Kits55

Quote: Originally Posted by kevsgirl I was just talking with someone else at the office about this today and she mentioned that her friend didn't open those gifts that were only in envelopes. I have to say that I think that's probably best, IMHO, becuase sometimes there's actually cash in the envelope and that's just not good = it's a bit awkward in front of everyone to even show that there's cash vs. a card or a cheque. Better to have a little basket for card/envelopes and then only open those cards that are actually attached to gifts, along with the gifts, in front of people. great idea! I will definitely keep that in mind in case it ever comes up with us. I don't think that anyone who will give a card would feel bad if you didn't open it right then and there. Personally if i gave a card with money or a gift card I'd feel much better if it was opened in private.

i just read all 22 pages on this forum, phew!! that's a lot of time! Does anyone know yet conclusively what the cost would be to bring in an outside vendor (photographer)? Also does the lounge furniture count as an "outside vendor". This is driving me insane, everywhere i read about is now saying no outside vendors or that you have to pay hundreds of dollars for them or put them up for 3 nights! Not to mention rising prices of wedding packages! I guess i'm freaking out because i waited so long to pick a place, which I haven't even decided conclusively on The Royal but have had it recommended to me by so many people!

Quote: Originally Posted by TightyWhitey Hi Kelly, fyi, I spoke with someone from Real Resorts today and was told I could only have the beach wedding the day I requested because the Gazebo was already booked. So, they book at least two per day. TighyWhitey: Thank you for letting me know that! Ahh, now at least i know another question to my ask my planner about which locations would be available. I really wanted a resort that only performs one wedding a day but i've heard such awesome things about The Royal that I'm heavily looking into it.

Your review was much more helpful than even talking with my wedding planner was. It helps to hear from someone first hand how different parts of the day go....i like tripadvisor too for reviews but since it's not wedding specific it's too much fishing around. Thanks for putting your casita number and then the ones that you think are better, that's a huge help!

Matt and Elizabeth, thank you for the gorgeous pictures. That's my number one thing for my wedding, amazing photos and an amazing resort! I'll have to check into the room rates thing too.

Quote: Originally Posted by shannon We got married there legally. At first, I was going to do symbolic, but changed a few months ahead of time. I have the script at home- I'll post it tonight! Vince was like -"I can't believe you got us going down there and it being in spanish, etc" -but he was sold after the ceremony and said he was glad we did it legally there... The ceremony was kinda blurry for me-honestly-- i had a slight freakout right as we were driving up in our golfcart and my dad (who coached me in basketball all during HS) was telling me to get my "game face on" and my sister (also in the golf cart) was telling me to lean over and "throw up and get it over with"---- so it was good times- hehe ...... we laugh about that now... The judge would say something and then the WC would translate.... the legal part. But they had something about a Mexican philosopher and how important marriage is (like a nice speech) that was totally in English done by the WC. Only the legal part was done by the judge and done in Spanish and translated. Then we were able to do our own vows, our own ring exchange and the sand ceremony-- and that was all done by the WC in English- the judge didn't do any of that-- there was no translation done for that... So the parts I remember-- I enjoyed! and it seemed to go really smoothly and we still got our personal parts in just English......I'm glad we did it legally there. They mailed us the translated documents and I had no problem getting my name and everything changed here with doing it legally in Mexico.... Shannon: How long did it take for you to receive the translated legal documents?

Quote: Originally Posted by shannon Here is website I bought my sand unity ceremony set from--- they turned out really cute - I'll pull them out tonight and take a picture and post...They packed it really well, so I'm not worried about them breaking during the trip..... Sand Ceremony Sets, Sand Ceremony Examples, Sand Ceremony for our reception at tucanes, we are doing 10 tiki torches and 15 floating candles (I'm bringing my own votives)... we are having a private dinner on the beach the following night, with our guests, we are having 10 tiki torches, and 30 beach candles and my votives from home.... Thanks for posting where you got your sand vases from, i had no idea where to look!

Antonia: I loved reading your review, thank you so much for posting it. I do have a couple of questions that I'm not sure if you'll know the answers to or not. 1: do they only perform one ceremony per day at The Royal? I know you had yours off the resort but thought you might know in speaking with the wedding coordinators 2: If a couple had their ceremony on the beach, is it roped off or separated in any way so that randoms won't show in the picture? Thanks! Kelly

Thank you everyone for posting your opinions! i didn't think anyone would respond for some reason. lol hartyt i really loved your opinion, it totally matched up with what i'd really like to do and how i think! LC Rachel i'm really glad that you kind of reminded me to "walk in someone elses's shoes" and so did everyone else. the thing is that the drama that will happen with his mom and her twin not being invited is really only the tip of the drama iceberg. If ALL of his aunts come (all 3 sisters, plus his mom) i can't even tell you of the drama that will be at my wedding. regardless of the occasion there is always constant whining, complaining, bitching and side taking that go on when they are together. When FI spoke to his mom about it and basically said that she didn't care how pissed off her other two sisters would be at her, she still wants her twin to come that badly. I am comforted by hearing how many of you invited way over the amount of people you wanted to have there, that makes me feel better. Though one of the resorts i'm looking at having our wedding at, The Royale Playa del Carmen has a wedding package that is $6,875 for UP TO 20 guests. so what do i do with everyone else? Yesterday after talking to a couple of friends here's what we came up with: have his parents pay for the rehearsal dinner and invite everyone that's already arrived to it invite more than just the 20 people we really want to be there (some friends i've had to cut from our list) and we have can more people at our ceremony. Have only our closest 20 people (NOT FMIL's twin) at our actual cocktail hour and reception. During our actual reception we can tell the rest of the people from the ceremony that there is an informal gathering (they'll be paying for themselves) at a nearby bar/restaurant/lounge or whatever that we'll be stopping by to thank people for coming. Invite everyone to a farewell but have people pay for themselves at that too. a lot my guests say a big "hell no" to planned group activities but i know that i'll be doing some anyways so i think i'll leave an open ended invite to those for anyone to join. My friends that i talked to, want to be the people at the informal gathering. They said that as long as i'm up front with people before sending them actual invites and they know the deal up front then they'd be fine with it. how does that sound to everyone?

Gorgeous! i love the way it shimmers in the light and the mermaid-ish style looks great on you!

Hi Everyone: Here is my dilemma. We are having a DW in Mexico or Costa Rica, we're undecided as of yet. Anyways i'd like there only to be around 20 guests at our wedding. I'm not having a DW to invite everyone that we would if we were staying at home to get married, i want a small intimate wedding. I didn't exactly know how the guest list worked when we started out wanting a DW. So i thought it would be OK to invite one aunt and unlce's family but not the other two. i was told by EVERYONE that that is NOT cool and you never do things like that. Here's where the problem lies, with our wedding party, him, and me that's already 14 people, plus our parents (another 4) so we basically get to invite one more couple. Well we had our moms make their own guest lists with everyone on them then rate that person A, B, or C and then we'd combine scores and see who got the A spots. Well his mom took it the wrong way and thought that ALL of her As got to come. He has tried to explain to her multiple times that we're cutting people from her list. Here's the kicker: she is a twin. Her and twin are very close. Well his mom thinks that her twin is invited, even though they can't afford it. She wants to help her twin pay for her entire trip because she wants her there that badly! I have two problems with that, does he his mom not realize that they will have wedding things to pay for besides just her twin and her twin's husband coming? 2) We're not inviting the twin but leaving out the other two sisters!!! And there's no way in you-know-what that we're inviting the other two. god, our wedding would be the wedding from hell (i'm sure some of you know the drama that comes with some families). SOOOOO, his mom still has not picked up on the fact that her twin is NOT invited. She even made her twin go out and get her passport even though our wedding is not until April 2009. So now they've already gone that step too. the worst part is that his mother is going to FREAK OUT. I have been SO stressed out waiting for him to just tell her flat out, she's not invited. Even though his mom is a fantastic person, she's very easily hurt and when she is mad or hurt she lashes out like no other. she will become shrill and start screaming and ranting and raving and basically throwing out the F-bomb. I'm at a loss as what to do. Should i just invite her twin to keep her happy and risk pissing off the rest of the family or just let her know in no uncertain terms that her twin is not invited? the other thing that is really bothering me is that she wants to invite her twin to give her support since they're so close but her twin has hardly ever said more than 2 words to me and we've been dating for 6.5 years!! i only want people that i'm close to at my wedding, hence the "small and intimate" feel i want. So i really really really really don't want her twin there. If anyone has thoughts or has gone through a similar situation please let me know!! i need to send out the save the dates in the next couple of weeks. Thanks!

I would be hurt for sure. It sounds to me like maybe it was something with the wedding itself and not necessarily you, since she started calling you again after the wedding. is she one of those people that would be totally mad at you for not asking her to be in your wedding party? I find it especially odd because she never gave you an excuse as to why she wasn't coming. So for what it's worth it sounds like possibly she was kind of mad about something to do with the wedding, or maybe even you for some unknown reason?

Thank you everyone for the warm welcomes. i might take the plunge and hire a wedding planner tomorrow. I'm not usually so particular in real life but i've been so stressed out about finding the "perfect" spot the last three weeks that i've become a raging you- know-what! Our planner will do other things than just recommend places for us, things which i would find very useful. i wanted to do this 100% on my own but i'm not as laid back of a bride as i was thinking i'd be in the past. hehe oh well i guess i gotta do what i gotta do

Beachbridema: i just watched your wedding slideshow and it was so beautiful. it made me a little teary eyed even though i don't know you. You guys looked so happy and in love. my favorite picture was the one with you in the foreground and your husband unfocused right behind you, towards the end of the show. that was great photography!

Quote: Originally Posted by ErinB Welcome! I hear you on the date consolidation! Our anniversary fell on Easter this year and we really didn't think people would want to travel or be without their kids, so we waited. I'm probably still going to say our anniversary is March 23rd! It doesn't seen right to have to start over after 6 1/2 years! Hi Erin! I hear you! by the time we get married, if it's only April 25th, we'll have been dating/engaged for a total of about 7.5 years! ooooh boy, that's a long time. I also figure that when we're having our 30th, 40th, and 50th wedding anniversaries the date won't so much matter anymore

Hi Cabobridey: If you don't mind me asking, where did you get your fuchsia parasols for your BMs? Happy Wedding! Kelly

Riveria: Thanks for the great review on Le Meridien. I have been looking different resorts for months and can't believe i didn't find this website until just last night! I do have a question for you that doesn't have to do with the resort. I am Korean, though my fiance is not. I want to incorporate a slightly Korean theme into my wedding (i'm looking around Tulum) but I don't know how to do it. I've only been to Korea once, and only for 5 weeks. Do you have any suggestions for me, also are you using Korean favors for your guests? If so, where are you getting yours? Thanks, Kelly

Hi Everyone, My name is Kelly and we don't have our date set in stone as of yet but i'd really like to married on April 25th, 2009. I'm not a cutsy person but that would be our one year engagement anniversary but this way i'll only have to remember one date for everything! that's want i want, a consolidation of numbers We are looking at Costa Rica and Mexico for our wedding. I love the Cabo area in Mexico but my fiance really wants to go hiking and do jungle-type tours so i guess Cabo's out for that. We are looking at the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico for the beaches, water, and activities around the area. If anyone has any specific resorts that they loved/hated please let me know! i'm researching like mad and am spending so much time looking it's pretty much become a part time job at this point! Thanks! Kelly