Hi Tiffany,  First of all congratulations! My wedding in August was the wedding of my dreams! Carolina was EXCELLENT to work with and a true help coordinating our wedding and our wedding day. The staff was wonderful too. We got married in the gazebo and I would strongly urge you to do the same. We wanted a beach wedding as well, however, remember that this is a public beach. Lots of people sunbathing, some topless, and you will have alot of people staring and some not willing to move from their lounge chairs. Making the wedding of your dreams not so personal. The gazebo is really close to the beach, more private, definetely more cool and alot more romantic. Again that's just my personal opinion.  This was a second wedding for myself and my husband, so no family members went with us, it was just the two of us. So, I really can't provide you any advice in regards to cocktail hour, dinner, etc.... I'm sure it will be wonderful. We had a private romantic dinner for two in the gazebo the night of our wedding and it was spectacular!  The ceremony is quick, maybe 10-15 minutes. We wrote our own vows and it was so romantic and perfect. They really decorate the gazebo very pretty, with the white sheer fabric and ribbon of your choice and than very pretty flowers. One bit of advice I would give you is that the flowers they provide for your bouquet are not very pretty (white or yellow daisies or red roses are the two choices), in my opinion, plus you cannot bring them home due to agriculture reasons since it's a foreign country. So, I chose to do "real touch" silks for my bouquet so that I could cherish my bouquet forever.  The staff at Renova Spa is amazing at hair and makeup, I used Alexandria and she did a superb job on my hair and makeup. It is a little pricey but it was soooo worth it, I felt more beautiful that day than any other day in my life. Plus brides receive a 20% discount on spa services, so that helped out a little. I have really really naturally curly hair and was so worried about my hair getting all frizzy, but it didn't and my hair was perfect. My husband kept going on and on about how beautiful my hair was and I would have to agree! lol  We did use Michael Weiler for our photographer and like I said before he is AMAZING and for what you get for the money you will be impressed. I have been showing everybody at work my album and photographs and they are blown away! I've not seen the work of the photographer they have at the resort but honestly I wouldn't go with anybody but Michael. My husband HATES getting his picture taken, Michael makes it so much fun and my husband even commented that getting our pictures done was one of the best parts of our trip! So, that said alot to me.  Please let me know if you have anymore questions I can help you with, I will be happy to do so!  (I am attaching a few more pics, so you can see the gazebo and the walk way and a picture of our cake)                         )  Julie