Beach Bride 80

Your ring turned out gorgeous!!!

We went barefoot and were fine. The sand is a little rougher, but wasn't bad. I found it harder to walk in sandals than just barefoot. When your there you can experiment with what make you most comfortable.

Welcome to the Forum.

Welcome to the forum!! You will find great information on here to help in the planning process. There is a ton of info. on Cancun. Enjoy!

Both of us have our own bikes and have gone on long trips before (10 days). I love the freedom and as far as the risk, there are many other things people do that are far worse and cause more deaths/accidents, so you just have to tune those people out. Any ladies out there thinking about riding your own I would strongly suggest the rider training course, even if you don't want to ride your own bike, its a great confidence builder.

I have owned 3 pairs of MBT shoes and absolutely love them. I stand all day for my job so I bought them more for comfort than anything. It is hard to tell if they do a lot of toning or reduce cellulite because I run and excercise quite regularly, but they are amazing for comfort. Another great website to try is footwearetc.com

I just got this video and did the first workout yesterday. Today I am feeling the pain!! I consider myself to be in decent shape, I run about 3-4 times each week, but haven't been lifting regularly, so hopefully this will whip me into shape. It's amazing you can get such a good workout in 20 min.

I would start running 3 times a week, so alternating days with cardio. If you already go to the gym, it would probably be easiest to start on a treadmill. Runners World has some great training programs for beginning runners looking to run a half marathon or full marathon that you can follow. Once you start running consistently I would add days in when you do sprints or tempo runs and long runs to change it up a bit. Like the other posts said, a good pair of shoes is a must, if you go to a reputable sports store, they should be able to tell you what type of shoe you need as far as cushioned, stability, or motion control, by looking at your arch and the way your foot strikes the ground. If you have the wrong shoes it can really make running a lot harder on your body, especially when you start running for long periods of time.

I think it should be up to you how much planning you want to put into it. When you get to the resort they set you up completely with everything you would need as far as cakes, flowers, dinner, etc. I did a few extras for our wedding just because I wanted to and I like to do crafty things. Thats just one of the perks of a DW, its very flexible.

Your pictures are beautiful!

Quote: Originally Posted by bride2becabo I have spoke to the new coordinator. Her name is Nelly. She has been awesome! I had more information in her from 1 email then I had from Erika in the past 3 months! Im happy Nelly did our wedding in Jan. because Erika was sick, and she did an amazing job. It far exceded our expectations for the package we had chose. So I am sure that you will be very happy with her.

We were there in January of 2009 and we paid a day pass of $75 for our photographer and then we had 5 guest attend that did not stay at the resort and their passes were only $50 each. We paid for them all together and they told us for that many it would only be 50 instead of 75.

We have stayed at Riu's in Riviera Maya, Puerto Plata D.R., and in Cabo- we got married at the Riu in Cabo and we have loved all of the resorts. Their all inclusive program is great and they always seem very reasonable priced for what they offer.

Depending upon when you are planning your wedding for, the Riu will be opening a resort there in November of 2009. They always are a great option for an all-inclusive hotel and their prices are usually very competitive.

Your pics look amazing. I am glad everything worked out great for you!!

We had the vanilla cake with white frosting and strawberry filling and it actually was very delicious. Something that I wish I would have done was bring little cake boxes for our guests to take a piece with them to their room for later, because even after everyone had gotten a piece of cake, there was a lot left over and I am sure they would have enjoyed a snack the next day.

Quote: great review!!!!!!!! i got engaged on cabo and stayed in this hotel....do u mind me asking what kind of fabric and how long it was that u used for the chairs and the chulapa? also how much did it all come to and how much was it to rent the disco? I used 6" organza tulle for the chairs, I am not sure how long it was, I did not do a bow, so you would need more length for that, I think the standard length for chair bows is 109". Because there was no where to purchase the color of tulle that I wanted I just purchased a bolt online and brought all of the fabric, so I am not sure how much they used on chuppah, the wedding coordinator used the extra fabric to decorate for our dinner. It was $500 for the disco and that included drinks, dj, and bartender

Quote: Anyway loved your pics - Ive been trying to decide my hair and makeup - i happen to have same hair ength and colour as you. Did you get yours done or did u do it yourself?? Your hair and make up was absolutley perfect! I did my own makeup and my MOH is a hairstylist, so she did my hair. I thought it was pretty simple for her, she did too. She just curled my hair with a 1" curling iron and then individually pinned pieces up.

I think that is the same as my photographer, Alberto Misrachi. I just did a review on him here. He was fabulous.

Our wedding was really beautiful and everything that I could have ever asked for. To preface this, I am not a super picky person, but I had specific things in mind for our wedding. So, things that I thought were perfect, may not be what the next bride has in mind. There was a total of 46 people that attended our wedding, from Wisconsin, Alabama, Alaska, and Texas. So there was a variety of travel arrangements, most stayed for 7 nights and a few stayed for 4 nights. NWA Vacations: (A) Those of us that flew from MSP used NWA Vacations through our local travel agency and everything went smoothly. Our travel agent did a great job of communicating transfers and what to expect when we get to Cabo. The transfers were easy to recognize at the airport. Northwest Airlines: (A-) The majority of us flew out from Minneapolis on a non-stop flight to Cabo, which we had no delays or problems with on the way there or on the way back. The only thing I was a little peeved about was that they wouldn't let me hang my dress in the closet, which I know is not a given, but I was kind of expecting it. It really wasn't a big deal because there wasn't much to my dress, so I just carefully folded it in the overhead and it was fine. Navigating through the airport was actually quite easy, surprisingly enough not one timeshare representative tried to talk to me, perhaps it was the frazzled look on my face after keeping track of 8 suitcases! Riu Santa Fe: (A-) When our group arrived at the resort, we were greeted with drinks and a short orientation to the resort and to the excursions available in Cabo. All of our rooms were ready when we arrived. Our travel agent arranged for everyone to have rooms in the same building, except for us, because we got upgraded to building 7. It was nice for everyone to be in the same building as the resort is enormous, which is sometimes an advantage and other times a disadvantage. The resort is gorgeous and the staff works very hard to keep it neat and clean and they have a very friendly staff. They have a nice food selection for breakfast, lunch and dinner and you can eat at the a la carte restaurants as well. If you get tired of the selection, you can always head into town to switch it up a little We decided to upgrade to the outdoor Jacuzzi suite for the last 4 night of our trip and that was the best money ever spent! The rooms are gorgous and it is great to watch the sun come up outdoors in your jacuzzi. I would highly recommend it. Everyone in our group seemed very satisfied with the resort and would come back in a heartbeat. The Wedding (A) Erika is the Santa Fe's wedding coordinator, however she was very ill and in the hospital for our wedding, so Nelly took care of us when we arrived in Cabo and did an excellent job. Prior to arriving I had communicated a lot through e-mail with Erika and she was always quick to answer any questions I had. When we met with the wedding coordinator we selected the cake, decorations, etc. The Ceremony The ceremony took place on the beach and was beautiful. I provided the chair bows and azalea tulle for the decorations, sand ceremony stuff, and programs and music basically I just brought Nelly a suitcase full of decorations and she did the rest. Keep in mind if you are having your wedding here, it will not be private. The weddings take place right in front of one of their infinity pools, so you have quite an audience. It didn't bother us, as everyone was very respectful and it was actually kind of fun to have the additional cheers, but I know this is not for everyone. The only thing I wish I would have done differently was have a small rehearsal before the wedding because we didn't really know what to do. It wasn't a big deal because everyting turned out great, but it would have eliminated some confusion. After the ceremony we did group pics and family pics and then had cocktails at the pavillion bar. Dinner at Torote Steakhouse I made menus for the dinner and Nelly used my decorations to decorate the steakhouse. We had a semi-private dinner, but we had our own area and did not even know anyone else was there. The food was fabulous there. The Cake We selected to have a 3 tiered square cake, vanilla with strawberry filling. It was surprisingly delicious! I was not expecting much after reading reviews of the Riu wedding cakes. I brought my own cake topper and cake knife set. The Disco We rented the disco out from 8-11 for our dance. I am so glad that we did this because everyone had a blast. I brought my own music from home which was a big hit. For our size group it was perfect. Florenta Flower Design (A) I had them do my bouquet, moh bouquet, and flowers for the ceremony decor. I sent them my design on e-mail and it came out beautiful. I think their pricing is very comparable to others. Alberto Misrachi Photographer (A) I did a separate review on him in Cabo vendors. Overall everything went really well and I was very impressed with resort itself and our wedding. Here is a link to some pics Snapfish: Share:Registration

We hired Alberto Misrachi for 2 hours for our wedding day and 1 hour for a TTD shoot the next day. He did a fabulous job capturing every precious moment of our wedding. The value for his photography is great as well. We recieved everyting on disc with copyright before we left Mexico, as well as a slideshow he created with some of the best pics. We will also be receiving a coffee table book with selected photos. The entire cost for 3 hours of photography, discs, and book was $1050, which is very reasonable. Here is a link to a few of the many, many pics we have: Snapfish: Share:Registration_Opt2

Your pictures turned out beautifully!

Quote: Originally Posted by futuremrskeister MPAJKOS, Where did you get your monogram? I love it!! I am trying to decide if I should get someone to create one for us or just try to make it on my own. Any advice or suggestions? Thanks! Sarah did it from Sproullie designs. She is a fellow BDW member and her service usually pops up on the sidebar vendor section. She does a fabulous job and has a various selection of monograms and colors at a very reasonable price.

Quote: Originally Posted by Virg Question: Are the bags the same type of material you can get as re-usable bags at the grocery store? Or are they more of a one-time use? I think they would be more of a one time use. They are made from a sturdy plastic material though.

Your pictures are great and it looks like everyone had an amazing time!