rach220

I replied with a few more questions on November 4, and Claudia got back to me on November 6 with the following... Hello Rachel, It’s my pleasure working with such a nice person like you!☺ Bellow please find answer to some question you had: Q: As for the pass situation, most of our guests will be staying at the Aventura Spa Palace; I was just nervous about forcing them to. Does it count if they are staying at a different Palace Resort? A couple of our guests were planning to stay at the Playacar or Xpu-Ha Palace because they are close by and they wanted to give us some privacy since we are doing both a wedding and honeymoon. The contract stated that 80% had to stay specifically at the Aventura, where our wedding is being held. I just want to be able to offer options. A: The wedding pass clause only applies to guest that are staying at a non-palace resort property. If some of your guest wish to stay at Playacar Palace or Xpu-Ha that is completely fine, they can stay at any palace resort property they want and still attend your wedding without having to purchase a wedding pass. Q: Also, I heard that the Aventura is changing its no children policy next year. One of the reasons we chose the Aventura was because it was adults only. I am wondering if one side is still going to remain no children and is it going to be strictly enforced? As much as we love children, we were looking for peace and quiet for our honeymoon. I was actually happy to hear about the new family policy, since one of our guests can now bring her daughter who was going to be my flower girl, but I want to make sure there are still areas of adults only. A: Attached please find the acknowledgement letter for the changes regarding Aventura spa palace. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Thank you and have a wonderful day! (In the letter, it says return no letter than October 21, but it was obviously November that we were even receiving it...) Acknowledgment is attached! ACKNOWLEDGEMENT LETTER FOR CHANGES REGARDING AVENTURA SPA PALACE (14OCT08)-1.doc

On November 3, I sent an email asking about the number of guest passes we could purchase. We did not tell our guests they had to stay at the ASP (and didn't want to force them because of the $$) and we were worried about going over 20%. On November 4, Claudia sent us this response: We are able to work with you in regards to your wedding pass situation. If you are going to exceed the 20% amount of wedding passes, we are able to grant you 3 or 4 extra passes. However, what we don’t want to happen is for half of your guest to stay at Vallarta Palace and the other half staying at non palace hotel. We want to encourage all of your guest to stay our beautiful resorts. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Thank you and have a wonderful day!

On November 3, we got an email saying our documents had been received. Good Afternoon MR. SWANSON AND MS. ANDERSEN, This e-mail is to confirm that we received both your contract and charge authorization form and a final confirmation should be sent to the bride and groom in the mail soon. An onsite wedding coordinator will be in contact with the couple 3 months prior to the date of the ceremony. Please keep in mind to have all your documents in order. All optional services would be paid for and taken care of at the resort. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. Thanks and have a great day! Kind Regards, Claudia Martinez

We got married in July at the Aventura Spa Palace and Yazmin was our WC. I have heard many brides complaining about the amount of time it has taken her and/or other WC's to respond to questions and all that, so I thought I would post the timeline of my correspondence with her and the resort. Just remember that in the end it will all turn out perfectly! They really did a fabulous job on-site. We booked our stay at the ASP with a TA on October 20, 2008. On October 27, 2008, we received the first email from Claudia Martinez, Wedding Sales Coordinator with our contract and credit card authorization form to sign and fax back. (I'm pasting the contract rather than uploading so I could cut out our personal info) Dear MR. SWANSON AND MS. ANDERSEN: Thank you for selecting the Aventura Spa Palace for your wedding ceremony. This agreement is entered by and between Palace Resorts and MR. SWANSON AND MS. ANDERSEN as of August 26, 2009. The following documents are required for Civil Ceremonies in Cancun: •Home address and occupations (bride & groom) •Birth certificates (certified copy of each one) with Apostille, Legalisation or Authentication document attached. •VALID PASSPORTS •Original blood test (To determine Blood type, H.I.V and S.T.D). Tests must be taken at the resort and results are ready within 24 hrs. (Fee of approx. $50.00 per person applies). If test is positive, the wedding will not be performed. •Certified copy of former spouse's death certificate (If applicable)* •If divorced, a certified copy of divorce decree is required with the Apostille, Legalisation or Authentication document attached. If divorced more than once, please bring each divorce decree with the Apostille, Legalisation or Authentication document attached. If divorced less than one year, a mandatory pregnancy must be taken. If test is positive, wedding cannot be performed. •Legal documentation of adoption or name change (If applicable)* •Tourist ID (Provided by customs upon your arrival at Cancun International Airport). Please be sure to complete all information correctly on tourist ID, otherwise you may need to obtain a new Tourist ID at the Airport. •Name, age, nationality, home address, occupation, passport and tourist ID of 4 witnesses. •Witnesses must arrive two (2) working days prior to ceremony. If witnesses are not available, Palace Resorts will provide them at no additional cost. •Bride and Groom must arrive in Cancun at least three (3) working days (Monday – Saturday) prior to the wedding ceremony to meet with the wedding coordinator and submit all documents. Bride & Groom must be at the resort by check-in time (3:00 PM) or earlier in order to consider day of arrival as the first day. •Please submit a final guests list to your wedding coordinator at least 30 days prior to your wedding date. •The bride and groom must NOT be legally married in order to qualify for any of our civil wedding packages. If they are already married civilly, symbolic services are available. Please ask about our symbolic ceremony packages. •Important - If the Bride or Groom's nationality is Mexican, additional documents are required. Please advise your wedding coordinator so that they may provide you with more detailed information Names on Tourist ID, divorce decree, birth certificates and Passport MUST be the same. * An Apostille Document MUST be attached to all birth certificates, divorce decrees, death certificates, Adoption and name change documents. For information on how to obtain the Apostille document, please contact the Secretary of State Office or visit http://www.travel.state.gov/about/in...tomer_312.html * If the Bride or Groom’s nationality is Canadian, an Authentication Document must be attached to all birth certificates, divorce decrees, death certificates, Adoption and name change documents. For information on how to legalize all documents, please contact the Embassy of Mexico in Canada or visit Embassy of Mexico in Canada * If the Bride or Groom’s nationality is UK, a Legalisation Document must be attached to all birth certificates, divorce decrees, death certificates, Adoption and name change documents. For information on how to obtain the legalisation document, please contact the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Legalisation Please note that birth certificates, divorce decrees, Apostille documents, Authentication documents, Legalisation documents, death certificates, adoption and name change documents MUST be translated into Spanish. All Translations MUST be done by our certified translators at the hotel only. (Prices vary depending on number of pages) Ceremony will not be performed unless all documents are in order. (NO EXCEPTIONS). Please note that birth certificates, divorce decrees, Apostille documents, Authentication documents, Legalisation documents, death certificates, adoption and name change documents become the property of the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. A Marriage certificate is provided by the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico for civil ceremonies, this is a legal document issued in Spanish. All wedding couples must contact their local court house for filing requirements. Every state/country is different when it comes to filling of foreign marriage documents. Some states/countries require the certificates to be translated from Spanish to English others may require additional paper work to be filled. This is the couples’ responsibility and Palace Resorts is not liable for any additional charges that may be associated according to the state/country requesting supplementary paperwork. All legal documents issued in Mexico are in Spanish. Wedding passes are 2009 $84.00 USD per person, per day and must be purchased for guests not staying at the hotel. Wedding passes are guaranteed for purchase only on ceremony date. The Resort will only allow the purchase of wedding passes up to a maximum of 20% of the total number of guests. Example: If you have 20 guests, only 20% of that total can purchase wedding passes, in this case, only 4 guests are able to purchase wedding passes. Couple’s will receive an email Introductory Letter from their onsite wedding planner approximately 30 days prior to their wedding ceremony date. Couples residing at another wedding property other than the resort in which their ceremony is taking place are responsible for attending their scheduled appointments with the onsite planner and any transportation fees that might be associated. Photography packages are ready within 72 business hours after the ceremony. For couples leaving the day after the wedding there will be a mailing fee of approximately $35.00USD-$45.00USD. Selected photography packages may require additional time. Aventura Spa Palace is an adult-inclusive resort. Children are not allowed on the premises. Outside vendor services (photography, florists, décor companies, audio visual companies, entertainers, etc.) are not permitted on premises. Palace Resorts will provide our couples with a variety of in-house services to choose from. Please answer the following questions: 1. Have either one of you been divorced?________ If yes, please specify: Bride_______ or Groom______ please answer the following question: How many years?_________ Please note that if the Bride has been divorced less than a year, she MUST take a mandatory pregnancy test at the resort. **If pregnancy test is positive, the wedding will not be performed. 2. Have either one of you been widowed? ________ If yes, please specify: Bride _______ or Groom______ please bring original or certified copy of the death certificate of the party deceased. 3. Place of birth Bride ___________ Place of birth Groom ___________ If birth certificates are not issued in English, please notify your wedding coordinator. Additional paperwork may apply. 4. Is the Bride a U.S. citizen _____ Canadian citizen _____ Mexican citizen _____Other* ________ Is the Groom a U.S. citizen _____ Canadian citizen _____ Mexican citizen _____ Other* _________ If you marked “other†for the Bride or Groom's citizenship, additional documents may be required please answer the following questions: Country where bride/groom birth certificate was issued: ___________________________________ Language of bride/ groom birth certificate: ________________________________________________ Country where bride/groom current citizenship is held: ________________________________________ Country where passport was issued: __________________________________________________ ____ Country where Bride/Groom divorce decree, widowed certificate, name change document or adoption papers where issued: __________________________________________________ __________________ __________________________________________________ _____________________________ Cancellation policy: •If Wedding is cancelled within 45 days or less of the wedding date a $300.00 penalty will apply. •If Wedding is cancelled within 48hrs of the wedding date a 50% deposit of all services ordered such as photography, music, minister, etc, will be assessed in addition to the $300.00 cancellation penalty. •If Wedding is cancelled due to incomplete documentation or incorrect spelling of names in all documents, the $300.00 cancellation penalty will apply •Blood test and translation services are 100% non-refundable. •Services not rendered due to bad weather are non-refundable. •Ceremony and optional services MUST be cancelled in writing in order to be processed; a written confirmation has to be provided in return from the wedding coordinator. CHARGE AUTHORIZATION FORM WEDDING ONLY.doc

I'm glad I found this thread....I'm having issues right now with changing my name. We got married in Mexico and for some reason, we didn't get a translated copy. The Social Security Office said it didn't matter, but my job is telling me I will need it in English for other things...has anyone actually used the Spanish copy to change their name?

I brought freezedried petals to Mexico last month and didn't have any issues. They were perfect for our flower girl to throw on the aisle and then we did a petal toss after the ceremony. I ordered from flyboynaturals.com and got a great deal on one of their clearance packages. As for customs, I don't know if they will let you bring them in. I put my petals in several ziplock bags and spread them throughout my luggage in between clothes. And I didn't declare them on the form. I guess I took my chances, but I got lucky.

I planned on wearing my e-ring on my right hand, but it wouldn't fit. My right ring finger is slightly larger than my left (glad to read I'm not the only one-I thought I was a crooked freak!) so I just kept my e-ring on my left hand and switched them after the ceremony. I don't think anyone even noticed...

I absolutely LOVE these. I wish I was half as creative...

Congratulations and welcome

Is there any way you could post pics of your dress? That might help us give you the best advice! If both gold and silver will go with your dress, then I would go with the gold ones to match the girls. BUT, if gold doesn't really go, then I would stick with the silver if it matches better. There's no need for you to match everyone else....you want your own ensemble to match! And pics would help

PS...I hate Katie too.

Just reading this thread now and realizing that you're my long lost twin... Seriously, you're totally me. I hold things in and bottle them up and explode. Currently, I'm furious at Scott for blowing off his to-do list for our AHR. I exploded on him the morning of the party and the day totally sucked for me since I was so mad. I waited days for him to apologize and I'm still waiting. Only problem is, he has NO IDEA that he did anything wrong. I refuse to have sex with him until he apologizes. I don't want to ask him for an apology because I'm afraid it won't be meaningful if I ask. I don't really know what my plan is...I feel like it's been so long that I haven't said anything about it that it's too late for me to still be mad and he will just be more mad about it. At this rate I'll neverr have sex again. My friends all think it's hilarious that I'm withholding sex from my husband. It's not so much withholding as it is that I'm just not in the mood because I'm mad. I actually got over being mad, and now I'm just withholding on principle. I WANT AN APOLOGY. The other thing is we're so busy that we never see each other and we work opposite shifts. There hasn't been a whole lot of opportunity for communicating, or apologizing. Here's the kicker....our AHR was August 1st. Oh yeah, it's been 2 weeks. Even crazier is that we got back from our honeymoon on the 22nd and actually haven't had sex since Mexico! 5 weeks without sex. I thought it was supposed to be the opposite for newlyweds. Anyway, I'm glad you were able to talk it through with Colin and you're feeling better about the situation. Hopefully I'll grow up soon and do the same!

I had more than I thought...I have 8 Spanish Phrases for Dummies left. I also have 1 Daily Spanish for Dummies and 4 Cocktails for Dummies. Let me know if you're interested!

I have some...but only a few I don't think I'd be much help...I'll go count and see...

I'm glad this thread was helpful to somebody because in the end I ended up doing something completely different. I am so bad at making up my mind! I had the heart clipart and even printed it out and stuck it on all 10 of my kits....and then decided I wanted it to match everything else more, so I ended up using the palm tree from my monogram and writing "in sickness and in health" I'll post a pic as soon as I find my laptop! We just moved and everything is in boxes packed away. DH did a lot of the packing since I was doing wedding stuff and I don't know where anything is

Hey ddiinnyyeell... I was in panic mode right up until we left...I think that's normal when it gets so close. My WC sent me an outline of the ceremony...I can send it to you if you still need it. Email me at [email protected] and I'll send it over. She was also able to provide me with the name of our judge performing the ceremony so I put that on my program. I was able to keep track of the guests pretty easily...but we only had 17 and 4 stayed at another resort. We handed out passport booklets with info and there was page to write each person's room number in it that we used a lot. My two girlfriends were in the same building as us so that helped too. We did have a small issue with where they put everyone but in the end it really didn't matter. How many guests do you have going? NaM- Thank you so much! It really was a blast! I really need to get going on my review and my planning thread (wayy late!) but feel free to PM me or Email me in the meantime.

ok...i don't really know why it posted the link as "message" but i clicked on it and it works so hopefully it will for everyone else too...

It has been quiet! Partially my fault...I got married a few weeks ago at ASP and haven't gotten around to write my review or post any pictures yet...I'm sorryyyyy Our photo site is Message. There are a ton of photos to search through...some not so great. We don't have our pro pics back yet so they are just what our guests have uploaded. If you're getting married there you won't be disappointed-we had an amazing time! Enjoy and I promise to get my review up as soon as I can!

I also showed FI my TTD...it's nothing like my wedding dress so I didn't think it was a big deal. But I was also dying to show him my wedding dress...my friends and family would have killed me otherwise I probably would have.

it looks like one i have called windsong...but i'm not sure. i'll have to look at home, but i'm at work right now...good luck!

Leaving early Sunday morning and totally freaking out! I have a million things left to do... Finalize playlists BUY EARRINGS! I can't find ones I like! Print inspiration pics to bring down Finish packing Make fake receipts for customs (ugh.) Finish welcome books & programs Oh yeah, and FI has the great idea to move on Friday (we just bought a house). I think I might kill him before we leave...

Mine was just this week...asked FI to cut out the fan programs (already traced and had monitored his cutting ability already...haha). But he thought he would be nice and glue them too...would have been fine if he used a gluestick, which we had at home. He wanted to get them done at work and all he could find was Elmer's! ALL RUINED! I was crying I didn't really flip out on him because I know he had good intentions and was trying to help, but I called a friend and my parents to b*tch about it. I was PISSED. He went out and bought all new materials (and a big pack of gluesticks-LOL) and is redoing them tonight, even though I told him not to bother...I definitely would not use them the way they are, but I didn't want to spend the money or the time to redo them all...I was so frustrated I wanted to not have any at all. I know he was trying to help but how stupid can you be?? ELMER'S MAKES PAPER WET! It's what 5 year old use to glue macaroni to paper plates at daycare! GRRRRRRRRR!

So I have been totally stressing out from a million different things lately. I'm starting a new job, we just bought a house and we're leave this weekend to get married! I'm usually a pretty laid back, calm person. I don't let too much get to me, I don't freak out about little things and I just kinda go with the flow and make the best of whatever situation when things do go wrong. UNTIL NOW. Wedding plan has made me completely nuts. In the last 2 weeks I have been completely anal about every little thing and really wanted everything to be perfect for the wedding. SO, naturally, I only trust myself to do it. FI has offered to help with some of the planning several times and I always tell him I'm fine....until yesterday when I was so stressed out and getting down to the wire and just starting to put my program fans together. He knows I've spent hours and hours doing some of this stuff and really genuinely wants to be helpful which I was so appreciative of. So we both spend about 5 hours yesterday printing and cutting and playing around with the program fans to get them right. I'm at work right now, otherwise I would post pics, but just to give you an idea of what they are like, the printing is on white cardstock, but when it wasn't heavy enough, I decided to use black cardstock I had to make it stronger. So I made a template for a black fan just a little bit bigger than the white ones and glued them together so there is a black border around the white when looking from the front. Each fan has six pieces that fan out. Even though we only have 17 guests, that's still just over 100 pieces that needed to be cut out by hand, but we had to do that TWICE once I decided to use the black backing too. So we spent all this time yesterday printing and tracing and cutting. We only completely finished 2 full fans (15 to go!) so FI offered to take them to work that night and finish all the cutting so that all we would have to do today was glue them together and then put the rivets in place at the bottom. We work in the same place on the 11-7 overnight shift and he called me at about 4 AM telling me he had finished all the cutting and asking where he could find gluesticks in the building he was in. I told him where they would be if there were any but doubted that there would be. So this morning when we got out of work, I get in the car to drive home with him and he tells me how happy I am going to be and hands me the plastic bag with all the fan pieces in it. I take out the stack and start looking through it. He was so proud because he had glued them all too and he says, "I couldn't find any gluesticks so I just used Elmer's" ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! He goes on to explain that we would have to redo a couple of them because the glue leaked through the white and made a wet spot, but it was only 3 or 4 out of the 100 total. He also says he understands that they are "a little wrinkly" but he will put them inside books when we get home to flatten them. A LITTLE WRINKLY? I wish I had pictures to share right now... My FI is a very bright guy, but I swear the common sense is lacking sometimes...ELMER'S GLUE MAKES PAPER WET! All 100 of them had a wave-like look to them because of the glue. I couldn't believe it. Atfer all our hard work...hours and hours of our backs hurting from leaning over the paper cutter and trying to get them just right... So I start to cry. Not a lot, but I was visibly upset and my face was all red and my eyes were welling up. So now FI is all upset and trying to defend himself...saying he was just trying to help and he didn't know and he's sorry and he'll do them over and whatever else. I'm so mad/upset that I just didn't say anything; I didn't want to yell at him and I didn't want to make him feel any worse and I know he was genuinely trying to help. BUT AHHHHHHHHHH! What a waste! Even though I told him not to, he went to the store later and came home with new cardstock and another printer cartridge (since we had had just enough for the ones we made) and says he is doing them all over himself. He started this morning but when I came home from work later he hadn't gotten any farther than reprinting. I feel so bad and I don't want him to redo them, but I also don't want to use them the way they are. They look AWFUL. They look like a 5 year old was in charge of glueing And I know no one probably cares except for me, but I don't want to give them out like that. I'm thinking about scrapping programs altogether because I just don't want to spend more money (I'm going to try to take the cardstock back, at least the ones he didn't open yet). I don't think anyone would even notice that there weren't any if we didn't have them. I also really hate having bridezilla moments like this... I'll try to post pics later today when I get home too. Am I totally overreacting? Anyone else go through anything similar?

Your prayers worked girls! We got a call from our lawyer this morning that probate has FINALLY approved our application (we had it in writing from the seller before but were waiting on probate) and we are all set to close on Wednesday at 2 PM! I am soooooooo overjoyed...yeah it's a little close to the wedding (we leave early Sunday) but at least we know we can come home to our new home FI thinks we can get moved in before we leave but I think he's CRAZY. We don't have to be out of our apartment until August 1, so we will have a full week to move once we get back from Mexico. I don't want to stress myself out even more. Thank you all for all your positive thoughts...I'm so glad it all worked out! And foxytv I hope everything goes smoothly and you close at the end of the month! Best of luck!

Everything looks great...I'm so jealous that you're all packed! I leave early Sunday morning and I'm not even close to ready...