jengullage

McBride- We actually paid for the royal suites (when we booked) and we sent an email about 2 months before the wedding to an email that Carlota gave me, but I don't have that email saved unfortunately!! So for our room, we knew we were getting the royal suites rooms, but we wanted to have "the best" of the best as some rooms are bigger and laid out differently than others. We ended up getting a room at the back of the building (7030) which has two balconies, as it is on the corner of the building. We had a living room, hallway, big bathroom, and big bedroom. It was also in the modern colours (purple/white) not the traditional old style that you see in some pictures. Our jacuzzi was extra big (bigger than our guests' that stayed at the white sands) and it was on one of the balconies. We did peak in other rooms in the royal suites (when they were getting cleaned-just from the door) haha and we could see that other rooms were more like one big room with pillars and not a division of separate rooms. So we were really happy about getting that room! I can't say for absolute sure that it was the biggest/best that they offer but it was absolutely the best that we saw or any of our guests had. So I would try to get that room. Plus, from our balconies you can see the ocean in the FAR distance haha. This resort is definitely back from the ocean so it wasn't much of a view in terms of ocean, but very pretty still.

Hey ladies I am at work now sneaking in a quick post because I have been sick for the past three days since I got home. I apologize for not being able to put up my review yet, and I know Carlota is leaving this weekend! So I will give you the best advice I can for your wedding-ENJOY IT!! It really will be magical, and it is beautiful there. I have seen all of the sites and they are all beautiful. Also, stay positive about the guest's that have decided not to come. I had a lot of back and fourth with some of my guests and most were important family members and best friends. The thing to remember is that it is you and your future husband that will look back on this day and know that you did it your way and made yourselves happy. Friends and family that can't make it will be able to celebrate with you in a different way and most importantly they will be happy for you and thats all that matters! Take if from a bride that did this two weeks ago at the very same place-you will not regret this. It is a once in a lifetime experience and you will be happy you chose Grand Palladium-we absolutely are!! I am not sure if I will be able to post the pictures on this website-due to copyright from my photographer-I would have to check, but I will post them on facebook so everyone should join carlota's facebook page. I hope to have them posted by next week since this weekend is johnnys birthday and I am working right up until that day so sorry I couldn't get them up sooner! Mickeycelle- I also hired Agustin from Cinematic! I will check out your video at home tonight!! Also any notes on the Royal Suites-we stayed there and it was AMAZING!!!! the best room I saw out of any of our guests' rooms. I will post a video of our room on Carlottas page too next week sometime if I can. We stayed in Room 7030 and I believe it is the biggest room you can get on the resort!! Don't know if we got lucky or if sending off that email to the reservations manager paid off or what! Either way we were so happy with it! Ok gtg back to work

Hey Ladies!!!!!! I am sitting in the Royal Suites Lobby right now at Grand Palladium and my HUSBAND haha is waiting for me to hurry up so we can enjoy the day but I wanted to let you all know that we had an AMAZING wedding!!! It really is so nice here and you all have nothing to worry about! We are half way done our second week here in paradise and when we get home and get our pictures together we will share them on Carlotta´s facebook page and possibly here if I can! Ok got to go! I will write back after we get home!

Also, Claire and Carlotta, I am bringing my dress on board and putting in the overhead compartments since my plane doesn't have a closet. They did tell me that I will board first, and they gave me seats close to the front so I could be off rather quickly-if it goes as planned. I have sandals-silver from aldo, with a tiny wedge heal, not much at all, and are sparkly. I am borrowing them from my sister in law.

Hey Normas09 can you send to me too?? [email protected] Thanks!!!

Thank you Carlotta! We are wanting the videographer for at least 6 hours (either 3-9 or 2-8). Our ceremony is at 4, and I want to try and get "getting ready" both the guys and the girls, the ceremony, during pictures and the beginning portion of our ceremony (cake cutting, first dance) as well as shots of the resort, that kind of stuff in the video. We are thinking of going with two videographers to help make this happen. Six hours seems like a long time, except it is barely enough time to get all of these details in especially if something goes later than planned or does not start on time. If we had 7 hours that would be perfect but it really is starting to add up so we are not sure if we will do that. I will check that videographer out thank you so much Welcome aak2fast4u. You are getting married two weeks after me! yay! I am starting to really realize just how HOT it is going to be in July there! It really does sound like you have everything in order! What package did you go with? What is your decor like?!

Liana- I know that you can set the tables up in a variety of ways. Whether it is round tables scattered about, or in my case I am doing a "U" shape since we only have about 22 guests that is the best option for us I think. Caseylynn- Thanks for the info on the rose petals. I will want to order those for sure! Carlotta- I can't remember how far back your post was about a videographer (I am pretty sure I remember you saying you did extensive research trying to find one). Who did you end up choosing?? We are in the process of doing research and want to book one now but we are noticing a very big difference in price and in quality! We can't afford to pay thousands of dollars, but we don't want to go too cheap and get a really bad looking video. Right now we are finding some that are about 1700 usd, and they make really great videos, and the resort is offering for cheaper, but I don't have a lot of examples from them to really get a sense of their style. Are we in the right ball park for quality based on what you found? Who are you going with if you don't mind me asking? Jen

Hey everyone, Does anyone have any examples of prices of what bouquets are going to cost?? On the website it says that for a tropical bouquet-something like what Chrestena had, was going to cost $500....that seems completely outrageous to me and I am having such a hard time figuring out what to do. I chose the mayan pearl package in white-so it comes with a white bouquet, but I was going to give that to my maid of honour and get a tropical one for me since you can't substitute, but for $500 I can't justify it. Anyone have prices from them for this stuff??

Welcome to all the new ladies in this forum! Carlotta- I agree giving your OOT bags to your guests during your cocktail party or a welcome dinner would be the best in your scenario. Everyone will all be there and you won't have to hunt anyone down. So easier for you! I have a question for Chrestena and any other bride that had gotten married already here or anyone who might have the answer to this: - we are planning our reception timeline and I was wondering how much time in between courses would be a good amount of time to get a speech in as we want to intersperse the speeches with dinner (at least a few of them).

Hello Ladies Carlota- I am going to look up Antonio on the Palladium website tonight and see if I can get in contact with him! It would put my mind at ease to find out if I could ensure we get a beautiful room! I emailed someone at grand palladium that vanessa had sent me an email for but I never heard anything back from them unfortunately. You must be also getting so excited! Your wedding is a month after mine! After talking with all of the ladies it seems I keep adding things to our budget haha. Now we want the mexican trio possibly, and we are considering the videographer...no regrets right!! Hee hee Normas09- I am a little bit confused with the Grand Azul/La Laguna thing. Vanessa told me that La Laguna was the one overlooking the pool and that Grand Azul was the one that had the trees and nature behind it but you are saying that it is the opposite. Now I am worried she made a mistake and mixed them up because we booked La Laguna because she said it was the one overlooking the pool. This resort is so big haha I maybe will email to clarify this because I definitely want the one over looking the white sands pool! Heatherlynn- You aren't alone !! I go through stages where I am very relaxed about everything and feel like everything is under control....and then all of a sudden I'll have a week where I think there is just so much to do- how will we ever get it done, and that our budget grows by the minute!! Hee hee! I am convinced it's hormonal! I feel bad for my poor fiance, he has to put up with me haha!!

Thanks Carlotta for the information on the rooms! My mom I think is staying in one of those huts so that will be exciting for her! And I will definitely take your advice with putting in a request and going to the palladium addicts website. If I can't figure it out I will be asking you for more details haha ! Thanks so much

Chrestena!! I just watched your video and I love it!! You looked so calm throughout everything and just soooo happy!! That is so amazing thank you so much for sharing that with us!! I can't wait to show my fiancé now the video because we are always searching for new videos of the resort and weddings and I am sure you will get a lot of views on that video!! You looked so beautiful and I wish you and your family the brightest future together!!

Congratulations Chrestena!!! You looked beautiful and SOOO HAPPY!! That is so amazing that you had such a perfect wedding!! I absolutely LOVE reading through all of your comments and reviews and it really does make me take a step back and relax a little about all of the little "details" I have been a little worried about. My fiance sat down for dinner tonight and we looked through your pictures and we are now thinking of getting the spanish trio because of your review! It means so much to us soon to be brides that you and all of the other brides on here have taken the time to come back to this site and give us updates! I can't wait to give my review! I have a question regarding the room you had. You said you were in 3306 and that it was a Mayan suite and that confused me a little. Were you at Kantenah? that is the only building that is 33 that is by the beach and it is on the kantenah side right?? Your room looked so different from any other room I have seen on here! It was gorgeous!! We have booked the Royal Suites in the Yucatan section (the adult only section) and we are really hoping that our room is an updated room with a king size bed but I won't know until I get there and that makes me stress a little! I would hate to get there and it not be updated and beautiful like yours was, and for there to be two double beds in the room (just not that romantic for the honeymoon you know!). Our travel agent said it was the most expensive part of the resort so I would hope that the rooms would be updated in there. Anyone else wondering or worried about the same thing? haha I know we won't be spending much time in the rooms but since there are rooms updated, pictures for getting ready and the overall atmosphere of the room would feel more luxurious at nights if it were!!

Hi Soon to be... and caseylynn So yah I chose white because the pink would clash with my coral colour choice of bridesmaid dress. Unfortunately I guess this is the nature of their packages with Karen Bussen. I understand a bit why they don't want to mix and match the colours as they have gone and "designed this package to be in the Karen Bussen vision" and they do offer the mix and match package (at a very large cost mind you!) but it still is a bummer nontheless! Also, you asked about whether I was bringing any center pieces but again, we have to use the candles and pearls that are included in our package as the center pieces. We can however add our own little touches with regards to name tags, favours and stuff like that. I might also purchase these white star fish to put on the tables as well from a little wedding store I live not far from. It is actually where I bought my bamboo fans from, and they have a website called www.weddingfavours.ca and I can say they are ligit-as Ive been in their showroom which is just a little small store but their website is well designed if you were to order stuff from them. The fans were only $1.50 each and they come in their own little mesh bag. I am a little worried about how much it will cost for the extra bouquet and boutennier and hair flowers that I will be ordering because yah like you girls said they are very expensive. I haven't really looked into ordering flowers from an outside vendor as I was worried about there being minimum orders and high delivery costs. Maybe I should check out that one out that was back around pg 160... It gets overwhelming and the costs just seem to be adding up more and more lol. I will definitely come back and tell you all about my experiences and show pictures of what the set up looks like with the new packages in July!

Hi "soon to be mrs w"! I am also doing the Mayan pearl package now and I have asked Vanessa lots and lots of questions about it. What she said was that you have to choose one of the colours listed and yes it does all have to be in that colour you choose (I chose white). You also have to "use" everything that is in this package- so the flowers you have to "use" but you can order extra bouquets in different colours and flowers (which is what I'm doing / giving the maid of honour my white lilies and ordering a coral bouquet of a different flower for myself (not sure what kind yet). There is however, one of the Karen bussen packages (I think it's the most expensive one) that allows you to mix and match ANY of the decoration/flowers and I think you can mix the colours too (but not 100% sure on that tho). You can also bring extra decor in your colours to add to the stuff already included in the package (ie we are having coral and turquoise maracas, sand ceremony in those colours, star fish for tables in white, fans in turquoise, name tags etc). But you can't take away items that are in the package (ie you must use the centre peices) But if you happen to be told different from what I was told can you please share that with me? it's best to get as much info from as many ppl as we can so we can take advantage of all that is offered to us ! My wedding is in 7 weeks yay!

Hi Alyn, I saw you said you are doing Mayan pearl! Me too!! What has been your experience with flower options for extra bouquets? What colour have you gone with for the package?

Hi Ladies It has been a long time since I have been able to write on this thread. Busy with work and school and wedding planning!!! But now I have some concrete things happening which is super exciting!! I have read all of the posts and want to congratulate all of the brides that just had their wedding and thank them for sharing their reviews and words of advice!!!! To give some insight on the new packages to all of the newbies or anyone who is thinking of changing their package this is my experience with it Originally we chose the Vow Renewal (the most expensive of the two options for that) and we were going to customize all of the details: flowers, decor etc. After looking at the Karen Bussen packages and weighing the pros and cons, we have decided to change our decision and go with the Mayan Pearl Package-vow renewal. It is a little more money but the decor is much more modern and I actually like the fact that I DONT have to make so many little decisions! It is after all, one of the reasons we wanted to go away! We have chosen white as the decor colour (as you are limited within them what colours you can choose) and our wedding colours are coral and turquoise. So we have decided to add those colours in little extras that we are bringing along and have everything else in white. We are getting married at the beach pergola on the Kantenah side, and we have little bamboo fans that are in our turquoise colour on each seat. I think that will make a beautiful picture before any guests arrive. My brother who is walking me down the aisle will also be in turquoise (shirt) and white pants. My maid of honour is wearing a coral dress, and the best man is wearing a coral shirt and light grey pants. Because with the karen bussen packages we are limited to what we can choose, I figured that I would just do the following: Since the decor will all be white including the flowers, I will give the included white bouquet and boutenneir to the maid of honor and best man (because you HAVE to use it) and then I can order an additional bouquet and boutenier (that would normally be for the maid of honour and best man in a colour of our choice-we will do coral). That way, the colour of the flowers will ofset what we are wearing I think. I am pretty sure that is what we will end up doing. So that is one way of kind of going around their strict colour scheme. You basically have to use what is included (which is all gorgeous) but any extras can be whatever you want since you are paying extra for it. I am so excited to say that I am placing my order for our wedding favours tonight too! We are getting custom maracas from a place that Vanessa recommended "Maracas Mexico". She was so quick to answer my quote requests and in a matter of three days I have all the info I need to place my order! They are very affordable too-but I guess that could be subject to dispute depending on how many you have to order. I only have 22 being ordered and the design is not too complicated but very pretty. They hand paint their maracas to order and all of the other places I have checked out seemed a little sketchy, so I am hoping this turns out as good as I think it will! They also have a facebook page under the same name you can check out! I commented on their homepage and within less than an hour they responded to me! I also ordered a sand ceremony vase and coral and turquoise sand from elegantweddings.com or .ca...i cant remember. So we will do that also at the ceremony!! We are not having a "dance party" after our reception as we don't really have the crowd for it, but we opted for a private reception even though we only have 20 people because we didn't want it to feel like we were just "out to dinner" with other ppl around. We still have to pay for 25 guests (that is the minimum for the private) so in a sense we are actually paying more per plate considering we are paying for 5 plates that arent even being made. But oh well! It eases my mind and that's all that matters at this point hehe! So we are going to have speeches, do a slideshow presentation, maybe play the "shoe" game haha, have first dance, and do cake. All the while we will have a mixture of classical music and spanish guitar music playing in the background. I think it will be nice. And if some ppl want to continue the night we will just go to the disco for free! We are also not telling people that we are getting married here first-although I think some people are beginning to wonder..it will be our little secret for as long as we can! Pretty much the only reason we are doing the vow renewal is because the week we wanted to go away, there was one day and one spot available for us-and it was too early in the week to be eligible for a legal mexican ceremony, so it didn't bother us at all that we could only do the vow renewal I don't really know anything about the bonfire party so I won't be able to answer any of those questions but if anyone has any other questions about the karen busssen packages I might be able to help! -Jen

Hi ladies! Welcome to all the newbies! Vanessa emailed me this week and told me that the Karen Bussen Packages are available now and that I could change my vow renewal package to one of the new ones so I have been looking at these for options but have so many questions and concerns! Maybe some of the new brides here will be wondering the same thing/know the answers to!? What I am finding with these new packages is that you can't really "customize" anything in them. If you choose white as your colour pallet from the limited choices they offer per package (which is what I would have to go with as they don't have coral or torquiose) then you cant make any of the flowers anything other than white. So for example I am looking at the Mayan pearl package, and choosing white- so the flowers are white lilies for everything-even the bridesmaids, so there is no colour contrast. And I couldn't choose their pink colour as my colour scheme because it would clash with the coral dress of my bridesmaid. Ideally, my bridesmaid having white would be fine-but for that package all they offer is a tiny white lily bouquet (i think its one or two flowers only), and then i would like to have a few coral coloured flowers mixed into mine, but they can't do that. So I am disappointed about that. It's kind of one colour for everything Is anyone else going through these motions right now and finding out anything more than what I have discovered??? You might think "well then just keep with your original package" however my fiance has really fallen in love with the look of the mayan pearl package decorations and palladium packages will not let u use those decorations unless you get the karen bussen packages. The chairs and more modern looking chair covers is what has caught his eye and he is pretty stuck on them now~ lol. So if anyone else has some more answers on how we can change or if we can change some details in these packages please let me know! Jen

Good evening! Karen K- Thanks for the website for the sand ceremony vases! I definitely like the picture ones so that might just be what I go with! Carlota-are you choosing to go with an outside vendor for flowers because you are not happy with what palladium offers? I have not really talked about flowers with Vanessa yet. I know that with my package (renewal of vows the gold package) there are a few flower arrangements included-should I be getting more? Are the prices at palladium too expensive to add more flowers through them or how did you decide to go with flowers from a different vendor?

Does anyone know where a good place to buy a beautiful sand ceremony vase (kit) and sand? Also, anyone know if you fill the sand all the way to the top so that when we travel back home the sand doesn't move around and change designs??

Hi everyone, It's been over a week since I have been able to get on here but a lot has happened since I have been on! I love reading everyone's posts! Lauren and Karen- Thank you for all of your advice. I think you are right I will invite anyone that I would like to be apart of that day, and those who did not know me as well at the time of invitations will understand and Im sure will not think ill of me inviting them-I certainly wouldn't if I was in their shoes. I think too much "politics" and "etiquette" as you mentioned is put into a wedding, and when it all boils down to it, each situation is different and it really should be a happy time! I think I worry too much about what other people think, when I should do what is right for me. So I am throwing etiquette out of the window and going with the flow! Lauren- I am not planning on having an AHR because we are putting all of our money into the actual wedding I wouldn't be able to afford anything at all, not even a backyard gettogether. My mom had mentioned my Opa putting something together possibly as in something small, but nothing has been said to me about it yet. I think an AHR is a lovely idea and would do it if I could but I just don't have the means for it, nor can I imagine going through the invitation process again!! I also think it is perfectly normal and acceptable (but even still we are not worried about etiquette right ) to invite those ppl that declined the wedding invitation to the shower. They probably would be expecting to get the shower invite and that may be their only way of "showing you they are there for your big day" and if you were to not invite them, they could feel snuffed or left out, and that wouldn't be good. I would totally invite them, and if they can't make it then that would be for them to decide, but at least you included them! It sounds like you have lots of people that care about making this special for you, for throwing little showers for you. Enjoy it and don't worry too much about it. We only get to be brides once (thats our goal anyways haha) so live it up!! Oh and about worrying about you having a different meal than your guests-I would not even give that a second thought-it is your wedding so eat whatever you want! Especially since you CAN'T eat what everyone else is eating. Besides, the only people that would even really notice would be the people sitting up with you. I would not notice as a guest, and even if i did I wouldn't think anything of it! I also agree with Chrestena with the OOT bags- that they are PLENTY enough. I am sorry to hear about your daughter, doing the donation in memory of your daughter Avery is a lovely idea and so sweet. I am opting for not doing OOT bags only because I don't want the hassle of trying to bring everything down with me, and my guests are all on the same flight as me so going to get the stuff in mexico wouldn't be an option for us. So we are going to do favours but we have NO clue yet what to do! I wanted to do our favourite candies (him gummy bears and mine m&m's) in our wedding colours (coral and torquoise) but I am worried about them melting! And I don't want to get something that the guests just toss to the side-at least you can eat candy! But we have some time still to figure that one out. My husband's family is all from Mexico so I don't know if doing a traditional Mexican favour would be as unique as it would be received by my family. Karen- we have decided to do a scavenger hunt as well but havn't started compiling our list yet. I was going to sneak a peek at yours for some ideas but I can't load it (could be that my work has blocked it haha) so i will try again at home. Are you offering a prize for it? Are you going to print it out and give it to your guests and then give them a timeline or how do you think you will organize it? Shayla- Congratulations on your wedding! Your pictures are so pretty and it makes me look forward to doing this myself all that much more! How and when did you choose your bouquet flowers/bouteneirs/and flowers for decoration at the ceremony site and reception? Did you send her pictures or choose from her email selections, and when did you finalize it all? Do they have a large selection of flowers to choose from on site all the time or should I be requesting ahead of time? You had mentioned that a wedding group got kicked out of the restaurant after their cake cutting and that makes me super nervous because we were "thinking" of chosing that option since it was free-but my fiance is concerned with the short time frame they give us and knowing this would solidify him choosing the private reception-even if its a couple thousand dollars... I have a question about the decoration of the room for the reception-we chose La Laguna, how much does it cost to have the fabric, lights flowers etc to decorate that room? (if you dont mind me asking) I know the dinner is 50-60 per plate, but I don't know the cost of decoration. I want to make sure it doesnt look bare in there (since we are only going to have around 20 guests) i want to ensure its decorated very nicely. We are doing all of the legal stuff here in Canada first (although we have not even began to look into how or when to do that yet) also, and we are having a "vow renewal" ceremony however NONE of our guests will know this, so we are also keeping it a secret so it's great to know that they do a great job at keeping the ceremony as if it were legally binding. Perez and Claire we are all within three weeks of each other! We are staying for two weeks (arriving on the 7th) and so we may just run into one another or maybe see another's wedding taking place! I hope they all are amazing! Sarah519-I don't know if it has changed, but when I was asking about a beach party I was told they didn't do that, and couldn't do a beach reception, but maybe it has changed since then! That would be amazing and I would totally love that! What is everyone's men wearing for shoes?? Johnny and his best man are wearing light grey linen pants and a white linen shirt from Tommy Bahama's but hasn't decided on footware yet. Also for the ladies? I am not sure what we should do. At first I thought of foot jewelry but then I realized the sand could be really hot on my feet so Ive decided against it. Im also having a rough go at finding a bright coral dress for my bridesmaid. At david's bridal the coral they showed me wasn't bright it was soft, and I thought since i only have one girl, maybe the malls would have bright coral but I am not having any luck. Anyone see anything in any malls around them that was a nice bright coral that would suit for a bridesmaid dress?? I live near London Ontario and would travel a bit to go to a store that had something not too expensive! Wow this is long lol, I am going to put these fingers to rest now! -Jen

Hi Ladies, I am having some difficulty in figuring out what I should do for my wedding shower. When I got engaged I had just started college a week prior and we sent out our invitations within a month of getting engaged as we wanted to give our families as much notice as we could. I did not give any friends at school an invitation as I did not know them well enough and was worried about what they would think of me asking them to fork out all this money for someone they barely knew to go to their wedding. The same goes with my work friends (I have a part time job while I am in school) I was not very close with any of them at the time I got engaged. I have since talked to my school friends and told them how I was unsure of what they would have thought if I had given them an invitation and they were all very understanding and told me that they completly understood and would not have been able to make it regardless. They are planning a bachelorette day for me which is so sweet of them! I have gotten a lot closer with certain people at school and at work over the past few months, and now I feel as though we have great friendships. It is about the time where people have been asking me about my wedding shower and encouraging me to let them know what I would like and who I would like to be there. This is giving me such great anxiety because I feel as though I want to invite my newfound friends but I have done some research online as for "what is exceptable" and I have basically found that if someone is not invited to your destination wedding they should not be invited to the wedding shower". I completely see where they are coming from as it would seem like a "gift grab". At the same time now that these are my closer friends (pretty much the closest in my life right now) I don't want them to feel like I have chosen to leave them out of this as well plus I really only have a few friends from highschool and I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't come as we are not that close anymore. One more problem is that my aunts seem to be feuding with my mom and sisters over stuff that I have chosen to stay out of. I even invited the whole extended family to Christmas dinner and those aunts and uncles chose not to come as they didn't want to be around my mom and sisters. I think that they all went back and fourth bad talking each other and accusing each other of different things that I chose to completly not have a say in. This really makes me feel like they will not come to my wedding shower, because of course my mom and sisters will be there. I hate to make this sound like a pity party but lets be realistic--this is my nightmare--no one even shows up to this shower and believe me I am really feeling like this will happen. I need your advise on what I should do. Am I facing things that other people are too? Any insight is helpful

Hey ladies First of all thank you so much for all of the replies. It's so nice to know that so many people are willing to help out! Claire- That is so great that our weddings are around the same time! Maybe we will run into each other! Although from the looks and sounds of this resort it is going to be massive, I wonder if I will even run into my own family! haha. Where are you staying?? We are in the Royal Suites for both weeks. We have read so many great things about them we had to make sure we got a room there! I will send Vanessa another email about Portofino to see if I can talk her into letting us have the terrace to ourselves...It would alleviate so much of my worries!! Becks- Portofino does look gorgeous, when is your wedding?? Have you asked Vanessa if you would be allowed to have the terrace all to yourself? Do you have a confirmed (or pretty well good idea) of how many people you have coming with you?? I am also doing a trash the dress photo shoot but I am going to use my actual wedding dress. I know that I will never wear the wedding dress again, and so if it gets ruined to me it is no different than if I were to pay to preserve it in a box and store it in my closet. But to anyone that doesn't want to get their dress ruined I totally understand, I used to feel like I would keep my dress forever, it was just lately that I decided I was ok with chancing it! MyTye- I see your point about the terrace! If I was there and I saw a wedding taking place I would feel embarrassed to sit out there and "impose", however some people might not even think twice about it! I will ask Vanessa about decorations. I wouldn't want to bring too much stuff since we are already needing enough clothes for two weeks, so maybe I will stick with flower decorations on the tables. I have the "crafty" desire and I Pin all sorts of DIY wedding ideas...but with working part time and being in school full time AND planning a wedding I barely have time to make dinner let alone DIY stuff although I wish I did! Mikeycelle- the more I look into Portofino the more great things I hear about it, which is fantastic! I just have to convince Vanessa to let me have it to myself since it looks like my guest list won't be growing anymore, so we don't have a huge crowd. Table lanterns sound pretty too, I will ask Vanessa for a picture thanks! Do you know if they provide the speakers and the ipod dock or if we are supposed to provide that?? Also, Vanessa said that I could not have any music if I chose Portofino, has she told you differently? or anyone else?? It is a little bit crazy as I only have the day before our wedding to basically make sure that everything has been planned properly since we are getting married on the tuesday and arrive on the sunday night YIKES!!! But I am not going to stress today because it's my Birthday!! So I am going to go enjoy some relaxing time with my Fiance! Enjoy the weekend everyone!!!

Hey Everyone I am new to this forum, and I must say I am learning A LOT from you ladies!! I will give some background as to my situation. We are having a very very small intimate gathering of family (approx. 18-22 people) and we are going to be having the ceremony on the beach at 4 p.m. (not a legal ceremony as the only day available was the ninth during that week and only a symbolic ceremony-so we will get married in Canada before going down) . We have already booked our trip (2 week stay yay!) and started the wedding planning process but now I am having second thoughts about the details I chose (which I have plenty of time to change but I want to make the best decisions based on my situation). We originally chose to have a reception at La Laguna (knowing that we would have to pay $50-60 per plate for a minimum of 25 ppl even if only 22 came and we were okay with that) however now we are thinking of opting for the free dinner at Portofino since I have heard such great reviews on it! I asked Vanessa about the terrace (as someone had suggested on here) and she told me because I don't have alot of people coming that I wouldn't be able to have it to myself . I am a little worried about this because I don't want my wedding reception to seem like a plain old dinner, I still want it to feel like we are "at a wedding"...does anyone else worry about this?? If we were to chose Portofino, we would like to do a cocktail reception after with drinks and maybe cake cutting if that is possible and some music playing. My worry is that half of my guests will dance and half will probably not (and that's a small number considering only about 20 are going). So I am feeling like that could be very awkward for Johnny and I , and our guests too...any suggestions?? My fiance also brought up the fact that he would like our reception to be "structured" similar to a regular wedding at home would be (speeches, an mc to keep the flow) but I am completely horrible at planning stuff like this out. What would we include in a destination wedding reception that only had 20 people present? Also, would we do these speeches during dinner at Portofino or would it be disruptive? I guess I am having a hard time picturing how this would all pan out. Also, with Portofino, can we decorate at all? Like on the tables and chairs? lanterns? I read that Claire has a set menu from Portofino I would love to see if you are willing to share! I really do appreciate any and all comments and help. I am pretty laid back, and at the same time want to make sure that the wedding flows well and no one is left wondering what to do next or thinks it is unorganized! (my nightmare) Thanks ladies!!!