Hoosierfan

P.S. Ok weird - my status on the forum now says 'Noob' and I was a 'Member' the other day. Am I going back to the drawing board since I took a week off of wedding planning? Oh no!!

Hey ladies - anyone find a good site for "personalizing" items? I have a good site for beachtowels that we are getting printed with our wedding logo, but I'm looking for little things - like hangtags and items for our OOT bags. Any ideas?

Great report - I have chills looking through your pics! I have a few questions for you on your OOT bags, centerpieces and the Q&A form that the Sensatori provides. Can I PM you?

Quote: Originally Posted by katken Hey girls! We're back! Everything was awesome. I am going to do a review this week once we unpack. Just wanted to let you know that we had a great experience. Sensatori was the perfect location for our destination wedding. Review and pics to follow in a couple of days. Congrats and welcome back! Looking forward to your pictures and thoughts on everything!

Hey guys - Anyone have any good ideas for ceremony programs? I'd like to do something "cheap and cheerful" - possibly myself. I'll have to talk my FI into tying bows again, though...

Hey brides, Anyone do an excursion from the hotel with their bridal party? I want to do a half-day event with just my bridemaids, so would love to hear if anyone has recommendations!

Quote: Originally Posted by MegaShay For those of you doing OOT bags, are you also doing favors at the reception? I'm torn on this one ... Hey Meg, I think I'm doing embroidered beach towels as a favor + a "survival package" for the OOT bags (sunscreen, pepto, lip balm, map, etc). I was going to do silver luggage tags as my table "placecards", so another small take away. I'm trying to find ones that don't have hearts on them though!

Thanks so much for the reports ladies! Great pictures! I was just curious - have any of the previous brides used the DJs through Lomas? I thought I saw some postings that referenced getting a DJ through the hotel, but I wasn't sure. Would love some feedback as we are interested in hiring a DJ for our reception.

Hey brides - I think someone posted about this before, but it may have been in a trip report. Has anyone who's had their wedding already used the bridal suite in the spa? I have 7 bridesmaids plus my mom and me who will be getting hair done and they recommended I use the suite. I doubt I will get dressed there as we'll wrap up an hour before pictures start, but interested to hear others thoughts! Thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by Anon101 That's odd!?!? I went on the Karisma site to see if I could make a reservation for a stay beginning tomorrow and had no problems. Bizarre - I just heard from both my TA and WC today and no mention of that. I know they've been dealing with swine flu issues and cancellations, but it seems to have calmed down quite a bit.

Hey ladies, We're doing our engagement pics this weekend - luckily it's going to be nice outside since we're doing them in a park. Any advice on good colors to wear? We're going to be casual chic (whatever that means) but I don't want us to "match". Other than that, here's what I've gotten done so far: Picked resort - 50 people booked already! Chose venue at resort for welcome party, rehearsal dinner and ceremony Picked and bought dress Picked jewelry Picked bridesmaid dress (most have purchased) Registered for gifts Sent STD's in January Ordered invitations and my mom is doing the calligraphy Chose groom's suit and groomsmen outfits Purchased several bridesmaid gifts Picked MOTB gift Bachelorette/shower scheduled Had our wedding logo design completed (by a fellow BDW bride!) Need to: Choose venue at hotel for reception Choose flowers and cake decor Purchase groom's and groomsmen attire Finish bridesmaid gift selection Buy bridal jewelry And whatever else is on my reminder list!

Quote: Originally Posted by JHarwood2Be Here are some photos of the old plaza. It appears to be mostly finished. One night I was there they set it up with chairs and a projection screen, so sort of like an outdoors convention. Maybe they plan on using it for the nightly shows, I'm not sure. We were glad to hear that the new plaza was finished and it was available, so that is where our reception was. It worked out perfectly. It is closer to the guest rooms. I remember a few people walking by, a few on their balcony but it was not intrusive at all. I'll post more in a little bit... Oh yeah and we've been blogged! Tamm’s Photos Just one teaser photo! Yea - welcome back! Great photo on Tamm's website - anxious to hear your report and see more pics. Congrats!

Quote: Originally Posted by jhawkev Hi Ladies, We just came back today from Mexico and our wedding! I just wanted to do a quick post and will do a full review and add some pics later. The resort is beautiful and it is definitely getting better. However, we did have some snafu's but nothing too terribly horrible. I will say that I don't know what the purpose of the Miami office is because there is no communication between the two, messages not getting relayed properly or timely or at all. Gilberto from Lomas on-site is wonderful and does work very hard. And Jorga the head waiter for the resort is fabulous as well! The important thing is our wedding was great and all of our guests had a blast (we had about 36 guests). I was reserved and confirmed for the Plaza Deck and when I arrived it was under a construction overhaul. Needless to say, we did not have our reception there but at Zocolo terrace. And I don't know what the Miami coordinators were saying about you having to have a large party to have a private event there, because IMO if you had more than 50 guests it would be way too crowded. And I've briefly looked over some posts' from recently and I'm way behind, so sorry. But there was, as of last week, absolutely no construction going on for a "new plaza deck area". And I was told nothing of the sort while there. They are still "finishing" the hotel, but only minor details that I saw. In fact, when we arrived, they were "re-doing" the Garden Gazebo grounds where we had our ceremony, but did half of it before our ceremony, and then finished the rest after. I don't think they wanted to give me a heart attack by not having either of our locations available!! I will say that all of the food was great, the drinks strong, amazing pools, and the staff works so hard! The front desk and the management, I could do without and will probably be complaining about on my own. I think with any large event and so many guests, things are bound to happen. But you'all have nothing to worry about, everyone's day will be wonderful And one other major thing I know some of you beach ceremony/reception brides are worried about is the wind. I honestly thought it was very very windy (and I'm from the windiest state). And I don't want to upset anyone, I just thought you would like to know. We had an event on the beach Friday night before the wedding (from 7-10 pm) and it was impossible to keep the tiki torches lit. We asked several workers throughout our stay about the wind, and they said it is windy all year long. We were there for 8 days, and there was one evening that was tolerable and luckily I saw three beach weddings that day, so I was happy for those brides. I will try to post my full review hopefully by this weekend. I won't have our pro pics back for 4-6 weeks, but we had Erick from Claudia Photo and we loved him. He did some really cool things. Like I said before, you'all will be very happy with everything. I definitely learned from this experience that it's Mexico and you just have to be up for any surprises and roll with it and everything will work itself out. Hey Erika, Congrats - I'm so glad to hear things went well. We've talked with Claudia photo about getting Erick too, so anxious to see your photos and hear what he arranged for you guys!

Quote: Originally Posted by Erika J Megan, Thanks for sharing! I have been debating this for a while do any opinions from you guys would be great. Should I do a seperate welcome dinner invite or just ask on the response card? Hey Erika! Since we're hosting, I just included the option/invitation on the response card. I also put it on my wedding website. I am going to do separate invite for our rehearsal dinner only b/c it won't include the entire group of guests. Did you decide on a BM dress?

Quote: Originally Posted by beckerba 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... Hi guys, My TA is there this week so I'll let you know if there's an update on the issues you mention.

Quote: Originally Posted by JHarwood2Be This is what we did today!!!! It's official now. I can't wait for Mexico Congrats to you both! Can't wait to hear how everything goes - I'm sure it will be wonderful!

Quote: Originally Posted by YoursTruly This is a tough one and there is a thread on it. Most girls felt it was rude to ask someone you are inviting to pay the day pass, unless it was for persons that were not on list that decided to come were on their own. It was tough to ask them so in the end, we asked the hotel to do was to charge me the day pass fees onto my hotel bill, that way if they did not show, we would not have to pay for the no-shows. Thanks ladies. I hope this is just the exception and not the rule - so far we've only had a couple of people mention this, but we haven't sent out our invitations yet. If you can point me in the direction of the other thread (or a search word), that'd be great.

Thanks Jess - that's a good idea! We also talked about sending one-on-one emails to those folks who haven't booked or whom we know may be considering staying elsewhere. What about the day of your wedding/reception? Are you paying for anyone's guest pass?

Hi ladies - Do you have day pass fees associated with your wedding and if so, how are you managing/communicating with guests? We have a $99 day pass fee for any wedding guest not staying at the resort and we are doing 2 private events where we are already paying for guests per head - even if they are staying at our resort. My FI and I are struggling with how/if to communicate this to guests. We don't want to force them to stay at the hotel if they feel it's too expensive, but we are also not going to pay $99/head per event + the fee we already have to pay per head for the private events (e.g., this would be about $275 if the guest stayed at a different hotel and came to the 2 events at our resort). I feel like a cheapo even bringing this up to guests, but we did not budget for this extra expense nor did we have a destination wedding to pay $275/head! Yikes! Is there etiquette around this? A good method?

Hey Erika! They are $190 now (I believe the price went up this month) and I bought mine at Colorado Bridal Collection if you want to see the real dress. I think they listed at $170 when I bought them - you may find them cheaper online? Since I bought my wedding dress there, I also got 10% off, so a pretty good deal for my BMs!

Congrats! This forum will really help with your planning. Welcome!

Quote: Originally Posted by MegaShay Erika, what about BM dresses with an empire waist ... I think they are flattering on all shapes (esp post-baby!). My 2 BMs are wearing WTOO style 416 ... they have so many cute dresses on their website, check it out if you haven't already! Hey Erika - I have 3 bridesmaids who will be new moms just before we get married and bridesmaids across the size spectrum (there are 7 total), so I chose the Belsoie style #1069 in tea length. It's empire-waisted just enough to flatter any size without looking like a tent! I think I worried more about the BM dress than my own after being stuck with some not-so-flattering BM dresses!

Hi ladies - so many gorgeous dresses! Here's mine (I hope the pic works - first time trying 'Advanced' posting!). pronovias reyes upload.pdf

Quote: Originally Posted by katken I agree with you, I don't want to stress too much about this because I'm sure it will all turn out, but I still do have a couple of questions for those who have gone for a site visit or have been married at Sensatori already about reception locations. My FMIL had a severe brain injury just 8 months ago so her walking is a bit unstable. I'm concerned about having our reception on the beach because I just don't think she'll be able to deal with the sand, especially all night. I feel like the only other choice for our group (70 people booked) is in a banquet room. Am I missing a location? I think that's it, right? I'm really hoping we can do the Plaza area. I've been told the same thing. We are expecting 75 guests and want to do a private reception with DJ. I was told that my options were the beach (too cold for me at night!) or one of the banquet rooms. I do have a "venue sheet" that says Zocalo is available for 70 persons for dinner or buffet. If the Plaza is no longer an available option for new bookings (as is still a big question on this thread), then I think that may be it for options. Hope that helps.

Quote: Originally Posted by Shandalier Hello again from Austin! I wish I could afford to bring someone from here (to pay for their trip and then pay for the pictures). I haven't been super impressed with the pictures I have seen so far from Caribe. I think they just aren't artistic enough - like my mom could stand there with a digital camera and take the same pictures, ya know? I am going to look into what someone said about checking the Lomas website. There are apparently other photogs on there that aren't on the Sensatori site. This forum has been so helpful!! Hi Shandalier! Let me know if you find anything out on the photogs available from your WC - I posted a question earlier about how the website and the Lomas offerings are different. The Sensatori website only lists 2 options - it's a bit confusing! I'm having trouble getting concrete information from my WC unfortunately. If any other ladies have some scoop on this discrepancy between the website and Lomas offerings, please let us know!