Azul Sensatori Brides - POST HERE!

[~Katie~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KittenHeart I had a hard time justifying an additional cake aside from the one that comes in the package but I'm not a fan of the small heart cake. I wanted a 3 tier but settled with a 2 tier and I'm bringing real touch orchids with me as they tried charging me $20 per real flower. I already had my lingerie bridal shower here at a friends house and plan to have the Bachelor/Bachelorette parties in Mexico Thursday night before my Saturday wedding.

Amy, how many 'do's' do you guys have??!! lol I'm jealous!!

Over here in the UK, we just have a 'hen' party! (no idea why it's called something different from yours either - isn't the world a funny place!?)

ooo i'm over tired and in a very stupid mood!!!!! having a can of RedBull and cracking on with my replies on here!!

[~Katie~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsVaughn2B Hello ladies I have been consumed with work for the last few weeks. Its really getting in the way of my wedding planning and posting on the thread. Crista Lee - welcome to the group. These ladies are awesome and make the processing much more enjoyable. Kitten - Thank you giving the thread a new kick. We needed that and it helped me want to get back on the planning train! Welcome new girls I missed :-)

welcome back to the planning world!! I spend my whole time at work wanting to post on here and actually get on with my wedding planning, and then when I'm at home doing it I'm worrying about what I need to do at work!!

Oh, and we've been soooo busy wedding planning that we BOTH forgot (!!!!!!!!!!) our 2 year anniversary!!! oops

[~Katie~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsVaughn2B - Shoes! I need to decide on my shoes. I am going to wear heels because I love heels. I am thinking about getting colored heels to match my coral bridesmaid dresses for some contrast. Any thoughts on this idea? Also, are you making your bridesmaids wear heels in the sand or just having them pick out what they want as long as its in the color you want the shoes to be in.

Andrea, where did you get your bridesmaid dresses from? have you got any pics you could put on? I am having a real problem finding anything over here - I think I'll end up buying online (which is not ideal) but haven't really got any other options!!

thank you

[~Katie~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amybermuda WOAH sliced strawberries in your cake and hazelnut? Were these options given to you? I had Strawberry, Vanilla, or chocolate.... Love that cake - I will try and photobucket my cake picture soon.

haha, Amy that was my exact reaction!! lol I only had those options too!!

[~Katie~]

and sorry girls for all the posts in one go!!

 

Amy - are you feeling better now? hope you are all recovered

 

ok, so my planning is more things we are actually getting on and doing atm. As we have just recently moved hotels, emails about the wedding and reception details are only just starting to get spoken about. this week I sent my WC a VERY long email with subject headings at the top of every paragraph (that's how long it was!). She has asked if she can get back to me by Saturday!! which is fine, so once I get that, I'll know more

 

I have just taught my FH how to use Excel (he's not an office-based worker) and he's spent the last 2 weeks putting together a new wedding spreadsheet with worksheets for just about everything!! Have to say I am very proud of him

 

We are finally getting round to trying to decide how we want to organise our UK wedding reception and have started looking at costs vs food options etc. Hope to meet with our coordinator there by the end of this month to get some more costings on food and finalise times. Then we will get evening reception invites sent out

 

I have got my dress ordered...but no veil, tiara or shoes!!! finding a veil and tiara is proving very difficult when I can't try them on with my dress! (any help much appreciated!)

 

I have my bridesmaids shoes YAY and they are gorgeous. I have a dress on order for them as I have had such a hard time finding any fushia/hot pink bridesmaid dresses with straps. I'm praying they are going to be ok or I'll be panicking :-S

 

We've found a photographer we want in Mexico and once we get a response from our WC about bringing in outside photographers we will hopefully be booking them. Managed to negotiate on price too which was great. Even better...we're going to do a TTD session!! wahoooooooooooo. now I just need to find a REALLY cheap dress to use for it!!

 

and that's about where I'm at! phew. haha

[scooby9c]

Hi Ladies,

 

Well I am officially a married lady as of the 3rd. Sorry I couldn't post earlier, but the new husband and I were running around like crazy before we left (Read: Husband accidentally threw away veil day before the wedding, we missed our connecting flight in Atlanta and were rerouted to Mexico City and didn't not arrive until late Monday, etc. :-)). But we are now officially on our honeymoon in Jamaica and its wonderful. A tip for any of you ladies planning on a honeymoon right after the wedding or going straight back to work: Take a few days after the wedding to unwind and do absolutely nothing - you will need it. I'm a pretty high energy person and all we have wanted to do was sleep and lay by the water then sleep some more. In fact I think I may have broken my husband :-) I have never seen him sleep so much. You are all going to have the most amazing time, but taking care of your guests and all the activities will drain you.

 

I only have a few minutes to post, but will promise to post a solid review and some pics very soon. The hubby keeps yelling at me to get off of facebook and this forum while we are on the HM :-) - I guess I can't blame him.

 

Overall Review - It was the most amazing wedding. We had a wonderful time with our friends and families and we were blessed with the most amazing weather. We didn't have any rain, there was an incredible breeze off the water and we had a full moon over the water during our dinner reception at Zocalo Al Fresco - it was stunning. Apparently it is good luck in Mexico to get married on a Saturday and have a full moon! We arrived on Monday, and the Wedding was Saturday. We originally booked a premium room for the first four nights and then an upgrade to a Honeymoon Ocean front suite for the last three nights. When we arrived at the hotel for our private check in they automatically upgraded us to the Honeymoon Ocean Front Suite for all seven nights. I have to say this was very nice as it would have been a major pain to move rooms the night before the wedding. The concierge and wedding staff were absolutely fantastic (Elena in particular) - they definitely go out of their way to make sure you are happy and do not have any concerns. Everything for the wedding ceremony was absolutely perfect. They did an awesome job on our decor. My only cons at this point were the difference in food quality from our site visit in april and now and that some of our guests had to wait around for their check in despite having provided them with a list of when our guests would arrive and room assignments. The hotel was only at 61% occupancy though, so we were able to secure upgrades to the premium section for several of our guests and family. Because of some mix ups during our site visit and as a result of the letter we sent to the hotel a few months back, all of our guests were to receive a bottle of champagne and some petite fours in their room upon check in, as well as a private check-in. The hotel was pretty good about this, but they did forget a few of our guests. For those of you who still have a lot of time - we definitely recommend having your guests arrive on the same day or only one other day. We had guests who arrived on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday - the largest groups arrived on Wednesday and Thursday. This is what exhausted us the most - I have never seen my husband so stressed out. He is a former green beret and handles situations pretty well - but this seemed to overwhelm him :-). We found ourselves running around ensuring our guests were sorted, getting upgrades or the right room, or sometimes getting into a room earlier if they made them wait until 3 p.m. You will still have a great time - its just a bit hectic for the few hours that they are arriving. Our only other con was the food. Not all the food was different - most of the restaurants were still fine. The issue we had is that the chef who was present for our food tasting in April was no longer working at the AS. They had a new chef who did not know how to prepare the food on the earlier edition of the banquet menu - hence the reason for the new banquet menu. Rather than telling us that he did not know how to prepare the food we selected, he decided to give us his own interpretation - which was completely off the mark. For my husband and I - food is extremely important to us and is one of the major reasons we selected this hotel. If they would have told us ahead of time when we arrived, then we would have had the option to have an impromptu tasting and selected food he was more comfortable making. For you ladies who have chosen off the new menu or one of the preset menus - you will not have any issues as he is very comfortable making this food. We had a very complex menu and he just wasn't prepared. I was very upset about this and I think at one point had called the chef down from the kitchen and told him that if he screwed up the next course I was going to chuck a plate at his head :-) -- but I finally decided I wasn't going to let it ruin the rest of my wedding day - at the end of the day none of your guests will remember the food and with the exception of my maid of honor, new husband, and mother none of my guests knew I was upset for a period of time. To be honest it almost became comical towards the end as each course became a mexican surprise. We are working with the hotel on some sort of compensation for the screw up and the wedding coordinator staff and the wait staff were very apologetic. The other food at the other events was decent and we didn't have any major complaints. The decor on our wedding cake was spot on too.

 

As for some of our other events - if you have it in your budget I would defintiely recommend the mariachis and the donkey fiesta party. Our only issue is that we separated these two - we had the donkey fiesta cocktail party as our welcome party on Thursday and the mariachis for our cocktail reception after the wedding ceremony. They were still fantastic, but I think they are better together.

 

I also highly recommend paradise catamarans for any excursions you may want - we hired them for a private sunset cruise on Wednesday and then for a private snorkeling catamaran cruise on Friday - they were fantastic. These two events really made the week special and this company really bent over backwards to accommodate us. In fact they even moved their boat up from puerto aventuras to the marina in Puerto Moreles to cut the drive time down and then on Friday dropped us off right at the Azul Sensatori - in fact I think we may have accidentally crashed Shandalier's wedding. We returned right about the time of her wedding - but asked the boat captain to wait to bring us in until after it was over. This gave us waterside seats of her event - It was beautiful by the way :-). I'll provide a link to them in my longer review along with some photos - but wanted to let you know how fantastic they were and how well they treated us. My step father in law is a charter boat captain in Naples, FL, and he couldn't stop raving about how wonderful the crew was. They even transported two of my bridesmaids to Playa Del Carmen free of charge so they could catch the ferry to Cozumel for an excursion they had planning early the next morning. They were also very much willing to give us a discount for booking two tours.

 

Ok - well the hubby just woke up and is already yelling at me to get off of the computer :-) so I will write more later!

 

Just to reassure you ladies who are still doing the AS - you will have a fantastic time and the hotel will go out of their way to make it special for you. You may have to make some minor adjustments when you arrive - but they are accommodating. Our guests couldn't stop raving about how beautiful the hotel was and how much fun they were having. So don't worry. Just be prepared - it goes by way too fast.

 

Here a couple of photos I was able to find on my camera - still waiting on the prof. photos and friends/family t' alt='a>'>o post...

 

 

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[KittenHeart]

Linds - HAHA thank you, I'm really organzied, sometimes it's a little annoying I love those centerpieces too but I'm only using the cake idea because the thought of have to bring those with me is too much to fathom. These are actually my centerpieces but fuchsia instead of yellow:

 

amybermuda - Thanks! HAHA, you know I actually just told them that's what I wanted not really asking for options and I didn't get any resistance. I really love to negotiate and haggle so I have just been kind of stating what I want and when I get shut down I'll try and find the loophole. Like when Loma's quoted me $400 per table for the above centerpiece, I'm now bringing my own real touch stems and renting vases that took it down to $40 total per table, much better. I'm a big advocate of, it doesn't hurt to ask!

 

Also, I've become close with my wedding coordinator, it helps that she's a rad chick but she's very helpful with different options now too since we email each other every couple of days. She even sent me new arial shots of Azul Sensatori, if you girls want me to email them to you let me know.

[KittenHeart]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meghan Amy, HOw much are they charging you for the cake?

I don't think I'm being charged extra now that I'm bringing my own flowers so for the 2 tier it's still $290 especially since the cake I put a picture of looks exactly like one of their standard cakes.

[KittenHeart]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katie_2010 did I start a trend with the whole 'honorary AS bride' thing??!! lol it's just such a good thread, none of us can bear to leave it! But hey, I'm still going to the same area, at the same time, and I'm soooo going to gate-crash Amy's wedding!!! haha (only joking Amy...I'll meet you for a drink instead!! lol)

Katie - you totally started the trend! =)

Crash away my dear, I'd be more than happy to have you! I already told my fiance you were coming, LOL!

[KittenHeart]

Katie I'm doing much better, thanks for asking!

 

It seems like your getting a lot done! That's awesome As for a veil, I'm having my FSIL make one for me. She has an Etsy shop and makes fascinators and veils and hair flowers (she made the vintage brooch with white feathers piece I wore in my engagement photos) and she's quite talented. She's just charging me cost of materials. Mine should be pretty simple, scalloped edge birdcage veil with feathers.

 

Vintage Box 1947 ? Exotic Hair Accessories by Nina Barton

 

In case anyone's looking for a birdcage veil

 

After being in my BF's weddiing as MOH in June I decided to make a few rules (color & length of dress & heels color) and let my girls wear whatever they wanted. My BF did a similar thing and but made us wear pink sashes but it looked really cool having every look slightly different in dresses that looked best on their body type. I'm sticking with Black, easy peasy! Black dress, black heels & I bought them all nice JCrew flip flops (on crazy sale) to throw on for the reception & black pashminas so they can dance the night away.

 

You're doing a TTD Katie, that's awesome!!!! I am currently looking for my TTD dress, I have done a lot of research on these Chinese cheap custom dresses and may have found my dress.

 

Like I promised, I just booked my photog to do a BD shoot for me, oh I'm so nervous! I bought my next workout program that promises to tighten me up for it too, as soon as I'm fully recovered I'm starting it! I'm going to NY next Friday to visit one of my BF's so maybe I'll start AFTER that