Jacilynda

Yael!!! These are sooo beautiful. Nathaniel of course did amazing work again!!!! I just love how simple they seem, like someone was photographing you 2 enjoying the day, from a distance!

Thanks girls!!!! Tammy- I don't know!!!! I'm gonna make a big book and look at them everyday! Morgan- Yep thats where we went! Our photographers drove around for a day looking into different places. And they talked to the manager who actually threw out the idea of the closed caverns, etc. he was really excited since they hadn't ever had anything like it down in there!

Jamie I actually ordered mine on ebay!

Yay thanks girls!! The caverns were so much fun, it cost us $50 per person, but we hiked down in there and had our little helmets w/ lights and such and spent so much time in there, and then they fed us!

oh and of course this one I forgot!

AH it was so scary! There are supposably bats but we didn't see any, there were little shrimp, small catfish and tiny little silk worms but thats it, no mosquitos! It was scary cause it was just pitch black and at one point Brian and our guide went to check out another room, which was only 2 rooms away from us but the stalactites must just soak up sound but you couldn't hear them talking at all until the got close to us again. We did quite a few pics in a big room of deep water and he kept telling me to go back further and I was so scared. But it was SO worth it

I'm so excited! Here are a few teasers of our TTD in a closed off cavern in Rio Secreto. They were so nice to give us a guide and let us go down into a cavern that wasn't open to the public. We stopped in several "rooms" and shot photos. We were down there for almost hours as the caverns are of course underground so they are PITCH BLACK! Our photographers set up flashes and such. It was an experience of a lifetime and I LOVE them!

AAAHHHH My turn!!! What I Would Do Again! - Of course marry Joe! -Have my wedding in Akumal. It has so much character, its quiet, relaxing and not populated w/ hundreds of tourists, or really many at all. -Real touch flowers. I got what i wanted at a great price and they looked fantastic! -Did my own makeup. I didn't even go to MAC like I planned, i just put on a little extra of my own regular makeup and I felt like me and think I looked like me. I have freckles, and I LOVE them so i didn't over do it. -Be a 2 dress bride. I bought a dress that was great and nice and perfect for the beach and my mom loved it, but it wasn't my dream dress. I'm so glad I decided to get a second dress and to have Landy Bridal do it overseas. I saved $1300 and it was exactly what I wanted! -DIY projects. Fun cute and personable. I had seen the boarding passes, passport and luggage tags in a bridal magazine before joining the forum and wanted them so bad but wasn't about to fork over the $2600 for 60 of them then I found the template here and went crazy! We also did water bottles and sandalwood fans for our ceremony which were great it was 117 degrees and everyone needed a little water and a fan, especially since I was late. -Divine Light Photography!!! They negotiated a great deal for us, did amazing work and fit into our group so well. I cried when they left. It wasn't like saying see ya later to our family, and they had fit in so well they felt like family. -Having our family only. Of course we have loved to have many friends come, but we had alot of issues w/ friends getting time off or being able to afford it. We didn't want anyone to feel like they were left out. It was much easier to say we were having a private family wedding and a big AHR party when we came home so all of our friends felt included and are super excited for our AHR bbq. -OOT bags. We spend so much time on the beach and we all brought drinks, towels, snacks, cards, books, snorkeling gear, etc. We LOVED having these bags. Everyone used their bags on the beach. Everyone like the spanish phrase books as most of Akumal doesn't speak much english, everyone used the playing cards, koozies, fans, and puzzle books. Everything was used. If I was to add anything I should have put in small notepads cause we played alot of card games that we needed to keep score and were always scrambling for paper. -Welcome dinner. We had so much fun. It started to downpour 30 minutes before. It was so wet we couldn't walk 50 feet without being entirely soaked. Alot of us just stayed in our swimming suits and some of the cousins just undressed into their underwear. We originally were going to BBQ at the bungalows but it was raining so hard we couldn't. We moved the BBQ to the swimming pool there was a good size cabana and tables. We spent $25 on burger stuff in PDC but then just ran down to the loncheria and ordered 50 tacos, we had desserts from the Turtle Bay and Guac, salsa, chips from Turtle Bay and then Ceviche from the Lol-ha. We spent just barely over $200 for our welcome dinner for all 30 of us to eat and we were stuffed. But it was fun we jumped in the pool all night, threw people in and ate and drank. -U-shaped reception table This was great. Everyone wanted to be together anyway and this worked perfectly for us. -5 pm ceremony dinner. It wasn't so hot and the sun wasn't beating down on us, we had the whole day to enjoy and it was great timing for our dinner and gave us plenty of time to dance all night. -TTD was SO much fun and a fun experience. We went down into Rio Secreto underground caverns, it was fun and really scary and really really quiet, but it was an adventure and definitely fun hiking through different cavern rooms in my wedding dress! -Bringing our own decor. I got what I wanted this way. Plus the restaurant loved our lanterns and table cloths that they asked to keep them and then gave us free food for the next week we were there! -Changed our ceremony from the beach to Cannon Point. We chose to move to the beach in the beginning as it would be easy to move our chairs from the beach into the restaurant while we had our cocktail hour and we would have had to pay for more chairs if we did the Cannon Point. The swine flu caused schools to close and such so the locals summer was extended into August. On Saturday and Sunday the locals filled up the beach and there was just too many people for us even though it would have been closed off. We just decided on having a circle on the Cannon Point w/ everyone standing and it was perfect! -3 tiered cake. I LOVED it, I dont' think I can imagine having a wedding w/ a small little cake. We had tons of cake left over, but we ate it on another night w/ our family left over. It was nice to enjoy it another night as I only had the small piece joe and I cut. -memorial table. I was unable to look at it and so was Joe but just having it made us feel like his cousin and my dad were so much closer to us. My sister had a huge break down when seeing his picture and Joes dad had a really hard time w/ his cousin. It was really hard for us but it was a great touch and really made it feel like they were there. -Went barefoot. I had planned on being barefoot for our ceremony but the shoes i wanted for the reception they didn't have my size left so I went barefoot all night as did most of our group and it was fun! We're from Montana we're used to running around w/ no shoes. -Arriving 1 week before, and leaving 1 week after the big day. It was such a great time and felt like a real vacation and not just a wedding honeymoon and run home. We were able to relax through everything! -Using our iPod for our music! The restaurant/hotel had a sound system for our ceremony site, cocktail site, and restaurant. They charged us $200 but it was soo worth it. I debated for a while and wasn't sure if I had made the right choice but it definitely was. We used my iPod for our ceremony, but my computer for the cocktail hour and reception. By the end of the night we weren't in the mood for slow songs so it was fun to just jump to whatever we wanted. What I Would Have Done Differently - my veil, I loved it and I'm glad I only spent $13 on it last minute but even though it wasn't that windy it still blew out of my hair so I could have gone w/out and it bothers me in pics when I see it falling out, but at least I only spent $13 on it -Guestbook. There were only 30 of us and we knew who was all there. We did a fun page but we were having so much fun everyone forgot to fill it out. -Hiring a WC. Now I definitely think they are a good idea, but for us had I known the restaurant would have been setting up everything anyway I would have saved my money. So if you have your reception w/ the Lol-ha dont get a WC! The manager is awesome, listened to everything I said, was very good communicating w/ his workers and I should have just saved my money and the hassle and let Andres and his team do the small amount of work my WC did do. -Cocktail hour, I should have just set up a tab for everyone since the bar was part of our reception anyway and not spent the money on a seperate cocktail area. Overall the day was AMAZING!

So I know our Walmart carried Bubba Kegs all summer, but now they put them on sale. Ours still had TONS left over and they were only $2.50!!! I know alot of you girls like bubba kegs for your OOT bags so thought i'd let you know to check your walmart!

Ahhh I love this thread, and I've been MIA for a while so I had so much catching up to do!!!!! I SO recommend a TTD shoot! If you're not a really "sexy" couple don't let it stop you. Joe and I aren't either and really a TTD isn't a sexy shoot, its an extreme bride shoot. Our photographers are from FL and are always having brides run into the ocean at the end of the night, etc. So for them they really wanted a different TTD and so did we. We did ours in an underwater cavern. SO much fun. We had a guide take us down in and we had to wear helmets w/ lights and such. We stopped in different rooms of the cavern and because it was pitch black our photographers had to go out and set up flashes and such. We spent 3.5 hours down there. There were no waves, and the water was so nice and cool. We have one pic thus far and should have a few in the next couple days, and then all of them next week!

Quote: Originally Posted by stacey WHat a great review. And your pics are amazing. So did they get a pic of you DH passed out with tissues after reading you BD book? thats great HAHA actually we have pictures of DH passed out w/ lotion and tissues, and a good housekeeping magazine with Jonas brothers on the front, and even better his pants were unzipped!

Quote: Originally Posted by roo66 Ive been lurking the last five hours waiting for you to post pictures.It looks like you picked the perfect destination for your wedding,your little girl look adorable and your very expensive gown looked fab.We know cos you posted before leaving that your wedding was done on a budget you would not guess by the way it turned out.Now you have your party at home to look forward to.Now i can head of to bed hehe! HAHA you kill me!

LOL That was the best man, Joe's cousin, he passed out while getting ready and thats what the boys in this family do to one another.

Thats it! Enjoy! TTD will be soon!

oopss more below!

yep you know it... more...

I told you tons there are more....

and more

Sorry I’m a little behind on this. This is the 3rd time I’ve typed it up! The first time my computer crashed and it wasn’t saved, the second time I have it on my laptop, but the power cord broke and its dead so I can’t charge it so I’m doing it up again! I will try and not miss anything! Our wedding was FANTASTIC! We made 2 great decisions, first going to Akumal. It was the perfect place for us and for our group. And, second, bringing Brian & Briana w/ us. Every picture is so good I’m just blown away! Hotel Akumal Caribe A++ We stayed at the hotel the first week. We had the top corner room w/ 2 balconies, it was amazing. But what really blew us away was the service. I’ve NEVER been treated so well, anywhere. Right after I checked in I jumped in the car and said “those people are the nicest people I have ever met” George took us to our rooms to make sure we knew where we were staying. We were so hungry we didn’t even unpack our bags we went straight to the Lol-ha. The hotel manager came and found us out on the beach and introduced himself in case we needed anything. WHAT! We were so loved. When we left at the end of our 2 weeks, we said goodbye and George told us we should just stay and live there. Villa Taj Kumal A+ WOW. I loved this place! It was so cozy and nice we had everything we needed, it felt like home. We loved having the space w/ Cattie, but the pool was so nice for late nights, and the BBQ pit, hammocks outdoor palapas and tables and chairs, and its just off the beach! Lol-Ha Restaurant A++ FANTASTIC! The manager, Andres, was awesome! The food is so good, we had WAY too much food for our reception. I only ate my mashed potatoes and one bite of my chicken cause I had ate too much salad and ceviche. Ceviche is the best in the Riviera there!!! I swear. The whole crew was so great w/ getting everything set up and done how I wanted it. They even did the setup for our ceremony and ran our music. I don’t know why I hired a WC seriously! When we left we stopped and said bye and Andres also told us to just by a villa down the beach and stay. We had our cocktail hour done on the beach. The pictures I was shown had a large tent and such but apparently that didn’t get done, which wasn’t a big deal. I think if I were to do it over again I would have just used the money we spent for them to set it up on a bar tab and sent everyone in to the bar to drink. Turtley Bay Café A We only had breakfast there and it was good, sometimes I needed a hashbrown fix. We had a lot of smoothies as well, and they are delicious! Plus they have WiFi so we got our internet time in too. For our welcome dinner we got a dessert assortment w/ lemon/lime bars, brownies, flan, apple cinnamon cheesecake, & key lime pie, it was sooo good and we ate ‘em all up! They did our wedding cake as well, and it was SO yummy!! We had the whole bottom layer left over to eat a few nights later w/ the whole family. Jennifer Smith & Assistant Natalie (WC) C+ I originally ordered our cake from Jennifer, who owns the Turtle Bay Café. Then I found out she was a WC and had a rental company. I really felt like I needed a WC to keep the day going so I didn’t have to do anything, and I didn’t have to have my family do anything. There were a lot of small issues w/ Jennifer and Natalie that I just brushed off but in the end I’m not overly happy about it. I had emailed Jennifer a week before coming w/ everything her and I had talked about and what I wanted and prices, etc. She always emailed back yep sounds good. Well we met up a few days before the wedding and she didn’t remember ANYTHING I had emailed her. She was way more disorganized than myself. I didn’t want the lilies on my cake cause she couldn’t find the exact ones I wanted, and I ordered real touch orchids for it. Well she ordered the lilies anyway and had them put on my cake and didn’t use my orchids cause there was “no room” She was really kind of a dominant in charge person, which I’m kinda that way so we didn’t really click very well. Also I wanted vanilla cake w/ choc raspberry middle which she said she could do but when we got there we had to change it to tres leches which was still good! Jennifer actually had another wedding in PDC the same day so she was having Natalie do ours. I was really happy w/ this, Natalie wanted to include a lot of local flowers, nature stuff etc. We had a rehearsal/welcome dinner and were supposed to have a rehearsal w/ Natalie but she didn’t show up. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, we could work it out w/ her the next day. The day of the wedding Natalie brought over our stuff to the restaurant and used a few palm leaves over at the ceremony site, but really that’s it. Most of our group went to the Tulum ruins on the wedding day, a few of us stayed in Akumal and spent a couple hours over at Turtle Bay in the afternoon for smoothies. The whole time we were there Natalie was sitting outside w/ friends chatting. The Lol-Ha crew put EVERYTHING together. Honestly, had I known they would (and they did it so well) I wouldn’t have hired a WC. 20 minutes before the ceremony was to start Natalie showed up to grab my centerpieces and I mentioned we didn’t know where exactly we were supposed to be especially so Joe wouldn’t see me, etc. She just oh I’ll go talk to the guys which thankfully I didn’t see it in the end because it wasn’t how I wanted it. And I didn’t even know it but I was 40 minutes late, we were waiting for her to guide us. Then when us girls were leaving she handed me the ceremony outline for our officiant (a cousin). I had given him one but this was our backup. I had expected her to check w/ him and make sure he had his or if he needed a copy. But she handed it to me to give to him in case he didn’t have it. EXCUSE ME, where the French am I supposed to put it? Then we didn’t see her until the end of the night. She was supposed to let Andres know when we were ready to come in for food so he could get it out, Joe finally went over to tell him we were ready cause our group was drunk and needed some food, our best man was so drunk he went and passed out and didn’t even make it to dinner! No biggy but ultimately it was not what I wanted in a WC. I’m glad it was little things all the time cause it was easy to just brush off and let the night happen. Divine Light Photography A++++++++ Brian & Briana were amazing. They fit into our group so well we didn’t even think of them as the “photographers.” We flew them in from Tampa and they stayed a whole week. They photographed our welcome dinner, the whole day the wedding day, and then we did a long trash the dress shoot. They have certainly exceeded my expectations. Joes parents and hi s younger sister liked them so much they’re already planning on flying them to her wedding. I have plenty of their pictures to share at the end of this. They also went out one day to tons of places looking for the perfect TTD spot, which is next! Rio Secreto A++ Our photographers went down and talked to the manager one day who gave us a great deal to get in, our own guide down into the caverns. They also let us into a cavern they have closed off to the public and let us stay as long as we wanted, and then fed us! It was amazing our guide was SO nice, and it felt so good to put my feet into some cool water! We’re still waiting on TTD pics but I can’t wait! La Zebra A We went down to Tulum one day and hung out at La Zebra. The food is good, the drinks are FANTASTIC and the environment is great. I love the design. We definitely plan on going back! The rest of the time we seriously just laid on the beach. Everyday we brought down some food and just laid out on the beach. It was so so relaxing! Now for more pics!!!! Pro & a couple Non-pro more and more to come

Haha Heather I missed this thread too! Thank you ladies it was amazing!!!!! I have been working on my review and our photogs just posted a ton of pics last night. I'll try to get it posted soon. I'm still doing laundry and we've been home for a week and a half. I'd post it today but i'm about to run to a funeral and craziness of real life at home I haven't gotten to it. thanks again ladies!

Congrats again!! Its so freakin cute, I LOVE it!!!!! Now to moving!

Update ladies! The veil, dress, fans, bouts, & sashes are SOLD! things left are the bouquest, centerpieces and mens linen pants

So we split up our bags but going through customs in Mexico we got the red light to have our bags checked. I had receipts for everything but we had batteries, fans, lanterns, cards, OOT bags, and beach mats. Everything was $1 except our bags were $3 we had less than $200 and receipts but they thought our receipts were fake and charged us tax. it was only $35 so we just paid it and went on our way. If we hadn't had the red light we would have had no problem.

Quote: Originally Posted by nsbride2010 any luck with fedex? Sorry if I seem annoying I'm really anxious!! hehe Sorry I'm working my way out over there w/in the next hour. A very good friend passed away yesterday afternoon so i have been kind of all over the place. they are open 24 hours so i'll definitely be down their tonight and see what i can do once i pull it together here Quote: Originally Posted by monica_lashelle I am interested in the chair sashes (all), please email me [email protected], I will buy all! Thanks! i messaged the next girl in line but haven't heard anything so if i don't hear from her by tomorrow I will let you know!