CaraW

Quote: Originally Posted by KRama I did the same thing. First we sent out a "wedding update" email letting our guests know what our plans were (Mayan Rivieria, travel dates, airline, etc) and gave them a head's up that we would sent another email in a few weeks with pricing and they should be prepared to put down a deposit of $150. Once we got our quote from our TA, we sent it out and guests had two weeks to call her and apply their deposit. We have 30 people and another 10 confirmed but are booking later. So excited! I plan on sending out formal invitations closer to the date (say March-ish) with excursion info, group activities, wedding timeline...stuff like that. We did that too! I find that worked so well. And people are usually ok with putting $150 down right away, and then they can pay the rest when they are ready. We had 55 people book within the 2 week deadline that they were given. But there are aprox 4 others who are coming that wanted to go with their own deal. But they say they'll be there for sure. One's a groomsmen, so he better be!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by FutureMrs.D I know, eh! I was upset about that too... Are you going to have them for the ceremony or at the reception?? I'm not 100% sure yet, I'm thinking maybe the reception so they can get the group excited and dancing. But I really wanted to walk in to the mariachi's playing the wedding march at the ceremony. What are you thinking of doing?

We are definitely having the Mariachi band. I wish we could have them for both the ceremony and reception. But $800 seems a little steep. I'm so sad they took them out of the 2010 package for the ceremony.

Quick Question: Is this through travel agents that you were able to book your flights? Or just online, etc? Our wedding is in May, and we are still waiting on our flights. We know we will be flying either the 8th to 15th or the 9th to 16th, however we don't have our flight schedules yet! Our travel agent told us we'd have them 300 days before our departure, we are now almost at 200 days and still nothing. I've looked on Air Transat's website and they don't have flights either. We are going through Signature Vacations. I'm beginning to worry that they won't have flights in May since Mexico is very slow right now..... Cara

I love the Palmeras grill, but if you count the seats, there's room for just over 100 people... I wonder if it'll look too huge for a party of 55? Quote: Originally Posted by sfrench0621 Attached are the photos Claudia sent me. These are from the Palmeras Grill and by the Palmeras Pool area.

Hi ChristinaP! I am also from Calgary, the weather is getting terrible. I am counting down the days until May. We almost chose the Grand Palladium also! Oh - and I didn't post my progress in my first post. I have sent out STD's, booked our date & time at the resort, bought my dress and bridesmaid dresses, and we have received 55 deposits for bookings. That number could go up or down still, but I'm pretty sure most people who have put their deposit down are in for sure. And we're just designing our invitations right now. Cara

would you be able to email me photos of the Palmeras grill also please? [email protected] Thank you!

I'm getting married May 14, 2010 at the Barcelo Maya Palace!!! Can't wait! I think 7 months is going to FLY by.

I will be so angry if they randomly upped the prices, they already sent out the 2010 packages.... how would that be fair!?!?!?!

Quote: Originally Posted by Boudou33 The photographer policy is that we have to pay for a night at the hotel right? Yes this is bad. I would not mind using their photographers if they<re good...but it<s not the case. We will be 20 persons at their resort for a week so I dont think it s faire to pay an extra for the photographer! This is the only thing I m not happy about.... Their photographer policy changed to they are not allowing any outside photographers anymore unless you had previously booked one before July 7th of this year I believe it was. I got an email from Gabriela and confirmed with her that we had already booked our photographer. But I'm not sure how strict they are on this, I've heard of people getting around this by having their photographer stay a night at the resort and then they are considered a guest and can get around the policy that way. I think that's so unfair though for them to force us to choose the resort photographer, it's one of the most important decisions of the wedding in my opinion!!

Quote: Originally Posted by bride2010 Gasp! Now I'm worried. Seems everytime they update something for 2010, I end up disappointed. First, the price jump on the Mariachi band and the wedding arch, then taking out the Mariachi band as an option for the ceremony, and now this. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping they don't change much, or at least change for the better. I totally agree. I was SO bummed about the mariachi band, and irritated about the photographer policy. What's next!??! *Fingers crossed*

Quote: Originally Posted by Boudou33 CaraW you don't know on which day you are leaving? How did you book your wedding date? I'm asking for a date from my travel agent, and then I will book my wedding day. Since we have to be in Mexico for 4 days prior to wed. I'm getting married in March. But this is a great idea. I did not send my wedding invitations yet....I'm waiting for the date...I should maybe send it anyway and say that it would be in March. Well we are definitely leaving either the 8th to the 15th or the 9th to the 16th. But it just depends when the flight leaves (Saturday or Sunday.) We are getting married on Friday, so it doesn't matter to us what day we travel, it just matters to our guests. I'd like to know though so I could tell them, and so we know what time we'll be flying. We sent Save the dates a few months ago, to let people know it would be in May in the Mayan Riviera. That way everyone had lots of notice to save. Once we get our exact travel dates, we will send out invitations. Although, we don't need an RSVP because everyone's already put down their deposits, so we know who's coming. lol. We're going to send passport invites so that we can have a few pages of information about the trip.

May 2010 brides - have you received your flight schedule yet? I am getting frustrated because our guests keep asking what days we're travelling, and Signature vacations doesn't know yet...

For some reason it won't let me change the picture, when I click on "Format Object" The picture tab is "grey" and won't let me click on it.

hahahah!!! I loved this!! Thanks for the laugh!

Quote: Originally Posted by FutureMrs.D Hi ladies! Just wondering if anyone has received the 2010 dinner menus yet? I had asked Gabriela about it and she told me they would be ready in 2 weeks.. but that was like 5 weeks ago.. ;-) I got an email from Gabriela this weekend and she told me she still does not have the menu's but she will send them as soon as she does.

Quote: Originally Posted by Paige2010 Wow Cara I can't believe you already have 55 booked- that's awesome! My wedding isn't far behind yours and I only have 3 booked- I better get on my guests haha well we lucked out and got a really good deal, because of an error that our tour operator made when they provided a quote, so they said they would honor the rate but we had only a month to get our deposits down. I guess some people could still back down, but 55 people have paid their deposits, so I'm hoping they all stick with it! Quote: Originally Posted by sammysgirl I just realized our weddings are really close together! Hey! Our weddings are on the same day!!! Yay for May 14!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by diamondpooch Okay, so am I the only one who think to pay almost $1000 extra to have a "cocktail hour" when everyone that is there drinks for free seems silly? What are the benefits of paying this extra money? Is it for a private bar with a private staff? I completely agree. I can't justify spending that kind of money when everything is free there, how does that make sense?

Quote: Originally Posted by brandynd Long story short, they bumped my date up to February 13th for our AHR, and I got a 50% discount on all catering and alcohol because of their mistake. God I want to call Kayla and thank her for saving me a few thousand dollars by just being a vindictive callous excuse for a human being. WOO HOO!!! That's good karma for you being the better person. Good for you!!! If you hadn't thought about moving your date, you wouldn't have had the 50% discount. That's awesome!!! But still since i didn't get to chime in before, that is awful of your friend to do to you. AWFUL. A similar thing happened to my friend who is getting married in July, and one of our other friends planned her wedding 2 weeks before my friends. We all have the same group of friends, and they are both out of town weddings. Now my friend has to plan her stagette, and shower, etc around this other girl. Some people just have no clue and don't think about other people when making decisions.

Quote: Originally Posted by diamondpooch Hello!!! By "resident" DJ, I mean the one they offer you if you buy a DJ through them. I believe they run $580 for three hours or something. I asked about bringing DJMannia in and they said it was fine, but I'd have to pay the resort $50 per hour for electricity used. That's another $200 on top of what I'll already have to pay Mannia and I'm just not sure I wanna spend that much. I know NOTHING about the resident DJ yet. I'm waiting on a response from Claudia regarding if he has a website or anything. I'll post on here when I find out. Sure, I'll email you the PDF of the flowers. I'm less than impressed with what I saw in the photos, so I asked Claudia if those are my only options. Waiting to hear back. I pray they aren't! Well, I'm going to buy my dress and pick out BM dresses on Thursday so wish me luck! Hi diamondpooch, Would you mind emailing them to me also please?? SORRY!! Thanks so much [email protected]

I am so sorry this happened to you. My FI has had a similar scare as 2 of his groomsmen thought they couldn't make it, but now they are reassuring him that they can. I am just crossing my fingers that when it comes down to the final payment date, they won't back down. I know what you mean about seeing who your true friends are. The same thing has happened to us. It's sad really that you have to find out who really cares during one of the most exciting times of your life, but I guess some people are just too selfish to realize that it means a lot if they are there. Your wedding will still be perfect, with or without them so try to keep your head up. Maybe they will come around. Quote: Originally Posted by svetayasofiya Wow..... sounds like we are all experiencing the same disappointments. I am lucky all our family is booked, but last night (the day before final payment was due) my fiancee's two groom men backed out. I was shocked to say the least because they committed months ago and even paid deposits. They've known for a year about our plans and now all of a sudden... one can't afford it so the other is backing out too because he doesn't want to go alone. I couldn't believe it. I was working hard last night trying to get him a good rate for single occupancy and he says "if I knew ____ wasn't going to come I wouldn't have booked because I don't want to go alone". I was so hurt by that comment, I started to cry and said you'd miss your best friends wedding because you don't want to go alone? I was so upset I had to hang up. The worst is my fiancee is really upset and extremely hurt, but he tells them it's ok. NO IT'S NOT!! He even said to me last night that in the beginning he didn't think anyone would come, then when they all put down their deposits he got all excited... backing out like this is such a blow. He has one friend coming now. I have three bridesmaids and he has a best man. We are all going to be lopsided, lol But seriously.... how do you get past the selfishness of others? We are really starting to see who our true friends are. I dunno... if it was me I would have been saving for months and without question would be there.

What a great idea Candice! I definitely think you should do that.

Wow those dresses are absolutely beautiful!!! What a great idea! I love that Justin Alexander chose to do this. The dress I am thinking of buying is a Justin Alexander dress, but not a "Pure" one, I absolutely love his dresses!!!

I'm so glad you are all saying #1... I'm in love with that dress, but I think I always thought it was too "weird" after my MOH said it was different. I absolutely love that dress, and I have ever since the first day I tried it on

Wow those are absolutely amazing!!!