VanessaV

Hi Nikki, Great reviews, thank you! All of your photos look great and I am so pleased that everything went so smoothly for you. Thank you for all of your tips on packing and everything too. I was wondering, I am doing the welcome bags too, did they hand them out for you when guests checked in? If so was there any charge? I think I discussed this with Ana at some point too, but I cannot remember. The thing about the "not more than 6 people in a reservation" is unfair, I totally agree with you. That must be a new thing they are doing, and totally complicates the family dinner I am trying to arrange for the night before the nuptials. We are just going to have to try and wing it - fingers crossed! Vanessa

Should have proof read.... good Luck picking your flavor.... V.

Mrs Almaguer, I just asked! I had wanted something more elaborate... but they were will to do what I had mentioned, putting the lemon zest in and doing the orange flavored rum cake. Doesn't hurt to ask! I have to say, missing out on cake tasting has to be one of the things I feel like I am missing out on most with a destination wedding. The delicious desserts at the resort should help to make up for that though. Their tiramisu is amazing by the way and the chai iced cream at the indonesian restaurant is fabulous as well. Good luck pucking your flavor! Vanessa

I searched for invitations and save the dates online to see what I liked, then picked my colors off the stationary set that I liked. I used www.weddingpaperdivas.com to order all of my paper products and was really pleased with the products and service. They also let you sign up for a free wedding website that has the same wallpaper pattern as your paper suite. I liked this feature, but already had my website in place. Looking at the invites also helped me decide what I wanted to feel of the wedding to be, (calm, cool relaxed may be blues and greens), (vivid oranges, pinks and reds for a lively/festive wedding), (maybe turquoise, red and orange if you want it to feel ecclectic). I would take a look and see if it helps any. I am going with white cake, top two tears with a lemon filling, bottom tier infused with rum and orange. We decided to please ourselves with the cake, I know those flavors won't be for everyone, but there are other dessert options anyway.

Hi everyone, For centerpieces I am bringing down votive holders with the little mini candles and some candlesticks and taper candles in bright colors. I can easily bring these down with us and we will save on not buying the flowers for the centerpieces. Even here in the U.S. people try to save costs by foregoing the flowers and we will all have the beautiful surroundings of Mexico. I think the flowers could be a good cost savings, but for some people the flowers are important, it's all personal preferance. If you are having bridesmaids and doing bouquets you could ask for a vase or two on each table and have the girls flowers in there. They usually just end up laying on the table or floor somewhere for the reception anyway, might as well put them to use! I was also told that we would need to bring the things for our centerpieces with us, (as opposed to sending with other people), so that we can give them to the planner beforehand when we have a meeting during the week. I assume this is the same with decor. I feel like I will end up bringing just about everything myself then, since I will also need to have the welcome bag things there with me as well. For those of you thinking of skipping the DJ they do have a sound system with microphone that you can rent and just plug an ipod into. You can make 1 or 2 wedding mixes and bring them down with you. For photographs we are going to use blue lens caribe. They did our engagement photos and we really liked the way they came out, (minus the ones where we were making hideous faces from the sun being directly in our eyes, but you don't have to get those ones For anyone getting pictures done on the beach, it is way harder to keep your eyes wide open than you would think. I was sure I would be able to do it and I would be fine, but your eyes water because of the wind and sun. We liked travelling around the resort and doing pictures all around. The beach shots that we got (with eyes open) were great too, you can't beat the backdrop! For the cocktail hour, if you do want to do it, just arrange a gap between the ceremony and cocktail hour, it's your wedding! People can amuse themselves in the all-inclusive resort in the meantime! We plan on being present for most if not all of the cocktail hour. I don't want to miss out on any of my own wedding festivities. For the added expense of things I did not agree or understand it much at first either, but when you think about it you are paying for the whole orchestration of it. It takes a lot of prep time and staff to be able to churn out that many meals all at once. You also have the set up and the servers to account for. The additional cost for beverages at a cocktail hour is a little hard to swallow, but again it's special staffing and set up for a private event. Ultimately I am trying not to get hung up on the stuff I cannot control, try not to think too many negative things about it because it is your wedding. I know that it will all work out wonderfully for everyone and together I am sure we can think of ways for potential savings, weather it's different flower species or no flowers at all, or a sound system instead of a DJ, or entertainment from a friend's band.

Hi Nicole, I know what you mean, I currently have my flowers booked as orchids too, I really like them, but they are extra money and I am considering changing them as well. Lillies are an excellent choice. My finace and I think we are just going to go to dinner with our parents the night before at one of the restaurants and then pick a place for everyone to meet for cocktails in lieu of a "rehersal" dinner. I did see on one of the pricing sheets from Ana that you could do a rehersal dinner for the bridal party for $80 though, and it did not say per person. I have not asked about it though because I think just going to a restaurant will be good enough for me. I have heard that with rehersal dinners they do table decorations though. I was pondering the same thing about getting the wedding stuff all down to Mexico. 1 week really is not enough of a hold time because I don't think that the mexican postal service is reliable enough. I would want to send it much in advance to safeguard against late arrivals or loss. We are going to just pack it up in suitcases and pay to bring the extra bags. We are planning on travelling on AirTran because of their baggage allowances. I think the first 2 bags are $25 (per each person, and then 50$ after that. I think they do have to be under 75 ponds each though, so test them out before hand. They do not list a limitation on # of pieces you can check. I would just check the policies of the airlines to see what's available and would work best. To Jamie: It will be great to compare notes with you as we go, I totally agree. To Janine: You are right, they usually use a sweetheart table for the couple, but you could always choose to be at a table with your wedding party or family instead. Vanessa

Hello Everyone, I am new to this forum, I just happened to stumble across it in a google search. I wanted to introduce myself to the group, my name is Vanessa and my fiance and I got engaged at this resort last September and are planning our wedding for December 10, 2011, also to happen at the Valentin. Our engagement trip was our second to the resort, so I think it goes without saying that we love it here. The service and the attention to detail is just outstanding. We have invited about 110 guests, will have the ceremony on the beach, cocktail hour in the gazebo and our reception in the fountain area. Has anyone here already had, or is planning to have there reception in the fountain area? One of my concerns is that it will not be bright enough, I have seen a couple of pictures and it seems a little bit dark. I would be interested to know what has been done here for lighting if anyone knows. I cannot remember who posted this, but whomever wrote about the food at cocktail hour going fast, thank you for the tip. I will definitely make sure to authorize that it is ok to bring out more food if the first round goes quickly. I look forward to chatting with all of you! V.