ashley316
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Posts posted by ashley316
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Quote:Originally Posted by Mporras
Getting married at the OCT March 3, 2014! We can't wait. Any current or past OCT brides...any tips or do's and don't?? Did anyone do a sand ceremony, and if so, how did that turn out?
We did a sand ceremony and it was a nice added touch to our wedding. During the meeting with the coordinator they actually asked us if we were doing a sand ceremony, we gave her our picture frame and vases and colored sand and they took care of the rest. They even had a little reading prepared to go along with it. It didn't cost any extra to add it in.
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Litzy did my hair and makeup and it was fabulous! Everyone complimented how great it looked. I think the spa charges $100 for an updo for bridesmaids.
Hi Ladies! I am getting very excited planning my wedding at OCT! I am hoping for some feedback on Hair and Makeup! I have been looking through the thread and saw that 'Litzy' from the spa was good. Has anyone had any issues with hair and makeup---I am very nervous about this? Approximately what price are they charging for bridesmaids? Has anyone used external vendors or went off the resort for hair and makeup? I have received quotes from Hair Trio, and they are more money then my high end salon here in Calgary, Alberta----$185 USD for hair and makeup (no name brand makeup) for bride and $120 USD for bridesmaids!  Also we are hiring Sweet Fire Photography to do our wedding! I know there is a way to avoid the $550 USD vendor fee+ $85/person day pass....but how do you go about avoiding at least part of these fees? How did you go about booking the photographers for a night stay? Any advice is greatly appreciated! -
I was married there on May 9th and here are a few pictures from our cermony on the beach and our reception on the lobby terrace.
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I used Samuel Luna and he did a great job! I posted a review but it never ended up on here for some reason inbox me if you would like me to send you some pictures, a have a few teasers I can share.
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Wedding Review- May 9, 2013I can't believe my wedding was almost one month ago and it was absolutely amazing.Resort The resort is absolutely beautiful, it is also a great size. Not too big, not too small. We were told the resort was at 90% capacity when we were there but you would have never known it. With 4 pools and the beach there is always a lounge chair somewhere :-) The staff was great, everyone was so nice and it was so clean. The guest rooms were nice and comfortable and the maids do a great job keeping up the rooms. Food and Drink The food is okay, not the best I have ever had but not the worst and I have been to approx 5 other all inclusive resorts. With 6 or 7 different restaurants you will never go hungry. The drinks were good ( lighter during the day, stronger at night) Personally I am not a big drinker but no one had any complaints. There are some liquors that are reserved for the privledge members but everyone was fine with the regular liquor. There was still name brand liquor such as captain morgan, stoli and bicardi to name a few that were included without any additional charge, so it's not like it's stuff you have never heard of. ( one recommendation is to bring bigger cups maybe even put them in your welcome bags if you make them) I bought personalized tumbler cups with straws for my bridal party and they were a big hit. ( They keep the drinks cold and minimize the # of trips to the bar because the drinks are bigger!)WeddingLike many of the previous brides have stated, before we left our communication with the wedding coordinators was spotty at best. We hadn't heard from the coordinators in nearly 2 months which was making me nervous but once I got to the resort, I understood why. Almost everyday in the 10 days we were there, there was almost 2 weddings a day one day they even had three, The wedding coordinators work very hard to make sure everyone's wedding is beautiful. Most of them work between 12-15 hours a day so I could see why they aren't always able to answer e-mails proptly. Ana is the initial point of contact when you contact the wedding office at the resort, she may be your coordinator but although we communicated through her until we got to the resort our coordinator was actually Cynthia who is the sweetest woman and she did a fantastic job.The day after we arrived at the resort we were able to sit down with Ana and go over every detail. You will probably be sent some options for flowers, cakes and such ahead of time but once you get there, there are many more options. I waited to pick flowers until then, when they didn't have flowers in the color I wanted (turquoise blue) I was able to pick the flowers I wanted and have them dyed that color. You are able to pick your cake round or square, add ribbon and fresh flowers and pick the flavor which were, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, pineapple or coconut. ( you can do different layers different flavors if you want) The size of the cake depends on the package you get. We chose a strawberry layer and vanilla layers, I believe they only cut into the strawberry layer and although I was too busy dancing to eat a piece, everyone else said it was delicious! They do have some options for centerpieces but they weren't exactly what I wanted and seemed to be overpriced approx $90 per table We bought all the stuff from home and carried it with us on the plane, that way we could have what we wanted and saved alot of money too. We probably spent $200 total on enough centerpieces for 5 sets. Our reception was on the lobby terrace and you are able to chose your table set up. We had 33 people at ours so we chose to do a large square table instead of doing a head table and smaller tables ( we just thought it would be strange to have 10 people at the head table and only 2 other tables and we prefered to allow couples to sit together) Our guests complimented the set up because they liked that everyone could see everything. (just a thought if you have a smaller wedding like we did) We had the paradise package and so my hair and makeup was included, Litsy in the spa did a wonderful job, I should recommend though that you hairspray your hair again before your ceremony because my curls fell out after a couple of hours due to the wind. My wedding was at 5 and my hair and makeup appt was from 1-3 so that gave me plenty of time to finish getting ready. Approx 1/2 hour before the ceremony starts your coordinator will deliver your flowers and your bridesmaids flowers to your room and someone will deliver boutineers to the men. When it is time to start going down to the ceremony your wedding coordinator will escort you and go out of her way to make sure your groom or guests don't see you ahead of time. We had our ceremony at the beach at 5pm and it was absolutely beautiful! I think 5 was a perfect time because it was not too hot and it was close enough to dinner so that people didn't have a long wait time in between the ceremony and the reception. We had a legal ceremony so there is a specific structure to the wedding and what the officiant says but we were able to add our own vows as well as a sand ceremony which gave a very personal touch. The ceremony lasted approx 25 minutes. After the ceremony the coordinator hands everyone champagne and there is a toast. We then did pictures on the beach with family and friends and then everyone left the beach and my husband and I took pictures alone. We opted not to pay for a cocktail hour because it would have been nearly $1000 with drinks and hor dourves and it was close enough to dinner that we didn't feel we needed it, Instead everyone was escorted to the lobby bar to get drinks(as it is an all inclusive resort) and then they sat on the lobby terrace until it was time to be seated at the reception. Everyone was absolutely fine with the informal "cocktail hour" Our reception started at 7 because I wanted to make sure we had enough time for pictures. (we probably would have been okay starting at 6:30 but either way, no one complained about the wait.) After we were announced we sat down and dinner service started shortly after. For dinner we had surf and turf (steak and shrimp which everyone loved and we were actually able to get our vegetarians salmon and they also raved about that. Dinner does take awhile because of the multiple courses so I was glad we opted to add an extra hour to the 3 hour alloted reception time. If we hadn't I don't feel like we would have had enough time for dancing so I would definitly recommend it! It was worth the extra $10 per person for the hour. Even after the 4 hour reception a few of us headed down to the pool bar for more partying as they usually have a DJ down there. Outside vendors for 2013 the outside vendor fee was $300 per vendor and you had to pay $60 for each guest pass. We hired an outside DJ and and outside photographer but I believe it was well worth it.We hired MayanVibes / DJ Bijan to DJ our reception, I would definatly recommend him. We sent him a list of approx 20 songs and he filled in the rest with music that everyone enjoyed. I danced all night. We also hired Samuel Luna of Samuel Luna Photography as our photographer, we don't have all of our photos yet but I will attach a link to the teasers that he sent us so that you can get an idea of his photography. There are a few pics of getting ready, ceremony, reception and the last part is trash the dress. VideographyI was going back and forth about whether or not I wanted to spend $1000 on a video of the wedding, but I am really glad I did. We did use the resort videographer, which allowed for free streaming of your wedding online so that people who couldn't make it could watch at home. My co-workers and some of our friends and family that couldn't make it were all able to watch and were glad that even though they couldn't be there, they still felt like they were a part of it. The vidographer shot 4 hours of video and edited it to approx 1 hr and 20 mins, it says the video will be 40 mins but it was longer. The video includes the whole ceremony which is nice because although pictures capture alot, it is nice to be able to hear our vows again. He also went around with a microphone during our informal cocktail hour and had people express their well wishes which was very nice. The downside is he didn't edit the video as I would have, there was a little downtime and I wish he had captured more dancing at the ceremony but all in all it was very nice. The wedding was beautiful and it was well worth the stress and over a year of planning. One recommendation I have is that if you forget anything during your planning meeting and happen to remember before the wedding and you want to add it and you mention it to your coordinator, make sure you remind her again as close to the wedding as possible. I made a sign that I wanted displayed at the beach and it never made it there and I also asked for fondant free cake and the frosting was fondant. ( they did try to make up for it by sending a cake to our room on our last night that had regular frosting.) I wasn't too upset about the small things missed because the wedding was beautiful and I realize that these ladies work so hard to make sure all of us brides have the perfect day. They are bound to miss a thing or two here and there, it's almost expected after having approx 10-12 weddings a week and working for 2 weeks straight sometimes without a day off but if it is really important to you just make sure you remind them. :-) Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have! I would be happy to answer questions on anything I may have missed. I created a small slideshow to share. Enjoy!
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- Jeanetta H- You can bring in an outside photographer for an additional cost, even though the package documents from the resort say that outside photographers are prohibited. For 2013 it was a $300 vendor fee and $60 each for a day pass. So for our photographer with a second shooter we ended up paying $420 in addition to the package we purchased from our photographer. Hope this helps :-)
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I just got married on May 9th at Ocean Coral and Turquesa and although I do not have time to post a full review right now, I wanted to say my wedding was amazing and I would do it all over again if I had to! I was switched to Cynthia when I got to the resort and she is wonderful! I will post a full review soon :-) And try your best to not stress about not getting responses back from Ana, I didn't hear anything for two full months before my wedding but once I got there and met with her, she really put my mind at ease and I had a beautiful wedding. If anyone has questions feel free to ask and I will try to post a full review this weekend!
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Has anyone worked with Cynthia? My wedding is next Thursday and I just found out by an e-mail from my DJ that I have been switched to her. If so does anyone have her conatct info or any feedback on working with her?
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Hey ladies! Not sure how up to date the pricing is on here but I came across this link awhile back and thought it might be helpful to get an idea of ceremony location, flowers, centerpieces ect.
http://m.authorstream.com/presentation/weddingoct-1378709-your-wedding/
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Originally Posted by rojaswedding
Hi Ashley, the lanterns are white with a slight beige line going around, you could always get colored lights, if you wished for them to be a different color. If you go on ikea and look up white paper lanterns there is only on model of round white ones.
I would love to use these if you are willing to leave them at the resort and have Ana hold them for me. That would be so helpful!
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I was also thinking of using paper lanterns and my wedding is May 9th. it would be wonderful if you could leave them behind.What colors are your lanterns?Just thought i would mention that we are getting married April 16/13, we purchased 20 paper lantern and are going to hock a baterie operated light in it. We are thinking of leaving them behind at the resort but if anyone is thinking of using some we could arrange it with Ana you might just need new lights or batteries to put in. We are waiting on the arrival of the lights so thats why im not sure how long they last with batterie. Just leave me your email and i will be in contact, im also waiting on the price to rent the pole to hock them on i imagine it cant be that much. -
. Would you mind sharing the prices you were quoted? I am also looking for a DJ and it would be really helpful :-)@acd8809 - Your last concern in your post was my exact concern and deciding factor as to whether we were going to book a dj outside of the resort. We are having a group of only 25 people but I really want to make sure things run smooth and flow without any of my guests feeling like they have to MC and keep the flow going etc etc. I emailed 2 different DJ's that I found online, both were within $25 of eachother and ultimately we chose to go with DJ Bob ( http://weddingdjrivieramaya.com/ ). From the reviews it just seemed like he would be very outgoing and a fun person to keep things moving for us and interact with the group. The other DJ that we looked into was http://www.mayanvibes.com/testimonials.htm . Both seemed to have great reviews on how they could read the crowd and keep the party going but DJ Bob had the additional outgoing MC part that appealed to us.   I don't know if you intend to add the additional hours onto your night but we are going to have our reception from 7-12 (paying for the additional 2hrs for the dj). When we calculated the cost for booking DJ Bob, with the vendor fee, the price was VERY similar to the cost the resort would have charged us for an unknown DJ with the additional time. I hope that helps you with your decision... -
@acd8809 I sent you an email to your yahoo account with some information, I hope it helps :-)
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@Jessica G- Here are a couple of recent reviews within the past few months from this resort. Hope this helps :-)
Amazing Wedding and Holiday at the Ocean Coral & Turquesa!
July 12, 2012 at 2:18 am
Reviewed by TropicLover
Ocean Coral & Turquesa – A++
My husband and I were married at the Ocean Coral & Turquesa on May 11, 2012 alongside our friends and family. The resort itself is fantastic! The size is perfect - not too small and not too large. There were 31 of us in total and the size was large enough that we could get privacy if we wanted and easy enough to meet up with people for dinner and drinks. The layout is probably one of the best features because the hotel is very wide and not too deep. Meaning it has a huge amount of beachfront and unlike other massive resorts you don’t need to hike (or take a trolley) just to get back to your room.
Check out some of the aerial photos on the resorts website.
http://www.h10hotels.com/en/hotel/hotels-riviera-maya/ocean-coral.html
ROOMS - A
The rooms are spacious and airy! They were modern, clean and nicely decorated. The A/C worked well and was easy to use. We didn’t have any in-room humidity issues, however a couple of our guests did and the hotel quickly resolved the complaint by providing a dehumidifier.
All the rooms face the ocean with the 3rd floor boosting the best views. The lower floors look onto the gardens. All of our guests stayed in a Junior Suite and we were upgraded to an Ocean View Junior Suite. There was plenty of room for everyone to get ready.
There’s a stocked mini bar with beer, water and pop. It’s filled every day :-) FYI the staff that fills the fridge is different than the room staff….so leave a separate tip inside the fridge if you wish.
The beds are comfy so no complaints there. We were so beat by the end of the day that it didn’t matter where we slept. The washrooms are open too. This wasn’t a problem for any of our guests, but I could see it becoming for people who don’t know one another. Basically there isn’t a door into the washroom, just an opening in the wall. There’s a window looking into bathtub with a privacy curtain. The toilet and shower each have a separate frosted glass door that swing shut. Very modern looking.
POOLS – A+
There are 4 large pools spread throughout the resort.
Adult Pool on the far Coral side – This is a very quiet pool good for chilling and reading a book. Most people think it’s for Privilege members only, but it’s really adults only. The only strange thing for this pool is they don’t provide bottled water to regular guests. It’s for Privilege only, which is really silly because you can get bottled water at any of the other bars at the resorts.
Party Pool with the swim up bar - This pool is where a lot of the action takes place. There’s music playing all day, they play games and have contests. At night this is where the dancing goes on…there’s usually a dj, live band, karaoke, etc.
Activity Pool on the Turquesa side – I didn’t really use this pool, but it seemed great. It’s more for people interested in aqua aerobics or pool volleyball. Basically a sports pool.
Kiddie Pool on the far Turquesa side – Super cute for children. There’s a park, kids club, snack bar, etc, pretty much an awesome time for young kids.
FOOD - A
I was actually impressed with the food at the resort. I’ve been to a few all-inclusives in the past and the OCT really surpasses all of them in terms of quality and variety. The buffet was solid with enough food to please everyone…the best place to catch a great breakfast. The Italian and Mexican restaurants were my favourties next to the Villa Marina. I didn’t get a chance to try Sensie the Japanese restaurant. We’re from Vancouver, BC so we thought it was best to leave the Japanese food experience on the west coast rather than Mexico ;-) Our guests that did go said the food was good and the show was awesome too! Mike’s Coffee shop was an after dinner pleaser and a great place to catch a good coffee. Oh and the smoothie bar by the Party Pool is awesome!
P.S. this resort also works for vegetarians too. I happen to be a lacto-ova vegetarian (no meat/fish, but eggs and dairy are okay) and I rarely had any issues with the food. They even catered to any of my special requests. This brings me to my last point – the staff. I can’t say enough how amazing the staff is! By far the best I’ve encountered. Everyone is super friendly and very accommodating. Even at every breakfast the restaurant manager would come by to say hi and see how we’re doing. It’s these little touches that really make the resort standout. People appreciate personalized attention and this hotel is top notch when it comes to customer service.
***Now for the wedding related items!***
TRAVEL AGENT / WEDDING COORDINATOR – A++
I worked with Keine Dennis, Destination Wedding Specialist from Bloom Destination Weddings. She is AMAZING! Check out their website, join their FB page and tune into the short video about what they do.
Website - http://www.bloomdestinationweddings.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BDWeddings
Video - http://veiltv.com/vendors/photographer-name/?vendorid=157
Bloom Destination Weddings goes above and beyond your regular travel agent. Yes they work with you to find the perfect resort, book your guests and weddings. BUT they also deal directly with the resort saving you time and stress. They help with everything from flowers to photographers and with their large experience they are familiar with many of the resorts, have personally met many of the onsite wedding coordinators and even have key contacts on the ground to help make your wedding dream come true. You’re in good hands working with them!
WELCOME LUNCH - A
We had our Welcome Lunch on Day 2. Some of our guests arrived late the night before so having the gathering the next day allowed for our guests to get settled in. Ana booked us a reservation for 31 at the Casa Del Mar (the buffet). All large group reservations are free here so this worked out perfectly for us. They set up 4 rectangular banquet tables for everyone, 3 for guests and 1 for our OOT bags. They had us in the side room, which is open to other guests, but is rarely used so it offered a bit of privacy. We ate, mingled, handed out the OOT bags and went on our marry way. It was a good ice-breaker for the start of the trip.
REHERSAL DINNER – B
The rehearsal dinner was a bit of a mix up on Ana's part (we’re all human so yup mistakes do happen). Originally we had it planned for 7pm on Thursday at the Villa Marina. This was confirmed over email ahead of time. When we arrived and met her she advised us that the Villa Marina would be closed that night so we'd need to choose another location. I was kind of disappointed because I had already handed out our welcome bags, which included a small schedule for the week with the Villa Marina as the location. I thought she could have at least let me know before we arrived. Anyway in the end it really wasn't a big deal and because of the mix-up we weren’t charged a large group reservation fee (a definite plus!). We choose the Mexican restaurant for 7:30pm instead and advised our guests. Honestly, it really doesn't matter which restaurant you choose because they will have you choose a set menu. For example, our guests were eating leafy greens and grilled salmon in the Mexican restaurant ;-) Everyone raved about how great the food was.
PHOTOGRAPHER – Sascha Gluck – A++
Using an outside professional photographer is a must-do at any all-inclusive resort. After the big day your photos will be the best visual memory you can get and I strongly recommend brining in your own photographer. Yes you have to pay an outside vendor fee, but it’s TOTALLY worth it! Plan for it early and incorporate it into your budget.
I can’t say enough about our photographer Sascha Gluck! Our overall experience with Sascha was absolutely amazing! Our pictures are stunning and his professionalism is top notch. He’s such a nice man and we really felt like we were working with an old friend during the entire day. I would recommend Sascha to every bride!
Here’s the link to my full review on Sascha:
http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/sascha-gluck-photographer/reviews/6281
HAIR & MAKE-UP - A
I had my hair and make-up done at the resort. To be honest I was totally freaked out about this, but scheduled a trial on day 2 and brought in pictures of what I wanted. The stylist you'll want to request is Litzy. She's the best!
My trial was actually done by a lady named Vicky (who doesn’t speak English, hence why photos are key!) and while I really liked the hair I found the make-up too over the top...I actually had her fix it at least 5 times.
On the wedding day I found out that Vicky and Litzy would be “tag-teaming†us. Vicky was doing my hair and Litzy would be doing my make-up. For whatever reason I felt a huge amount of relief that it was Litzy doing my make-up.While Vicky was styling my hair I noticed it was looking way different than the trial. I thought it would come together by the end, but it didn't. As I was trying to explain this to Vicky (again language was an issue), Litzy could see my concern. She came over, put both hands on my shoulders and said that I'm not allowed to leave until I'm 110% happy....AND then she proceed to fix my hair and style it back into what it should have been! It was waaaaaaay better and I was totally happy when I left!
Litzy on the left jumping in to save my hair :-)
Litzy doing my make-up
My only suggestion to other brides is if you really like a certain shade for your eye shadow then bring your own. They have an okay selection, which worked for me, but I found it difficult to agree on a colour when I didn't know how it would look. Also if you're bringing in fake eyelashes make sure they suit you. Lol I brought in brand new ones that I never tried before and looked like spider-women! Litzy only did one eye and I said "no way" haha. One of my bridesmaids was kind enough to lend me hers because she wasn't going to use them. Anyway moral of the story is to try them on before ;-)
FLOWERS – B
(Casa Narciso via the resort, therefore no vendor fee https://www.facebook.com/pages/Casa-Narciso/150842881644702)
Our wedding theme is hard to describe…classic-nature is maybe the best way. I knew right away that I wanted the colours to be Ivory and Green with touches of Purple. This colour combo essentially eliminated what the hotel considers a tropical flower. Meaning most of our flowers were not local and had to be shipped in. My mom is a lifesaver and actually took care of ALL the flower choices. I gave her a basic idea of my bouquet and she went to town! She would email me choices and I’d say yes or no which was amazing because I don’t know a thing about flowers.
In total our flower list included:
Bridal bouquet – this was upgraded from our Paradise Package so we only paid a portion. It was beautiful and looked just as I imagined.
Bridesmaids bouquets x3 – These turned out great, but were a little smaller than we initially discussed. When we first met with Ana, Astrid the florist also joined the meeting. We let her know that we needed all the bouquets and boutonnieres ready for 2:00pm when the pictures started. On the day of the wedding when Astrid arrived the only flower arrangement completed was my bouquet. So as we were getting ready for pictures she was quickly putting together the BM’s bouquets. They still turned out beautiful, however I think if it weren’t a rushed job they would have turned out to be the right size.
Grooms boutonnière (included in the package) & Groomsmen and FOB and FOG boutonnières (6 in total)
Like the BM’s bouquets above the only boutonniere ready was the groom’s. The problem we ran into was that the florist forgot all the other boutonnieres so she sent her assistant back to their office to pick them up. This meant the groomsmen didn’t have boutonnières in the pictures prior to the ceremony. Honestly it wasn’t a big deal for me, my mom on the other hand was stressing, lol. Either way the guys looked handsome and once the ceremony started everything was taken care of ;-)
MOB and MOG wrist corsages – These were great! My mom bought in two pearl bracelets for the corsages and the florist did a good job putting it together.
Ceremony Centerpieces x4 (we reused these at the Reception and one was included in our package so we paid for 3)
Turned out beautiful. They were a little rounder and smaller than we anticipated, but photographed wonderfully.
Flowers shown between my bm and Santiago (the wedding officiant)
Reception Centerpieces x3
Looked great! Exactly what we asked for.
Floral cake topper & hair flower
Another bad on the florist…maybe it just wasn’t her day. She forgot these altogether so we went without. All I can say is to remind, remind, remind! My hair was still awesome without the flower so no complaints there.
PLANNER 1 – A+
They were great to work with! Ana dealt with them directly so we avoided an outside vendor fee, however we did pay for delivery. We ordered gold tiffiany chairs to be used at the ceremony and reception. The hotel was awesome and moved them to the reception during cocktail hour. We also had Planner1 string lights around 4 pillars at the reception to add a little mood lighting. It was beautiful!
The lights from Planner1 around the pillars
CERMONY
We had our symbolic ceremony on the Ocean View Lobby Terrace. It was beautiful and was the perfect size. Honestly I don’t remember much of the ceremony except looking at my husband. I had butterflies with all the excitement. It’s really a special moment and it’s nice to block out everything else and enjoy the moment. Our Wedding Officiant was Santiago and he was wonderful. Everyone loved him!
Aisle Runner
We ordered this off of Etsy from Starry Night Design www.starrynightdesign.etsy.com
The owner, Stephanie, was amazing to deal with. Super nice, accommodating and professional. The runner was made in New York and shipping to my home. Lol yup we brought it along with us to Mexico. It was large, 4ft high, but very narrow (maybe 4inches) so it didn’t weight too much and the airport check-in lady didn’t charge us for checking it. We brought double sided carpet tape and Ana arranged for it to be set up.
Greek-like Pillars
This one was kind of a bummer. For the ceremony we had ordered 4 Greek-looking Pillars through and outside vendor that knew Planner1. I can’t remember the company name, but owners name was Raffaele. Our idea was to have each ceremony centerpiece placed on top. We saw pictures of them and they looked great! However, when they arrived they were hollow plastic and with the wind there was no way we could use them. We paid $350 USD and after a huge amount of haggling after the wedding he finally agreed to refund us $100….not much, but better than nothing. Looking back I really wished I had asked what the pillars were made of before ordering. Hindsight is always 20/20 ;-)
COCKTAIL HOUR
We arranged for a 1 hour open bar with appetizers on the Lobby Terrace to the left of our ceremony location. It was perfect! They set up a fantastic food spread of appetizers next to the lounge furniture (perfect seating for everyone). Music-wise we used an iPod providing nice background music. When we arrived at the Cocktail Hour we also had servers greeting us with our signature cocktail. Since green was our main colour we had Mojitos and called them “Mint-to-beâ€. Cheesy I know, lol.
Our "Mint-To-Be" Signature cocktail sign
RECEPTION – A++
Our reception was originally going to be on the Lobby Terrace, a beautiful location. After much discussion and negotiation we were able to change the location to the Petit Creperie. It’s a location the hotel never uses for weddings, however with the magic of my fantastic wedding coordinator (Keine Dennis, Bloom Destination Weddings) we were able to use that location.
The Petit Creperie in the distance
Our 5-hour reception (3 included in the Paradise Package and 2 hrs extra we paid for) was set up under the roof and the dance floor was outside by the pool. It’s an open-aired restaurant so the inside flows seamlessly to the outside and the thatched roof added a touch of rustic vibe we were looking for. Ana really did a fantastic job of setting up our decorative items we brought with us (i.e. table overlays, coral placecard holders, seating arrangement frames, guest book, menus, table names etc).
Table names were significant places in our relationship
Dinner was great and was served fairly quickly. We had:
Tomato Goat Cheese Salad – yummy, but very cheesy. I preferred the green salad we had at our rehearsal dinner.
Orange-Lemon Vodka Sorbet – very good palate cleanser
Surf & Turf – steak with prawns. I heard this was excellent. Some steaks were cooked to perfection and others were a little well done. It’s always tough when cooking for a large group of people
OR
Vegetable Strudel – Excellent! It was a philo pastry stuffed full of savory veggies. Delicious!
Parfait de Stracciatella – Yummy ice cream meets gelato dessert.
Tomato & Goat Salad and Surf & Turf
After dinner the dj started up and we danced the night away until midnight. Sooooo much fun!
First Dance
CAKE
We had a 3 tired cake that we decided to cut around 10:45pm. Even at that time many of the guests weren’t hungry or were too busy busting a move on the dance floor. To future brides I suggest providing small cake boxes so guests can take a piece back to their rooms. The guests that did have it said it was delicious!
We brought along little edible pearl balls use as decoration on the cake along with a green ribbon to wrap around the base of the cake. On top was supposed to be our fresh flowers, however the florist forgot them so the idea was to go without. Well….somehow the cake baker thought he’d improvise and make flowers out of icing. Lol it was really awful, haha see below. We were highly amused, my mom was not impressed and turned the cake after it arrived so the icing flowers weren’t showing…lol it makes for a good story for later on.
Cake cutting with the turned cake ;-)
OVERALL
Overall the wedding was everything and more! Yes, things go wrong but nothing ruined our day….we just have some stories to tell to our future children ;-) In the end you’re there with your loved ones to celebrate your marriage. Everyone had a wonderful time and I continue to hear it was the BEST wedding they’ve ever been too. The staff is marvelous, Ana is amazing and the resort grounds are beautiful. The staff goes above and beyond to ensure you day flows without a hitch. It was such an amazing time and I can’t wait to go back!
If you have any questions about our wedding please feel free to PM me.
Happy Planning!
March 3, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Reviewed by Abby VHey everyone! I was married at the OCT on December 14, 2011 outside on the lobby terrace. This resort is so great, it really is. The entertainment is wonderful! There is always something going on every night ie. beach parties, make your own martini night, tequila tasting, casino night in the lobby, karoke in the lobby...I could go on, and on. We stayed for 17 days and there were enough a-la-carte restaurants that we never got tired of the food. Even the buffet does a theme night 7 days a week. There are 4 pools - a kid's pool, an activity pool, a party pool (the one with the pool bar) and a quiet pool (on the priveledge side that anyone can use). I HIGHLY recommend the 45 minute walk to Puerto Morelos. It is such a great little town!! Along the way, massages on the beach get cheaper and cheaper. Right outside PM you can have a 1 hour couples beach massage for $25 (you could talk them down to $20). Also, snorkling in PM is only $20 for 2 hours! Some of the people who offer snorkelling seem a little sketchy, but we went with Crispy Bacon (his name is crispy, but everyone calls him crispy bacon), and he was an amazing swimmer and we felt very secure with him. There are all kinds of little shops in PM and they are BY FAR cheaper than the vendors that visit the resort on Friday night and the ones you visit if you choose to take the free Cancun shopping trip. Coco Bongo is a MUST. I really wasn't interested in going, but it was an amazing show!!!!!!! I'm quite certain our guests enjoyed that the most. The show was absolutely mind-blowing!
Now, about the wedding. Ana (who I arranged everything through) and Karen (who were there the day of) were so accommodating! They were very calm and organized and maintained great contact. They have a desk in the lobby, so they're always easy to find if you have any questions. I literally had to do nothing. They arrange everything and show up to pick you up the day of. The hair and make up included in the package were great! It was exactly what I wanted (I brought a pic and my hair extensions). We booked Juan Navarro as our wedding photographer and we are amazed by our pictures. He was VERY affordable and we opted for the package with the photobook. The photobook is such great quality with the very thick (almost cardboard-like) pages and some really cool effects. Our wedding wasn't anything fancy. Outside on the lobby terrace is much more private than I had expected. Ok, so now the food...we opted for the beef wellington meal...everyone RAVED about it. It was SOOOOO good!!! They really put extra effort and detail into preparing the meals for the wedding. I should mention that we opted for the most expensive package (the one with the outdoor reception). I just couldn't imagine having it at one of the restaurants. Our reception was very private. People inside the lobby can see you, but you don't even notice because you're having so much fun! So the package with the outdoor reception comes with servers and they're always making sure you have something to drink. They often would make a tray of drinks and serve them, so you had new drinks to try. Oh, and we opted for the cocktail hour which was great! Our guests had snacks and a place to hang out while we were off taking pictures.
All in all, we had a blast at our wedding and throughout our stay at this resort. If you would like any additional information, or pictures, please feel free to ask. My email address is [email protected] and I'd be happy to answer any of your questions. I found it difficult to find information about this resort and often resorted to this forum for information and now it's time for me to give back!
. I wish you all a very happy wedding at OCT!! Here is a link to our pics on our photographers website http://www.juanphotos.com/blog/weddings/ocean-coral-turquesa-destination-wedding-abby-hugh-puerto-morelos-riviera-maya-q-roo-mexico-2/Here are some other pictures you may find useful in trying to envision the lobby terrace ceremony and reception.
On our way!
Walking down the aisle
Exchanging rings
Now a Mrs.
The cake
In the background is the table (we opted for one large rectangular table due to small size) and bar
You can kind of see the overall layout in the background of this pic
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@Jessica G- Here are a couple of recent reviews within the past few months from this resort. Hope this helps :-)
Amazing Wedding and Holiday at the Ocean Coral & Turquesa!
July 12, 2012 at 2:18 am
Reviewed by TropicLover
Ocean Coral & Turquesa – A++
My husband and I were married at the Ocean Coral & Turquesa on May 11, 2012 alongside our friends and family. The resort itself is fantastic! The size is perfect - not too small and not too large. There were 31 of us in total and the size was large enough that we could get privacy if we wanted and easy enough to meet up with people for dinner and drinks. The layout is probably one of the best features because the hotel is very wide and not too deep. Meaning it has a huge amount of beachfront and unlike other massive resorts you don’t need to hike (or take a trolley) just to get back to your room.
Check out some of the aerial photos on the resorts website.
http://www.h10hotels.com/en/hotel/hotels-riviera-maya/ocean-coral.html
ROOMS - A
The rooms are spacious and airy! They were modern, clean and nicely decorated. The A/C worked well and was easy to use. We didn’t have any in-room humidity issues, however a couple of our guests did and the hotel quickly resolved the complaint by providing a dehumidifier.
All the rooms face the ocean with the 3rd floor boosting the best views. The lower floors look onto the gardens. All of our guests stayed in a Junior Suite and we were upgraded to an Ocean View Junior Suite. There was plenty of room for everyone to get ready.
There’s a stocked mini bar with beer, water and pop. It’s filled every day :-) FYI the staff that fills the fridge is different than the room staff….so leave a separate tip inside the fridge if you wish.
The beds are comfy so no complaints there. We were so beat by the end of the day that it didn’t matter where we slept. The washrooms are open too. This wasn’t a problem for any of our guests, but I could see it becoming for people who don’t know one another. Basically there isn’t a door into the washroom, just an opening in the wall. There’s a window looking into bathtub with a privacy curtain. The toilet and shower each have a separate frosted glass door that swing shut. Very modern looking.
POOLS – A+
There are 4 large pools spread throughout the resort.
Adult Pool on the far Coral side – This is a very quiet pool good for chilling and reading a book. Most people think it’s for Privilege members only, but it’s really adults only. The only strange thing for this pool is they don’t provide bottled water to regular guests. It’s for Privilege only, which is really silly because you can get bottled water at any of the other bars at the resorts.
Party Pool with the swim up bar - This pool is where a lot of the action takes place. There’s music playing all day, they play games and have contests. At night this is where the dancing goes on…there’s usually a dj, live band, karaoke, etc.
Activity Pool on the Turquesa side – I didn’t really use this pool, but it seemed great. It’s more for people interested in aqua aerobics or pool volleyball. Basically a sports pool.
Kiddie Pool on the far Turquesa side – Super cute for children. There’s a park, kids club, snack bar, etc, pretty much an awesome time for young kids.
FOOD - A
I was actually impressed with the food at the resort. I’ve been to a few all-inclusives in the past and the OCT really surpasses all of them in terms of quality and variety. The buffet was solid with enough food to please everyone…the best place to catch a great breakfast. The Italian and Mexican restaurants were my favourties next to the Villa Marina. I didn’t get a chance to try Sensie the Japanese restaurant. We’re from Vancouver, BC so we thought it was best to leave the Japanese food experience on the west coast rather than Mexico ;-) Our guests that did go said the food was good and the show was awesome too! Mike’s Coffee shop was an after dinner pleaser and a great place to catch a good coffee. Oh and the smoothie bar by the Party Pool is awesome!
P.S. this resort also works for vegetarians too. I happen to be a lacto-ova vegetarian (no meat/fish, but eggs and dairy are okay) and I rarely had any issues with the food. They even catered to any of my special requests. This brings me to my last point – the staff. I can’t say enough how amazing the staff is! By far the best I’ve encountered. Everyone is super friendly and very accommodating. Even at every breakfast the restaurant manager would come by to say hi and see how we’re doing. It’s these little touches that really make the resort standout. People appreciate personalized attention and this hotel is top notch when it comes to customer service.
***Now for the wedding related items!***
TRAVEL AGENT / WEDDING COORDINATOR – A++
I worked with Keine Dennis, Destination Wedding Specialist from Bloom Destination Weddings. She is AMAZING! Check out their website, join their FB page and tune into the short video about what they do.
Website - http://www.bloomdestinationweddings.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BDWeddings
Video - http://veiltv.com/vendors/photographer-name/?vendorid=157
Bloom Destination Weddings goes above and beyond your regular travel agent. Yes they work with you to find the perfect resort, book your guests and weddings. BUT they also deal directly with the resort saving you time and stress. They help with everything from flowers to photographers and with their large experience they are familiar with many of the resorts, have personally met many of the onsite wedding coordinators and even have key contacts on the ground to help make your wedding dream come true. You’re in good hands working with them!
WELCOME LUNCH - A
We had our Welcome Lunch on Day 2. Some of our guests arrived late the night before so having the gathering the next day allowed for our guests to get settled in. Ana booked us a reservation for 31 at the Casa Del Mar (the buffet). All large group reservations are free here so this worked out perfectly for us. They set up 4 rectangular banquet tables for everyone, 3 for guests and 1 for our OOT bags. They had us in the side room, which is open to other guests, but is rarely used so it offered a bit of privacy. We ate, mingled, handed out the OOT bags and went on our marry way. It was a good ice-breaker for the start of the trip.
REHERSAL DINNER – B
The rehearsal dinner was a bit of a mix up on Ana's part (we’re all human so yup mistakes do happen). Originally we had it planned for 7pm on Thursday at the Villa Marina. This was confirmed over email ahead of time. When we arrived and met her she advised us that the Villa Marina would be closed that night so we'd need to choose another location. I was kind of disappointed because I had already handed out our welcome bags, which included a small schedule for the week with the Villa Marina as the location. I thought she could have at least let me know before we arrived. Anyway in the end it really wasn't a big deal and because of the mix-up we weren’t charged a large group reservation fee (a definite plus!). We choose the Mexican restaurant for 7:30pm instead and advised our guests. Honestly, it really doesn't matter which restaurant you choose because they will have you choose a set menu. For example, our guests were eating leafy greens and grilled salmon in the Mexican restaurant ;-) Everyone raved about how great the food was.
PHOTOGRAPHER – Sascha Gluck – A++
Using an outside professional photographer is a must-do at any all-inclusive resort. After the big day your photos will be the best visual memory you can get and I strongly recommend brining in your own photographer. Yes you have to pay an outside vendor fee, but it’s TOTALLY worth it! Plan for it early and incorporate it into your budget.
I can’t say enough about our photographer Sascha Gluck! Our overall experience with Sascha was absolutely amazing! Our pictures are stunning and his professionalism is top notch. He’s such a nice man and we really felt like we were working with an old friend during the entire day. I would recommend Sascha to every bride!
Here’s the link to my full review on Sascha:
http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/sascha-gluck-photographer/reviews/6281
HAIR & MAKE-UP - A
I had my hair and make-up done at the resort. To be honest I was totally freaked out about this, but scheduled a trial on day 2 and brought in pictures of what I wanted. The stylist you'll want to request is Litzy. She's the best!
My trial was actually done by a lady named Vicky (who doesn’t speak English, hence why photos are key!) and while I really liked the hair I found the make-up too over the top...I actually had her fix it at least 5 times.
On the wedding day I found out that Vicky and Litzy would be “tag-teaming†us. Vicky was doing my hair and Litzy would be doing my make-up. For whatever reason I felt a huge amount of relief that it was Litzy doing my make-up.While Vicky was styling my hair I noticed it was looking way different than the trial. I thought it would come together by the end, but it didn't. As I was trying to explain this to Vicky (again language was an issue), Litzy could see my concern. She came over, put both hands on my shoulders and said that I'm not allowed to leave until I'm 110% happy....AND then she proceed to fix my hair and style it back into what it should have been! It was waaaaaaay better and I was totally happy when I left!
Litzy on the left jumping in to save my hair :-)
Litzy doing my make-up
My only suggestion to other brides is if you really like a certain shade for your eye shadow then bring your own. They have an okay selection, which worked for me, but I found it difficult to agree on a colour when I didn't know how it would look. Also if you're bringing in fake eyelashes make sure they suit you. Lol I brought in brand new ones that I never tried before and looked like spider-women! Litzy only did one eye and I said "no way" haha. One of my bridesmaids was kind enough to lend me hers because she wasn't going to use them. Anyway moral of the story is to try them on before ;-)
FLOWERS – B
(Casa Narciso via the resort, therefore no vendor fee https://www.facebook.com/pages/Casa-Narciso/150842881644702)
Our wedding theme is hard to describe…classic-nature is maybe the best way. I knew right away that I wanted the colours to be Ivory and Green with touches of Purple. This colour combo essentially eliminated what the hotel considers a tropical flower. Meaning most of our flowers were not local and had to be shipped in. My mom is a lifesaver and actually took care of ALL the flower choices. I gave her a basic idea of my bouquet and she went to town! She would email me choices and I’d say yes or no which was amazing because I don’t know a thing about flowers.
In total our flower list included:
Bridal bouquet – this was upgraded from our Paradise Package so we only paid a portion. It was beautiful and looked just as I imagined.
Bridesmaids bouquets x3 – These turned out great, but were a little smaller than we initially discussed. When we first met with Ana, Astrid the florist also joined the meeting. We let her know that we needed all the bouquets and boutonnieres ready for 2:00pm when the pictures started. On the day of the wedding when Astrid arrived the only flower arrangement completed was my bouquet. So as we were getting ready for pictures she was quickly putting together the BM’s bouquets. They still turned out beautiful, however I think if it weren’t a rushed job they would have turned out to be the right size.
Grooms boutonnière (included in the package) & Groomsmen and FOB and FOG boutonnières (6 in total)
Like the BM’s bouquets above the only boutonniere ready was the groom’s. The problem we ran into was that the florist forgot all the other boutonnieres so she sent her assistant back to their office to pick them up. This meant the groomsmen didn’t have boutonnières in the pictures prior to the ceremony. Honestly it wasn’t a big deal for me, my mom on the other hand was stressing, lol. Either way the guys looked handsome and once the ceremony started everything was taken care of ;-)
MOB and MOG wrist corsages – These were great! My mom bought in two pearl bracelets for the corsages and the florist did a good job putting it together.
Ceremony Centerpieces x4 (we reused these at the Reception and one was included in our package so we paid for 3)
Turned out beautiful. They were a little rounder and smaller than we anticipated, but photographed wonderfully.
Flowers shown between my bm and Santiago (the wedding officiant)
Reception Centerpieces x3
Looked great! Exactly what we asked for.
Floral cake topper & hair flower
Another bad on the florist…maybe it just wasn’t her day. She forgot these altogether so we went without. All I can say is to remind, remind, remind! My hair was still awesome without the flower so no complaints there.
PLANNER 1 – A+
They were great to work with! Ana dealt with them directly so we avoided an outside vendor fee, however we did pay for delivery. We ordered gold tiffiany chairs to be used at the ceremony and reception. The hotel was awesome and moved them to the reception during cocktail hour. We also had Planner1 string lights around 4 pillars at the reception to add a little mood lighting. It was beautiful!
The lights from Planner1 around the pillars
CERMONY
We had our symbolic ceremony on the Ocean View Lobby Terrace. It was beautiful and was the perfect size. Honestly I don’t remember much of the ceremony except looking at my husband. I had butterflies with all the excitement. It’s really a special moment and it’s nice to block out everything else and enjoy the moment. Our Wedding Officiant was Santiago and he was wonderful. Everyone loved him!
Aisle Runner
We ordered this off of Etsy from Starry Night Design www.starrynightdesign.etsy.com
The owner, Stephanie, was amazing to deal with. Super nice, accommodating and professional. The runner was made in New York and shipping to my home. Lol yup we brought it along with us to Mexico. It was large, 4ft high, but very narrow (maybe 4inches) so it didn’t weight too much and the airport check-in lady didn’t charge us for checking it. We brought double sided carpet tape and Ana arranged for it to be set up.
Greek-like Pillars
This one was kind of a bummer. For the ceremony we had ordered 4 Greek-looking Pillars through and outside vendor that knew Planner1. I can’t remember the company name, but owners name was Raffaele. Our idea was to have each ceremony centerpiece placed on top. We saw pictures of them and they looked great! However, when they arrived they were hollow plastic and with the wind there was no way we could use them. We paid $350 USD and after a huge amount of haggling after the wedding he finally agreed to refund us $100….not much, but better than nothing. Looking back I really wished I had asked what the pillars were made of before ordering. Hindsight is always 20/20 ;-)
COCKTAIL HOUR
We arranged for a 1 hour open bar with appetizers on the Lobby Terrace to the left of our ceremony location. It was perfect! They set up a fantastic food spread of appetizers next to the lounge furniture (perfect seating for everyone). Music-wise we used an iPod providing nice background music. When we arrived at the Cocktail Hour we also had servers greeting us with our signature cocktail. Since green was our main colour we had Mojitos and called them “Mint-to-beâ€. Cheesy I know, lol.
Our "Mint-To-Be" Signature cocktail sign
RECEPTION – A++
Our reception was originally going to be on the Lobby Terrace, a beautiful location. After much discussion and negotiation we were able to change the location to the Petit Creperie. It’s a location the hotel never uses for weddings, however with the magic of my fantastic wedding coordinator (Keine Dennis, Bloom Destination Weddings) we were able to use that location.
The Petit Creperie in the distance
Our 5-hour reception (3 included in the Paradise Package and 2 hrs extra we paid for) was set up under the roof and the dance floor was outside by the pool. It’s an open-aired restaurant so the inside flows seamlessly to the outside and the thatched roof added a touch of rustic vibe we were looking for. Ana really did a fantastic job of setting up our decorative items we brought with us (i.e. table overlays, coral placecard holders, seating arrangement frames, guest book, menus, table names etc).
Table names were significant places in our relationship
Dinner was great and was served fairly quickly. We had:
Tomato Goat Cheese Salad – yummy, but very cheesy. I preferred the green salad we had at our rehearsal dinner.
Orange-Lemon Vodka Sorbet – very good palate cleanser
Surf & Turf – steak with prawns. I heard this was excellent. Some steaks were cooked to perfection and others were a little well done. It’s always tough when cooking for a large group of people
OR
Vegetable Strudel – Excellent! It was a philo pastry stuffed full of savory veggies. Delicious!
Parfait de Stracciatella – Yummy ice cream meets gelato dessert.
Tomato & Goat Salad and Surf & Turf
After dinner the dj started up and we danced the night away until midnight. Sooooo much fun!
First Dance
CAKE
We had a 3 tired cake that we decided to cut around 10:45pm. Even at that time many of the guests weren’t hungry or were too busy busting a move on the dance floor. To future brides I suggest providing small cake boxes so guests can take a piece back to their rooms. The guests that did have it said it was delicious!
We brought along little edible pearl balls use as decoration on the cake along with a green ribbon to wrap around the base of the cake. On top was supposed to be our fresh flowers, however the florist forgot them so the idea was to go without. Well….somehow the cake baker thought he’d improvise and make flowers out of icing. Lol it was really awful, haha see below. We were highly amused, my mom was not impressed and turned the cake after it arrived so the icing flowers weren’t showing…lol it makes for a good story for later on.
Cake cutting with the turned cake ;-)
OVERALL
Overall the wedding was everything and more! Yes, things go wrong but nothing ruined our day….we just have some stories to tell to our future children ;-) In the end you’re there with your loved ones to celebrate your marriage. Everyone had a wonderful time and I continue to hear it was the BEST wedding they’ve ever been too. The staff is marvelous, Ana is amazing and the resort grounds are beautiful. The staff goes above and beyond to ensure you day flows without a hitch. It was such an amazing time and I can’t wait to go back!
If you have any questions about our wedding please feel free to PM me.
Happy Planning!
March 3, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Reviewed by Abby VHey everyone! I was married at the OCT on December 14, 2011 outside on the lobby terrace. This resort is so great, it really is. The entertainment is wonderful! There is always something going on every night ie. beach parties, make your own martini night, tequila tasting, casino night in the lobby, karoke in the lobby...I could go on, and on. We stayed for 17 days and there were enough a-la-carte restaurants that we never got tired of the food. Even the buffet does a theme night 7 days a week. There are 4 pools - a kid's pool, an activity pool, a party pool (the one with the pool bar) and a quiet pool (on the priveledge side that anyone can use). I HIGHLY recommend the 45 minute walk to Puerto Morelos. It is such a great little town!! Along the way, massages on the beach get cheaper and cheaper. Right outside PM you can have a 1 hour couples beach massage for $25 (you could talk them down to $20). Also, snorkling in PM is only $20 for 2 hours! Some of the people who offer snorkelling seem a little sketchy, but we went with Crispy Bacon (his name is crispy, but everyone calls him crispy bacon), and he was an amazing swimmer and we felt very secure with him. There are all kinds of little shops in PM and they are BY FAR cheaper than the vendors that visit the resort on Friday night and the ones you visit if you choose to take the free Cancun shopping trip. Coco Bongo is a MUST. I really wasn't interested in going, but it was an amazing show!!!!!!! I'm quite certain our guests enjoyed that the most. The show was absolutely mind-blowing!
Now, about the wedding. Ana (who I arranged everything through) and Karen (who were there the day of) were so accommodating! They were very calm and organized and maintained great contact. They have a desk in the lobby, so they're always easy to find if you have any questions. I literally had to do nothing. They arrange everything and show up to pick you up the day of. The hair and make up included in the package were great! It was exactly what I wanted (I brought a pic and my hair extensions). We booked Juan Navarro as our wedding photographer and we are amazed by our pictures. He was VERY affordable and we opted for the package with the photobook. The photobook is such great quality with the very thick (almost cardboard-like) pages and some really cool effects. Our wedding wasn't anything fancy. Outside on the lobby terrace is much more private than I had expected. Ok, so now the food...we opted for the beef wellington meal...everyone RAVED about it. It was SOOOOO good!!! They really put extra effort and detail into preparing the meals for the wedding. I should mention that we opted for the most expensive package (the one with the outdoor reception). I just couldn't imagine having it at one of the restaurants. Our reception was very private. People inside the lobby can see you, but you don't even notice because you're having so much fun! So the package with the outdoor reception comes with servers and they're always making sure you have something to drink. They often would make a tray of drinks and serve them, so you had new drinks to try. Oh, and we opted for the cocktail hour which was great! Our guests had snacks and a place to hang out while we were off taking pictures.
All in all, we had a blast at our wedding and throughout our stay at this resort. If you would like any additional information, or pictures, please feel free to ask. My email address is [email protected] and I'd be happy to answer any of your questions. I found it difficult to find information about this resort and often resorted to this forum for information and now it's time for me to give back!
. I wish you all a very happy wedding at OCT!! Here is a link to our pics on our photographers website http://www.juanphotos.com/blog/weddings/ocean-coral-turquesa-destination-wedding-abby-hugh-puerto-morelos-riviera-maya-q-roo-mexico-2/Here are some other pictures you may find useful in trying to envision the lobby terrace ceremony and reception.
On our way!
Walking down the aisle
Exchanging rings
Now a Mrs.
The cake
In the background is the table (we opted for one large rectangular table due to small size) and bar
You can kind of see the overall layout in the background of this pic
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@Erdocherty98 You can book your trip through any source that you would like. I chose to book through a travel agent with most of my guests but a few people have decided to book on their own through different websites.
@leahbecker The wedding checklist form that Ana sent to me states that reservation for the SPA will be taken one month prior to the wedding, hope that helps :-)
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Thank you for the information on the DJ that makes me feel better and also that I can ship stuff a month before that way I am not limited with my centerpieces :-) Are you using Planner 1 Events and do you have to pay a vendor fee for them as well?
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@Josie Fiorda Congrats, your big day will be here before you know it! It's good to hear that Ana responds quicker as the wedding get closer! As I am sure you know planning a wedding is stressful and then add that it is out of the country puts a whole new level of difficulty on it! I thought about making my own centerpieces actually I would prefer to however I am having a hard time finding something non-breakable and I am worried about traveling with glass. I saw Foto Take It mentioned in a couple of previous reviews however it is not the hotel photographer after the reviews I have read on the hotel photographer I definitly do not want to use them! Lastly (for now anyway lol) Do you know when the final payment is due for the wedding and all the extras and what type of payment is accepted? I am trying to budget and plan what I can ahead of time :-)
Has anyone had anything shipped to Ana ahead of time? I wasn't sure if that was an option. Also for anyone who is using or has used the hotel DJ, please give reviews. I haven't read much on here but I am trying to avoid having to pay yet another outside vendor fee, so if the hotel one is good then I will just use him :-)Thanks in advance for any information!
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Hello, I am getting married on 05/09/13 at OCT and I have a couple of questions I was hoping you might be able to answer. I noticed you said you paid for an extra hour for the reception how much extra was that? Also are you doing your own centerpieces or are you getting them through the resort? I have asked Ana a few times for pricing on centerpieces with no response. Do you have pricing info for Foto Take It because I was not able to find any on the website. Last question, do you know when the final payment for the wedding is due? Thank you in advance for any information you may be able to provide!
Ocean Turquesa & Coral Brides?
in Destination Wedding in Riviera Maya, Cancun & surrounding areas
Posted
I'm getting married in 7 weeks!!! Woo hoo! What recommendations would anyone have on who I should get to do my hair at the salon on grounds? Also I'm looking at my options on bouquets and my colors are dark purple and bright blue like seen on the ribbons around the chairs. Can we change the color of a rose bouquet to purples? Or is is only pink?
As far as the flowers go, when you have your meeting there are many more options. They will try to accomodate whatever you want. They dyed flowers for me to match the colors, lillies for my bridesmaids and orchids for my bouquet. I wanted and they have these other flowers that are a really deep purple color, can't remember the name of them but they are really pretty. I actually had my mom and dad's corsage and boutonniere made with that particular flower because they wore purple. Here is a picture of my bouquet with white roses and dyed blue orchids.