whit-Bride

Quote: Originally Posted by Bride2Be21 Hi Ladies, this resort is in my top 3. I haven't hear back from the WC yet. Could someone please send me the package information? Thanks [email protected] Hi, I have a bunch of things I can email you when I get home tonight (I'm at work right now lol). I'm not sure if Ana (the WC) sent me the Wedding packages because we picked one through a Canadian company (Transat/Nolitours).... but I will send you all the information I have from her! Best of luck! Whit P.S. Not sure when you emailed Ana but I have waited 3 weeks for responses from her before. It seems like the closer I get to my Weddind date the faster she replies though! lol

Help/Advance needed.... lol My Travel Agent and I have been emailing Ana a lot of questions over the past few months and even though Ana is responding (in approximately a week each time) I still feel like I don't have any straight answers. There are some details I have decided to sort out when we get to Mexico (which means I will probably worry about them for the next 2 months), but there are some other details we need asap. For example... trying to get straight answers about what Documentation we need has been an ongoing process for 3-4 weeks and its at the point that my Travel Agent and I are guessing! :S We have decided to make an appointment with Ana to call her and discuss some of these things over the phone. Have any of you past OCT brides called Ana before? Was it helpful? I'm rally hoping we can sort these things out soon. Thanks, Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Katie~ ah thanks, and you're more than welcome! I am loving seeing your status countdowns on facebook!! I want to do it all again!!!!!!!!!! DH wants to go back to renew our vows....for our 1 year anniversary (!!) he loved it so much! lol enjoy it. it's all over way too quick I want it to get here so bad... but at the same time I don't want it to be over! lol So I am trying to enjoy all the other Wedding things going on between now and August. My friends/family had a bridal shower for me last weekend which was fun! Next month we have a stag and doe plus my bacheloret! So I have other things to look forward to before the wedding! Everytime I look at pictures from OCT I want to be there right now though! Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Katie~ we did a few...some did the Mayan village excursion where we went and climbed the highest temple in Mexico (which was a great accomplishment), visited a mayan village and people, and went to swim in a cenote on the way back. was good but for us the group was too large to get as much as we wanted out of it, but it was good. we also did the swimming with dolphins. the best by far is the Dolphin Encounter in Riviera Maya - you get nearly a whole hour with the dolphins and the groups are only of 8. we did this last time we went to mexico as well and it was just as brilliant this time as it was last time. 4 of us did the pub crawl in cancun...it's a one-off payment and then it's all inclusive for the whole night. the clubs were absolutely brilliant and we all had a totally amazing night. it included a trip to coco bongos too which is a must to go to if you're in Mexico! on a previous trip Chris and I went to xel-Ha which was lovely. a whole day around the resort with as much amazing snorkelling as we wanted and things to do the whole way round. may be a bit difficult to do with a big group, unless you just took everyone there and got them to go round on their own and just told them when to be back for.... also done the Jungle tour which is a good one for a group....2 people per speedboat (you get to drive your own) and you drive it to a reef and then spend some time altogether snorkelling around there. on this trip, my dad actually went down to porto morelos and spoke to some locals down there and arranged a snorkelling trip where they came and picked us up from our beach (!!) and took us to 2 spots for some amazing snorkelling. they had us for 4 hours and it was much cheaper than booking through any tour operators. we landed back in the Uk on the Monday and our AHR was on the Saturday... and it was perfect. the sun even came out for us and it was a gorgeous day. made it all feel more real. and yep, i did have 2 dresses! I bought a cheap one off of ebay from a shop that made them to measure in China...it was actually a really nice dress but only cost about $49! i didn't want to risk my dress when I was going to wear it again when I got home! Wow you have done a ton of excursions! lol I think we have decided on the Mayan Ruins/Catamaran tour with the whole group, and the sunset adult only dinner cruise for just the two of us the day after our wedding. If we decide to do another one... then it would definitely be the dolphin encounter because I love dolphins! The second dress was a good plan for you... especially considering what you did to yours in Mexico! lol Thanks for sharing all of your info! Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by lisafleury I'm guess that may be you Whit!!! I have 239 more sleeps to go Do you mind me asking who you booked your excursion with for the day after your wedding? A friend of mine told me just to wait until we got there are they have lots of excursions offered through the hotel, apparently Air Transat has a rep there which is the tour company we booked through... any suggestions? I've never been on a AI so not only is planning a wedding foreign to me but everything related to AI will be new too - so exciting!!! WOW! I can't believe I'm next... thought there would be atleast one or two more before me! lol I am at 77 more days until the Wedding! I can't believe it! I have been counting down since around 260 days! I have been looking at a website that has a list of all the local excursions ( playa del carmen, mayan riviera, playacar, tours, excursions, activities information, Mexico, guide, on line) but I plan on booking through the hotel (just to be safe because it is Mexico lol). We have narrowed our choices down, and once I get a few more responses from Ana about the legal documents we need to get in order, then I am going to start asking her about booking/planning group things. I want to plan a rehearsal dinner and ask about booking a group excursion. I will let you know what she says. Every other time I have gone away I have just booked excursions when I get there... but I want to plan this ahead of time if possible because it is a group excursion and I want to try to get everyone involved. Whit

Hey Everyone! Just wondering.... who is getting married at OCT next?

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Katie~ hey Whit. ok here's some answers to your questions.... 1. our guests were out with us the whole 2 weeks (coming from as far as here people don't really do such a long haul flight for less than a 2 week holiday). My tip on this is either have them with you but be disciplined to not try and run around after everybody, or go somewhere else for a week just the 2 of you. It was great having our loved ones round us, but we couldn't stop ourselves trying to look after everyone and spend time with everyone the whole time we were there, so we didn't really get a honeymoon, or any time alone. re: excursions we went on what we wanted to, and if other people were doing the same things we all went together, but we wanted people to spend their money on what they wanted to do. this did work out as we got to do different things with different people. 2. the hairdressers are brilliant. I'd given my trial pics from the UK to Ana and they were there with the hairdresser when I turned up for my appointment. and they used them to refer to to make sure they got it right...not just make up what they wanted to. I was very happy with the results. 3. My makeup I didn't really know what to do about...just in that I didn't really have much of an opinion! I just said I wanted it to look quite natural....and the results were stunning. The were also brilliant with my BM who got her hair and make up done and she hadn't had a trial in the UK and didn't know what she wanted doing but they gave her magazines to look through and she ended up asking them to do a cross between 2 styles - which they did perfectly. again, her make up was fab and lasted the whole day. 4. I ate at the villa marina once as just an evening meal and had the steak, and then the romantic meal on the beach was chicken, served from the Villa Marina. Both meals were absolutely gorgeous. just remember to ask for the steak well done - anything less than that has a lot of blood! Our meal we chose for our reception in the banquet hall was beef and was gorgeous - everyone said how great it tasted and really good quality food. 5. yes we did it all in the banquet hall and had our 3 hrs of DJ in there as well. then at 10pm when it finished we all went to the lobby bar. in all honesty, where you have it is your call, but just remember the entertainment happens in the lobby bar (such as karoke - sp?!!) BUT we didn't change our mind about where we had ours until we got there and that was no problem at all - it wasn't even mentioned. ana just offered to show us round the options and we made a decision from there. All i'm saying is, don't panic that you have to decide now. There is absolutely nothing wrong with finalising it with Ana once you get there, and it won't cause a panic or stress as ana sorts every single bit of detail out. 6. we chose the vanilla cake and it looked beautiful. unfortunately we never got round to doing anything with it as husband's niece got rushed to hospital during the meal and everyone, including us, was a bit preoccupied and forgot about the cake. but we didn't ask to try the cake so couldn't say either way if you would be able to or not. always worth asking! 7. answered in question 1! lol hope that all helps. I'll do a post with the links for photos on after I've posted this.... so excited for you!!! wish i was doing it all again!! did you see my pics on facebook Whit? welcome back Mrs!!!! hey, feel free to add me too - I'm Katie Day and already have some of these girls on my account so it should show up as having friends in common. Feel free to look through the pics on my facebook - the albums are our official photographer pics and the links on my page are from my brother. hope this all helps. Hey Katie! Thanks for answering all the questions and giving some pointers! What excursion(s) did you or any of your guests go on? Any good or bad reviews? - We are planning one group excursion for everyone to go on together, and Dawson and I are going to go on an excursion the day after the wedding (one of the dinner/sunset cruise ones to get a little alone time). I'm so happy that you loved your hair and makeup! I have been worried about that and trying to come up with a plan incase I hate it! lol So your good review makes me feel much better! I checked out all of your pictures! On here and on FB! You looked incredible! You have a ton of great pictures! Did you have your UK reception as soon as you got back? I gotta ask... did you have 2 dresses? lol I saw the pics of you in the water in Mexico... then you had a UK Reception!? Thanks again, Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by Lin&Scott WELCOME BACK KATIE!! WOO HOOOO YOU'RE MARRIED!!!! SO glad you had a fabulous time and wouldnt change a thing- me either!! Whit' LOVE your wedding website, stunning! Just popping in to say congrats to everyone!! So excited for all of you, keep up the good work and good luck! Cheers! Thanks Lindsay! It's a work in progress! lol Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by lisafleury So happy to hear that both Katie and Krystal has such an amazing experience and cannot thank you both enough for all the helpful advice. My fiance and I were thinking of a wedding on the beach and the dinner/reception in somewhere a little more private, preferably the rooftop terrace however after Katie's message I'm a little concerned about the potential lack of privacy. We're planning on having our speeches, first dances & cake cutting there before heading to another more happening location - what was the lobby bar like? Did anyone spent time at The Score restaurant which I've read turns into a sports bar at night? What so of things are there at night to keep people entertained? We're still trying to find the best package for us and right now are debating between the Caribbean and Coral package. We're expecting approx. 40 people so the added cost for every addition person will quickly add up as those packages are for 15-20 people. Any suggestions? How many people did you ladies have? What packages did you ladies go with? Did either or you have to pay extra for bridesmaid bouquets, groomsmen boutonnieres and any other flower arrangements or was that included in your packages? I was hoping that instead of the room decoration with flowers, that we could ask Ana to use those flowers to decorate our cake and/or spread rose petals down the aisle on the beach... fingers crossed she'll agree to that! What, if anything, did you ladies use as centerpieces for your tables at dinner? Does Ana have options there for you to choose from or should I bring that with us? I'd really like to have candles on the tables so I'll have to see what I can wrangle up! Whit - I went to Michael's to look at those Margarita glasses/vases but just don't think I'll be able to fit them in my bags and/or find anyone I'd want to ask to do so. You'll have to send me some pics of yours, which perhaps may give me a little extra inspiration! I know that I'll have many more questions to come but for now if anyone has advise to share, I'd REALLY appreciate whatever you may have Lisa Hey Lisa, I will let you know how the transportation of the vases and other decorations work out! lol And of course I will share pictures too! 80 days until the wedding and 76 days until we leave! How is your countdown going? lol Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by PinkBride I have pictures on my facebook account...not the professional ones yet, but ones from friends! you can search me - Krystal Branton -just leave a msg so I know whos trying to add me I was fortunate and my aunt did our pictures, she does them back home for weddings and was there for us! Honestly, trust Ana! She is AMAZING! And I would reccomend the Rooftop wedding if you want privacy...only you and your guests up there. and the banquet hall was great for the reception. It was intimate, decorated beautifully and AIR CONDITIONED! lol And the meal was sooooo good ! Our guests are stilll talking about the meal! Any other questions, just ask! Mrs. B Thanks Krystal! I sent you a facebook friend request... with a message so you know who I am!!! lol You are very lucky to have a photographer in the famiily! lol I keep saying I wish I had a photographer, a hair dresser, etc in the family or as a friend! We are going to have our ceremony on the beach forsure, and plan on having the reception outside. We want to take in the natural atmosphere while we are there... even if its hot! lol Can't wait to see your pictures on FB!!! Thanks again, Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by PinkBride Well, We are back...and married! And have some of the best memories of our life at The Ocean Coral & Turquesa! I can not say enough good about the resort, and especially about Ana! She is WONDERFUL! you ladies have nothing to worry about....she will take care of everything!!!!!!! As for wedding details, I dont have much time to write a review but feel free to ask questions! We had our ceremony on the rooftop terrace and our reception in the banquet hall! Just like Katie! In fact, our day was quite similar! 4:00 wedding ceremony on rooftop terrace 4:30 champaigne with our guests 5:00 pictures on the beach...group shots/wedding party 5:30 pictures of just us...everyone else went and did their own thing...we told everyone to meet in the lobby at 6:50 6:15 me and hubby went to our room and SHOWERED lol no joke...it is HOT out there! And i haveabout 5 layers on the bottom of my dress! 6:50 met with our guests in Lobby 7-10 reception in banquet hall 10:15 up to the lobby! I would not have changed a thing. It was PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any questions...please just ask! Krystal Branton Congrats Krystal! Great to hear another happy bride from OCT! Your whole wedding day is pretty similar to Katies! Do you have any pictures to share? I would love to see your special day! Did you use the hotel photographer? Do you have any specific advice or pointers for myself and all the other future Brides? lol Thanks... and Congrats again! Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Katie~ hey Lisa, we had our ceremony on the rooftop terrace which is totally out of the way and totally private - no-one anywhere near you or your wedding party. we didn't get married on the beach as we wanted something more private, and I HAD to be able to wear a great pair of heels!! I loved it, as we went onto the beach for photos afterwards anyway so kinda got the best of both worlds. we chose the banquet hall after hearing about the lobby terrace - it's not private at all and all other hotel guests can basically be sat inside looking out at you - they're literally just behind you! plus it was sooo hot, we were glad to be in the airconditioning! after our private reception finished at 10pm we all headed up to the lobby bar and hung out there. I don't regret one single decision we made and would keep it all the same if we did it again. I loved the private-ness of the rooftop terrace, the photos on the beach, and being inside for the food. here was what we did: 4pm - ceremony & sand ceremony on rooftop terrace 4.30pm - cocktails and nibbles on rooftop terrace 5.30pm - photos on the beach (we did photos of everyone first and then sent our guests to the lobby to relax while we had our couples photos done) 7.00pm - reception in the banquet hall 10.00pm - up to the lobby bar! please do ask away with the questions....I can't see me having much time to do a review this week so it's easiest if you ask questions and I'll answer them! ah thanks Whit it was amazing - even better than I imagined. and Ana is AMAZING!! she just sorted everything out. perfect. Villa Marina is a lovely restaurant was our fav by far! good luck and let me know if you have any questions...only too happy to try and help. xx Hey Katie, I'm so happy for you... its great to hear that you loved every moment of your special day! Also great to hear yet another bride compliment Ana! Here are a few questions I have for you... 1. How was the week with all of your guests? - Did you all go on a group excursion? 2. What did you think about the hairdressers? Did the step by step pictures help? - Was it exactly what you wanted? 3. Did you get your makeup done at the spa too? 4. What did you have to eat at the Villa Marina? - Ana just sent us the menu options. 5. Did you do your dinner, first dance, etc all at the banquet hall before you went to the lobby bar? - We are torn right now about what to do regarding our reception. We want to be outside (Villa Marina/Looby Terrace) but aren't sure how it is going to work out. - Any advice on this? 6. What cake flavour did you go with? - Did you get to try them first? 7.Did you and your hubby stay for an extra week? I'm sure I will end up having more questions for you... but I will leave it at that for now! lol Thanks. Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by lisafleury LOVE your pics Katie, you look absolutely stunning! I just sent you a facebook friend request - I'm Lisa Maria Fleury and my profile pic is my Roller Derby team logo... we just got it done up and are stoked for our first bout next weekend So Katie from your pics. it looks like you had your wedding on the terrace and dinner in the banquet hall - is that right? What made you decide to have the wedding on the terrace vs. the beach? How did that work out for you guys? Did your night end in the banquet hall or did you guys just hang out wherever the action was happening that night? I feel like I have a million questions for you but I'll wait to hear all the details when you have a moment to relax and enjoy being Mrs. Day for a while - that's so exciting!!! Yikes Whit - $60/person seems a bit steep to me too! What was she charging you for the dinner at the Vila Marina? According to our wedding website, which is still a work in progress, we're sitting at 247 more sleeps! Here's a link to the site: Lisa & Matt - wedding website by mywedding.com So great to hear from you ladies, there's so much comfort in knowing and sharing all this invaluable info Chat again soon! Hey Lisa, With the package that we have... there is no extra charges for dinner at the Villa Marina. However Ana replied about having dancing etc setup on the lobby terrace and she said that there are some fees for this... $100 for setup, $185 for sound system and $30/hour per waiter (who serves drinks and cleans the area up afterwards). This isn't as bad as $60/person... plus I think we can probably get it lowered a bit. We haven't completed decided on it yet though. I check out your website... it is really cute! I really love the pictures from the proposal! We did a quick and easy website, it is Whitney & Dawson - wedding website by mywedding.com. I try to keep updating it, but don't have as much time to work on it as I would like to. lol Of course you can use my idea... its not like we have any of the same guests! lol Ana might notice... but thats about it. I got an overload of emails today from my travel agent and Ana about all the documents we need for legalization. So my fiance and I are making sure we have everything we need, then we have to get the documents legalized (at the Mexican consulate) and some of them translated from what I am being told. More to it than I thought! So heads up... you may be going through this in a few months! lol 12 weeks tomorrow until our wedding day! Now that sounds pretty close! lol Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Katie~ hey ladies...again! my TTD pro-pics are now up on my facebook so check them out if you want....and add me if you're not my 'facebook friend' already! I'm Katie Day (wow that sounds weird!!) and my profile pic is me and hubby on our wedding day so should be easy enough to find...I hope!! pro pics of wedding day should be on tomorrow...still sorting through those ones!! Muchos love amigos Welcome back Katie! I just checked out your pictures... you looked amazing! Hope it was everything you dreamed of! Can't wait to hear your review! lol Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by lisafleury I got it at NWL - a really great shop here in Regina that came highly recommended. Unfortunately because it's discontinued, you can no longer see it on the "Mon Cheri" website but I did find something online with a pic of it from some random site: Mon Cheri Bridal 28231S Mon Cheri Bridals Collection Welcome to ShopRKBridal! The ultimate bridal shopping experience! It's very simple, just like me! I'm no where near as tall or skinny as that girl but I definitely love how it looks & feels on me so I couldn't be happier - especially seeing as I'm REALLY not much of a shopper! Any news to share ladies? Katie how was your wedding? Do you have any pics. you would like to share? Krystal when's your big day? Whit have you heard anything back from Ana? Where are you at on the wedding countdown now? Looking forward to hearing from all of you OCT brides and OCT brides-to-be! Lisa Hey Lisa, Your dress looks great! Can't wait to see the pics of you wearing it in Mexico! lol Ana did respond... she said it will be extra to have the reception on the Lobby Terrace. For 3 hours including dinner, music setup etc would be $60 a person. I was pretty shocked with the price to say the least! lol So I think we are going to stick with our original plan at the Villa Marina. I am just waiting for Ana to reply about having our dancing, bouquet/garter toss, etc on the lobby terrace after dinner. I'm sure it will be for a fee though. My countdown is at 86 days till the weding which means 82 days until we leave! What about you? Whit

Hey Ladies, I never thought about not being able to use the fake rose petals because of the environment... glad I decided to go with the real ones instead! Thats an awesome deal you got on your dress Lisa... where did you get it? My dress was also discountinued, but luckly they could still get mine for me. Glad you got the dress of your dreams! What does it look like? And Congrats Katie... I saw a few of your pictures, would love to see some more though. Hope it was everything you dreamed of. Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by lisafleury I'd love to know what Ana tells you re. having your dinner and ceremony on the terrace if you don't mind. My fiance is partial to having the dinner in a banquet hall so that all our guest can hear us and each other - several of them will be meeting for the first time as my friends and family are mostly flying out of Ottawa and Matt's are flying out of Regina. I'm really torn between that and the Villa Marina as I like the idea of feeling like you're somewhere tropical, being able to feel the Caribbean breeze and hear the sound of the waves on the beach would be lovely! Do you mind me asking where you found your martini shaped vases? I'm going to do some shopping around for ideas but if you don't mind leading me in the right direction that would be great! I read in one of the girl's message that a bag of flower petals at OCT is about $14/bag and you need 4 of them so I'm going to go out today and see what I can find here to bring (I'm sure I'll be able to get something for less). Right now all I have from Ana is the pdf with the different packages offered through OCT (Caribbean, Coral, Turquesa and Shooting Star). I know we'll have enough people to qualify for the free wedding (I'm estimating we'll have at least 50) so I think we'll go with that and just add a few things here and there - something I'm hoping to work out with Ana and my TA in the next month or so. Our wedding date is set for January 20th 2011 & sadly no I don't have a countdown started yet - did you use a computer program for that? I'm what you could call "technologically-challenged" so I'm not even sure where to start looking for that! I did however do the good ol' calendar countdown... only 252 days to go I think! How are your plans going? Does everyone have their outfits picked out? Are you guys writing your own vows? Do you have an itinerary of what you're doing while you're there? I'm going to ask my TA to send me a list of excursions so that I can send it out to my guests to get a feel of what people are hoping to see & do while we're there. I know for sure that a trip to the Mayan Ruins is high on several people's list so I'm going to try and organize that before we even get there if possible. Chat again soon! Lisa Hey Lisa, I will let you know what Ana says about the Lobby Terrace vs. the Villa Marina... may take a while for her to respond tho. lol I got my vases at Michaels (I managed to use a 40-50% off coupon on all them too... took a few trips to get them all but worth it in the end). I also found rose petals at Michaels... but it was approximately the same cost, and I am trying to avoid bringing anything more than I already have to. So I have decided on the real ones from the resort for the ceremony aisle and reception tables. I don't know if you have Facebook... but thats where I started my countdown. There is an application called my wedding countdown or something like that. It shows up on your profile page for you and all of your friends to see. I started my countdown around 250 or 260... time will fly! I am at 95 days until the wedding now and 91 days until we leave! Our plans are going really well... I am a super organizes person so I expected nothing less. lol All of the outfits have been picked for the entire wedding party. Have all of the decorations, and bubbles and disposable cameras that we are bring down. Right now, I am just trying to put together the "Welcome Bags" that all of our guests will get when they arrive in Mexico. Also trying to pick all of our music for the ceremony and reception, still need to get all of the bridal party gifts, and all of that sort of stuff. We are writting our own vows... I'm pretty nervous about this. lol My fiance is a singer/song writer.... so I know his will be amazing! lol How about you? How are your plans coming? Have you started looking at dresses etc? Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by lisafleury Have you decided on how the outdoor reception will work? I haven't gotten those details from Ana yet, I thought the only choices were either in one of the restaurants or in a banquet hall with private waiters? We were thinking of having it in a banquet hall so that people could make speeches without disturbing everyone else at the resort having dinner (Matt's best man already has his written out) but it would be a lot nicer to have it outdoors that's for sure. Have you decided where your dinner will be? It looks like we'll have somewhere near 50 people attend so that may limit our options possibly... I have a local distributor that I've been dealing for sporting merchandise and they suggested ordering though www.leedsworld.ca as you can make smaller orders through them - some companies I've looked at required a minimum order of 100 items. Have you figured out how your are going to bring everything you need for your martini idea? I have to say, I just might follow your lead on this one if you don't mind - I love the idea of the floating candles and it'll look fantastic at night! My family all live just outside Ottawa, which is were I'm headed the first week of August to go bridesmaid dress shopping with my two sisters and my little niece who will be the flower girl... I can't wait! Lisa Hey Lisa, When we first booked, Ana gave us the same options... either an a la carte restaurant or the banquet hall (for an extra fee). We definitely wanted it to be outside, so we originally decided to do our dinner reception at the Villa Marina Restaurant (which is outside, by the pool/beach). After talking to some of the past brides on here... we are now considering having the reception on the lobby terrace instead (just waiting for Ana to reply to my questions about the two options... which can take her up to a month :s). However, if we do have our dinner at the Vila Marina, then we would like to have all the dancing, bouquet/garter toss, etc on the lobby terrace after. From what I have heard... Ana will setup music/speakers/microphone. It is also outside and looks out over the beach/ocean, and more private than the restaurants. I like the menu options at the villa marina, but I would rather have everything in one location instead of making everyone move to the terrace after dinner/cake. Plus it would be nice to have all of our decorations visible all eveing... instead of bringing all the centrepieces and other decor to Meixo and only seeing them for the hour or 2 that we are eating dinner. Or having to bring the decor up to the lobby terrace after dinner. lol We are hoping to make our final decision onces Ana gets back to us. We have a total of 6 margarita shaped vases... and I have decided to wrap them in bubble wrap and give one to the 6 most responsible people to put in their carry ons. lol As for the other decor items we are bringing down (stones, candles, bubbles, etc) and the welcome bages, we are going to pay for one extra luggage. I am really hoping one will be enough!!! lol I love candles and flowers... so our reception will have lots of both. I think candles will look great outside at night. There are so many different kinds of vases to choose from. I saw some great martini and champaigne shaped ones too. I just thought that Margarita fit the theme of mexico best... even though I am a huge martini fan! lol What is your wedding date? Do you have a countdown started yet? Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by lisafleury Hey Whit, I am so incredibly happy to finally say that everything is booked, well at least all the flights and accomodations - now comes the real fun part... the wedding options from Ana! I'm hoping to receive them from my travel agent by the end of the week so I'll no doubt have a few questions to come. Have to say that I LOVE the margarita idea, I still do not have clue of what I'll be doing for decor. The only thing I'm working on now is ordering our "wedding favors", which will be a personalized travel mug for everyone to keep their drinks nice and ice cold during the week I'm originally from Quebec but have moved around the country a fair bit (Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Halifax) and now Regina. I just moved here a year ago for yet another transfer/promotion and to be closer to my now fiance - funny how things just work out eh? How about you? Lisa Hey Lisa, Getting everything booked was definitely exciting!!! There are a lot of options available... it took me a little while to figure out exactly what I wanted. The only things my Fiance and I knew we wanted from the start were... the ceremony on the beach and an outdoor reception. Everything else started to slowly come together after. Funny that you mention the travel mugs... we are pricing out personalized ones too! I'm from Ontario... Just outside of Toronto. Have been here my whole life... so far anyways. lol Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by lisafleury Hola fellow OCT brides! I've just confirmed the date for our big day - JANUARY 20, 2011 - and am more excited then I thought possible! Amber I saw the album you posted with your wedding pics and I cannot thank you enough for giving me the opportunity to dream about how beautiful my day could be. I ABSOLUTELY love your bouquet and have to ask if it was amongst the options that Ana offered? I haven't even been given any of the options yet from Ana yet, my travel agent with Marlin travel just set the date last Friday, but hopefully this week I'll have a better idea of what my choices are so if any of you have suggestions/recommendations to share I would love to hear (read) them. Thanks in advance ladies, Lisa Congrats Lisa and welcome to the Blog! I have found everyone very helpful since joining! I haven't gotten married yet... but if you have any questions about the planning process just ask away! If I can't help, I'm sure someone on here can! lol Happy Planning! Whitney P.S. Where in Canada are you from?

Quote: Originally Posted by laine2009 Hey Whit, What website did you use to get all of you wedding information, and what email did you use to get a hold of your wedding coordinator? I've gone through two different email addresses trying to reach this place and haven't had a reply back from either and its been over 3 weeks :S And the websites I've found don't have any information on their wedding packages.... Hey! I have a great travel agent who has helped me with everything! She contacted the resort and Ana from the start, and still does when I have any questions/concerns. The email address that she has for Ana is... [email protected]. Have you tried that one? There are packages offered through the resort, however we went with a package through a Canadian company (Transat Holidays & Noltours) instead. There are a few upgrades/additional things that we are getting through the resort but for the most part our package includes everything we want. Ana did send me the list of packages that they have to offer, if you want I can scan and email you them? I also have some other info from the resort... including decor, flowers, upgrades, etc. Where are you in your plans so far? Do you have a wedding date set or in mind? Let me know if you have any other questions! Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Katie~ hey Whit, We got engaged late February 2009 (when we were on holiday in Mexico!). At the time we didn't start planning as I was in the process of being made redundant, but as soon as I had my first week in my new job, we booked it all! So we've been planning for about 10/11 months. how about you? regarding the photog, we decided to bring someone in and stomach the vendor fee (it's actually a very reasonable vendor fee when you look at what some other hotels charge - can be double!). We're using Lidya Solemidt and she has been very flexible in coming up with a package to suit us and our budget. I love her pics and can't wait for her to photograph our wedding and TTD! Home Lidya Solemidt Photographer and thanks, Krystal heard from Ana on Tuesday in the end and I heard from Ana yesterday/this morning. so at least we know she's still alive! Hey Katie! We got engaged on December 4th. Had the Wedding booked and my dress picked by mid January... which was when the countdown started! lol Seems like sooo long ago... but its been less than 5 months! You have been counting down for a pretty long time! Only couple days until you leave now! I hope you have an amazing time, and it is everything you have ever wanted! I can't wait to see the pics when you get back! lol Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Katie~ hey Whit...ah thank you chick I'm so pleased with it all, and I can't wait to have it all come together on the day. Yeah I went to my normal hairdresser here in the UK as she knows my hair so well and what does and doesn't suit me and I basically gave her a few ideas I'd had/seen and she went from there! we took photos throughout the process in case they need to see how we got to the end result...now I just need to be organised and actually print them out! All the reviews I've read on OCT is that they don't speak great English (and I don't speak any spanish!!) but that they are great at recreating from photos. I would definitely recommend doing it - I feel so much better and felt like a proper princess having mine done. oh yes, I was mega stressed last week! (didn't hide it that well then! lol) it all felt really close and there was still quite a few things to do, but we got most of them done this weekend so I feel much much better thank you all (haha 'all'!!) I've got left to do is sort out my clothes, wash them all and pack them! easy! hahaha (I am secretly really worrying about this but I did start last night so it's getting there) we fly out on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!! (2nd May)....I can't believe it's THIS WEEK!!! and we get married NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!! arrrgggghhhhh Hey Kaite! I am seriously considering doing the same. I have been concerned about the hairdressers there and what if I don't like it... having a trial and pictures done ahead of time is a great idea! I'm glad you got most of your things done! The last thing you need is to be extra stressed before you leave THIS WEEKEND! How long have you been counting down for? Just curious... are you planning on using the hotel photographer? Whit P.S. I emailed Fiona about 4 weeks ago about something and haven't had a response either. I haven't been stressing because I still have time... but I hope you gets back to you ladies soon!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Katie~ wow, your centrepieces sound gorgeous! have you got any pics to share? haha my FI actually quite likes pink shirts etc anyway so I didn't have to fight on that one! plus he's in a grey suit so the grey and pink go really well with each other. and oh yes, I wish I got to wear my BM's dress too!! it's gorgeous! damn it.... and I've put photos on my post to Krystal, but it was in response to you (I got confused!!) let me know what you think! Hey Katie, You look gorgeous! I love the detail on your dress! Hair and accessories look great too! Did you have your regular hair dresser do your hair so you can bring the photos to Mexico? I'm starting to think thats a great idea! Better than just printing pictures off the internet! You seemed a little stressed last week because of everything you forgot to do... hope you got alot done on the weekend! What day does your flight leave? I don't have pictures of my centre pieces... I will have to get on that! I will definitely show you them when I do! Whit

Quote: Originally Posted by Angelfire Sooo excited fro the up-coming brides!!! Just got a lengthy slideshow from our photographers (who were FABULOUS to work with). You can get a glimpse of our wedding at the link below. We were married on the beach and had our recpetion in a private banquet hall Amber & Rob Hi Amber, I just checked out your photos and they are incredible! Did you use the resort photographer or someone else? Congrats on your Wedding & Thank you so much for sharing your pictures with us! Whitney