snswedding2016

Hi Brides,

I've been gone from the forum for a while. A friend of mine is in desperate search for table numbers. Anyone in the Toronto or surrounding area selling theirs?

Let me know! thanks!

@@ashhtayy your day looked gorgeous!! I'm rarely on here now as well but decided to log on today...I was so excited to see your review posted! I'm really happy to hear the set up doc helped! You did a great job with just going with the flow and it all turned out beautifully despite the minor hiccups! So glad you guys had an amazing time!!!

I agree with @ we definitely need another drinks night! 

@@ashhtayy can't believe you're leaving so soon!!! Have an amazing time! Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back!! 

Do you have room in your luggage for me??   I sooooo want to go back to Azul Fives!!! I don't mind snuggling up with the decor. LOL!

@@vancouverpetunia The information packages they send out are confusing. I feel like they are parking signs in Toronto...like they are deliberately trying to confuse you so you end up spending more money lol! I have to give a lot of the credit to my TA who helped me price it out in the beginning before I even looked at the property or the packages. She broke it down and said that I could have all of the things I wanted within my budget (which was $6000 for the resort bill). I was able to cut it in half and it even shocked my TA. 

The biggest problem with trying to stay under budget at a Karisma property is that you fall in love with the most expensive options. I have to admit that the sky deck was what really drew me to Azul Fives but in the end we realized it wasn't that important to us. We ended up getting the same effect (private terrace) but just not as extravagant for free!

The Karisma properties make everyone start off with the basic package (unless you choose to upgrade it to a Memorable moments package) but it is very basic and then you add on to it. It's only $950 so from there you can pick and choose.

The "Always and Forever" package includes:

-Wedding Guest Concierge (helpful to guests during the week)

-Wedding Day Attendant (someone other than your coordinator that stays with you all day the day of and is there to get stuff for you if you need it. ex. if you forget your veil in your suite)

-Groom's room with food and alcohol (Sean got 4 large bottles of alcohol)

-Wedding website

-Honeymoon registry

-Semi-private dinner for 40 (most use this for a rehearsal dinner or farewell breakfast)

-Personalized menus for the semi private dinner

-Ceremony location

-Chairs & tables with white linen

-Aisle runner

-Sound system w/ speakers and microphone (ceremony)

-Non-denominational minister

-Honeymoon breakfast in bed

-Candlelit dinner on the beach

-Champagne in your room on arrival

-Beachfront sky massage (2for1 - we transferred this to our honeymoon resort another Karisma property and we got them both for free!)

As you can see decor is not included, cake, flowers or hair and make up. If you any of you choose Karisma - look for a GIWC or GIVC they are TAs who are certified through the Gourmet Inclusive brand with Karisma (Wright Travel is!). They can get you perks like free hair and make up which included a mani & pedi for you and a bridesmaid. We were also upgraded to the sky suite through our TA. It's clear that we would have been lost without our TA. Moral of the story get an amazing TA to help you!!

@@Sweetpea2018 sorry I just saw your message now. It sounds like you're coming from the US if your trip doesn't include airfare. How long is are your guests staying for? You should be able to qualify for free events that are offered to the US brides and not the Canadians. The trade off is that the Canadians usually get much better pricing for their packages. Hopefully the package price comes down a little. 

Our package was $1630 per person for 1 week (including airfare). 

@@sassldiva I totally feel you pain trying to price it out and finding that the package per person prices are really high - that was my experience too. I found that none of the packages at the resorts I was interested in initially offered items my husband and I really wanted. It included many things we wouldn't use and didn't include things that were important to us. With the help of an amazing TA, I found that the Karisma property - Azul Fives was exactly what I was looking for. Be warned that you COULD spend a fortune but if you're careful you could have a beautiful wedding on a budget at a 5+ star resort. 

I had 60 guests 

Private terrace (overlooking the ocean) ceremony 

Cocktail hour with bar services and hors d'oeuvres

Private Reception (3 course plated meal)

for $3000 USD

Check out my budget saving tips http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/79902-how-to-have-an-affordable-karisma-wedding-tips/

Note: I did bring most of my decor (I only purchased flowers through the hotel vendor) and did not use a DJ. 

As the other ladies mentioned, it really depends on your budget for your guests, what kind of resort you're looking for, area etc. so this resort may not work for you otherwise but just know that it can be done and there is a resort out there that will suit your needs. Just be prepared for a lot of little details to really add up (ie. chair covers, decor, other private events etc). 

I hope this helps!

@@ashhtayy this is great!!! thanks so much for sharing Ashley!  Can't wait to hear about your bachelorette!!!

@@dinar My husband and I were able to go to the BDR 4 months before our wedding and I thought it was the perfect time to go. I don't think it is necessary but definitely helpful if you can make it work. Initially I thought it would be too close our wedding for it to be helpful but it was just the opposite. Since we had everything picked out already we were really able to nail down the little details. We did a menu tasting, created our own signature cocktail and were able to get a lot of the little questions answered because we already knew what we wanted.

Here are some pics of the beachfront gazebo. It is definitely a very private spot for a ceremony. We used it for photos.

I hope this helps!

Hi Ladies! 

This isn't DW related but all of you brides were so helpful to me in my own wedding planning process I thought I would post this here to get some advice. One of my Maids of Honour just got engaged a couple of weeks ago! I'm so so excited for her and I'm right back into wedding planning mode but from the other side. She's having a fairly short engagement (setting a date for Oct or Nov 2016). This means I'm planning a shower for July and bachelorette party for Sept...not a lot of time! 

I would love to hear about all of your showers and parties and what you loved about them! I'm trying to get some creative ideas and what better place than this amazing forum!

Right now we're thinking of "Brunch n' Bubbly" bridal shower in the summer.

Any creative ideas for gift themes for the bride? My shower was all lingerie type gifts so I would like to do something a bit different.

Any creative ideas for the favours for the guests? My girls gave everyone mini succulents - they were a big hit!

For the bachelorette, we're probably getting a small group of us (myself and another very close friend and her sister and sisters in law) and going away for a weekend in Montreal or Quebec City. 

All ideas welcome! Thanks ladies!

@@ashhtayy LOVE the hankies!!! The stickers look so good on your tumblers! It looks like you are in amazing shape being just over a month away!! Your big day will be here before you know it!

@@vancouverpetunia What a beautiful wedding!!! Thank you for posting such a great review. I loved reading about it! It's making me miss Mexico! 

I also loved the video your friend made - so fun! 

@@deecol Happy belated wedding day!!! I hope you had an amazing day!! I saw a couple of pics on facebook and you looked stunning!!!! 

@@ashhtayy I think that will work perfectly especially without a first look.

@@ashhtayy @@deecol I'm not too sure what's happening with decor for the PEI reception. I think if anything we'll be going really simple. My MIL wants to plan this event but there are still a lot of things up in the air on the planning side. Sean told me to make him a list of questions to ask her, just to make sure she's not forgetting anything major. I'll probably end up bringing all my candles and I'm sure my sister in law will help with some simple decor. She's the one who made my veil. 

I survived the dinner with my dad's family. It was nice actually but always a bit awkward with my father. My 90 year old grandmother is so cute though. She totally guilt tripped us as usual about having children. She said "All of my friend's have great grandchildren and I don't have any. If I die and I don't have a great grandchild I'll be really sad...". My aunt just shook her head and said "what a little rascal - she knows she can get away with being dramatic" haha!

So the big news is that one of my maid of honour got engaged on Friday - woohoo!! I'm so excited for her and I'm also not so secretly excited to keep wedding planning! haha! she's excited that I'm eager to help. She called us Saturday morning and we all went out to get manis! She wants to have a short engagement as they want to have kids soon so they are hoping for this Oct/Nov! So we started discussing plans right away. it's funny they have had mulitple people ask them about a destination wedding. Sadly they don't want to have one but that's ok. They might actual open up the honeymoon to friends for a week and continue to travel on their own. I've heard of this idea before and I really like it. it's the next best thing to a DW. 

We had planned to watch our full length wedding video with my maids of honours and their partners on Monday. Since we made plans my friend got engaged so it turned into reminiscing about our wedding and celebrating their engagement! We had champagne and lots of cake! 

@@ashhtayy your dress looks amazing!!!! Love that you went out for tropical drinks - so fun! Especially with the weather being so nice right now!!

@@deecol you're leaving so soon!! It looks like you are in amazing shape and ready to have a nice relaxing couple of days before you head off! Everything looks amazing! I love your place cards!

What a lovely surprise party your work put together! That's so sweet and I loved that they faked a possible early birth - haha!

Congrats!! Everything looks gorgeous! Can't wait to see more pics!

We received out full length video this week and I can't stop watching it! I really thought I only wanted the highlight video. I thought how often am I really going to watch our entire wedding. It came with the package but now I'm so glad we have it. I actually love it a lot more than our highlight. Our highlight video is great but the full length really captures a lot of moments with guests that we weren't there to witness. We received two dvds and the menu has different sections of the wedding. 

Disc 1

highlight video

getting ready

first look

ceremony

Disc 2

bride and groom (between ceremony and reception)

first dance

speeches

party

I can't wait to show this to my mom this weekend!

Believe it or not we still have a couple of wedding events coming up...yes even 3 months after our wedding.

We have a dinner with my dad's side of the family (none of them came to Mexico) this weekend. This is mainly for my grandma who is 90 and I'm the first grandchild to get married. I'm not close with this side of the family so these events are always a little weird but I know my grandma will love it and I'm excited to see my Aunt who was the only one I was close with growing up. 

We also have a reception on PEI in July. We're still finalizing the details. My MIL really wants to have something there since she couldn't come to Mexico but we're trying to keep it small and low key. She says they are going to play my processional song at the reception. I don't know if you guys remember but they were supposed to record it (Sean's family is mostly made up of strings musicians) for Mexico but it never happened...well my MIL feels like she let us down and is insisting that she makes it happen for July. I'm actually not upset about it anymore and I hope they don't stress too much about it. My MIL has had a shoulder injury since the fall, which makes playing the violin really difficult. I'm nervous she's going to push herself too much. 

This is not so much about our DW anymore but since it is still wedding related I thought I'd update my thread. 

@@ashhtayy Oh I LOVE the hankies!! I was thinking about getting those for our mums too before we found out they couldn't come to Mexico. They are going to love them! Take pics when they arrive!

@@deecol you are in such great shape!!! I can't believe how close you are to leaving! Time is going to fly by and you'll be in paradise in no time! Can't wait to see it all together!

@@ashhtayy your lyric print is beautiful, it's going to be such a nice keepsake for you guys after the wedding! Love the pink bowties and I agree that the lighter colour will be a nice contrast to the dresses. 

As for baby's breath, I didn't see any when I was on the hunt for wedding decor but I feel like if anyone would know it would be @. 

@@yycbride2016 @@calgarybride2015 Thanks ladies!! 

I showed our video to our niece and she wanted to watch it over and over again...high praise from a 4 year old. 

@@vancouverpetunia Congrats!! You looked beautiful! I hope everything was just as you dreamed it would be! Have an amazing honeymoon!!

@@ashhtayy Gorgeous bridal shower pics!! It looks like your mom and girls planned a really special day! 

@@RoxRoy2015 I would skip save the dates, that's what I did. We had all of our info within a month of being engaged. Since our deposit deadline was pretty soon after we booked we just sent out electronic invites through paperless post and to be honest I think our guest appreciated the early notice and all the info.