Jump to content

scooby9c

Newbie
  • Posts

    18
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

About scooby9c

scooby9c's Achievements

0

Reputation

  1. Hi Ladies, Well I am officially a married lady as of the 3rd. Sorry I couldn't post earlier, but the new husband and I were running around like crazy before we left (Read: Husband accidentally threw away veil day before the wedding, we missed our connecting flight in Atlanta and were rerouted to Mexico City and didn't not arrive until late Monday, etc. :-)). But we are now officially on our honeymoon in Jamaica and its wonderful. A tip for any of you ladies planning on a honeymoon right after the wedding or going straight back to work: Take a few days after the wedding to unwind and do absolutely nothing - you will need it. I'm a pretty high energy person and all we have wanted to do was sleep and lay by the water then sleep some more. In fact I think I may have broken my husband :-) I have never seen him sleep so much. You are all going to have the most amazing time, but taking care of your guests and all the activities will drain you. I only have a few minutes to post, but will promise to post a solid review and some pics very soon. The hubby keeps yelling at me to get off of facebook and this forum while we are on the HM :-) - I guess I can't blame him. Overall Review - It was the most amazing wedding. We had a wonderful time with our friends and families and we were blessed with the most amazing weather. We didn't have any rain, there was an incredible breeze off the water and we had a full moon over the water during our dinner reception at Zocalo Al Fresco - it was stunning. Apparently it is good luck in Mexico to get married on a Saturday and have a full moon! We arrived on Monday, and the Wedding was Saturday. We originally booked a premium room for the first four nights and then an upgrade to a Honeymoon Ocean front suite for the last three nights. When we arrived at the hotel for our private check in they automatically upgraded us to the Honeymoon Ocean Front Suite for all seven nights. I have to say this was very nice as it would have been a major pain to move rooms the night before the wedding. The concierge and wedding staff were absolutely fantastic (Elena in particular) - they definitely go out of their way to make sure you are happy and do not have any concerns. Everything for the wedding ceremony was absolutely perfect. They did an awesome job on our decor. My only cons at this point were the difference in food quality from our site visit in april and now and that some of our guests had to wait around for their check in despite having provided them with a list of when our guests would arrive and room assignments. The hotel was only at 61% occupancy though, so we were able to secure upgrades to the premium section for several of our guests and family. Because of some mix ups during our site visit and as a result of the letter we sent to the hotel a few months back, all of our guests were to receive a bottle of champagne and some petite fours in their room upon check in, as well as a private check-in. The hotel was pretty good about this, but they did forget a few of our guests. For those of you who still have a lot of time - we definitely recommend having your guests arrive on the same day or only one other day. We had guests who arrived on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday - the largest groups arrived on Wednesday and Thursday. This is what exhausted us the most - I have never seen my husband so stressed out. He is a former green beret and handles situations pretty well - but this seemed to overwhelm him :-). We found ourselves running around ensuring our guests were sorted, getting upgrades or the right room, or sometimes getting into a room earlier if they made them wait until 3 p.m. You will still have a great time - its just a bit hectic for the few hours that they are arriving. Our only other con was the food. Not all the food was different - most of the restaurants were still fine. The issue we had is that the chef who was present for our food tasting in April was no longer working at the AS. They had a new chef who did not know how to prepare the food on the earlier edition of the banquet menu - hence the reason for the new banquet menu. Rather than telling us that he did not know how to prepare the food we selected, he decided to give us his own interpretation - which was completely off the mark. For my husband and I - food is extremely important to us and is one of the major reasons we selected this hotel. If they would have told us ahead of time when we arrived, then we would have had the option to have an impromptu tasting and selected food he was more comfortable making. For you ladies who have chosen off the new menu or one of the preset menus - you will not have any issues as he is very comfortable making this food. We had a very complex menu and he just wasn't prepared. I was very upset about this and I think at one point had called the chef down from the kitchen and told him that if he screwed up the next course I was going to chuck a plate at his head :-) -- but I finally decided I wasn't going to let it ruin the rest of my wedding day - at the end of the day none of your guests will remember the food and with the exception of my maid of honor, new husband, and mother none of my guests knew I was upset for a period of time. To be honest it almost became comical towards the end as each course became a mexican surprise. We are working with the hotel on some sort of compensation for the screw up and the wedding coordinator staff and the wait staff were very apologetic. The other food at the other events was decent and we didn't have any major complaints. The decor on our wedding cake was spot on too. As for some of our other events - if you have it in your budget I would defintiely recommend the mariachis and the donkey fiesta party. Our only issue is that we separated these two - we had the donkey fiesta cocktail party as our welcome party on Thursday and the mariachis for our cocktail reception after the wedding ceremony. They were still fantastic, but I think they are better together. I also highly recommend paradise catamarans for any excursions you may want - we hired them for a private sunset cruise on Wednesday and then for a private snorkeling catamaran cruise on Friday - they were fantastic. These two events really made the week special and this company really bent over backwards to accommodate us. In fact they even moved their boat up from puerto aventuras to the marina in Puerto Moreles to cut the drive time down and then on Friday dropped us off right at the Azul Sensatori - in fact I think we may have accidentally crashed Shandalier's wedding. We returned right about the time of her wedding - but asked the boat captain to wait to bring us in until after it was over. This gave us waterside seats of her event - It was beautiful by the way :-). I'll provide a link to them in my longer review along with some photos - but wanted to let you know how fantastic they were and how well they treated us. My step father in law is a charter boat captain in Naples, FL, and he couldn't stop raving about how wonderful the crew was. They even transported two of my bridesmaids to Playa Del Carmen free of charge so they could catch the ferry to Cozumel for an excursion they had planning early the next morning. They were also very much willing to give us a discount for booking two tours. Ok - well the hubby just woke up and is already yelling at me to get off of the computer :-) so I will write more later! Just to reassure you ladies who are still doing the AS - you will have a fantastic time and the hotel will go out of their way to make it special for you. You may have to make some minor adjustments when you arrive - but they are accommodating. Our guests couldn't stop raving about how beautiful the hotel was and how much fun they were having. So don't worry. Just be prepared - it goes by way too fast. Here a couple of photos I was able to find on my camera - still waiting on the prof. photos and friends/family t' alt='a>'>o post... ' alt='a>'> ' alt='a>'> ' alt='a>'>
  2. Thanks everyone that makes me feel a lot better! I keep trying to tell myself I have two full weekends - but then I remember something else I forgot to do. But I agree at the end of the day I picked a beach destination wedding so that if everything falls apart - we will still be on the beach, in the sun, with lots of tropical frosty beverages to keep us happy. :-) I just really don't know where the time has gone. I can't believe its already been a year. It goes by quick.
  3. Thanks! I wish I felt that way though. I am in complete panic mode right now...10 days until we leave for Mexico. I still have so much to do!! I need to buy my fiance his gift, get my OOT bag loot, finish my guest wedding guide, find a sand ceremony container, and make up my mind on my jewelry. I have no idea how I am going to get that all finished. Plus my fiance is coming home from Afghanistan on Sunday and I need to clean up the house :-) It looks like a tornado came through with all the wedding stuff. Good news is that we sent our payment off to the hotel - it was kind of scary though. Oh yah - if any of you ladies are looking into doing excursions with your guests, we found a great tour operator who gave us some great deals. We are doing a private sunset cruise for our families on Wednesday night when they arrive (its the first time they are meeting) and then a private catamaran snorkeling trip on Friday for about 4 hours. The owner was totally willing to work with us on price and was completely flexible on time. I really wanted a private charter as I didn't want to deal with a whole bunch of tourists - but I was having a heck of a time finding one for our size group. Every quote we received they wanted us to pay for up to 40 people, even though we are only 28 and most likely only about 20 of us will partake in the boat ride due to some guests who get sea sick. Lomas's quotes were outrageous. So I started doing some research and found paradise catamarans. Sail, swim, snorkel, parasail, and enjoy the Mayan Riviera with Paradise Catamarans. Our private catamaran charters make every outing a memorable event. They even agreed to move their boat to a dock closer to the hotel so the ride to the marina is now less than 30 minutes rather than 55 minutes. Since we are booking 2 charters I asked him if he would be willing to give us a discount and he offered either 10% discount on both tours or free open bar. The way they work is that you pay based on group size in increments of 10, 20, 30 and 40 people then you have the option of purchasing open bar and food/appetizers for your guests and you can do it by head count - so if you know someone doesn't drink you don't have to pay for them. We opted for the free open bar since this saved us about 20% on both tours and our friends and family can drink. The guy I spoke to is named Mark. Anyways just thought I would share as they seemed to be the most affordable and the most accommodating. Carrie
  4. Not sure my cake picture made it through on the last post...so I'll try again. [/img]
  5. Hey Ladies, For those that were inquiring about cakes, here is a pic of what I requested. They quoted me $440 for the three tiers and the overall design. Then it was $20 for each orchid used. The picture had 15 orchids - so they quoted me an additional $300.00. I made some small adjustments to lower the price. You can also use cheaper flowers, as orchids tend to the be most expensive flower. Roses are $10 per flower and dahlias were $10 per flower. Daisies are even cheaper. I liked the orchids so I just lowered the number a bit. I am doing a layer of hazelnut, a layer of strawberry and a layer of vanilla. ' alt='a>'> Regarding the makeup. I did a trial run when I did my site visit in April. The actual makeup application was great as far as how it looked, the lady at the resort was very skilled. What I had an issue with is that she had just finished another bride and didn't clean her brushes, and she didn't clean my face before hand - now that may have been because it was just a trial - but this disturbed me. I also wasn't impressed with the quality of the makeup she used - it just seemed very cheap and I had concerns that it would start to fade of look cakey by the end of the evening. I have decided to use Ultra Femme. They are a professional makeup artist company that Lomas recommends that will come to the hotel to do your makeup. I should add a disclaimer though as they have a pretty steep price tag ($400.00) - but this includes a trial as well and a free makeup gift. I still nearly had a heart attack when I heard the price. What I would recommend is that you use the lady at the hotel, but maybe bring your own makeup and brushes to ensure the quality. Her application and technique were not an issue and I think any bride would be happy how their makeup turns out. I only ended up going with Ultra Femme because I didn't want to stress out about finding the right type of makeup. If you go to the Lomas website, and look at services and amenities they have a link on Ultra Femme if you have any questions. They are an approved Azul Vendor. Also, to comment on the string about negotiating prices. I would highly recommend that you go direct to the hotel and the folks in Miami (Fabio - is particularly helpful). I was trying to run everything through Luxe, our wedding coordinator, and wasn't happy with the answers I was getting on some issues. The minute we contacted the hotel direct they started throwing in extras to make up for some of the problems we had encountered. Everything is negotiable. There are a few things they won't bend on - but if you make a big enough stink about it - they may be willing to throw in some other amenities. Hope this helps. PS - That TA guy really is a creep. He has caused me such trouble. I had guests panicking that they had just spent a ton of money and were about to go the vacation from hell. I have managed to calm them all down - but it was a nightmare. I also got the hotel to give me an official letter that all the restaurants will be open during the week of my wedding and all restaurants will offer an a la carte menus and there will be no degradation in services from my previous site visit. I plan on having that in my back pocket with me. Carrie
  6. Hi Ladies, For what its worth, I just heard back from my WC at Luxe Destination Weddings. She just spoke with their onsite rep at Karisma (Jonathan) who is currently at the hotel now. He said that the reason for the change was only to accommodate the off season. Apparently they are in the off season now and that the busy season will pick up again starting 1 October. To be honest I think this is a bit of BS - why would the off season only run through middle of August through September? She said the hotel downgraded the size of the staff and then usually closes one restaurant per day on a rotation (Zavaz on Monday, Sienna on Tuesday, etc.). I told them that this was still unacceptable as our party is starting to arrive on 28 September and that my guests have paid for what the hotel claims to be a five star, gourment all inclusive experience not a buffet line. She assured me that things will go back to normal by the time my wedding is due - but I told her that I wanted it in writing from the hotel first- so she is working on that now. We'll see what happens. Just curious if any of you ladies have heard anything different from your TAs or WCs. Oh yah - she also said that the TA reviews were from a group of folks that booked through Thompsons and that they requested buffets at some of the restaurants. Again I think this is a bit of BS and that they are just trying to appease me. I'll let you know what the hotel comes back with. Carrie
  7. Thanks Ash, You really made me feel better. I should know better than to read TA reviews - but my friends were urging me to do so. I think I may need to go calm my FI down though. He works in Afghanistan and I sent him a panicked email and I think he has already taken this up with the hotel. I guess we'll see what they come back with. Sorry to hear you are having a bad day. I hope you get your rings back with no hassle. Carrie
  8. Hi Ash, Quick question for you - one of my guests urged me to review trip advisor today based on some recent reviews from the last week or so. I have been avoiding trip advisor since the beginning of the year since it was stressing me out way too much and I felt satisfied with our choice after our site visit in April. Out of curiousity I decided to take a look and nearly had a heart attack. The reviews from the last two to three weeks are complaining of this so called switch from a la carte to buffet at all the restaurants. They are also saying that they no longer offer premium liquors but rail liquors only at the bars. Do you know if this is true? Your review seem to indicate that they had switched to buffet at breakfast and lunch, but not dinner. The reviews on Trip advisor seem to state that it is now every meal. I'm trying not to lose it as I am only three weeks out from my wedding. The only reason we booked AS was because it was not a buffet style AI. I will be extremely embarrased if our guests just paid top dollar and are going to have cold food from a buffet. I've already sent an email off to my WC at Luxe and am in the process of drafting a nasty gram to the hotel as well - but thought I would check with you first since you just returned. Thanks Carrie
  9. That sounds lovely - I really like the Zavaz area - it was a toss up for us in the end. I haven't stayed at either of the hotels you mentioned, but I have heard that both are really nice. We are heading to Jamaica on Monday for the honeymoon. We originally were planning on having the wedding in Jamaica - but events set us on course for Mexico. Tuesday will probably work great for us as well. We have a few guests coming in on Monday and Tuesday but the majority are coming in on Wednesday and Thursday as well. We are doing our welcome donkey fiesta cocktail party on Thursday at the BBQ pit, then a low key rehearsal in Spoon on Friday. Beach wedding on Saturday near the pier and then cocktail reception at the adult wave bar with a dinner reception at Zocalo terrace. We really wanted to have dinner outside on the main pavillion or at the new Zavaz plaza - but they told us the center pavillion was no longer available. we figured Zocalo was a good compromise since part of it is open air. Are you having a large wedding? We are at 28 now. We started out at 50 but swine flu and a slew of other issues got in the way.
  10. Hey Shanda, How exciting! We arrive on Monday and the wedding is on Saturday. We should definitely meet up for a drink! Are you doing a beach wedding or the sky deck? I can't believe it is just around the corner. PS - love your logo! Carrie
  11. Hi Ladies, I'm attempting to post some pics of the property that I had with me on my work computer. I'll see about posting some more that I have at home. Just a few snaps of the property in general. Hopefully this works - still trying to figure out the whole photobucket thing....
  12. I just wrote a email to my WC at Luxe asking why I was not informed of such a major change in policy - we'll see what they come back with. I'm also about to send in my final payment now that I'm 3 weeks out from the big day :-). If any of you ladies who are still in the planning stages are interested, I listed some of the prices I was quoted. We made some minor adjustments - particularly to the bouquets as I thought $180 was a bit outrageous. Hopefully if they come back at you with higher pricing you can use this as a negotiating point: Bridal Bouquet: purple and white roses, callalillies, and orchids: $300.00 Bridesmaid bouquets: pink and orange roses: $50.00 Matron of Honor Bouquet: assortment of pink, purple, yellow, orange and green flowers: $180.00 Fabric/Sheers for Altar: $75.00 per sheer. Flower petals for aisle: $100.00 Floral Chair Corsages: $33.00 Chair Bows: $4.00 each Uncovered additional chairs: $9.00 (they just changed this from $12 to $9) Large vases with mixture of flowers (orchids, dahlias, roses, lillies, tulips) in purple, pink, orange, yellow, and green: $420.00 (these are going at the base of our gazebo and then moved to the entrance of zocalo terrace where we are having our dinner reception) altar corsage of purple roses and orchids and greenery: $300.00 Altar corsage of just purple roses and greenery: $60.00 Large Cylinder Vases with floating orchids and floating candles: $35.00 square pave Centerpiece of mixed tropical flowers (dahlias, roses, orchids, tulips): $145.00 Table runner: $5.00 Chair Bows: $4.00 Single Long stem roses for chairs: $10.00 each Single Pieces of Bamboo: $10.00 each Floating candles for the pool (dozen): $200.00 Orchids for hair: $20 each Tiki torches: $7.00 (note that you can't move them from site to site). maracas for wedding favors: $6.00 per pair Three tier square cake with green ribbon and orange orchids ($20.00 per orchid) I have also asked them to price out a sunset catamaran cruise and the quotes were outrageous. I'm workign with another vendor now to see if we can go through them - much more reasonable. Hope this helps :-)
  13. Hi Ladies, I hope everyone had a great weekend. I wanted to follow up on AshManahan's food reviews as well having done a site visit myself. I'm a little perplexed to hear they changed their policy on having the a la carte option for lunch and breakfast - that is very disappointing as the only reason I booked an all-inclusive is because they offered this option. We didn't want the traditional AI where the only option is buffet. I am definitely going to call the hotel and complain on this one. BTW ash -I'm originally from Chicago - so I totally agree with you on the Italian food at Sienna. There were some decent items on the menu, but I definitely would steer clear of any of the pizzas. Also most of the meat at the restaurants with the exception of le chique I would stay away from as well. Mexico has never been known for its beef. You are better off going with pork (carnitas) rather than beef or chicken. The fish is decent at some restaurants depending on how it is prepared (keep in mind that grouper and sea bass are really the only fish that are local). If they tell you mahi is fresh they are lying. My fiance and I are big foodies as well and his father is a charter boat fisherman out of Naples, FL so he gave us the skinny on the local seafood. Spoon is definitely a great option for breakfast as well as Zavaz. We actually preferred Zavaz for breakfast. There were a lot of very good and unique options on the menu and it has a great view of the water and doesn't seem to be as crowded in the mornings. This was when you could order a la carte though - so I am not sure how the food is now that it is buffet. Spoon has a larger buffet though and lots of options for the pickier eater. Zocalo was our favorite for lunch - but we love mexican food. Spoon is also good for lunch. I was not a fan of the Tapas restaurant. To be fair our first time we tried it was the night we arrived. We had a huge delay in getting there and didn't sit down for dinner until 9 p.m. - so the food wasn't very warm and wasn't very fresh. We went back for lunch one day and it was a bit better - but if you are a big tapas eater you will be a bit disappointed. I found the food at Tapas to be very bland. It was very basic food in bite size portions - none of the flair you might find at a traditional tapas restaurant. Le Chique is great and very entertaining - but if you have picky or less worldly guests you may want to warn them up front that this is more of a dining experience rather than a big meal. Its all based on molecular cooking - so be prepared for very small portions and lots of foam :-). They will most likely be hungry after dinner - but since its an all-inclusive we didn't find it to be an issue and we had the best time. Something else you may want to warn your guests on is that the portions are very small at most of the restaurants. We found ourselves ordering 2 entrees at times. Not a huge issue of course since its an AI, but it took us a day or two to feel comfortable ordering so much food. We have already told our guests to eat up - sometimes they need to be reminded that they have already paid for everything. Having said all that - for the ladies worried about your dinner for the actual wedding reception - Don't Be! The food on the banquet menu is very different and much more sophisticated. I was freaking out after we tried Tapas on our first night and then had lunch as Sienna the next day - I couldn't believe the place was touting itself as a five star dining experience. However after we had our food tasting I was a happy girl again. I had a similar experience as Ash - apparently we were the first couple to ever request a food tasting and they were less than prepared. As a result I was able to design my own food tasting - which was fun. We almost had to be rolled out of the restaurant afterwards though because we ate so much food :-). They gave us a private table in Spoon and the Chef sat with us along with the head waiter as we tried the food. He was totally willing to make small changes or mix and match. Our wedding coordinator told us that we had to either order off of the 09 or the 10 menu, and couldn't mix or match. This is not true though - the Chef was totally willing to accommodate us. Our menu tasting consisted of four entrees, four hot starters/appetizers, two soups, three salads, 9 canapes from the cocktail party menu and 9 canapes from the white glove cocktail party menu, and three deserts as well as three mini cakes featuring the three flavors they offer for the wedding cake. They charged us $160.00 for this ($80 per person). They also will give you a wine and/or tequila tasting if you request it. We found nearly everything to be very tasty and very well done. We still didn't love the beef tenderloin that we tried at our tasting. Although in the end we ended up going with the seared filet in shiraz wine sauce they are now featuring on the 2010 menu. I'm a little worried as we didn't get a chance to try it when we were there - but I'm hoping for the best. The tenderloin in the lobster sauce is what we tried at our tasting and it was not good at all. It was very dry and the sauce had no flavor. The rack of lamb was awesome though and we were going to go with this option, but we got so many weird responses from some of our guests that I switched it back to the filet. I think everyone would have liked the lamb - but we figured most people are expecting a filet option. Our other entree is the potato encrusted mahi mahi with the apple cilantro relish - except we are switching out the mahi for the grouper since it is a local fish. I'll be more than happy to give a review on any of the other items on the menus since we nearly tasted everything :-) if someone wants to PM me. As far as the drinks - they are great. We were very disappointed to find that they only have two beer options and that they have a very limited tequila menu at the AI bars. I found it strange that you can get top shelf vodka and rum, but not top shelf tequila in Mexico. We are purchasing a few bottles of higher quality tequila for our welcome cocktail reception though. Also, if you tip your bartenders they are very generous in their pouring :-). I'm still trying to figure out how to post pictures from our visit - can't seem to figure out the photobucket process yet. Sorry these messages seem to be so long winded - hopefully the info was useful to some of you.
×
×
  • Create New...