Jill Conner

1. When you rented just the sound system, it included the music player, speakers, and microphone? And w/ your reception did they pack it all up right at 3 hours or is it a bit more flexible? Yes, that is all the sound system included. Well, the cords to attach everything together were also provided. We brought our personal iPad & iTouch loaded with music, but our guests also surprised us by bringing their own iPods as well. We asked a lot of questions about wifi (we were considering making a spotify playlist) before we left, but I never got a great answer. I'm glad we had our own music downloaded, because although there was wifi at the resort & at the Lobster House, it was spotty at best, and we all would have been really frustrated. That being said, if there was a song we really wanted, we were able to bring it up on youtube to play most of the time! We really had a very organic reception where our guests took over as DJs and we all got a little crazy. Here's some pics of the sound system, if it helps... Everyone picking out their songs... The speaker/microphone... the guy in the tan pants & white shirt is our friend... It was certainly nothing fancy, but it worked! As far as extending the reception, I believe Gloria said it was possible, but we didn't bother. We all just located to "the club" on the resort property, which was actually tons of fun and hilarious! I thought the reception sounded like it would be too short (prior to arriving in Mexico), but it ended up being the perfect amount of time in my opinion. I'm not really sure it would have been worth the $$ to extend our reception since we all had so much fun in the club! (And by "Club" this was also nothing TOO crazy or fancy... think RESORT club, not DOWNTOWN CANCUN club!). All our parents joined us, and then people went back to their rooms when they were ready for bed... 2. I have a bit of a shoe situation. My fiance is 6'7"...and I am not :-) I'm curious if you wore shoes or thought you could have managed wedges at the ceremony? If not, I could just go barefoot and my dress will be a bit long and then put on the shoes for the reception. I asked Gloria and she said they have "fabric like" aisle runners but nothing w/ any sturdiness. Is the sand packed or do you think you would have flopped on your face? I think you can see the "fabric like" runner in one of my pics above... no, it did not have any sturdiness to it. As far as shoes, I'll be honest, I'm not the best person to ask... sorry! I'm 5'10" and was pretty excited NOT to have to have shoes! I think I'd "flop on my face" in most heels! My husband is taller than me, but I was pumped about getting married with my toes in the sand! I know most of our guests wore shoes during the ceremony, but I don't remember specifics. Here is the best shoe shot I could find for you! I think my sister in law had some wedges on (third from the right)... I think most everyone was wearing flip-flops. Sorry! I actually had more of a problem with the breeze we had (which was WONDERFUL) because my dress was blowing and that was making me trip on it a little! Hope this helps!

I originally wanted a "welcome dinner" (in lieu of a "rehearsal dinner") the evening before our wedding. Gloria said this would not be a problem, and the resort would be able to accommodate our 20 guests at one table in one of the restaurants... BUT we had to have a "set menu". I thought this sounded WAY too much like our actual reception dinner we would be having the next evening. We wanted our guests to be able to enjoy their time at the resort apart from our wedding, and we wanted to allow "free time"... we didn't want them to be scheduled every minute of every day! We decided just to pick a bar (we picked the Martini bar) and have everyone meet for a "welcome cocktail" the night before the wedding. Our guests did not all arrive in Mexico on the same day, so this was an excellent for everyone to get together prior to the big day! We each had a drink, and then went to the restaurant of our choice for the evening. We all met back at the bar after dinner. This was NOT something arranged by the resort. We just thought it would be a fun way to get everyone together. Of note, Gloria mentioned that the resort restaurants are not able to sit more than 6 to a table. One of the nights, at the Mexican Restaurant Agave, the hostess was able to put our party at two tables (one of 6 and one of 14). This was a HORRIBLE experience. It took almost two hours for us to get our food, the staff seemed overwhelmed, and I felt terrible since we'd originally been told this wasn't possible. The restaurant staff said they usually don't seat that large of a party because it is too difficult for their kitchen staff/wait staff/etc. I wish they would have told us we had to break-up our party/split our tables. SO, if you decided NOT to do a "welcome dinner", but one of the restaurants says they can seat you at one, large table... I would avoid this. It was still nice chatting with our friends and family for 2 hours... but we were all starving! As far as welcome bags, yes, I did make welcome bags for all our guests. Most of our guests were couples, so we had one bag per room. I bought these really nice North Face bags online (www.zappos.com)... the girls were using them as beach bags all week. I figured they weren't a complete piece of junk, so they could use them after the wedding. My sister-in-law actually uses hers as a diaper bag! Although I could have gotten some less-expensive custom bags, I didn't think anyone really would want a "Jill & Bryan's Wedding" tote after our big day! Our wedding colors were also orange, white, and tan - so this KIND of matched!? I got each of the girls a Tiffany's necklace with their initial (these girls are my best friends in the world, and I wanted to get them something special - if I had a traditional wedding they would have been my bridesmaids and I would have been buying them jewelry anyway!). www.tiffany.com Bryan got all the guys a pair of Frogskin Oakleys (BIG hit with the guys! - we picked out a different pair depending on what we thought each guy would like!). We also put these t-shirts in the bags for the guys (we're from Cleveland). And we had signs made for the doors (except they said BRYAN & JILL) @ this Etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/designedbyme?ref=seller_info We went for some big-ticket items in our "Welcome bags" because we didn't want to drag a bunch of CRAP to Mexico, and we didn't want to have our guests have to drag a lot of CRAP back home! We did however, provide, a small bottle of ibuprofen, a lint roller, hand sanitizer, a chapstick, tums, and a nail file in the bag as well. AND we had a schedule of events for the guests (this was EXTREMELY limited - we really didn't know what was going on ourselves! - it basically said where the wedding was, and that it started @5pm followed by the reception and cocktail hour. We also had a welcome letter. And finally, and this was probably the most helpful part... we had a blank list with all our guests names printed on it.... as our guests arrived, Bryan and I filled in each guest room number on ALL the sheets. This was a GIANT pain in the butt, but everyone knew which room all the other guests were staying. We were spread all over the resort, so it wasn't like we were all in one wing or something. It was extremely helpful! We hand delivered each of our welcome bags (rather than having them waiting in the rooms) because we thought it was more personal. Bryan and I had ONE suitcase with personal items, and a second suitcase with all our "extra stuff". We carried on the sunglasses and necklaces because we didn't want them to get lost. On our way home, we put the first suitcase inside the second (now empty) suitcase and checked one bag. In addition to the items for the welcome bags, we brought some additional things from home. We actually had an entire small carry-on bag full of hand-painted maracas (hilarious & wonderful!), http://www.etsy.com/shop/SusieSuesCuteDesigns?ref=seller_info wedding programs, seating cards for the dinner table, a thank you for the dinner plate, http://www.etsy.com/people/ImbueYouIDo the orange chair sashes (I got them at www.tableclothfactory.com - WAY cheaper than what the resort charges for them! One chair sash is included in the wedding package, but I wanted two... sigh! We also brought woven fans for our ceremony. Now I know this seems like A LOT... but we seriously had all our personal stuff (clothes) in one bag (checked), one bag of extra stuff (checked), a carry-on bag of maracas, sunglasses, and necklaces, and I carried on my dress. I think we were pretty light packers! Enough for now... I'm excited for you girls! Lots of good reading material on this site! (Also, I know I haven't written my formal review of JUAN NAVARRO yet, but again, can't stress enough how WONDERFUL he was!) Until next time... Oh yeah, real quick: one more thing: I DID NOT give ANY instruction to the resort staff on how to set anything up. They have done this 3 million times for weddings, so I gave them some creative freedom. The table centerpieces were provided with our package. The resort decided how to place the fans, programs, maracas, how to tie the chair sash's etc. It was actually really fun NOT planning all these details and being surprised myself how beautiful everything looked!!

You'll have to ask the wedding coordinator for the options for cocktail hour. The available locations vary depending on the day of the week and the events the resort has planned. I had my wedding on a Friday, and I was given the options of the pier, Garibaldi Square, and the Foyer. I had my cocktail hour @ Garibaldi Square. I had read in previous posts that the foyer was HOT, and I wanted to be able to take pictures between the wedding & reception on the piers, so it was a process of elimination for me. Our guests actually ended up asking if they could end our cocktail hour early and go to the Lobster House (our reception site) because they were sweating to death in the square (apparently there was no air movement). I'm sure it might be possible to have cocktail hour on the beach... maybe not directly next to where the ceremony was held, but I'd say it's worth asking! In any case, the closer you can have the cocktail hour (and reception) to the water, the more likely you & your guests will be to have a breeze, and the more comfortable you will be! I have no idea what restaurant is closed on Saturdays, but the wedding coordinator should be able to provide this information. The location you choose will be yours for the night (closed to other guests at the resort), so you don't have to wait for other guests to finish eating. Our wedding ceremony was at the Beach Gazebo @ 5pm. Cocktail hour was from about 5:30 - 6:30pm, and then we all went to the Lobster House after that. Our photographer suggested we do all our "special dances" prior to dinner while the sun was still up (he said the lighting would be better), so that is what we all did. Then we sat down for dinner, had a few friends/family members give speeches/toasts. The resort did not "set up a dance floor" per se, but the tables were arranged so that there was a large open area that we turned into our dance floor (see pictures below). I would highly recommend the Lobster House if it is available. We had a great breeze during our entire reception, so there were no problems with the temperature. I guess I should also note our wedding was June 29th, 2012... right in the middle of Summer! I can't speak to the foyer, but if it was anything like Garibaldi Square everyone would have been miserable. Again, I heard in this forum that the foyer can be un-Godly HOT, but maybe one of the other ladies here can provide more insight. And ALL of the locations will be pretty private! No worries there! Happy planning & congratulations!!! Here are some pics (not professional, just from my friends). If you do need help with a photographer, I'd be happy to suggest JUAN NAVARRO!!! Above is a pic of the dance floor area just prior to dinner. You can see there is a huge area cleared of tables. We opted to have our friends DJ our wedding, so you can also see the speaker provided on the left (that is one of our guests in the tan pants & white shirt). You can also see the proximity of the bar to the dance floor (for when things got a little more crazy later in the night). Above is a picture of our dinner table. We had 20 guests at our wedding, and we opted to do one large table rather than 3 small round tables. My husband and I also sat at this table with our guests. Above is a pic from the "dance floor" later in the night!

And here are a few from our Cenote Trash the Dress (the Monday morning following our wedding). Again, check out http://www.juanphotos.com/. Can't go wrong with Juan Navarro in our opinion!!! This stuff looks like it's from a magazine... seriously can't believe they're OUR wedding pictures?! Also, the best part is that the cenote was freshwater... so my dress isn't ruined AT ALL. After the shoot, I left hung the dress up to dry (my bridal shop told me not to "wring it out"), and it is FINE! The bridal shop told me that salt-water on the beach & sand (if we had done a traditional trash the dress) would have ruined the dress for sure, but since this was just a fresh-water dunk, nothing was ruined! My dress was made out of charmeuse satin with a lace over-lay. The leather from Bryan's belt bled onto his pants, but it was a recent suit from the Express, so he just bought a new pair of pants to go with the suit! This underwater smooch is my favorite