loripanori

Holy cow, we leave first thing Sunday morning! I can't believe how time has flown by. We still don't have a menu figured out - the chef emailed us once but hasn't gotten back to us since about any of our requests. I'm hoping we can sort that out when we get there, otherwise we will probably switch to the buffet (which I would be happy with, but my fiance seems quite set on having a seated/plated dinner). We're also still trying to decide whether to add an extra hour to our reception. The cost of this is $15 per person (+ tax and service), plus the cost of the DJ for an hour, is that right? We have a smallish group (24 adults, 6 children), and I just don't know if everyone's going to be up dancing! If they are, then I would want to extend it, but if everyone is just kinda mingling around and not dancing a lot, then I wouldn't want to pay extra to extend that by an hour. So hard to know.

Hey Dominique! Hope to see you there. What is your timeline for your wedding? It's the last thing I'm struggling with, as I've been talking to both Lorena and the photographer about the best times for pictures etc. Right now we have the ceremony scheduled for 4, and the reception for 6:30. We can't do the ceremony at 4:30 but could move it to 5 or 5:30... but the photographer said we should plan to be done all pictures by 6:45, in terms of the catching all of the good light on the beach. So I'm not sure what to do. I would be interested to hear how you're scheduling it all! Thanks, Lori

I will try to help where I can! I understand your frustration. I am getting married on April 18th, and last night I finally had to email Lorena to ask for some immediate answers to questions I sent several days ago. Whenever I start to freak out, I just remind myself that everyone here says that it all falls into place when you get there. You can sort almost everything out, and add, change, and move things, when you meet with the wedding coordinator when you arrive. I have contact emails for two coordinators - Gaby: [email protected] Lorena: [email protected] I believe if you use the mariachi trio for the ceremony, or one of the other musicians (saxaphone etc), it costs about $50 to rent the microphone for the ceremony. I don't have any specific info on the sand ceremony, but I think that the officiant usually reads the script. You may be able to ask to sub in a family member, if you'd like to do that. We are not having an official cocktail hour. If you don't have a cocktail hour, you can only exchange the credit for other items in the food category - usually people use this to cover some extra guests for dinner. I think it can also cover other food items such as cake & menu upgrades. If you don't have more than 20 guests, you probably won't be able to save much money by cashing it in, and may as well just have one. The DJ & reception is where I struggled the most as well. We have 24 adults, and 6 children. Originally we were just going to play an ipod, and if people wanted to dance, then they would dance. But... Renting the sound system by itself is quite expensive! The DJ ends up being an extra $120 per hour (sound system is $180/hr, DJ is $300). So we decided to have the DJ for 2 hours, and will play a playlist for the first hour during dinner. That way there's someone (other than us) in charge of changing songs and trying to get people to dance. I don't know if we have enough people to have a real dance (probably not!), but I've heard lots of people say that they had 15 - 30 people and had a lot of fun with the dance part of the reception. So we'll see! I'm not totally sure about this, but I think weddings only have a DJ and dance if the restaurant is shut down for the wedding. I think I read somewhere that if you simply reserve tables in a restaurant (rather than the full restaurant), you can't play your own music etc. I've heard of lots of people having the Seaside Grill for their reception at no extra charge (although we weren't given this option!), and I don't recall ever seeing any other resort guests present at the receptions. If you were offered the Seaside Grill for your reception (vs reserving tables at the Seaside Grill), then you will probably have the whole place to yourselves.

I don't think it's tacky at all. I'd say to extend the invitation to the people who you absolutely want there, and see how many will be able to attend, and then go from there. If anyone questions it, just say you decided that you want a small intimate wedding with just very close family and friends. For us, the location really cut down our guest list. We had a huge guest list planned for a local wedding here, because of all of our extended family who would be invited, and live close by, and would definitely attend. But once we threw the cost of a destination wedding at our potential guests, the number who would attend dropped drastically. I actually kind of wish we limited our guest list more, because while we have mostly close friends and family going (which is what we wanted), some of our closest friends couldn't attend for one reason or another, and instead we ended up with a few aunts and uncles deciding to come who we aren't really that close with.

Hi Emily, Thanks for this info! I missed it last night somehow, and just saw it now. How did you find the lighting for your pictures? Did you find you had enough bright light to get lots of pictures with family etc, and then also some time for sunset pictures? If that makes sense, hahaha. I checked and the sunset time for your date was around 6 pm, which is about an hour before ours, so I think I could definitely push back my ceremony and reception a bit. Did it get dark during your cocktail hour or earlier? And was it pretty much totally dark by the start of your reception? Also, how did you find this timing worked overall? Would you have spaced anything out differently to have more or less time for pictures or anything else?

Have there been any stories etc recently about receptions on the beach? I've been trying to see if we can switch to the pool deck, but no dice, the only options I am getting are the pool terrace, beach and ballroom (which are the same three options I was given originally). We're probably going to stick with the pool terrace, but my fiance was saying that maybe it would be nice to be on the beach. He wasn't a big fan of the pool terrace pictures because there's "so much concrete", haha. I seem to remember hearing that the beach isn't great for the reception, because if it's windy there's blowing sand and harder to eat, etc. Does anyone have an opinion or any info on this?

Hi again Vika, No, Lorena told me that if we didn't want/need to include our parents names, we didn't need our birth certificates at all. All you need in that case is your passports & tourist cards, 4 witnesses (arriving the same day as you) & their passports, the blood tests (which they do when you get there), and the legal form that needs to be completed and sent to your wedding coordinator in advance. If you send me your email address I can email you a copy of the legal form so you can start collecting the information that is needed for that. I would double check these things with your wedding coordinator as well, but that was what I was told. We're getting married on April 18th, so we haven't actually gone through the full process yet!

Thanks Savs, this helps a lot. I think I will talk to Lorena and see if we can shift everything a bit. I previously asked her what time it would get dark, because of our reception starting at 6:30, and she told me the sunset would be around 6 and by 6:30 it would be "as dark as we want it", haha. But I feel like this might be a bit off, we were in Mexico last year around the same time of year, and I don't remember it getting dark that early.

Hi Vika, I went through this recently with Lorena. Below is the info she sent me. There is a form you need to fill out in advance, it contains info about you and your witnesses. You need 4 witnesses total. This is the only critical form they need in advance (she asked to have it a month in advance, but maybe 3 weeks will still be ok). If you want to have your parents names in the wedding documents, you also need copies of your birth certificates certified and translated into Spanish at the Mexican consulate in your country. This wasn't possible for us, as the closest consulate is very far away from where we live (not within driving distance). We were told that if you can't do this, you just need to have your passports and tourist card (which you get when you land in Mexico), and can still have a fully legal wedding that will be recognized in your country. The only difference is there will be no parent information in your wedding documents. I hope this helps! The text in red below is what Lorena sent me: For the CIVIL Wedding you need: · Copy of your birth certificate (just the couple) with the apostille and the translation into Spanish (this is optional, as long as you decide that the names of your parents appear in the legal paperworks, if is not important for you, you only need passport and tourist card) · I need that you fill out the attached document with capital letters and send it to me as soon as possible. · 4 witnesses (arriving the same day as you) · The blood test (applied in Mexico, in our first meeting) Passports and tourist card.

How did you guys find the time/length of your reception? We are scheduled to get married at 4, and have the reception from 6:30 - 9:30... but 9:30 seems so early to be done! I don't really want to add an extra hour, because I've already gone outside my budget in a few other places. And I'm not sure I should extend the time between the ceremony and the reception to any longer, because I'm thinking we're already going to have a bit of time to kill there (we're not doing the official cocktail hour, but will have the mariachi trio and drinks at the beach bar I think). Did you guys find that everything was finished too early? What kind of timing did you all have between ceremony and dinner/reception?

I'm so so sorry to hear this. It must be such a difficult time for you right now, taking in the news about your mom and also trying to decide what to do about your wedding. My gut feeling is to get married in the UK with your mom there. As someone who lost their Dad a few years ago, I know that's what I would do. I would give anything to have my dad there there to see me get married. If you decided to get married in the UK, it could be as simple as you and your fiance just standing in front of a judge and saying your vows and signing the papers, with just you two and your parents. And then you could still have your dream wedding in Mexico with all of your guests. You could tell your guests or not - I really don't think it would matter to any of them if the knew, or if they found out later, especially if they knew the reason behind it. The ceremony and party in Mexico would still be your wedding. As long as you feel like you could still go to Mexico for that week and enjoy yourself and your wedding, without your mom. If not, it might be a good idea to postpone it for a few months. I just feel like this is the type of thing where if you didn't get married with your mom there, you might end up regretting it later. Anyway, that's all just my opinion, I'm sure you will make the decision that is best for you and your fiance. I really feel for you and what you're going through, and I'll be thinking of you!

Also, if you did do them yourself, do you know what font you used? Or maybe it's actual calligraphy, it looks great either way!

Hey Savs, I was just looking through your pictures again! Can you tell me if the resort provided the card holders you used on your tables, like the one in this picture, holding the "reserved sign": We were going to do frames for a few things like this, but I feel like we're bringing so much stuff with us at this point that I will probably just print the signs off and use the holders, if possible. Did you print your cards yourself? Are they 5 x 7"?

Tiffany, I know exactly how you feel! I often feel like the resort is just charging SO much for certain things, it starts to feel like they're really trying to squeeze every last penny out of us. Which is frustrating because of how much we're already spending, and how many people we're bringing to their resort! And It really bothers me when they give out different prices to different brides - I know for a fact that I was quoted higher for our bridesmaids bouquets and our centrepieces than other brides on here. And, case in point, I was talking to the spa and was told $66 for hair, $55 for makeup, but they didn't say it would be cheaper for short hair. At least four of the women I booked for have hair above the shoulders. And I specifically inquired about the 15% discount with the wedding package and they told me it could only be used for services for the bride and groom, and they didn't mention anything about a 15% discount if 6 ladies booked. I know I've said it before, but the charge that bothers me the most is the cost to rent the sound system. I don't know of any venue around here that would charge extra to use a sound system during the ceremony, or to play from an IPOD during the reception. If the price list I have is right (it could certainly be wrong, it's been wrong before!) it ends up being $800 just to have something to play our Ipod through! It's nuts. It's totally unfair that you would get less pictures if you use the photos for something other than the ceremony. It just doesn't make sense. I would definitely try to argue with them about that.

I was wondering the same thing! The "included cakes" in the document they sent me are nowhere near this nice.

Emily, your wedding looks so beautiful! I really like the touch of lavender in your set-up on the beach, it looks so pretty. And the flowers on the bamboo arch look so nice. We have Santiago too, so I'm really excited to see your slideshow and the rest of your pictures from him! Great advice about making a list of the different pictures you want to do in advance... I've watched so many slideshows at this point, and I always see pictures that I love and think "oh we should do definitely do one like that!", but then I don't write it down and forget all about it, haha.

Aaaah, I think you're right! That's great. In the excel file price list they sent me only package 4 listed the slideshow, but in the more detailed photography packages file all of the packages do show that the slideshow is included. I don't know why they sent this excel file at all actually, I've asked about a few things in it and so far most of the prices have been wrong! I feel like I'm just winging my budget at this point, haha. Lindsey, did you find you had enough photos with package 3? I'm assuming you got 100 + some extra from your wedding package? Sometimes I think "oh 150 will be tons" and then I hear that some people had a hard time narrowing it down to 300 and I start to worry that we'll just end up paying for a ton of extra images.

I was just looking at the photo packages again and noticed that only the package 4 includes the online slideshow, is this right? So many people have them I just assumed they came with all photo packages. We don't particularly want to do trash the dress, so I was leaning towards package 3, but now I'm thinking package 4 might be worth it for the extra pictures and slideshow.

I think the cost is the same. I've only seen an upgrade charge for a "platinum menu" (still not sure what that is) or a lobster menu. Sometimes they try to say that you need a certain number of people to have the buffet, but I think there's been many cases where people had the buffet with less than the "minimum required".

Hello! The gold and silver menu per person is $48 + tax and service fees, so it comes to $60.48 per adult. The kids menu (ages 6 - 12) is $24 + tax and service, so $30.24. There is no charge for kids under 6.

Hello, I was looking back a few pages to find something, and I don't think I saw anyone answer your questions yet... just in case: 1, 2: For the wedding cakes and floral centrepieces you will get a list with pictures to choose from. The cakes are pretty basic, but you can upgrade to fancier versions for an upcharge. There are lots of options for centerpieces, different styles with different flowers, vases, candles, etc. 3: The cost for children is less than for adults - children ages 6 - 12 are charged $24 (+ service and tax) for the dinner. There is no cost for children under 6. Children above 12 are the same price as adults. 4, 5: The sound system is not included with any of the wedding packages, for the ceremony or reception. The price I have for the sound system is $180 + tax per hour. 6, 7, 8: I think chairs with white covers are included in all of the packages, but chair bows are not. You can either bring your own, or rent them for $5 each. For beach weddings, I think the bamboo arch and white fabric is included in all packages. Adding coloured fabric or flowers to the arch costs extra though. 9. The newlywed package includes a welcome letter, fresh fruit and bottle of sparkling wine in your room when you arrive, special turn down service and breakfast in bed with mimosa.

Can anyone who did a legal ceremony shed some light on the legal documents the resort requires a month before the wedding? The list I have says: Certified copy of the birth Certificate of the Bride & Groom (The apostille validation should be done in your country) Copy of valid passports of the Bride & Groom (Make sure the name of your Passport matches with the names of your Birth Certificate) Copy of valid passports of your 4 witnesses Apostilled (certified) copy and original final Records of divorce (if applicable) Permission from the secretary of state (it applies if one of you is foreign marrying with a Mexican citizen.) Tourist visa cards (will be given to you at the airport upon arrival) Non marriage certificate (upon arrival) Apply for 2013 and further weddings. I think the only ones I have to worry about sending in advance is the copy of our birth certificates and our passports, and copies of our witnesses passports (the divorce and special permission don't apply). I'm wondering how to get an "apostille validation" for our birth certificates. And how to send all these passport copies. Did you guys basically scan your passport page with your picture and information and send them all as a PDF? And do we really need four witnesses? I thought we only needed two. Do I need to send these copies a month in advance and then also bring them with us? Thanks in advance! Only about 6 weeks until we leave, time is going so fast!

Does anyone know, can you book the DJ for part of your reception? I am having such a hard time deciding between booking the DJ and renting the sound system and programming our own music. Is it an option to rent the soundsystem to play a playlist for the first hour while everyone's eating, and then book the DJ for the next two hours?

Somewhat unrelated to the wedding, but some of my guests are bringing babies and children, and they've been asking me about what to bring and what will be provided. Does anyone know if there is baby food available, either in jars, or pureed/blended options? And also for the pool - are there water wings, floaties or life jackets (or anything similar) that small children can use in the pools? And does the resort provide any sand/beach toys, or should parents pack those? Thanks!!