Norma83

Hi Layla - Welcome to the forum! You'll find such great advice on this site Hope all goes well with your planning. Have fun!

Thank you for sharing! This is awesome

Thank you for posting your review! It's very helpful It sounds like your wedding went perfectly! I'd love to see your photos; I'll have to find you on Facebook. I too have had communications issues with the coordinators in the US. Ugh! I was first working with Angie and in the beginning she was answering all of my questions and then all of a sudden she just stopped. I sent her our booking form and she never got back to me. I followed up with her several times to make sure she got it and still no response. I would call up there and she would say that she would call me and she never would. Finally, Rebekah emailed me and helped me out with booking our date. We fianlly got the contract signed and our date is officially set for May 5, 2012. I know, I'm a little early with planning but we wanted to start telling our families to start planning for the trip because some have kids and of course, it's a little more for them to be spending. Although, Rebekah has booked and reserved our date and we have signed the contract, I'm still not 100% convinced with her. I feel like she's a little sketchy. When I called her to talk to her about the contract, I was rerouted to the Cancun office. That's when I found out they were closing the US office. The lady told me that Rebekah was only going to be with the company for one more month and that everything was going to transferred to Cancun. Well, when I spoke to Rebekah I asked her about that and she said no, that she was still going to be my coordinator. I have idea if she's just telling me that or what but I find it a little sketchy. I hope and pray that all goes well in the end. Sometimes I feel like calling the Cancun office and requesting a new coordinator.

These are awesome! Great job

Those are really cute! I'm sure everyone will love them.

Quote: Originally Posted by clinicalgal So do people get officially married at home before, or just get the licenses?? That's the part i'm confused about. We want to get officially married in the states, but also want the destination wedding to feel like "the real thing" - what are others doing?? Hi Clinicalgal - I think people get officially married at home, which you get your official license. Then when you have your destination wedding you would just have the Symbolic Ceremony. In your case it would be the religious ceremony. My fiance and I are planning to have both a civil and symbolic ceremony. For the symbolic part, we wanted to stick to the catholic tradition and get married by the church. So we'll be having a Catholic Ceremony. In order for us to do this, we have to have permission from our parish here in the states and we still have to provide documentation of our sacraments, etc. I hope this helps! -Norma

I'm really sorry to hear that you are having to go through this 3 months before your wedding. If it were me, I would put my wedding on hold until things are where they need to be between me and my fiance. I know it's hard but it just seems that his mind isn't right, right now. I think for a man, they want to be able to provide for their family and when the woman is "taking on the man role" they feel defeated. Like what is wrong with me? Why can't I get a job or why can't I take care of her? If you guys are really meant to be, things will work out. Ultimately, you are the one that knows him best. It could be that he's just overwhelmed or has a serious case of cold feet. I wish you the best of luck and I hope that things work out for you in the end. -Norma

I love your invites! They're different and very cute. Great job!

Very cute! You did a great job

Quote: Originally Posted by Soon-to-be-McRae Hi Everyone Well after doing some more reading on tripadvisor and various other websites i keep reading bad reviews about the Gran Caribe Real, the hotel we have chosen for our special day a few of the reviews mention about the beach, apparently there isnt much of one, and the rudeness of staff seems to come up quite a bit also read the food isn't to great. I am getting quite concerned now as i had set on this resort but the bad reviews are now putting me off, i have also read that they do try and sell you a time share thing!!! not something i want whilst on holiday really! I carnt really find another resort that has everything else we need this resort as a waterpark with slides etc that we wanted for our children this is quite high on our list so if anyone knows of any other resorts that have waterslides please let me know so i could have a look i would be very grateful, i am hoping someone can reassure me about the Gran Caribe Real. Hi Soon-to-be-McRae - My fiance and I are actually planning on having our wedding at the Gran Caribe Real. I totally understand what you mean about the reviews but I do have to say that most of the reviews we read were all great! Some here and there that weren't so great but we just thought that you just can't please everyone. It was also important to us that we have our wedding at the Gran Caribe and so we decided to take a trip out there. We actually went this past December and did a wedding site inspection. Throughout our whole stay, everything was awesome! We had not one complaint! The entertainment staff was awesome, the food was good, the beach was awesome. I really don't understand how people say there is no beach because when we were there, the beach was huge! Yes, at one time there wasn't one but they have reconstructed and have expanded the beach. If you go to the Real website, you can click on the live webcam. That will give you an idea of how big the beach is. It still cuts off some of the beach so it's even a little bigger than what it shows. When we went to tour the hotel, everyone was super nice. We had no issues with time share people. We have traveled to cancun many times and actually, I was surprised that no one mentioned anything about a timeshare. Maybe we got lucky, I don't know but even when we went to book our activities throughout our stay, again, no one bothered us with timeshare stuff. On our site inspection, we met with Lorena and she was awesome. She walked us through every single thing and spent about 2 1/2 hours with us. She was very helpful with eveything and really took time to sit down and talk things out with us. I truly understand your concerns. It's scarey when other people have had bad experiences but it doesn't necessarily mean it'll happen to you. I guess it's a chance we are all taking with having a destination wedding. For us, the Gran Caribe is everything we're looking for I hope you find my email helpful! -Norma

Quote: Originally Posted by Jennybell1 I'm going to have to check out this resort yal are talking about - gran caribe....I am still trying to make a definite decision here. Sandos is a really nice resort but Im worried about the time share issues some people have been dealing with.....anyone here of anything like that at the gran caribe? Hi Jennybell1 - What time share issues are you talking about? I don't think I've heard of any time share issues at the Gran Caribe. Even when we visited we didn't have anyone harrassing us about checking out time shares or anything. Not sure if that's what your are talking about.

Quote: Originally Posted by Jennybell1 I posted it on the ohter thread but had to let the 2012 Brides know - after 9 months of planning and DIY's on this forum, etc etc.....Im Finally Engaged! RIley proposed last night. Not that we didnt know we were getting married already anyways - but it just seems so much more real and closer now that I am. Yay! Char and Norma - The gran caribe - what a great choice - I have heard so many great things about that resort - congratulations! Congratulations on your engagement! Now it is real!!! I'm really excited about having our wedding at the Gran Caribe. I've also heard great things about the resort!

Quote: Originally Posted by char79uk Hi Norma, I'm planning my wedding for June 2012 in Cancun. We've chosen the Gran Caribe Real, what hotel are you getting married in? Hi Char79uk - I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner! We have actually decided on the Gran Caribe Real also. I fell in love with the catholic chapel.

Quote: Originally Posted by Shoesiesluvr Oh wow! but that just means thats youve had all that time to plan and gather information, now youre more than prepared To answer your question, none of our guests are staying at the Gran Caribe. We will all be staying at the Royal since its an Adult Only resort and were only adults lol But yes the Chapel is exquisite, I really loved the look of it but we decided to do a civil ceremony before we leave CA and just do a spiritual wedding in Cancun. We will have our ceremony on the Oceanfront Gazebo and our reception and entertainment on the terrace. I know that real resorts does not coordinate a rehearsal so when we get down there ( a week before our wedding date) we will just look around at places near the resort to hold a rehearsal. Yes, a lot of time to plan! LOL Oh the Royal is such a nice hotel too! How long is your reception for? I've been thinking about rehearsal ideas too. I'm a fan of Bubba Gumps. It's like caddy-corner from the Gran Caribe and the Royal. Check it out see if you like it. We're thinking of having our rehearsal there. I don't know if you've ever been there but it's a pretty cool environment!

Quote: Originally Posted by IrishgirlinNY Hi Norma Congratulations! We started planning our wedding 22 months ahead and now we only have 13 months to go! Time goes really quick. Good luck with all your planning. Thanks Shannon! Congrats to you too How did you handle planning so far in advance? I feel that at times the WC at the resort doesn't take me seriously because I'm so far out, you know? I've been very persistent but I feel like I'm being too pushy. What is most important to me is making sure we get the date we want because we've already begun to tell our family. We just want to make sure we give them enough time to save and plan for the trip. What did you do?

Quote: Originally Posted by Shoesiesluvr I will definitely keep you posted, a little less than 6 months to go!! =D Lets see, we have only been planning for about 5 months now...sounds crazy now that I say it lol but he proposed in June 09 and our original intent was to get married in Sept 2011 at a local venue, when at our engagement party in Nov, we both decided to move the wedding up a year and have a destination wedding lol so we just sprung it up on our guests and everyone totally loved the idea! And we are having a total of 35 guests, It was hard limiting it to that small amount of people but thats just what worked for us. So, do you have any ideas in mind yet about your wedding That's so exciting Are all your guests staying at the Gran Caribe? My finance proposed in 2007, can you imagine the wait for me!? UGH, it's like torture LOL... So far, just with close family we know will be attending, we're at 60 guests. I think when we are said and done, it'll be 75. I'm a little worried about the guest list. We'll have to figure that out! I have had a lot of time to think about ideas and we pretty much know what we want. After seeing the resort in person, we for sure want to do the Catholic Ceremony in the Chapel. We'll have to do the civil ceremony right after. For the reception, we're thinking the Terrace on the roof top of Albatros. We really liked the view from there. What are you guys doing? Are you having a rehearsal dinner or anything like that?

Quote: Originally Posted by Shoesiesluvr Its been great actually! If youve searched the boards youve finally found ALOT of negative feedback in regards to the Gran Caribe and Royal Cancun, in regards to lack of communication. But we on the other hand are having the opposite, our communication with our WC is awesome! we have not had one issue with Julie, she is absolutely great! whenever we have a question or concern we shoot her an email and she responds right away, we've emailed up to 10 times away and always get an answer from her. Dont be shy to let me know if you need help with anything or just want to ask anything =) That's awesome! I've actually been corresponding with Angie and so far things are going well. When we went for the site inspection, Lorena, was awesome too!! I'll definitely have to keep in touch with you I'd like to know how things go and how your wedding turns out! How many people will you have attending and how long have you been planning? If it's easier to communicate through email, let me know.

Quote: Originally Posted by Shoesiesluvr Hi Norma! Welcome and your totally going to love this forum and all the girls! Everyone is super nice and helpful. Hehe were getting married at the Gran Caribe as well! Happy Planning! That's so exciting! How has your planning been with Gran Caribe Real, so far?

Let's see, we've been together for 9 years, engaged for 2 years (going on 3) and by the time we get married we will be together for a total of 12 years! Crazy how time flies!

Quote: Originally Posted by Island Bride I dont think your crazy at all, I actually think thats a great idea!! I only had a 1 year engagement so I didnt get as much time as you. Well, good luck with everything and happy planning!!! Thanks! Hopefully the long engagement pays off with the planning.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mallory57 Norma--you should check with your resort and see if you can lock in the current rates, as they will surely increase with time. My resort was willing to do this, as I had been in contact with him prior to them announcing the increased 2011 rates...always worth a shot-the worst they can do is say no! Hi Mallory57 - thanks for the info! I've actually been trying to do this and am also trying to reserve our date. I've been communicating with the wedding coordinator and I think we're able to reserve our date for 2012 but she's not sure about the rates. I have already sent her our deposit to hold our date but am waiting confirmation on that. I've got my fingers crossed! Where are you getting married?

Hi Guys - I'm glad to see I'm not the only 2012 bride out there! My fiance and I have decided on May 2012 in Cancun, Mexico. We've actually already visited the resort and now, it's just a waiting game for rates to come out. I hope everyones planning goes well! -Norma

Hi Everyone - My name is Norma and am looking forward to planning my wedding at the Gran Caribe Real in Cancun, Mexico on May 5, 2012. I know it's crazy that I'm already thinking about planning my wedding with it being so far away, but I'm trying to get all the information I can and learn what I should be aware of! I look forward to learning from all of you Happy Planning! -Norma