StephyD

Turtle Bay Bakery made my cake and I would not recommend them at all.  Althought the cake was delicious, the communication up until the wedding day was just horrible.  The cake did not look anything like the pictures I sent and anything like she had promised.

I've never heard of the other two bakeries you mention but I wouldn't go with Turtle Bay...

At the time of planning, I was told that you could have dinner at one of the a-la-carte restaurants and have a ''dance reception'' at another location (like Las Rocas) afterwards.  I remember a past bride saying that she had done it before too... maybe I've read it in a different thread?

I'm assuming you'd still have to pay a cocktail fee per person if you want drinks and service available.  I believe that the cocktail fee is about 5$ per person (without appetizers).

 

Originally Posted by claire0701 

Hi everyone,

 

First of all THANKS for all your amazing advice! We have been trying to make a decision on location for our DW for a few weeks and after reading all of your posts we have decided on GP which we are super excited about!

 

I have one question  wonder if anyone knows the answer to . . .

Would it be possible to have wedding ceremony followed by dinner in an A La Carte (we're thinking Portofino) and then move on to a cocktail type reception at Las Rocas where we could play some music and have some dancing?  As far as I can see this would be the only way to have some private dancing without having to shell out a small fortune for private meal reception?

 

Haven't emailed Rocio yet as our date is over a year away at the moment but I'd love to hear any advice or experience you have about this. 

 

Thanks again

Everything was picked before hand.

I had external vendors for the flowers and cake, but Rocio had sent me pictures of the flowers they offered at the resort.

 

Originally Posted by Manda123 

Stephy - how many decisions were you able to make before you went down there? Did Rocio send you some sort of package with menu options, flowers, decor, etc?

 

 

We had our reception at La Laguna and just loved it.  I was happy with my choice when I got there.  La Laguna is a bit more secluded and (maybe it was just a slower time when we were there) but just seemed quieter.  It is surrounded by pools... while Gran Azul is surrounded more by jungle than pools.

We were staying at the Colonial and it wasn't a problem to make it there and back.  They will arrange for transportation for you and your guests on the wedding day. 

 

Originally Posted by JND2012 

Does anyone have images of bouquets and flowers that they provide?  I know you don't have to choose them yet but I'm dying to see!  Please email me at [email protected] if you do!

 

I'm trying to decide between La Laguna and Gran Azul...  any advice?

We had a hard time finding suits at a decent price here in Montreal too... We got our suits at Gaudi (they are located in various shopping malls) and they weren't linen but they were a light grey and we paid 275$ for each suit.

Other than that... no idea, sorry

 

Originally Posted by Manda123 

@ Stephy: My FI and I are having a hard time finding linen suits here in Ottawa so we are going to go shopping in MTL. Any advice on good places to check out suits?

You can have your cocktail reception at any time you'd like... Bars open to all of the resort's guests at 6PM (and some are open all day) so depending on what time you have your reception, it might not be private.

The bar by the salt water pool won't allow you to have a private reception as guests have access to it throughout the day.

We had our cocktail reception at the Sport's bar terasse (go back in the thread to see my review) and it was private since none of the guests ever hang out at that bar.  We held it from 4PM to 6PM and had our dinner reception from 7PM to 11PM at the White Sand.

 

Originally Posted by skewy01 

I am getting married July 13, 2012 at the GPRM!  Cannot wait!!!  I have a few questions that I can't seem to find the answer to.  Of course there are ALOT of posts to go through so I may have missed the answer.  We are interested in doing a cocktail reception.  Do you ladies know if the salt water pool area is the only place?  Also can we have music(i.e. mariachi band) at the cocktail reception?  Are there specific times you can hold the reception?  And finally is it a private cocktail reception?  Thanks ladies!!!  Save the Dates are going out next month!  Let the fun begin!!!!!!!!!!

5th avenue in Playa del Carmen is very crowded.  Obviously, there are some locals so you need to be careful anywhere you go in Mexico but Playa del Carmen is very touristy.  I wouldn't wander in the connecting streets, but it is safe on 5th avenue.

Coco Bongo isn't right on 5th avenue, but very close.  The bus drops you off a corner down from the club itself but I felt very secure the whole time we were there.  None of us (there were 18 of us... 7 girls and 11 guys) brought purses with us, but I'd be careful what you bring in case of theft or whatever.

I'll be going to Coco Bongo again for sure!  It was SO worth it and SO much fun!!  The bus picked us up around 10PM at the resort (we had a party bus!!) and came back to pick us up after the show around 3:30AM.  The guide said she would come with us but didn't.  I guess she had went a few nights before and didn't feel like going again... She promised we wouldn't have to wait in line when we'd get there, which didn't happen... we had to wait about 30 minutes and made it in just in time for the show to start.  I did argue with the staff a bit so they gave us an awesome spot for the show.  Alcohol is included in the ticket price, so it's all you can drink.  Make sure to give good tips if you want good service... the guy was on our side for most of the evening and brought regular rounds of drinks remembering what everyone had even without us asking for it.

 

Originally Posted by Caroline1110 

Hey Stephy,

 

Just curious, how did you find Coco Bongo's? Did you all go as a group (guys and girls)? Is it run like an excursion in the sense that you come and go as a group with a "guide"? Not to sound paranoid or anything, but I've heard bad stories about the smaller towns in Mexico after dark and how they're not very safe. Did you get that feeling at all?

Not to rain on your parade, but we had 70 guests stay at the resort and we never got a free room.  They wouldn't even let us have a room for the day of the wedding so that my now-husband could get ready in while I got ready in our own room...

You can get deals through your travel agency... you get rebates when you have a certain amount of guests book through them, which we did... but they have all kinds of rules you need to respect.  Everyone usually has to leave on the exact same day, with the exact same flight and have the exact same kind of room at the resort.  But Grand Palladium itself won't offer you anything... you'd have to get it through your travel agent, from my experience.  Maybe some other brides had different a different experience.

 

Originally Posted by skewy01 

Here is the information from the Palladium Addict website.  I have not heard from reservations yet.  I also found the information at the Fiesta Hotel Group website too.  When I find out anything more I will let you know!

 

 

Palladium Hotels & Resorts invites brides and grooms to stay for free! 



The Caribbean, Mexico, Brazil, Ibiza…A picture-perfect wedding in any of our 5-Star All-Inclusive Palladium or The Royal Suites Resorts now offers the added bonus of a free room* for the bride and groom. With this special offer, the phrase “the more the merrier “certainly holds true. With a minimum of 10 rooms, the happy couple can stay for free during the same number of nights booked for the rest of the party. 



*Standard double room. Upgrade available with additional charges. Not valid during high season. Subject to availability. Offer available in any of the Palladium and The Royal Suites Resorts in Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ibiza, Jamaica and Mexico. At least 10 rooms must be booked by wedding guests; nights the bride and groom may enjoy free depend on the nights that the other 10 rooms coincide.

We had a welcome dinner at one of the buffet restaurants (if you want an a-la-carte restaurant, you'll have to have a set menu for over 10 guests... which we didn't want).  Rocio reserved a section of the restaurant for us, which was nice.  No extra charge.  I'm assuming you could do it for a brunch as well.

For our rehearsal dinner, since there was once again more than 10 people and we didn't want to force a set menu on everyone, we had it at the Beach BBQ.  It just so happened that the BBQ was the evening before the wedding, and worked out perfect since we did a quick run-through rehearsal before heading to the BBQ.  The food was good too... BUT, it was extremely windy and we couldn't wait to get out of there.  It's hit or miss... the BBQ that was 2 days later was better, now wind.

We only went to Coco Bongo's in Playa del Carmen.  We had a bunch of guests that went to Delphinus to swim with the dolphins... some went to visit the ruins... other went on various excursions.  There is something for everyone

You need the long form birth certificate.  A copy of your regular birth certificate won't do.  It needs to have both of your parents' names on it, etc.  I also found out a few days before leaving from Rocio that I didn't have the right birth certificate.  You need an original copy.  I was lucky enough to receive it within a day, 100$ later.

You need the Apostile.  We got ours about 6 weeks after the wedding.  Then, ,you'll have to have it translated and do whatever paperwork you need to do with your province.  It all depends where you live.  In Quebec, we have to add it to the province's wedding's registry or whatever they call it.  We still need to get it done... I can't change my name (the province doesn't allow it) so, no rush I guess...

 

Originally Posted by cpezuk 

Stephy,

Did you bring a long form Birth Certificate with you or did you just photocopy your birth certificate? Also do we (in Canada) need the Apostille seal or is that just to be 100% that it is legal! Thanks

Sorry to bother you we leave in 3 days and rocio has finally emailed me the reminder list and she has the long form birth certificate written down when before she told me it was just a photocoy of our birth certificate! I'm freaking out!!

We used Claudia Rodriguez for our photography.  I haven't done my review yet since we're not fully done dealing with her yet.  It's a bit hard for me to recommend her since she lost some of our pictures (memory card failure, apparently) and refuses to send us her memory card.  If you want me to be honest, I believe she is lying about it...

Anyways!  I would recommend Citali Rico from Claudia's team.  She's really good.

DelSol are also amazing, though a big more expensive.  Elizabeth Medina is also good, Fer Juaristi as well... La Luna is DelSol's sister company and is a bit cheaper but also has amazing photographers.

If you ask Rocio, she will probably recommend Claudia.  She seems pretty close to her and even called her when I told her we had problems with our pictures and wrote me back telling me how good Claudia is and yadayadayada...

Congrats to all the new mommies-to-be!  How exciting

We found out last Friday that we are also expecting!!!   I am 6 weeks and 4 days exactly today. I had blood work done to confirm it all and I'm meeting with my family doctor tomorrow.  It came much sooner than expected but we are just so excited about it all, it just seems surreal.  My due date would be around February 10th.

Power outlets are the same in Canada and in Mexico.

It makes it so much easier!

My dress was diamond-white.  It's not white and it's not ivory either, it's somewhere in between.  I think it's a matter of personal taste.  When I tried white dresses on, I thought I looked sick, it didn't go well at all with my skin tone.  I'd say go with what you feel best in

 

Originally Posted by nicole - 20 

I have to order my wedding dress soon! What color is everyone going with? I think white might make me look washed out..

 

Thoughts?

Here is a picture of my bridesmaid's bouquets and one of my bouquet as well, done by Vanessa Jaimes in Cancun:

Here are some pictures of our centerpieces, done by Vanessa Jaimes in Cancun:

We had our cake made by Turtle Bay Bakery in Tulum.  I would NOT recommend them at all.  Communication throughout the whole planning process was really bad.  I explained about a million times what I wanted and Jen, the owner, promised she understood.  Althought it was delicious (tres leche, vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam between the layers), it wasn't white (as requested) and the detailing on the cake just looked childish and not professional at all.  I feel I could have done a better job myself.

1st picture: inspiration I found on the forum somewhere.  The only change: I wanted real orchids instead of sugar flowers.

2nd picture: our actual cake.  The color was an ugly beige, yellow orangey color.  The dots on the top and bottom tier were absolutely ugly and not even aligned.  Still, it's not a bad looking cake, just not what I expected from a profesionnal bakery.

Glad to know it went well today!  We'll just keep sending positive vibes your way!
 

Originally Posted by Simistar 

Thanks for the well-wishes everyone! Every positive vibe in the universe helps I think:-)

Things *seemed* to go well today...well, they did...But of course, we won't REALLY know for another 10 days or so. That's when you do the pregnancy test after embryo transfer day.

Best of luck to everyone too:-) I'll keep y'all posted:-)

We had a bunch of external vendors and Rocio gave us the choice of paying for a day-pass or paying for their food at the reception.  For the photographers (4 of them) and videographer (2 of them), we paid for their food.  As for the DJ, Mariachis, Hair+Makeup team, Florist, Singer+Guitarist for ceremony... we didn't have to pay for a day-pass.  She said it wasn't necessary. We brought some food to the room for lunch and brought some for the hair + makeup artisit and they were pretty happy about it.

I booked Adrian and his team (the styling trio in Playa del Carmen) for hair + makeup. They were great!  At first, I wasn't liking my hair at all (I didn't have time for a trial) and they quickly fixed it and made sure I loved it.  In total, it cost 920$:  270$ bridal, 130$ for each bridesmaid and both mothers (X5).  They came right to my room and had a great energy about them and we just had a lot of fun.  I didn't want to walk around the resort to the spa and bump into my fiancé and any of the guests, so having them come to my room was the best idea for me.  Plus, Adrian has traveled the world and has lots of skills.  To be honest, I was scared of dealing with the staff at the spa because of the language barrier and I was afraid they wouldn't be as skilled.
 

Originally Posted by Caroline1110 

Stephy,

 

Do you mind if I ask how much you paid for your hair/make-up team? I'm assuming you also had to pay for a day pass to be able to bring them on the property.

 

Thanks,

Caroline

This is our first month of TTC.

I was on Micronor, a mini-pill that works differently than a regular pill.  Basically, I had to take the pill everyday, no sugar pills for me.  Each pack had 28 regular pills with the same amount of hormone in it.  (I have really bad migraines, this is why I had to switch to this stupid pill...)

So, my periods were very irregular for the last 5 years.  I'd go months without any, then have them twice in the same month, etc, etc, etc.

Now, I have no idea how long my cycle is!  I went 27 days after stopping the pill before getting my periods.  (I came off the pill at the begining of April). And now it's day 29 of cycle #2... and I didn't notice an ovulation this past month (and no, I'm not pregnant, I did a test yesterday morning)...

Anyways! That's my story so far   Glad to see this thread is finally getting some posts

Thank you

We got the suits at a local store here in Montreal.  They were hard to find as we really wanted a light grey and all the stores had during winter were black suits.  I'd say you'd be better off shopping at this time of year, there are plenty of grey suits everywhere
 

Originally Posted by Manda123 

Your wedding looked beautiful, Stephy! You two look so happy

 

Where did your FI and the boys get their suits? I really like them.

Yes, I got a DVD with 3000 pictures.  After going through it, we got about 1100 (including TTD) excellent pictures... althought, we also noticed that all our cocktail hour was missing and plenty of reception pictures.  That's when she told us she had lost them... She's trying to recover some, but I'm still waiting.

She picked the pictures herself for the online slideshow.  I'm not 100% satisfied with the outcome, I'd say 50% of the pictures I wouldn't have chosen, but it's okay and doesn't really matter as I'm picking the pictures for the DVD slideshow.

Hi everyone!

Here is the slideshow of our wedding photos: http://www.claudiarodriguezblog.com/ (We are the first ones on the page).

I won't go into details right now, but Claudia has lost some of our photos. I will do a complete review once I find out the final outcome of the situation.  Let's just say I'm a bit frustrated at this point. 

It was at the Riviera, on the right side of the lobby.  So not worth going... Yuk!

We stayed at the Colonial and there was music and animation every night of the week we were there.  Not sure about the other lobbies, but I know there wasn't anything happening at the Kantenah when I walked by 2 nights in a row.

Originally Posted by JND2012 

 

We're trying to find something to do other than go to the discos after the reception.  We were thinking it would be awesome to have a fire (we didn't know if it was possible or even made sense) or something on the beach...  any ideas?  We just want to relax with whoever wants to join!

Most of our guests went back to their room as well after the wedding.  We went to our room to change and it was 12:15, so I guess everyone were just exhausted from the day.  (So were we, but we still had to entertain some of our guests).  We went to the disco... Oh my... worst place ever.  It stinks, isn't really nice and had a bunch of 16 years old, not adults what so ever.  If we were to do it again, we would just go to the lobby bar and hang out.  The disco isn't worth it and no fun at all, IMO.

Maybe you'd want to check it out beforehand, which we didn't do.  We never made it to the disco all week and had written on our welcome letter that we would all meet at the disco following the reception.  Maybe it was just a bad night?  Not sure... but I wouldn't recommend it.