Leelou2000

FtcMacBride thank you for the amazing review! There have been a few bad reviews on tripadvisor the past month and it has had me and my hubby-to-be a bit concerned! Our wedding itinerary seems similar to yours so I'm super excited :-) We leave Saturday! I will definitely post a review and pictures when I get back!

Shera - I'm also flying out of Ottawa on May 17th! We are having the wedding on the Monday May 19th but we are doing a symbolic ceremony (doing things a bit backwards, AHR in Ottawa on May 3rd which will include the legal ceremony). For photographers, we are bringing ours from Ottawa. They are friends who are professional photographers and after lots of back and forth, the resort FINALLY agreed to wave the 300 fee because they will be staying for 4 days. Definitely bringing that e-mail with me! If you are looking for a deal on photos my friend's got married last November in Mayan Riviera and their photographers were really great and also very cheap - I think they only paid 1500 for 2 photographers. Take it photo http://www.fototakeit.com/blog/. Jenny - thanks for the tip on the officiant! I wonder if it's possible to meet with them beforehand.... I'm also wondering if for a symbolic ceremony you really have to use their officiant? I'm going to ask... As far as things going to plan, ie following schedule and stuff, my friend who used to work for resorts in Mexico a few years ago gave me a pretty good tip. She said I should set aside a couple hundred dollars, give the wedding coordinator 100 when I get there and tell her another 100 is waiting for her as long as everything goes according to plan. Apparently what they will usually do then is tip from that who they need to to make sure things go well. I'm hoping that this will resolve some of the unecessary mixups I've read about like the DJ not following the playlist... and now with you Jenny, the officiant not following the program - JEEZ!

Thanks for the tip! We are actually staying a fair bit South of Playa Del Carmen, in Akumal. Staying at the Grand Sirenis. I appreciate your advice and information!!!

Hello! So you are saying that photographers have exclusivity agreements with the locals that manage the cenotes? My friends are professional photographers and will be doing the shoot. Do you have this agreement for most cenotes? We were going to scout out spots when we get there the first day and find a spot....

Ladies! I am bringing a photographer from home and we want to do a cenote TTD shoot. Problem is, not being from there, we don't know where the good spots are! If you find any great cenotes for photoshoots that aren't too crazy busy with tourists, I would love love love the feedback!

Hey! Where did you end up going? I'm looking for one right now... Thanks!

Hayley - the e-mail I send to is [email protected] - always get a response! Janelle - once you book with put down a deposit, the WC will send you all the forms you need to complete and I believe they ask for you to send the details 3 months prior to the wedding. Although I have read on here that you can send it closer to the date :-)

OMG Jenny your pics are BEAUTIFUL! I just got chills and am SO happy and excited about my special day now! Would you consider selling the kissing balls at all? I have the exact same colour scheme as you!

I second that! I booked the group vacation through Flight Centre, which was awesome, but after that I was put in communication with a coordinator at the resort and I email her all the time. She was very quick with her responses from the get go, evenwhen it was 14 months away. Also, it's important to bring any e-mails that are important and if the communication is directly with the resort they can't argue what was previously agreed to (which I've heard can be an issue when dealing with a middle party).

I can't wait to see what you all think of the BBQ menu because we have a lot of picky eaters as well and were thinking of going that route!

Hello fellow brides! I am getting married at the Grand Sirenis Riviera in the Mayan Riviera May 19th 2014. A friend and colleague of mine just got engaged and is planning a wedding in Punta Cana either this Spring or next winter! We have been chatting (and by chatting I mean mostly venting) about the stresses associated with planning a destination wedding and providing eachother with moral support. It's been SO helpful to talk to someone who knows what you're going through!!! From the stress of choosing a destination and resort, to family feuds and expectations, it has been great to vent and encourage eachother. I had an idea to start a destination wedding support group in Ottawa, and my friend was all over it. So we are looking for a few more destination brides to get together with once a month for either brunch or dinner to talk about our planning, our ideas, our hurdles, and our frustrations. As wonderful as my hubby-to-be is, he just doesn't get the pressure associated with wedding planning that is generally put mostly on the woman! If you are interested, please PM me! Thanks!

Hey there! I actually just posted a thread to see if any Ottawa brides wanted to start a support group to have dinner together or brunch once month. Not only am I also driving my fiancé crazy, but he JUST DOESN'T GET IT! lol. And my friend and I find it therapeutic to speak to someone experiencing the same thing about the stresses and family issues and everything that go along with destination wedding planning. E-mail me at [email protected] if you are interested!

Hello fellow brides! I am getting married at the Grand Sirenis Riviera in the Mayan Riviera May 19th 2014. A friend and colleague of mine just got engaged and is planning a wedding in Punta Cana either this Spring or next winter! We have been chatting (and by chatting I mean mostly venting) about the stresses associated with planning a destination wedding and providing eachother with moral support. It's been SO helpful to talk to someone who knows what you're going through!!! From the stress of choosing a destination and resort, to family feuds and expectations, it has been great to vent and encourage eachother. I had an idea to start a destination wedding support group in Ottawa, and my friend was all over it. So we are looking for a few more destination brides to get together with once a month for either brunch or dinner to talk about our planning, our ideas, our hurdles, and our frustrations. As wonderful as my hubby-to-be is, he just doesn't get the pressure associated with wedding planning that is generally put mostly on the woman! If you are interested, please let me know! Thanks!

Hello fellow brides! I am getting married at the Grand Sirenis Riviera in the Mayan Riviera May 19th 2014. A friend and colleague of mine just got engaged and is planning a wedding in Punta Cana either this Spring or next winter! We have been chatting (and by chatting I mean mostly venting) about the stresses associated with planning a destination wedding and providing eachother with moral support. It's been SO helpful to talk to someone who knows what you're going through!!! From the stress of choosing a destination and resort, to family feuds and expectations, it has been great to vent and encourage eachother. I had an idea to start a destination wedding support group in Ottawa, and my friend was all over it. So we are looking for a few more destination brides to get together with once a month for either brunch or dinner to talk about our planning, our ideas, our hurdles, and our frustrations. As wonderful as my hubby-to-be is, he just doesn't get the pressure associated with wedding planning that is generally put mostly on the woman! If you are interested, please let me know! Thanks!

Can't wait for your review!!! Ahh so excited!!!

Could someone send me the menu options for the Palapa??? I would really really appreciate it!!!

Hi! Thank you so much for the info! Did you put any songs on a USB key for the DJ? I'm wondering if perhaps that's the best route! I would even be willing to bring my own laptop if there's a chance the key wouldn't work on theirs. Look forward to reading your review!

I would imagine you can just bring a playlist for the party though can't you?

OMG LOVE the kissing balls! I want to make some identical ones! How exactly did you make them?

I'm glad you all are posting about this! I'm actually having an at home reception and legal ceremony before the DW. Part of this is so we didn't have to bother with the blood test in Mexico, and also because we don't want people who can't come to Mexico to feel like they are missing out. This being said, we are putting more effort and money into the Mexico wedding. For the AHR, we are having an evening ceremony, we rented a hall and it will take place there. We want to have hors d'oeuvres served during our pictures and we are getting a DJ, professional photographer, etc. The ceremony will start at 7:30 then we will party all night. We're going to serve gourmet pizzas around midnight. One thing that is important for me is to not feel like we are doing everything twice - I want Mexico to be really special and do all the special stuff once - father walking me down the isle, first dance, parents speeches, etc. But we still want to make the AHR feel like a wedding and special for those who are only attending that event. Does anyone have any original ideas about how we can organize it so it's different than your typical traditional wedding? So far, we are thinking no head table since there's no dinner, I'm walking down the isle alone, very quick speeches (only 1 on each side, and we will give a quick one too). Any advice, ideas, input would be so appreciated!

We had to plan it way ahead of time because we had to secure the long weekend in May - in order to accommodate my fiancé's sister who is a teacher and wanted to come (who has since said she's on the fence, but that's a whole different story lol). We have 35 ppl booked now, and depending on what's going on in people's lives, we are going to have anywhere from 50-80 ppl - a huge group! But from here on out, I'm telling everyone to book separately because they can get a cheaper deal that way and I don't want people throwing away money because they couldn't commit so far ahead. Because we are having so many, we are going pretty cheap with wedding favours - getting these cute sandal shaped bottle openers and I will paint our initials on them in our wedding colours. So if we end up with 10 extra, itll only cost us about 25 nucks, no big deal you know? I am going to ask people to confirm with me by end of March (for a May wedding) whether they are coming or not, so that we can plan what meal we will have, seating arrangements, etc.

I'm from Ottawa getting married at GS May 2014 and we got our group booking with Air Canada Vacations - because we are going off season and have people coming from Ottawa, Toronto, N-B, N-S, and Calgary, we needed the cheap connectors. I am working with a travel coordinator with Flight Centre who has been AMAZING. She specializes in destination weddings so she knows what she's talking about and was able to get the best quotes given what we were looking for and great advice on what resort to choose. Our price was 1300 from TO, 1315 from Ottawa, 1350 from Quebec city, and between 1400-1430 from Calgary and N-B. Someone went to book past the 90 days and found the rates went up 200 per person!

I had a bit of a war over photography as we have friends coming to the wedding that are doing our photos. They are photographers by trade, but also friends and our guests. Because they have professional equipment, the hotel STILL told us we had to pay the 300 fee - ridiculous! I asked what would happen if a family member wanted to take pictures, and apparently they keep on eye on whether you are having professional photos done, and I've heard they even have the right to confiscate the equipment is the penalty is not paid. YIKES! I argued with them until they said we didn't have to pay because they are friends and are staying at the resort for the whole week. The WC gave me an absolute guarantee that their on-site photographer would be nowhere in sight on the wedding day. I am definitely keeping BOTH those e-mails!!!

And you succeeded??? Any chance you could forward me what you forwarded the coordinator???

Hey! I just upgraded to the presidential package and got the same info from the wedding coordinator. She said that because they have to accommodate all brides and only have a couple of these suites, it's only for the wedding night. Personally, I'd rather stay in the same room the whole time, because Maria did also tell me that you actually have to move all your stuff into the presidential quite for the night, you won't have both rooms - why change rooms twice just to sleep in a bigger room on your wedding night? Just seems like extra stress to me!