Vancouverpetunia - Now Sapphire - April 7, 2016

[calgarybride2015]

Your thread is great! Good start! I look forward to seeing it continue!

 

I have family in Langley. My dad moved west from Ontario with my brother several years after my mom passed away so more than 30 years ago now. He started in Richmond, then on to New Westminster, Surrey and now Langley. He'll be 94 in May bless him lol My son went to Vancouver to work with the Olympics 5 years ago and phoned me after they ended and said he wasn't coming back and could I please send his stuff!! We went out for a quick visit right before I went back to work last fall after being in the hospital and really enjoyed it. My husband used to be out there a lot for business so took me to Steveston for dinner and to a place right downtown where the artists are. Can't remember the name now. Right on the water at the base of a bridge. Anyway, we also tried to get up Grouse Mountain but it was a really foggy day and we figured we wouldn't see anything so that's on the agenda for another visit sometime.

 

Happy planning!

Granville island?

 

 

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[vancouverpetunia]

Granville island?

 

 

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That's what I was thinking too 

[Wafflesmom]

@@vancouverpetunia I love your story! It's so cute that a destination wedding got the two of you together! And I love how you said thank you instead of yes, that's do Canadian of you lol

 

You picked a great resort and it's great that your guests are so proactive with the deposits!

[acw271011]

Granville island?

 

 

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Ha! Yep! That's it!! I loved it!! It was a gorgeous day and we sat outside on a huge deck and had a drink in the sun. It was great!

[vancouverpetunia]

Ha! Yep! That's it!! I loved it!! It was a gorgeous day and we sat outside on a huge deck and had a drink in the sun. It was great!

 

The deck had to be at Bridges - a big yellow warehouse/barn looking restaurant & pub. I don't love the restaurant (it's okay), but it's probably the best deck in the city. Vancouver is sadly lacking in them.

[vancouverpetunia]

@@vancouverpetunia I love your story! It's so cute that a destination wedding got the two of you together! And I love how you said thank you instead of yes, that's do Canadian of you lol

 

You picked a great resort and it's great that your guests are so proactive with the deposits!

 

Haha! Maybe I should have said sorry? 

[Meandhim]

@@vancouverpetunia

 

Woohoo another planning thread to follow! I love seeing other peoples ideas. The story how you met is so cute!

 

Most people won't book til the last day...and sometimes you will get just a handful more who book after that so don't worry.

 

Cant wait to see some of your ideas

[krystalball]

@vancouverpetunia

 

Yay, another planning thread! My wedding date is two days after yours, so if you're a big planner I'll be following along to make sure my planning is on track!

 

The deposits for my group are due at the end of May and so far the only people that have booked are my parents, lol. I'm sending out a reminder email tonight to get people's butts in gear before I die of stress.

[vancouverpetunia]

Site Visit

 

We booked a rather last minute trip to the Riviera Maya (4 weeks in advance) for the first week of April 2015. We had zero intentions of going to the area before our wedding, but we were looking for a getaway and it wasn’t much more expensive to do this than it was to go to Vegas for 3 days. And voila, it meant that I would get to do a site visit.  We visited Now Sapphire 1 year and 1 day before our wedding.

 

 

We arranged a meeting with our WC for a tour of the property and a menu tasting. Our WC is awesome. Juan Carlos has loads of wedding-related experience, including many years in the US, where he went to photography school, worked as a sous chef, did events for a caterer and eventually was a private wedding coordinator. I’ve also found that he is very responsive, even though our wedding is a year away. I usually hear back from him within 2 - 4 days, which seems record fast compared to some of the discussions I see in these forums.

 

Unfortunately, I started to come down with the flu the day after we arrived in Mexico and by the time of our site visit (the day before we were to leave), the flu had turned into bronchitis. Pretty much my worst vacation ever. I was not feeling well for our site visit. I tried all of the food, but sometimes I could only manage a bite and felt nauseous off & on. It sucked.

 

But the resort did not! The food was delicious (despite my issues at the time). I wrote a post about the menu tasting here: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/62152-now-sapphire-weddings-formerly-paradisus-riviera/?p=1892795

 

I loved the grounds, the rooms, the Preferred Pool, the beach. I freaked out a little bit about the main pool. It was smaller than I expected and it was ridiculously loud when we were there, with no escape from the craziness. They were having a foam party with a DJ. We're not college kids. Other than children, our youngest guest is about 26-27. Most people are 35 - 50 (FH is mid 30s and I’m early 40s). I just couldn’t imagine my parents or my 80 year old aunt and uncle enjoying this (and it’s not my thing either)!  

 

 

 

I’ve been told this is not a regular occurrence and that they were doing it over spring break. Fingers crossed that is the case. However, it prompted me to look into upgrading to the Preferred Club. It’s about $100 extra per person for the week and gets you access to a very lovely (and quiet!) adults-only pool, as well as other upgraded amenities. We were able to switch 6 of our 20 rooms in the block to Preferred. I am hoping we can grab more as other room blocks are released, as I think many of our guests would splurge for this.

 

Some other pix & comments about our site visit in this post:

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/62152-now-sapphire-weddings-formerly-paradisus-riviera/?p=1892970

Edited April 17, 2015 by vancouverpetunia

[vancouverpetunia]

Received my first wedding-related online purchase today. YAY! Kimonos for me and my 2 BMs. Thanks @@eriddell for posting the La Vie en Rose sale. Great deal!

 

 

My FH has also ordered gifts for his GMs - he seemed inspired when I ordered the robes. I didn't see what he ordered, so hope it's not ridiculous