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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
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- 2017 Brides
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Hi everyone so I'm waiting for Grand Coral to update their contract and resend it over to me and I'll have my reception booked, have my accommodations booked, hair and makeup my own, flowers from DAC or similar, table set up Euphoria, dj taken care of, still need a wedding cake but for me I could totally make a boxed cake( yes I said that.) But there is still one thing... An officiant! If you google officiants you will see Noe Camacho. I tried reaching out to him multiple times with no luck. I found his Facebook site ( yes I'm thorough, have planned many events for friends; I'm crafty) he apologized said he was so busy n would contact me this week. Still nothing... At this point I have a bad feeling. If he's that busy now, will he make my day feel rushed? For me the ceremony is the most important part. The emotion the intimacy the promise. Family encircled, feet rooted down onto the earth, no jewelry, no precessional music although I'm planning something else instead, but the real raw union of two people for life. I want my officiant to understand that. If any brides feel the same way then, who are you using to officiant your wedding? It would be an English speaking symbolic ceremony. ( we are legally married but haven't exchanged vows.. We want this to feel real!) Thanks!!!!!!!!!! Lisa
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- Wedding Officiant
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Hi everyone so I'm waiting for Grand Coral to update their contract and resend it over to me and I'll have my reception booked, have my accommodations booked, hair and makeup my own, flowers from DAC or similar, table set up Euphoria, dj taken care of, still need a wedding cake but for me I could totally make a boxed cake( yes I said that.) But there is still one thing... An officiant! If you google officiants you will see Noe Camacho. I tried reaching out to him multiple times with no luck. I found his Facebook site ( yes I'm thorough, have planned many events for friends; I'm crafty) he apologized said he was so busy n would contact me this week. Still nothing... At this point I have a bad feeling. If he's that busy now, will he make my day feel rushed? For me the ceremony is the most important part. The emotion the intimacy the promise. Family encircled, feet rooted down onto the earth, no jewelry, no precessional music although I'm planning something else instead, but the real raw union of two people for life. I want my officiant to understand that. If any brides feel the same way then, who are you using to officiant your wedding? It would be an English speaking symbolic ceremony. ( we are legally married but haven't exchanged vows.. We want this to feel real!) Thanks!!!!!!!!!! Lisa
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- Wedding Officiant
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Planning our wedding for Feb 2015 at the reef coco beach in Mexico as we wanted really small. Would love to know if anyone has been there, any helpful hints or wish I knew's. I am a photographer and have photographed and attended many destination weddings if i can help with anything for anyone else let me know. One thing we are struggling with is linen grey pants can't seem to find a light grey for reasonable any help appreciated. Cheers
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Hello! i wanted to give a review to whoever wants to read one because i found these extremely helpful when I was planning my wedding at the Grand Sunset Princess. Sorry for typos/disorganization of thoughts because I'm typing super fast We had our wedding at the grand sunset princess on June 7th, 2014. My husband and i stayed there for 2 weeks, our guests stayed anywhere from 5 to 9 days. We booked with apple vacations through all inclusive vacations and resorts in denver, colorado. Most of our guests came from denver, although some came from different states, and even my grandma came from India! We had 45 guests total. When we all got to the resort we were pretty blown away. My husband and I were so excited right away. The grounds are so well taken care of and beautiful. The resort is massive and looks like a big palace. The lobby is open on all sides so you can see outside and feel the fresh humid air...It's awesome and so pretty. All of our rooms were fairly close depending on what room category each of our guests were in. Although the resort is huge, it was not hard to find people or get a hold of people for the most part. It was so fun to be able to walk along the walkway from the lobby to the beach and see people I know here and there from our wedding party. It was like being in a little town with all of your friends and family. All of our guests told me how amazing they thought the resort was. The staff was so nice and so attentive and helpful. The food was great and our fridges were stocked with water, beer, and soft drinks each day and our room was cleaned very well. All of the rooms were great. We saw the swim up, regular, and platinum rooms and they all were pretty spacious and nice and clean. The pools were so much fun, and so was the beach! We all loved it. I started planning my wedding last August 2013 and Guillermo was my wedding planner. He was/is AMAZING. I loved him. Let me just tell you first of all I was not very happy with him taking a week or even two sometimes to respond to my emails, but then again I did email him very often with different questions and requests. When I got to the resort he was standing there waiting for me to check in. He was so nice and welcoming. He took us to the wedding coordinator office and brought out a book or binder with everything I asked for and started asking last minute questions. After that I felt so good about everything! He knew my style exactly and I totally trusted him and felt less stressed right away. He was soooo good and I would highly, highly recommend him! The wedding day was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING to say the least! We had our ceremony at the Sunset Gazebo and the reception was at the Chill Out Beach Club. I highly, highly, recommend this combination because the sunset gazebo is basically part of the chill out beach club. I know it seems pricy to have the private chill out club reception but it is SO WORTH IT! I can't stress that enough. The ceremony was beautiful and it was set up exactly how I wanted it. Now for the reception, it was private in the chill out beach club restaurant. The dinner was amazing, we chose the caribbean buffet. the drinks were amazing. the staff was so, so attentive and filled our drinks as soon as they were empty. everything went so smoothly and i was so pleased. The tables were decorated beautifully. I used our bridesmaids bouquets for centerpieces and they were placed in a cylinder vase with sand at the bottom and floating candles around. We also used the flowers from the ceremony as centerpieces for the head table. For 45 people, we had our head table with me and my husband, our bridal party, and then 5 round tables in front of us. Guillermo was so great, he added little candles and floating flowers in vases with water for centerpieces without telling me and I loved them! He knew exactly what I wanted. It was so pretty outside at the chill out beach club and having a private dinner with all your guests in that outdoor restaurant on the beach during sunset is truly amazing. After dinner, we cut the cake and had dessert and then went to the dance floor- we opted for the light up dance floor in the sand on the beach. The DJ played great music and my husband and I and our guests danced ALL night (even Guillermo came and danced with us )! We also opted for an extra hour, so we did 6pm-11pm and it was really worth it too. The staff brought us out drinks like crazy. They would bring out trays of tequila shots and our friends and family like to have a good time so....we drank a lot of tequila! It was so much fun! As for hair and make-up, I chose The Styling Trio. i researched this forever because I am so picky about my hair and make up. My hair gets really frizzy and poofy in humidity and I don't like to wear a lot of make up in humidity either. They did an AMAZING job. Adrian did my makeup and Angie did my hair. I will attach a link to our photos below. I saw in the forums that people feel like the styling trio is a little expensive, but believe me, just like about the chill out party-the styling trio is soooo worth it!! I chose Dean Sanderson as the photographer. You have to pay an extra $200 to the resort for an external photographer. I am so glad I chose him! he was so, so good. I also researched this forever....because i knew i would look at my wedding photos forever and be showing them to all of our friends back home that could not make it. So many people commented on how great the photos were. He does a great job of capturing the details and the moment. I love every single photo he took! He got photos of things I didn't even realize...loved it!!!! I highly recommend him. Super easy to work with and you barely knew he was there. I don't think I've ever looked so good in a picture in my life! Haha As you can see...i was so incredibly pleased with our wedding, the resort, and the vendors we used. They were all SO amazing! I am very picky about things and every single thing was exactly how i imagined it, or even better. Here is a link to our facebook album of our wedding. Even if you don't have FB, you should be able to view it. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10202993341609483.1073741825.1082610060&type=1&l=27b713ac30 Feel free to ask me any questions! I am happy to answer anything! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10202993341609483.1073741825.1082610060&type=1&l=27b713ac30
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Hey Ladies, I am scheduled to be married at Playacar Palace in July, 2014. I was having a really difficult time finding a photographer that felt right, as it turns out we have one in our wedding party so that worked out well but as for dj/lighting... that's becoming the final last detail I just can't seem to nail down. Any brides have any suggestions? We are having out reception on the deck that they have on the beach so I'm thinking I will need quite a bit of lighting... anyone have a reception in this area in the past or planning one in the future? Where is everyone else having their reception and what type of audio/visual package are you going with? Any other outside vendors or suppliers that you have tracked down and found useful? I appreciate any advice or info anyone cares to share! Thanks so much ladies
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Brides and past brides, Did you hire a wedding planner? Do you feel it was worth it if you did? And best wedding planner recommendation? I am from houston Tx! And planning a trip to cancun 1st week of august so debating if I should hire someone? And if so, before I leave or while I'm out there. Your help is greatly appreciated!!!!!
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- Wedding Coordinator
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Hola Senores y senoritas... Matt here, yesterday I was doing some droning around in Playa. We've been following closely the construction of the new Hyatt Playa del Carmen, set to open June 1, thought we would share some photos and FAQS (see the link to our blog post) about the new venue! Looks like this is going to be a luxurious wedding venue, family friendly, great beach, wedding gazebo and steps to the famous 5th Avenue of Playa del Carmen. Can't wait to share more! Has anyone booked their upcoming wedding here yet?
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I know that I'm not the first to post about disappointment and I certainly won't be the last but I wanted to share my experience this weekend with you guys because you guys have been so supportive. We are getting married in 3 months and our Officiant who is one my best friends for over 20 years let me know this past week that she will not be able to attend the wedding. We recently confirmed with the hotel that we wouldn't need any of their services with the Officiants etc etc and now we are starting all over from scratch. She explained that money is a constraint for them and that they have 2 children and it's very difficult for them to travel. I do understand. We knew that not everyone could attend and we knew that this would be an issue for those who have children. We get it. When we asked her to be an Officiant she said she would do anything and she would make it work. We were thrilled. Since then I've heard rumblings from some of my BMs that she was going to book last minute because it didn't matter where her room was or which hotel she stayed at because she's not part of the bridal party so she's not important. I only heard about this in the last few days. We asked her to be an Officiant because she's an amazing speaker, she's witnessed my life through good times and bad and we felt like she really believed in us as a couple. We were so heartbroken when she told us that she couldn't come and it was because of money. So when I told my family about this they offered to pay for her and her husband to come. I told her this and she said that she still would have a hard time getting a sitter and it's just hard for her to come and she'd still need money to buy stuff etc etc. I get it. But at the same time, don't you just make it work for close friends? Don't you just say like, ok, one of us will go, I will make it work. She didn't even sound like apologetic on the phone. It was just like, can't go, it's a fact. Can't take your offer of help. They have two sets of grandparents that can take care of their kids and this was all arranged to work earlier on in the year. So now she's using them as an excuse that she doesn't know if they can sit. In addition to this leaving a poor taste in my mouth, I just felt like maybe she felt like she wanted to be a bridesmaid instead of Officiant. I really thought Officiant would be a greater honour because not only is she standing up at our wedding, she's marrying us. She would be wearing a pretty dress just like the other girls but just taking more of a leadership role. It feels silly that I would have to make sure someone feels special enough on my wedding day. LIke that sounds crazy as I type it. Well apparently not. I called her after our convo and told her that I spoke with the hotel and they would allow us to use her even if she decided to change her mind last minute and I had ordered her a bridesmaid dress one shade lighter to compliment the bridesmaid look and that way it will look awesome when we get our pictures taken. She then responded that if she comes last minute she probably wouldn't want to be an officiant and that i was wasting my money with the dress because she prob can't come. Which is fine, but like do we really need to be difficult? I bought the convertible dress and if she can't make it, then I will keep it. I feel like she's really not making an effort and just being childish by talking behind my back and saying that she's not included. How more included do you want to be? Do you want to be the bride? is that enough? I ended up taking today off originally for us to meet up to work on the ceremony but then she cancelled on me and decided that I should really take this time and still try to get some wedding things done while i'm here visiting from out of town. I had already booked the day off and purchased a ticket so I couldn't cancel my day off. I cancelled on her last night and explained that i took the day off originally to get ahead with wedding things and that i was going to try to get my veil tomorrow with my sister. She was very passive aggressive and was like, "ok, fine, fine, have fun." 4 hours later she sent me a very short emailing telling me to "next time give her more notice because she was counting on me to be with her today" I mean the obvious is that I wanted to say well I was counting on you to be our officiant...but it was ok for you to bail 3 months out. I just wrote back saying apologies. Didn't mean to inconvenience you. For me the friendship is over. Is this like an extreme reaction? I just feel like I really tried to help her out and make her feel included and even help out financially and her reaction is so negative. I mean would she even have fun? probably not. I just want to hear from you ladies to see what you think! It's been a very difficult and disappointing day. This is someone that I didn't think would ever be this way. ugh ;(
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The Royal-Playa del Carmen June 18th 2014 We arrived to Playa Sunday and spent one week there. Our wedding was sincerely perfect. Of course we hit some bumps and I hope I can help any upcoming Playa brides. I like being as detailed as I can so this may be long Alvin and I were engaged 12-21-12 and I reached out to The Royal website mid-January. Our flights were booked in May 2013, court wedding was 6-28-14, invitations out Fall of 2013 and we put the RSVP at 1-31-14 Peach Travels/Pleasant Holiday Travel Agent PROS- Sheila Peach was a sweetheart and communicated very well. She was found on the Royal website and lives less than ten minutes away from me. She helped inform me with what I needed to do for a smooth wedding planning. I did not deal with her too much since we were booking our flights and room with Pleasant Holiday. Our guest and I dealt with Brianna. She was very easy to communicate with until a month before our wedding. She was out of her office a lot and not responding to us. We were very happy that she found us direct flights from LAX to Cancun for $381. Close to departure we all received a neat booklet to organize our boarding passes, itinerary, and passport. We also received luggage tags and some discount coupons. CONS- Some guests complained that Brianna was not responding to them. I had a hand full of guests contact another coworker or her boss due to the lack of responding back quickly. I personally did not deal with that but some guest did. There were issued the day we arrived to The Royal and after an hour of arguments, sweat, and walking back and forth we finally received the room we paid for. We received our room 2 days later and had to sign a contract stating we could not complain about The Royal, Peach Travels and Pleasant Holiday. PLEASE be aware that the new wedding packages at The Royal may include an upgrade. You may or may not get it so do not worry too much about the room you stay in. All rooms are beautiful. I also do not recommend the swim up suites. Yes, you feel like a famous artist in a music video with your own pool but you can only be in it until 9 pm. Personally I do not think it is worth the price. Invitations After lots of research I found beautiful and affordable passport/boarding pass invitations. We originally saw the idea on Pinterest. Here is the website https://weddingpassports.com/passport-gallery/ Vanessa and Dave were so awesome! They sent me the template for The Royal and I went to a local printing company to personalize and print them. I paid $25 for the template and Stella Graphix from Hawthorne, CA charged me $200 for personalizing the template and printing 75 invitations and boarding passes. We LOVE our invitations. We were so excited and noticed we put a wrong contact email so I ordered business cards on Vistaprint for about $8 and added the business cards in the invitations. I also made address labels on Vistaprint with a photo of us from our court house wedding. I also bought the paper and transparent envelopes on ebay. Dress I was always one to say I was going with a simple silk wedding dress but after trying on dresses at boutiques and David’s Bridal my mind was confused on with what I wanted. I was able to narrow it down to two dresses from David’s Bridal Galina Signature SWG 400 and Beaded Lace Sheath with Godet Inserts Style VW9340. Again, after lots of searching the web I found my size on ebay and bought both. One for the wedding and one for trash the dress. The dresses were very comfortable. I spent $400 for both dresses, used. I also bought my veil on ebay for $120. My veil had lace trim. Jewelry I am lucky to know a very talented jewelry maker. I met her through my husband. She is a counselor in San Diego but makes amazing jewerly. I bought my bridesmaids and moms necklaces and my maid of honor an awesome cuff. I wore a slave bracelet and statement necklace. http://waterthelove.com/ I also bought a necklace and earrings from ebay for our ceremony. I loved that this necklace had a teardrop falling from my back. Resort All of our guests loved the resort! The staffs have such huge hearts, so caring and always welcoming us with a big smile and the Mayan welcome. We had 51 guests and about 16 stayed at The Royal and the rest at their sister resort The Gran Porto. We loved how simple the walk was to The Gran Porto. Our rooms were always cleaned quickly and left surprises like candy, candles lit, or cool towel origami animals. We usually ate at Spice and we also recommend the Italian restaurant and Maria’s at The Gran Porto. The Royal had the best beach. Beach was not dirty and it was not congested. If you are facing the beach, you can walk to you left and find watersport things that you can rent for a good price. They also have $35 hour massages on the beach. Much cheaper than the resort’s massages. Ohhh and don’t forget about room services. It is soooo good. The night before our wedding we stayed in my room and after being kicked out of our swim up pool we went into the hot tub and ordered every dessert on the menu. Resort is def an A+. The entertainment is also great! My friends did the water aerobics and we did the zumba one day too. Super fun Wedding My coordinator was Lorena and she was my favorite person to deal with! Working with her was perfect. She is a very loving person and her calmness helped me out so much. I met with her about three times before the wedding and she was constantly checking in with me during the wedding. While I was getting ready I was able to email her any concerns and she responded quickly. She even came down to the spa to check in with me and ensure I was all good. My entire family was so thankful for Lorena and all the workers. We tipped everyone because we were so so happy. I told the workers mu favorite drink was their electric lemonade and they did such a great time making sure I always has one in front of me. My wedding started at 4:30 and the weather was so perfect. We did have some wedding crashers who were very rude to our best man but Lorena quickly went to help and called for security to stand around our wedding to ensure no other person came to grab champagne the bar set up was also great. We had our table set up so we had the view of the ocean and our family all in front of us. Words cannot express how perfect our beach wedding was. Perfect music by DJ doremixx has us dancing the entire night. We had a wedding of 51 people and the dance floor was a little small but you have the entire beach to dance on Photographer I was so fortunate to find Ione Photography!!! Ione was so good and communicating. We exchanged emails throughout the planning process and we even had a pinterest page to exchange what type of photos we had in vision to take. As we got closer to the date we exchanged information for an app called WhatsApp on our phones which made it even quicker for us to communicate. The day of the weddings Ione sent me a text on WhatsApp and let me know he was on his way. At that moment I realized our wedding was getting closer Ione met me in my room and our second photographer met my husband in his best man’s room. His work was done so calm and captured so many great shots. I didn’t think I wanted photos of me getting ready but I’m so glad he did. He captured funny moments like zipping up my dress ( dress was a bit tight lol ) and my cousin blowing air on my neck as I was sweating . As we walked down to the beach Ione helped take more photos and then departed as it was time to walk down the aisle. My family also fell in love with our photographers. They captured not only precious moments of Alvin and I but also amazing photos of our niece, cousins, family and friends. Alvin and I had moments where we went off and took photos on the beach and I love them! He also did a great job and reminding our excited family that they were creating a shadow in our wedding pictures as they as rushed and gathered around them to snap photos of their own. They took great photos that we will treasure forever. Every photo was so beautiful. Their creativity was so unique and so perfect. The day after the wedding we met again for trash the dress. We went to Cenote Cristalino. I had my makeup done with Cecilia Hernandez which is Ione’s friend. I sincerely wish I would have gone with her to get my makeup done for the wedding, she was fabulous and the makeup lasted ALL DAY. I jumped off a cliff into the water, dunked my head under water multiple times and after the photo shoot still went swimming in the pool with friends and not an eyelash fell or make up smear. I was so happy that Ione referred me to her because her makeup was the best I have ever had. I even emailed her after the wedding to get information on the makeup she used because it was so good. She does have a Facebook and informed me you can search her there or here is her information estiloaylicec@hotmail.com or phone 9848765152. Between her awesome work on my face and Ione’s work with the cameras it was heaven trash the dress was so much fun and tiring. I never realized all the techniques needed to look pretty underwater. Luckily we has such good support and patience from ione. We didn’t have specific poses which worked out well! Some of our photos you can see and feel the nature happiness we had glowing the day after our beautiful wedding. We received a webpage with all photos. Ione had a small issue with his laptop but communicated that immediately which I highly respect him for his great communication. My package came in so quickly! He added a tablet with an amazing slideshow Ione photography is so professional and so caring about the type of work he will do for your destination wedding. I recommend him to all Playa del Carmen brides
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The State of Quintana Roo will now enjoy an hour more of sun with its time zone moving from Central Standard Time (CST) to Eastern Standard Time (EST) as of February 1, 2015. The change comes after a lengthy push by a coalition of the region's government and local hotel owners, urging the Mexican government to approve the change. The adopted time change gives visitors to chance to take advantage of one more hour of fun, culture and sun in the beautiful region. Couples planning their weddings in the area should also take the time shift into account if they're planning to time their festivities or photographs with daylight or sunset. “The added sunlight should also generate reductions in electricity use for hotels and restaurants in the area, which aligns with Cancun’s turquoise conservation initiative,” Jesus Almaguer, CEO of the Cancun CVB, said in a press release. Besides giving Quintana Roo an extra hour of brightness, the time shift hopes to better coordinate travel times with more than two dozen airports in the United States' East Coast and Canada -- a market that brings significant tourism to the Mexican region. Quintana Roo is comprised of several popular locations for destination weddings, including Cancún, Cozumel and Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen and Akumal. The state also includes the ancient Maya ruins of Tulum, Chacchoben, Cobá, Kohunlich, Muyil, Xel-Há, and Xcaret. The Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve is also in Quintana Roo.
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Hi Ladies! I have 9 of these Mexican blanket serape table runners that I used for my welcome BBQ dinner/rehearsal dinner. I will take $5 each or best offer plus shipping! Size: 10" wide x 7' long assorted colors
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Hi Everyone, I have a Cenote Trash The Dress session I am trying to sell for $100. It was originally an addition to our wedding photography package. My fiancé and I will no longer be able to do it as we will instead be touring around Playa Del Carmen and Tulum with our families. Our wedding photographer Enrique of Decordova Photography has agree to take a different couple so that the session is not wasted. You can contact Enrique from Decordova Photography to make arrangements at info@decordova.ca or through his website at www.decordova.ca. Mention my name Emma and Trash The Dress to get it for $100 The details of the session are: Cenote Trash The Dress – Riviera Maya Date: January 16, 2015 or January 18, 2015 Durration 3-4hr Includes pick-up and drop-off from your resort I hope someone makes use of it as a little New Year’s treat from us. Love, Emma
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We are getting married next year and I am looking for a good photographer in Riviera Maya , any recommendation please?
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- 2015 Brides
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Hi everyone! So happy I found this site! If anyone has any tips, photos, advice, or information regarding weddings at Riu Palace Mexico(from after 2012) and can send to me, I would be so grateful!! You can post here, message me, or e-mail me: coconutlime379@yahoo.com Thanks a ton and Happy Wedding planning to you all!
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- Mexico
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So I made these using Vistaprint... What do you think ladies???? Yay or Nay???
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I cannot believe that I’m just now starting this planning thread and that my wedding is almost here! My future hubby and I are headed to Mexico in 5 days for our wedding and I can’t wait. First, I want to thank all of the generous and lovely brides who have shared advice and provided support throughout my engagement. I am so grateful for BDW! I am also incredibly grateful to my family and friends, who have been an unending source of support and advice throughout this process. This thread is my way of organizing all of my thoughts and to help other brides, especially those who are thinking about having an off-resort wedding. How we met: Ours is definitely a 21st century relationship: we met online in early 2010. I was on my second round of Match.com and was close to cancelling my subscription again when I saw that someone had winked at me—LOL. We talked and found out that we had an amazing number of things in common, including similar religious upbringings, ethnic backgrounds (several of our parents hail from the Caribbean), hobbies, and a love of food. We traveled back and forth long-distance from Chicago, IL to Madison, WI for over a year until I got a job offer back east. As luck would have it, my fiancé ran into a coworker who told him about a job opportunity in the same city—and he moved before I did! The engagement (you can get the long version from our website): In spite of the fact that I’ve never been one of those girls to dream about the perfect proposal, I have watched enough proposal-related shows that I thought I could NEVER be surprised. My fiancé knew that the only was he could surprise me was to NOT do the typical thing (LOL). On January 31st, 2014, he called me and casually asked me if I wanted to go to dinner. The staff at the restaurant was REALLY nice that night, which should have tipped me off! Now, I love this place, but I’d describe their service as polite(ish) but often brusque. It’s also a loud Italian restaurant—not exactly your romantic French establishment (said in my best Frasier Crane voice). After a yummy dinner, he asked me if I remembered what he gave me on our first date. I said: “Oh, flowers and candy..so cute but so cliché.” (You’re probably thinking right now that I’m the worst, and you’d be right!) He laughed and then the manager brought over flowers and candy. Those of you who know me know that my next move was to try to dig into the candy. He said: “Will you PLEASE stop for a second!” At that point, genius that I am, I started to realize what was going on. I’m pretty sure that he said a bunch of wonderful things and talked about how much he loved me, but I started hyperventilating and crying. Hilariously, there was this large group of people sitting next to us commenting the whole time. “Shh..I think he’s PROPAWSING!” “I think she’s gonna say yes!” It was like being on a sitcom! Decision 2013: Where to have the wedding: I went back and forth quite a bit on where to have the wedding. And by ‘where’, I just mean narrowing down the city/country! My fiancé just wanted to get married ASAP—LOL. I wasn’t happy with the choices where we live or in my hometown, given our budget. None of them called to me at all. Then I remembered that some of my high school friends had recently had destination weddings and reached out to them for advice. After talking to a few travel agents and a wedding planner, I had narrowed my choices to St. Lucia and Riviera Maya. (We were definitely not having this wedding in the Caribbean, as we knew there would be a few too many family members on the guest list!) Ultimately, Riviera Maya won out because it was a cost-effective option that was easy for family and friends to reach. FYI: I will be organizing my 5-year vow renewal in St. Lucia, so everybody get ready!! Just a heads up for brides: the people that are supposed to be there will make it. Many of the friends (and family) that I was SURE would be at the wedding are not coming. It was upsetting at first, but I am thrilled about the 28+ guests that will be there celebrating with us. Their love and support for us makes this day all the sweeter. The Wedding Location: After FINALLY deciding to get married in Riviera Maya, I started looking around for resorts. I found some beautiful options, but quickly realized that good food, privacy and flexibility were both far more important to me than I had previously realized. My planner and I (Joyce Mnguni, of Dream Weddings) had decided on the Grand Coral Beach club for my wedding day. I was completely excited, until she called me and told me that they had instituted a new $2000 site fee!!! I’m sure it had absolutely NOTHING to do with their little feature in Destination Weddings Magazine, but I digress. Anyway, I had previously dismissed the Blue Venado Beach Club as too rustic for my tastes. However, seeing this wedding from Del Sol photographed in this location helped me to see Blue Venado with a new set of eyes. Blue Venado was cost-effective, private, had a reputation for great food, and would allow me to have the wedding that I wanted. So I ended up going with this location. Source: Blue Venado Beach Club Website The Resort: Although we chose to have my wedding off-resort, we knew that many guests would want an all-inclusive experience so they wouldn’t have to travel to find food, etc. Our resort, the NOW Jade is a bit far from our wedding venue (about 45 minutes to 1 hour), but it was cost-effective for our guests, the food is supposed to be pretty good, and it has lots of child-friendly activities. (Note for future brides: the friends who are coming are leaving their children at home as far as I know! So pick the resort that YOU want for your wedding.) Source: NOW Jade Riviera Cancun website The Planner: Joyce Mnguni of Dream Weddings I will have a lot more to say in my review, but I have to tell future brides here that they cannot go wrong with Joyce. I’ve raved about her elsewhere here on the boards, but she has been a lifesaver. She’s gone with the flow for some of my crazier ideas, provided me with information on lots of options, and reined me in on spending money where I didn’t need to. I also think she *gets* the Afro-Caribbean aesthetic/boho chic vibe of my wedding in a way that many other planners likely could not. I am very grateful for her! Photographer: Chad Pennington of Sobitart Photography I think that you realize very quickly what your deal breakers are. For me, excellent photography was one of them—to the point where I moved the videography budget into photography. I needed a photographer who was comfortable with photographing people of color on a regular basis and could capture moments, rather than just doing staged types of shots. I only seriously considered two photographers/companies. The first was Del Sol. They really do have great customer service and their work truly speaks for itself. The second was my photographer, Chad Pennington of Sobitart Photography. He was a second shooter for a childhood friend’s wedding, and I could NOT stop looking at the pictures. The primary photographer’s work was excellent as well, but Chad had some pictures in his portfolio that moved me and all of my friends beyond words (like this one). We were thrilled with our engagement shoot (check it out here!) and can’t wait to work with him on our wedding day. Save the Dates: One thing that is awesome and wonderful about weddings is that you will find that you have amazing wonderful people in your life that will rise to the occasion and help out wherever and whenever they can. One of my friends came with me to a bridal show (!) AND while we were there, told me that she would design my invitations/stationary. Here are our STD’s inspired by the beauty of the Riviera Maya: The invitations: The invites were also a labor of love. I used up about 90% of my DIY mojo assembling these invites, but we got SO many compliments! I had pinned an invite that I really liked on Pinterest, but they were insanely expensive and the materials were as well. On a trip to JoAnn’s our lives were changed by a sales associate that showed us my new favorite crafting material: burlap paper stacks. Ladies and gents, these really are fabulous! If you like the idea of using burlap but don’t want to deal with all of the fraying, these are the ticket! We also used twine from the dollar store to pull everything together. Here are my invites, and I will also post another easy DIY project or two using the burlap paper and twine. The dress: As you might imagine, finding the dress was quite a process! I probably went to at least 8 stores, some with my mom and godmother, some with my good male friend, and several on my own. I swooned over Jenny Packham and Vera Wang dresses, but I knew they weren’t in the budget. I finally found an inexpensive J. Crew dress, the Arabelle, that I thought would fit the bill, but my godmother put her foot down and vetoed it! LOL The funny thing is, the dress that I ended up choosing at a shop all by myself was a perfect combination of the first dress that I ever tried on (San Patrick Eresma) and the J. Crew dress, the Arabelle. I just love it! Here is the dress, the Pronovias Fabula. As my seamstress notes, it *looks* simple, but the design is absolutely not simple. She basically told me that she was used to seeing a lot of bling on dresses, and that mine was a refreshing change. My fashionista designer sister loves this dress as well: Source: Preowned Wedding Dresses website I bought this dress as a floor sample, and the saleslady and seamstress told me not to lose ANY weight. Well, I needed to and did lose quite a bit of weight and inches, so I had a great seamstress alter the dress for me. (Future bride tip: find a good seamstress outside of the bridal shop for your alterations. I used one recommended by a local bridal consignment shop.) Accessories: Bridal Hanger: I went back and forth with myself about getting one of the bridal hangers. At this point, I realized that I wasn’t willing to pay the high shipping, especially for a rush order. Plus, I wanted something a little different. I came across a tutorial for a sequined hanger, bought the materials, whipped this out really quickly using an old hanger (it really is easy to do and I will post the directions if someone wants them): It’s not perfect, but I think it came out pretty well for my first time! Thanks in part to this website, I started entering more and more bridal contests. One of the things that I won is a gorgeous handmade headpiece from UK designer Yelena Smirnova. She kindly offered to make up my choice, the Rosalie hair comb in all cream: Source: Yelena Accessories, Etsy I also decided to whip up a small birdcage veil to use with this; I just have to attach the comb. (Note: this is SO easy and far cheaper than buying a simple birdcage veil. I will post a tutorial later.) Jewelry: I originally got the J. Crew lattice necklace below to wear when I thought I would be going with the J. Crew Arabelle dress. I will have to post later on this, as my mom and sister have vetoed the necklace as inappropriate for this dress! And I got it on sale and everything! *sad face* Any suggestions from my fellow BDW brides would be great, because the clock is a tickin’! Source: J. Crew website The shoes: You would not believe how hard it is to find high metallic wedges for a wedding! I finally found my shoes on zappos.com, Badgley Mishka Kole in silver: Source: Zappos website Maid of Honor: I only gave my MOH a general color scheme, and she ran with it (but gave me the final veto). I will have to post her actual dress later (from J. Crew), but here is the color, which I love! Groom: The groom…refused to let me see what he’s wearing, so it’ll be quite a surprise for me! (Don’t worry, I made sure that a fashion-forward friend was with him to guide his selections.) Best Man: I have a general idea of what his suit looks like, but I’ll see the whole look at the wedding too! LOL (You can see how laid back I am about what other folks are wearing! As long as it looks good, I’m good!)
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I've taken a break from the wedding planning process for a few months. Burnt out? No, but I feel like I can take a breather because mostly everything has been picked out, planned, and agreed. However; there is one thing that keeps popping up in my mind. Our DJ that we have proposed hiring says it is the company's policy to have half down upon hiring and the remainder of the payment to his company no later than 2 weeks PRIOR to the wedding. All other vendors require remainder payment upon arrival or services rendered day of wedding. If we are paying half up front when reserving, I think that would cover any overhead. Not saying we won't do it but anytime your pay-paling large amounts of money to another country weeks before receiving a service, there's that feeling like, what incentive do they actually have to show up? Etc. etc. I work in research and development and I am very thorough with my "digging" sometimes that I feel like it's a curse. :/ I would like to know of any other brides had to pay for an intangible service such as a dj upfront weeks before wedding. Also would like to know if anyone has pros and cons about doing so. Thanks!
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So excited for our wedding Jan. 14 in Tulum. We are having trouble choosing a venue. We saw Ahau and La Zebra. Both looked great, but now are thinking of Be Tulum and El Pez. We like El Pez since the ceremony location is private, but like the other locations for the receptions. Our coordinator thinks Be Tulum may be a good spot since it's towards the end of the beach and semi-private ceremony location. I'm not sure if it looks to modern. 90 guests. Any other brides with big weddings?
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Is there anyone out there looking into getting married at the Sandos Playacar. My fiance and I are interested in this location and are just wondering about others experience with planning.
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Hello! Can someone be so kind and provide a direct contact for the Grand Coral Beach Club in Playa del Carmen. I am having some trouble reaching them directly, the phone number that they have posted on their website is for the real estate portion of the property and they are telling me they are not associated with the Beach Club.....Not sure whats going on Help will be greately appreciated!!!
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Ok Brides, After Planning my wedding for 8 months, I wanted to share some info. There will be no name dropping but just a bit of insight and encouragement. If you are into hotel ceremonies and receptions bc you like it, then this post is not for you... no offense, truly. If you feel you have to have your wedding at a hotel bc there is no way that you can pull it all together, take a deep breath and know that - YES YOU CAN. One thing I like about weddings is not how good the cake is or what the bouquet looks like, all very important details yes, but your guests won't care, I promise What I like seeing is the couple's creativity. Their own little personal flair that is unique incorporated into their wedding. The thing you see and say oh my gosh that is so them! I have a friend who is a sous chef and for her table top centerpiece she had large vases each filled differently with asparagus, or some with slices oranges, then water, then flowers on top. her own touch. So to be told that if I have my wedding at a resort I will pay 3k-8k and they will take care of everything and in doing so I get 1 choice of their very limited options that are tired and worn out? No thanks. So upon my 8 months I have learned a lot. There are many many many options in Mexico to marry. There are even more to have a reception. I had been working with a venue directly, they promised me one thing in email. Not just the manager but the chef etc. I hired a wedding planner and she told me opposite. When things just didn't sound right from the wedding planner and the venue was telling me something else than she, it just got to be a big mess. And I had to just walk away. Did I really really want to have my wedding there? YES. Did I like my wedding planner? YES Did I feel that continuing to invest my time and potentially my money into either? NO. WC response was that it might be hard for Americans and Canadians to understand but the wedding business in Mexico is and I quote "cut throat" Do I want to give my business to cut throat people? Should I blindly just accept things that my gut instinct is telling me to be wrong just bc I think that my wedding has be perfect and held to someone else's standards of acceptability? I have looked at many these vendors, ones that have the big websites etc and you know what? They could not care two.... about me at all! Wedding ministers not responding, DJ's trying to hustle me for bigger packages, venues changing pricing etc. You know what my previous wedding planner told me? That my venue didn't care about what they agreed to and that if I didn't like the changes, oh well the venue isn't pressed for brides and doesn't need my business so I better just accept it. Oh yes. She did. That's not what I dreamed about as a little girl. And isn't it suppose to be our day? So with trusting my God given instinct and 29 years of experience I went in the opposite direction and I can not tell you how happy I am. I have found the most wonderful venue that is so friendly. Gives me all the choices I want. I can have a tab bar at the end of the night, I can have pre paid bar packages, I can bring my own liquor, I can, and I have created my own menu. I gave pics of the canapés I would like to have served and they have quoted me prices for those. They have beautiful furniture I can use at no extra cost. etc etc etc. In short- they rock. I have found an amazing wedding officiant, Petra Rattue (ok I named dropped but shes awesome) Yes I actually look forward to taking a walk to the local markets the morning of my wedding with my family and picking out flowers and creating my own bouquet. Something my previous wedding planner insisted I shouldn't be bothered with on my wedding day.I look forward setting up a couple table decorations. I look forward to it all bc it's what I want and it's my day. May not be what you want, but for me it's everything. But what do you want??? Did you start with a dream and now find yourself settling? Your wedding day is yours. I think vendors and wedding coordinators are awesome, if it were not for them we would still be getting married in our homes with no extras (totally acceptable too) but for the love of humanity, they need to be honest and held accountable. You can make your wedding day your own. Just follow your heart <3 Hope this has encouraged you. Lisa
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Are any ladies having a rehearsal for their ceremony? I am having a beach front wedding ceremony with 2 young children involved. My wedding venue closes for the evening to all public and then one hour later our ceremony will start. I am wondering if that's going to be too short of time for everything to get set up and run smoothly. There is an on site wedding coordinator and what I have found is that she is very attentive, but I am wondering if I should do a run through the day before? My officiant is wonderful and I think she may have mentioned that I do not need to do a rehearsel but Im worried that without it the kids wont know what to do. We are not having a wedding party so it would just be the kids, us and my father who need to do the run through. What are you doing? Are you having a rehearsel?
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Hi everyone. I've been looking at the DJ reviews on this website, but wanted to know specifically if anyone has hired a DJ that they know mixes old-skool hip-hop well. This may be a lot to ask for in the riviera maya, but thought I'd give it a shot. My brother and cousin are DJs, but I don't want them to have to work at the wedding. Coming from LA, being Filipino and my fiance being Indian, we both love 90s hip-hop and we love to dance. And we are a bit of DJ snobs. Was looking at videos from Disco Movil's website to get a sense of his mixing ability but there wasn't much on there. There was one video of a wedding where he played Rihanna and then played Bel Biv Devoe's "Poison." But it wasn't a good mix transition- once the Rihanna song ended, Poison just started. DJ Mannia has a good sample online, but the reviews have been mixed. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
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