SandRWedding

We went with the Mexican (seems how we were in Mexico and all!). We didn't make it to the cocktail hour, but our guests absolutely raved about it!! There was something for everyone, even our 'picky' guests Everyone said the food at the cocktail and reception dinner was the best they had all week - and the food was VERY GOOD all week, we all ate very well lol.

Thank you!! They make AMAZING gowns. I love that I have never seen another bride with my exact same dress either Are your gowns posted on here??

Thank you so much ladies!!! Like many of you that are still looking, I had a very hard time picking a dress. Two things I did NOT want was lace and mermaid. I am quite short and not super thin, so I did not think it would work on me at all. And I ended up with a lace mermaid I was nervous as the dress was a sample size 6 I believe, which was too large on me, and it had been stretched out and hung weird from people trying to get into it when it was too small. Also, when it came in I had a minor panic attack as it was so big on me and it just didn't look right (or very good on). But in the end, alterations did a fantastic job and the dress fit me perfectly. I was totally getting dress envy and second guessing myself after seing some gorgeous dresses on here, but in the end it was perfect!! Good luck to you all!!!!

Here is my dress; Pronovias by Manuel Mota. Loved seeing all the beautiful dresses on here

Just a quick review from our wedding on the 4th We had our ceremony at 4pm at the coral beach, a cocktail hour from 5:30-6:30 at the rooftop terrace and the reception from 7-10 at the coral beach. Our WC was Gabriela, and she was fabulous! Everything went perfectly and I was able to enjoy the day without worrying about a thing. So many of our guests commented that I was the happiest bride they had ever seen, I just had a huge smile on my face all day long and I give a lot of that credit to Gabriela and everyone else that made our day so perfect. I had selected flowers that were of extra charge (orchids and something else....) and the resort did a great job of re-creating the bouquet. It was not identical, but it was very close. Quite a few people actually thought they were fake, including the photographer!!! My sister and mother in-law had their hair and make up done at the spa, there were no issues with appointments and they did a very good job. I hired Adrian for my hair and make up, and he also did my moms make up and one of my bridesmaids hair and make up. Adrian and Alex were FANTASTIC!! I could not have asked for anything more, they were so friendly and fun to be around and they are so talented!! They were worth every single penny and more!! Adrian even went to my husbands room and made him up a little bit, just to make sure that everything was perfect for our wedding. I can honestly say that at 3am my hair and make up looked just as good as when they first finished at 2 in the afternoon. My mom cried (a lot lol) through the entire ceremony and you could not tell, nothing ran or washed off! I had an allergic reaction to a sunscreen that my husband purchased, and I had a rash and bumps all over my face and neck and you could not tell at all. Like I said, the spa did a great job BUT Adrian and his team are in a league of their own!! We hired Ivan Luckie as our photographer and I can honestly say that the $300 we paid to Kodak in order to have Ivan there was some of the best money we spent on our wedding. Kodak still showed up to photograph the ceremony (our package included pictures which is why) and the pictures were ok, but out of 150 pictures we had to look through them about 3 times to pick just 24 decent pictures. They also kind of get in the way of the hired photographer. I never once noticed Ivan or Anell through the ceremony or cocktail hour, and hardly through the reception but I did notice the Kodak photographer. Our pictures from Kodak have Ivan and Anell in them, and it is hard to get good pics when there are so many photographers getting in the way. Kodak was asked to shoot the cocktail hour instead of the ceremony, but they ignored our request and now we have no pictures from the cocktail hour. Even when Ivan was shooting us in the room (getting ready) I hardly noticed him there. We can hardly wait to see our pictures from Ivan!! I told him what I wanted and let him run with it, he is so creative and was not shooting the same locations and poses as the other wedding pictures that I had seen of his that were done at the palace. My only regret through the entire wedding was that I would have liked to have more time with Ivan. My husband was very skeptikal to say the least about the whole photography business, he does not like to have his picture taken and makes a weird 'camera face' whenever there is a camera around him. Ivan made us both feel so comfortable and let our personalities come through in what we were doing. By the end of the day my husband was raving about him and is extremely excited for the pictures - and that says A LOT!!!!!! All of our guests were so impressed with the resort and with the wedding. It exceeded everyones expectations. The judge did a fantastic job, the ceremony was funny, sweet and serious when appropriate. Very good especially being that neither one of us had ever met him. When I was walking down the aisle from the gazebo my husband had his back to me and I kept saying 'what is he looking at? Why isn't he looking at me??' but the judge made him turn his back and he wasn't allowed to look until he was told so lol. There were a lot of tears and even more laughter and we could not have asked for anything more. We would do it all over again in a second and not change a thing. Not as short as I thought, but it is so easy to get carried away because everything was so wonderful

This site is FANTASTIC!! Problem is I have already started a playlist, and now I think I have too many songs!! So many great ideas, thank you all so much!!! Steph

I had started planning my wedding nearly a year in advance. My WC is Gabriela, and I would wait about 2 weeks for a reply in the beginning as well. Once she sent the 'planning spreadsheet' it made it a lot easier as all of the basic info and planning steps are right there for you. Replies were still slow, but eventually all of my questions were answered. If you have any specific questions I would be happy to try and answer for you. We are leaving in 20 days Good luck and congrats!!

We are leaving Canada April 1 and our wedding is on the 4th. Absolutely cannot wait kisekae - when is your wedding in April??

I booked through a travel agent with Transat. We were able to put deposits in for the wedding package as well as our week stay, as were our guests. We don't have flight times confirmed yet as it is too early, but this way I was able to officially book our wedding date. When we first looked at doing a DW we got the run around so badly and it seemed so confusing, so I was anxious to get it booked and know for sure all the details!! Avens - I found the Strawberry Passion comparable to the Euphoria package we booked through Transat, for our purposes anyways. Our package does include hair & make up as well. I don't believe that we have an 'open bar', and we had to upgrade to have our reception on the beach and to add another hour (our package was only a 2 hour reception), but we do get a cocktail hour. You choose from 3 menu options, which is less than the Strawberry, and we don't get the massage and manicure/pedicure BUT we do get a $200 credit to use at the spa along with a $100 credit towards an excursion. And no live music.

That would be awesome I have never been to the resort, but from the pics I have seen the gazebo looks gorgeous!! I also wanted the 5pm ceremony time, but the latest time they offered us was 4. Our ceremony is at 4 on the Coral Beach, we are having a cocktail hour on the rooftop terrace and the reception at Playa Azul. I have always wanted to get married on the beach in bare feet, so it is perfect for us!! We have booked our trip, and so far have 21 people with deposits in....have you booked as well?? And I see you are also from Canada?? Are you booking a wedding package through the resort or through Air Transat?? Steph

We are April 4 The day of your wedding will be our last full day before we have to come home Still over 8 months away, and I already don't want it to be over lol..... Have you selected your ceremony and reception locations??

We are from Canada, so we chose to book one of the Air Transat wedding packages at the Barcelo. The package is $1500, which was quite a bit cheaper than the Barcelo or any other resort wedding packages that we found. I think it is just near impossible to know from the description of the packages what exactly is included and what extras or upgrades will be needed until you actually start to plan your wedding. I tried to find some of this info out before booking, but none of the TA's I spoke to knew next to nothing about the exact details of the packages, and I found it difficult to communicate this to the resort to find out more details. When all is said and done, I am sure it will be well worth it. My wedding isn't unitl April, so I should have everything done and organised well before then anyways!! I will certainly check out that spreadsheet - thank you so much!!!

Jen - Good luck for tomorrow - fingers crossed the rain stops for you!!!! We had initially decided to have a DW as it is sooooo expensive here for one day (we priced it out to be about $10,000), and we decided that if we were going to spend that kind of money we were going away and spending the week!! It is turning out to be a lot more than I had anticipated, all the things you don't think about or you think would be included in an AI resort are adding up. I am afraid to sit down (yet again.......) and do the math, and I am looking at the flowers and hupa now which I am sure will be additional. And I will have to break the news to my FI that we are going to have to add another hour on to our reception. He is going to be happy lol The trip itself is more expensive than we anticipated too, although we are the first week of April, right in between spring break and easter. Probably not the best time to go......but we were pretty limited in the dates we could choose from. Thank you all