catgirl

Thanks for the info. I have a few questions for her and will also ask the question.

Thanks to all 3 Playa is one of my favorite places.

We too are getting legally married before our wedding in Playa. We have a friend officiating and we have outlined how we want the ceremony to go.

My thoughts are all jumbled right now and I am pretty hurt thinking about some of the conversations I have had with "friends" over the past week or so. I just finished the ticket jackets for the invitations and making 120 jackets gives one time to think. I am getting ready to mail invites today and I am thinking long and hard about who I really truly want to send them to. My fi has his friends, I have my friends and we have mutual friends. We know from his family side that his mum, a friend of hers and his dad are attending for sure. We have some of his friends who have booked the hotel. We have some of our friends together that have booked the hotel as well. My mom and stepdad are attending for sure. The bridal party (only 4 people, 2 on each side) - 2 have booked and 2 will book. That I am not worried about. However, when I think about my friends (that I was friends with before my fi and have known a long time), I have a feeling that only one of them will actually make an attempt to go. I have been fielding calls from these friends of mine over the course of the past week (they knew I was working on the invites) with excuses of why they can't attend. Just got off the phone with another friend of mine having the same exact conversation. The excuses range from money (which I totally understand) to "oh my hubby says Mexico is scary, so we are going to Europe instead" to I can't get the time off from work. We are actually doing a Thursday - Sunday deal, 2 days off from work. Super reasonably priced. Most of my friends are not very well traveled, have not really left the country, and I am not sure they even have passports. I think that could be a big part of it, who knows for sure though. This is such a far cry from the friends that we have together. All have passports and are willing to jet off somewhere in a heartbeat (just like us). I had one friend who can't attend demand I register for gifts so she could be buy me something and that ensued into a spat because we don't want to register. I told her we did not want to register and especially for things we do not want. I am sticking to my guns on that. I am so tired of all the negativity around my wedding and it is making me so sad. I think about the thousands and thousands of dollars that I have spent on my friends and their weddings over the years (I literally spent over $3K last year to stand up in 2 weddings for the same friend and I am getting the excuses too from her for mine) and did so because they were my friends. I spent tons of hours helping them. I feel like when push comes to shove, they are not as good as friends as I thought. They say they will help and then back out. The invites have not been sent and I am beseiged by excuses. I am looking at the guest list now and cutting people. I just don't care. Am I wring by doing this? It makes me sad that my "side" of guests will be so small, it looks like I don't have a lot of friends. Perhaps I don't. Thanks for reading my pity party. I am glad to know I am not alone.

I have MIA lately.....so much going on. Trace - welcome back!!! Amanda - thanks for the heads-up on the prices for 2013. We signed our contract last year and Alejandra sent us the 2012 prices. I know my Fi is going to fight any additional charges, he was not please when I mentioned this to him. Status update on progress: Invites printed and jackets made Invites are being sent out tonight Wow, that is a short list. I am happy the invites are sorted and almost ready to go. That is a big milestone for us.

We are getting this as well and we picked a DW for a lot of the reasons mentioned. My Fi's and his family is from New Zealand, my family is from the Chicago area and we are moving to the Bay Area in less than 2 months. We have friends scattered all over the world as well. I don't want to plan a big traditional wedding in Chicago from San Francisco. I don't want to plan a traditional wedding in San Francisco, especially being new to the area. We don't even want a big traditional wedding. We wanted something fun, low-key and casual with our family and friends. Because of this, we picked a DW. This way it is equal opportunity travel and there is no perception of geographical favoritism. We picked a neutral place to where everyone has to travel since we are inviting people from all over. We haven't sent the invites out yet, that is happening within the next few weeks. I have some friends who are proactively reaching out regarding pricing, TA info, how to book, etc. And others I am getting I get the "oh, it's not convenient for me", or "isn't Mexico unsafe and we would get shot or killed?", and other variations of this. Why would I pick somewhere to get married where I would willingly put people in harms way? I find it sad that my mom hasn't even put a deposit on the room and I am getting feedback that my step-dad won't attend. Seriously? He has been a part of my life for over 20 years and he won't attend because "he doesn't like Mexico". At Christmas dinner, I was getting lots of comments about the decision to have a DW from people who I am inviting but don't expect to attend. Fi's mom already has her air booked from NZ and it is a heck of a lot more than what it will cost for 2 people to fly from Chicago. My mom is complaining about the fares, the rates, everything. This is even before the invites have been sent!!! So, I am at the point that whoever attends, attends. We will have fun celebrating with those who do show up and celebrate our marriage. Fi reminds me that its about us all the time, especially when I start stressing. Fi: "are you going to be there? Me: "yes" Fi: "well,I am going to be there, that is all we need"

If possible, could someone please send me the instructions for the jacket, I would appreciate it. I have spent hours trying to get one jacket right so I can send my invites out. So far, it's not working out too well. christy at catjomas.com

We haven't sent our save the dates yet, we are planning to send an e-mail within the next week or so, then follow-up with the invite in January I just mocked up our wedding invitations. Once we decide we like them and are happy, I will get them printed and will assemble. We just received information from the resort with information I have been waiting for. I sent back a very detailed e-mail with a ton of questions. Once I receive a response, it will help in the planning process. We are making the OOT bags in March/April. We are asking for RSVPs back by mid-March and the room rate expires end of March. Based on this, we will have a good idea of number of guests. We are also moving to the Bay Area end of February, so we do not want to buy stuff here and have to move that too. I have been snipping images of what I envision for the ceremony set-up and thinking about centerpieces. I have a .ppt created so I can just keep everything in one place and then have something to send to the WC. I have been pricing out things like sashes, centerpeices, etc. I am in a holding pattern until I have a better idea of what I need to buy exactly. I have picked out the style of dress for my girls and am waiting for the sample colors to arrive. I have an idea of what I want for a dress, but haven't done anything on that front yet. I created a budget to see how much we were spending and to see how quickly all of this adds up. I did create a wedding website, so I feel good about that. So basically, for a June 2013 wedding, we really haven't done much other than pick the resort, lock in group rates, secure the wedding date, book our travel to the wedding and all the honeymoon flights.

We are doing ipod, I think. Fi isn't into mariachi.

That is what we are doing. We got engaged in November. We are sending the invitations in January and are working on an e-mail to send out in advance of the invitations.

We are doing the same thing for our wedding in Mexico, symbolic ceremony with a friend officiating it and doing the legal part in Cali 6 days before the wedding. Neither one of us liked the idea of having blood drawn in Mexico and we have a friend officiating/taking care of the legal piece for us. Plus, we are also not arriving 4 days prior to the Mexico wedding date.

Thanks to the ladies who sent me info. I posted a thank you and it was sent for review, not sure why? Some of the stress is easing away now.

Thanks for the information, I appreciate it. Thanks for the heads-up on the photographers as well.

We just finalized the contract for the rooms and we haven't sent the details out yet. One of my BMs wants to book now as well as my mom. So none, .

We are planning to send an e-mail/newsletter with the info in advance of the invitations. Not the best plan, but based on timing it will have to do.

We are arriving on the 12th as well. We are asking family and the wedding party to also fly in then so we would be able to have some quiet time with them before the festivities. We are asking guests to be there on the 13th. Basically phrasing it as the wedding do is the 13th-16th (they can obviously stay longer or arrive earlier if they want). We are flying back on the 16th.

Thanks and best wishes on your upcoming wedding!!! I can't wait to see pics of everything and I appreciate you passing information along. My e-mail is [email protected] We actually booked the free package because we really couldn't tell the differences between the packages. All seemed to include the same thing and we will meet the requirement of 60 nights booked. We have our own officiant (since we are doing the legal wedding in SFO the weekend before) who is also a guest. We just paid $500 to do the ceremony at 5:00 pm on the beach. We have already been assured we have a private dining space for our dinner and we are not doing a formal reception. We figured after the ceremony we would do the champagne toast, we can grab a drink at one of the bars and then go to dinner. We figured after dinner we would find a bar for drinks, then perhaps the disco. Is this even a good plan? So excited to find other Tucan brides and this website!

Hi. I am Christy. You are the one who has the date we wanted. We are arriving June 12 from SFO for the 14th and asking our families to fly in that date as well and asking our guests to fly in on June 13. We have people flying in from all over the world (Fi is from New Zealand). We just booked a block of 70 rooms for that time frame. We are expecting over 50 guests. We are getting married at 5:00 pm on the 14th. It was like pulling teeth to get Connie to respond and get the contract finalized, however, my TA has a relationship with the IB sales manager, so he was able to push it along. Our TA is awesome and is the agency owner and I have booked several other trips through him and have referred others to him as well. I have stayed at the resort 5 times and I love it there, which is why we decided on the Tucan. We don't have time for a pre-wedding visit since we are moving to the Bay Area in March and we just got engaged in November. I have stayed at quite a few AIs in Playacar and the Tucan was my favorite. I am trying to figure out some of the logistics ie handing out OOT bags, can we coordinate a dinner/drinks for the night of the 13th once people arrive, are we going to have a fixed menu at dinner, centerpieces, etc. Not much planning has been done to date. Would love to bounce ideas off of you and see what you have done for the big day.

Vernon Hills for now. Will be the Bay Area after March 1st.

We are getting married at the Iberostar Tucan. How early are you flying down to CUN?

I was starting to panic a bit last night about the lack of planning and preparation to date. We just got engaged in November and are planning the wedding for June. We decided to pass on the STD cards and just send an e-mail. Most people who know we are getting married know it is a DW. My Fi is from New Zealand and we are moving from the Chicago area. People would have to travel regardless, so we decided on a beach on in Mexico. We are working with a graphic designer for our invites and those will go out in January. Starting to get lots of great ideas on centerpieces and flowers. We have the swag/OOT bags figured out.

I am also looking for the timeline as well.

I notice this is an older thread, but I am in the NW Chicago burbs and just started planning my DW. The TA I am working with is great - an internet agency based in PHL, but am dealing directly with the owner. Super responsive and I have used him for years for other vacations and referred lots of people to him over the years. We just nailed down the contract for our room block at the IB Tucan/Quetzal. Now we need to send out invites so people can go and book.

If any brides have any info they can share on what they have received from the IB Tucan/Quetzal, I would be appreciative. We have just signed the contract for our wedding on June 14, 2013, but only have the basic wedding package details. I am not sure if they provide additional information on photographers, centerpieces, etc. Looking for anything I can get my hands on. Starting to panic a bit as it is December and the wedding is a little more than 6 months away. And in between now and the wedding, we are picking up and moving to the west coast. Fun times.

Thanks. I spent some time reading the boards last night and started working myself up since the wedding is in June and we have done...not that much. Just nailed down the location/resort and locked in the room rates. We decided to skip the STDs since most people know its a destination wedding and are opting to send the invites in January instead with an RSVP timing of March.