KlazNov17
-
Posts
36 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Never
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Blogs
Store
Articles
Events
Reviews
Products
Posts posted by KlazNov17
-
-
Originally Posted by Jass7
Thank you KlazNov17!
I'm not sure why Ceco is already taken. What time is your wedding? It could be that there is another wedding there that day. On my day, which was a Thursday, there was a bride getting married at 3pm, which I didn't find out until I saw her at the Spa. My wedding was at 5pm, so I am glad that I was able to reserve Spice Terrace. Seriously, you will have a great time at the terrace. The area is somewhat private. Check it out when you get there.
How big is your wedding?
There is another wedding that day before mine. Mine starts at 4. I think that it will be better in the long run that it's at Spice Terrace because we are having a small wedding. There are 20 of us total. I just liked the CECO because of the fountains and how open it is. That might be better for a larger group though. Did you use the provided ceremony music or did you bring your own? I think we are just going to go with what they have but I am wondering what it sounds like. I am getting so excited! Did you and your husband do any of the activities or any excursions while you were there? anything you would recommend??
-
Originally Posted by Jass7
Spice Terrace is beyond gorgeous! That's where we had our reception, and we loved it. I too couldn't reserve until 1 month prior to the wedding.
Thanks Jass! Im sure it will be perfect. I am just a little confused as to why it is already taken. Oh well. I am learning not to sweat the small stuff and with 38 days to go I seem to be telling myself that more and more. Your pictures are beautiful! I am so happy for you! I hope your husband is doing better!
-
I am so sad! The CECO Terrace where we wanted to have our reception is not available so we have to have it on the Spice Terrace. Has anyone had their reception there? Is it as pretty as the CECO Terrace? Thats what I get for not reserving it sooner. 6 weeks away and starting to get excited and now this.
-
Originally Posted by crnasmb
Don't freak out, everything will be perfect! Here are the answers to your questions:
I got my hair and make up done at the spa along with my bridesmaids. Christian did my make up and hair and it was perfect. I am very picky and I could not find one flaw, it was beyond my expectations.
I had emailed the spa to make appointments for me and my bridal party and they recommended a 1:00 start for a 5:00 wedding and it turned out perfect. All 4 of us were done by 3 and we went back to my room and got dressed, had some champagne and took pictures with the photographer. Llenny touched base with me earlier in the day then she came to my room around 4 to give us our flowers and she told me she would be back at 4:55 to get me, my father and bridesmaids to escort us to the gazebo. She was right on time then the next time I saw her was at the end of the cocktail hour where she escorted our group to the event terrace where the reception was. I don't remember seeing her much at the reception (but she might have been there) but we didn't really need her services there because the DJ was in control of the music and flow of the evening (when to cut the cake, speeches etc).
We did not use our own script for the wedding. Roxanna the minister emailed me the 2 reading they typically use so we ended up using one of them and substituting a reading that we liked better.
Your wedding will be fantastic! I can't post pictures for some reason so send me your email address and I'll send you some pictures:)
Shannon
Thanks Shannon! I PMed you my email address
-
Originally Posted by crnasmb
Hi brides and grooms to be!
I have been home from my fabulous destination wedding for almost a month now so I thought it was time to finally sit down and write a review since I was able to gain so much useful information from past brides.
Resort-
My husband and I had visited EPM 2 years prior so we already knew how fantastic the accommodations, food, and service were. This visit was just as perfect. We travelled from 8/17-8/28 (wedding was 8/21). We had stayed in the 2 story roof top terrace during our first visit so we booked the same room category and absolutely loved it. All the rooms are great though...all of my guests stayed in the standard room and they were all very happy with their room. As mentioned before, the bathroom is a little different but it's manageable. Two of my girlfriends that had never met shared a room and they came up with a good system of putting an ipod on when they had to use the bathroom, the docking station was right there.
The food was outstanding, I never had a bad meal. Actually I gained 5 pounds in 12 days so it goes to show how good the food and drinks were. The room service was awesome for those afternoon siestas.
We probably spent $100-$150 in tips (not including any of the wedding tipping). You don't have to tip but these men and woman work so hard with such great customer service. One day I had the same waiter bring us room service breakfast, drinks by the pool then he was our server at dinner. We would give $1 per round of drinks by the pool, $3-5 for room service $2-3 for lunch and $5-$10 for dinner. The tips just depended on how many small bills we have. Like I said, you don't have to tip but if you look around at other guests it seemed most people tipped at least a little. The drink service around all the pools was amazing. If you throw a few dollars their way then your drink will never get empty.
It seemed our room was cleaned later in the day than most of my guests but that was no big deal. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the resort and staff.
WEDDING
Ceremony-
It was perfect and so incredibly amazing! I couldn't have asked for anything better. We arrived on Friday 8/17 and met with Llenny on 8/18. She had a folder with all of the million questions/requests I had sent her over the past year. She was extremely organized and such a doll. We had a 5pm wedding at the beach gazebo and would highly recommend it over the beach. It was still very hot and very sunny at 5pm so it was nice to give some relief from the sun to us and our guests. The pictures were amazing at the gazebo and it was nice to then take a bunch of pictures on the beach. We hired Javier Rojas to play the guitar for the ceremony and he was beyond amazing. His price is a bit high for less than an hour of service but his music totally set the mood and was absolutely perfect. We had a symbolic ceremony and it was beautiful. The ministers name was Roxanna and she was very good but her accent was a little strong. Even now when we watch the video from the wedding it's hard to understand some of the things she was saying. She was great before the wedding about emailing me back with questions about the ceremony. I had two of my closest family members who were not in the wedding party do the two ceremony readings and it was beautiful and very sentimental. The weather was perfect the entire day (and the entire 12 days we were there!)
Reception-
Our cocktail hour was at the X-Lounge, it was gorgeous and perfect since it was right on the beach.
We had the reception for our 25 guests on the event terrace (CECO terrace). Again, I would highly recommend this because it's very secluded from the rest of the resort so you feel like you are at your own private wedding. We did not use the in house DJ, we used Ivan Gomez from dj doremixx. I found his name on a different thread and after contacting him and seeing his prices we went with him. The 2 mails addresses I have for him are [email protected] and [email protected]. Even after paying the $300 vendor fee it was quite a bit cheaper to go through him for the services we wanted.
We had the gold wedding package which was perfect and we also extended our reception by one hour. The food was excellent. We had the caesar salad to start (yummy), the seafood bisque (not my favorite) and a choice of chicken and mahi mahi OR beef and scallops for the main course. Everyone raved about the food so I know it was good. I loved the look of my cake and the flavor was good.
The only thing I would change for the reception is the lighting on the tables. I had 'purchased' through the resort 10 tee light candles for the table and they wouldn't stay lit because of the Caribbean breeze. I would recommend the candles that look like tee lights but are battery operated. We brought paper lanters for them to hang and upgraded some of the centerpieces. I decided to have all of my guests sitting at one rectangular table, it worked out great.
Photographer/Videographer-
We used in the house photographer Juan Carlos and again I can not say enough about his amazing service. Every single person I show my pictures to comment on how beautiful his work was. He was with us from the spa all the way to the end of the reception. We went next door to the resort after the ceremony for pictures and the pictures were beautiful. We did not have any issues with bugs/flies/mosquiotos like other brides had. Juan and his crew were awesome to work with. We had a meeting with him 3 days after the wedding to look at all the edited photos and the edited video from the whole day. I cried like a baby watching it! Everything was set to music and the video was beyond perfect. One of the best decisions we made was to choose him for our wedding. When we left to go home we had a 10x12 coffee table style photo book of 100 of the best shots, the wedding dvd, a disc with all of the edited photos (200 pics) and 2 discs with every picture he took (over 2,000!) and of course the copyright permission to make copies of all the photos. He was amazing to work with!
I will try and figure out how to post pictures. I'm sure there are a lot of details I left out so please ask me anything. You will have the time of your lives!
Shannon
I'm so glad to hear everything went so smoothly! I am 8 weeks away and starting to freak out a bit. Did you get your hair done at the resort or did you do it yourself? Also, would you mind telling me what your day of timeline was like? When did you start gettign ready etc? Was Lleny there for the majority of your wedding? Also, did you use your own script for the ceremony or the one the minister already had? We are using the in house photographer as well so I am glad to know he was so good. I can't wait to see pics and sorry about all the questions!
-
Originally Posted by Jass7
I have been getting a really really slow response from the coordinator. I assumed this was okay months away from the wedding, but two weeks away and still slow response? I'm really disappointed!
The minister and the spa response time is great! And I was wondering has anyone done their nails at the spa? I don't know if I should do it few days before I leave or on the day of. Hmmmm.
How frustrating! I wish they had more people working for them so we could get answers faster. I keep telling myself that every bride comes back after they have gotten married here and says that for the most part everything was under control. Hopefully that will be the same for you! I think I am planning on getting my nails done the day before we leave with a shellac mani so it will hold up a bit better. I will bring my own polish so if I do get a chip I can fix it myself. Are you using the ministers script or did you write your own? And do you by chance have his email address??
-
So helpful. Thank you May12!
Originally Posted by May12
They usually put the dance floor area under the pergola on the Terrace, and you can flank it with white curtains to define the space.
The round tables are not huge. They do fit 10 people but cramped. We had 6 guests at each table at it was very comfortable for everyone. You can easily do a sweetheart table and 3 tables of 6 around you, a sweetheart table with 2 rectangular tables on either side of you, or just 1 big table. They'll make the space work for you. You'll also have a table for your cake, possibly your bar outside, and a signing table if you have that...no worries, they'll fill it up.
How much time you spend with your WC will depend on how much you have planned and set up to do, and also, how much you've already gone over. We spent a few hours going through every detail soup to nuts, and the rain back-up plan. We also had a ton of things dropped off for her so even after our "meeting" we were going back and forth with questions and she was taking pics of our things and wanted to double check to make sure we were on the same page. It doesn't sound like you're doing a civil ceremony so you won't need to meet with her for those things, but you will have a rehearsal the night before at some point as well.
Time will go by SOOOOOO fast once you get there!
Suggestion...do as much as you can ahead of time before you go down there. We had raffia fans and made them all up with ribbon and flowers a month before we left. If you have bows on things like your favors or tying your welcome letter together, either make/tie them before, or cut the ribbon length and label them in a ziplock-easy to pack and easy to hand off to your WC if you have anything for her. If you have "stuff" sunscreen, aloe, advil, tums, etc, make sure to take the out of the packaging. (It will also help going through customs too) We found sheer favor bags at AC Moore and put them all together ahead of time as "kits". Hangover kit-Advil, Tums, EmergenC...Sun kit-Sunscreen, Aloe, spf lip balm...Pull it together kit-5 Hour energy and starbucks mints. It looked great in the OOT bags and made it so much easier to put everything together. We also grabbed a couple of our wedding party who were down ahead of time to help.
Just remember to take a ton of pics during this part and enjoy every second!
Quote:
-
Hi Ladies! A few questions for past and future brides...
Are any of you doing one big rectangle table for the reception? We are having a small group of about 20 and the reception is outsite on the CECO Terrace and I don't know if one table will look funny with the dance floor. But if I do round tables it will only be 2-3 of them which may also look funny. Or I am totally reading into this too much.
Also, how much time did the past brides spend with the WC to go over and finalize everything? I am only going down 2 days before the wedding date and will need time to get the OOT bags and favors ready as well as see the incoming guests. -
Originally Posted by crnasmb
Hi Sheryl,
Thank you so much for the info! I'm less than 7 weeks away now!
Quick question for all the brides..have any of you used the outside vendor Dj Doremixx? They have been great to work with so far. Even after paying the resort vendor fee, the DJ is significantly less expensive than the in-house DJ. Let me know if anyone has any experience working with them. Thanks!
When I got my quote for Doremixx and added the vendor fee they were $400 more than the in house DJ. You must have got a really good quote!
-
Any ladies know how the spa works or how much everything is? If I book the appts under my name will the 15% discount apply for all the bridesmaids too?
-
Originally Posted by Jass7
Thanks for that tip. Yeah I think I'm gonna get some wedge heels about 3 inches, and hem the dress to that height, that way if I go barefoot I can still do it. The alteration guys told me I still needed a hem while wearing 4 inche heels. Do you know what Steve Madden T-Strap sandal your bridesmaids is going to wear? I saw these on Nordstrom.
Those are cute and will still give some height. My bridesmaid is pretty tall so she can get away with wearing flats. This si what she was thinking...
-
Originally Posted by Jass7
Beach ceremony brides, what are you ladies thinking about shoes? Are you going barefoot? I was thinking about that, but I am very short, so I would need to hem my petite dress (which is already short-yep that short!). I think I could get away with a wedge heel on the beach, but not sure. I definitely want to be able to wear 3 inch heel for reception but not sure if I woudl be tripping over it on the beach. HELP!
Hi Jass7,
I am going barefoot on the beach and then I have about 3 1/2 inch heels for the reception. One of my brisdesmaids doesnt really want to go barefoot so she is wearing a pair of Steve Madden T-Strap sandles with rhinestones on them. They are super cute and I think they would look cute with a wedding dress as well.
-
Originally Posted by 2012BeachBride
We are getting in on Wednesday and most of our guests are coming on thursday! We are doing our ceremony in the gazebo and have confirmed the event terrace for the reception. What locations are you thinking about?
Just to avoid any extra stress with music, we booked the dj. Still unsure about extras like the lighted dance floor..
We are thinking about doing the ceremony at the beach but it will just depend on how windy it ends up being. So far we are thinking about the event terrace as well. I totally agree with you on the DJ. The less stress the better. Did you get a list of prices for the extras?
-
Originally Posted by Jass7
Yeah that's understandable. Are you planning to get a dance floor or rent anything else from the DJ?
I just emailed him back asking him if he had a list of extras or if I need to get that from the wedding coordinator. I wish the floor was included. That seems pretty standard.
-
Originally Posted by Jass7
We are not going with a DJ, but plan to bring an ipod dock to play during dinner reception, and do some dancing afterwards. We are fairly small and shy group.
I have thought about that too since our group is small but I am just worried about having a guest be responsible for announcing us and having to push play and anything else that could go wrong. I think $900 is a little expensive but at the same time I think it will ease my mind and give me one less thing to stress about.
-
Originally Posted by 2012BeachBride
Klaznov17,
We were quoted 2 diff prices for dj mannia, (originally $1200 for 3 hours) but the last I heard from N was $900 for 3 hours and add $500 for the lighted dance floor. The dj has a menu of items you can add on as well for additional cost. Hope this helps! Ps we are getting married on the same date!
That's awesome! When do you arrive? We will be there on the 15th. What time is your ceremony and where are you having the reception? I feel like I have nothing planned still!
-
Has anyone used the in house DJ Mannia? We were quoted $900 for 3 hours but I don't know what that includes. Do you pay extra for lights and the dance floor or is all that good stuff included? I wish the WC's would give more explanation in their answers so I wouldn't have to send another follow up email!
-
Originally Posted by Ally Marquis
i flew united and they were super nice! i put mine in an overhead bin laying flat and they were completely fine with it!
Good to know they were nice about it. Thanks Ally!
-
Originally Posted by Rebecca1314
Jass,
I was just married on May 5th and flew American. Some of the larger airlines unfortunately still do not have hanging closets, or use their closets for storage. I just spoke to the attendants at the gate as soon as we got there and let them know that I had a wedding gown. They were all so nice and went out of their way to help. On one of the flights they actually asked the captain to hang it in the cockpit and the other flight hung it in the back of 1st class. Even the TSA agents were really nice and gave me the tip of laying down the dress at the back of my bin, hooking on the dress to the bin so that it would drag through the Xray and not get crushed. Also, the Excellence will press your gown and your fiancés suit/tux as part of the wedding packages and then have it delivered back to the room early the day of the wedding.
So helpful Rebecca! I am a little scared to let my dress out of my site even to the hotel staff to press it but I assume everything was just fine! Did you or any of the other brides ship any of the items they used for the reception to the hotel beforehand? I just got an email back from my WC Lleny and she said she recommended it but I'm a little hesitant in case it doesn't make it in time or it gets lost.
-
Hi Ladies,
Has anyone figured out how they are getting their dress to Cancun? I am flying United and have heard they are not very nice about hanging up your dress for you. I really don't want to stuff it in a suitcase or in the overhead bin!
-
Originally Posted by danak71
Have you tried looking on ebay? I'm not sure what material you're looking for but here's a link I found for coral organza...but I'm sure you can search for satin as well:
Perfect! Thank you!!
-
Originally Posted by danak71
Have you tried looking on ebay? I'm not sure what material you're looking for but here's a link I found for coral organza...but I'm sure you can search for satin as well:
Thank you! This helps a lot!
-
Originally Posted by Jass7
Someone please help, I just ordered my invites and rsvp cards and I gave my guests 3 options for dinner entrees. Now I'm freaking out because I think I should have only given them 2. Our group will be small, maybe 12 people total, but still has anyone done 3 options? I don't know how much extra it would be, and I don't think I have time to ask the coordinator since she takes forever to respond. I'm still waiting to hear back from her on some food choices I had questions on for almost over a week.
I think I can change my rsvp card before it goes to print but I have to act fast.
So confused! =(
Hi Jass,
I gave my guests 3 options as well and was told by Lleny there was no charge for this. She said as she needs it the seating chart with what each person wanted.
-
Originally Posted by MsBlissMpls
okay a few more....
Sorry I can't make them smaller so they take up less room...You look beautiful!! I love your dress and the reception is so pretty!! Who was your photog??
Excellence Playa Mujeres Brides Post Here!
in Destination Wedding in Riviera Maya, Cancun & surrounding areas
Posted
Thanks Ally! I am starting to feel better about it now. I doubt there is a place at the resort that isnt beautiful!