ThomasK

Thanks for that info RF! Hello again all. I wanted to make this a new thread on the entire website but Im not sure how to do so (lol), but has anyone here decided to go with a boat/yacht rental for a wedding reception? If so, who did you go through? Even if not, what places did you look in to?? Thanks again for all of your help/info! Best regards

@ Tammy - thanks for the info, that's helping me better understand! @ Modern - is that what that deck area is called then - "Tequila terrace"? I really like it and with how open it is I think especially if its a beautiful night that would make one rememorable evening for our guest as well as us! That;s comforting Im at least in the ballpark round figure..I was seriously wondering if my TA was just blowing smoke about "negotiating" or if anyone could get the prices he could get. If you dont mind me asking, what as the total amounted to for your entire wedding i.e. trip/stay/ceremony/reception. How many guest do you have attending and what type of "package" did you choose. I have a bad feeling this may end up costing us quite a bit since we're having so many people commited to traveling with us.

Is that definite about the children?MY godson who will be 2 next year, and my fiances little sister and cousin will be 10...my TA told me just today that children 12 (maybe 11) and under stay at the resort free (minus airfare and passfort ofcourse). Did you confirm those numbers regardnig children staying??

Thanks RF - we arent going until NEXT summer, so it is quite some time away, but our TA said he got us a "guesstimate" on the hotel and airfare. for everything per person its going to be just under 1500....is that around what you're paying (if you dont mind me asking) We're flying out of Pittsburgh - we have my fiances uncle with his wife and daughter caomnig from vegas and also my fiances best friend out of arizona but other than that we're all from Pittsburgh

Thank you for all of this helpful information Amy and Tammy! We actually heard from our TA right after I posted this yesterday and he got us a deal for airfare, tax includ. and hotel stay for 7 nights at $2959/couple which = $1479.50/person Is that a good deal in terms of what all you other brides/groom(s) got negotiated for your trips? We have not been in touch with the WC yet (other than me just emailed an inquiry and Anel responded) but will be in the coming weeks I'm sure. Where have any/all of you had/plan to have your receptions at the resort? Jess (my fiance) and I both feel in love with the pictures we have seen of that outside deck area (I think it's a restaraunt) for a possible reception, though we fear something like that, for 30-40 people will severly increase our budget we want to spend on this wedding (actually "ceremony" as we will be officially married here in front of a JP just so all of our information is the same when my fiance gets her passport). What all were you able to negotiate price-wise for your wedding/future wedding? Thanks again everyone for the helpful tips!

Hello All I have been around these forums for different resorts for a few months now, but my fiance and I have finally decided that we want our wedding to be at the NOW Sapphire (It's looks amazing!) We are quite a ways away from our wedding (we're shooting for july 2013) so we are in the absolute beginning of our wedding planning. One thing we're already both having trouble deciding on is should we go through a Travel Agent, or just go through AAA. Which have you gone through? Which do you recommend i.e. pros/cons? We've been talknig to a travel agent since early January of this year, but he seems to be slow on the response-sde of communication, which if Im going to have 40 people traveling to a different country and he is supposed to be "taking care" of everything for my guests...then that does not give me a feeling of relief. I've just heard that travel agents can "negotiate" better deals with resorts as opposed to going through AAA. Any and all helpful types/information will be GREATLY apprecaited! Thanks and best regards - TK

Hello all My fiance and I finally got our list of possible resorts from our TA to have our destination wedding so the next few days are going to be quite crazy as we need to make a decision after thorough research. for the NOW Lariamar, we will be having approx. 35-45 people joining us, with most staying for a full week. According to my TA the rooms rate is $135-$200 pp/day/night and the reception for food and beverage he listed as being no additional charges. Do any of you know if this seems to be appropriate $numbers$ for everything? Did you plan everything yourself, or did you go through a TA? if experienced with both, which do you suggest? We will be having our photographer traveling with us (my brother in law) so all we really need to figure out is price for stay for a week and then if any additional charges for a reception/dinner type of atmosphere after our ceremony. If no one minds to divuldge, what did you pay for your wedding/stay total?? I truly appreciate any and all help you may be able to provide! best regards!! - TK

To anyone that has already been to the FIVES or the SENSATORI – how is the ocean?? A lot of reviews (even the great reviews) I have read say that while the resort is beautiful, the ocean is not really swim-able….is this true??? Although we love the fives (pictures only) we don’t really see a point in having a destination wedding if you can’t enjoy the ocean @ Kerry Okay thanks...I was confused bc my fiance and I really liked the Sky bar for a rooftop reception as as surprise for our guests after a beach wedding, but we keep seeing the sky bar as something in relation to both the sensatori and the fives... THANKS AGAIN!!!

Hello all... I've been trying to skim through these threads for a little while now and have a question that may be rhetorical/redundant/odd etc...but is the Azul Sensatoria and the Azul FIVES the same place? Or connected in some way? My fiance and I are considering the fives (recommended by our TA) and we absolutely love the look of the azul fives, but everyhing i've been trying to research on this palce brings me back to the sensatori. Thanks for any of your help! - TK

Oh, awesome in regards to there not being a fee if the photographer stays. he (my brother in law) will be staying longer than that for sure; that is a huge relief! On to your other comment about your friends who have been to fives - what were/are their growing pains?? Sounds scary! Thanks again!

Thanks for all of the info/responses everyone! sorry if I'm doing this wrong, but I saw someone mentioned that there is an "outside vendor" fee...so if I bring my own photographer, I still have to pay a fee to the resort to allow them to take pictures during our ceremony??? Thanks again!

Thanks for all of this info Murmel!! Do you know by chance if ALL of teh AZUL resorts are the same regarding the ocean/beach/water? My FI and I are considering even more than the Sensatori now the AZUL Fives resort.... Thanks again!

Hello all - groom to be here, First and foremost thank you all for the helpful information on here (from what I've been able to read, there's so much!). Secondly, my FI and I are currently shooting for a late spring/early summer 2013 DW. we have been looking in to several places in Mexico as well as Punta Cana. I was in a wedding (my sister) this past July at the Magestic Elegance in PC and absolutely LOVED all aspects of it. Unfortunately, I don't think it would be "right" for my FI and I to have our wedding at the same exact resort as well as the same time frame so I'm looking for something in PC similar to that resort. In all of your experience with destination wedding planning, have you all dealt with travel agents, or just set this all up on your own? I am currently working with a travel agent, who seems to know what he's doing. I've noticed some of the (now assuming) brides got quotes of around the $110+ pp/day. My TA quoted me this morning at $135 pp/day. I just wanted to know if it is better to go through a TA or not? Also...if anyone has already had their wedding if they have any photo albums they do not mind sharring and the details of how they went about setting up their actual wedding/reception. Cost also...we gave our TA a set budget for our entire wedding with travle and airfare and he said hes only looking into resorts that would fit our criteria, though I still am hesitant as I've been reading for any resort that there are always "hidden fees" once you arrive to accomodate yourselves and your guest for your wedding day. Thanks again for all of the outstanding info!!

Hello all - for those of you that have already been to this resort or have actually been married there - how was the over all experience? And also how was the beach/ocean? My fiancé and I have been researching for a few weeks now into destinations (our TA is getting us a quote for this place) One of our main concerns we keep seeing bad reviews for places in Mexico/riviera maya are that the beaches are pretty bad with seaweed and some even are not good for swimming at all... If you wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts/experiences/pictures I would greatly appreciate it! We are planning for a July 2013 wedding Thanks!

Hello all, I actually am the groom-to-be and my fiancé Jessica and I have recently began setting our eyes on the Azul Sensatori resort. This forum is so vastand in-depth I truly do not know where to begin. A few questions/concerns we had were: Is the beach/ocean truly un-swimable? I've been reading even with excellent reviews that the ocean is overrun with seaweed and rock making the desire to swim less than stellar. The swim-up suites by the pool: in theory, these look awesome to me. I was in a wedding in punta Cana this past July and I remembered the hotel having these sites and I thought how convenient and cool the looked so when I saw that Azul Sensatori has them I immediately got excited. I've been treading though that a major issue with these suites is that they are swamped w mosquitos and a pretty awful smell that carries over into the rooms. Reception fees: we are expecting between 40-50 people attending our ceremony and all of our friends/family are pretty big drinkers (ha) so we wanted to look into possibly reserving one of the restaurants for dinner after the ceremony and then just go to one of the bars for drinks. Is there anything they have set up for dancing or no? Ideally we would just bring one of our iPhones and plug it into a speaker system if possible? Another idea reception wise (again something I experienced in punta Cana) was to just rent a boat/yacht that would take us somewhere in the ocean and have a meal/drinks/swimming then return to te resort later and continue the fun at one of the bars - has anyone looked into this option or know where to look? We currently are going through a TA who is stating they will handle every detail but I still like to research this information for myself. I apologize if these questions have already been asked but thank you for any and all information! It is truly, truly, TRULY appreciated!