newloves1975

Just a small suggestion about shoes. I had my ceremony at the Gazeebo and wore heels. When the ceremony was over the photographer told me I needed flip flops. I suggested going barefoot but he said where he was planning to go the ground was rough. I had to have someone go up to my room to get me a pair (I'm so glad I just happened to pack 2 white pair)!

WOW!!! That is seriously one of the best wedding videos I have ever seen. Jen you look gorgeous!

Hi girls! Just wanted to share our highlight video and some photos of the day.  The resort is truly beautiful and Cecilia is fabulous.  She will guarantee your day is perfect.   Video was created by Moho Creative: http://vimeo.com/56950622 Photos by Fine Art Studio: http://www.fineartstudioblog.com/oqeypopups.php?oqeyid=213 Please feel free to ask me questions about the resort, vendors, my experience, etc., and I will try to help!  I plan to do a review of the external vendors we used as well as the resort at some point....hopefully this week. Jen

hi ladies! they wouldnt let me post my review here for some reason - so it is posted under the resort reviews here http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/secrets-maroma-beach-resort ENJOY!! : )

Today is my last day at the resort It is absolutely beautiful here! I don't want to leave! The wedding was perfect! Full review when I get back. :)

KCDawn, you're gorgeous! Was your hair pinned up? It's a little hard to tell from the pictures. Was the wind too much for your hair? I was thinking of wearing my hair very similar. I leave on Thursday ahhhhh!!! I can't believe the day is here already, it feels so unreal! I'll update when I get back

Originally Posted by msop04 

 

I have a question for the ladies that have already been married at SMB...

 

We are having our reception at the Gazebo Terrace, and I am worried about light.  I have seen the one sad little lamp that is shown in the photo of what is included, but is that going to be enough?  I didn't see ANY light in the gazebo -- what do they normally use to light inside it??...  Since that is the focal point, is it necessary to shell out $350 for 10 lamps or do you think it would be nice to have a lot of candles/votives?    

 

That being said, what do you all think about having one long table for our dinner, as opposed to 2-3 small round tables?  Is the Gazebo large enough for us to eat inside it or should it be used to house the cake??  LOL  ...I'm so confused!  I want to take full advantage of our space.  

 

I am leaving 2 weeks from today!

I had the same question about the tables for dinner. I am having 11 or 13 people (you would think I'd have an exact # by now right?)

I think I want to dance inside the gazebo but still not sure if it will happen or not. But since you are not going to have dancing it doesn't matter.

Cecilia told me the the max they can sit at a round table will be 11 or they can put square tables together to look like a rectangle so everyone can sit at one. The gazebo has more than enough room for the dinner, but not dinner AND dancing. She also told me if I chose 1 round table and ate inside the gazebo they could move the table out for dancing. But if I had the rectangle tables they could not move them. So even though I really want to eat inside the gazebo it looks like that will not happen since we want to dance.

I don't know the prices but I saw pictures of some pretty colored lights inside the gazebo. I think Cecilia called them lighted curtains. It looked beautiful.

I have taken 3 hours packet, no printed pictures and all digital files. I didn't want loose time in my vacation choosing pictures so I have decided to not ask any printed images whilst I wanted all the shot. With 3 hours you don't have pictures before the ceremony (they don't came in the room for preparation), you have time for the ceremony, for the old mansion and some at the beginning of the dinner. If cut the cake at the end of the dinner you will not have professional pictures. For my small wedding (only 10 people) this packet has been perfect!

It wasn't hard for me to decide which photos from the 800. They were not all photos that I loved, so I just didn't choose those. There were no photos in the proofs that he sent me that were blurry or with our eyes closed, so he would have removed any of those. I wouldn't say all of the "bad" ones were taken out because there were plenty that I didn't like of myself. I wouldn't really say they were bad photos, just not ones that I loved. For me personally, I felt like 800 was a ton to go through and choose from. I was actually overwhelmed doing it and it took me several weeks. I had several photos of everything, I would say maybe 6 of my dress, a few of my jewelry, tons of us getting ready, and so on. We had plenty of photos at the mansion and of the ceremony. There were plenty of the toasts, etc.  For me personally, I didn't need or want any other photos to choose from. Out of the 800 photos, I ended up with 400 good ones that I chose and I am just anxiously waiting for them to come through Fed Ex. I am very excited to see the album. I will be happy to take a few pics of the album so you can see what it looks like.

Hi Newloves, We did special package number 1. It gave us enough time to have them come early and do photos of us getting ready, then the ceremony and photos after. We went to the mansion next door and did photos there. After that we went to the cocktail hour which was pretty much over and he took photos of us doing the cake cutting, toasts, and first dance and mother/son dance. We did all of that before dinner. 5 hours was up at that point and it went by really fast. If you are not having a reception, 3 hours would be fine. He could def make it work for you.  He sent me about 800 proofs about 4 weeks after the wedding. I went through and chose what photos or what size I wanted. He has printed them and I am waiting for the Fed Ex package now!

We're doing photo package 6, which is also 3 hours but includes all of the negatives.  I'm not sure if it's worth an extra $200 over package 5.  Otherwise they are the same. When I was deciding on how much time and which package I emailed Juan.  I was impressed that he wasn't pushing for extra time like other places I contacted.  I'm guessing 3 hours will be enough for you.  If you're not sure, I would email him and just tell him what you want and he'll tell you how much time you need.  That's what I did.  

Can we talk about photos again? I have Juan booked and special photo package 1 (5 hours). I'm Starting to think this might be too much time since now I'm not really going to have much of a reception. Most of the other packages are 3 hours. Will that be enough time? What photo package is every one else getting? If I switch to package 5 for 3 hours I will get 250 digital images. That just doesn't sound like it is that many pictures. But if I can pick the pictures that i get then it might be ok. I'm also doing the TTD the following day.

Hey Guys! I finally got settled into our new place after the wedding and I was able to post these pics as well!  I wanted to show anyone who is using Juan Navarro or his team how great they are!  We actually had Alex and Tony and we were very impressed with how wonderful they came out   I was reading a couple of pages back and saw some people wondering about using dinner at one of the restaurants as their reception.  We did the same thing and it was great, except for we did not care for the Italian restaurant.  We had our ceremony at the gazebo and it was beautiful!  We were on a budget so we opted not to do the cocktail hour, and honestly I feel like we made the right decision.  We were still taking pictures after everyone in the ceremony and other guests had finished their pictures with us, so they all went up to the lobby and mingled and had drinks from the bar and there was plenty of seating and a nice ambiance!  After dinner we still had too much time until the nightclub opened, and even though it was not in my plan everyone went to the Rock of Ages show until it opened.  It was nice!  I did change out of my wedding dress and into a short cocktail dress to dance because my dress was going to get so dirty!  It already had dirt on the bottom of it from the sand on the beach.  Trust me, you don't want to dance on your dress unless you don't care about that.  All in all, the wedding turned out wonderful.  There were just a few small things that did not go as planned, but I guess that is what you need to expect on a destination wedding.

Thanks Beach Bride! So there is a judge and a minister performing the ceremony?  Cecilia just sent me the script that the judge reads but I'm guessing that the minister has a different one?  I am happy to hear the ceremony is done in English - I was under the impression that it had to be done in Spanish.   Do you know how long the legal ceremony is supposed to be?  Cecilia said it was about 30 minutes.

Is it just me, or does everyone read reviews for this resort on trip advisor? Everytime I read them I get more and more excited!! I can not wait until I get there!

Right now the planning is pretty much on hold. I have the Gazeebo reserved for the wedding and reception and the photographer booked. I haven't picked the menu or decided on a DJ or really anything else. I haven't ordered anything yet for the OOT bags. I have a little bit over 2 months until the wedding. I just sent Cecilia an email asking how much time I have to decide if I need to change it or not. I feel guilty for holding on to the reception location, there is another wedding that day and she may want it, who knows. My RSVP date is September 15th. I hope I'll have a better idea then.

My guests are dropping like flies I know I read a post somewhere with a very small wedding and the reception was actually dinner at one of the restaurants. Does anyone know what page that is on? Right now I have the ultimate package and I have Juan as my photographer for 5 hours. I'm thinking that I might have to lessen the photo package and cancel the reception. I would just have a private small dinner and dancing later that night at the Desires club. Has anyone had a large package and then changed to a smaller one?

I'm so glad I found this thread, I'm in the same boat as many of you.  At least there are people out there who are going through what I'm going through and feel as depressed as I do.  

I moved to Texas from PA, and I'm literally getting it from both ends.  Before I put the deposit down, or sent the Save the Dates I had so many people saying how great of an idea it was to get married on the beach, it will be so beautiful, etc, etc. Now everyone is just so busy, they don't have the money, there's too much crime in Mexico, we have all heard this same story.  It just still baffles me how the same people who were so excited about the DW and said they wanted to come are the same people that NOW want me to spend MY money, and use all of MY vacation time from work to come to their city for MY wedding!  Do people realize that I can only take so many days off of work per year? Do they realize that if I chose to have my wedding where it was convenient for them that I would sacrifice my honeymoon?  We all seem to have the desire to make everyone happy and that is just not possible. At this point I almost wish we decided to go to Mexico and get married with just the 2 of us. I feel like it would have been much less stress.

Ladies, I am almost at the 100 day mark!

I'm thinking about getting maracas but my Internet search isn't coming up with many options.  Where did everyone get theirs from?

I might just have to copy that and use it on my invites! I wanted to make passport invite so bad but last min I switched to pocket folds. I just didn't think I would have enough time to make the passport ones. Even though my mom isn't helping me financially she flipped when I put something about the $100 fee on the website. I had to change it and just state that a day pass is required. She would totally lose it if I wrote that on the invites. But if it was up to me I would!

 

I am still working on our invitations but here is what I have so far for the accommodations page. 

Secrets Maroma Beach Riviera Cancun, a AAA Four Diamond Resort, is tucked away on secluded Maroma Beach, voted the World’s Best Beach by the Travel Channel four years in a row.

(Three stock pictures of the beach and pool area from the Secrets website inserted here) Featuring six gourmet restaurants, a buffet, and seven bars and lounges, this all-inclusive, adults only resort is located only 20 miles south of Cancun’s International Airport.  Enjoy nightly entertainment, water sports, golf and 24-hour room service. I took the first section directly from the resort info I found on SMB's website.  The last part is a paraphrased version of something from the same place.  The TA information is on the opposite page (I'm doing passport invites).  On that page I'm adding a note about the $100 fee for a daily pass if they stay somewhere else.   I think it's important to let people know that.  I wouldn't suggest people stay elsewhere.  If you do that I think people will definitely start comparing rates and complain about the prices.  . 

Thanks! I already have a wedding website with a bunch of info. I don't know if people are actually looking at it or not. Right after I sent out the save the dates my travel agent mailed travel info to everyone with a quote that was good for about a month (I think). No one took advantage to the lower price except for my parents and siblings. TA never mailed out the new quote once the price went up. She also will price match so if a guest finds a cheaper price on any site she will match it. Did you use a TA? My problem is I can't lock in a price unless I block off rooms, I can't fill 10 rooms so that isn't an option.

Hi newloves. Did you give the people that you are inviting any sort of idea about the cost? If you really want people to stay at the resort, I would only list the resort. I never mentioned other hotels to any guests and only 2 stayed outside of the resort. One everyone was there, they all knew it was worth the cost.I believe that the accommodation cards should only have the name/address of hotel and that a room rate has been reserved and what to do it they want to take advantage. You may want to make a wedding website where you can put additional info about the resort and give people options for booking. What we did: suggested a few TA's that people could use and suggested payment plans (a few guests did this). We also listed the top 3 travel sites that we found the lowest rates for people to use (cheaptickets.com, orbitz.com, apple.com). If you do the website, you can put the info. I would fists put it out there. If someone starts freaking out, then maybe suggest that they stay at another resort if they wish. You may find that most will just book and won't really freak. I was surprised by this myself. Everyone who was invited showed up and stayed at the resort.

Ok ladies, I feel like I am so behind on the whole wedding! With Cecilia handling almost everything you would think that I could manage the simple things...like ordering the invitations!

I haven't ordered them yet, well actually I am planning on a semi DIY, I ordered the pocket folds and that's as far as I got!

I need some advise/help on the accommodation card. As some of you may know I am totally stressed out that the price has gone up so much since I have decided on the resort.

What exactly should I put on the accommodation card? TA info of course! But do you think I should put a quote or something cute about Secrets being one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, or a Luxury resort & that's why we chose it...etc? Should I even suggest nearby resort (that may be less expensive)? How do I get people to realize that you get what you pay for? You can take a Vacation to Mexico really cheap, but this resort is well worth the money. (Or so I have heard)!

I am just so nervous about the prices and that people will cringe, have sticker shock and not go!

Beachbride- Thank You! This helps out a ton! I wasn't planning on bringing an iPod dock but I was really considering just using my iPod and renting the sound system. If I manage to get more guests confirmed I want to get the dj. I didn't even consider the possibility of 2 wedding receptions going on at the same time. I wonder what happens if both brides wanted to use the resort dj, would it be on a first come first serve basis?

Newloves-I know this is directed at Cri, but just for info, I had the sound system on the beach. I had 20 guests and don't think anyone would have heard anything without it. It stormed really bad earlier that day and was pretty windy. The veil wasn't a problem though. A bridesmaid can tuck it into the back of your dress when you get up there if it's super windy and it won't blow and will look normal from the front. Just let them know before the ceremony to keep an eye for it blowing everywhere. Also, speaking of sound system, etc. I remember a few people saying they would use an ipod and ipod dock for their sound system during the reception. Just some food for though here. We brought an ipod and good quality ipod dock with loud volume to use for the bonfire on the beach. It was pointless. There was a wedding reception going on at the wedding gazebo and they had a DJ. You couldn't hear ours and it just sounded like a mess trying to play it while the DJ was playing at the reception. If there isn't a reception you will be fine...otherwise it's just pointless. We were fine listening to the DJ music though. We did our reception at the Barracuda Terrace. It's just on the opposite side of the pool from the wedding gazebo. There was another reception that started shortly after mine at the gazebo. The DJ's will work to make sure one doesn't drown out the other, but if you had an ipod dock (no sound system) you will basically be out of luck. The DJ music is very loud and it will drown out any ipod dock imo. I was soooooo glad that I chose the DJ because our reception would have been completely different. Just keep that in mind, and maybe check to be sure that there aren't 2 wedding receptions going on at those locations at the same time if you are planning to bring an ipod dock and not use the resort sound system or DJ. If you have the DJ it isn't a problem at all. They will communicate with each other to get the right volume so that one isn't heard over the other. The DJ/MC made the reception the awesome party that it was though, so if it's in the budget I would go for that. We just used the resort DJ and were glad we did.

Cri,

I really love your set up! My color is similar to yours, but a bright pink! I am (or was) supposed to have my wedding at the gazebo at 4pm. All this talk about the new canopy set up, and people being at the beach vs. the pool is making me consider changing my location too. The new canopy is beautiful!

The reason I chose the gazebo is because I was worried about not being able to hear the ceremony over the sound from the ocean, and it being more windy. My mothers ONLY request was that I wear a veil, I really didn't want to because of the wind, but I figured that since it meant so much to her I would wear one.

Did you have a sound system? And was the ocean very loud and windy?

Originally Posted by CriCri 

This has been my wedding canopy

 

 

 

Flowers by Mayan Floral

Pictures by Tony Rues and Alex Mel

 

I have just upload some other pictures regarding my  flower arrangments on the beach.

Write me in private to receive the link.

Amberh, at least I'm not the only one having a hard time reaching Juan! I verified when I booked him that he will be my photographer. However, the only thing that I have that confirms it is an email. I would like a reconfirmation, or a contract or something! I'm sorry about all the dress problems you are having. That really stinks. I ordered 2 dresses from eBay, I received 1 already and it looks really good! I just need to get the sides taken in a little bit. I'm planning on using that one for my TTD. I'm still waiting for my ceremony dress to come in. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, it has beading and appliqué lace, more elaborate than the first one. They are from 2 different dress makers in china. So what are your plans on the wedding day? Are you not having a reception? I have had several people tell me that they can't come because of the cost, even though they told me they were coming. I am getting the Ultimate package. If my guest list gets any smaller I may have to do dinner at a restaurant instead.