starchild

Welcome and happy planning!

YAY!!! Congratulations, I am so happy for you both! I know they did a fantastic job!!

I say Las Caletas but I'm prejudiced as you can tell by my profile! Welcome )

I never stay in Nuevo Vallarta, but I know a few people who have stayed at the Riu Jalisco and loved it, but that is all-inclusive. You may be surprised to find that all-inclusives are not much more per night than hotels that offer only the European plan in that area, so check around. Sorry, I'm not too experienced with that part of Vallarta but surely soomeone on this forum can give you better information. I'm also getting married this year at Las Caletas so let me know if I can help with anything.

I found these quirky cameras for those of us marrying in Mexico. They would be cute to leave on tables for guests to use at the reception or welcome dinner. When developed, pictures have Spanish phrases printed across the bottom. There is also a Honeymoon camera with English messages, not super stylish to see on a table, but the prints are too cute !!! Check them out : SPANISH WEDDING MESSAGE CAMERA wedding camera FIESTA MESSAGE CAMERA fiesta camera HONEYMOON MESSAGE CAMERA honeymoon camera

If you're looking for sample/travel size goodies to stuff your OOT bag with, I've found steals on this site: Minimus - For All Your Travel Size Item Needs They have tiny packs of aspirin/sunblock/wipes/etc. for less than 25 cents each in most cases. Thought I'd pass it on for those of us trying to stuff our bags economically!

Yes, Barcelona Tapas is in Vallarta and is supposed to have an awesome patio overlooking the city. I hear the food is sooooo good and pretty inexpensive, but I've only read a few reviews on yahoo or something. I think I'll ask my WC . . .

Quote: Originally Posted by Nrvsbride I lot of you mentioned that you did some type of RSVP with your save the dates? May I ask what you included with the SDT? I think I may want to do this. And how long did you give everyone to respond? My wedding is not until a year and a half but I would like to get STD's out within the next couple of months just so I can give people time to save. And the RSVP's may help me determine how many rooms to block. -Glenda We sent our STD's in September and requested a response by December, so they had basically 4 months to decide. We had STD magnets made, with our website printed on the bottom. Those were sent with a letter saying (in essence) this is what we are doing, when & where we are doing it, and we do not expect everyone to be able to attend. We then told them to go to our website for all the info they would need to make an informed decision (passport fees/travel packages/etc.). The website has an RSVP section where they let us know, AND we told them that due to the nature of our DW, we had to get a count soon, so if we did not hear either way from them by the deadline, we would have to assume they were not planning to attend. We even went so far as to offer them links to travel companies that do free payment plans so that they could put a small amount down and make it manageable. Our guests range from filthy rich to very broke, so we tried to give everyone an option. Now only the people saying they would come are getting formal invites, that's a money saver too!! Hope this helps!! P.S. As a side bonus, there were a few "courtesy invites" that took forever to respond, and when they did it was after the deadline, so because of my disclaimer, I was able to tell them it was too late as my WC in Mexico already made arrangements for the number of people I gave her by the deadline. But yes, I did secretly extend that deadline for people I WANTED to be there. A bride's gotta do what a bride's gotta do

Funny! A bridesmaid of mine thinks she is too short to go shoeless but she is doing it for me, with the exception that she can keep a pair of wedges at the end of the aisle to put on IMMEDIATELY after the ceremony. And she is so serious!! LOL

Honestly I'm not sure, but that seems a little high to me. I am doing a Catholic ceremony a few days before I head down to P.V. just because it just seemed easier. But it will be cool to have your legal marriage in Mexico. You may want to check around online for other WC's just to see what they quote you. Good luck

Thanks for the info . . . anyone know anything about Barcelona Tapas?

Ours is on the beach at sunset, EVERYONE in the wedding party will be barefoot (we gave the men plenty of time to get those barefeet in shape). There is a covered area at our spot in case of rain. Unless you are in love with the cute wedding shoes, I say do it on the beach and barefoot!

You are on it!!! Thanks!!

LOVE the Quinta del Mar!! I almost considered that one myself (along with a few others) but the size of our group is growing so we went with a place that can accomodate more if needed. Welcome and happy planning!

Thanks!! I can use all the info you have

I sent STD's out 9 months before the wedding to everyone we could imagine being there. Those who rsvp'd by the date we set will be getting a formal invitation soon, those who already said they cannot come will not get one. It feels like our burden but it shouldn't be. Your wedding, your location, your happiness. Good people will respect that and come if they can. Good people who can't come will rsvp with a no and wish you well. Don't worry about anyone else

You are also allowed to bring more than 3 people out early, you just pay per person. I have 6 bridesmaids, I believe it is another $70-80 pp to bring the extra people. For us, it is worth the $$ to have all my ladies there all day to do some spa treatments and help me get ready!! (one of them is a make-up artist, woo hoo!)

Welcome and best wishes to you both

Welcome We are doing a legal ceremony in CA the weekend before we head to P.V., which has taken on a life of its own. Looks like I'm having 2 weddings and 2 receptions now It doesn't seem too difficult to do it legally in Mexico though. We plan to have a welcome dinner the night before. Our guests ages and interest are so diverse that other than eating & drinking, it may be hard to please everyone. I think we are having the bachelor & bachelorette parties (separately of course) in P.V. two nights before the wedding so that should be fun. Other than that, we plan to say where we will be at given days and times and whoever wants to join us can, whoever wants to explore Vallarta on their own can do that too. Happy planning!

So, Ann (& everyone else) only a few of my guests are staying at Dreams so I don't think I could have a WD there? Maybe so, I'm going to ask Nicole to recommend some restaurants where we could set that up. We referred most of our guests to Pleasant Holidays, they let you reserve your entire package for $150pp and pay the balance anytime up to 30 days prior to departure. That way a lot of our guests that couldn't commit to pay upfront were able to reserve their trips months ago and have time to pay them off. I'm sure that's why we have so many confirmed so soon! Yes we should meet up sometime while we are both there. I'm taking a very relaxed approach to this, seen too many stressful brides who take everything so seriously they don't enjoy their day. So, I'm just having the standard table centerpieces that Caletas offers. I don't even care if I don't see them in advance - they do this all the time, they know what looks good. Maybe that's crazy?!? Music is more important to us. My brother is going to pre-mix all of our favorite songs and put them on discs, which Nicole said we can play at the reception in lieu of the DJ. We signed up for the DJ at first, then changed our minds because our taste in music is all over the map, and we didn't want to ask the DJ to find all these specific songs that we HAD to hear. I'm sure the DJ is great, but this way, every single song played is hand selected by us and in the order in which we want to hear it. Instead of traditional programs, we've opted for program fans. Have you seen those? Too cute and not much more $$ than regular programs! And probably helps beat the heat, lol.

Hey Ann, We are staying at Dreams too! At first we wanted a tiny wedding, like 20 people. But we pre-invited about 80 with save the date magnets, thinking nobody would travel that far. Right now we have 40 confirmed and we have not even sent out official invitations yet. Luckily Nicole said she doesn't need a final count until 30 days prior to the wedding. I want to arrange a welcome dinner the night before, so I may ask Nicole for a referral on that . . .any ideas? Ask me anything, don't fight the urge, LOL

Janet, my coordinator is based in Mexico. She works with PV Adventure Weddings

Hey everyone, My name is Jamy and thanks to Nicole and Ann for leading me here. Our wedding is creeping up on us too . . . June 2nd. So much to do on my end but I have no worries about Las Caletas. I know everything will be wonderful! Oh my God those pictures are so amazing!!! I've been there before, but seeing it all decked out for a wedding?!?! I am more excited than ever!!

Hello ladies, Thank goodness I was referred here by my wedding coordinator! It's so refreshing to see so many of us breaking tradition and making our weddings exactly what we want them to be !! I'm getting married in June at Las Caletas, Mexico as are a few others here. I have to make my way to that forum next . . . This is fun Congratulations to everyone!!