Now Amber Resort in Puerto Vallarta Brides

[cassiamiller]

We will be getting married at the Now Amber in 2 weeks. I am a bit concerned as the weather is in the 35-40 degree celsius range which worries me about having the reception/dinner outside in the sweltering heat. What would you recommend? Also, did you have a plated meal? If so, what did you choose. Thank you for any help or suggestions you may be able to offer. 

[SLetendre]

Hi! The temperature on my wedding day was 33 degrees celcius, felt like 40 with the humidity (wedding date May 19). It was HOT but for me I didn't mind. Our ceremony was at 5:00, we were ten minutes late and our guests were sweating by the end of the ceremony. We had our reception on the Terrace and that area was in the shade by the time our dinner started (7:15 ish) even though sunset wasn't until 8:30. I imagine it would stay sunny in other areas longer though. (ie on the beach) Once everyone was out of the direct sun the temperature was perfect! I was extremely sweaty by the end of the night but I didn't mind, and it was probably more to do with all the dancing! I saw a wedding every night that was outside though, so people must be doing it still! I do think it depends on how casual you want your guests to be dressed. We told people we didn't care and to keep in mind the temperature, and most people were wearing shorts and golf shirts/sun dresses, which was fine for me. I did see a wedding where all the men were in suits and I can't imagine how hot they were during their reception.

 

We had a plated meal because the buffet wasn't an option for the number of guests we had. I am a super picky eater so I emailed Fatima with what I wanted and they did exactly that. I just asked for roast chicken, mashed potatoes and mixed veggies with cesear salad to start and some kind of dessert. They were totally accommodating. And I will mention the food at the wedding was the best food I ate all week, and that is not to say that the food in the buffet/restaurants isn't good because that is not the case. The wedding food was just SO good!

[chelseapaige37]

Thanks Stacey. I have the Gazebo and terrace book as well as Eva from photoshoots! I would love seeing photos if you want to share a few. Chelseapjohnson@yahoo.ca

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SLetendre]

Just sent you some!

[peachykeen159]

Hi ladies,

 

I've narrowed down resorts to Now Amber and the new Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta opening soon. I like the Hyatt Ziva because from what I've heard the beach area there is absolutely beautiful. Have any of you done site visits to Now Amber and checked out the beach? I keep hearing mixed reviews about the beach area at Now Amber being rocky? 

[SLetendre]

Hi! I believe the Hyatt Ziva is the old Dreams PV Hotel? If so, I think the beach is beautiful, I had my wedding originally booked at Dreams for the sole reason that they had a private beach and it looked so nice. I have not actually been to that hotel in person since they decided to close it May 1st and we had to re-plan our entire wedding and we ended up having it at the Now. The Now beach is very nice, but it is not private, the locals are allowed to sell things on the beach up to a certain point, so in the background of my photos there are some people milling around, but it wasn't bad. (ceremony at 5pm by then most people have cleared off the beach) The beach itself is not rocky in my opinion. But once you start to make your way into the water it is quite rocky for a couple of feet. Once you get past there it isn't an issue. I walked farther down the beach and the sand seemed to get more rocky, so I wouldn't doubt if Now has trucked in better sand for their stretch of beach. So if you are wondering about the beach at Now being rocky for the purpose of your wedding I would say it isn't an issue, but if you are wondering about it for swimming it might be a bit of a pain since you do have to walk through the rocks to get into the water. Hope that helps

[peachykeen159]

@@SLetendre

 Thank you! Good to know about the swimming aspect. I just know a lot of potential guests haven't been to Mexico so I'd want to make sure they get a good beach experience including swimming in the ocean! It's always so hard to tell from the trip advisor pictures if it's as bad as someone is making it out to be!

[minivan2]

Wow! Thanks so much SLetendre! I'm so stressed about this wedding I hope I'll get to enjoy it when I'm there. Your review is really helpful though. It does make me feel a tiny bit better. We just got news about how much the sound equipment will cost for rental. And it's really bumming me out. We are going to have a bonfire too and wanted music. But it might be too expensive. Did you have any music at your bonfire? And did you bring your own equipment? 

 

Regarding someone's question about heels, I heard from someone who had her wedding at the resort that her heels were getting stuck in the gazebo. So I dunno...

 

Thanks!

Van

[SLetendre]

No problem minivan2! Once you get there I am sure you will enjoy yourself, the planning is so stressful though I know. I was apalled by the price of the sound system, we did not get it for the bonfire and I wasn't disappointed. I considered bringing an ipod player down with us to use at the event and I think that would have worked fine, but we didn't end up doing it. (one less thing to haul through the airport!) But if you really want music it is something you could consider. You could check with Fatima to see if you would be able to access power, I think you should be able to because where they set up our bonfire was very close to the middle of the resort so I would think there would be power easily accessible. I really enjoyed the bonfire event though so I am sure you will be happy with it either way we did it as a wrap up event on the last night we were there and got really good feedback from everyone who attended! We actually brought down some extra food like graham crackers and chocolate because they don't provide the stuff you need for traditional smores and I am glad we did that. We brought extra marshmellows as well but the bag didn't even get opened because the hotel provided so many!

[SLetendre]

I am sad to report that I have come across a BIG problem with my wedding at the Now Amber this past May. Everything was great with the wedding itself as I have previously mentioned, unfortunately I got an email yesterday from the in-house photography/videography company who videoed our ceremony, to tell me that something happened to their computer and regretfully our wedding video was lost and can't be recovered. They are offering to refund me the value of the video, although I am not sure how they would know what that is since it was included in the wedding package from the hotel, unfortunately to me nothing will replace not having that video. In my opinion it is unacceptable that a company wouldn't keep a backup of files when they are in this kind of business. I just want to warn anyone who is planning on using the in house company Adventure Photos, as this was extremely upsetting. We didn't even use them as our photographers for the day we had hired someone else, this was the ONLY thing they were doing for us on our actual wedding day.

 

Not to mention someone else from this company had emailed me two days prior with the tracking information for said wedding video and when I checked the tracking info after receiving this last email I noticed that it said the delivery location was British Columbia, I am located in Alberta. So I suppose they had sent us someone else's tracking information? Needless to say since we thought our video was already on it's way to us and would be arriving in time for our AHR next Saturday for everyone to view, this was even more of a shock. I am very disappointed that everyone who was not able to attend our destination wedding will never get to see the ceremony, nor will I.

 

As this is the company that the hotel is affiliated with and uses for the services they offer in their wedding packages I feel some of the responsibility falls on their shoulders, which is why I have posted this in the hotels forum.