nicdeb928

Im so excited for you Jess! ENJOY every minute of it b/c its going to go soooo fast...so whenever you begin to feel stressed (if you do) take a deep breath, look around at the gorgeous place youre in and at the man you love and say to yourself "next week when im back home this minor detail that im stressing about is going to mean nothing" and then move on...enjoy the time with you man, your family and your friends b/c it is very precious and memorable...take pics of everything and ask your guests to take pics of everything also b/c you will treasure those pictures when you get back home...cant wait to see your pics when you return...have a great trip and wedding day!!!! Nicole

Hey! Unfortunately it just happened to be on my wedding day...we didnt have a problem with bugs at any other time during our vacation...the Welcome party was held at night on the Mundaca rooftop and that was fine...and even the outside reception on Marracas terrace was fine the night of our wedding...the only problem was around 5pm, the wind changed and my guests who were enjoying the cocktail reception up on the Cove Terrace said all off a sudden there were bugs everywhere, in the food, in their drinks...I was on the beach working with my photographer so I didnt know anything...but they said the resort handled it instantly and moved everyone inside quickly along with the food, and the party continued

Im sorry, I dont remember the style name or number...but I do know the color was guava and there was a bunch of different dresses to chooose from in that color...my girls wanted strapless so we went with that one but the others were cute too...goodluck!

We had our cocktail hour on the Cove Terrace, which is beautiful, but halfway thru we got moved inside b/c of the bugs...it was no big deal and still wonderful....the Pandero Terrace is very beautiful too, it juts out onto the water and is gorgeous...the things to consider are how many ppl you have (we had 52 and the Pandero doesnt hold that many) and what time of day your cocktail hour is going to be b/c their is no shade on the pandero so if its when the sun is shing bright your guest might be roasting

Liza...DEFINITELY look into Juan Navarro...you will not be disappointed...he is absolutely amazing...wonderful to work with and everyone who has seen my pics say they belong in a magazine...he is very talented, reasonably priced and he loves what he does...i cant say enough good things about him

we got them at David's Bridal for $99!!!! i loved them and everyone complimented on the color...and of course my girls loved the price

Congratulations Mia! Yes, it is very weird when you start saying the word husband Im so happy that you used Juan! didnt you absolutely love him!!! I cant wait to see your pics from him, I still say he was best my choice out of all my wedding planning congratulations again...

Hi ladies! Just read some of the recent posts and wanted to answer some questions you guys have.... -I bought my maraccas (used as favors) at the resort gift shop...the price was reasonable and it was easy -their wedding cakes are delicious, much better than I expected..i went with the cheesecake and carrotcake -@Liza i would definitely recommend going with a travel agent to do all your bookings, it will be some much easier and less time consuming for you -I did my TTD session right at the resort the morning after the wedding...we had planned on taking a taxi into town to go to a beach in playa del carmen but to be honest with you, I was so drained from the wedding that I asked my photographer to just come back to the resort the next morning...the pictures came out awesome, he did some great underwater shots right in the lagoons on the resort...Juan Navarro was awesome!!! -I had my cocktail hour scheduled to be held up on the Cove Terrace b/c i saw how beautiful and perfect it was, I just want to give you a heads up to be prepared for anything b/c i found out that while i was doing my photos, they had to move everything inside b/c the wind changed and their were bugs everywhere up there...in peoples food and drinks...it got moved inside in the upstairs lobby and was still perfect..just be prepared for anything.. -I didnt do any decorations for my welcome party, i held it on Mundaccas rooftop...keep in mind, it is very, very windy there at night...if you look at my pics, the night of my wedding people were putting blankets over themselves b/c it got so cold and windy...so when thinking of decorations make sure to remember that...also, to be honest, i felt so rushed that whole week, I dont think i wouldve had anytime to go decorate anything for the welcome party..try to keep things as simple as you can for yourselves...remember the resort scenery is so beautiful, you dont need much else...

wow ladies! I cannot believe how many problems you are having. None of these existed a few months ago for my wedding. I will say communication was hard at times, but the actual day of the wedding I did not encounter one problem, everything went smooth and beautiful and they were professional all the way! My suggestion would be to just keep yourself organized with your notes, and plan for the worst. Meaning, dont count on being able to use the vacation dollars for anything wedding related. This way your prepared if it comes to that. You do not want to spend the days before your wedding stressed and fighting. That is time you can never get back. Instead you should be spending it enjoying your time with your fiance and guests. Just get prices now for everything you need in writing and bring those quoted prices with you. My other suggestion would be if they dont honor those prices to call the Palace Resort headquarters in Miami. The one problem we did have, they were able to fix it pretty quickly. Good luck!!!

Hey Ladies.. Just checking in to see how all your plans are going...I'll be celebrating my 6 month anniversary soon, I cant believe its been that long already. You guys are all going to love having your wedding at ASP...they do an absolutely amazing job of making that day very special for us. If any of you have any questions about anything please ask. I just read some of the recent posts about making plans for the week of the wedding so I wanted to share my experience. My husband and I got to the resort on a saturday, the very next day people started arriving, with a few ppl coming in every day and all of our guest there by Wednesday, our wedding was on Friday and then everyone including us left that Sunday. If I could do it all over again I would come in on Wed and stay to the following wed, allowing my husband and I some time alone without our guests. As much as we enjoyed our week with everyone, it was physically and mentally draining to be constantly on the run and making sure that 50 ppl were enjoying themselves every single day for a week straight. Thats just my suggestion. Beyond that, Sun, Mon and Tues we relaxed by the pool during the day and went to dinner at night with everyone that was there. Wednesday is when the insanity began. Wed morning we did swimming with the dolpins with 10 other ppl. This I DEFINITELY recommend. Its 1 minute from the resort and a really cool experience. Since we did it as a group, the 10 of us stayed together and then my husband and I bought the DVD and pics of everyone (when we got home we made copies for the other ppl w/us and they were so happy about that). Wednesday night we had a Welcome Dinner (also highly recommended) we held it on Mundaca's rooftop and hired a dj. The food was amazing, everyone complimented on it. It gave my husband and I a chance to walk around and welcome everyone for being there and get to spend some with our guests. The welcome dinner was from 6-8 at 8;30 we had 3 taxi vans come pick up about 40 of us and take us into town (playa del carmen) to Carlos and Charlies and Senor Frogs..this night was PRICELESS! i cant express it enought...all of our guests said that besides our wedding night, that night was the best night there...we had so much fun together and our group took over both of those bars. I have an amazing pic of all of us at Senor Frogs with sombreros on our heads.. I cherish this picture....Thursday morning we woke up and 30 of us headed out to zipline. This I wouldnt recommend. The experience was cool and everyone enjoyed it, but the place was 60-90 minutes away so the transportation wasted almost 3 hrs while the zipling took about 30 min so it wasnt worth it to us that we were away from our other guests for that long. I would recommend paying for the place that is close by if zipling is something you really want to do. Thursday night we held our rehearsal dinner for the bridal party and parents at Mundaca Steakhouse out on the terrace. That was wonderful and a great way to make those ppl very special to us feel extra special. Afterwards we met the rest of our guests at the disco and partied the night away and Friday was the Wedding (i wrote a review of my wedding day on a previous post) To sum it up, the whole experience was amazing, and something I will cherish forever...if you have any questions please let me know...otherwise enjoy your planning Nicole

Hey there! as far as through customs you will not have any problems...i actually packed an old suitcase filled with all stuff for my OOT bags and then just left the suitcase down there for garbage afterwards....I didnt have any problem with customs with anything that I brought...As far as are the mugs worth it, based on my wedding they were defintiely awesome to have...we made everyone up a bag filled with a few things, one of them being the mugs...and i would say 80% of our guests carried those bags everywhere with them on the resort except for dinner...they loved bringing the bag down to the pool to hold all their stuff in and everyone used their mugs to fill up their drinks at the pool bar....i think i posted a picture on here somewhere of my OOT bags and the contents...I was very happy that I spent the time to make them up b/c everyone used them and kept commenting on how impressed they were that I was so thoughtful to make them...so in the end it made me very happy that i made my guests happy

Hey Jess! I was so worried about all of this too b/c everyone says you will have such a hard time with it. We paid the resort to have copies translated in English (i think we got 3 of them) and we also got the certified copies in Spanish. It actually turned out to be so easy, I live in NJ, not sure how PA works but this is what I did...I wound up not even using the translated in English copies. I took the certified Spanish copy with me to DMV and to Social Security, showed both of them the paperwork and thats it, they were able to give me my new license and new social security card with my new last name...After you have those two things thats all you really need to change your name everywhere else...I would carry a copy of your marriage certificate with you though the first month b/c some places did ask to see it. Its funny but nobody really said anything about it being in Spanish...I guess b/c the names were all in English so it was pretty easy to understand. If you have any other questions let me know

ugh! that is frustrating! if I can make your weekend any better, I will say dont be too stressed...the only two things that you absolutely must have booked/done before you get to Mexico is the places you want your events to be held at and your appointments at the salon for the day of your wedding....seriously EVERYTHING else can be done when you get there and meet with your coordinator (whoever it is)...this comes from the bride who had binders and was overly anal, organized and stressed about everything...once i got down there and met withYazmin, all my worries were put to ease...they are so professional about it all, and they do 3-4 weddings a day, so they really do know what they are doing...so try not to stress too much...have a great weekend! Nicole

You ladies will be beyond happy with Juan! he is absolutely amazing...click on the link by my signature to see the pictures he took of my wedding last November...I get a million compliments on them and I tell everyone the same thing, my photographer was unbelievable!!! Congratulations...definitey a great choice!

@ Simone, Irene and Summer....hello and congratulations! You are going to love Aventura! I was married there last November, so if you have any questions, ask away...when you have time look through my pictures, they will show you many places at the resort and give you some ideas...my best advice right now is to relax and enjoy the planning, it goes by so fast and then its all over...the only thing you need to start choosing now is the spots you want your events to be held at and the times...the reason this is important is because they book a few weddings each day, so you want to make sure you get the places you love (relax though, there are plenty of beautiufl spots on the resort), my next suggestion is to start booking your reservations at the salon for your hair and makeup the day of your wedding (same reason as above)...good luck and again...enjoy it all! Nicole

Hi Alisa! I had a male harpist player and he was awesome...the ceremony was at 3:00 and even though it was windy, everyone was able to hear him and everyone commented how much they loved it....I gave him the list I wanted and he played everything I asked for. I found the songs i wanted by listening to them on youtube videos and deciding what i liked...good luck! Prelude: Ava Maria & Over the Rainbow Processional: Canon in D Bride Entrance: Bridal March Sand Ceremony: Unchained Melody & All I ask of you Recessional: Wedding March & Trumpet Voluntary

Hello! Im selling my TTD dress that I used for my wedding in November. Its strapless and a size small. Im attaching pictures. I purchased the dress for $100; selling it for $50 plus shipping. If you are interested or have any questions please contact me. Thank you, Nicole

Hi ladies...just an fyi...im selling my TTD dress. Its strapless and a size small. I purchased it for $100; looking to sell it for $50 plus shipping. If you're interested or have any questions about it let me know...Thanks, Nicole

Hugolina did my hair and makeup the day of the wedding...I was very nervous to have the salon do it b/c I wanted a natural look and didnt want to look overdone...Hugolina doesnt speak any english, but she was amazing...as long as you bring a picture of what you want they will be able to replicate it...all of my bridesmaids had their hair and makeup done at the spa, including both mothers(who are hairdressers themselves) and everyone was happy

@Jessica- my wedding ceremony was at 3pm...I met my bridesmaids at the spa at 8:30, we all went thru the hour beforehand together and all had appts at 9:30, after my 50 min accupressure appt, i showered in the spa and walked over to the salon for my 11:00 Hair & 12:30 makeup appt...i was done at 1:30, so that gave me about an hour to hang in the room with my girls and get my dress on...if i could do it again, i would probably give myself an extra 30minutes...so i wouldnt feel as rushed.... @ Alisa- the things I thought were definitely worth it were the videographer (i paid for 4 extra hours to last thru reception-now that its all over, i love having that video to watch and relive everything), horse & carriage (the pictures and experience is priceless), harpist (everyone complemented on how beautiful it sounded & felt), cocktail hour (gave everyone time to mingle, and me time to get some pictures done with everyone), mexican trio for cocktail hour (again, everyone loved having them there), upgraded wedding cake (we had 55ppl so we needed it, but it was delicious and looked great in the pics), flowers on the 6 tables (they were all beautiful and again looked great in pics!) and lastly, the welcome dinner (we paid $600 for 50 guests and it was awesome! gave everyone time to meet and mingle, the food was amazing and it was a great way to start the wedding celebrations, we had an engagement party in NJ for $100 ppl that cost us $5000, so I felt $600 was a great price for $50)....if you look thru my pics, you'll probably see a picture of everything that I just mentioned, and it might give you a better feel to decided if you want it to be a part of your day...

You will not have any problem with having the outside photographer, just keep quite about it and put him on your guest list...basically they dont ask any questions...I think you definitely made the right decision...the photos you will have forever so you have to make sure you're very happy with them...I hired Juan Navarro, and he was absolutely amazing...you can see my pics if you click on the link under my signature...his prices were great too, i actually think he was worth alot more than he charges! I didnt have a wedding package either, i ordered everything seperate and it was alot cheaper that way...let me know if you have any questions about anything...Nicole

Your travel agent should DEFINITELY match any price your guests find...we had people book 9 months prior and we had 1 guest book 3 days prior, it didnt matter when they booked, whatever the best deal was at that time of them booking, my travel agent matched it...b/c she knew how much business she was getting...also, not sure if you guys are aware of this, but i read in fine print somewhere that travel agents get 20% if you book a wedding package through ASP...i didnt book a package, i did everything seperate...but if you are booking one, she will also be making $ off of that, so again, she should def accomodate you...Im definitely a deal seeker too, ill spend hours online looking for the best price for something, so I understand when other ppl do it too, we did have some guests think that they found a better deal but then once it was explained about the transportation being included and all taxes, they understood...as far as your bridesmaid drama, try to just let it pass...with time, things cool down...she shouldnt have stressed u at all, this is your time, not hers...as far as waiting to be pregnant..thats ridiculous...my cousin, and bridesmaid, was going to wait just so she could drink and have a good time, but she wound up getting preganant...yet, at 5 months pregnant, she still traveled to Mexico for me and still had a great time...if someone wants to be there for you then they will be...good luck with everything!

I’ll begin with stating that planning a destination wedding was very stressful for me. I'm a perfectionist and it was hard for me to have complete control when I was signing contracts with people I had never met who live in another country. The most stressful part of the planning was choosing my photographer. I knew my special day was going to fly by and all I would have left besides my memories would be my pictures. Therefore, they had to be perfect and the photographer had to be amazing. I spent hours online reading through reviews and looking at sample pictures from many, many photographers in Mexico. That is how I came upon finding Juan. As soon as I saw the pictures on his blog, I knew I had to have him as my photographer. I felt that his pictures were very natural and told you a story. I knew many friends and family members were not going to be able to make my wedding, therefore I wanted them to be able to look through my pictures and feel as though they had been there with us. Juan made all my dreams come true. Right from the first email exchanged between us, he was professional, friendly, honest and easy to work with. Throughout the months before the wedding, I stalked his blog, website and face book page; always loving what I saw. I also sent him countless emails with bazillions of questions, yet he always remained patient with me and responded quickly to ease my nerves. The day of my wedding, Juan arrived at the resort 2 hrs before the ceremony was to begin. I came back from getting my hair and makeup done to find Juan and his assistant Daniel waiting for me by my room door. I instantly felt at ease when I saw them, and believe I even hugged both of them! My bridesmaids were all waiting for me in the room so as soon as we entered the madness began. The time flew by as we all got ready. Juan was like a shadow, you knew he was there but was never in your way. He moved around the room capturing tons of un-posed pictures of me, my mom and my girls. After the ceremony, the picture fun began. I had previously told Juan that I wanted fun, natural pictures with my husband and bridal party. Well that is just what we did, he had my whole bridal party loving him and laughing within minutes. Most people in bridal parties hate the millions of pictures they have to take but my bridal party loved it, he made everything fun and easy. Throughout the rest of the night, Juan continued to be amazing. Once again, acting as a shadow, he was never in our way and we never felt he was an annoyance or bothersome. At the same time, you just trusted him, you knew that whatever was going on around you, he was capturing on film. I had complete confidence in him at all times. The next morning, Juan and Daniel met with us again for our Trash the Dress session. I recommend this to everyone. Even though my husband and I were tired, hung-over and just drained from the previous week of planning and entertaining, we still loved every minute of it. The session is very romantic and sexy, and something you would probably never do again. Juan remained professional, humorous and once again put us at complete ease. We returned home the following day, and to our surprise Juan had already emailed me a link to a few of our pictures. How awesome is that!!! I was so excited and instantly sent them to all my friends and family. Everyone had the same response...WOW! and Who was your photographer??? I have had people send them to other people that don't even know me, just because they thought they were the most beautiful, unusual wedding pictures they had ever seen. Many people stated they thought the pictures belonged in Wedding magazines and that our Trash the Dress pictures should be Calvin Klein ads Within a week, we received through Fed-Ex more of our pictures. I have friends who were married in New Jersey 5 months ago, that still havent received their pictures. To say I was happy, doesn’t come close to describing my feelings. I cannot say enough good things about Juan. I rave about him to all of my friends and have even mentioned to the un-married ones how I think it’s worth it to fly him to New Jersey for their weddings. As a bride, the day of your wedding is a hurricane; you are so happy and excited but the minutes fly by and as much as you try to appreciate and capture everything around you, you just cant. So to be able to trust your photographer to capture everything that you missed and the things that you can’t wait to relive is priceless! I’ve been married 2 months now and at least daily I pick up a picture, or look online at the pics and just smile. Every time I show my pictures to friends I feel like I re-live the whole day all over again, and its such an amazing feeling. My grandparents were not able to make my wedding, when I sat down and showed them the pictures my grandma cried and said she now felt like she was there with us. Once again, priceless!!! Forever grateful, Nicole & Steve Capoano 11/5/10 Aventura Spa Palace

Thank you ladies!!! nobody else has pictures up yet! i cant wait to see everyones

yeahhh! MysTea is back cant wait to hear all about everything...im drained too and im not even pregnant!!!