JessicaC07

Hi Mandy, I think that the Dance Club and all the bars closed at 1am if I remember correctly. A few bars close earlier, i.e. the pool swim up bar, but the main ones stay open all night.

Hi Trisha, We took our real wedding rings. I had my engagement ring polished and cleaned professionally at the jewelry store before leaving as well, so it looked brand new. I didn't want to get them dirty at all, so I didn't wear my engagement ring until the ceremony. I carried the rings on in my tote bag on the plane. I didn't carry a purse, just the tote. So the tote was my personal item that fit under the seat in front of me. I wasn't letting those rings out of my site!

Hi Mandy, I was there May 15 - May 25. The nightly shows usually started at 9:30pm. I didn't go to all of them, but there is a different show every night. We noticed it does repeat itself the following week though. (We were there for 10 days, so the last 3 days were repeats of the same days the previous week). These are the ones I remember: Thursday night was a Cirque Du Soleil type show...they called it a circus show. It was really fun! Break dancing mimes, aerial acts, etc. Saturday night was a Madonna "show". we didn't go to that. Another night was a michael jackson "show". One night was "beatles and queen". We didn't go to any of the ones that were tribute like shows. Wednesday night was a Fire show. There were two guys and two girls that did amazing tricks with fire, and there was a mayan "band" with drums and chanting playing the whole time. It was entertaining. I do not remember the rest of the shows because we didn't go to many of them. We usually ended up eating really late and missing them. When we had our private romantic dinner on the beach, there was a live saxophone player "serenading" us. It was really nice! There wasn't a piano bar that I knew of. There is a night club though, with a DJ and a dance floor. It opens at 10:30pm and closes at 1am. That was a blast!!! We went there Thursday night and Friday night. The wedding was Friday, but the reception ended at 11pm. So we all went to the club after to keep the party going. It was a lot of fun!

I had 2 carry on size suitcases filled with stuff for my welcome bags. (I had a bridesmaid take one on as her own since the airline only allowed one per person.) I didn't have any receipts. Instead, I printed out my wedding confirmation from Gloria. It had Excellence letterhead, the date of the wedding, confirmation # etc. I put one printed confirmation on the top of the items in each carryon so if they were opened it would be the first thing seen. I had no issues getting through customs whatsoever. The groom actually carried on the second bag, because my carry on item was my dress. I flew on JetBlue, and when I called the airline to ask about carrying on my gown, they told me it would have to be inside a carryon bag. There was no way I was cramming it into a carryon bag...so I just went for it in the garment bag. I figured worst case scenario was I had to buy a carry on at the airport and go through with shoving it in. Pleasantly to my surprise though, I wasn't even questioned about my dress once. I left it in the garment bag from the dress shop. I did fold it in half to make it easier to carry. When I got on the plane, I put it in the overhead compartment just as it was, folded in half. It fit just fine. When I got to the resort it didn't have any wrinkles at all! Maybe I just got lucky with everything, but I honestly had no problems at all getting anything to Mexico.

Here are a couple of the photos from the resort photographer of the guests during cocktail hour: I love how you can see the mariachi band in the background! And for fun, these are some of the photos from Juan Navarro that I've seen so far: And a few images from my friend's cameras:

Thanks Mandy! It does have a decent amount of sparkle, but I don't think it's too much. It isn't glittery; it's more of a soft shimmer. I actually got compliments on it! I've never used the other brands, so unfortunately I can't compare it to anything. I think you will be fine with them taking the photos. Since I had the gold package, I had 24 photos included. I hired Juan Navarro as my photographer (great experience btw! I haven't received the photos yet, but I'll definitely share when I get them). The resort photographer took the 24 photos of my guests during cocktail hour. I actually really like what I got. They gave them all to me on a cd, so I was able to share them with the guests. Everyone loves them! It isn't anything artistic, but I wasn't expecting it to be. They are just professional quality straight shots. She did take some fun ones though, and I love those the best. I'm at work now so I don't have them, but when I'm home later I can post a few for example. Now that I've seen their work first hand, I don't have as many doubts as I did when I was first deciding on the photographer. I'm still happy I went with Juan, but I think I would have been pleasantly surprised by the resort had I chosen to go with them.

Hi KayLynn, Thank you so much for the kind words! This is the product I used by Victoria's Secret. It comes out dark looking, but once you rub it in it looks great. It was seriously like make-up for my body. It evened out my skin tone and gave me color at the same time. I put it on in the morning before getting my hair done, so it had time to absorb into my skin. I don't know if I actually needed to do that, but I just did because mentally I thought it would help keep any of it from getting onto my dress. I would definitely put it on before putting the dress on though. It is a lotion, but it isn't streaky at all. I just rubbed it in like I would any body lotion, and had my friend rub it onto my back. I only used it on the part of me that was showing in the dress. I didn't put it on my face - instead they used bronzing powder on my face at the salon. I used the lotion other days I was there too - like on my legs before going on the beach, etc. It washes off when you shower. http://www.victoriassecret.com/swimwear/self-tanners-and-bronzers/instant-bronzing-tinted-shimmer-lotion-beach-sexy?ProductID=90766&CatalogueType=OLS&search=true The DJ was DJ Mannia. I think they must have multiple DJ's that just work under the one name. I swear it was this guys first time DJ'ing a wedding. It didn't ruin the night - we laughed about the "It Wasn't Me" song, it was just ridiculous. The only song on my do not play list was "The Electric Slide". I know it's a popular one, but I never learned how to do it, so I didn't want to hear it. It wasn't the end of the world that it got played anyway - I just took a break from dancing for that one. I'm sure you can decorate Barcelona up nicely. It isn't too bad on the inside, kind of a blank canvas really - and A/C will be a huge bonus! Agave is nice. It was my favorite restaurant actually. 8 of us ate there the night before the wedding. It was one of the only places that would accommodate a larger group. I don't remember being hot, even though it is outside. We ate at night though; the sun had already set. Plus, we did a lot of tequila shots at dinner, lol. We had a great time!! One thing I'll add about the restaurants is that it was hard to get them to accommodate larger groups at dinner. Basically anything larger than 4 we had to semi-beg for. Chez Isabelle wouldn't do it all. We had to do multiple separate tables with 4 max at each. I'll also say that anytime we had dinner more than just the 2 of us (so even just a group of 4), the service was unbelievably slow everywhere. I think they are definitely used to just couples at dinner. Your catered event will obviously go differently - I'm just talking about regular walking into a restaurant for dinner. The hibachi tables at Spice sit up to 10 - so if you do want a group dinner on another night that isn't pre-set up - I would recommend doing that. You have to get to the restaurant when it opens at 5:30 and make a reservation for the hibachi. It gets filled up fast!

Hi Ladies!!! I'm back from Mexico and ready to share tips! You can ask me any questions too. 1. I know there has been talk on here about having your cocktail hour at Las Olas. Now that I've been there, I would highly recommend doing this. I didn't even know it was an option. I had my cocktail hour on the pier. Las Olas is directly in front of the pier on the beach. The waiters/bartenders are actually set up at Las Olas anyway, and they walk the drinks/food out to you on the pier. Las Olas has a covered area, and is less brutal wind wise. It's still beautiful though because it's right on the beach. A lot of guests ended up going over there and sitting during cocktail hour anyway. 2. Mexico is Hot!!! LOL I know we all already know that, but it was actually a lot hotter than I even imagined. There is a constant breeze on the beach, so it is great! I wasn't hot during the ceremony because we had it at the beach gazebo. My photographer took us for photos around the resort though, and it was so uncomfortably hot everywhere that wasn't on the beach. 3. We had our reception at the Lobster House. It was really beautiful, and not too hot since it is close to the ocean and has a constant breeze. If the Lobster House isn't available on your day, I would recommend asking about Oregano. It wasn't presented as an option, but you never know. It's also open air, close to the beach with a breeze. 4. Don't expect everything to go perfectly. There were a number of mistakes made. We just rolled with them, and didn't let them bother us. Example: The officiant started off with we are here for "Jessica and Jason"...well, my groom is Justin. And, one of the groomsmen is actually named Jason, lol. We all laughed, corrected him, and moved on. The reception table wasn't set up the way I had requested at all. It didn't ruin the night though. The DJ played the 1 and only song that I had on my do not play list, and during dinner he actually played "It wasn't me", lol. He had a lot of what I would consider break up songs played during dinner. It was weird, but again, we just laughed. Even with all of the mistakes, we had an amazing time - and it was really beautiful. 5. The video that the resort videographer took of the ceremony was surprising in a great way. Ours actually was edited, with cute music and everything. I was expecting raw footage. I love what we got! 6. The spa was really disorganized the day of my wedding. Despite that, my hair and makeup turned out soooo beautiful!!! While she was doing my hair, I wanted to cry because I thought it was awful. I looked like I had little bo peep curls. I was so worried it wouldn't turn out good at all. She kept explaining to me that the curls would fall as soon as my hair hit the humidity and wind. She was so right! It ended up amazingly gorgeous and lasted ALL night. I actually slept with it up that night, and it still looked great the next day! 7. Our guests said it was the best wedding they have ever been to, one of the nicest resorts they've been to, an amazing vacation, etc. It really was overall an amazing experience!!! I'm not the best at writing reviews. I know there are a lot of things I didn't think to write about right now. I'll answer any questions that anyone has though, and if I think of anything else, I'll add it later as it comes to me.

Hi KayLynn, Unfortunately they don't offer spray tans. I had inquired about the same thing, because we went 3 days before the wedding. I got a spray tan the day before we left home, and it still looked great in time for the ceremony. I did avoid getting in the pool/ocean until after the wedding though. I also had bought a product from Victoria's Secret that I put on all over the morning of the ceremony. It has instant color and a bit of shimmer. I loved it!! It was like make-up for my body. It didn't come off on my dress either. The inside of my dress did have spray tan on it when I took it off at the end of the night though.

The wipes are by DermaDoctor. I ordered them online, but I think you can buy them at Sephora as well. They are a little pricey, so I definitely wouldn't use them on a daily basis. I'm not sure if it would be great for skin to use daily either. I'll use them for special occasions where I know there is a chance of sweating, and I still need to look good. It doesn't say it on the website, but on the actual packets themselves it says that it is appropriate for use on the face, in addition to underarms, palms, feet, etc. My husband-to-be has issues with feet sweating when he wears flip flops. So I'm going to get him to try it on his feet too. http://www.dermadoctor.com/best-sellers/med-e-tate-sweat-control-towelettes.html Teal Marie - I like the idea of a "beachy" tropical version of Here Comes the Bride also. If you find anything good let me know, and I'll do the same!

Hey Ladies, I finally tried out the Med-E-Tate wipes! It actually worked really really well! My bachelorette party was Saturday night and I used one that morning. I am the type of person that always sweats when dancing; we danced the night away and I didn't sweat one drop! The only thing I will say, is that it was extremely drying on my skin. It made my skin feel extremely tight...so I just layered on a lot of moisturizer after, and then make up on top and then it was good to go. It didn't effect the way I looked at all. You couldn't tell I had done anything different. I will definitely use it the day of the wedding. It didn't cause me any breakouts either. My best friend also used one that night, and didn't sweat at all on the face either - which never happens. So they are extremely excited to use it for the wedding also. I am having the most difficult time with song selection also! The two I'm having the hardest time with, are the song that is played when I walk down the aisle, and the first dance song. We aren't one of those couples that has "a song". So it's hard for me to find something that we can really connect with. I cannot believe my wedding is now only 3 weeks and 3 days from now!!! I feel like it has flown by, and there are still so many things I have left to do! I have lost 25 lbs to date though, so I'm pretty excited about that! I had my first dress fitting last Friday, and felt so amazing! It was the first time I got to see everything on all at once (dress with accessories, shoes, etc.) I almost cried at how beautiful/perfect I felt. I really can't wait to walk down the aisle and see his face!

Hi Clee0605, I haven't tried them yet. I keep forgetting to order them. I need to get on that, lol! They have a lot of good reviews. I'll let you know once I finally get them.

I have the same concern regarding sweating. I don't have issues with sweat for the most part, except for my face. I am worried about sweating my make up off and having bad hair. I found this product online that has a lot of good reviews for stopping sweating on the face. I haven't ordered it yet, but I plan to soon. I want to test it out and make sure it doesn't cause breakouts or anything. Wouldn't want to trade one negative just for another, lol. In the reviews people said they also use the towelettes under their breasts and it works to control sweat there too. I wouldn't want to put ice in my bra,I would think that as it melts it would show through the dress. http://www.dermadoctor.com/med-e-tate-sweat-control-towelettes.html

Hi Sixer - that's too funny! 5:30pm - what time are you getting married? What wedding package did you go with? I am doing the Gold package. I asked her to e-mail me the flower options etc., and it has a lot of different categories. It was honestly a little confusing because flowers are included in the gold package - but I'm not sure which ones. And they list premium options, but it doesn't say what the upgrade cost is for them. I e-mailed her my questions today so hopefully I will hear back soon. I can't wait!