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Quote: Originally Posted by thope Hey site visitors and past brides...what was the dress code like for dinner? From what I have read on the website..looks like men have to wear slacks, is that true..I want to prepare my guest...THANKS The dress codes for men were pretty strict. Make sure your guest are prepared!

Hey Traci, I got married at 6pm and had my cocktail hour at x-lounge. Whenever our cocktial hour was over was when when the lounge opened. Hope this helps. Lauren Quote: Originally Posted by thope Hey Ladies...Where is everyone having their cocktail hour? I would like to have ours at the beach lounge..but i read on another blog it would have to be done by 6pm so the lounge can open. Any idea if this is true?

Congrats Jessica, 1 thing you should know about Yamina is that although you have begun the planning process for your wedding many months prior to the actual day. She truly begins to finalize details about a month before. Before that emails will take forever to get a response. Shes very effective and efficient,when you get closer to the day and the day of you have no worries. But really there's no need to email her with every single thing that pops into your head because that will only lead to your personal frustration. She is great but also busy, with great attention to detail to everyones individual wedding. The second question I can't answer because I got married at 6pm. Hope this helps, Lauren Quote: Originally Posted by jbrodhead82 So excited!!! We just reserved our stay at EPM and set up for the Wedding with Yamina! The wedding will be June 15, 2010 at 11am (my fiance doesn't think he will be able to wait all day to get married, LOL!) Anyhow, I have a few questions for those of you that have had experience with EPM/Yamina. 1. What are the #1 things I should talk to Yamina about? The wedding package is pretty broad and when I spoke with her on the phone, she pretty much deferred me to email her. I know you ladies say she is great when you are there, I just want to make sure to get the important stuff done first! 2. Did (or is) any one else get married at 11am? If so, what the heck do you do the rest of the day?!? TIA! Jessica

Hi Valerie, Congrats on your upcoming wedding. The one thing I can say to you about Excellence is its not a wedding mill, like some of the other resorts. They only have 2 weddings a day so if your dates aren't availible thats probably why. If your not totally against it consider a week day like thursday, for your wedding. Also Yamina is wonderful but not too quick on the email front. After getting married there last summer I understand why. Shes super busy and gives great attention to detail. She spent half the day getting things ready for my 6pm wedding and had a earlier wedding that day as well. So she usually checks email if she has time at the end of her day our early in the morning. But not to worry she'll take care of your every need as your wedding nears. Congrats again, Lauren Quote: Originally Posted by ValerieandBrian2010 Hi, thanks for the reply and help! We actually havent been able to lock down a date yet because the first two dates we requested in Nov 2010 were already booked, so now we have asked about the availability of 3 different dates in early 2011. Feels like it takes forever to get a response! Is that normal? As for the letter I did write one up that I hope to send with Save the Dates by late this year. If you want a copy i'd be more than happy to send it. Just let me know. And of course, if you have an super helpful hints about planning at Playa Mujeres, please, please, please let me know. I am trying not to be stressed about the process at all! Good luck & happy planning. -Valerie

Quote: Originally Posted by thope Thanks Lauren and Jennifer, Jennifer what is a tide to go stick? Lauren did you have food served at your pre-cocktail hour or did everyone just meet? Gracias ladies! We just had drinks, We took over half the lobby bar but there is enough seating and its air-conditioned. Then, I gave everyone the chance to eat where they wanted. I thought most people would want to try and find what they wanted to eat. But I found that most wanted to eat together so we were able to get two tables at spice. Getting a large enough table was usually harder, but now impossible. It just requires them to take the time to push tables together.

Quote: Originally Posted by thope Hey Lauren question about your dj...did he play music for everything ceremony coctail and reception also when did you use the mariachi band? Hey Traci, My DJ played for the reception only. Really everything happens so fast that you dont need all the extra time with the DJ. My wedding guest arrive ontime because they were at the resort, if you give the sound people your ipod with music for before the ceremony they will play it for you. I could see you needing someone to play music for a long duration of time prior to the wedding, if you plan on being late. But really its a destination wedding you have all day to get ready there's no reason to be late. The maraichi played for the cocktail hour and my guest enjoyed them. So although my DJ was set up and ready to go at 7:00. He didnt begin to play our music until 8:00 at the reception. Hope I gave you what you needed. Also, I had a cocktail reception at the lobby bar on the day of our arrival. That is the only other scheduled activity I had for me guest where I gave out my welcome bags. When you plan on scheduled activities you need to keep in mind your staying at a resort in the middle of no-where essentially, which will require transportation for your guest. I really tried to keep scheduled activities to a minimum, so that people could enjoy their vacation. But I as should say for the whole process I was trying to respect otherpeoples desires and not be a control freak. So what you do is really up to you. As I put it we lived off the land, and my guest from both sides of our families really got to know each other. Lauren

Great Find!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jennifer Davis Did anyone who has already gotten married use the mariachi band at cocktail hour? I am torn between mariachi and just getting the DJ to do everything (ceremony, cocktail hour, reception). Thoughts? Hey Jennifer, I actually used both the mariachi and a DJ. I used Disco Movil Cancun and loved him. Its really up to you but the mariachi was festive and interactive people seemed to enjoy them. The Mariachi was good for pictures too. Just a thought! Lauren

Quote: Originally Posted by cathleen10 Greetings fellow EPM brides! My fiancee and I are planning on getting married there May 8, 2010. Reading through all of the posts has been very helpful. It has made me feel both reassured and stressed:) There are many things I had not considered, but it seems like it is a fairly stress-free experience. Thank you all for posting your experiences. Does anyone know of somewhere I can look for ideas on OOT bags? Thanks, Cat I bought my oot bags from Ebay and used Minimus and harmon discount for the fillings. My guest loved them.

It's not so bad to splurge when you have 20 or so guest and you can afford it. Plus, my guest are still home raving about what they got in their OOt bags they will thank you for them in the end.

Quote: Originally Posted by s_katrese Lauren, Your pictures looked great...your dad took them? Wow I'm sure that was a huge money saver. Did you move your reception inside...because I thought you were having an outdoor reception?I loved your cake it looked amazing from the pictures. Also how many people did you have in total...it looked like you had a bunch. Well thanks for posting your pictures again you looked amazing (loved the 2nd dress by the way). Yeah both my dad and my brother took all if my pictures, we have over 2000 of them from the whole week. We planned to have our reception at Chez Isabella's, I loved that room during our site visit. The cake was their rendition of Cake5 from the cake pictures Yamina will send you. It wasn,t exactly like the picture but who cares it tasted fantastic but I didnt even eat it, too busy dancing. I We had a total of 34 people. They said it was alot for a wedding, the biggest wedding they ever had was like 55 people. For me it was all about just having the important people there with us. Hope all this helps. Lauren

DJ Info and Pic link I almost forgot I had the best DJ you could find. He was wonderful. I used Disco Movil Cancun I gave him 7 songs that I liked and he did an excellent job with playing the perfect music. If you want a recommendation he was by far the best ever. Initally I had contacted him to get info he responded within 24 hours with rates and his track listing. I booked him back in Feb for my July wedding. All he needed was a $100.00 deposit which was done via paypal and he emailed you a signed contract. As my wedding got closer and I became more overwhelmed he emailed me and asked for my songs for key dances. Which of course I took longer then I was suppose to, to to respond to him. He helped me narrow down my choices. He then met up asked for Yamina's name and contact info so that he could check out the space. He then came and met with her and came up with exactly what was to happen on wedding day. And wedding day went off without a hitch and I would Highly Recommend him. Now on to what you have been waiting for Here is the link for my online photo gallery except it comes with instructions. go 1. to Photodex ProShow - HD Slide Shows for TV, DVD, PC and Web 2. got to sharing and browse member 3. member name: gregtb1 you will have to download the software but its really like a 30sec download then you'll see Lauren and Shans Wedding and thats our photo slideshow Sorry for all the instructions but my dad just finished the slideshow and he didnt post it on an additional website. Hope you enjoy! Lauren

I got married at 6pm Katrese its actually fine in the summer the sun has not set but will go down before 8pm. I dont know however about the sun set time in april. What I can say though is that its actually a really quiet time on the resort everyone is in their rooms preparing for dinner. So you really feel like you have privacy.

Hello Ladies, I know its been along time since my last post. Im really sorry but i've been soo busy trying to set up my new house and fulfill my prior obligations. I truly plan to post a review ASAP. I did want to make comments on some previous post. Congrats to all the new Excellence Playa Mujeres Brides. Weimsrking- the music options are their cd, your own cd, or ipod plug in. I opted for the Ipod plug in so you can plan your music accordingly. As far as the food. overall I found the food to be good. Some rest. were better then others. The best meal I had over the course of my 10day stay was at my Wedding Reception. But Chez Isbelle's was a close second. My husband could be considered a Foody he truly enjoyed the food. S-Katrese-my guest stayed at Excellence 5 days and my husband and I stayed 10 days total. We got married on the 3 day after arrival then hung with our guest another day before they left Friday morning. Honestly I dont feel like our honeymoon truly started until they left. But I was truly fun while they were their. I dont remember who asked but if your ask for one their is a walk thru the day before your wedding. Just asked Yamina she'll take care if it for you. We had our wedding at Chez Isbelle's it was great I loved the room it was truly elegent. Pic's are coming soon I promise. Lauren

Quote: Originally Posted by Sensatori Bride Lauren the link won't work for me..Is your facebook page under Lauren Brown Lauren N. BrownNorth Jersey Network