ipodgirl

graciebebe - Oooo I'm to be in Paris around the same time as you! I heard April and September are the best times to be in France, I'm so excited!

Our wedding planner worked for the resort. We gave her a thank you card and a necklace from Tiffany. I also tipped for hair and makeup. My photographer I gave a thank you card and a Best Buy gift card. I didn't tip florist, DJ, etc all those other things because I got the rest through the hotel and not directly. @_@ Was I suppose to tip seperately? Hmmm now I cannot remember if we added service charge on top of our total bill.

I used Vanessa Jaimes for my wedding at Le Meridien Cancun in Aug 2008. She's really great to work with and the flowers/center pieces were gorgeous!! Cancun Floral Design, Flower Arranging / Diseño Floral en Cancun, Arreglos Florales

Welcome to the forum!!! I totally get the post wedding blues. I got married last summer and I'm still reading wedding articles Just can't have enough. Can't wait to hear your wedding story!

Wow congratulations Sarah! I'm so jealous! I would love to go to Bora Bora one day. Can't wait to see more info from you! -Tammy

Hi Mesita!! I was a Le Meridien Cancun bride! I got married on last August. I had such a great time & everyone said my wedding was fabulous Feel free to ask me any questions! -Tammy

Congratulations and welcome to the site! I found a lot of useful information here when I was planning my wedding, hope you'll enjoy it too!!

Hi there! As someone who did almost 6 years in long distance and also completed her MBA during this period, I can understand both side's frustrations. First of all, a big part of MBA is about networking/building relationships, so I can understand why he wants to stay there. Since this is his first semester, I'm guessing there's a lot of surprises and adjustments to make. I think things will get better after this initial period. My suggestion would be let him know you know this degree is important and you want him to have the full experience, but also let him know that you miss him a lot and need him to be able to balance things and tend to your feelings too. When I first started doing MBA part time on top of doing a full time job on top of coast-to-coast long distance relationship, I was really stressed out and got into fights with my then bf (we got married last month! no more long distance since last yr ^^). Luckily after a semester or two, I found out how to balance work and was able to have a life & also fly out to Cali to see him every other month. Hope it works out!! It's frustrating to fight often, especially during LD!

Thanks for all the posts I'm glad to be able to contribute some! Feel free to ask more questions Let me relive my wedding moments haha. Anna - I think you should be fine arriving on Wednesday. We flew out Tuesday night and got there Wednesday morning. We checked in around noon (let Jessica know if you need to check in earlier so they can accommodate that). Upon checking in, we got our favors ready (putting the favors in a pouch) and folded our pre-printed table tags for all guests. We got those ready and handed it off to Jessica and her partner Ernesto during our food tasting session at 2pm. That was also when they did a mini reception showroom for us to decide on final details (like how the napkins should be folded, additional touches to the tables that we might want to add, etc). We also used that time to finalize our timeline and confirm some details with Jessica. Afterwards we went to Costco to buy alcohol. That took about 2-3 hours. On Thursday I had hair trial and my nails done and that was it for wedding prep. We were able to enjoy the beach and pool for a little bit, before our welcome dinner at night. DJ: I used the DJ service Le Meridien offered and it was soooooo worth it! I sent them about 6 songs as must-plays, the rest was up to them but it was so good. Half way through they took out these balloons and maracas that was sooo fun to play with. We only had one issue - our first song "Can't help falling in love with you" - their CD somehow didn't work! Luckily we had a computer backup so we were still able to dance to our song. I recommend bringing a backup copy just in case. Do you mean wedding timeline? Sure I'll post my spreadsheet with this message. (if I can figure out how ) Jenny - There was a big wedding in the Martiniere terrace on Saturday and thought of yours! They had about 150 guests. For the beach wedding, in retrospect I wish I had asked my guests to remain on their seats during the ceremony. (I went to one wedding that went as far as asking people to not take pictures, only letting the professional photographer take pictures, but all of my friends are pretty camera crazy so that would be too mean to them). Anyway, the reason I said that is because a few of my friends went up front, so I think it blocked my photographers ability to take as many pictures of us with the ocean as the background. Instead, he went took more pictures of us with the guests as the background. The pictures still turned out great, but I think it would have been even better if my guests were seated and not blocking the professionals. Here is the slideshow from Sergio, he also had Christian Velazco (I think he is from Del Sol) and Carlos help out that day. I love love love their work! You can probably tell how much fun we had coz I laughed all the way, totally forgot to do my fake camera ready smile haha. Tammy and Mark Sergio Photographer Blog I'm still editing my own pix but I will have it on Flickr soon -Tammy 8-8-8_timeline.xls

I'm back and I have a hubby now!!! Our wedding went really well & we want to go back to Cancun again soon! Here are some things I learned during this trip that I didn't know until I got there. Hope this will help you plan your wedding! First of all, our schedule: Thursday late night - welcome dinner Friday - wedding ceremony, cocktail, reception Saturday - a tour group to Tulum and another group to deep sea fishing, some people opted out to do their own thing Remind Your Guests We had one guests that found out her passport was expired while she was on her way to the airport. I have a few guests flying from Asia so I sent information on getting a visitor visa to Mexico, but I forgot to remind the US citizens to make sure their passports are current. I recommend sending out this reminder earlier. Getting Familiar with the Hotel Area After our welcome party dinner at Hacienda Sisal (10-15 min walking distance from the hotel), some older folks left earlier to go to bed. To get to Le Meridien Hotel from the main street, you have to turn into an alley first. It's actually not that hard to miss but somehow three older folks did miss it and just kept walking. We got pretty worried since they only speak little English and zero Spanish, and it was near midnight. We spent two hours looking for them before we called a cab and just drove along the street. We found them way way south, beyond the Hilton Hotel. So, I recommend making sure everyone has a hotel map with them and encourage them to not leave first. Hair & Nails I had a hair trial done at the salon in Le Meridien Hotel and then on the wedding day the ladies came to our room to do my & my MOH's hair. They are really nice but don't speak much English. I recommend bringing a picture of what you want, that really helped a lot. I like the outcome I did my nails a day before the wedding but quickly realize I should have just done it on the wedding day. I destroyed one nail within ten minutes of completion so the lady fixed it right away, but I destroyed another one later that night. Alcohol for the Wedding Le Meridien gives you the option of bringing your own alcohol, which means you can save a lot of money. We rented a car to drive to Costco (in the real downtown Cancun) and bought tons of alcohol there. You can return the bottles that are unopened later so that's good. Later on we saw this place call "La Europa" in the hotel zone (about 5 min walk from La Destileria, Blvd Kukulcan Km 12.6) that has about the same prices as Costco!! I'm not sure of their return policy but I recommend checking that place out if you don't want to rent a car and drive around to buy alcohol. We rented a car on Expedia.com from Hertz for one day, the cost was about $30 but after adding full insurance (highly recommended by many people as insurance laws are different in Mexican than in US) it came out to be around $75. The streets of downtown Cancun are kind of crazy, often times the signs don't tell you want street you're on, instead it tells you what the street name of the next three upcoming streets are. We got a bit lost but not too bad, in the end we did find Costco (and Walmart too!). Airport & Duty Free & Currency If you are transferring through Mexico City, pay extra attention to the gate number. Ours changed three times before we boarded. The currency exchange rate at SFO was the worst of all places. Mexico City airport as well as Cancun airport had pretty good exchange rates for USD. Within the hotel zone there are also places with good rates. Scotiabank had the best rates within the hotel zone. Everyone said not to exchange at the hotel itself so I didn't bother to ask. Duty Free had pretty good prices and good selections. We bought a bottle of tequila in the duty free store on our way back (so we could bring it along as a carry on instead of packing it in our luggage). The alcohol prices in the malls are probably the worst we've seen so far. Wedding Day Make sure your timeline is padded so you have room for delays. I've noticed that people are less sensitive to time, so often times appointments start 20-30 mins late. We didn't have time to do a rehearsal (most guests flew in the night before) but I think that would have helped a lot. Another thing is, our minister actually didn't use the vow we sent him and used his own version instead (too long and not what we wanted!!). He's a nice guy and did the service well but of course I much rather he used the one we sent him. I laughed it off during the ceremony since there's nothing I can do about it but now it's starting to bother me. Vendor List Airport transportation service: Best Day Travel Services Photographer: Sergio Sergio the Photographer Sergio is so much fun to work with! We're eagerly waiting to see the pictures but I'm sure they'll be perfect. Tours: Welcome to Cancun MaroTravel Ask for Max, this place has the best tour prices and the people were pretty nice. We booked a group tour for Tulum (20 people) and a deep sea fishing trip (7 people) through them. The next day my friends booked a tour to Chichen Itza (8 people) and they were pretty happy too. I highly recommend Max. He'll give you a good price and great experience. Welcome Party dinner: Hacienda Sisal, Cancun The special events team here really delivered!! They created a special menu for us so we can stay within our budget (dinner for 33). Everyone was telling me how delicious the food was. Trinity is the person I worked with. Flowers: Jaimes Vanessa Jaimes Vanessa Vanessa was great to work with! We communicated over email and didn't meet until the wedding day. She created these beautiful bouquet and centerpieces just like the pictures! This is all I can think of so far. I'll add more if more comes up. I'm really happy with the results and the service I received at the Le Meridien Hotel Cancun. Jessica from Le Meridien Hotel Cancun is such a sweetheart and so easy to work with. Her partner Ernesto is also great too. We didn't really have to worry about anything about the wedding itself. I'd definitely recommend this wedding site to anyone & we would go back to stay there for future Cancun trips.

Hi girls!! Just wanted to let you know I am having a conference call with Jessica tomorrow. She's been really busy (haven't heard from her in about 2.5 weeks). I'll let you know how it goes!!

Hi Jenny, my name is Tammy Yeah when we decided on 8/8/8 we totally didn't think about hurricane season. Now we are a bit worried but trying to think positive. I love the lounge area!! How many guests are you having? Mine will be about 40.

Our wedding is on Friday so most people will fly in Thursday and leave Sunday. We're expecting 40 guests. Thursday night: welcome dinner Friday: wedding itself Saturday: We have two tours going on and we're paying for them. I'll take one group to Tulum and my FI will take another group to deep sea fishing. We've made it clear that it's optional. Some of my friends want to stay at the hotel and chill.

Yes lets keep in touch! I'm so happy to find you here I don't feel so alone now. We picked Le Meridien because we're big fans of starwood hotel & resorts. We picked: ceremony: Beach cocktail: Gazebo Terrace reception: Gazebo Hors d'Oeuvres (Alpicus) Mayan Buffet My FI made the decision since I'm really not sure what's what. He grew up in Costa Rica so I'm assuming he knows what he's doing Please do let me know how food tasting went! I also added a wedding cake (tiffany box looking cake) even though dessert is already included.

Quote: Originally Posted by riviera I am so glad to hear Jessica is prompt on things. I can not imagine what you went through specially with two months to go on your wedding! congratulations on having your wedding on 8/8/8! I am having my civil wedding on that date here in NY! How are your finalization process going? I hope everything is working out other than the WC stuff!! One question I wanted to ask you. Are your guests staying at Le Meridien, or at another resort? I am trying to decide what to do on accomodation! Thanks! I still have a lot of little things to take care of, but I'm trying to stay calm. Le Meridien offered $199/night for my guests, but at the time Expedia had $179/night. I told my guests they don't have to stay at the same hotel. Instead I provided the map of nearby hotels so they can see what best fits their price range. However, right now Expedia is having some sort of a summer sale so rooms are around $140/night. Due to this sale majority of my guests will be staying at Le Meridien.

I'm on the same boat!! Last time I heard from Clara was 5/19. Since then I havent heard from here and finally on 6/2 Jessica wrote me back in to inform me about Clara's departure. My wedding is in two months so you can imagine my mini-panic. So far Jessica has been very helpful in verifying the details I previously set with Clara. Jessica also has been responding promptly (within a day or so) so I am less worried now.

You're not alone! I'm a Le Meridien Bride too!!! My wedding is 8/8/8! Thank you soooo much for posting the pictures!!

Lucky1: yeahh leaving is always the hardest part!! @@

Oooo I have a question that hopefully someone can point me to the right direction!! Should I plan my wedding with the hotel wedding coordinator or should I go through a travel agency specializing in destination weddings? The background story is: As soon as my fiancé and I decided on beach wedding in Cancun, I started research immediately and got tons of information directly from the hotels. Last month I went to a wedding convention in town and found a travel agency that specializes in destination wedding. I figured I can ask them too, see if they can get a better package. So far all the prices are the same (wedding ceremony, cocktail, reception). Now I am debating if I should go through the travel agency or not. The travel agency is not charging anything - my concern is more if it's just easier for me to work with the hotel wedding coordinator instead of telling the travel agency rep to tell the hotel wedding coordinator what I want. I'm so confused. I figure I need to decide soon so I don't waste other people's time too. Any suggestions? Or pros & cons from experience? PS: my fiancé grew up in Latin America so he's fluent in Spanish, so language is probably less of an issue.

Me too!!! I'm also doing long distance so it's hard to discuss details! I'm moving back to be with him by end of December though!! I'm almost done with long distance!! We've been together for 7-8 years, with 5 on long distance @@

We havent booked the hotel yet but we're finalizing... I'm debating between JW Marriott, Le Blanc and Le Meridien. JW is already booked so we're down to two @@

Thanks for the welcome messages!! ^___^ So happy to meet all of you here!

I found this site when I was researching about Cancun photographers on google. I found so much valuable information here Can't wait to be part of the discussion 1. Name: tami 2. Wedding date: 8/8/8 3. Wedding location: Cancun