Magda&Neil

Quote: Originally Posted by cdt_seattle Awesome post - thanks for writing it all up! Mind if I ask you a couple of little details? Which bouquet did you choose? The spec sheet I have lists basic, deluxe and premium. Also I'm curious what made Tulum beach so much better than the one at the resort. Bigger waves to play in? Or calmer? (Depends on personal preference there I suppose). Or just better sand? My fiancee and I both love snorkelling, surfing and playing at the beach so this weighs in fairly heavily. Thanks! Chris So, I picked a basic $50 bouquet which was the red and pink roses, but I also wanted Mexican Calla Lilies, so it ended up being $80. Pretty much anything you want in a bouquet can be made as long as you describe it well. The Tulum beach had really big waves and the water was bluer and the sand was nicer. Also it was set along a beautiful cliff. If you want to get in the water, I would probably not choose the Azul Sensatori for the beach. It's fine to look at, but not good for getting in.

Quote: Originally Posted by Jefiner Thanks for the review.... the wedding pics look great. Do you have any pics for the resort as well? Did you get any grief from the guests having your wedding so close to the holidays? We are thinking of the same time frame for '09 and have not been getting good feedback? We were a bit concerned about being so close to Xmas, but I didn't hear any complaints as almost everyone was home by Xmas eve. It helped in that a lot of people were able to get off work easily near the holiday. I guess overall I didn't think it was an issue, beside the fact that Azul's prices go way up after Dec 23.

Quote: Originally Posted by dasarokr Congrats Magda! Thanks for the pics! Quick question....where did you get the guys suits?? Also, what do you mean when you say you had your full wedding script? We are having a judge but I didnt know we could have readings, etc.? Did they give you some sort of ceremony outline? Any help would be great! We got the suits, linen shirts, and ties from Brooks Brothers outlet, luckily they had the sizes we needed. Fabio emailed us a script of what the judge would say when he sent us our final bill and legal wedding documents. We added a few sentences at the beginning and inserted some readings that our mothers gave in the middle. It helped to have it written in advance as the judge had to say it in Spanish and then Gilberto repeated in English. Hope this helps!

Quote: Originally Posted by Solidshan83 Magna...were you able to pay with a credit card? Yes! We paid in advance by faxing in the forms to Fabio, the same way we paid our deposit. The add-ons when we were there were paid by cc directly to Lomas and some directly to Azul.

Here are some of the pics. Enjoy! Picasa Web Albums - Magda - Neil and Magd...

I just got back from my wedding and I posted my review here: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...978#post637388

I’m on my way home from my wedding which was held Dec 22 at Azul Sensatori and I wanted to give you the story on my experience which overall was amazing. I want to start out by saying that I was a frequent reader of the forum and trip advisor which led me to feeling some apprehension regarding water, the beach, service when I arrived at the resort but these feelings soon subsided upon arrival. Also, I had the unique experience of arriving at a time where the resort was less than 25% capacity and departing when it was nearly full so I got to see the full transformation of Sensatori from limited services to full service. We had in total 41 guests plus ourselves. First day We arrived and were greeted with champagne and by our wedding coordinator Carolina who had set up our first meeting for the following day. One surprise we had was not fully understanding that our witnesses were supposed to have arrived on the Wednesday before our wedding on Monday. Unfortunately they were coming on Thursday as this information was not properly communicated to me by Fabio (who essentially disappeared a couple of weeks prior to my departure date due to his accident). Anyway, this was a surprise to us, but ultimately we were allowed to bring our witnesses to meet on Thursday with the Lomas rep, Gilberto. The Meeting During our Wednesday meeting we went through and confirmed all of the final details with Carolina and Gilberto . We thought our original judge was an English speaker, but it turned out that she would speak Spanish with translation by Gilberto. One thing that we did which ultimately turned out to be helpful is had our full wedding script ready with order of procession, music cues, readings and vows in one document. During the ceremony we later saw they had made copies for the DJ and judge and Gilberto was reading verbatim directly from the same doc. Carolina was nice and very business-like. Inquiring about special add-ons in general we first got the answer of no, but then ultimately they seemed to come through with almost everything. We did the silver wedding package in the beach gazebo with a private reception on the Plaza. During the meeting we also booked the reservation for 40 at Spoon, romantic dinner, honeymoon breakfast, couples massage lesson, hair and salon appointments. Overall this all went smoothly, but again some confusion as we thought that we had booked the family and friends group planner which would deliver our OOT bags to the rooms, but this ended up being additional charge. We didn’t get sold many new add-ons, but as our parents weren’t with us this day, I think we were harder to sell to than they would have been. We did end up purchasing extra chairs (originally we though most would stand) and the English translated documents. Dinner at Spoon Ok, fast forward to our “rehearsal dinner†at Spoon on Saturday night (turns out they don’t do rehearsals here as part of the wedding plan). The restaurant itself was nice, however a bit open with an echo so I wouldn’t recommend doing speeches or toasts here. Also it is the kid’s restaurant, so there were certainly a good amount of distractions. The fixed menu we got was delicious, but service a bit slow. This was actually the first night Spoon was open for dinner so that probably slowed things down a bit. I’m sure they will have it down to a science by the time you do your weddings. There was also a magician there who was a huge hit. My dad and family surprised us with a slide show in the meeting room (this could have been done in the plaza, but the wind was a bit strong that night). Heads up this was not cheap – we booked the projector last minute and they charged $450. If you negotiate this in advance I’m sure you will get a better rate. Tours, etc. We had a few events planned for the group including a van to Tulum to see the Mayan ruins and beach (cost $25 pp in a private van). Hint if you do this – bring your swimsuit! The beach was breathtaking and we all wanted to jump in. The vans were booked through the hotel on short notice and showed a bit late. Turns out the short drive to Tulum of 80 km took nearly 2 hours one way. Bring snacks!! We came back by 3 and were famished and a bit grumpy. On Sunday we did sailing and snorkeling through Cancun Catamarans which I booked in advance through Rob. This trip was fantastic!! I strongly recommend you consider this as the sailing was breathtaking and the snorkeling was also a blast. We drank and danced on the boat and the crew was hilarious. Hint –they want tips (as does nearly everyone). You should bring extra dollars. Wedding! I had the spa bridal suite reserved, although we ended up with my bridesmaids and flower girls taking up the entire beauty salon as we were the only wedding that day. All I can say is Wow! The hair and makeup were fantastic and far exceeded my expectations. We ate lunch in the salon and drank champagne. The bouquets were brought in and were absolutely gorgeous – I did red and pink roses and Mexican cala lilies and the bridesmaids had pink roses. My first glimpse of the decorations was during the ceremony, we did the exotic gazebo with tropical flowers and it was awesome. The only thing is they forgot to put the bows on the chairs, but ultimately this didn’t matter too much. Oh, if you want petals for the flower girls make sure to order these extra – the petals in the package were for wedding runner decorations, not flower girls. Ceremony timing and everything were flawless. They have this down perfectly. Photos for me were done by Luis who I thought was Caribe photo, but he didn’t identify himself as affiliated with anything but Karisma. Luis did an amazing job and I’m extremely satisfied with the pics which I will post later. The best part is he brought us prints and a CD on the 24th prior to us leaving. The private event on the plaza was beautifully set up – we did the BBQ Deluxe buffet. The only issue was strong gusty wind and that the lighting was a bit dim so it was hard to see our food and it got cold fast. Hopefully you will have more cooperative weather. The sound system was fantastic and we played our music straight off a laptop with a friend acting as DJ. The cake was beautiful – we ordered a three tiered with layers that were vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. The cake was for 40, but could have fed 60 or more. The pieces were big and we ended up wasting almost an entire tier. Ugh. I wasn’t a huge fan of the fondant icing, but it looked nice. If I was going for only flavor I would have done cream cheese icing, but time enough for that later. While the openness and wind were bad for dinner, by the time we were dancing it ended up being perfect and cool and champagne magically appeared even though we didn’t pay for it. Romantic Dinner/Honeymoon breakfast Our weather was bad for the romantic dinner on the beach so we did it in Zavaz. The meal was spectacular with huge lobster tails and the chef came to talk to us a few times. They really went all out for this. The honeymoon breakfast was fine, but I almost would have rather eaten in the restaurant as it was the same food only colder. Couples Massage Lesson Ladies beware. Only one person gets to be the massage recipient and the other has to do all the hard work (in this case me). I kept waiting for my turn which never happened. The Resort Our first impression of the resort was great – the lobby was beautiful and all the amazing pictures you have seen did not do it justice. I’m a serious foodie and every restaurant was phenomenal. Le Chique was a bit adventuresome for some of our guests but I thought it was really cool. The pool butlers were quite nice and added an unexpected touch. As the week continued, new features were added including lunch brought to us by the pools in mini-coolers and taco stand in the afternoon. The pool beds and chairs were extremely comfy for naps. Surprisingly the nightly free show was quite spectacular. We went to it almost every night. The downsides The beach was not really for swimming, but still beautiful for walks. The rooms were very nice but we had a few small issues. The first day hot water didn’t seem to come, but it was fixed fairly promptly. Towards the end of our stay, the A/C seemed to wane. They came to fix it once, but it still didn’t work. Not a huge deal as it was not too hot, and it seemed none of our guests had this issue. No problems with toilets, but we did see quite a few employees carrying plungers around. Yes, the water smalls of sulfur, but I grew up with hard well water and it didn’t bother me too much. Two of us had cash stolen from our rooms so definitely use the safes. The security team was good, but you should really use the safe for all valuables. In the end my new husband and I were extremely happy with our experience – so no need to fret. Everything will be amazing for you too.

Thanks so much for the makeup ideas - I've been watching You tube videos on wedding makeup application and I just got a consultation so I'm going to try to do it myself This may be the hardest part for me. As I'm on the plane in one week, I can only hope that the Dec 20 grand opening means they will be trying hard to impress. With the extra volume of people coming through around Xmas, I think they will get plenty of feedback and kinks worked out. If not, the drinks are free so hopefully not much room to complain We are also doing a sailing/snorkeling outing and probably some tours so it will be a good opportunity to get off the grounds and explore.

Well, I'm on the plane for my wedding in two weeks so I really hope some of this gets ironed out by then. I'm torn on the makeup service provided as the price seems to be going up - now $165 for bridal makeup. It's hard to think that is worth it!

More from Fabio... My wedding is in 30 days and we're still resolving many of the preliminary details. For flower bouquets selection, please visit the follwoing link Category Bouquets - List of products - Weddings in Cancun & Riviera Maya by Lomas Travel please keep in mind that any of the bouquets listed for a value of $50 usd can be selected as your Bride's bouquet included in yoru package, just simply let me know which one you want. A stereo system with a microphone and speaker system is included for the ceremony only. No additional charge. Feel free to bring yoru own songs for the ceremony in CD or Ipod format. Color options are upon request, you can always decide on your location once onsite. Keep in mind that if you wish to add flower decorations onsite you willnot have enoughtime to order Orchids, Colored calla lilies and other premium flowers. Let me know if you have any other questions, thanks!

My wedding is in 39 days and I still haven't finalized details with Fabio...when I talked to him on the phone last he told me "not to worry" and that my payment wouldn't be due until later. So, I guess I will just wait and see. It seems like the 30, 60 day rules are just guidelines.

Hello everyone! This has been a great source of information for me so far. I have a 3 pm wedding scheduled for Dec 22. We're planning to do the private event after the ceremony for about 40 with the BBQ deluxe buffet. So since we may be one of the first, I'll have to share my experience with everyone! Magda October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 December 22,2008 - Magda&Neil January 2009 winwinbride - Jan 10, 2009 February 2009 shannonmarie09 – February 28, 2009 March 2009 manders757 – March 14, 2009 April 2009 Lucky1 – April 8, 2009 mitchell.johanna - April 18, 2009 JHarwood2Be – April 25, 2009 Polly….Prince – April 26, 2009 teethdh – April 26, 2009 May 2009 MGP - May 5, 2009 milejilo – May 8, 2009 weddingchick – May 9, 2009 pepper55 – May 24, 2009 June 2009 Jenkatherine - June 12, 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 l enka14 – November 14, 2009 rtswan – November 26, 2009 December 2009

Hi all, My name is Magda and I'm getting married on Dec 22, 2008 at the Azul Sensatori in Riviera Maya. Magda