gettingwed12

I used Arrifice and I thought they were really professional as did our friends who also used them, we were both over the moon with our photographs - even more so than what I was expecting. If you look on Facebook you can see some of their work. I think it's more that they are expensive but as claruickie said above it depends where you are coming from, When we were looking at getting married at home in England it was easily going to cost us the same if not more for a photographer, I find photograpy in the UK quite expensive anyway and its just not feasible to fly anyone out to Mexico from the UK for 3 or 5 days like it is when coming from Canada or America. Nic. x

Oh and we went with the three milk after everybody on here said it was good and all our guests said how lovely the cake was, our friends went with the cheesecake, personally I wasn't that keen but most other people enjoyed that too. X

We just asked for a two tier cake, it didn't cost us anymore as we still had the same amount of cake just two smaller tiers instead of one big one. Our friends had one big cake and I'm glad we went with the two tier, I've put a link on for a pic of our cake. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152209577825554&set=t.612824848&type=3&theater We had 27 guests and ourselves and they gave me and my hubby the top tier to share (we didn't manage it all) and then split up the bottom tier and there was still quite a bit left over. Xx

Hi so here's my review of our wedding and our friends wedding too, both amazing and everything we could have wanted... Arrival After a 10.5hr flight with 3 kids I was dreading Cancun airport after some of the things I've read so was pleasantly suprised when we arrived, straight off the plane, que for passport control wasn't too long and baggage was already waiting on the carousel when we got through, then about another 15mins in the queue for the baggage scan and all 32 of us managed to get through without a red light too which was a bonus, only downside was that our wedding case was cracked and damaged when it arrived although this could have happened at either airport and luckily everything in side was in tact so nothing too major, then straight out and on to the coach, I wasn't paying attention to how long it took to the resort but most people said it only took about an hour and 10 mins so again was quicker than expected. All of our group except us were dropped at Tulum for check in then we were taken to Coba, no queue for check in, welcome cocktail was lovely and we we're given gold bands and free safe (both couple's), I'm not exactly sure what extra perks we got for getting these as most people seemed to have the same things such as bath robes etc as we did and we weren't given any extra a la carte's?? Resort Well I was expecting a big resort after reading all the reviews but it really is huge, even bigger than I was expecting and even after two weeks we still didn't manage to see it all. It's such a beautiful hotel, well kept and clean everywhere, lots of our group commented on how many people we saw maintaining the place all the time and the staff were so friendly, especially with our young children. As I mentioned before we left, we had been hoping and expecting to be staying in Tulum, mainly as these we're the wedding options we we're given and also because our travel agent's (Thomas Cook) had told us they only booked people in there, I had asked Jazmin if we would be upgraded so maybe that's why we were put in Tulum, I'm still not sure? We had intended on asking when we got there if we could be moved to Tulum but decided on the way that we would see what the room was like and decide the next morning as we were sooo tired after 14hrs+ travelling. We loved our room, we had a pool view, it was very spacious and the bathroom was big too, we had a junior suite so had a Jaccuzi bath too and after some thought decided it would be nice to be on our own sometimes so stayed put in the Coba. We thought (and most people in our group) that Coba was the "nicer" of the three hotels, obviously its newer so that's probably why but we just found it suited us as a family better too, most of our group were couple's with no children and young singles and after spending a day at Coba although they thought it was nicer they all prefered Tulum as it was more the "party" pool, but for us if we had the choice again we would choose Coba. We tipped the maid and mini fridge every couple of days and we we're well stocked and had some lovely towel art which the kids loved. During our stay we we're given champagne in our room on arrival, champagne and chocolates the night before the wedding, champagne the night of our wedding and again the next day with a chocolate cake, unfortunately I'm not a big champagne fan so we didn't drink them all so maybe the next guest got use of them if the maids didn't take them away.lol. We mainly ate at Tulum buffet with our family but they sometimes came to Coba, we found the Coba buffet to be the best of the three, we only ate in Akumal once for lunch though. We ate at the Brazillian (very nice but very filling so didn't actually try that much), the Mediterranean ( starter and soup was nice but nobody was very impressed with their main), the Mexican (for my stepdaughters birthday - I loved it, not many seemed impressed though, they said it wasn't spicy enough for them) and me and hubby ate at the Japanese the night after the wedding on our own, we had the show table, it was amazing and was the best a la carte we ate in. My dad and his wife ate in Le Gourmet for his wife's birthday and they said that was also really lovely and was the best one they ate in. The other group ate in some different a la cartes but their favourite seemed to also be the Japanese. Spa All of the women in the group (including my 11 year old step daughter and 11 year old cousin for pedicures) had an afternoon at the Spa, I had a Mayan Massage which was very relaxing and a pedicure which was good, most people had some sort of massage and either pedicure or manicure, everyone said it was nice and relaxing. Our Wedding Day My friend stayed with me and the children the night before the wedding and my husband went to stay with his friend in their room, the boys went out for drinks but the girls all decided on an early night so we went back the room and ate the chocolates they had left.lol. We were up early next morning but as there were quite a few of us who needed hair doing and two young boys to organise we didn't have any time for sunbathing in the morning but it was still nice and laid back, my friend took my boys to their dad for a few hours whilst the girls got their hair done, my friends mum did all our our hairs for both weddings and she was brilliant, she's not a hairdresser or anything just quite creative and did some practice sessions before we left and everyone was very impressed. We ended up doing our own make up but I don't wear a lot anyway so wasn't a problem. At 2pm it started to rain and I started to panic, I was gutted but luckily it quickly passed over and Jazmin never made "the call" so it cleared up and everything went along as planned, we got married at the beach palapa's and paid for an arch which I'm so glad we did, it was expensive but well worth the money and I'm so glad we chose there as it was beautiful looking out over the beach and ocean while we got married. I was very nervous for months before but my nerves calmed down a lot on the day and I was quite chilled until just before walking down and I even managed to walk down the beach in my heels without falling which was a bonus.my mum walked me down the aisle and kept me steady.lol. The ceremony seemed to be over in a flash but I did my best to soak it all in, I didn't even hear the music for walking down etc as I was so overwhelmed but my husband said it was all played fine (we took two discs, one with mp3 on and one with wav files on and Jazmin took the wav file one). We had the resort photograper and went with the basic package which had 50 included, our photograper was Luis and he was fab, we managed to only order an extra 3 photo's but god knows how as all the one's they showed us we're lovely. We had been meant to have our meal in La Gran Tortuga but the week before Jazmin emailed to say it was having renovations whilst we we're there and so we we're offered the outdoor grill for free. We did manage to eat in the Brazillian the week before and they said it was closing on the Friday before our wedding but I never noticed any damage or if it did close in the end, however the outdoor grill was great, it was at the hibiscus pool at Coba and the set up was lovely. We paid for the special bar and we're given everything and just made sure we tipped well. We hired DJ Bijan who was really good, he listened to the type of music we liked when I emailed him and had most peoples requests through the night, after we headed on to the hacienda nightclub (which was the only time we went due to having young children) to be honest I didn't really rate the night club, we had fun but I wasn't convinced we'd missed out on much by not been able to go there before, we snuck off and left our group dancing around 1ish. The room was decorated lovely with swans, petals and heart balloons. Our Best Friends Wedding As mentioned this was a double celebration and our best friends also got married whilst on this holiday. Again another chilled morning, the bride spent the morning sunbathing and I met her about one to start getting ready, she was very relaxed and I was so proud of her, her dad was meant to walk her down the aisle but unfortunately at last minute couldn't make it, she didn't want to replace him with anyone else walking her down the aisle and so walked down herself, it was really hard for her and I was so proud that she managed it as she was very upset about the situation. Their wedding was also beautiful, they got married in the Gazebo and then also had an outdoor grill at the Tulum pool, the had the resort DJ who was just as good as Bijan to be honest and again they paid for the special bar and we're given everything They had a different photographer to us, not sure of his name but was also great and took different shots to ours which we were glad about. It started to rain around 9.30pm so we all made a dash to the Lobby bar and had a few drinks there before most of them headed off to the haceinda, however all of our children had fallen asleep so we went back to our room. It was a lovely day and I am so glad we got to share our weddings like we did, we did all our planning (and stressing) together and to see them both come together so lovely in the end was amazing. We were a little worried that our guests would be bored as the weddings were similar with us both ending up with the outdoor grill and poolside party just two days apart but actually even though they were similar they were also very different (if that makes sense!!) and everyone commented on how lovely they both were in there own way. Wedding Co-ordinator We both had Jazmin as our wedding co-ordinator. She is great, so detailed and thorough with everything ( she even went to the trouble of putting me a flat board at the end of the aisle and covering it with sand so that i had something flat to stand on in my heels). I was so impressed, she was just so helpful and thought of everything, tables we're set up with our decorations and favours and bridesmaid/pageboy gifts just as I had hoped and her and Carla we're brilliant with organising my children walking down the ailse too. I really couldn't have asked for more. Sorry I've ranted on for so long just wanted to cover everything, if there is anything I've missed just ask. Thank you so much for everyone's help on this forum without all your information I would have been lost, so thank you for helping make our days perfect. Hopefully this link will work for my photo's but if not let me know. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151139134274849.449426.612824848&type=3 Nic. X

Hi everyone, just a quick pop in to say we are back today, I will post a review in the next few days but our wedding and the resort were amazing!! I will actually be posting kind of a double review as as our best friends also married here during the same holiday, both weddings we're amazing and Jazmin is fantastic! Wish we could go back and do it all over again! Xx

Hi everyone, Jazmin got back to me and we can have the outdoor grill for free!! Yay, this has made me feel better about the situation as it will be a similar style of meal to we wanted now, still a bit gutted that it looks like we won't be able to eat in Gran Tortuga but can't complain at the upgrade for free really! 4 days till we leave, very excited now, thank you soooo much to everyone's help on this forum, if it wasn't for all your information we would have been paying a ridiculous amount for our poolside reception and wouldn't have known anything about the resort until we were there..... Nic. Xx

Hi everyone, Thanks for the restaurant info and recommendations.... Well we leave in 7 days and I've just had bad news from Jazmin, apparently our wedding meal restaurant (la gran Tortuga) was damaged in the last storm and the renovation work is taking place during our stay, I'm gutted! :-( I was so happy that we go this restaurant in the first place and I've been looking forward to eating here for ages.... Jazmin has said we can either have set menu at Le Gourmet, set menu at El Pescador or upgrade to the outdoor grill dinner- she didn't give me a price so if this was being offered as a free upgrade we would definitely go with this option - but I think I'm kidding myself there.lol So think we are going to have to go with Le Gourmet, do you chose the set menu from the normal menu choices or do you get a different set to chose from? Thanks... Nic . :-(

I have had my dress made and the dress makes has ordered me one of those boxes, they are quite sturdy, but Im not too bothered that its only cardboard as I am carrying it on as my hand luggage, just didn't want to take the risk of it going missing or case getting thrown about and damaged. I have read somewhere to put a sticker on the box stating it contains wedding dress in case anyone decides to open it and have a look so i'll be doing that in English and Spanish and guarding it with my life.lol.

Hi all, Great Review Cheeky26 I'm just looking to email ahead and try and pre-book some a la cartes, i've been on the website with the menu's and the restaurants listed are - Arlequin Don Pablo Le Gourmet Tequilla La gran Tortuga Frutos Del Mar Dolce Vita Mediteraneo El Pescador Oriental Mikado El Charro I don't recall anyone mentioning Oriental or El Charro on the forum, are these still there or were they ever there...and is that all of the restaurants apart from the buffets? Any recommendations? Thanks Nic. Xx

Yes we are coming from UK, we booked with Thomas Cook, we picked up our tickets today so I mentioned it to the travel agent and they seemed to think they may have got it wrong as all Thomas Cook bookings are supposed to be in Tulum? Im just going to wait and see what Jazmin says and see if we can be moved to Tulum as really want to be near the beach.

Thanks everyone for the information about the Spa & Excursions etc...I emailed Jazmin this week about a few last minute things and a couple of room requests....Karla has emailed me back saying Jazmin is out of office a few days but saying that our room is in Coba. I have been under the impression that we were staying in Tulum since we booked, I knew that there was a chance it could have been either Coba or Tulum when we booked but everything to do with the wedding such as restaurant choices and wedding locations were Tulum.....Will we have been upgraded if we are staying in Coba? I had really wanted to be in Tulum to be near the beach and also wanted an ocean view, does anyone have any opinions on which they think is best out of the two? Also if anyone has any recommendations for which Villa to request for either of these?? We are staying in a Junior Suite if that makes a difference? Thanks

Just one more thing, lol....We've been told that mosquito's can be quite bad and so will be taking repellent and bite spray etc, I am thinking of taking nets for the children's beds though, did anyone notice of they have the hooks on the ceilings in the rooms do hang them from? Thanks Nic. X

Hi Thanks Tlseege for the information. Does anyone have any ideas how much the excursions are roughly in resort? Just deciding where to go and if to book before we come or not (does anyone have any recommendations?)....We really want to go to Chichen Itza which is about £45 each if we book here before we go.....We are also thinking about maybe going to either Xel-Ha or Xplor if anyone has been to either of these? Are they places our children will enjoy?(18mths, 4 & 11 but can leave our 18mth old with grandparents for the day) We will also be going to Tulum ruins but I'm sure I've read on here that this is easy enough to get to ourselves? Does anyone know the entry price for this? Also within our group we know a few people who have recently visited Mexico, some staying in our hotel, some elsewhere and are hearing mixed reviews about traveling round. Some people have said they used the local buses (and I'm sure I've read on here that these are cheap, reliable & frequent???) and some people are saying that they were told that the buses weren't safe to use and so used a local taxi driver? We are traveling with young children so safety is paramount but also don't want to be getting ripped off by the taxi's if they are really expensive? One couple also said that they traveled in to Playa Del Carmen (which I was really wanting to do) to do some shopping but they found it really intimidating and scary as everyone was quite forceful in trying to get them to buy things and that one shop even locked them in while they were looking??? I am hoping it was an exaggeration but have any past brides being in to PDC and have any advice? And last questions for now.lol. Are treatments you have done at the Spa added on to your bill at the end like the wedding things or does this need paying for separately in Cash or Card? Thanks Nic. X

Hi all, So 7 weeks on Saturday until we fly out for our wedding, starting to panic about getting everything sorted now, lol. (Please can you add me to the roll call - in resort from 13th - 27th October and get married on the 24th) Thanks. I know I've seen the answer in here somewhere but I can't remember, can anyone tell me how long the walk down the aisle is for the Tulum gazebo and for the Tulum beach palapas please...in minutes for songs. Xx.....and do you know if roses and gerbera's are included in the bouquet we get included in the wedding package - do I need to send Jazmin a picture with the colours before we go or can they just get them dyed to any colour while we are there? Jazmin said our reception will be at the club diamond pool - does this mean anything to anyone, I'm debating on bringing lanterns to decorate, do you think we need them or is it nice enough without and if we do bring them how many do you think we will need? I'm sure I'm going to have lots more silly little questions over the next couple of weeks while we get all the last minute bits sorted so thank you in advance,lol..... Nic. Xx

Hi Shellee, I'm not a past bride, we get married on October 24th so will be there around the same time, I was told by Jasmin I had to pay for a minimum of 40 people as a package but after some negotiating she has agreed to let me pay for just the adults (we've got 19 adults & 6 children) for a 3 hour bar ($11 total pp) so I'm sure if you ask her she will let you just pay for the adults. x