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We just got back and had the most amazing wedding. Fear not ladies, once you get down there the onsite coordinator and the Lomas Rep. really take care of you and go over every detail including a very thorough walk through of the resort. Although I know most of you are at the Sensatori and I ended up moving to the Beach, the services and coordination are very much the same. Some advice and things I have learned from my 14 month experience with my planning: 1) If you have any reservations and can spare the $$, I would highly recommend you visit the resort (s) in Mexico for a day or so. I would have saved myself a lot of heartache if I would have just done this. No one will ever be able to tell you or show you pictures of the "feel" of a resort. The Sensatori and Beach are so different from the overall look and feel and there would be no way I would have chosen what I did on verbal accounts only. 2) Prepare yourself for a plan B for flight delays, lost baggage and rain. I mentally prepared myself and although we had perfect weather, no flight delays and no lost baggage it helped me keep my sanity to have my plan B's in place in case it all happened. 3) Make sure to plan time away from family and friends, as much as we love them, you end up playing host and hostess for most of your wedding stay and this can be mentally and physically exhausting. We ended up staying 4 days after our wedding at another resort for our honeymoon. We really needed the down time. 4) When you get to the onsite coordinators, make sure you tell them in detail exactly what you want for those items that are super critical. As with anything, expect some small hicups but the things that are non negotiable, try to emphasize their importance. As an example, my flowers were super important, but I was flexible on other details. BTW, I used the tropical flowers (local to the area) and they were amammamaazzzzzzing!!!! I highly recommend them. Also, they tend to make the stems super long, if you prefer a certain length, be sure to specify that. 5) I brought down two full suitcases full of decorations, welcome bags etc. You don't need much as the setting itself is so beautiful. The other problem we had is with all my pre-packaged items they thought we were trying to sell something and charged us a tarriff. We paid only $25, but something to be aware of when you are going through Mexican customs. In retrospect, I think we probably would not have brought down so much stuff. Please PM me if you have any questions. I won't be checking this forum as much as normal since I am in 15 hour days at work beginning Monday. Good luck to all of you and I know your weddings will be amazing. Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart Happy Wedding Day Bree!!! I hope you have the best wedding ever today @ Azul Beach - can't wait to hear all about it!

Girls, I am off tomorrow morning!!!! I want to thank all of you during my almost 14 months on this forum. I can't begin to express how valuable all of your thoughts and opinions have been to me. I can't believe it is almost here. I am crossing my fingers for NO rain, it looks like we beat the hurricanes. I will be sure to post photos and reviews for those at Azul Beach.

I was an Azual Sensatori bride for almost a year before moving to Azul Beach. If you want to PM me we can exchange phone numbers and I can give you my opinion on both locations. If all things are equal, it is really about the number of amenities and the size of the resort you want. Both have very good qualities, it just depends on what works best for you group.

Hi ladies, does anyone know of the resort offers dress steaming services?

KittenHeart, I did my final count of pasminas that I need. I need 15...that brings us closer Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart Ash - I can't see the picture either Actually $85 isn't bad at all considering the prices on Lomas for some of the other so/so centerpieces. Katie - as a group we only need $50 total... since I don't need $50 worth of pasminas I thought we'd go in on it together to get the good price. That puts us at needing 13 pasminas when I only need maybe ten, Bree is getting 10 and you can let us know how many you want. I'm also going to scour the internet for a coupon code, hopefully free shippng or get them cheaper! Then we'll all just split the cost and go from there! Amy & Katie, I'm so glad you like the flowers! That makes me feel a lot better about my decsion and happy to save the money. =)

Kittenheart, I would be interested in ordering some with you. I just need to check the number I need. It would be at least 10. Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart We can actually order any color, it's just a minimum of $50 I'm ordering black and an ivory one for myself.

Any specific color? Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart Also, I want to order pasminas for my bridal party, I want to get them from this website for $3.95 each but the minimum order is $50 and I only need 7-10... any of you girls in the states interested in a combined order? Wholesale Pashmina Scarves wholesale pashmina scarves

My wedding is less than two months away and with the reviews being so sporadic I was unwilling to go through anymore anxiety over the resort issues. Now I have to say that every bride that has come back has been so happy with their wedding. I was not so much worried about the wedding as I was about the inconsistency in service, mechanical issues and the resort being touted as a 5 star when in reality at this point it is more like a 3 star. I think the thing that put us over the edge was the pool and plumbing issues they are still contending with. I guess overall we just wanted a "sure thing." The Azul Beach although it is quite a bit smaller looks like it can give us the personalized service and consistency we have been looking for. The bad thing is that we won't get all the variety of restraunts we wanted, the spa or the bigger more modern rooms. What I did love was that we were able to keep all of our Lomas planning and get moved over with little to no extra expense to us. I hope this helps answer why we moved. If we had more time we would have definately stayed and stuck it out. I have been planning for over a year and the emotional rollar coaster that we have been on has been exhausting and made me not look forward to my wedding. Quote: Originally Posted by meghan Hey Bree, Why did you choose azul beach over sensatori?

Girls, after many hours of long discussions we have decided to move to the Azul Beach. Nothing like changing your resort two months before your wedding date arg!! Good luck to all of you and thank you again and again for your advice and good cheers!

Did anyone consider Azul Beach before booking Sensatori?

Hello everyone, I am a professional photographer who is also getting married at Azul. You can only imagine how difficult it was for me to find someone I liked plus was reasonable priced. I know the mark up on these packages etc. and I was having a hard time justifying $4K U.S. +. I went with Claudia photo. I also equally liked Elizabeth Medina but she was pricer and was not available for my date and time.

Not to change anyone's mind on the pork item. But all the brides so far have raved about the chicken. I am going with the chicken....but it all depends on what you like.

Anon, Of course the one question you ask I don't have an answer too...arg, I am so sorry. We are not doing a sand ceremony, so I don't have any good advice on that one. Quote: Originally Posted by Anon101 Here's a question for you: do you have any details about the sand ceremony? My FI and I are trying to rewrite the ceremony language and need more info on exactly what is the process involving the sand ceremony so that we can properly write about it. One thing that surprised me is that you only choose one color of sand -- I assumed it would be two, with each of you pouring one color into the jar. Anyway, any info on this would be helpful! Thanks. Hope your planning is going well!!

Thank you everyone for their advice and taking the time to write back to me You all are the best... If anyone needs advice or have questions I have probably asked it ALL...PM me and I would be happy to help or give my two-cents on how I made my decisions or the answers I received.

I have been on this forum for over a year and my wedding is a little over 2 months away. Honestly it has been a rocky, emotional rollar coaster with the resort being new and all the "teething" problems I keep reading about. I have stuck it out because I honestly could not find anything that fit my needs so perfectly (or as advertised). As the reviews continue to be more and more mixed I keep asking myself if we made the right choice, will my guests get what they paid for and have an amazing vacation. With the economy being down, it is even harder to ask people to shell out good hard earned cash to come to see us get married. I have expected to feel very differently than I do right now. I don't know what to expect and at times I feel like it is a game of russian roulette. I am sorry for being a "downer," but I don't know if anyone else is feeling this way or if I should just keep smiling and crossing my fingers. The one good news is that all the brides so far on this blog seem so happy...

Has anyone who has already been married had any issues or problems with the front desk handing out welcome gifts/letters to any of the guests? Do they charge you to do this? Did they loose anyone's items?

Kiara is my coordinator and she has been wonderful. I have also learned to pick up the phone and call her if the emails are getting to be too much "back and forth." I found a 10 minute convo can save 10 emails . Quote: Originally Posted by Angelfish Hey Ladies! So has anyone else gotten their email from Grace (if that is who your coordinator is) that she is leaving? I am now getting Kiara, does anyone work with her right now? This will be my 3rd coordinator now and getting a little worried about the turn over there. What do you girls think?

I am wearing heels (2.5 inches). I went back and forth on this and after asking several brides who had their wedding's in the beach with no issues, I decided to go with heels. I am also several inches shorter than my fiancee and I really didn't want to be even shorter. Hope that helps. Quote: Originally Posted by Katie_2010 now girls, I have a very, VERY important question to ask you all..... heels or no heels?!!!! I've been looking through some of your photos and some seem to have gone for killer heels, some in flats and some in wedges - what were your experiences and would you choose differently if you were to do it again?? (I'm 5ft 2" so kinda edging towards heels lol) Thanks, Katie )

Thanks Katken, did you have to bring down string or ties for your hanging lanterns or did they provide those? Also, did you use lanterns for your tables? If so, how was the wind situation? Quote: Originally Posted by katken I think I purchased 10 mediums, 5 large and 5 small. Here is a pic. I STILL don't have my professional pics back yet, but hopefully there are some better pics of the set up. I'll let you know. We did the battery operated. One of my BM's is a major DIY'er and home with her triplets during the day, so she offered to take on the project of the lighting for me. They worked out great but I don't have all of the details on what she did. Sorry!

Anyone using paper lanterns for your centerpieces? I am worried that the wind will knock them over. Has anyone had or thought about this if they are using them?

Hello! For any bride who has already been married at Azul, can you tell me if you felt there were too many weddings at the resort at the same time or during the same week as yours?

I am seeing some weird posts on TripAdvisor about the Sensatori being temporarily closed. Is this true? I can't understand how that is possible, but wanted to double check with everyone. I haven't seen any new TripAdvisor reviews in a while and I am not sure if people aren't posting or

Has anyone heard from their TA on the all the construction that the Azul is going through right now? Any updates on the hot water or plumbing issues we were hearing about? Reviews are still mixed and I would be curious to see if anyone has heard anything new to share with us. Good news is that it looks like they are constantly improving...

We are at the point that we have to choose between the beach, Sienna Private room or the large plaza area. We only have between 25-30 people. Does anyone have any advice or comments on the Sienna private room? Thanks.

Hate to beat a dead horse, but can folks tell me (if you are booking Zolcalo); if your doing the plaza or terrace? I am trying to finalize my reception and figure out which one I should choose if at all... thanks again.