Holly & Jason's Cozumel Wedding March 4, 2009

[hmk012]

When we decided to do a desination wedding we never imagined how great it would turn out! Our wedding week was amazing...here are the details!

We started out on Saturday night Feb. 28, 2009 in Miami. We had 43 people total traveling with us on our journey to husband and wife! The night before most everyone stayed at the Hyatt Place Miami Airport. The rates were $150/night and you were able to park your car there while you are on the cruise for FREE! We loved this idea since about 15 people drove to Miami and they didn't want to pay $20/day to park at the port of Miami! The rooms were super nice..2 double beds and a seperate area with a pull out couch. So really you could fit 6 people comfortable in a room and most of our guest did that to cut down on cost! The night before we had a Welcome Party for our guests at the Pool. The hotel was awesome in letting us use the Pool! We ordered Pizza and wings from a local Papa Johns. Went to a local store and got tons of beer, wine and sodas for everyone! It worked perfectly and our guests really enjoyed being able to have this time together. Considering some of our guest didn't know each other it was a great way for everyone to mingle!

The following morning we all met up in the lobby to prepare for our short trip to Port of Miami. It was only about 15 away. We rented a Charter Bus (which the hotel set up) to take us all to the Port together. The bus cost $12/pp each way. It was fun to have everyone on there together. During our trip over it was a great time for Jason and I to thank everyone for coming with us! We got to Port of Miami and checked in pretty easy! We were traveling on NCL Jewel. I do recommend this cruise line! They were great and the perks we got for being a group were wonderful! Every 8 cabins that book you get what is called a "Tour Rate". Basically is pays for 1 person, but only the base rate. Example if your cabin was $500/pp the cruise breaks it down like this $350-base rate, $50-taxes, $100-Cruise fees equals $500. The "Tour Rate" on this type would be the $350, so we only needed to pay taxes and fees for our cabin. We ended up with 2 Tour Rates so our cabin was basically paid for! We also were able to get the Soda package for everyone in our group, a bottle of wine in each cabin, and a 1 hour Happy HOur..yes that means free drinks for 1 hour! Our group took advantage of this and had a $3000 bar bill after 1 hour...but we didn't have to pay for it since it was part of our perks for being a group!

A little more about the cruise part! NCL is called "Free Styling" cruise. This means you don't have a set dinner time, place or group you have to dine with! This was wonderful for our group since they don't like schedules! We really enjoyed being able to eat where-ever we wanted and whoever we wanted to eat with! They do have about 6-7 resturants that charge a "cover" fee. These are speciality resturants and we did eat at a few of them and they are well worth the extra money! The fees range anywhere from $10-25/pp depending on where you eat!

Okay onto the wedding day! We got married during our spot in Cozumel! We picked the Nachi Cocom Beach Club to get married at. If you are getting married in Cozumel I HIGHLY recommend this place! It was paradise! It's a private Beach Club that only allows up to 100 a day to enter! We choose to pay an extra $10/pp and have it private for our guests only! Let me tell you....our guests really appreaciated having it private. It was also a nice way for us to say "Thank you" for traveling so far to be with us on our wedding day! We paid $66 per person and it included: entrance into the club (normally this is $50), taxes, open bar all day, buffet lunch (we got to choose the food and it was yummy and lots of it), chairs for the ceremony, chair sashes. We did pay extra for the following items: $5/pp for upgraded place settings..it was worth it, $250 pastor, $300 DJ, $500 photographer, $400 roundtrip for a charter bus to transport everyone there and back, $150-ceremony piece, not sure of the name, $100 cake...I'm pretty sure that was it!

Onto the ceremony! Our location was perfect! When we arrived the club had everything set up already. I got there a little early with my bridesmaid and daughters. Jason arrived about 30 minutes later with the other guests. A few funny things did happen during the ceremony. You may not find funny, but being there all we could do was laugh about it! First off as soon as Jason and I met up at the end of the aisle I heard a loud noise overhead. I looked up to see a Mexican Military Fly-over right above us! Our guests thought it was something I planned because the timing couldn't of been more perfect! Then the wind started to pick up. When I say wind I'm not kidding! During parts of the wedding I felt like I was going to blow over! Papers where flying, our sand ceremony had to be axed because it kept falling over! All we could do was laugh...I wasn't upset, it just was something that made our wedding....ours! Then the Pastor......we could hardly understand him! It wasd pretty funny, I had to repeat the vows so Jason could say them to me because he couldn't understand the Pastor between the accent and the wind. By the end of the ceremony we were just making up words. I know some brides would let this ruin their day, but honestly what was I going to do, but laugh! Regardless of what happened during the ceremony our wedding was a perfect reflection of "us". I wouldn't of changed one thing about it. The location was amazing..it looked like it was right our of a post card!

After the wedding and a few pictures, we had our 1st dance, toast, lunch, cake. Then the real fun begin! Everyone changed into their bathing suits and we hit the beach! The club was amazing....we were treated like royality all day! If you wanted to sit on the beach and be served and never have to get up from your spot you could! Some of our guests took advantage of the water sports they offered. Some did jet-skiing, parasailing, snorkeling, beach side massages. It was truly a amazing day. I can't tell you how many times we heard from our guests on how much fun they were having! Some even made comments that this was the best wedding they have ever been too...including their own!!!!

If anyone has any questions about where we got married I would be happy to answer! I highly recommend this place to get married at! If you want to check out the pictures of the wedding and the cruise please feel free at

Photo Books, Cards, and Photo Share Sites | Shutterfly

username:ourweddingcruise@yahoo.com

password: cruise

There are over 3000 pictures on here. I would suggest looking at the ones labled "tatis wedding pictures". They are from the photographer and the best ones!

[kiki317]

Congratulations!! You're pictures are lovely and you look fantastic!!!

[Kristy!]

Sounds like the perfect wedding. I agree about the little mishaps making your wedding your own. I know FI would've loved the military fly over!

[TATrisha]

That review made me want to be there! It sounds like you guys had so much fun and the fact that you could rent that club for your group only sounds AMAZING!!! Congratulations!!

[MarieSam]

Holly your wedding day sounded like so much fun!!!! I'm so happy everything went well ~ and I saw your flowers from Roberta -- they looked fantastic!! so glad it all worked out for the best

 

Congrats Mrs.!!!

[Island Princess]

Your wedding looked so beautiful. You made a stunning bride and the water was the bluest I have ever seen!!

[skitt1es]

sounds awesome. congrats!

[tdmitchell]

Congrats! Everything looked so Beautiful! The chairs and reception set up was simple and cute! Love it!

[Soon To Be Mrs. Gomez]

Congrats! How fun being on a cruise!!!

[beach2009]

Great review. Congrats on the beautiful wedding.