andrea110808

Quote: Originally Posted by beachbride2009 I am using my own iPod...I'm setting up separate playlists for ou cocktail party, dinner music, then party tunes for after dinner. I'll also have my songs set for the ceremony. I heard that the wedding coordinator at the hotel will man the iPod during the ceremony for us so we don't have to ask one of our guests. Also I read a review that the resort DJ played some inappropriate songs at another wedding..."It must have been love...but it's over now..." I can't help but laugh, but I'd be a little pissed if it were my wedding! As far as the private event set up, I'm not aware of any charges for the basic set-up, i think it is included in the cost of the meal. But I think if you are having them set up some of your own decorations (as I am but haven't been given a price) they will charge. They absolutely DO NOT MAN THE IPOD FOR YOU!!. One of the workers stands there to make sure that the whole amplifier system is working correctly but they WILL NOT EVEN TOUCH your iPod so you either have to have it in song order or have someone else manning it.

Quote: Originally Posted by jhawkev Ladies, Does anyone know what the charge is for setting up the private reception? Andrea, Did you have someone keeping track of the time or did someone from the Resort let you know when 11pm was getting close? I will be leaving that day, I'm getting married on the 11th. But I would guess our stays will overlap. Erika, the azul people will tell you when you have time left to play 2 more songs....at least that is how it was for us.

Quote: Originally Posted by beachbride2009 Hi Andrea, did you notice with a beach reception if there was anywhere to hang chinese lanterns? I'm having them on my tables as part of the centerpieces and thought it might be nice to hang a few around the reception area too...thanks! I too, had Chinese lanterns on the tables for both the cocktail reception (on the beach) and the dinner reception in the plaza. There really isn't any place to hang lanterns so we put them on the bar table, the gift table and cake table to spread them out a bit. I would guess that by next November that Lomas Travel might have poles and rope to "rent" for this exact reason. Maybe you could even suggest it to someone there. Did you buy the ones with the LED lights? If not, I would get the battery powered tea light candles to put it them. We bought the LED ones but did not like the bright light at all so we bought the battery tea lights and put them in instead. You can get a huge pack from Costco for a great price.

Quote: Originally Posted by katken Hi Andrea (or anyone else that may have already have had their wedding), Did you use the DJ? How was it? I feel overwhelmed at the thought of loading an iPod, managing the iPod, making sure the music flows. I'd like to use the DJ but the song list provided way back in this thread does make me a little nervous.... Thanks in advanced for your help! We did not use the DJ, we used our iPod and it was good in my opinion. Yes, you do have to "run" your iPod all night but it was totally fine. we had a relaxed crowd and we danced and danced all night long.They are VERY strict about the 11pm end time.

Quote: Originally Posted by Katherine4-09 thanks so much, that helps with the confusion. How much extra did you have to pay to have it translated into english? I might just wait till we get back to the states, but want to make sure we won't have probelms when we go to change my name over. I know we will have to translate the certificate into english, do you know who to contact for that info, I have no clue on what needs to be done for that. Clueless... I think it was an extra $200 to have them translate it. I have not legally changed my name yet because the social security office will not take a non-translated version of the marriage license and we are still waiting on that. Judging on my experience..i would bring it home and have a local person do it.

Quote: Originally Posted by Katherine4-09 Legal Requirements: For anyone who has already been married at this resort what do we need to get married? Our wedding is 4/24/09 we have our BC's with the Appostile seals needed, passports, but now I see on the Karisma site something about translations having to be done before arrival at hotel what needs to be translated? Also did they provide you certified copies of your marriage certificate and what has to happen when you get back to the states, I am so confused right now. Thanks for all who respond and help me with my confusion that is right now. All we needed is what you already have plus the birth certificates and some additional information about your witnesses if you are using your own. I was confused about the translation thing as well but for some reason that is not required at this particular resort but it is for other resorts of Karisma....makes no sense at all and was confusing. You should be all set. We paid the extra money to have our marriage license translated and sent to us....BUT we have not seen it yet and we have contacted Lomas Travel a couple of times now. We should have had it a few weeks ago. You do get the Spanish version to take with you and you can have it translated when you get back to the states if you want.

for our wedding we had the private cocktail reception on the beach with white glove service. the canapes we ordered were totally not what we expected and i am pretty sure that our guests didn't love them all that much....i certainly didn't and i am not a picky eater. we also had a sit down 3 course with salad, 3 choices for main course and the tiramisu AND cake. everyone LOVED the tiramisu and i would highly recommend it. we ordered the cake for 20-30 people and more than 2/3 of it were left over!! my family took it back to the room,which i know is against the "rules", and took it to the farewell dinner the next evening at the Italian restaurant and they served it for them!! If i could do it again I would skip the cocktail reception and add more appetizers to the actual dinner event....so guests can go there while pictures are being taken. You get to plan the time line of when courses are served....so just spread it out. I feel like the cocktail reception was a total waste of money...and so did my husband and my parents!!

Quote: Originally Posted by beachbride2009 Andrea, I too had tears looking at your photos...especially during your ceremony! Gorgeous! Can you remember if your rooms had faceclothes in them? thanks and congrats! I am not really sure about the facecloths. All I know is that because of all of the issues with the showers they were bringing in extra towels from their other resorts to keep up with the flooding issues. we had different types of towels almost everyday and we needed about 10 each day to keep the rooms from flooding!! I am pretty sure this is the biggest problem they need to fix....everything else will be great by the time of your weddings!

Quote: Originally Posted by milejilo i did like the plaza option at first, but i'm concerned if the night is too windy it will be an issue, also their might be bugs if the humidity or rainy season was high... i guess it all comes down to luck... do you think it will still feel private even at 100% occupancy? I have never been to Mexico in May so I am not sure about bugs or humidity. It was windy for our wedding ceremony on the beach but very calm up in the middle of the resort on the plaza. Zocolo is right in front of it and there are three buildings on all other sides so I really think that wind would be a small concern. Private with the hotel at 100% occupancy....not sure about that one. I did not see a single other person the whole time we were out there because you are so "in the moment!"

Quote: Originally Posted by [email protected] This is how she responded to me....it is soooo frustrating trying to find the perfect place. I love the rooftop idea!!!! I don't think people will dance out in the middle of the resort Hi Ali, Thank you for your email. Unfortunatly we cannot reserve an area till 90 days prior to your wedding date. Remind me in February that you would like this to be reserved for you. Please keep in mind that you can have a maximum of 60 people for this location and it is for a cocktail party only. There will be 6 high tables and unfortunately there can be no music. If you have any other questions please let me know Tiffany Borowsky Wedding Coordinator married on Nov 8th... We had our reception on the plaza in the middle of the resort and it is much more private than it sounds especially since it is dark outside. we had the absolute best dance party of our lives for our reception. the lighting they did was great and the music off our ipod and the bar tenders....it was perfect and everyone was dancing all night. nobody could walk the next day from either being hungover...sore legs and feet or both. I would not worry about your concern for not wanting to dance in the middle of the resort...it was not a problem for the 35 of us!

we were married there on Nov 8 and our OOT bags as you all call them, were actual beach bags stuffed with flip flops, sunscreen, advil, shout wipes, lip balm with spf 15, sudoku books, beach balls, and just for the fun of it a sample size KY Jelly. We were shopping at target and saw them and thought it would be a funny joke...it went over as a hit...everyone loved it and it added to some nice memorable conversations on our trip. so if you don't think it is too tacky...i would add it in there.

I bet that would help but we just used the pools instead.

I was married there on the 8th of November and the beach was not the nice fluffy sand that you might expect. My understanding is that they have to have sand brought in from another area because that section of the coast just doesn't produce nice sand naturally. It is fine for walking on but it wasn't the sand I had envisioned for walking barefoot in my wedding dress ( i did it anyway). it might be done when you get there. As far as swimming....we all took about one step in and came back out....too rocky.

Hello Katherine, The patio where we had our reception is right behind (not oceanside) Zocolo and it is basically in the center of the resort. It was perfect and I would recommend it highly. We originally wanted the whole thing actually on the beach but we changed our minds for 2 reasons. One, the invisible bugs that leave nice little red dots all over your ankles after a day at the beach were not all that appealing. Everyone in our wedding group had these... two, the sand was not the texture i was hoping for...it was very compacted and not that nice fluffy stuff you hope for. Maybe the beach will have had the sand flown in by the time you get there. My understanding is that they do have to have it brought in from other areas because the sand on that part of the coast just really isn't that nice. Hope that helps.

Hello.... I was the November 8th bride that Jenn talks about in her review. We, my husband and I are under legal obligation NOT to talk poorly about the resort so my review will be short. Fabio is horrible but if you can deal with him until you get there, Carolina and Gilberto are FANTASTIC!! They know weddings and ours was perfect! I really could not have asked for a better wedding ceremony and reception... Here is the link to our on-line photos Claudia Rodriguez | slideshows username is Andrea password is 110808 We had Alberto from Caludia Photo and he was also FANTASTIC. He spoke English well and that was a huge fear of mine. He came to the resort the day before the wedding to meet with us so we could tell him some of our ideas and vice versa. Overall the wedding was a huge success....the resort, however,was not... at that time anyway. It will be great in a few months I am sure because the staff is very nice and helpful with everything. We honeymooned at another Karisma resort down the coast and it was outstanding so I would expect the same once this one is fully complete! I think we had our reception at the BEST place on the grounds. We had it on the big circle patio behind Zocolo. They lit the palm trees from the bottom up with colored lights and it was beautiful. We used our iPOD and it was the best party of our lives....35 people can really put on a show when there is good music, good weather and lots of drinks! Good luck brides and my best advice is NOT to get hung up on all the details....the planners on site are great and your whole wedding will be planned in a matter of 2 hours!! Honestly! Yes, I was a crazy bride before the wedding because of the resort but I can honestly say that I enjoyed every minute of my wedding day. I truly was the best day of my life. Quote: Originally Posted by jennrenn23 The Ceremony At ten minutes until 3, no one had come. Erik leaves to get some shots on the beach and Stacey and I decide to go down to the bottom level of the resort. We run into Carolina and Gilberto, who takes Stacey away. I wait with Carolina and her ever-present walkie talkie until they are ready. She tells me just how to hold my veil so it won't fly in my face (it was quite windy that day) and off we go when we get the signal. I will post pics when we get them, but it was breathtakingly beautiful, Stacey was standing down with the minister. He had a chance to talk with her for about 5 minutes and told her how important Jesus Christ was to us and made sure she understood to emphasize Him. He also told her this was not a Vow Renewal, but our real wedding. When I got down to the spot, and yes I wore flat Silver sparkly sandals, we faced each other and listened. The minister had the whole ceremony memorized and it was beautiful; much better than I imagined. We went over to the side table to sign the Certificate of Marriage (symbolic) and then it was over! Beautiful Day, indeed! She did not ask if we wanted to say anything special, so when we did the champagne toast, I told Stacey I wanted to say something. Of course, my long speech became about one sentence because I started crying so hard which made him cry. Later, we heard everybody at the resort (10 people, haha) had gathered at the retaining wall to watch and were crying with us! Awwwwww! Photos Erik kicked it into gear and had me laying all over rocks and jumping around and Stacey throwing me. He would show us the screen on his camera when he got something really special and WOW, he made me look like a tall supermodel sometimes! Oh, I am 4'11''...We actually decided against the TTD session because all of ours were so candid with no family members to photograph. Erik and the videographer were so easy to work with and wanted to know where we wanted to shoot and what we liked and Erik has perfect English. I think they actually stayed over time. Funny story-as we were walking around getting new places to shoot, a girl and her parents stopped us and said, "Are you a real bride? Or just models?" We laughed so hard. We hung out with them the rest of the week; they were from Jersey and she is getting married there Summer 2009. They kept calling us "the models." Hardly. Here is what we looked like HOURS after the wedding with fallen hair and dirty dress. We took these so they aren't too fantastic: My hot husband: Me Check out the "Pinch Bustle" ... very nice... Dinner Carolina came up to us in the lobby after the last round of photos and said she had a surprise for us and to meet her in 30 minutes. She made me close my eyes, and they took us down for the private candlelight dinner in our gazebo. No charge. Very beautiful. We had 3 waiters, Hector was our favorite! You saw the one photo above of the dinner. The prepared a 4 course meal with wines and champagnes and printed our names on the menu. It was very nicely done and we were grateful. We felt the only people in the world. All in all, it was great, and we were very pleased. I will post some other pics for you now. I met Andrea, who was the 4 PM wedding on November 8. I will not post her photos out of respect but it was on the beach and her colors were beautiful-I think a hot pink and kelly green? Really nice. We met earlier in the week and she was pretty anxious and upset about the calamity of the newly opened resort. I did not talk to her after the wedding, as we left Sunday, but she saw us watching closely and we waved vigorously and she seemed very happy. One comment-they did a legal wedding and had a microphone. Their female minister spoke very poor English and sort of halted her way through the ceremony. Our minister officiated the 5 PM wedding (see pic below) and she was MUCH better. Don't know if you could choose but her name is Alina Monroy, Minister, Community of Faith Church. Her email is actually printed on my certificate too: [email protected]. I will post this bride's photo as she is not on the site, but I will keep her name private. I wanted you to see her flowers, colors, aisle and chairs for those that want to see samples. Here is where Andrea's reception was held, same as the owner's friends' wedding reception. It is in the center of the resort, behind Zocolo: The 5 PM bride had her reception INSIDE Zocolo, like everyone likes, BUT the resort was at about 10% capacity. The outside patio was availiable for dinner for non-guests. The patio would be fine for a reception, not sure about where to dance? The bar is right to the right of this photo and it is right up from the beach gazebo. Here is the patio: Nobody last week chose this option, but the Rooftop Garden Patio is beautiful. It is just not down near the beach, but up off the lobby at the front of the resort: Two Last Photos One of the pool beds they were finishing midweek: and another showing how close Secrets Silversands is to Sensatori. This is looking just over the fence at the south side of the resort. We almost snuck over there a few nights to check out the nightclubs but never did: Things I would do over (maybe)-really short list *I really missed our family and my 14 year old son especially. With resort being so empty, it was very romantic, but we craved a little interaction later in the week. That is why we stayed 2 extra days, when all the Americans were coming in for the weddings because we met them and were having fun with them. So, perhaps I should have brought my family! *Pinned my veil better It blew off twice during my ceremony as the wind came out of nowhere! But it was funny and probably made some funny photos! *Had my hair down for some later photos with no veil I hope this can help you guys. Bottom line: the resort will be a First-Class facility in a few months. I believe everything you will read about in my resort review will be taken care of soon. You have made the right decision! Andrea might disagree! We will look forward to her review as well.... Best of luck and contact me for more specific questions anytime. Jennifer