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writting our vows thursday at the ceremony location telling stories with my dad & brother at the lobby bar our wedding night decor i love what they did, but they used up all of our tooilet paper. we had to take apart the toilet paper flowers. my mom folded a towel duck when she got home cute masks on the wall view from balcony eating at the el mercado feeding fish from the kayak

breakfast at the la brisa I loved the yogurt covered bananas. when my mom got home, her first thought after waking up was "breakfast buffet." She was sad to realize she wasn't in Mexico anymore.

Inside the Mexican restaurant The creperie aka where you can find Mike after 5pm We went here with Kristie & Morgan after taking our post ceremony pictures for some ice cream. It was just what we needed to cool down before our dinner.

catalonia yucatan side. you really can't tell these are two hotels. They share everything. The yucatan side is booked in europe so there was a lot of diversity. I thought that was a cool thing about the catalonia. when i was in cancun before, i kept meeting others from texas. there were people from all over at the cat. This is a patio outside of the itallian & mexican restaurants. I think this might be an area they fix up for receptions. if not, it's an area near this. there is a balcony like space outside of the creperie right in front of this patio. itallian & mexican specialty restaurants the bar between the two- it was a nice place to relax. there were rarely people there. there was a little terrace that we sat on some nights. one night we took our food to go from teh buffet & ate on the terrace. They served us margaritas. there wasn't anyone else around. You also have an ocean view the itallian restaurant restrooms outside these two restaurants- just wanted to show they were nice incase you were planning a reception up here ourside the mexican restaurant (where I had my reception)

volley ball court patio outside the el mercado looky bar- one of the options for a private reception

El Mercado buffet. They only open this one once they reach 75% occupancy. It would be a nicer spot for a reception because it's closed in. I also loved the colored chairs. There were less choices on the buffet here. I don't know that this one is an option for a reception. It was only open on the weekend while we were there.

The beach is erroded a lot, but it was still nice The built up this area with beach chairs There is more beach on this side The dive shop was great. You can kayak, snorkel, scuba, sail & ride a catermeran for free! more pics of la brisa. if you had your dinner here, they would rope of a section. the main drawback is that it's open air & can get a little muggy. This is where we had most of our meals.

the snack bar (and steakhouse at night) place where you can get massages lagoon near the ceremony site ceremony site ceremony site

Pictures pictures pictures!!! cute towel decoration when we arrived Fruit & champagne on the first day mariachis on Mexican night (every night was a different theme) Lobby bridge leading from lobby to pools/ restaurants some rooms La Brisa Buffet This is the buffet where you can have a free reception if you have over 20 guests. The food was good!!

I'm so glad you hired Kristie too. now that my wedding is over, I can just stare at my pictures & look forward to yours

more on page 5!

there were many private villas in puerto aventuras (20 min south of PDC). I'm posting pics of some of them soon. There are also pics on locogringo.

Quote: Originally Posted by manda0812 Welcome back and wow wow wow, what great photos, some serious model shots in that lot. you look amazing and I also can't wait to hear what everyone thought of your amazing DIY efforts. what will you do with your time now.. relax for a bit I bet.. so happy for you xx now its projects with my pictures everyone loved all the DIY stuff. I really enjoyed having everything so personalized.

i was glad i went with flowy. it was hot & a flowy dress works so great in the water. i did a lot of swimming in my dress. plus it was easy to pack.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mandy Yay, you're getting married!!! Or maybe you're putting on your wedding dress right now. Or getting your hair done. Or more likely, doing it yourself. Happy wedding day, Mrs. Mike!!!! ha ha! I thought about doing my own hair. I did it myself when i was a BM in Jan & decided it was something best left for the pros. At the time you posted I was getting my dress zipped by my 2 HBMs while we sang gasolina. Kristie told me to "do a little jig" to give my dress motion. Everywhere we went that song was playing (even though you pointed out it puerto rican). Those pictures are going to be cute. They are wearing swimsuits after spending the day at the pool. Quote: Originally Posted by kevsgirl You're probably married by now! Congratulations!!! yep, by that point I was married and kissing my husband on the beach. Thanks for all the congrats!

We had the time of our lives. I'm sure that is cheesy, but it's true. I can't believe she found the time/ energy, but kristie already has some teasers up (portfolio--> destination wedding). I LOVE them!!! www.photographybykristie.com I will be posting my review & stories soon. I can't wait to rave about all the wonderful vendors. The only thing we were dissapointed in was Lomas the people Funjet contracts to. I don't really understand it, but they are the ones that run the airport shuttles & excursions. Our Lomas rep was so shady & lied to us every chance he got. He had not interest in helping us. he just wanted to sell us stuff. Other than that, everyone else was amazing.

my mom walked me & I just hugged her. She sat down & I stood next to mike.

Oh, I'm back home so no more getting mad at me for logging on from the hotel I only got on twice because mike was laying in bed watching bear grills (no idea how it's spelt). He is feelilng a lot better, but he got an upset stomach after having a hamburger from the snack bar. We also probably overdid it. We were so active & once everyone left we crashed. it felt great though.

I'm here. I can't sleep. Too full of happiness. The wedding was the best time of our lives & I'm loving my pics Destination weddings were the best invention ever!

Quote: Originally Posted by melglnh2o I guess it all depends. We had 70 people who came and people stayed anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 days. I loved spending all our time with everyone but I felt like we just needed some more time. I guess if we would have had 10 days there we would have probably still wanted more. Wednesay was pretty much a travel day. Tuesday was really the only day we had for ourselves and we did a day trip to Isla Mujeres but we were so exhausted from all the other activities that it would have been nice to have a day to do nothing! It will be fine for you I am sure. You are going to have a blast Morgan! 7 days turned out to be plenty for us. I think the main thing is to have a few days alone once the guests leave. We were lucky all of ours were gone by monday. it was great having them around, but also nice to be alone. We were still having fun, but are excited to be home. We are both worn out & don't need to be in the sun anymore.

Would do again 1. Hire an awesome photographer. I can not describe how happy the pictures make me. I was so full of joy all week & looking at the pictures just brings it all back to me. Also, everyone enjoyed having Kristie & boy Morgan around. The guests can not get over how amazing the pictures are. I'm even blown away & I already knew how talented Kristie is. It's 1:20am and I spent 10 hours traveling, but I'm online looking at my pictures again so full of energy like it is my wedding day again. www.photographybykristie.com 2. Get a video. I really went back & forth on this. My biggest concern was that the video would make us uncomfortable. It did not at all. As soon as the ceremony was over, I could tell how bad i'd want the video. I am excited to watch the guests during the ceremony. I also want to see it from their perspective. I know I'm going to cherish this video. Cancun Wedding Videos | Mayan Riviera Wedding Videographer | Miguel Cantarell - Home 3. Mexico & Riviera Maya I was trying to avoid this area because I wanted to go some place new. But, it was the best price for our guests coming from Texas. I'm so glad we went with this area. It was a completely different experience from my previous trip. I also love Mexico. The people are awesome, the colors are bright & the food is the best. There were so many great things to do in Riviera Maya. I could go back so many times & still not get tired of it. 4. All inclusive hotel Our guests loved the hotel & all the included food/ drinks. Mike & I barely drank, but we got our money worth. it was also so nice to be able to easily meet up with everyone without having to plan anything. When we went to the buffet we'd get a big table & just see who showed up. We also had some fun times in the specialty restaurants, especially the japanese steakhouse. The included activities were also great. There were kayaks, bikes, catermerans, snorkeling, tennis, a disco, nightly shows, karaoke, and so much more included. Staying at an AI really made for a relaxed group trip. Also, it was so much fun to watch the people who have never stayed at an AI respond to it. They were so surprised at all the stuff included. 5. no bridal party it was so much simplier this way. also, i was happy the would-have-been bridesmaids were able to play instead of being my maids. They ran in just in time to zip up my dress. The pictures will be so cute. They are in swimsuits zipping me & we are dancing to "gasolina." That song plays everywhere we go. 6. the group trip to Coba We had a great time & Sinal tours were awesome. I will be posting all of their info soon. 7. No private reception We just had dinner in a hotel restaurant. Afterwards guests did their own thing. We had the busy day in coba the day before & everyone had been active the day of the wedding so several people went to bed. Another group hung out at the beach bar. Then another group had a blast dancing in the disco. Mike & I went in to the ocean for our TTD pics & called it a night early. 8. OOT bags No one expected them so I would say it's totally optional. But, it made me really happy to put them together & hand them out. I saw people using the stuff so often. It also made me happy everytime I saw someone wearing the silly little hair flower. The keycard holders were a hit too. 9. Making it legal in the US Legal day was wonderful & it was nice not to have that extra stuff to take care of. I was also very happy to get to personalize our ceremony. 10. going with the hotel standard package. We paid $350 & got so much! I did pay an extra $10 to add birds of paradise to my bouquet. But, other than that the hotel package was all we needed and was beyond my expectations. They set up the ceremony site so beautifully. I loved the flowers. I still can not get over how much they did for us. 11. A non-wedding dress, wedding dress I bought a long, white dress from Macy's. It was so comfortable & lightweight. I was able to pack it in my carry-on easily. I also saved a lot of money. Only $220 for the dress & $25 for alterations. I love how the top layer blew in the wind & it wasn't hard to swim in. 12. No seperate honeymoon I think the main reason why it worked for us is that our guests only came for a long weekend. We had plenty of alone time during our week stay. By the time we got home we were completely worn out. I would prefer to take an anniversary trip. Regrets 1. I wish I didn't worry so much when we first started planning. I worried that people were upset we were having a DW. I worried I had to have an AHR. I wasn't even enjoying planning at first because I felt so guilty. Finally I stopped worrying & realized that no one was mad at us for having a DW. The comments in our guests book were things like, "thank you for including us" and "we had the best time ever." I also felt guilty to have a DW thinking that my dad couldn't make it. He made it & loved it. 2. There were little mishaps like me forgetting my veil. but, these are not really regrets. Everything was too wonderful to worry about little things like that. 3. I bought a book/ CD set for learning spanish, but I never got around to opening it. It's not really a regret, because I know it would have been hard to find the time, but I really wish I knew some spanish before the trip. Mike knows some & I wish we were able to practice together & talk to the staff. I still plan on learning someday for a future trip. You can get by fine with English, but people really appreciated when he could speak some Spanish.

I have tons of details for the catalonia ladies that I will get up soon. until then I'll just let you know that i loved it. we will definitly go there again. several guests are planning their next trip to the cat. my dad wanted to drop off an application to sing in their lobby bar. they took great care of us. the hotel is beautiful & a great size. I couldn't have been happier with all of it. It was a perfect wedding and so stress free.

i took pictures of the hotel this week. i'll post them soon. there was a spot on the beach that looked like a reception place. it had a wood floor. i danced on it thinking that it would make for a beautiful reception. it was really fun that dreams was closed because we used their beach like our own private spot. there is a lagoon there that i loved swimming in.

you can extract the dna from an onion. there should be a protocol online. it's something you can do with kids.

Quote: Originally Posted by Alyssa go back to your hubby girl!!!! check out - you will be back soon enough xoxo he is taking a nap. he got sick but i´m super energetic and it´s raining hard. and my pictures are too much fun to look at