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Hey there! I really want to do a destination wedding but my folks are insisting that I should have a catholic wedding ceremony. Based on my research, I have found Gran Caribe Real as one of my options. I've looked into Xcaret weddings as well. I've contacted TAs already just waiting on their response. Anybody have any suggestions on other places that offer catholic ceremonies or have experienced weddings at GCR? Please let me know, a brief review of the resorts such as their food and services would be great! Thanks so much!

Well, I guess it is my turn to start my own planning thread! I had read so many helpful planning threads on this awesome forum and I thought I would do the same. I am 124 days away until my wedding (but who is counting) and I thought I would post my ideas to not only help others, but also as a way to keep me accountable to my planning. I have truly loved reading other bride's planning threads and will try to share as much as possible to help someone else in their early stages of planning. The benefits of the forum have been so great and I am so grateful for the generous brides that have been so busy planning their own fabulous weddings and still made it a priority to share for the rest of us. We are getting married June 20, 2015 at the Grand Sunset Princess. We have been to this resort twice and love, love, love, love it!! We are really looking forward to going back and just feeling absolutely confident in the service and quality of the hotel. So my head has been clouded with to-do lists and I had been really overwhelmed as soon as we transitioned from 2014 to 2015. I have a destination wedding planner but I found that it was easy to tuck it away and it is over 200 pages so it's easy to miss a section. We decided to experiment with a wall map. We put up some bristol board on a wall at home and my fiance and I started posting all the random things that we need to get done. All those little things like, "ask our flower girl" or "write vows" or "lose 60lbs" haha. After mapping out our to do list it really helped put everything into perspective. As we get things done, we remove the sticky, and as we think of more things to do, we slap them on. It has really helped out and I have a better sense of what still needs to get done! Yay planning! xo

Hi! Can anyone lend any information regarding pricing/vendors/coordination for a wedding at Fiesta Americana Grand Los Cabos Golf and Spa Resort? From online research, I really like their Casa del Mar Imperial Suite, but I have found very little information on same. Any information would be appreciated. Thank you!

31 days, my guests and I are exactly 1 month away from boarding a plane to celebrate our wedding week. In the lead up to the wedding/trip, I thought it would be fun to do a countdown on our wedding website of tips, tricks and advice surrounding travel to Mexico, specifically the Cancun and Riviera Maya area. We've never been to that side of Mexico so I thought I would reach out to my bride and bride-to-be friends on the forum. If you could help me come up with tips, tricks and advice for our trip, I would really appreciate it. This can be anything from tips at the airport (e.g. stay away from timeshares), must-see places (e.g. touristy areas, restaurants, beaches, etc) and if anyone has any tips for Moon Palace (our wedding resort) that would be fantastic. Thanks in advance

Hi everyone! I’ve been a long time lurker and sometimes poster but now that we are approaching our 3 month mark (ahh!!) I think it’s time to start my very own planning thread. Think this will definitely help me focus and hopefully make decisions J How we met: Jamal and I met a little over 4 years ago at a mutual friend’s birthday party. As usual, I went to this party with one of my best guy friends. We get to the bar about an hour into the party, say our hellos and make our way to the bar for drinks. After realizing that drinks were $15 a piece (gotta love NYC bars), I made a mental note that I needed someone else to buy me drinks that night haha. My friend and I always have the problem that people think we are “together” so we separate right away and go mingle. I did spot a cute stranger hanging out with our group but none of my immediate friends knew who he was. A little while later, as I was finishing my drink, coincidently, this cute stranger comes up to me and asks if he could buy me a drink J. We spent the rest of the night talking and hanging out. I eventually go to the bathroom with the birthday girl and find out that he was one of her really good friends and she assured me that he was a good guy. So when he asked for my phone number at the end of the night, I didn’t hesitate! To add a little twist to the story, the birthday girl knows him because he used to date her cousin and when they broke up she decided to keep her friendship with Jamal despite the breakup. She jokes that she kept Jamal in the divorce! We had our first date a couple of weeks later and have been together ever since. This relationship felt different right from the beginning. It almost felt easy, if that makes any sense. He and my friends (guys and girls) got along very well right from the beginning and that was so important to me since they are my family here in NY. And now we have been living together for almost 3 years now and have been engaged for about 8 months. The Proposal: It was Christmas morning 2014 and we were at my parent’s house opening presents like the big kids that we are. We take Christmas morning very serious in my family, we were onesies and my dad dresses up like Santa haha. This year was no exception. Jamal and I wore superhero onesies! After I opened my presents I took my new niece Sophia, who was only 2 weeks old, from my sister-in-law so that she can open her presents. I'm obsessed with Sophia so I want to hold her at all times. Then suddenly my brother comes to take the baby from me and I'm not happy about it and I don't let him. Little did I know he was doing it for a reason. He tried again warning me about a dirty diaper so I gave in and handed him the baby. I got up to help clean up the living room since there was wrapping paper everywhere! Then Jamal says "oh wait there's another present". I turn around excited for another gift and there he is on one knee with a beautiful ring in front of my entire family! Being the lady that I am, I say "oh shit" and start crying immediately and everyone in the background is screaming in shock and happiness. He asks me to marry him and there are more tears. He finally asks again "uh is that a yes?" But come on as if it would ever be a no. So yes I was proposed to while in a wonder woman onesie by a man dressed as batman J This was the best way for him to propose – I loved that it was in front of my family. Since we don’t live near them (we’re in NYC and they are outside of Philadelphia), I usually miss out on random family events. And it was amazing to have them be a part of this. Here is my ring Location / Timing: It was never a secret to anyone that I would have a destination wedding. For me, a big, expensive NYC wedding never felt right. And in Jamal’s eyes, we could have grabbed our parents head, down to city hall and call it a day. Both sets of immediate families were immediately on board and that was most important to us. Before we even told them our plans, we decided that if we needed to pay for any of them to come, we would. As long as we have our parents and siblings there, everyone else is icing on the cake J So as soon as we got engaged, the search was on. I must have spent hours and hours searching on google for locations/resorts. We had no idea where we wanted to get married but knew that we didn’t want Dominican Republic (so many friends have gotten married there already) or Jamaica (Jamal has distant family there and didn’t want to have to invite them). We finally came across Danialle from BeachBum Vacations and knew immediately we had found our travel agent. Right from the beginning she was helpful, knowledgable and super nice. She was able to help us decide that Mexico was the right place for us and our guests since we wanted to be considerate of our guest’s budget. Our resort requirements were: - Somewhere different to get married – I personally don’t like the beach and sand very much so I didn’t want a beach ceremony/reception - Keep costs for guests around $1,000 for 4 days/3 nights - All-inclusive with amazing food - Not a small resort After seeing pictures of the skydeck at Azul Sensatori I fell in love! A rooftop ceremony reminded of NYC and it hasn’t been done in my circle of friends, where destination weddings are the norm. So after some more research and thinking, it was done. We were going with Azul Sensatori. We didn’t want a long engagement but wanted to be considerate of our guests and their budgets, so after looking at work schedules (I’m an accountant so certain months are blocked off), we decided on November 2015. Based on availability at the resort, we selected November 20, 2015. Our travel agent was able to secure a room block for us. We started with 20 rooms in the block since we had to put down $100 per room to secure them. This was all done by end January 2015 so needless to say it was a very very busy few weeks. Now as much as I loved the pictures, I was sooooo nervous about picking a place without actually seeing it. We and my friends are huge travelers and have become accustomed to really nice hotels and amazing service and are willing to pay for it. But because of work schedules, we weren’t able to make it out to Mexico and still get information out to our guests early enough so that people could start saving money and blocking that time off. But thankfully a friend of a friend had gotten married there in September 2014 and loved it and her guests had a great time. So knowing that we have similar friends that put me at ease. We still scheduled a visit to the BDR in June to make sure

Hi All, I was wondering if anyone has gotten married at the Hilton Puerto Vallarta or have attended a wedding there? Puerto Vallarta wasn't originally in my scope of plans but I do have family members who travel with Hilton often and have some perks that can help us with our stay I don't see much on their website but wanted to get an idea if anyone knows! Thanks!

Hello All! I just got engaged about a week ago and although I am planning a destination wedding for April 2017 I wanted to get started on my research! I know a year and a half is a long ways away however I would really love to give my guests a year or more notice to save up! We are anticipating a larger amount of guests (possibly 50+) so my questions are: What are the best family friendly resorts? (I want everyone to have the option to bring their children if they wish but I also don't want a complete kiddy land) Which resorts offer a "preview"?- my fiance and I were thinking of travelling to Mexico possibly in February to scope a few places out if any offered deals specifically for this reason. And which resorts are best for larger groups? We are thinking Playa/Riviera Maya area however I am flexible and really anywhere from Isla Mujeres to a little past Playa will be considered. Thank you so much for your help! Future Mrs. K

Hello everyone! I need your help. I am planning my Oct 20th 2015 wedding in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico and I need a DJ, sound system, speakers, mic and dance floor. I need someone who speaks english because communication is key between me and the DJ before and on the wedding day. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated :D