SarahL

Hey girls! I haven't written in a long time, but I just want to let you all know... I live in Mexico, and I can tell you that the swine flu thing is definitely nothing to be too stressed about. I'm in Monterrey (third largest city in Mexico - although far from PV)... I've lived here for seven years and I've never seen anything quite like this. My husband and I both work at the American School here, and although we have been on a mini-vacation due to swine flu for a week and a half, we can definitely tell you that it is safe to be in Mexico. Take typical flu-season precautions - wash your hands, avoid touching your face, skip the hugs and kisses and go for a little wave instead whenever possible. But really... it's nothing to freak out about and certainly nothing that should ruin your special day!!! Sarah

Quote: Originally Posted by brittbrodin Love the idea Kati!! I'm not a cake person myself, so we may do brownies?? I haven't talked specifics with Kelley yet, but Nicole is right, from the pictures I've seen of the other LC brides's cakes...they can do pretty much anything! Just send her a pic of what you envision and they'll make it happen. Roberto and I don't really like cake that much, but I never met a brownie I didn't like. Anyway, we asked Nicole if they could just put a brownie out instead of a cake. Since brownies are already part of the dessert buffet, it was included in the package cost. Cha-ching... lucky for us. Anyway, if you want to have just a brownie, DO IT! It's your day. Here's a shot of us cutting the brownie... Picasa Web Albums - Sarah Loring - Cutting the B...

Quote: Originally Posted by abandcraig I am starting to think about what I want to do for the table cneterpieces and wanted get some info. I know that Las Calentas provides linens but I am assuming they are just white. Anyone know what they do have available other than that if anything? I don't want anything over the top (or anthing that will take up too much space in the suitcase) but want something colorful and fun but don't want to buy something that they might already have available. Guess I could also email Kelley, but thought I would check with all of you first (I tried a search in the forum but wasn't very successful). Hi there! We didn't bring anything at all except our table names. Everything else you see on the tables came from them! They have lots of colors of table runners to choose from. I picked blue and pink during the walk-through on the day of the wedding, right after lunch and before I went to get ready. Keep it simple... it all looked gorgeous. Picasa Web Albums - Sarah Loring - Wedding Tables

I'm also REALLY surprised to hear all this... Nicole and Kelley were AMAZING when we were there, and I can't imagine what happened but there must have been a lot happening behind the scenes. It's interesting, but this really makes me think... we ALL have bad days at work, but when you're a WC it's practically not allowed because your bad day is supposed to be somebody else's best day ever. That's got to be incredibly difficult. I would say this for future LC brides... and Yari, I'm not addressing you or anyone else specifically so please don't take this personally... but here is what I think. A destination wedding is probably not a great choice for people who have tons of tiny details that they feel have to be perfect or their day will be ruined. Anytime you're dealing with things like travel, weather, a boat ride, tides, etc. then probably a few things are going to go wrong. If that is going to ruin things for you, then it's probably better to have your wedding somewhere a little more "easily controlled." In my particular case, I was worried because the boat arrived late... they came across four humpback whales on the way to LC, and stayed a while to watch them play and jump (COOL!!!! but I was still worried). I was nervous that we weren't going to have enough light for photos, but everything worked out fine. Some of the pictures were in a gorgeous late sunset, and others were dark and it just didn't matter. Even the pictures in the dark were still lovely... and more importantly, I am now married to the man of my dreams!!! Anyway, I hope that no one will be discouraged from getting married at Las Caletas specifically because of Yari's review. If someone wasn't 100% sure if a destination wedding was the right for them, then Yari's review could be super helpful in letting them rethink things... but my best suggestion to EVERYONE out there is don't sweat the small stuff. The most important detail is that you and your man (or woman) are going to be happy together! XOXOXO Everyone! Sarah

Quote: Originally Posted by abandcraig A question for all you you upcoming (and past) las Caletas brides. I just made the decision to get married there as well - we are putting the deposit down on Monday. However, now we may have to change our hotel choice. Where are all of you having guest stay at? We were going to stay at Barcelo Mismoloya but are now concerned that it might be too far to town (for those that want to venture in) and then the ride to the marina would be quite long from what I hear. Just wanted to get some advise from some other brides. I want to get everything booked now! We are learning heavily towards an all-inclusive but I think we are still open to any suggestions. We think we will have about 40 people and the hotel has to allow children. Thanks so much for your help!! Hi there! Roberto and I are Marriott people - we love to rack up those points! We stayed at the Marriott in the Marina area, as did a lot of our guests. On our wedding website in the accommodations section, we put four hotels that are all right in a row (relatively easy beach walking distance, in this order) - Velas Vallarta, Marriott, Melia, and Westin. No one stayed at Velas Vallarta (although I have stayed there once a few years ago and it's GORGEOUS), one couple stayed at the Westin, and then most of our guests were either at Melia or Marriott. Velas and Melia are all-inclusive, while Marriott and Westin are not. A few people made other arrangements outside of the marina area. We didn't do a room block or anything - people just made their arrangements and everything worked out great. From the marina area hotels to downtown is a short cab ride (around $8-10 US) or you can even take the bus for about a dollar if you walk a bit out to the main road. Getting cabs from the hotels to the marina was easy for people to do. We didn't really have any problems with the hotel except for some drama with our welcome party, which turned out great - I just waited a LONG time for the contract! Our wedding was in February, but then we just went back two weeks ago for a 4-day weekend (FREE with all the Marriott points we had racked up over the last year and a half), and it was great!!! Good luck to you and congratulations on your choice to get married at LC - you will be glad you did.

Quote: Originally Posted by Andi Does anyone have any insight for me on how some of your older guests did while at Las Caletas? I am sure it will be fine I just need some reassurance!!!! thanks! My 88-year old grandmother came to our wedding just four months after open-heart surgery! She was fine. I talked to Nicole in advance and she told me that they have these "all-terrain" wheelchairs, and some very handsome men who push them too. Ha! Grandma is a TOTAL spitfire and insisted on walking from the boat to the beach for the wedding (slowly, with my cousin Matt escorting her)... and then she did a blessing for us during the ceremony in both English and Spanish! What a rock star. After the wedding was over, she asked the very cute guys from Vallarta Adventures to push her back to the boat in the chair... they took about a 10-minute head start and made great time. Talk to Nicole or Kelley and I'm sure they can help you out. Good luck! Sarah

Mel is 100% right on-the-money. When I look back now, what I LOVED about our wedding was that I had such a peaceful, wonderful day... and in the planning process, I could focus on the things I wanted to and leave the rest to Nicole. I decided that the ceremony was the most important to me (I brought my own minister - a friend of the family), plus the music for the whole event - ceremony, dinner, and dancing - was important. I also wanted to have bilingual fan programs (English on one side, Spanish on the other), and I wanted specific flowers, and a giant brownie instead of a cake. I also made the table assignments, place cards, and table names. I also made cute OOT bags for all of the guests. Those were the things that were important to me. Those are the things that mattered, to me... Other than that, I just left it to Nicole. I didn't do centerpieces... there were tons of candles and on the day of the wedding Kelley showed me the table runners they had, so I chose a couple of colors. I promise you, no one was worried about it. Here was my day: 8:15 on the boat, 9:15 arrival at LC, 10:00 yoga, 11:00 massage, 11:30 beach time, 1:00 lunch, 2:00 champagne in the jacuzzi, and then I got ready... it was SO relaxing and SO "zen!" I was completely in my "happy place"... and when I walked down the aisle with my dad, toward my adorable hubby... it was perfect. YAY LC!!! YAY NICOLE!!! Girls - DON'T STRESS. Just enjoy it. You've picked the right place.

Quote: Originally Posted by tvt hey, does LC number your tables? Or do you have to bring your own table numbers? Hi there! Nicole asked us to make our own table arrangements. We didn't want to number them, because we thought it implied a sort of "hierarchy" (people at table 1 are more important than people at table 12) Anyway, we named our tables after drinks... our table was the champagne table, and then the others were Mexican drinks (sangria, margarita, cafe de olla, tepache, paloma, vampiro, limonada, agua de jamaica, horchata, michelada, chocolate caliente). It was fun. I'll try to attach the actual table cards, which I had printed and laminated. Good luck to you! Sarah Attachment 2228 TableCards.ppt

Quote: Originally Posted by kati it's been awhile for me.. been so busy. But do/did you guys plan on having all your guests staying at the same hotel. Or is everyone just saying where ever they want to stay? I am having a hard time organizing the travel aspect!! Hi there - We stayed at the Marriott, in the Marina Vallarta area... which was WONDERFUL except for the gong show of planning our welcome party (it turned out fine but I was super stressed about it). We put a few other area hotels on our website as well... the Melia, Velas Vallarta, and Westin. Most people stayed at the Marriott or the Melia, depending whether they wanted all-inclusive or not. (I prefer NOT... PV has AMAZING restaurants and all-inclusive makes me feel "trapped.") One couple stayed at the Westin, and then we had a few people at about 10 other hotels in the area... but it was still super fun. I know that a lot of people wouldn't have been able to afford the trip if we'd given only one hotel option... lots of our guests were at far less expensive boutique hotels. GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!! Sarah

I think we were lucky too... Roberto and I went to the marina a couple days in advance and bought the pre-paid marina tax tickets. We put them in everyone's OOT bags, which we distributed at the welcome party on the night before the wedding. At that party, we made sure to tell everyone to take a taxi to the marina terminal (that's where we took off from... I know some go from Nuevo Vallarta) and we told them not to be late or they'd miss the boat! No one had any trouble at all, and we had people at about 8 different hotels. When I arrived in the morning with my girls, Kelley was there and located us right away (I must have been obvious as the girl carrying the big white dress). Kelley took the catamaran back with the day tour group around 2:00 and she was there at the marina waiting for our guests when they were arriving. Roberto said they had no problems at all (except for his one poopy brother who is a big f-ing baby and came to Puerto Vallarta but didn't come to the wedding because he was mad about something with the hotel - ) Anyway... no problems from our end! Quote: Originally Posted by AnnR i must have got lucky! when we showed up with the one taxi full of the girls going early, Nicole was there to meet us so we never had to look for anything. then i didn't hear of any issues with the rest of the group either, but they all arrived by pre-arranged bus together, except for 2 other couples.

Hahaa... Roberto and I are going back (using our Marriott rewards points for a four-night mini-vacay and trip down wedding-memory lane!) in September! I definitely want to do the day tour at Caletas while we're there... and I want to find that bed!!! Roberto and I are freak wanna-be's! Ha!!! Quote: Originally Posted by starchild Heehee...yay, someone besides me found it! I was beginning to feel like a bigtime freak...Jaime & Martin are freaks too

We sent out STD's in September 2007 for our February 2008 wedding. We printed the address of our wedding website on the STD's, and enclosed a little magnet with the date of the wedding and the website address. Many people mentioned that the magnet helped them because they lost the STD card. On the wedding website we had hotel info, PV info, events info, our registry, photos, lots of stuff... it's still up if you want to check it. Good luck!

Hi all! For music, we used the DJ. He did a great job. We did provide CD's with music for the prelude, ceremony, dinner, first dances, etc. and then he mixed it up for the dance time. He did a great job of figuring out what the crowd wanted to hear and giving it to them... For the prelude and ceremony music, I found some recordings of songs that I liked on acoustic guitar. Here is our playlist... it worked out beautifully. Prelude: 1. Romance / Michael Soloway 2:57 2. Intermezzo / Michael Soloway 1:15 3. Trumpet Tune / Various Artists & Alex de Grassi 4:40 4. Dona Nobis Pacem / Peter Pupping 2:37 5. Air (Water Music) / Michael Soloway 2:23 6. The Baroque Period: Prelude, Cello Suite I / Peter Pupping 2:41 7. Dance Of The Spirits / Michael Soloway 1:29 8. Ave Maria / Peter Pupping 2:12 9. Air on the G String / Michael Soloway 2:25 10. Ode to Joy / Peter Pupping 1:20 11. Spring (Four Seasons) / Michael Soloway 1:17 Ceremony: 1. Canon in D / Michael Soloway 4:10 (for the wedding party's entrance) 2. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring / Bob Sirois 1:44 (my entrance with my dad) 3. I Will / Don Latarski 3:20 (Water ceremony) 4. In My Life / Don Latarski 3:11 (Water ceremony) 5. Prince of Denmark's March / Michael Soloway 1:00 (recessional) Dinner (the DJ has most of this music but this is what I brought): 1. South America Folk: Milongueo del Ayer /Peter Pupping 2:32 2. Flamenco Mexicano / Willie & Lobo 5:33 3. El Farol / The Peter Pupping Quartet 3:34 4. El Tubo / Willie & Lobo 5:53 5. Fragile / The Peter Pupping Quartet 3:23 6. Spanish: Romanza / Peter Pupping 2:39 7. Inspiration / Gipsy Kings 3:43 8. Pala Pala / The Peter Pupping Quartet 2:13 9. Vallarta Boogie / Willie & Lobo 4:16 10. Pacifico / Willie And Lobo 4:37 11. Hola Lola / Willie & Lobo 5:42 12. One Note Samba / The Peter Pupping Quartet 3:10 13.Bahia de Banderas / Willie & Lobo 4:01 14.Caminando Por la Calle / Gipsy Kings 4:22 15.Mediterraneo / Willie & Lobo 3:55 16.El Payo / Willie & Lobo 6:21 17.La Fiesta Comenza / Gipsy Kings 3:03 18.Mama Mia / Willie & Lobo 3:23 19.Moliendo Cafe / The Peter Pupping Quartet 2:34 20.Djobi Djoba / Gipsy Kings 3:26 21.Vista Bahia / Willie And Lobo 4:36 22.To the Night / The Peter Pupping Quartet 2:13 23.Fuegando / Willie & Lobo 6:19 24.Ole Cinco / Willie And Lobo 4:26 25.Bamboleo / Gipsy Kings 3:24 We also gave our guests a CD of some songs from the wedding as part of their favor bags. We gave a copy to the DJ and he played a lot of these at the dance and during the boat ride back... 1. I Will / Don Latarski 3:20 (from the water ceremony) 2. In My Life / Don Latarski 3:11 (from the water ceremony) 3. Suddenly / Soraya 4:03 (our first dance song, in English) 4. De Repente / Soraya 4:06 (our first dance song in Spanish) 5. I Hope You Dance / Ronan Keating 3:34 (my dance with my dad) 6. Waltz from Boda / Börje Sandquist & Mats… 2:28 (his dance with his mom) 7. Songbird / Eva Cassidy 3:45 (song we love - they played it on the boat) 8. Para Tu Amor / Juanes 4:09 (song we love - don't remember if they played it or not) 9. Better Together / Jack Johnson 3:30 (song we love - they played it on the boat) 10. Tu y Yo / Juanes 4:27 (song we love - don't remember if they played it or not) 11. You Are the One / Elliott Yamin 4:17 (song we love - don't remember if they played it or not) 12. Let's Stay Together (2002 Digital Remaste… 3:18 (song we love - they played it on the boat) 13. Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World / Israel Kamakawo'ole 5:08 (song we love - they played it on the boat) I would have loved to have the trio but it was a little pricey for us and people said that they loved the music. Feel free to use whatever you want from these lists, or do your own thing! It's your day. Do what makes you happy. Sarah

I found these great hair flowers... brought several with me to Puerto Vallarta and LOVE them. I wore one for the rehearsal, another for the wedding, and a friend borrowed a third one for the wedding. SO CUTE. Very realistic looking, easy to use. Flower Clips

I'll add my wedding website in case anyone wants to check it out... enjoy! It will be up until mid-July.