mich&adam

Since most ,if not all of our guests are wine drinkers, we bought eveyone a wine stopper with the seashell topper, many of the websites have them...i got them at my local AC Moore! Oriental Trading has tons of ideas and favors!!! Good luck girls!

Quote: Originally Posted by vacationsrthebest I'm so torn.....I don't know if I should use Juan Navarro or Ivan Luckie!!! Any words of advice from anyone on this?? I used Juan Navarro for my DW, April 28, 2010 and it was hands down, by far the best Wedding Decision we made. Juan and his team are awesome, friendly, creative and priced right!! He did our wedding and then our TTD session the next day and he was as wet and sandy as we were and it was worth every penny. Be sure to check out his site on the left hand margin, pics are awesome and of course he will take any request you have!!! Good Luck, happily married since 4.28.10

The reason why their probably wasn't a lot of review on Juan until lately is because if you read his website, he didn't actually specialize in weddings...it wasn't until a resort desperatly needed a wedding photographer for a bride in need that he reluctantly did the photographs and since then he has been "hooked" and doing his wonderful, creative work ever since. If you get married at Excellence like I did, it includes a small wedding package, but we loved his work so much, we upgraded the package and added the TTD session, which was worth every penny, he is definetly thriving these days and when you meet him, you'll know why!!!

Thank you Sheen & Happy Wedding Planning!

Hi Sheen - I don't even have enough points to open my own picture, so I completely understand. He has a link right on this site, to the left: Juan Navarro or look on his website - juanphotos.com. Under BLOG - Michelle & Adam - Wedding & TTD session. Let me know what you think!!!

Your welcome Damaris, the rest of my pictures from my wedding and my TTD session can be found on Juan's Blog, under Michelle & Adam!!! He is such a great, nice guy, who truly loves his job. He had a swarm of people around him while shooting our pictures, he was just as wet and sandy as we were and loved every minute of it, you will have a great Wedding Day and even better pictures to prove it, Congrats & Good Luck!!!

Thanks Tammy!!! I know it was & can be hard to plan a destination wedding without knowing who to hire or what to ask and we heard some good and bad reviews about Juan, but I went with my gut and stalked (LOL) his website everyday and his photo's were just amazing and then once we met him, we KNEW we hired the right photographer for our wedding day and more importantly, for our TTD session. So Cancun brides, check out his site, enjoy his work and Know that you can't go wrong with Juan & his team!!! Good luck future Destination Brides!! Happily Married in Riviera Maya, Excellence Resort, 4.28.10 - Michelle

Juan is truly THE BEST Photographer in Riviera Maya, Cancun, Mexico. He is a gifted and fabulous Photographer who stops at nothing to capture every moment of your special day. He had a crowd just mesmerized by his skills, passion and love for photography, especially Weddings!!! We couldn’t be happier with his work and we are patiently waiting for our Album – With much Love & Admiration – Michelle!!!! Michelle&Adam.4.28.10.pdf

And yes, we are staying at the "club"...it is a must...we stayed at the Excellence in the Dominican last year and it was awesome

Quote: Originally Posted by ranaya12 I actually called Ramon yesterday hoping it would be easier to communicate and get the answers to my questions right away as apposed to waiting for him to reply. I speak spanish so it work out better than I thought. He was sooooo nice over the phone. I think everything is going to work out now and I can sleep peacefully. He did confirm the price for outside vendors is $100 per person and $70 for outside guests that are attending the wedding ONLY. If the guests want to stay longer, to hang out at a bar, the price is also $100. The sound system is $500 for 3 hours. Apparently the system is included in the package for the ceremony ONLY. However, since the resort hosts events in the evening they have to rent the sound system. The hotel does have ipod docking stations that might work but he suggested we bring our own. Not sure why if the hotel has one already but I might call back and ask. He also asked me to send him a copy of the guest list and let him know if there are any food allergies or dietary restrictions. Oh, before I forget, there were some changes that I wanted to make to the Gold package and he said that they usually dont allow it but that he would allow it. I was shocked but I'm thinking they usually do this but dont put it in writing. I hope things flow this way once we get down there as well. I hope this helps!!! Hi Jennifer - Im Michelle...I can't believe i'm getting married in 20 days...YAY!!!! So glad you spoke to Ramon and things worked out, just as i suspected they would, that's exactly why i'm not panicking about the little tweaks of switching this for that but just doesn't want it in writing. Ohh...what are you walking down to ?? I have no idea and I think we have two options..i haven't even thought about it, LOL. My date is April 28, 2010.

One last thing, Ramon has been very responsive with me and when I sent him questions, I double spaced and he responded to everything in red, which was great and you better believe i printed that to bring with me. Plus the fact that Veronica let me confirm the cocktails & reception in the foyer, i didn't want anyone to say that I couldn't and he agreed, so overall, i think everything will be fine for all of us...but uggg..hasn't anyone gotten married at ERC lately and posted anything about working with him/Ramon?? That would probably ease a lot of our minds!! I am also getting my hair and makeup done by the spa...are you girls bringing your own makeup for them to use on you?? My hair..i'm alittle worried because i always do it myself and love it so if they "mess'" it up i will be devastated BUT i too and bringing lots of pictures..fingers crossed. How many guests are you having beachgirl?? We are only having 11 + us, we had some people back out and even cancel last minute, but it's ok, we are still thrilled and excited about our upcoming beach wedding no matter what

Quote: Originally Posted by beachgirl@heart @Mich&Adam: Hey!!! We're arriving 4/27 and departing on 5/6. Generally speaking.... Everything that Veronica promised or quoted me in email, I forwarded to Ramon. So far, I haven't had an issue with him not being willing to honor those things. She told us the rose petals on the aisle were included, so we're getting that. If you want to do a petal toss (the only thing you can "toss" on the beach for environmental reasons), it's $10/bag which is enough for 3 people. You can order freeze-dried rose petals, too, if you wanted to do that ahead and not have to pay for it there. Freeze Dried Rose Petals, Wedding Flower Petals As for centerpieces (Gold Package), there's one for the ceremony and one for the reception. We're planning to use both at the reception and the bridesmaid flowers for the other centerpieces. We're bringing some of our own tulle for extra chair decoration for the ceremony. We figured we'll need less chairs at the ceremony b/c of the bridal party standing. Then we can get the most out of what they offer for the chair sashes at the reception (more chairs to cover Ramon told me that it was $5/vase, so we're doing that. We decided that trying to transport glass vases or anything breakable for that matter was not a good idea for us. We confirmed $70/wedding only day pass. We are paying for 2 of these - photog and his asst. The videographer we're using is contracted with ERC, so we don't have to provide a pass for him. We are also providing dinner for the videographer, photographer, and photog asst. Overall, he's been pretty responsive. We've had to email the same things a few times b/c (as others mentioned) he'd answer only part of the email. But, eventually we got the answers we needed. We're just going to print out everything and have all our communication documented and laid out so when we finalize everything on site we'll be covered. I did my hair trial a few weeks ago and took a lot of pics so hopefully they can come close to replicating it I want to do the same with make-up but don't know if I'll have time. And, for our ceremony, we are using the same ceremony and vows that we did beachside here for the legal thing. Awesome, so hopefully we can meet and chat Beachgirl!!! We arrive on the 24th and depart on may 1st. Also, he did tell me it is $100 for Vendors, as did Veronica, the $70 is for outside guests...we are using Juan Navarro, their contracted photographer so we don't have to pay for him, just the DJ. I think i'm going to do the same thing, use 2 centerpieces for the reception and not worry about the actual ceremony..i'm bringin bubbles, wonder if they are ok to use

Quote: Originally Posted by Dimenzi I just asked Ramon quite a few questions. He has responded very quickly on the 2 emails I have sent him in the past 24 hours. He seems like a nice guy. It does seem that things that Veronica said are included are not the case with Ramon. I have had a couple of misunderstandings with him through email due to the language barrier but I feel that in person there wont be a problem at all. Veronica stated that the 'additional decorations for the ceremony' for the GOLD Package was chair sashes and a flower on the back of each chair. Ramon has since stated that the flower at the back of the chair is not inclued and cost $5 each. When I got a price list from Veronica it stated that a flower at the back of each chair is $2. However, he did give us options for the additional decorations as below (his writing, not mine): In the Gold package includes additional decoration which you will have the following options, obviously you need to pick just one: Rose petals aisle 2 additional boutonniere OR lady corsages 1 additional flower centerpiece Sashes for the chairs could be for the ceremony OR dinner reception Now back to me. See below for some of my findings from his emails. I have noticed that the Romantic Dinner Cruise has been taken out of the GOLD package. Ramon said that they have not replaced this with anything. You can rent vases for the bridesmaids flowers at $15 each. Seems like they're trying to make the most out of the weddings as possible. Fair enough. However, I doubt that if a guest at the resort would have to pay $15 to rent a vase if someone gave them flowers and wanted to have them in their room. In better news, he stated that there are 3 tiers on the wedding cake if having 30 people. I was quite happy with this. This may be in the Gold package but my question was 'For 30 people, how many tiers would the wedding cake be?' Wedding Menu cards for each guest are included in the wedding packages. He sent me photos of the wedding cakes (same as Veronica sent), boutonnieres (split by Gold and Silver package), table centre pieces, Bridal bouquets (Gold and Silver), Menu's (same as Veronica sent). I can email these to anyone if they would like. I also have a selection of reception photos for the Foyer, Barcelona and the Lobster House (well, only photos from inside the Lobster House...not of a reception), Garibaldi Square. I have just sent Ramon another email stating that Veronica said that the sound system was included in the packages for the ceremony. If Ramon says that this is not true and the sound system is $500 then I wont be happy. I also stated that Veronica said that the cost for additional guest was $45. The funny thing is,if you look on the Excellece Riviera Maya website, it has the wedding packages listed and with the Gold Package, your right it no longer states the dinner cruise - no biggie for me..but with the "additional decor" an extra centerpiece ? really?? because with the gold package you get the centerpiece and then it states you can get another centerpiece and then it mentions extra decoration...so it's going to be interesting to say the least....I am bringing my own chair sashes and also teal paper lanterns so i'm good with decorations but I do want that extra centerpiece and rose petals down the isle and i will defeintly stand my ground on that..hope everything works out for everyone...from what it seems i'm one of the next ones, so hopefully as soon as i get back i can let the rest of you girls know...But overall i think we are in good hands and i think we will be pleasantly surprised what he does let us do and not do - FINGERS CROSSED!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by ranaya12 Thanks for replying mich&adam. We arrive on Tuesday, May 4th! Unfortunately you'll be gone by then. We decided to go with the Gold Package but will be brining our own photographer. I was reading on another post, or maybe it was here, where someone who was dealing with Ramon wouldn't allow them to substitute the photographer with guest passes. Then someone else who delt with Nayeli mentioned that she offered them two guest passes since the package photographer was not being used. I also want to make a few other changes to the package and I am a bit worried that Ramon will not allow it and make me stick to the choices of the package only!!! I'm starting to freak out. I feel your pain and frustration..I read a few reviews about how GREAT Veronica was to work with and how she substituted this for that, INCLUDED the Chair sashes, day pass fee waived for the couple waiving another gold package choice, etc. etc. but yeah..maybe that's why she's no longer there, but Ramon definetly doesn't seem to be doing that and their hasn't been a review in awhile...would like another ERC bride to let us know exactly how Ramon was to work with...hmmmmmm Wish I knew

Hi Ranaya - When do you arrive for your wedding? We are leaving Sat. May 1st. And yes...I too was told Veronica is no longer there and we have been communicating with Ramon...the only real issue i had so far is they have a new florist..so the flower choices Veronica sent me in the summer are no longer available...but I did find one I liked on the new list ANd the centerpieces changed as well and look smaller, but no biggie. What wedding package are you doing?

Yes BeachGirl we are getting SOO excited! When are you leaving? We leave Sat. April 24th...YES..it came SOOOO Fast

Wow...$45 fee is steep..I went to my local foodstore (shoprite) here in NJ and they did the wire trasfer, with the printed tracking number/receipt (standard, I know) and the fee was about $25/$30, Keep in mind, the fee is based on the amount you are wiring... Good luck!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Treenbean2011 Congratulations to you!! That is so exciting. Thank you for the vendor tips. I am debating the DJ issue. We are worried that if our group is small, then a DJ would be overkill. However, I am not sure that I want to have to worry about controlling an ipod. Will you be posting a review and perhaps some pictures when you return home Your very welcome and if this helps, we were origninally going to go with the whole ipod docking station too, i even started making my song list, BUT i figured this IS my once and i lifetime and I don't want any of my guest to have to worry about the ipod...and what if someone wants to hear something, ya know what, let them request it with the DJ and HE can play it...we initially had 25 guests, then down to 22, and just had the final count due and we had more people cancel, their will be 14 of us, so yes a smaller wedding, but still worth the extra money and fun of the DJ...plus he does cold fireworks (?) bracelets, props, etc. etc. worth it for me and FI!!! Yes, I will be posted a review and if you want to know more, sent me a private message, I would be happy to share all my thoughts from the wedding Thanks Again!! P.S. we are doing the Legal Vows here in NJ before we leave, not worth the Mexico hassle for Us anyway

Quote: Originally Posted by Treenbean2011 We just booked!!!! April 15, 2011!!! I am so excited. We love the ERC and are thrilled to be getting married there. I am also very excited for everyone getting married in the next few months. congratulations to you all. I hope you will stick around for a little while after your weddings to give us 2011 brides some advice. Congratulations..I am set to be married at Excellence on April 28, 2010, 28 more days...can't believe it went by so fast, feel like I just booked the place!!! I am using juan navarro as my photographer and DJ Doremixx..check out their sites on here, you will be pleasantly surprised..Happy Planning

28 days until my wedding at Excellence...I can't believe it is almost here and i'm ready to GO!!!! Well still have to pack

I agree with you ladies, i mean maybe initially the "love is blind" thing is understandable, but after years of him "not" working and yes, how did he mysteriously have money, that apt. when she met him?? very ODD to me for sure!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by beachgirl@heart It is frustrating, I understand. Ramon is honoring several things we previously confirmed with Veronica. I forwarded all my email communication from Veronica for anything that was in question and have been politely firm that what we were told before is what we expected. So, if you have this communication with the previous WCs, I would use that approach. All of our planning, budgeting, etc. has been based on 8 months of emails so we're not backing down on that stuff. We're also putting together a spreadsheet with everything laid out to send him, to firm things up and hopefully make things easier when we meet with him upon our arrival. @ Mich&Adam - we are sticking with the iPod. I looked into the DJ but they are booked for that day. I think it will work out okay. We are expecting 26, including us. So, a pretty good turnout I think. We are doing a TTD the day after the wedding with our wedding photographer, Sascha Gluck. As for the ceremony, Ramon sent me a pdf of what they use for the symbolic ceremony and we're not too crazy about it. We may just use the same one we that used for our legal ceremony here. If you need a guest book, or want something different, check out Welcome to the Guestbook Store! Guestbooks for Every Occasion!. We got ours a few weeks ago and it's exactly what I was looking for, just short of making it myself. We're doing a welcome dinner too, at Barcelona Thursday night (non-private). So, we're looking forward to that! I'm doing a hair trial run this week with my local salon, and have my first fitting next weekend. We are getting very excited, too! I'm still debating the bouquet toss and garter thing. I've read about some other ideas for the bouquet toss - tossing a bunch of individual flowers with a charm attached so each of the ladies gets something. I am not big on all the traditional stuff (hence a destination wedding) but I don't want to look back and wish I'd done something that I didn't. Ugg..sorry to vent, but yeah,I would be upset/annoyed too if everything kept changing now that Ramon is in charge..i kept ALL my emials too from Veronica and have kept firm my decions too...We were having 20 guests, but a few people have since cancelled their reservations due to different personal reasons, so with us, we are now down to 13 guests..which is fine..this is what WE want..although it is hard to stay happy & positive with things goingon around you...we picked up our rings this weekend and they are gorgeous...and my bachelorette dinner/party is this weekend, thank God for great friends!!!!

Yes, Im having a welcome dinner, the night before our wedding, so it will be 4/27 and we are having the non-private at Agave, otherwise it is $18per person...which is insane, since this is an all inclusive resort, you have to check with Ramon to see what restaurants are open and what one can accomadate your party, we are only have a total of 15 people, including us!

Quote: Originally Posted by beachgirl@heart Does anyone know, or can someone provide, the layout of the symbolic ceremony that is performed at ERC and if you have options for the vows? Hi Beachgirl!!! Sorry been MIA for a few days..Good question..hope someone answers soon ? How many people are you expecting at your wedding? Did you decide to go with the DJ? With almost everthing done for both me & you...i'm getting soo excited. Are you doing a TTD session? We are..and are booked with Juan Navarro...his new website is awesome!!

I felt the same way Crystal. When I bought my dress it was summertime/July and I was tan in this white dress and i loved it. When I when back for my first fitting in January, i was pasty white, my hair was a mess and i just felt awful and hated my dress. I have since went back after all the alterations, with the shoes and my hair semi-fixed and it looks good, still not great like the summertime but i'm hoping with a few tan sessions and being in Mexico for a few days prior with a great hairstyle from the salon, things will be fine...hang in there...a lot of us can totally relate