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Hi everyone! I know I haven't been all that active on the BDW forum, but I thought it might be helpful to post a review of my wedding, which was just 3 weeks ago at the Mayan Palace in PV. I'll try to list things to keep it organized: (1) Our wedding planner: First of all, I need to make sure I mention that Priscilla from Prisar Vallarta was INCREDIBLE! We were so happy we followed her suggestions (like serving dinner before dancing, the ice pops after the ceremony, etc), because every single one of them worked out so well. It was so clear to us that she had worked extremely hard to make sure our wedding went smoothly, and she was even still there at the Mayan at 4am cleaning things up! She went above and beyond! Her 20,000 peso fee (which ended up being about $1, 600 US) was worth every single penny. I would recommend her to anyone...you won't regret it! (2) Happy hour at Los Chilaquiles: On the Friday before our wedding, we had a 2-hr open bar happy hour at Los Chilaquiles restaurant, which is close to the arches on the malecon. The restaurant was very nice, and the view from the patio is incredible (the restaurant's on the 4th floor). Everything was great except...the people we had communicated with in the months leading up to the event had not made it clear that we would have to pay for the number of people we estimated would come, whether or not that many people came. Unfortunately, my husband thought every single member of his huge extended family would be there, so we told them 150 people would come...only 68 were there. I understand that they would have to charge us for the food, since they made enough food for that many people, but it was ridiculous that they charged us for the alcohol, even though they could obviously use those bottles of beer and wine for the customers coming to eat at the restaurant. So we probably wasted $1000 because we were so off on our estimate...so I regret that decision for sure. (3) Maria Reina de la Paz: Our ceremony at the church in the Marina (Maria Reina de la Paz) went well. We met with the priest (Padre Gonzalo) 2 days before and he helped us plan out the ceremony. He had no problem with our request to skip communion, and he was able to do some parts of the ceremony in English for us (although his English was a little difficult to understand...but it was fine). The church is beautiful...the last time we had seen it was Feb '08, when the outside was not yet completed, so we were very pleased with how it turned out. The ceremony was short and sweet (maybe about 30 min), which is exactly how we wanted it. (4) Mayan Palace: Our reception at the Mayan Palace in PV was incredible! We started with a cocktail hour at the Sunset Bar, which is impressive in it's own right, where we were entertained by a fabulous mariachi band. We were nervous that my husband's Mexican relatives would be upset that there was mariachi in the beginning, when they traditionally play at the wee hours of the morning, but no one blinked an eye, and some people actually said they thought it was a good idea to do it that way instead. The dance floor, tables, and food stations were beautifully set up. The water is literally steps away, and the cool breeze off the ocean made it very comfortable. We did have an incident with wedding crashers (it was actually 2 older American couples in shorts and T-shirts...if you're going to crash a wedding, at least look the part!!) who walked off the beach and onto the dance floor, but I dealt with it (I actually told the waiters to alert security, but ended up going up to them myself and explaining that the hotel does head counts, and if they did a random head count and counted them as part of my group, it was going to cost me a lot of money, so they would have to leave...NOW!). The food was incredible-- we did stations, with one station serving grilled shrimp and chicken skewers, and ceviches at another, then crepes for dessert...YUM! All in all, I would HIGHLY recommend the Mayan Palace as a place to have your wedding reception...it was amazing!! I think that's all for now. I can't really give a review of our photographer or our videographer at this time because I haven't seen the finished products, but I can post something once I do. Anyway, hope that helps. Thanks, everyone, for all the great tips I've picked up through this site! It's been a huge help reading through this forum!

I am using Prisar for my wedding on March 21st (in one month...yikes!!), and so far I've been pretty satisfied. Sometimes Priscilla can be a little slow to respond to e-mails, but I think it's because business has been so good for her lately. If you e-mail again and remind her that you're waiting for a response, though, she'll e-mail you back pretty quickly. I'll post again after my wedding when I'll have a really good idea of how satisfied I am with Prisar. But...so far so good!

Hi all! My WC is asking me what colors I'd like for my wedding so she can start getting ideas for flowers, centerpieces, etc, and I'm just lost with this stuff! We're thinking we want to keep it very clean and simple with mostly white/ivory (in fact, I'm pretty sure my bridesmaids will be wearing ivory to match my gown), but I definitely want at least some color (especially in the flowers). I think I like coral as an accent color, but I can't decide whether it would go better with beige/sand or mocha/brown. I'd really like to have pictures to send my WC, and also so I'll have a better idea of what I like, but I can't seem to find any!! Does any have any photos from their own wedding or any other source where these colors were used? Thanks so much for your help! --Lisa

We'll be in PV the whole week before the wedding, staying with our families in a villa in Conchas Chinas. Because we won't have enough vacation time to take a honeymoon right after our wedding, plus the fact that we feel a little silly going from one vacation spot to another, we'll be postponing our honeymoon until several (possibly as much as 6 or 7) months after the wedding. The current plan is to go to Thailand, since we live on the West Coast now, and in order to be there during the best weather conditions, we'd have to wait until October or November. Kinda sucks that we have to wait so long for our honeymoon, but in some ways it'll be nice 'cause we'll still have something to look forward to after our whirlwind wedding week in Vallarta!

Thanks for all your responses. We actually already have the church booked (Nuestra Senora Reina de la Paz in the Marina), but I know there's so much more to do in order to get married there. We'll also be getting legally married before the ceremony (this fall, actually). To be honest, I didn't really want to get married in a Catholic church because I'd really like to work with a more liberal priest who would be open to my ideas (so we could make the ceremony a little more personalized, instead of just a cookie-cutter Catholic ceremony), and I realize that finding a liberal priest in Mexico is highly unlikely (in fact, "liberal priest" is probably the biggest oxymoron for them!). I wonder if I were to find a priest from somewhere else in Mexico or even if I flew one in from the States, would the church allow that priest to perform the ceremony? I'm seriously considering it, even though I know it would be rather costly, just because it's so important to me to have a ceremony that I feel comfortable with. I've been to weddings before where the priest sees it as an opportunity to preach about gay marriage being wrong (or at least implying it, by repeatedly saying things like "marriage is a sacred bond between a MAN and a WOMAN"), or saying that a wife must serve her husband, etc., and I'm terrified that whatever priest does our ceremony is going to do the same thing, and I'm going to be tempted to walk out of my own wedding!!! Anyway, thanks again for your responses, and for listening to my rant. It feels good to get that out

Hi everyone- I kinda asked about this in a post a while back, but no one answered me, so I guess I need to be more specific. I basically need someone to explain to me the process of getting married in a Catholic church in Vallarta. Here are my questions: 1) How do you do the whole pre-cana thing if you're not living down there? 2) Do you get a chance to meet with or at least talk to (like over the phone) the priest before the ceremony? 3) Do you have any say in terms of what is said at the ceremony (what readings are done, vows, etc.)? 4) Are you obligated to do a full mass with communion or can I choose not to? 5) Has anyone used a bilingual priest that they really liked and would recommend? I'm clueless here...please help! (Oh, and my fiance and I are both Catholic, so that's not an issue.) Thanks so much!

I didn't notice any noise from Nikki beach when I peaked in on a wedding at the Mayan back in February...I hope it was just because of the Cinco de Mayo stuff, 'cause that would really suck! You mentioned the Westin...is that the same thing as the Regina? I think it's changed names, but I'm not sure which it is now. Anyway, if it's the same thing as the Regina, my WC was recommending that place for my reception, but I've never seen it. If it's that close to Nikki Beach and if the WC isn't clearing out hotel guests from where the reception's taking place, then it doesn't sound like a great option. Thanks for the tip!

Hi all! While I was originally planning on having my reception at Casa Las Palapas in Nuevo Vallarta, it's now looking more like Mayan Palace PV just because of the number of guests anticipated. I had peeked in on a wedding my WC (Prisar) did there back in February (someone on this forum, I think) and it was beautiful, so I'm not too disappointed. I'm waiting for Priscilla to get back to me with prices, but the anticipation is killing me! I saw in a previous post something about a $2000 site fee...is that still the going rate? What does that include? Is catering a whole separate thing? Just hoping I could get some answers from you ladies before Priscilla gets back to me...I feel like the clock is ticking! Thanks for your help!

I don't want to "black list" anyone here, but I decided against using EM-Vallarta and went with Prisar Vallarta instead. Let me explain why...I was in touch with EM-V, and they seemed really nice. I liked the pictures of the previous weddings they had done, and I was sure they would do a fabulous job planning my wedding. When they sent me a couple examples of invoices from previous weddings, however, that's when I became hesitant about hiring them. Several items on the invoice were grossly overpriced (my fiance is from Mexico, so he KNOWS how much things should cost in Mexico!), and I had a feeling they were trying to take advantage of American couples who didn't know any better. They were also pretty inflexible when it came to my requests. For example, I asked about doing a buffet for the dinner, and they told me it was too hard to estimate how much food was needed, so we couldn't do that. We also asked if we could buy our own alcohol (because the price they quoted on the invoice was so outrageous), and they said we couldn't do that either. Basically, it seemed like they were just trying to make things easier for them without much concern about what we, their client, actually wanted. When I confronted them about the inflated prices and their inflexibility in an e-mail, they never responded...that was several weeks ago. I've heard nothing but good things about Prisar Vallarta, however, and my experience with them so far has been wonderful. One thing that's great about them is that they'll show you the actual receipt for the items they've purchased for the wedding, rather than putting it all on an invoice, where you don't know if they've jacked it up so they can take a little cut. I asked EM-V if they could do this in that e-mail, and like I said, I never heard from them again. As far as I'm concerned, I pretty much interpret that as an admission that they do, in fact, inflate the prices so that they can take a cut. Like I said, I'm sure they do a fabulous job planning beautiful weddings, but for me, I'd rather the piece of mind knowing that I'm not being taken advantage of. Hope that helps.

I forgot to mention the cost factor...Prisar Vallarta charges a flat fee of $2,000US for their services. Well worth it, if you ask me (especially for the piece of mind that you're not getting screwed over by some other companies).

Has anyone used Alex and Mariana? This is their website: ARTEFOTOGRAFICO DIGITAL 2007 We met with them last weekend-- our WC (Prisar Vallarta) recommended them and Paulina Ulloa as the best in that price range. I'm curious if anyone else has worked with them and how satisfied they are with their work...Let me know if you have. Thanks!

My advice? Diets don't work!! Buy a book called "Intuitive Eating." If you really read it and follow what it says, it'll change your life. Good luck!!

Quote: Originally Posted by bethtamar This is where Jason and I are getting married! I'm pretty sure that's where we're getting married too! I didn't get to see the inside, though, because it was occupied Was it nice? Who's your wedding coordinator? Are you using Prisar Vallarta? I'm really curious to see how it's set up for a wedding-- please post photos after your wedding!

Quote: Originally Posted by izzybella I know they are not on your list but did you deal at all with Prisar Vallarta? We're using Prisar Vallarta...we just met them down in PV last weekend, and I think they're great. We saw some invoices from other, unnamed American-run companies, and the prices of items and services were hugely inflated, probably because they were taking a cut. Because my fiance is Mexican and has a better idea of what things cost down there, we were able to see right away what they were trying to get away with. Priscilla and Hector will show you the actual receipts for things (such as alcohol, the caterer, etc.), so you know they're not jacking prices up. They also understand Mexican weddings. When we told other companies that we wanted a place that would let us party until the wee hours of the morning (an absolute essential for a Mexican wedding), the American-run companies tried to tell us that ending the party at 11pm was more than sufficient, and that people are usually tired and ready to go home anyway. Priscilla and Hector understood that this was not okay, and they worked with us to find a place where we would have more flexibility. Anyway, that's my 2-cents about Prisar Vallarta. I also contacted some of the references Priscilla gave me, and it was all dazzling reviews. We also saw 2 weddings they did on Saturday night, and they looked fabulous. Let me know if you have any other questions about them. --Lisa

Hi everyone- I'm fairly new to this forum (I just joined last week), but my fiance and I traveled to Vallarta last weekend to start the whole wedding planning process, so I figured I'd share. First of all, we met Priscilla and Hector (Prisar Vallarta), and we're definitely going to go with them as our wedding planners. They're super nice (and their kids are adorable too-- the baby actually puked on me a little), and they seem to really know what they're talking about when it comes to weddings in Vallarta. We actually got to see 2 weddings they did on Saturday night-- one at Krystal Vallarta, and the other at Mayan Palace (which I'm pretty sure was the wedding of Adrienne, who posts to this site). They were absolutely beautiful! Besides finding our wedding planner, we're also pretty sure we're settled on a site for the reception...a villa called Las Palapas in Nuevo Vallarta. We'll be staying there with our immediate families for the week leading up to the wedding, and then the reception will be held on the lawn and beach areas. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the inside, because there was a honeymoon couple occupying it, but it looks fantastic from the outside. The plan is to construct a dance floor right there on the beach, which should be awesome (that's what they did at the Mayan Palace wedding, and it looked great). It's exciting to finally have a picture in my mind of what it will all look like! The next step is to decide on a date...we looked at our calendars, and tentatively came up with March 21, 2009. We were thinking maybe late March would be a little bit warmer than February (it got kind chilly in the evenings, especially with the cold breeze coming off the water). I kind of wish we could do it earlier, (partially because I don't want to wait any longer, and also because I turn 29 on March 4th '09, and for some reason it sounds better saying I got married at 28 instead of 29...I know, it sounds really stupid!), but I also want the best weather conditions, so I guess it's okay to wait. Anyway, that's a wrap-up of my Vallarta trip. There's SOOO much more to say, but I barely know you people, so I won't bore you with the details (I'll wait until we know each other a little better before I do that ). Thanks for indulging me! --Lisa