I just got back from our wedding at the Now Sapphire. I would like to share my reviews for anyone willing to read because I hired all outside vendors:

 

1. Photos in Cancun - Derek Campbell & Lorena Jaimes. The pictures turned out fabulous! I have almost 2000 pictures of the entire day. At the end of the reception, they gave us 3 USB sticks of all our edited photos for us to print on our own. I hired them for the whole day & don't regret it one bit. Let me know if you'd like me to email you a few pictures.

2. MVP Hair & Make-Up. One word - FABULOUS!!! Best money spent on the entire wedding. They were a few minutes early for both appointments, the trial & the day of. Melissa & her team work very quickly and effectively. I am always very skeptical of hair & make up artists, as I am often unpleased with their work. All 9 of my bridesmaids, my mother & mother-in-law were extremely pleased! There wasn't one person who was disappointed or wanted something re-done. And trust me, they would have said something. I can't say enough kind words about Melissa & her team. I love that she is from the states because she knew how to work with our hair type & skin colors, and best of all, I can communicate with her!!! She would have to communicate with the rest of her team because they didn't speak english, but that wasn't a problem at all.

3. DJ Mannia. AMAZING! He played everything we asked for, and didn't, plus much much more. He took the few songs that we had asked to play, learned our style, and played similar songs. I received so many compliments from all ages about his services. Definitely worth the money for the Dance Floor! The dance floor was never empty - and when I say never, I mean never! 

4. Maya Floral. I sent them pictures of what I wanted & everything turned out just like I wanted! He is very professional. He sends a detailed invoice with pictures of what it's going to look like. I never even met with him in person, but when I got to the reception, it was perfect! No complaints at all.

 

I hope this helps. I know a lot of you may be worried about the "outside vendor fee", but I ended up paying only $700 total. It was definitely worth it & still saved money. My only complaint is that it does create a little extra work for you because you're having to contact all the vendors yourself, whereas if you used them through the resort, Anel would do all that for you. 

 

We used the solo violinist for the ceremony & she was phenomenal!! We also used the resort videographer, but I have yet to see the video. Since we didn't need the resort photographer for the wedding, we used her for the welcome party the night before for all our guests. We had the sit down dinner on the divine package with the following:

-appetizer: mixed lettuce with blue cheese &Walnut confit; honey-balsamic dressing

-soup:tomato & basil soup with cheese balls (from the eternity menu)

-main course: option of either the beef filet bordaleise or grilled salmon (from the eternity menu)

-dessert: tiramisu 

Everything we had was DELICIOUS! We tried the 'supreme of chicken stuffed with seafood' at our tasting and it was terrible so I don't recommend that.

 

My only complaint about the resort is the lack of communication with Anel. She is very hard to get ahold of, as many of you know. However, when you get to the resort, she is very very sweet & helpful! She is good at her job, just slow to email. Ramon & Anel were always willing to help while I was there. I dropped off multiple items for them, they set them up correctly at the reception, and had them waiting in our room for us when we got back from the reception. For those of you that want a different email address for wedding planning, her assistant's name is Ramon & his email address is <[email protected]> and he is much quicker to respond to emails. 

 

I don't have any regrets from the wedding. Depending on the size of your wedding, I would recommend getting to the resort at least 2-3 days before the wedding. We had 65 people come for ours, so I feel like there was a little more work to be done & I was a little more meticulous. 

 

The NOW was amazing overall!! I would definitely go back & recommend it to anyone wanting to plan a destination wedding. The resort is only a 15-20 minute ride from the terminal to the lobby of the resort. They welcome you with a drink & a towel. However, if you're wanting a more "quiet" resort, the NOW isn't for you. There are lots of activities and people by the pool daily. There is a band playing in the lobby bar at night. There is a dance club, so there's people out late. And there was a good amount of children when we went, so it's great for families too. 

 

Hope you all find this review helpful! If you have any questions, respond to the review & I'll try to answer them quickly.