Hoosierfan

Quote: Originally Posted by aggieangel01 Shanda- Thanks for the info...Tiffany is my WC also but I didn't know this since I hadn't really looked into it much...guess I'll be sticking with Caribe and hoping for the best!!! Are you bringing a photog from Austin? I miss Austin soooooooooo much!!! GL with the rest of your planning!!! Hey ladies - Do you know if the photographer options are different at the Sensatori than what they list on the Lomas Travel page? That page lists other options besides Caribe Photo (I'd already reached out to one of them). Is it true that we now only have two "approved" options (as listed on the Karisma website)? So confusing!

This is such a great help - now if only I could get specific answers from my WC without having to send a slew of emails! Thanks Tammy.

Hey ladies, I just got an email today that said the Plaza will no longer be offered as a reception site. I'm guessing that only applies to future bookings - anyone else get that message from their WCs?

Quote: Originally Posted by Shandalier Uh-oh. I wonder if I had it wrong. I checked weather.com for October 2, 2009 and it said sunset is around 6:35. I don't think they observe daylight savings there but could there be that much of a change in the sunset times between October and November? Just want to make sure we are scheduling everything right! Where did you find out about 5:08? Hi! No, you're right for your date according to the site I'm looking at online. It says your date has sunset at 6:35, so you should be fine. They do end daylight savings on Oct. 25th, so that must be the difference!

Quote: Originally Posted by Erika J Thanks Jess. I mean I think if I just do a beer cup or koozie with some advil in cute packaging as a welcome gift it will be wayyy more useful and no one has to bring stuff home. I am doing pashminas for the girls and golf tees for the men at the reception. I think it will be plenty. Hey guys! I'm concerned about lugging all this stuff down there too - I know there are bunch of threads on the value of bringing everything vs. trying to ship anything. Have you guys looked into it? I wanted to do OOT bags too, but I'm thinking more about doing beach towels for everyone (again, will have to lug stuff down, but I can get some of my family and bridesmaids to pack some in their luggage too (I think). I got beach bags, robes, flip flops and some other stuff for my 'maids and I am definitely shipping them their stuff before the wedding! I'm still trying to figure out how I get stuff back home after the wedding since my FI and I are going on our honeymoon from Mexico!

Quote: Originally Posted by Shandalier They originally scheduled ours for 4:00 and I requested it to be a little later. Then they came back with 6:00. The sun sets at 6:35 so I thought that was too late. We finally inked in on 5:00 so we have time for the ceremony and then some pictures. We weren't charged any type of time-change fee as far as I know! What time is your ceremony scheduled? Hi! Our wedding is scheduled for 4pm. Sunset is supposed to be at 5:08 pm which gives us about an hour to do bride/groom pics outdoors with some natural light. I thought about seeing if I could move it to 3:30, so maybe it's not a big deal if you moved yours!

Hi ladies, So glad I found this thread! My FI are planning to honeymoon in Costa Rica for about 2 weeks after our wedding. We plan to fly into San Jose, explore and move around and end up flying out of Liberia back home. Any input/advice would be great!

Oh ladies - I feel your pain! The funny thing is, my flight to Pittsburgh for a friend's wedding was more expensive than my flight to Cancun for my own wedding (so I count Pittsburgh as a Destination Wedding in that case!). Most of our invitees have been excited for a chance for vacation - but there's a good share who are either (1) telling me how broke they are or (2) completely avoiding the topic with me because they are not planning to come. At the end of the day, it's really about you and your FI - not anyone else. It's just amazing how "free" some people feel to tell you what your choice of a DW is doing to them!

Welcome! We're thinking of going to Costa Rica for our honeymoon - I've heard wonderful things!

Hey ladies, Has anyone changed their wedding time and been assessed a time-change fee? I thought I read that somewhere and now I'm wondering if we should move ours back to allow for enough time for pictures.

We have a local TA who has absolutely been a lifesaver! It's really taken the stress off of my shoulders in worrying about logistics for our guests and us! He helps me work the hotel on upgrades and wedding options and really ensure that we're being taken care of by our wedding coordinator. The prices he's gotten for us and our guests are slightly better than what's posted online and he takes care of insurance and transfers too. We are getting married in November, but have already booked our hotel room. We're doing our honeymoon right after the wedding, so haven't booked flights yet - from what I can tell, though, now is a great time to book flights as prices seem pretty reasonable! Good luck!

Hi Meghan! On my response cards, I only specified if folks wanted a vegetarian option. If I'd figured out my menu before I had the invites printed, though, I likely would have given them the meat or fish option too. I think that's a great way to avoid having to do it at the last minute! (I guess it also depends on what type of menu you decide to go with as with many weddings, there are no options!)

I've heard the weather in November is beautiful - it is the end of hurricane season, though, which likely means a higher chance of scattered rain showers during the day. The one thing I'd recommend though is checking the sunset schedule - the sun sets around 5-5:30pm during November and then it can get chilly/windy, so if you're planning an outdoor ceremony and you want pictures afterward, you may want to schedule your ceremony for mid-afternoon vs. evening (just a lesson I learned in my planning!). Hope that helps!

We just had ours this past Friday. Neither of our families live in the state, so 2 of my bridesmaids and another girlfriend got together to host it. They reserved space in a wine bar, paid for some appetizers, brought decorations and had cupcakes made. We only have about 30 guests locally, so it was a smaller affair and probably only cost each of them $50. We also asked for no gifts. I've thrown a couple as part of local "bridesmaid" duty and we've done something similiar at a bar. I've also done one at someone's home where we give it a theme (stock the bar) and people bring a bottle of wine to drink and one for the couple. There, the hosts provided food and some beverages (but many people brought things to share). I think you can have as many parties as you like (is that bad?)! We got engaged Dec. 23rd and our party was 3 months after. For us, my aunt offered to host one later for family and friends closer to where more family live (that will be more of a cookout/relaxed event). It's more of an engagement party/shower combo too.

Hi ladies, I apologize if someone has posted this earlier - but does anyone have a list of the reception spots/max # of people allowed for the hotel?

Hi ladies! I'm just back from 2 weeks in Vietnam/Thailand (a great place for Honeymooning fyi) and am catching up on the forum. It was kind of nice to not do anything wedding related for 2 whole weeks! However, we've officially moved our wedding from the Azul Fives to the Sensatori on November 21st - yea, finally done with that at least. Beachbride2009 and EDRbride2009 - our colors are turquoise and chocolate brown too. Maybe I can join you in decor coordination? We're planning to arrive at the Sensatori on Nov. 16th.

Hi ladies! We finally got our move from the Azul Fives to the Sensatori confirmed for November 21, 2009. Can you please add me to the list as well? Thanks!

Welcome - this forum will really help you make decisions on places, so keep up the research!

Quote: Originally Posted by tsashamia Snapfish: Share:Registration Hope this link works, it's just some of the pictures some of my friends and family took. Sorry I have't had a chance to do a review or anything else. I'll try to get to it in the next day or two. What I will say is we had an amazing time and wouldn't have changed a thing...well, maybe the weather Happy Planning! Tsasha Thanks so much for posting those pics - they are beautiful and you look gorgeous! As an Azul Fives bride most likely moving to the Sensatori, it's great to see some "live" shots of what it may look like. Congrats!

Quote: Originally Posted by beachbride2009 Hi Hoosierfan...I sure hope everything works out for you! My honest recommendation is to move your wedding from the Fives, even if they think it'll be open by the time you are to arrive...who knows if down the road they are even more delayed, plus the Sensatori just opened this past November and had a LOT of opening growing pains...and still are having a few, but by this coming November all the bugs should be worked out. Since you are expecting such a large group of people, I honestly wouldn't take the chance that thisngs will all be worked out and ready for you. This is your wedding!!! I booked the Sensatori back in November for next November, knowing full well it is a brand new resort, but also knowing after one year it will be up and running well, but at the same time still be fresh and new. I don't know about the maximum size of weddings allowed there, but I think they could handle a large one on the beach? What are you thinking of for your day? Hopefully Fabio will get back to you really soon so you can get things figured out! Keep me posted and if you have any questions about the Sensatori, I'm more than happy to help, as would the other lovely ladies on the Sensatori thread! Hi beachbride2009 - Looks like the Azul Sensatori might come through for our wedding on the 21st as well. I'm need to find out how big the hotel is - 4 wedding in 2 days seems like a lot. How many guests are you expecting for yours? I at least want to know they'll offer the same rates for our guests (I think they are a little bit pricier than the rates for the Fives?). I'm curious how the other Azul Fives brides are being taken care of - it sounds like Karisma is trying to move everyone very quickly (I hope!). UGH!

That will be beautiful! Congrats and welcome!

Quote: Originally Posted by Erika J I have my ceremony planned to start at 4:00pm in Cabo, with Cocktail hour from 4:30-5:30 and we will be taking photos at this time with our photgrapher. He suggested starting the ceremony aty 4 or 4:30 for the best photographs. I also found this thread helpful: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t33544 I'm on the other side of Mexico, but we're doing a 4pm ceremony (sunset is at 5:08pm - thank goodness for the internet!). I guess it also depends on how you want to do photos. I'm planning to do bride/bridesmaid and groom/groomsman photos before the ceremony and save all the "big group" photos until afterward (which gives us about an hour or so, but I'm not doing a ton of "family" photos). Our cocktail hour will be from 4:45 to 6 with dinner at 6pm, reception til 10.

Quote: Originally Posted by jmb0902 Sounds like a plan to me! Everyone is just now getting over that we want a wedding in Mexico - now I throw a holiday wedding on them! Oh well! Do you have a bunch of ppl confirmed already? I'm just in the beginning stages (I just got my confirmation the other day)... I feel so behind! Hi ladies, I'm getting similiar grief for having ours the week before Thanksgiving (especially for those who travel for Tgiving). But what can you do? I tell guests we are trying to avoid Hurricane Season AND November is considered a timeframe with better hotel/airfare rates to Mexico! I have a wedding Memorial Day AND Labor Day weekend this year and I've yet to complain. Maybe I will start!

Quote: Originally Posted by yoAzul If you have 50 guests or less you can have your wedding at Azul Beach - they only have 1 per day Also I did a site visit there last year so if you have any Azul Beach questions let me know! Thanks yoAzul! We actually are expecting 75-100, so the Beach is too small for our group. Our other "limiting factor" is that some folks are bringing thier kids (even though we're not having kids at our wedding/reception other than the flower girl). I can't bear to switch to a hotel where my friends who have little babies couldn't stay (if they were toddlers...they'd leave them with grandma and grandpa). Ugh!!

Hi brides, I'm a current Azul Fives bride, but with the delay in opening, we are investigating our options. I can't spend the next 8 months not knowing where our guests will stay/where we'll be married or I'll go nuts! Anyone know how many weddings the Sensatori does in one day? I know there's already one on my date, but I'm curious what their wedding schedule is. Thanks ladies!