. In summary, I wish that there was better communication between Nicole and my guests, Brian and I. She is a sweet and nice person and did a good job with the basics. The location itself is unreal and breathtaking. We had a total of 60 guests and they all had a wonderful time. There are a lot of other little things that were missed, but I am going to let them go. I listed out all the big things. I realize after re-reading this how long the bad list is, but don’t be hesitant about having a wedding at Las Caletas. Just be sure to have your list and check it twice.

Quote: Originally Posted by michaelwachniak I am SO glad everyone liked the photo of Angela (Yari's daughter) with the hankie! I was SO close to not adding it in because it wasn't the sharpest photo and it was kinda dark, but I am glad that the emotion of the photo over-ruled the 'technicality' of the actual image... as photogs sometimes we really overthink the technicalities of the images and by doing that you start to lose a bit of whats really going on in the image.... (or maybe thats just me lol) I really can't stop watching that show either lol I had SUCH a blast at Yari's wedding and have never felt so much a part of a family of people that I JUST met than with Brian and Yari... you guys really are the perfect definition of love, and I cannot thank you enough for letting me be a part of your day. I love you guys! Mike, you did a wonderful job! Both Brian and I are so pleased with your work. I am happy to hear you had a great time! We were very happy you were there.

Shoot, I didn't realize that.

Quote: Originally Posted by Andi Yari, congrats again! you looked so beautiful! I love the new picture in your signature! those clouds are unreal Hey girls, do you think I can borrow the same starfish? I know I am not until April but I would love to borrow that same starfish! It would be cool to have it keep going back to LC! I am totally okay with it. Tara is it cool with you?