mollyes

Quote: Originally Posted by Jenbd817 My wedding is Nov 1 and I just completed my wedding planning form (which took MUCH longer than planned) and I'm going to send to my travel agent to have her send to Anel this week. She said we should send it in 1 month prior to the wedding date. I asked Anel a few weeks ago about spa appointments but haven't heard back...My requested appointments for me and my bridesmaids are included in the wedding form but I really hope they can accommodate us at this point since we don't have any other options! here is the direct email for the Spa [email protected]. They responded to me super quickly to book/change appts. I would just email them directly and copy Anel so she knows you have it taken care of.

Sorry about blank comment-not as savvy on my iPhone! We wanted to do a TTD but just didn't have enough time w/ guests in town. However, we're going back for our anniversary (probably not staying at NOW but going to Tulum. We've already told Amorcito Corazon studio that we'll be doing a belated TTD then ... With a cheaper fake wedding dress!!

Quote: Originally Posted by zeman321 call her or e-mail the hotel directly...they get back to you pretty quickly if you contact the hotel or the Now wedding dept. I agree with calling - or email Ramon directly. He seemed a bit more responsive when I did interact with him - [email protected]

Quote: Originally Posted by JillianB16 Hi Emily, Your wedding looked beautiful! How long would you say it took them to do your hair and makeup? I'm getting married at Now Sapphire in May 2014 and don't know when to book the appointments. Thanks! Hi, It took one hour for my hair and maybe 35 minutes for my make-up. I had Marylou - loved her! Molly

Quote: Originally Posted by meganwitt Mollyes, The slideshow you provide to us is beautiful. Is this the slideshow that comes with all their packages? We just made our deposit with them for next June!! Hi - yes - it was included! I'm so happy you choose them. You won't be disappointed!! They are really lovely people.

Quote: Originally Posted by FutureMrsBlaze I'm having such a hard time deciding on whether or not to go w/the resort's photographers! I feel like I've read both positive and negative things. Anyone have any recent experience w/them??!! Does anyone knoe the name of the company? Thank you!!! I used both the onsite (for the rehearsal) and an offsite (wedding). I agree - you really want to go offsite - and many of them are the same price or less. Ours ended up being less going offsite. Here are the links to both of my sets of pictures. The onsite folks (Adventure Photography) wasn't awful but there is an artistic quality missing. Also, there was a bride who posted a link to her pictures from them back in May or June and they were shockingly awful. It was actually based on that review that I then choose Amorcito Corazon Studio, which I couldn't recommend more highly. Here are the links: Adventure Photos: Amorcito Corazon Studio (slideshow): http://schroeder.amorcitocorazonstudio.com/ If you want to see the full set of pictures from Amorcito Corazon, message me and I'll share the link/passcode.

Quote: Originally Posted by CAmomofbride Thanks so much for you're insight into the NOW sapphire and all we need to know to plan. Can you remember who your dj was? You said he was from the resort and really kept things lively. We'd like to request him by name if we can. I'll ask Anel and get back to you. Also feel free to tell her to book the same DJ as the Smith-Schroeder wedding on July 20.

Quote: Originally Posted by Riviera Bride14 Hi Brides, Does any one know the measurements of the round tables and the square tables and about approx how many people each seats? Also has anyone opted to purchase and bring a bose sound system instead of renting the resorts hourly. We will be a small group under 25 ppl and dont need an extreme sound system for dancing or anything, just something to connect a mic to so my guests can hear well enough for speaking and for first dance and background music. Have any past brides used one? Thanks for your time ladies, happy planning!! As for tables - here is what Anel sent me when I asked. They seat 10 (although we had 2 people randomly join another table and the 12 seemed to work fine as well:

Quote: Originally Posted by CAmomofbride Another question, beyond the wedding, what type of excursions did your guests seem to enjoy? Did they use the excursion desk at the resort, go into Puerto Morelas directly to book snorkeling, book before they came, etc... Is there a bus available to take into Puerto Morelas, did people use taxis or even walk down the beach to town? Any insight is appreciated. I only booked/paid for one "excursion" - we rented 5 buses to take people into Cancun to go partying at a club one night (Thursday night). That was a hit. Otherwise, I sent out some info to guests in advance advising they wait to book until there (I heard its cheaper). Then we offered to organize (but not pay for) one other excursion to swim with the whale sharks. About 30 people ended up doing that - athough only 10 on the day we went and the rest organized amongst themselves. Many people went to Tulum and to the cenotes and we heard nothing but great things.

Quote: Originally Posted by TaraHall Hello Brides! Can anyone tell me what the atmosphere at NOW sapphire pool area is like? (lively or calm? What type of crowd? What type of music? Loud or quiet? How much activity?) We are unable to so a site visit, so any help is greatly appreciated! The main pool is pretty lively. They play club music most afternoons and people are dancing both in and out of water. Swim up bar is packed. I imagine it matters how many people are at the resort but it was a great party scene when we were there. Those who wanted to chill out went to the preferred club pool. As an aside, the pools are gorgeous - and huge.

Hi - Sales pitch - we warned all of our guests about the sales pitch. Some still got confused and went and were annoyed. The rest were on top of saying no. 2nd thing... just got our slide show from our professional photographer. It coincidentally came the day after we received the video of the wedding from the videographer. On the video - OMG - I never thought I would want that, but since it came with the package we did it. I am SO GLAD we did. Honestly, its hard to remember your wedding - there is so much going on and so much adrenaline. The video gave me a way to see it from my guests perspective and also to experience it a bit myself as if for the first time. Totally do it!!! And, here is the link to our slideshow from the photographer, who we LOVED - http://schroeder.amorcitocorazonstudio.com/#/schroeder-1/ Molly

We had about 20-25 kids at our wedding ranging in age from 1-15. They LOVED the Explorer's Club and Core Zone. I ordered kids meals for anyone under 12 and 12 and over got to pick off the adult menu. Everyone seemed happy with their food and I loved having them on the dance floor. My brother and sister-in-law opted not to bring their young sons (2 and 4). They told us after that they deeply regretted it after seeing how great it worked out with the other kids. They were worried about leaving their kids with strangers but checked out the Explorer's Club and said that in retrospect they would have felt totally fine leaving them there.

The roof on one side of the Tequila terrace is about 30 feet high and there are no pools over the railings on the other side... hence the need to hire them to hang. You could bring lanterns and hang them under the one part of the tequila terrace that has a slatted roof. I saw pictures on here where people had done that. It works - but depending on how big your wedding is, would only cover a small section (maybe use as the dance floor?).

Beautiful!! I love the purple theme!

Yep - we just paid for two day passes and two meals for the two photographers. There are so many fantastic photographers down there (based on their websites and other referrals we got). We had some budget contraints but I was still very happy with who we booked with but there is a very wide range down there and you will surely find a wonderful company.

Hi, Honestly, there isn't much for you to do or worry about once you're there. All I stressed about was the weather - which ended up being great. Otherwise, you don't really have anything to do because Anel takes care of it all. That said, running around after guests was EXHAUSTING. Thank goodness most people totally expect you to be busy and so they aren't as demanding of your time. But still... I found that to be the hardest part of the whole wedding! For your questions - there was no additional charge for changing ribbon color or other slight modifications. We used the one hour with the resort photographer to capture the speaches at the rehearsal dinner. We used Amorcito Corazon Studios for the wedding ceremony/reception/get ready. They were AWESOME. I don't have their pics back yet but I loved working with them. They are a super cool, young couple and they had great personalities and worked their butts off. AND they were $500 cheaper than the resort photographer (we got a price for the resort photographer for the whole afternoon/evening plus a second photographer and it came out to about $2300). We did have to pay extra for them to come on site and had to buy them dinner (but that's standard anywhere). I highly recommend them. We had a big group - 120. You can see some pics in previous posts - just scroll up or look under my name. My main review is here: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/86945/just-returned-from-now-sapphire-wedding-in-a-word-fabulous

I soooo wanted the photo booth. We ended up not doing it because we had to cut costs somewhere but I would probably sneak that in if I had to do it again. People were having so much fun and I think that would have been a great way to capture it.

Thanks! You and your family will have a wonderful time! As for your questions - the decorations during the ceremony - posts, flowing white fabric, flowers... all of that was done by the resort. I sent them a picture of the flowers/decor I wanted and they matched it. It cost an additional $300 for the flower. In terms of the tables on the beach - that was for our rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding. For the cocktail hour, we just had them set up cocktail tables on the deck near the pool. Worked out great! Let me know if you have any other questions!

here was my experience: Day of coordination. I came down Monday to Monday (wedding was on Saturday). I met with Anel on Monday to review everything and even change some orders (e.g., flowers). We met for about an hour and walked through everything. I also went to see her to check in on a few things throughout the week. We scheduled a rehearsal the evening before from 5:30 to 6. She totally took that over and managed everyone (Anel knows what she is doing!). On the day of, she called me throughout the day to check in. She had the flowers delivered to my room and the groom's to his room. She made sure the photographers got to us. She also organized the transportation and ensured that all of the guests were there before sending it to come get me. She then completely managed the whole processional process and then managed the event. She was invaluable and 100% on top of everything. BTW, we also asked a friend to MC the event, which was AWESOME. It made it very personal. However, even after he told everyone to leave the cocktail hour and head to the reception, it was Anel and her staff who really ushered everyone in. Phone calls. I spoke to Anel on the phone once. I was sort of freaking out that she wasn't responding to my emails and asked her to call me. We set up a time that week, she called and we chatted for about 30 minutes just reviewing what I had submitted and that was it. Menu. You pick from their extensive options. I picked off both the Divine and Eternity menu (paid for the Divine) and then they offered up a special gluten free vegetarian option for us when I asked for it. Ceremony. Can't comment. We brought our own minister. We were married in the U.S. the day before we left. We did everything just like a normal wedding so unless people asked, they didn't know. My husband is Jewish so we did sign a ketubah during our ceremony. Changes in 2014. I have no idea, but doubt it as the brochure was the same in 2013 as it was in 2012. Customization. Absolutely. I sent in pictures of my bouquet and chuppa flowers - totally not in the brochure at all - and it was no problem. In fact, our table flowers were also not from the brochure but something another bride had done there in the past. Anel showed us a picture and we picked those. We customized the cake slightly to match with our colors but based on pictures here, I saw all sorts of different cakes. Hope this helps! I'm still on a bit of a wedding high so happy to answer questions! ;-)

I left all of my stuff down there - burlap table runners (12), burlap bags to put the starfish table numbers in (5), luminaria bags with candles (probably 500 leftover!!), chalkboards to write signs on (I think I used 2), and vintage "worn" table numbers (1-12, my sister made them based on something we saw on Etsy). Anyway, if any of that sounds appealing, feel free to ask Anel. Then again, I did ask the maid to bring it all back to Anel & I didn't confirm with her so I'm not 100% sure it all made it back.

Thanks!! They provided the lanterns - for an additional charge (approximately $1000 - eek!).

Heels = nightmare. Despite the runner, I fell in the slats 3 times trying to get down the aisle. Then I got properly stuck during the recessional. Couldn't do anything but laugh it off and ditch the shoes. So... I wore my first ever pair of high end designer shoes (total waste of money but they were beautiful!) for a grand total of 30 minutes (and now they are on eBay!). I recommend you go wedge or sandal! In terms of the beach terrace and tequila terrace. They are essentially touching but there is enough space between them that you can't see from one to the other. You can definitely do your ceremoney on the beach, then cocktails on the beach terrace and reception on the tequila terrace (we did tequila/beach terrace/tequila)... at least that was OK for us. Granted, there were no other weddings that night. The night after ours there was one wedding on the tequila terrace and one on the beach terrace at the same time so I don't think that would have worked. Amazingly, they did a good job of separating the two and I don't think music/noise overlap was an issue.

Hair for me = 1 hour Make-up = 30 minutes I can't speak to the club in terms of whether the young people would be allowed in. Honestly, the club smelled really moldy and gross, so no one wanted to go in, so we stayed at the lobby bar (which was still really fun - if I remember correctly, there was still live music until about midnight). They definitely didn't give the young people any trouble for being there.

Here was our chuppa - very tall but simple with sprays of orchids on branches up the side.