Ocean Turquesa & Coral Brides?

.. sneaking in before I leave!

I totally know where you're coming from Katie, same situation here! Just wait... it gets worse!! LOL, or maybe just with our families!

Caution with Air Transat, our flight time changed by 3 HOURS today and KNOWONE let us know! They told me they couldnt change it within 48 hours, yet today it changed and I'm leaving tomorrow. Thank god for MOH checking an hour after me and noticing something wrong or we would be all waiting at the airport for 6 HOURS!! Air Transat operator woman- RUDE! I wrote them a nice email. Also they didnt even notify our local Airport, so when I called the Airport didn't know about the time change either!! AHH! It's all better now but not what I had planned on my last day home!

Good luck beautiful Brides, chat when I get back!

Can't wait for your pics Lin! Have a beautiful wedding!

Gosh I totally know what you ladies mean about drama! And i was so naive thinking that a destination wedding wouldn't be as stressful as a local wedding, was i ever wrong! we shouldve realized that once 'money' (getting our guests to book) is involved, it gets really complicated. and I agree with you Katie, all that really matters is I am marrying the love of my life

ps we and most of our guests are flying with Transat as well and they haven't been that accommodating at all.

Ladies, just wondering if any of you know if the resort offers a free shuttle to Cancun shopping district?

Hi ladies, I just received an answer about the shuttle from Ana:

Yes, the hotel offers shuttle to Cancun for free and you have to book the guest service upon your arrival date.

This is awesome news )) Hope everyone is having a good week!

Hi Katie, from what I understand it's a free daily shuttle, so maybe we just have to book each morning we want to go to Cancun?

I'M BACK!!

The wedding was PERFECT!! AMAZING, I wouldn't have changed a single thing!!

*Food: We had priavte room with dinner- DELICIOUS! Had beef wellington, not a single complaint of all the 34 people. Yummy vinagarette salad with feta to start and lime sorbet to cleanse palete, then creme brulee with caramel as desert- and wedding cake!

*Wedding Cake: Looked great 2 tiers white fondant and icing, chocolate cake under a little mushy but still good! Ana use my blue chiffon ribbon to line the bottom of tiers and cake topper looked adorable that I brought. Ana did it all!

*Beach: FLAWLESS! Perfect day, hot, few clouds and a sligh breeze. Sand is soft as baby powder, against plans we all went barefoot! The arch looked stunning, the flowers on the side cost me about $160 but we used them for the arch and Ana broke them up after (we never had to see any behind the scenes stuff she literally did it all!!), so we could use the arch flowers as centerpieces on the 3 guest tables at reception and guestbook signing table. Multipurpose and stunning!

*Bouquets/Flowers: Exactly what I wanted! White gerber daisies, big for me and small for bridesmaids. Told Ana bouquest were too expensive.. so she recommended "small" bouquest for the bridesmaids (duh I though LOL!), and charges me only $25 each. We brought out own ribbon and gave it to Ana, the florest did it all for us, once Ana understood how I wanted it- simple! There's some beautiful flower choices, beautiful big lilies we had on the arch with white roses were nice. You can't go wrong with any flowers they provide. I was going to go in town and get flowers but I shopped around and wouldnt really be saving. Mens Boutineirs (sp?), were a single white orchid, beautiful and classy again. Head table flower arrangement was the only one we did not all white, it was a mixture of pinks and orange with glossy green leaves- STUNNING! Then they brought it to our room the next morning with out "romantic breakfast".

--Sidenote: We were upgraded to "privilege" since they didnt give us our free room upgrade- this is NOT the full privlege package if they give it to you, it's not worth as much as a free room upgrade! Fight for the room upgrade if you can, it's just worth more $. A family member upgraded our room for us as a gift and the only real difference was jacuzzi on balcony, which means we didnt get a bathtub!! Jacuzzi was nice though Overall wouldnt pay to be "privlege", didn't seem to get as much as it was worth but it was nice to get for free. We enjoied a few Crown and cokes... as a matter of fact so did many of our family members! LOL!

*Ana: A SAVIOR! She's much better face to face as in email she's a little slower, she speaks perfect english in person and seems to be the only one who really knows what's going on and will get you answers right away. Other wise if you have any problems (we had a couple- but nothing ruined our amazing wedding and vacation!), speak to Maria Lopez, she's sweet and gets things done!

*Service: Bars, outdoor waitresses and buffets- PERFECT! Fast, polite they were all amazing. Japanses place "Sensai", very very good food and show, but very tough to get into. Book right away! Mexican and Italian not only had SLOOOOW service that was mildly rude, but the food was NOT AT ALL worth the wait. SALTY! No worries, go anyways and you may like it.. gotta try all the places once! Villa Marina was DELICIOUS! Dinner was the best we had there- Try the Ocean Turquesa and Coral beef and shrimp skewers- YUM! During the day it's a casual outdoor buffet, only place you can go in your bikini! Food is so-so for lunch, good enough when you're only eating between drinks and tanning!

*People to look for:

-Oscar and Santiago: Pool Bar Bartenders; great service and very funny guys!

-Nancy: Pool waitress, sweetest lady ever- 2 kids at home! Ask her for a "surprise drink" and she'll always bring you a sweet, yummy surprise!

- Johan, Melissa and Entertainment Staff- AMAZING! Really were a huge part in the amazing time we had. When they find out you're the wedding couple, (and if you're friendly!), they'll really have a good time with you. You're treated like gold. Try the stretching and yoga, it's very nice. Beer drinking contest is as good as a fan as it is a contestant!! LOL!

*Overall: the resort is very clean, there's a few service issues but nothing that can come close to ruining your trip or wedding.

Things to Do:

* Friday Nights- Market comes to the resort- it's more expensive than the giftshop, but good luck!

*Wednesdays and Fridays- Men come and handpaint Tiles with beautiful Mexican pictures, haggle! The Friday guy who does it at the market will paint one for you with the wedding couple sitting on the beach looking at the ocean and even write your names and the date on the bottom for only $20!!

*Toga Party- At the resort, can't remember what night, but it's SO FUN! Don't be a party pooper and TOGA TOGA TOGA!

*Chitzinitza- (sp?) One of the 7 wonders of the world, ruins. Bus trip for 2 hours each way but it's a beautiful luxury bus with drinks and snacks included. Also a mildly good buffet lunch and drive though a true Mexican city and visit to a sink hole you can swim in. It's a long day but it was amazing to see these giant ruins. Word to the wise- A LOT OF TALKING from the tour guide!!! If you're not intesested at all in the history of the Mayan Culture this is NOT the trip for you!! Amazing to see, so maybe escape from the tour guide after a little while

*Excaret- COOLEST THING EVER! GO THERE! Also I recommend getting the full "Plus" package, it'll save you time and money- BEST TRIP EVER- unless you're scared of water, fish, animals or butterflys! You'll see all these things. We saw jaguars- they HUGGED! Sharks, GIANT sea turtles and baby turtles, monkeys, deer, weird animals, amazingly colorful flowers and butterflys, included snorkling to a natural underground river- COOL! Also with plus package lunch buffet was included BEST MEAL EVER! Better buffet than even the resort. You can go on a boat through paradise River and you MUST stay late and see the Mayan Show. It'll teach you without you knowing you will be entertained! It's full of fire, songs, war, animals, dancing.. truly amazing!

*Catamaran Trip- Also one of my favorite trips! Go through Jesus at the resort to plan, he's a nice guy! $80 includes buffet lunch on the Isle of Women, time to wander there, all drinks on luxury catamaran boat, snorkling, spinnaker- like Parasailing and at the Isle of women, when we were there, there's a man and lady with a mud shark fenced in on the dock and for donation you can go in with it and HOLD THE SHARK! Super cool!

*Playa Del Carmen: Amazing big city, LOTS of shopping, and Starbucks, Burger King and Walmart- LOL! Caution, these Mexicans may seem nice but they're ready to scam you anytime. Heard/seen some close ones. Caution, but have fun. Don't buy right away a lot of stores repeat, the more you buy the better deal you'll get! Lots of jewellery, hats, pottery, wrestling "natcho libre" masks, sandals, bathing suits, dresses, booze!

*Puerto Morales: Adorable/rough fishing village, small so fewer shops but less than half the price of Playa on most things and you're actually supporting mexican families who own those little shops. You'll experience a real Mexican village for only a $9 cab ride. -Try the jalapeno chips in the green bag- SO YUMMY!

*Free Bus trip to Cancun- Hugo Transat rep at resort, said it's not worth it because it's a tourist trap. They take you to gift shops and malls that see you coming a mile away so they jack up the prices. I took his word for it and didn't go.

*Crococun Zoo- Right down the street from resort. I heard it was good and is only $20 to go. But you'll be eaten alive by mosquitos! Bring bug spray! Also bring some to resort since mosquitos come out at night, bug spray's cheaper here You'll see crocodiles and be able to hand feed deer, hairles dogs and monkeys! -TIP: There's a crocodile living on the resort. A smallish one, go down the driveway to the right of the lobby turn right again and there's a little creek thing with trees and bushes, there's a path next to it for you to walk down... he's in there. He's out mostly in the morning. Staff will sometimes help you find him say "Crocodilio" and they'll know LOL!

Wow, this got to be really long. Basically I was so happy- HAVE FUN!!

If anyone knows how I post pictures in this thread I'll post more but so far here's my photobucket to see our professional wedding photos taken by the resort photographers:

Pictures by linzymouse - Photobucket

*Photographers: AMAZING! Got better pictures than I could EVER imagine. Couldn't haggle but dont let me stop you from trying! They were SO good, they knew all good poses, they were friendly so you felt relaxed, *sigh SO GOOD! Also if you use them then all your wedding pictures will be available at the giftshop in the hotel for any of your guests to buy!! This is AWESOME for us, many guests bought photos. *the photo album included is a handmade Mexican album, cool but not great for the actual wedding photos since there's no plastic covering over the photos* Your guests will LOVE being able to see all your pictures right away (That DAY!), and buy the ones they love right away in different sizes, color black and white or sepia.

Love y'all!! Have amazing weddings and I'm open if you have any questions... LOL, thanks for reading!