yamille

Ok ladies.. honestly I am a sweaty hot mess in most of these and I am waiting for my friends to send in some shots but I know how annoying it is when people don't post photos so here are a few... In no particular order. most of these are candid- not so hot but I am so happy to look at them I don't even care. getting ready My sis who was my MOH my flowers simple white roses my ceremony set up My dad and I

Lauren what I would do is wait until the end of June and check in about restaurants/pub stuff being open with Perla. I am sure it will all be open at that point again- if not sooner.

woohoo. Congrats ladies!

Yeah I needed to getit out of my system cause I need to pump out one final paper and I need to rid of all wedding thoughts. I had a lot to say. ha!

Lauren I'm sure by the time you go in july- it will all be back to normal. There's no use worrying now. I do understand the worry- but don't stress it- at least not yet.

heather I can't stand how cute that little baby is in your siggy! What a sweetheart~

Ladies, I am crazy I am getting all my reviews out of the way so that I can begin working on my thesis once again starting tomorrow. I just got back last night and I am doing a million things to clear my head and make space for work mode once again. I did my Paradisus Riviera Cancun Review in it's own thread and now the vendors.... DJ Mannia- Carlos A+ He was a pleasure to work with. Incredibly professional- he responded to emails in a timely manner and met with us once we were down in Mexico to go over a few things. The wedding day he was awesome. He was there with two other guys Tony and I can't remember the other persons name. He announced all the right things and played my suggested playlist appropriately. Honestly, I don't have any complaints at all. We had a dancing crowd and he did an awesome job at keeping us all out there and mixing in Spanish /English music. It was important for us to have both. The only thing that stunk was that it started raining and we had to end slightly earlier than expected to save his gear but we brought the party to the lobby and it was all good. Out of his control. Ajua Weddings- Mariachis A+ I found Ajua through googling when I was looking for maraichis in the riviera maya. The rate at PRC was so high that i figured that even if I had to pay an outside fee it made sens if it kept me on budget. Stephanie was also prompt and easy to work with. Emails were answered quickly and payments were made through paypal. When the 6 piece mariachi band filed in after the ceremony I seriously started jumping around. It was so beautiful. They looked awesome in their cream colored outifts and the lead singer had an awesome voice. This got our party started off right and I highly reccommend them. Also for the price that PRC was charging for 3 person band I got 6 with Ajua. PartyFlops- A I ordered my wedding favors from Alex months ago and loved loved loved them when I saw them in person. There was a shipping issue which is why I gave him an A instead of A+. I'm not sure what can really be changed to avoid that but it stressed me out like crazy to not have them there at the resort when I arrived. After a phone call from my wedding coordinator he was in touch with her and she went to pick the box up. (amazing). These flip flops were a hit and quite affordable in my opinion. It was so fun to see everyone dancing with them right from the get go. They also come wrapped nicely with matching ribbon- all I did was tag them with people's names. It was perfect! DelSol Photography- Matt Adcock- A+ So I have not seen one single picture yet but I am giving him an A+ becuase I think when you put out positive things into the universe they come back to you. Literally every picture that I have seen that he has taken is awesome so I am assuming that mine will be too. Seriously though- Matt worked through some ups and downs with T and I during the planning process and when we met him it was as if we already knew each other. He arrived at my room as I was getting ready and all my girls that were hanging out were all googly eyes within 30 minutes. He's charming, puts people at ease and is a pro. His assistant Paco went and took some shots of the guys and T says that he was great too. Put everyone at ease and just was shooting away. He was unobtrusive during the ceremony but all my guests were raving about how amazing he was. We opted for only a few posed shots of family- and he did those and when he saw a shot he would just tell us to do something. It was all very easy and truth be told we just wanted him to stay and party with us when he was done. Now I just have to wait patiently....

Ladies I'm back! My day was magical and I can't stop thinking about it. Here's my review. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t43507 Lauren- If you are the next PRC bride PM me your address and I will mail you the starfish if you want it for your bouqet. I loved having it from Kelly (KLC77). It was so cool.

Cocktail hour I can’t grade this because I missed the whole thing. I was hugging kissing everyone and taking pics with my new husband. I did hear the food was good. I switched out many of the apps from the fantasy package. We had a few vegan/veggie people so I wanted to make sure we had something for everyone. I think there was going to be an additional charge but they waved it after the meeting with Miguel. That was nice. People were having a great time though. We also paid for an open bar during this time and they totally forgot to do the champagne toast which was annoying. There are 8 btls of champ included in that package price which we never saw. I didn’t realize till the next day when I was replaying the events of the day. FI and I had a glass before photos but that was it. All my other guests were boozing it up at the bar. Ha! Reception/dinner: A We chose a buffet and chose dishes from different buffets. A lot of seafood and honestly I hardly ate. I was too busy partying. And when everyone was eating people were doing the most amazing speeches…. Everyone said the food was yums though. I was just too emotional the whole day plus I had eaten enough the 5 days prior to have stored amounts of food for the wedding day.  We partied a lot and unfortunately it started raining an hour or so before our reception was to end. We had paid for an extra hour because well what else would we do since the disco was closed?? Our Dj closed shop to save his equipment and we took the party to the lobby and then later jumped in the pool for a swim. It was amazing. We danced a whole lot and I’m a sweaty mess in most photos- I can’t wait to get my pro pics back – but it will be weeks. Agh! I’ll share what I have though. *This has gone on way too long- and I feel like I have been babbling uncontrollably. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. Shout Out to all the PRC women who I could not have done any of this planning without. Many Thanks!! I hope I can help the next generation of PRC brides to be... When the paradisus is in full swing- it is awesome. This is why we booked our wedding there. I think the whole flu thing was a pro and a con- we had less amenities available to us but we were treated like royalty and never had to wait for much becuase there was low occupancy. Despite these issues our guests had a wonderful time. It was a beautiful venue for a wedding and I wouldn't change anything on the wedding day itself except the rain- but we got amazing light after that shower so maybe not. It all happens as it’s supposed to right? Photos in another thread. This is crazy..

The Spa: D FI and I both had massages at separate times the morning of our wedding and were not impressed. It was just okay and I think their services are way overpriced. I also had my hair done which was great thankfully but my mom and sister had someone doing her hair who was not as experienced I think. She was going nutzo with the hairspray and I had to tell her to stop. We had her stop and had the girl who worked on me finish. In the end everyone's hair looked wonderful. I got a pedicure and it was not great either. She didn't use a base or topcoat!? They looked fine for the wedding. I had brought my own color- and annoyingly anough I left it there. Boo! An overpriced bad pedicure and I left my color too! She did do a good job on the makeup and seriously did it in like 10 minutes. There was a scary moment. I looked at myself and had SO MUCH silver all around my eye. My sister just looked at me and mouthed “scaryâ€. I had her stop, tone it down and I told her I would do my own eyeliner and mascara in my room. It certainly was not something I would pay a single dollar more for. Her products were some random brand that I had never heard of wither. So yeah, I had to fix a few things. I really only used their services because I had wedding day jitters and didn't want to have to do it myself. Also, I wanted to go more natural than dramatic cause I sweat like a fiend as you will eventually see in photos. Wedding Coordinator- Perla: A- Perla works very hard I think and while there were many things that were not in place prior to the wedding day- the actual day was wonderful. We ordered flip flops for our guests that were to be delivered to PRC that never got there and she helped figure out all the shipment drama. She even went as far as going to pick up the box that was being held in Cancun somewhere once she spoke to the shipper. It was amazing. I was so grateful. I brought her all my stuff and attached notes as to how to set it out and she executed it all perfectly. We did not hire a videographer because it wasn’t in our budget but brought down our new video camera and asked her if there was anyone on staff that might want to make a few extra bucks and video with our camera for 40 mins or so- we really wanted the ceremony. She arranged for it and we just tipped generously. It was great being able to do that especially after hearing how business has been hurting since the flu. I didn’t email Perla so much until I got close to my date. I think she appreciated that and then once I was there we just went through everything in detail. I am giving her an A- because she could have told us in advance what the situation was like at PRC and she didn’t – I think because she didn’t want to lose our business but honestly it caused us unneeded stress the 2 days prior to our guests arrival. Fi made it abundantly clear when speaking to director of services that this was not a staff problem- because we really did think Perla was sweet, patient and caring. She was the one who actually set up the meeting for FI. I think that says a lot about her. She totally understood where we were coming from. Wedding day It was perfection. Everything truly came together and I cannot complain about one single thing- except that there was no mic for the officiant. That was annoying, but as I said my motto was enjoy the moment. It was prefect. If you are thinking of having a wedding there do it. All forces in that place came together to make out day special. We had the ceremony on the beach and then cocktail hour and reception on the terrace overlooking the beach. Ceremony: A I didn’t give it an A+ because of the microphone issue. None of our guests heard the ceremony because if the waves and the officiant being at volume level 1. We wrote the entire ceremony from start to finish which was seriously time consuming and nobody heard it. Many of our guests were asking for a copy. T and I were really loud with our vows and people said that’s all they heard. The set up was just as I had imagined. We did circle seating and it was lovely. Perla remembered to close the circle too which was really important to us. We used white/ivory flowers throughout and I was very pleased. I will say ladies- take it in cause there was a moment where I just looked at the ocean and took in a deep breath and told myself to remember this moment. It all really does go by so fast… as everyone before me has said. more...

Pool/Beach: A The main pool is phenomenal and it was the perfect temperature- but I was there the last week in MAY and it was crazy hot. We loved the beach. The water was a little rougher than I remembered it in the afternoons but so beautiful in the morning after a run. Seaweed was not an issue. All our guests loved the beach too. PLENTY of palapas. It was quiet and peaceful. My complaint is that the beach bar wasn't open-so we had to walk to the pool bar- again to go with the everything closed theme because of low occupancy. It just wasn't fair because we paid rates from several months ago which included all these amenities. Important The big shock happened when we were told that ALL the restaurants were closed as was the fun pub and the theatre! We thought tbat it just was this way because it was a Tuesday but no. I'm sorry did you just say everything was closed due to low occupancy and we have 26 people coming for our wedding in two days?? No shows, no disco, and nobody let us know in advance? Needless to say we were distressed. I actually think we both went into shock for an entire day. What would we do with our guests and we didn't want to eat at the buffet every night but the wedding. What about all the cool things that we told out guests about? Where would our pre planned farewell dinner be? I will say that the buffet food is really good- but we wanted to change the ambiance a bit for some people that would be there 5 nights. We were told that the chefs were making all menus available at the buffet though for people to try. This was a half truth. There were a few items from each menu available once they opened the Capri restaurant on Friday. So the restaurant issue was the big problem for us but as I said Miguel rectified the situation as best he could by allowing us some private time with our guests at the Royal Service pool with a bartender which was also closed and he wqaved some of our wedding fees since we had already paid for everything else. Therefore there is no restaurant grade. I will say that the buffet food was really good. I was always able to get my egg white omelet and they have the bomb mango there. Mm So good. Once my FI talked to Miguel he made up for it. It was actually really refreshing to have that happen. We didn’t complain initially to Perla either- just sat in shock but one afternoon while I was hanging by the pool T went for a “walk†and went and spoke to the director of services about how disappointed we were and how we had been waiting for this weekend for a year and should have been told of these things in advance and this guy really took care of us. I think he realized that we are good people and not trying to scam and get anything for free. My husband is very level headed and I had already cried twice about this so he knew to go without me. Lobby area- this is where anything happened at night. It was pretty quiet though which basically turned us all into big lushes. I swear I drank more than in my fpur years of college combined. They have a great bar and had a karaoke one night. We didn’t karaoke and instead the guy just played music and people danced. There was another wedding that was celebrating and it was fun. It was better than nothing I guess. We sort of made our own party with our people wherever we went. More coming....

We had been planning our wedding at PRC for one year and had visited a place that had all the things that we wanted for our special weekend. It was an appropriate price point for our guests and was a quick drive from the airport, and only had one wedding per day. I will say that this review is very mixed we had an AMAZING time and really do love the Paradisus but due to the Swine Flu and low occupancy it was not what we were expecting - FULLY. So just know that this is my honest review of the week. I will be doing my vendor reviews in the vendor sections for all my outside vendors. JETBLUE: A++ I heart jetblue so much. We each got one suitcase free checked and then paid an extra $40 for two other suitcases. FI had to do some serious shifting around at JFK when our suitcases were over 50lbs. Poor thing. We worked it out and each one was down to 50. Yay! Our guy was so patient and he was trying to help. Because we flew on a tue our flight was very very empty. I got a whole overhead compartment all to myself for the dress. They don’t have closets. I also knew one of the flight attendants and she was so cute trying to treat as all VIP- but really we just wanted water it was so early in the morning. It was a great flight both ways. No complaints. Resort Staff: A+ When we arrived we were greeted by the awesome staff right away. This is a theme that will be consistent with my review. We were there for 6 nights and were treated very very well as were our guests. The grounds are immaculate and again the staff is very friendly and accommodating. We tipped- and we tipped a lot right from the beginning because we knew that we had 26 people coming that had the potential of being high maintenance. Honestly they deserved every dollar and more. I had several conversations with staff about how the flu has affected them. They all said that it was worse than a hurricane. Many people are out of work, shifts cut etc. We requested our favorite waiters and bartenders for our wedding because we loved them Miguel was our bartender and Tonatiuh was our waiter. They were awesome. I think we got preferential treatment because Miguel had a crush on my sister but whatever… we didn’t wait for drinks ever! Rooms: B+ Our room was not ready and we had to wait 2 1/2 hours till it was. So maybe this goes with staff but I’m putting it here. I wasn't happy because I had let the wedding coordinator know that we would be there an hour prior to check in and thought she would take care of it - being that we were the bride and groom and it was a Tuesday. Not a huge deal we went and got some food and relaxed a bit. I only got annoyed when I was told that the resort was only at 10% capacity due to the flu drama (the room should have been ready then right?). We did get upgraded which our travel agent had arranged because we had booked a certain number of rooms for all our guests. I was hoping that they would have upgraded us once again since there was a low occupancy. I didn't complain because I wanted to start the week off on the right foot. Besides I didn't expect to spend all that much time in the room anyway. We were in room 410 which had a gorgeous view of the ocean and a hot tub on the balcony. It was perfect. I didn't mind the hardness of the bed- I know some people did mention it though. We always had a stocked fridge and turndown service every night. Room service was fast and easy. I don't think we waited longer than 20 mins for anything. more coming...

I just wanted to say a quick hello and shout out to all who wished me well on my wedding day. I just got home from my honeymoon tonight and will have reviews up for my wedding day as well as honeymoon places in the next few days. I always felt like that was so helpful when I was doing my "research" and I want to do it while it's fresh in my mind. I had the most magical day and am really still taking it all in. I know it's sort of an outrage but I don't have any wedding pics to share yet! So here are just a few from my dinky camera from the past few days honeymooning. Wedding pics will be up as soon as I get some from friends. Our good camera has over a thousand pics and I can't bring myself to do that now.

Bumbles! you looked beautiful. I am on honeymoon stillbut wil post a review when I am back. Congratulations!

I will have white roses (I am just sticking with the whote theme and it came with the package) and here is a pic of my traveling starfish Big shout out to KLC77- Thank you! FI's gift- BD book. I used a silver paint pen on the black pages and wrote a poem about us and also inserted love quotations throughout. He loves poetry and it is something that is big with us. I also found this sexy poem by Marge Piercy that i will share with you. I used this as well. Implications of One Plus One -by Marge Piercy Sometimes we collide, tectonic plates merging, continents shoving, crumpling down into the molten veins of fire deep in the earth and raising tons of rock into jagged crests of Sierra. Sometimes your hands drift on me, milkweed's airy silk, wingtip's feathery caresses, our lips grazing, a drift of desires gathering like fog over warm water, thickening to rain. Sometimes we go to it heartily, digging, burrowing, grunting, tossing up covers like loose earth, nosing into the other's flesh with hot nozzles and wallowing there. Sometimes we are kids making out, silly in the quilt, tickling the xylophone spine, blowing wet jokes, loud as a whole slumber party bouncing till the bed breaks. I go round and round you sometimes, scouting, blundering, seeking a way in, the high boxwood maze I penetrate running lungs bursting toward the fountain of green fire at the heart. Sometimes you open wide as cathedral doors and yank me inside. Sometimes you slither into me like a snake into its burrow. Sometimes you march in with a brass band. Ten years of fitting our bodies together and still they sing wild songs in new keys. It is more and less than love: timing, chemistry, magic and will and luck. One plus one equal one, unknowable except in the moment, not convertible into words, not explicable or philosophically interesting. But it is. And it is. And it is. Amen. I stumbled upon this poem and had to include it. I'm so sleepy. I gotta go! p.s I resized these images and I am not sure why they are still coming out so large. ugh. I will try again. sorry about that!

My hair flower- I bought it on Etsy :: Your place to buy and sell all things handmade seller: Mikaye. Lovely product – exactly what I wanted. My shoes My Jewelry- A gift from my dear friend who is a designer here in NYC. They are really bad photos. They are so sparkly and detailed. One last page I promise...

Cake inspiration Ceremony Program Super last minute we decided to make these yesterday! I love them. Simple but pretty Our ceremony seating is a circle so we included the meaning on the back. We tied a knot which I think is covering the wroding but you get the idea. It will look like this on the chair. A shell for the shell blessing and the meaning of the blessing Dad’s Hat- I made this for my dad on Hats and caps at lids.com He always wears bucket hats when we are on vacation so I thought it was appropriate. It will go in his OOT bag. I think he will get a kick out of it. Front Back Mom’s gifts- I blinged(real word? ha ) some tees and tanks that will go in OOT bags for the mom’s, MOH, and I. Bad shot of the blue. groom's mom. My dress- Maggie Sottero “Montereyâ€. Bought at Lillette’s Bridal on Long Island. They were awesome when I bought the dress but I hated that it took so long to arrive. It was really crazy. I ordered it in August and i didn't have a first fitting till April. This is me at the fitting. Horrible pic- you can't see the back which is so pretty. corsette. The seamstress was working my last nerve at this point. there's still more...

OOT Guest Bags- The bag is the teacher tote from Promotional tote bags custom sizes and styles from cheap totes now with t-shirts and screen printing we ironed on a monogram that we got from Allurements by Rebecca (also known as Becks here) The welcome note- Oversized postcards from VistaPrint. They fit in the front pocket- perfect. Photoshare card- Business card from Vistaprint What’s inside: Bath and Body Works – hand sanitizer, body lotion, shower gel Oriental Trading Company- Hibiscus playing cards, Fiesta maraca pens Target- Sudoku/Crossword puzzles, Sunscreen, Travel toothbrush/paste set, Scope. A first aid box with the usual drugs. Personalized Napkins for our cocktail hour:I can't remember where I got these from online. Wedding Favors: Personalized flip flops from Party Flops I only have a screenshot of them because they are being delivered to the resort in Mexico. We will have them in a basket at the reception with tags with guest names on them and a sign that says “Dancing Shoes” I forgot to take pics of all my signage.. and it's all packed. Guestbook- ordered from Welcome to the Guestbook Store! Guestbooks for Every Occasion! No photo. Placecards from Michaels- and I added the daisy from Martha stewart collecitons at Michaels. Table numbers we made- the holders are from Crate and Barrel yes there's more...

Save the date magnet(screenshot) We used VistaPrint for magnets and uploaded a cute pic we had of our feet in a heart from our Bahamas trip where he proposed. We designed the rest on the site. http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk183/yamille_photos/savethedate.jpg DIY Invite - This was a project! T and I laughed a lot and almost strangled each other during the process but in the end we were thrilled with how they came out and I wouldn’t have it any other way. (He says he would just pay but…) I am so glad that we saved a few $$ and once again realized what a great team we are together. A big thank you to all who helped along the way especially Andi! Front Inside Luggage Tags- Thank you to Jen (can't remember forum name)for your template! After scouring MANY dollar stores in NYC with no luck, we bought SCOTCH self laminating bag tags off Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more . We didn’t think of adding guest addresses beforehand and realized since these are laminates that they would then have to be written by hand. We had Kinko’s print out the inserts. Do it on your own if you can. We had issues with work printers and the photos. There is an inexpensive way to do this- but this wasn’t it. I am happy with how they came out though. The tags went out with out Month before letter. No Brochure for me. I got too overwhelmed trying to design that thing. Kudos to all who do! MOH Dress- From Macy’s and I don’t know who the designer is. My sis looks gorgeous in it. It’s right up her alley. Her jewelry. I had a vision and my friend who is a designer made it real. Mom Dress- Also From Macy’s and I also don’t know who the designer is! more coming...

Ladies- Thank you so much for all your support and ideas. I definately could not have done any of this without this forum. You all rock! Pull up a chair this is long.... Oh yeah If I forget to thank someone specific - I'm sorry but I am exhausted, I just finished packing and a car is coming in 5 1/2 hours. woohoo! *Tammy thanks for starting this forum it's so helpful and there are some real gems on here. I am so greatful. Here we go We’re engaged! This shot is shortly after T proposed. Here’s how he did it http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t42197 Right after he proposed My Ring- This is not on my hand but all the ones that were on my hand looked awful so this is on the jewelry designer’s hand. She had better lighting I guess. It’s a Montana Sapphire surrounded by 2 diamonds on a platinum band. This is the photo she sent him before he decided on it. He knew that I wanted an alternative ring and it was important for me to have conflict free diamonds so this was perfect. I adore it. My Rings together Our Rings His is Tugsten Our Wedding Website- We used Create Free Wedding Website - Personal Wedding Web Site - Free Wedding Planning Tools ($60 per year) www.yamilleandterry.com Save the date magnet(screenshot) We used VistaPrint for magnets and uploaded a cute pic we had of our feet in a heart from our Bahamas trip where he proposed. We designed the rest on the site. more coming...

Feel better Petals! If you can get your hands on some Throat coat tea- medicinals makes it and you can find it at any health food store I suggest that. I used to use that when I had to sing and had no voice. I am telling you it's great. So you will definately have your voice for your wedding day. Try not to talk unless you have to and drink that tea. feel better!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jenamie thats so sweet I'm so very jealous of people getting muli showers and I'm not even getting one :/ I have a thread about how I didn't think my sis knew about showers and stuff and was wondering if I was going to have one at all. I totally understand. I will say that I mentioned my desire to FI and he sort of just told me to trust that all my friends and fam know what I need. I had never really wanted one but as I got closer to the wedding... I realized that I did want a girls day- not so much the presents actually but that was really fun. I say put it out into the universe if you really want it. Quote: Originally Posted by mrsd09 Looks like a great time! It's funny you tried to break a bow...I did everything in my power not to =) I didn't know abou this whole bow thing I just thought it was funny. I think when I was younger I would have avaoided breaking a bow- so I get that! I still didn't break one though. Someone got me scissors. We aren't trying till the end of the year anyway. Quote: Originally Posted by mummergirl i think when people recognize a true and honest love, they want to celebrate it and reward it. congrats! I love that! Quote: Originally Posted by mummergirl i didn't think i would or even *should* have a shower, but i had THREE. your wedding is not for awhile yet ... who knows? you could be pleasantly surprised! aren't showers supposed to be surprises anyway? BOth of mine were a surprise. I had an idea about my family one but I actually didn't think my friends would trek outside the city. I'm no good with surprises. I'm too controlling. My friends had to all come up with several lies.

I hope your day is beautiful. Take it all in and enjoy! Congratulations!

Last night a group of about 12 of my classmates threw me a 2nd bridal shower. It was so thoughtful and sweet- especially since only one of them is coming to Mexico. I am very blessed. Here are a few pics for ya. Someone said if you break a bow- you'll have a baby- so this is me- trying to. My friends made themselves little outfits out of the bed bath and beyond wrapping paper which was super cute. ha ha I definately cried at least 5 times. Every card had such a heartfelt, sweet meassage. I received some really cool gifts- among them a senegalese cookbook! And... a book to complete my thesis research! I have been super spoiled and am so amazed by all the love.

You are not alone. I leave tuesday too and I cried today twice! agh.. I'll start crying and then FI will hug me and I just laugh. I feel super emotional. Sounds like you are packed though? I'm a mess and need to start packing. We are doing laundry and last minute decided to make ceremony programs- it was a last mintue thing but took up way too much time. We are almost there I can't believe it!!!