Retro Couple

Bump again if anyone is interested

Bump for price reduction - $30 each. That's $40 off the regular price!
 

Hey guys, this is me and my wife btw! My review is still pending as I wanted to wait for all our photos, but I promise it's coming!

Chris

Originally Posted by SweetFire 

Hey NOW Jade ladies!!

 

Lori just finished up her latest wedding shoot at the NOW Jade and I wanted to share it with you!  Such a unique and amazing couple!  You'll see all the little personalized touches they added to bring their own flare to the wedding!  Check out:

Now Jade – Courtney and Chris

 

Happy Planning!

 

Sofia

Lori's Office Assistant

 

 

 

 

 

Hello! We have two wonderful custom colour parasols for sale that were sold to us by the lovely Pamela at Pamela's Parasols. One is teal blue, and the other is Tiffany Blue. These are high quality 32" parasols that were made for our beach wedding in Cancun - one was used for photos and the other is still brand new with the tag on it. These would look great in a photo shoot or for use on the beach!

We paid $75.00 for each one and are willing to part with them for $40 each (price does not include shipping).

Have a look!

http://s96.photobucket.com/user/evenflow66/library/Wedding%20Parasol

Oh and if you were curious about Pamela's Parasols and the difference between cheapy parasols and hers, take a look at her site!

http://www.pamelasparasols.com/New2010/productinfo.html

Originally Posted by Mlite83 

 

Just wanted to give a reference to my amazing photographer  Lori Lemieux of SweetFire Photography. We used her this past February at Now Jade and were blown away - she went above and beyond (arrived early, stayed late, provided almost 150 extra photos).  We constantly get comments about looking like the pictures should be in a magazine.  You can PM me if you want more dets Below are a few of my favs (hard to pick just 3!)

 

 

 

 

 

I strongly recommend Lori as well! She was very detail-oriented, had scouted out the locations of our TTD session to maximize our time and has amazing photos. I can't say enough good things about Lori! www.sweetfirephotography.com

We arrived home safe and sound last week, but I'm just so burnt out with wedding stuff that I haven't had the desire to write up my review yet, but I promise, it's coming!

Chris

I'm watching!! How fun! The music they're playing in the background prior to the start of your ceremony (not music there) is pretty cheesy (i.e. "Going to the chapel, gonna get married seems to be on a steady repeat), but the video quality is pretty good!  Yeah we chose the Going to the Chapel song but we had some of our wedding party disappear last minute (why the hell would they do that?!) so they just kept looping it instead of stopping and waiting until we were ready. It was really frustrating and annoying because I'm such a perfectionist, but I guess these things happen. Congratulations!!! You must be over the moon!

I'm watching!! How fun! The music they're playing in the background prior to the start of your ceremony (not music there) is pretty cheesy (i.e. "Going to the chapel, gonna get married seems to be on a steady repeat), but the video quality is pretty good!  Yeah we chose the Going to the Chapel song but we had some of our wedding party disappear last minute (why the hell would they do that?!) so they just kept looping it instead of stopping and waiting until we were ready. It was really frustrating and annoying because I'm such a perfectionist, but I guess these things happen. Congratulations!!! You must be over the moon!

If you guys want to watch the wedding being live streamed this afternoon at 2:00 PM MST, here's the link: http://cancunliveweddings.com/live_weddings/Courtney_and_Chris/index.html The li will be valid for 6 weeks too, so you can watch the video at your leisure Chris

If you guys want to watch the wedding being live streamed this afternoon at 2:00 PM MST, here's the link: http://cancunliveweddings.com/live_weddings/Courtney_and_Chris/index.html The li will be valid for 6 weeks too, so you can watch the video at your leisure Chris

Met with Pilar today and she was very pleasant - Note: her office has been moved from the front lobby to next to the photography services on the main level of the spa building (sports bar upstairs). Pilar was very visual, she took notes and drew up ideas on how we wanted our tables to look like which was nice. No services were exchangeable (ie. photography for videography). Pilar said that this was due to them bring different companies, but was willing to credit us $150 for the photographer as we had hired our own. Prices were non negotiable, but she did forget to charge us for some of our services such as one of our Canopys (we wanted two) and she didn't charge us for one ($200) or to add flowers to them (unknown price). We also decided to reign in our budget and went with the Now toEternity and just pay for the Divine food upgrade, however she forgot to charge us for that as well ($240). We also were going to buy some cheap glass candle holders from the Cancun Walmart, however Pilar added 16 glass candle holders with candles free of charge. I don't know what our total savings would have been based on forgotten costs but I guesstimate around $500 - $600. Just out of curiosity I asked how many Emails Pilar gets per day and she said around 150 - 200 each day, double that on Mondays as she is busy with weddings all weekend. I asked her how many days off she has had in the last 3 months and she said only 3! She said that if she takes a day off it doesn't matter anyway because when she comes back she has twice as much work to do, so if you are not getting responses right away it's not that she's ignoring you, she's simply swamped with workload (she even has 3 assistants). As for the night life at the resort I can't say what it's like as we have been so wrapped up in final planning and running around that we've been ultra lame and in bed before 11:00 pm each night so far. Chris

Met with Pilar today and she was very pleasant - Note: her office has been moved from the front lobby to next to the photography services on the main level of the spa building (sports bar upstairs). Pilar was very visual, she took notes and drew up ideas on how we wanted our tables to look like which was nice. No services were exchangeable (ie. photography for videography). Pilar said that this was due to them bring different companies, but was willing to credit us $150 for the photographer as we had hired our own. Prices were non negotiable, but she did forget to charge us for some of our services such as one of our Canopys (we wanted two) and she didn't charge us for one ($200) or to add flowers to them (unknown price). We also decided to reign in our budget and went with the Now toEternity and just pay for the Divine food upgrade, however she forgot to charge us for that as well ($240). We also were going to buy some cheap glass candle holders from the Cancun Walmart, however Pilar added 16 glass candle holders with candles free of charge. I don't know what our total savings would have been based on forgotten costs but I guesstimate around $500 - $600. Just out of curiosity I asked how many Emails Pilar gets per day and she said around 150 - 200 each day, double that on Mondays as she is busy with weddings all weekend. I asked her how many days off she has had in the last 3 months and she said only 3! She said that if she takes a day off it doesn't matter anyway because when she comes back she has twice as much work to do, so if you are not getting responses right away it's not that she's ignoring you, she's simply swamped with workload (she even has 3 assistants). As for the night life at the resort I can't say what it's like as we have been so wrapped up in final planning and running around that we've been ultra lame and in bed before 11:00 pm each night so far. Chris

We arrived at the Now Jade yesterday and so far I have been impressed at the level of service from all the staff. We meet Pilar today to discuss the wedding and hopefully get some clarity on their policies of swapping out services for others. Will keep you posted! Chris

Originally Posted by karii86 

 

Hey everyone! I just joined today, still figuring out how everything works! I am a Calgary, Alberta, Canada bride getting married at Now Jade on January 19th 2014! I love all the information on here since communication with the resort seems to be a bit slow. Any other brides that week? We arrive on jan15 to 22.

*Wave*

I'm from Calgary too! Our wedding will be next Saturday, April 13th at the Now Jade and we are currently booked through Romantic Planet Vacations (which I sincerely regret, but that's another story).

My biggest frustration with the resort thus far has been the hidden fees or "cash grabs", along with the inconsistencies where some people are charged for some services, where others are not, or they are allowed to swap services. I've read through the entire thread several times and there seems to be a lot of flexibility in some cases, but others not so much. I contacted the resort recently about the videographer included in our package. We don't need this service as we are hiring an outside videographer who will broadcast our wedding on the internet. I was told that the resort videographer could not be swapped out and it was a "use it or lose it" service. When I asked if I could change the resort videographer to record some of our reception (such as speeches, first dance, etc.) Deisy said the videographer would not be flexible and would be for ceremony purposes only.

We were originally going with the Now to Eternity package but my fiance really wanted the food choices of the Divine, so we opted to spend the extra money to upgrade as the cost to bump up the meals from the Now to Eternity to Divine was $300 for everyone. Some of the extra stuff we don't really need and we are hoping we can negotiate, but with the slow communication over the internet, I think most of the negotiations have to be done in person unfortunately.

Have fun planning your wedding!

Chris

Originally Posted by 1dutchie 

 

Thank you for clarifying that! We were thinking of having our legal ceremony done close to our actual ceremony/destination wedding beforehand. We are having the ceremony on January 16th. But, considering it is so close to Christmas and we will be busy getting ready for our wedding I am thinking after might be better.

 

I have been thinking about it a lot and I feel as though it would feel more official if we were to do our legal ceremony/ "paperwork" after getting back to Canada.

My fiance and I looked into getting married officially in Mexico but we found it was too much of a hassle. You have to have all your documents transcribed from English to Spanish, and then from Spanish back to English and it was like $80 per page or something ridiculous. Plus the blood tests, and you have to be in Mexico for 4 days, and upon return to Canada you have to send out all your paperwork and wait on your marriage license - we just wanted it over and done with so we could concentrate on our actual wedding in Mexico.

We estimate we saved about $500 by just simply going to a justice of the peace here and we spent $100 to be legally married. It took a whole 5 minutes. I highly recommend it, but I can understand that some couples want their "I do's" to be a one time thing.

Chris

Quick question, but are lit candles allowed in the reception or do they have to be LED lights?

Thanks!

Chris
 

Originally Posted by Mlite83 

 

 

Yes I think this would fit just fine. We had 8 across for the head table and the ends of the tables weren't inline with the friends and family tables (ie there would have been room to expand the head table).  Our guest tables were 14 people at each, all side by side looking towards the middle (dance floor) so no one had their back to the dance floor or head table or speeches.  We originally thought about having guests face to face at the long tables but Pilar said we had the room to go side by side down one side of the table so we did that to help fill the space and still had plenty of room.

 

Here is a photo of the room from our photog (SweetFire Photography - amazing!) - straight ahead is the head table and you can see the guest tables down either side.  The middle part is the dance floor.  There was lots of room behind the guest tables too so if necessary they can be bumped out a bit to make additional space.

I love this shot by Lorie! Is that the natural colour of the bamboo room or did you guys opt for the $350 lighting package?

Chris

Originally Posted by Mlite83 

 

 

The fee is not just for the use of the space, it is for the dedicated staff to your event - we extended our reception and had had at least 6-7 staff members waiting on us to ensure everything was going well, drinks were flowing etc.  I know it is pricey but looking at it that way may help explain the cost. Also Pilar gave use a deal - we had 35 guests and extended for 2 hrs so we dropped the $15/hr by a few bucks.

We decided to go for the private bartending service, so after dinner if our guests want drinks they will have to go right up to the bar and I will be making a point of telling our guests to tip generously. I'm not sure what 6 - 7 staff members would have to do after dinner and cake, etc. are served, but I could be wrong. Also, we are not having a DJ, we have our entire line up of music on ipod. I feel that extending the reception is a cash grab, but if it is justified and explained to me better by Pilar then by all means I will either pay it, or just cut it from the budget.

I wish there was more consistency as to why some fees are waived and why some are not so I can budget better. From reading both Now Jade threads the "final price" for services is extremely inconsistent. If a Capricorn is marrying a Libra during a full moon cycle on a weekday, they get a discount. However, if an Aquarius marries a Taurus on a date with an odd number, they pay full price.

Chris

Originally Posted by shannonmarie 

 

re

Unfortunately, the receptions are only 3 hours. It is $15 per person to extend it an hour.

The $15 per person per hour fee really bothers me since most people are only extending their reception by an hour or two anyway and what possible use could the space serve from say 9:00 PM until 11:00 PM? I have 38 people attending our reception, so 38 people x $15 a person is $570 for one hour and I would need two hours, so $570 + $570 = $1140. I know some people have said that Pilar has waived the extension fee or "forgot" about adding it on to the final invoice, but if we were required to pay I would say to heck with it and head to the sports bar for the last 2 hours of the night.

Sorry, mini vent there. Maybe I'm turning into one of those rumored creatures known as the groom-zilla. haha

Chris

Originally Posted by khunt29 

 

Ladies (& past brides)   I was hoping to pick your brain a bit about the floor plan for the Bamboo Room...We have 43 people eating dinner...this includes a wedding party of 15. I think it would look stupid to have a head table of that many people when the remaining guests are almost an equal #. Anthony and I are really struggling with this - add to that a few bridesmaid-zillas, and I'm getting super stressed!  In your experience, what works best in that room? I kind of like the idea of one big table, where we can all be seated together, but is the room big enough to accommodate a table for 43 people?  We don't really want to do the sweetheart table thing, since it excludes the rest of the wedding party, and I don't personally love the look of multiple rounds either. Ahhhh, help!   I know it's only for an hour and then we dance, but I have a people-pleasing condition, so I'm freakin about trying not to tick anyone off. And of course i have one bridesmaid aka frenemy who's making the rounds, trashing me to my sister, my other BMs, saying she might as well not have bought a dress if she was going to be treated as a regular guest-  this is after i talked about possibly having only our MOH and BM stand with us at the front of the pergola, as the pics i've seen dont really look that spacious, so everyone would be crammed like sardines at the front.  my idea was o have everyone walk down, and then take a seat in the front row. Well, apparently this is a huge problem for her. Unbeknownst to me, until my sister told me on the wknd. I coud just cry, i try do hard to please everyone and just cant frickin win. Anyway, wah wah, poor me.  But I just need some advice! xo

We solved this by doing the sweetheart table and 4 additional round tables. We mainly did this so that my bride and I could have a bit of time together at dinner to converse, as well as the fact that we didn't want people in the bridal party to be separated from their spouses (I was a groomsman one year and had to sit at the main table while my fiance sat with strangers). The alternative to doing the sweetheart table would be doing 3 full length tables edge to edge with the dance floor in the middle (kind of like a straight edge 'c'). I can't remember who did it, but someone in this thread did it that way. We thought about doing it too, but we felt it kind of awkward to converse with people side by side rather than across from one another, and knowing my family dynamics there would be people yelling across the dance floor to one another.

I can't think of another way to do it, but there's a lot of smart, creative women on here who may have an idea. Good luck!

Chris

Originally Posted by 1dutchie 

 

Well it's been surprising because some of our guests we thought would book right away didn't and may not be able to come after all.. Since our engagement we told all of our friends and family we are planning a destination wedding.. So they could get used to the idea. Then when we found a travel agent we had very little time to notify everyone so we had to send out an email.. Which isn't at all what we were wanting to do.. But, if we didn't we wouldn't get in on an early booking fee.. Prices have already gone up since then.. So for those that booked they will save $200 or so each.. I feel that those that know can take the time off and want to ensure booking with us it was the way to go. It was stressful though let me tell you. Just about everyone waited until the last 2 days!

I think this is pretty consistent for many destination weddings - ours included. It seems that everyone is an expert on Mexico and pricing for resorts / travel and everyone seems to think that the longer they wait, the better deal they will get. Unfortunately this is not the case for the Now Jade. Our destination wedding travel agent said that the Now Jade is one of the most popular resorts for weddings and I asked her in all the years she's been working at the agency if she once ever saw a wedding party who waited get a fantastic deal. She told me that in January a couple's wedding party was split in half since half the people wanted to wait to get better prices and in the end, half of the wedding party didn't attend the wedding. We gave our wedding party a full years worth of notice and 4 weeks to the wedding we still have people scrambling. We paid $1590 for each person for the Now Jade including flight and hotel. The rates were $2500 in January/February. A couple of people were able to get last minute deals through bookit.com, however they paid about $1700 and have to make several stop overs rather than a direct flight, so yes they saved money, but they leave an hour before our flight and get to Cancun 6 hours after us (the price you pay for cheaper rates I guess!). In fact, I had to re-choose a groomsman because one of them decided to try and wait it out for better pricing and by the time he was ready to book it was too late, the rates had gone up to the point where he couldn't afford it. Luckily I had some other great friends who already booked and were willing to fill in for his spot, but still, it's way easier to just book in advance.

Good luck with the outcome, and please feel free to use my examples above as scare tactics to get people on the ball, haha

Chris

Originally Posted by AnaSteele58 

 

 

You bring up a good point in reference to going the a la carte route. Can you change your package at this point?

 

Are there any past brides/grooms that used the free package and personalized their wedding by adding what they wanted?

I tried to calculate it from the bottom up, and unfortunately there was no savings - just the opposite in fact. We have 38 guests and my fiance prefers the Divine dinner, so 38 people x $53 = $2014, and that's just for the reception dinner alone, that does not include cocktail hour, cake, and champagne toast. Plus there's an $800 dance floor cost for the reception I noticed on the additional services section, and since the reception dinner is not included in the complimentary basic package, I assume that charge would also apply.

I am hoping that by purchasing a higher package above complimentary we will have more leverage in negotiating certain fees, or perhaps exchanging services we don't need for others we do. At this point though, based on reading both Now Jade threads several times, there is no rhyme or reason as to what fees can be waived, negotiated, exchanged, etc. so I'll just have to be diligent and hope for the best.

Chris

Originally Posted by khunt29 

 

 

Not at all, keep in mind, at the time, we had 38 adults and 2 children, now we have 40 adults and 3 children, so it will only go up Can you see it below? If not, I can email it to you, no worries.

I am extremely worried about the costs of my wedding spiraling out of control and a $2199 package turning into $5000. What confuses me the most is that there are some people who are getting fees waived (such as the podium, decoration fees, outside passes, etc.) I also read somewhere that the additional hours of the reception were waived, which to me sounds very reasonable considering that the resort wouldn't even be using the reception space from say 10:00 PM until 11:00 PM, so charging for the extra hour to me just sounds like a cash grab.

I don't want to be a jerk but I am going to have to be firm and negotiate some of these extra fees because I simply can't afford to be nickel and dimed and I would prefer to be giving extra money to the actual resort workers rather than to the resort.

Sigh.

- Chris

Hello again Jade Brides, Jade Groom again, just wondering if 6 people at a table in the Bamboo room is too small? Thanks!

Also, still worrying about negotiating with the resort. Any tips?

Thanks!
 

I am also under moderation

I typed out a lengthy post asking some great questions and I'm worried that my post will be lost in cyberspace somewhere as it has been 4 hours and my post is still MIA.

Hello Ladies! Jade GROOM here (I know, what a shock eh?). I've been surfing through all your posts here and have been writing down some good notes and passing on the information to my future Mrs! I have to say I am really impressed with this thread, lots of people put in a lot of work and research and it's helped me so much in the planning of my wedding!
 

I have a couple quick questions that hopefully someone can answer;

1. What are your thoughts on the beach wedding? Was it too windy and was there a lack of privacy? I've seen some wedding videos on the beach where people walk behind the bridge and groom non-chalantly or are swimming in the background and this drives me nuts. I know it's a resort and people are there to have a good time, but a little respect for a few minutes of privacy isn't too much to ask is it?

My fiance was really pitching me the Pergola but I convinced her that a beach wedding would be so wonderful- sand at our feet, smell of the ocean, etc. and now all I can think of is a windy mic where our vows can't be heard and screaming children in the background. I think I've ceaded that her original thoughts of the Pergola were spot on, so we might look to change it, but was hoping for some info from you guys.

2. Does anyone have any good photo shoot locations nearby the resort? I saw someone posted earlier about some abandoned houses that looked really neat, but there was some debate if they were still there. Can someone confirm? I also heard that the Puerto Morelos lighthouse(s) offer some great scenery.

3. Did you have any trouble with costs skyrocketing at the resort? From what I have read here it seems like there is a hidden fee for everything and the costs of the wedding can jump exponentially. My bride and I have arranged the things that are the most important for us (photography - $5.4k eek) and have built our budget around that. What I'm worried about is getting to the resort and then the costs keep adding and adding. I don't want to be someone who is comes into a foreign country, starts making demands and being a jerk, but at the same time we simply don't have the money to be bleed to death once we get there. It sounds like a lot of these "hidden" costs are being waived by Pilar, but did anyone have any experiences where they had to be firm, and what was the result? Like I said, I totally don't want to be "that guy" but I just don't want to be taken advantage of.

We are cutting costs by:

- Bringing our own decorations

- Buying flowers outside the resort

- Using an ipod rather than a DJ

- Any other suggestions?

4. What were the funnest activities you guys did while at your wedding? Snorkeling? Xcarat Park? Mayan ruins?

Once again I thank you guys so much for all your hard work. It's helped us a ton!

- Chris

Wedding Date - 2013/04/13