DestinationDreamer0885

One more! Dolphins are worth it too... we had almost a third of our wedding group go swim with them. http://www.vallarta-adventures.com/

The night before our wedding, we parked outselves by the pool and watched one that was gorgeous - whites and purples, it really matched the scenery there. We got married off-site in Nuevo Vallarta, but our group of 30 stayed here and LOVED LOVED LOVED IT. If you're thinking about going here, this is a faaaabulous resort for a wedding group - large or small - because there is something for everyone. The beach is one of the best beaches I've ever seen with plenty of palapas and lounge chairs (quite a few guests shopped for jewelry/swimsuit coverups or got massages), the pools are at different temperatures so they have something for everyone, it is a very quick trip over to Vallarta Adventures if you want to swim with the dolphins or the sea lions or go on an excursion (which a lot of our guests took advantage of), the food and drinks just keep flowing freely (hollaaa), and the rooms actually look like they do in pictures. Seriously. I attached some photos that show pictures of the grounds, some have people in them but you can still get a feel for what it all looks like. I second every single person that says --- if you're on the fence about this resort, it was a LIFE. SAVER. I have stayed at 4 resorts in the PV / NV area and this one was by far the best for a group like this!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The view from our room, 1717. (Just FYI, the lower numbered rooms have a better view of the ocean, i.e. my parents in room 1702 had a GREAT view straight down the pools. Every ocean view is killer, though!!!) The breakfast bar setup, as viewed from the pool. Clealy I had priorities, haha. Pool > Breakfast. View of the resort from the beach - the ones on the right are all condo buildings, the "hotel" part is the last resort at the back, seen in the left hand side of the picture. No complaints about it. PLEEEASE go up to Gohan Sky Bar at sunset. We had our entire group meet up here (informally) the first night that we were all there, and it was one of my favorite memories of the trip. We met at 6:30 to have a "quick drink before dinner" and people started leaving to go to dinner at 9:00. Seriously, that awesome. View of the pools, they do water aerobics! My new inlaws did it every day, even 82-year-old "Wild Wilma" aka Grandma You can see her sitting on the step, doin her thing. The resort at night - grounds are kept up really, really well. Mexican Fiesta night - mariachi and all! This is what the room actually looks like. It is outstanding. (Be ready to have not a lot of bathroom privacy though, lol, just fogged-out glass doors. Room service was fantastic. Also, this is a view from a lower-numbered room. My sister-in-law and her boyfriend were in room 1401 (4th floor) and you can see how the room is different from our room, which was 1717 (7th floor) Yes, the jacuzzis on the balcony are totally worth it. My bridesmaids spent pretty much all day in them while I was getting hair & makeup done. View from Gohan Sky Bar. Okay, had to include this one. PLEASE, for the love of pictures like this, book an excursion with Vallarta Adventures while you are there. Hubby and I did this on our honeymoon and I actually enjoyed the sea lion encounter more than the dolphin one!! The concierge at the hotel can give you more info!

They are from Oriental Trading, aka the flipping best website ever for cute, cheap, fabulous OOT bag goodies.

Update, 5/18/2012: The Koozies have sold, as well as the Lanyards. If you are willing to take the remaining items off of my hands, I will do it for $20 + free first class shipping (within the continental US), plus I'll still throw in the $10 gift certificate. )

We got married at Martoca on Sunday, April 29th and let me just say - this venue is BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely stunning!!! Our wedding group stayed at Dreams Villamagna (which was fabulous for us, absolutely perfect for a wedding group), but we didn't want to get married at a resort because we wanted a more private event. This was a GORGEOUS venue on a much more private beach, and every single one of our guests had a fabulous time. If we had to do it all over again, we would go straight back to Martoca!! If you're looking for a fun, romantic, affordable, and beautiful place to get married... this is it! A few pictures are below, I tried to pick ones that showed off the location. (I have a few more on a previous post: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/1528/list-of-photographers-in-the-pv-area/60#post_1769386) A big hats off to Kelley Kahrhoff, aka the world's best wedding planner, Karla Benitez, our unbelievable photographer, Dan Dimov @ Macmex Photography and Videography for our crazy cool video, and Jimmy and everyone at Martoca!! Every single moment was of our week in Puerto Vallarta perfect. ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our guestbook and placecards set up at the entrance, where our guests were treated to white sangria. The beautiful view from the property, where my girls and I took our pictures before the guests arrived. The bridal suite, with a nice frosty A/C unit. ) Martoca has beautiful flowers and gardens, I didn't get any bridal portraits done in my hometown so I did them here. Setup of the tables on the lawn Setup of tables on the lawn with the dancefloor in the background. '' We opted to get married on the beach instead of on the lawn, which I am REALLY happy that we did in retrospect. The chuppah with the wedding party on the beach. '' Setup of the seats for the wedding guests on the beach. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE PICTURES ON THE BEACH!! They turn out beautifully!! There is a really nice garden area that our families took pictures at (below), but just a word of advice: a lot of small palm leaves had fallen on the grass and could be seen in our photos, especially ones of the entire family that we printed out and sent to them. It took me ten times as long to photoshop the leaves off of the grass as it would have taken one of us to go, "Hey, let's pick up these 15 unsightly leaves before we take pictures." This is the unedited version of one of the photos, and you can see one of the leaves behind my Dad's leg. Table setup Table setup. What a view!! The white lounge furniture that was available during our cocktail hour was the best. Also, a few guests took breaks over there because it was BEHIND the speakers and was quieter if they needed a break from the mts mts mts mts... We opted to do firedancers, who did a performance on the dancefloor.

Howdy! I have a few unused things left over from our DW and wanted to get them out to somebody who can use them! (photos are attached) Let me know if you'd like to purchase one - or all - items below. I'd be most comfortable using PayPal. It will be about $3 - $5 to ship any or all items first class. Please email [email protected] in order to get the quickest response... it comes to my phone, vs. this site I check every few days. -- 18 can koozies in pink, green, blue and purple. (These got used A LOT by my guests, and pretty much everybody took them home! They are ADORABLE when put on a can or a glass. Also: the picture only shows 17 but I accidentally forgot to put one more in - it is another blue one) $10 -- 15 luau lanyards, used for room keycards. Worked really well! $8 -- 5 small flashlights, each runs on 1 AA battery. (We got 'em for our elderly guests to use at night in the dark rooms) $5 -- 4 decks of mini playing cards. Shaped like flip flops. Ahhh-dorable. $4 -- 3 water guns (ahem... that was hubby's choice... but they actually work remarkably well.) $3 -- 3 oriental folding fans (3 bridesmaids? 3 groomesmen? girls get fans, boys get water guns!! haha) $3 -- 1 "something blue" garter. I promise I did NOT wear this, that would be creepy. My set came with 2 and we didn't do a garter toss. Handmade. $8 Frankly, if you're willing to take it ALL for $30 flat I'll do it + $5 shipping. Plus I'll throw in a $10 gift certificate to the website where I got all of the goodies listed above (except garter) so you can getcha some more Thanks and hope y'all have a fabulous weekend!! ~Lisa

I know this is coming late, but we got married at Martoca Beach Garden a couple of weeks ago, and Karla is FABULOUS. Her photos blew me out of the water and turned out ten times better than I could have imagined. She took in the ballpark of 1000+ pictures, cut it down/edited about 600, and then went out of her way to hand them to me at the airport before I left (5 days after the wedding.) I actually cried. Karla was a gift from above for me, BUT... She may be moving to Denver in July. Anyway, if you can get her before she leaves I would recommend her more than words can say. (Scale of 1 to 10? 15. Seriously.) I added in a couple of my favorite pictures below.