MrsHK

Hi MrsSmid! If you need a hand finishing your centrepieces, let me know! I live down here in Playa Del Carmen and just got married in May. I bought 98% of the decor items for our wedding and still have everything. I could rent some stuff to you for a very affordable price if you'd like! I have lanterns, bottles, vases & mason jars for flowers, burlap & lace table runners, candles holders, and all sorts of little vintage details. You also wouldn't have to haul things to Mexico and back, which is a plus PM me if you'd like a full list with pricing and a link to all the photos. Happy planning!

Hey ladies! We just had our wedding down here in Mexico, where we happen to live. On multiple trips back home to Canada as well as one trip to the States, I was able to put some nice OOT bags together. Here's what we did for our Welcome Kits and Oh Shit! Kits: 16 oz Tumbler Mug with wedding logo - $3.75ea from DiscountMugs.com Tote bag with wedding logo - Discount Mugs - $3.60ea from DiscountMugs.com Notebook - handmade on brother-in-law's letterpress, took a very long time to make 80 of these but totally worth it! Check out our blog post on how we made them: http://loveandrum.com/blog/2013/6/2/weddingpress-handmade-notebooks Beer coozies with wedding logo and "Drink Up Me Hearties" - $1.10 ea from DiscountMugs.com Cooler bag with ziploc liner for leaks (our energy conscience hotel in Tulum didn't have fridges) - $3.70ea Snack pack with bag of chips, Japones nuts and Winis candies (similar to Starburst) all purchased at Sam's Club in Mexico - $1.50ea We did one bag per couple and one bag per single guest. For everything from Discount Mugs, I had it all sent to my Dad's place in the States to save on shipping. On a visit to him I grabbed half the stuff and he brought the rest. We both got the "red" light and they looked in our bags, but neither of us had real issues at customs. They just looked through, I kept saying "por nuestras boda!" and smiling and all was fine. I can't speak for what another customs agent might do for someone else though! For all you Canadian girls, you can have everything sent to a shipping place near the border and pick it up for much cheaper than the shipping costs to Canada. I used round circle stickers and alphabet stickers from Dollar Tree to label all the mugs with everyone's initials, and used hang tags from Staples to label everyone's bags. I tea stained the hang tags and used alphabet stamps from Michael's to personalize the bags for everyone. For the couples I did their first names on the hang tags, like "J & C" or "M & K". For the single guests I did their full initials like "DL" or "NC". We included a little Welcome Booklet with information about the area, things to do, restaurant recommendations, helpful Spanish phrases, etc. A note about the hang tags: The little circle at the top comes off when you tea stain it. I had to glue all mine back on. You can either put some glue ahead of time so they don't fall off, or be ok without having the circle be on the tag once it comes off. We used paper lunch bags to put our Oh Shit! Kits together. I again used hangtags from Staples and tea stained all of them. I used the alphabet stamps for the "Oh Shit! Kit" part and a potato stamp to make the red cross. I then used a sticker on the back (vintage travel themed) to close the bag and tied them closed with twine, and hung the tag on the twine. We decided to buy our meds in bulk and divy them up ourselves once we were in Mexico. It saved a TON of money and didn't take that long to do. No one seemed to mind that the ibuprofens weren't in a sealed package. We made a little piece of paper with instructions for the diarrhea relief and ibuprofen. Here's the list of contents: 1L Gatorade packs - purchased in Mexico at local grocery store - $0.65ea (1 per person) Diarrhea relief - Costco in Canada - 168 tablets for $23, gave 2 per person for a cost of $0.30 per person Ibuprofen - purchased from Costco in Canada - pack of 500 for $10, gave 6 per person for a cost of $0.12 per person Tums - purchased from Walmart - packs of 3 for $2 which is $0.70 per roll (1 roll per bag) Aloe Vera purchased from Avon.ca - $1.89ea (1 per bag) Band Aids - on sale at Shopper's, 320 bandaids for $12, gave 6 per person at a cost of $0.25 per person Gum - purchased at Sam's Club in Mexico - $0.40ea (1 pack per person) Oh Shit! Kit cost: per single person - $4.31 per couple - $6.03 Welcome Kit cost: per single person - $13.65 per couple - $20.00 Total Cost of Entire Bag: per single person - $17.96 per couple - $26.03 We had 70 guests total, half couples and half single people. In the end we spent just over $1000 on our Welcome Bags, but I think it was totally worth it. Everyone came from so far and it was great to show our appreciation for spending their time and money to come celebrate with us. We received a ton of thank you's from everyone and I think mostly everything was used, especially the Oh Shit! Kits. People kept commenting on how useful and thoughtful everything was, which was nice! We saw lots of people using the tote bags, beer coozies and tumbler mugs. The best thing is that I'm sure people will use some of these things at home, such as the tote bag and the drink tumbler (coffee mug). We chose to not put our name and date on most items so that people would keep them for their everyday lives. I hope this helps some of you for inspiration! Another idea is to hand as many Welcome Kits out at home before hand as you can. That way you don't have to pack them and people will know what extra things they have to pack, or don't have to pack!

Hi there! I have lived down here in Playa Del Carmen for almost two years and can answer the weather and flight price questions for you. One thing to consider for March is Spring Break, as that will make prices of packages in this area more expensive and there will also be lots of families and college kids in town during that time. Everyone's Spring Break dates vary, but most are in March. You can do a Google search to see more specific dates if you'd like. There's also a religious holiday called Semana Santa from April 13th to the 20th. A lot of Mexican families travel and go on vacation during that time and it is very busy in Playa Del Carmen and the surrounding areas. Prices drop after Semana Santa, so anytime from April 21st to May 31st is usually a better deal and the weather is normally nice. June to October is rainy season and is very hot. Let me know if you have any other questions about the area, or if I can help you in any way!

I bought my dress on preownedweddingdresses.com too! It was a great experience, and was happy to get a designer dress at half the price.

I loved wearing barefoot sandals for my wedding! Our ceremony and reception were both in the sand, and the cocktail hour was by the pool on a wooden deck. I just kept the bare feet the whole time and walked on the wooden deck with no shoes. If you do need shoes at some point, dressy flip flops are a great option. Chances are your dress is long, so no need to go through the pain of high heels while you dance the night away on your wedding night! I did, however, take a couple of photos while I was getting ready with a pair of purple high heels on while holding my dress up, just to have that photo! There was no way to tell that the dress was too short with the heel on because she took it close up. Here's the store on Etsy I got the barefoot sandals from, very affordable compared to the other site I was looking at! http://www.etsy.com/listing/118146078/beach-wedding-barefoot-sandals-foot

Hi Fareda! I'm from Vancouver, Canada and I live down here in Playa Del Carmen. I have a friend who does wedding photography, she is very reasonably priced and her photos are stunning! Her name is Susana Hidalgo and her website is http://www.myadorablebridal.com/ Here's a couple of photos she took at our wedding, although she wasn't our primary photographer. She was a guest at the wedding and took some photos during the cocktail hour and reception. That's her little girl I'm holding, and she was our flower girl!

Hey Tara! I just got married in May in Tulum and purchased almost all of our decor rather than renting since we live down here in Playa Del Carmen. If you're looking for simple, affordable decorations that you won't have to drag around in your luggage, let me know! I'm doing a little rental business on the side, and have priced everything very reasonably. I have lanterns, bottles and vases for flowers, mason jars, rustic vintage details, etc. The quotes from resorts, venues and wedding coordinators for decor down here are outrageous! I felt most of the pricing was so unfair so I wanted to give fellow brides an alternative to the vendors down here. Send me a PM if you're interested in seeing the pricing list and photos of everything.

Hi b21fly! I know you didn't ask me this question, but I thought I could help answer since I live down here in Playa Del Carmen. There are LOTS of shops selling maracas, and they go from $1-$3 each, depending on the vendor and the size of the maraca. (There are large and small ones) The bigger shops have set prices, but the smaller ones you can see if you can get a bulk deal and barter with them. Also ask if they have ones in the back, since the ones in the bins have been picked through and are sometimes in rougher shape. It's great that you are considering buying them down here and support the local vendors! Plus you'll save room in your luggage. About the wedding dress, it depends on the airline. I just carried mine on in a garment bag and put it in the overhead compartment, folded in half. My dress was lace so it didn't wrinkle, but it depends on what your dress is made of and if you plan on getting the resort to steam it for you or not.

Hey ladies! We just got the first half of our photos from our photographers, and I am beyond excited!! We did a photoshoot the day before the wedding around the beach and in the town of Tulum. The wedding day photos should come within a week, and I can hardly wait!! I picked a few of my favourites to post here, but you can see the rest here at http://luckygirl.ca/blog if you'd like.

Your wedding looked fantastic, and your hair and makeup was beautiful! Congrats to another fellow happy Tulum bride.

Wow, you both look just stunning! I love your purple hair, so fantastic! Sorry to hear about your complications once you arrived home, but happy to hear your wife is on the mend.

Beautiful photos! Congrats!

This was our gazebo for our wedding in Tulum in May. We collected the bottles ourselves and tied them to the string and we purchased the flower garlands. We brought the garlands and the bottles to our florist for them to arrange flowers in and they delivered the gazebo and took care of the set up of everything. They tied a transparent string across the bottom so the bottles didn't blow in the wind and hit each other. We used Floreria Jardin in Playa Del Carmen and they were great to work with!