~Katie~

hey girls, Â it's been a while since I logged on here but I'm so excited for all you soon-to-be brides! I got married there on 7th May 2010 and it was amazing. Â If you have any questions, please pm me (as I'll get an alert in my email messages as I don't come on here that much now) but would love to help out if I can. Â For anyone looking for a photographer too, we have just been blogged by Lidya that we used, so please feel free to take a look - http://lidyasolemidt.wordpress.com/ Â Best of luck to you all I wish I could do it all over again! Â K. xx

hey girls, just wanted to warn those of you that are giving out their email address to get information that if a MOD catches you, you will get banned from the forum for a while as it is against site rules....just wanted to make sure you knew! Good luck with your searches ladies xx

Quote: Originally Posted by whit-Bride Hey Katie! I'm glad everything is going well with you and your Hubby! Good luck with your new place! Are you in the looking stages or have you already found the place? My Wedding plans are going well! We have all of the major things done, now it is all of the little details that will pull everything together. Like.... - Bridesmaids dress fitting is in acouple weeks (I still need to find their shoes too) -Our engagement photos, stag & Doe and my Bacheloret are all coming up in the next month -Still need to get our bridal party gifts -Still need to get the welcome bag/items and put them together - Need to get all of our legal documents in order and couple of them need to be translated to spanish - We also need to put together our playlist for the ceremony and also for the reception too -Not to mention I still need to write my vows! lol -Etc.... WOW... I need to start getting more stuff done asap!!! lol :s Whit hey whit We are just about to get our moving in date confirmed after 6 months spent looking for our own place....after all that time we will finally have somewhere to call home, just the 2 of us I can't wait! fingers crossed, we will be moved in within 2 weeks!!!!! Well it sounds like you are getting there...remember, you can only do one thing at a time. and don't panic about how much is there....look at the list one item at a time and don't look at all of it. if you work your way through one at a time, you are only going to get closer to getting everything done GOOD LUCK! I am soooo super excited for you! (and jealous - I want to do it all again!!) xx

Quote: Originally Posted by whit-Bride Thanks Lisa & Katie! I had a little panic attack the other day... I think I'm a little more relaxed right now though. Maybe it's because I'm distracted with other Wedding things, like my Bridesmaids dresses that came in this week, Etc.!). We are still waiting for Ana to give us a day/time that we can call her. My travel agent said she skypes which is even better because that will cost much less than calling! Hopefully we can speak to Ana soon, so I can continue with my planning/organizing! I will let you ladies know how it goes! Lisa... How are your Wedding plans coming along? Katie... How is married life treating you? Thanks Again! Whit Hey whit Married life is amazing! and we are in the process of getting a place too so that's very very exciting! then I think it will feel more like we're married! But so far...it hasn't disappointed! how are all your plans going? what have you got left to do? xx

Quote: Originally Posted by lisafleury Hey Whit! I haven't personally called Ana but my travel agent has indeed spoken to her once or twice which has gone well. She's apparently fluent in English, to my travel agent's pleasant surprise, and from what I understand is extremely helpful so I'd say definitely try and set up a phone date with her - at the very least it will put your mind at ease once you get a few things straight with her directly! I would suggest maybe trying to set the time and date via email beforehand so that you're not sitting at your travel agent's desk all day trying to get a hold of Ana as I think she's a one woman show. I've yet to deal with her directly but that's what I'd recommend for what's it's worth... maybe one of the previous brides could be more helpful Good luck, Lisa just to jump on this - Ana is fluent in English, just make sure you don't use any slang terms or phrases and yes she is a one-woman show so she will need to let you know a date/time when she is not sorting out someone's wedding at the resort. Good luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by whit-Bride Wow you have done a ton of excursions! lol I think we have decided on the Mayan Ruins/Catamaran tour with the whole group, and the sunset adult only dinner cruise for just the two of us the day after our wedding. If we decide to do another one... then it would definitely be the dolphin encounter because I love dolphins! The second dress was a good plan for you... especially considering what you did to yours in Mexico! lol Thanks for sharing all of your info! Whit ah thanks, and you're more than welcome! I am loving seeing your status countdowns on facebook!! I want to do it all again!!!!!!!!!! DH wants to go back to renew our vows....for our 1 year anniversary (!!) he loved it so much! lol enjoy it. it's all over way too quick

Quote: Originally Posted by taylorwd Katie, what a great AHR! The setting is gorgeous!! Everything is so pretty and well thought out that it looks like you had a second wedding--lucky you! ah thanks Wendy it was amazing. we basically did a whole other traditonal wedding day, apart from the ceremony and we had gorgeous weather for it too. Quote: Originally Posted by chong OOOh.. I hope you feel better. Can't believe you still have the energy to post stuff here WOW.. you AHR looks like another beautiful wedding. pictures turn out great. looks like it was a gorgeous day!!! Thanks for sharing the photos. Take care!!! Chong thanks Chong. I'm feeling much better now...after 3 trips to the doctors in one week, 2 different lots of antibiotics and ear drops! I got there in the end! Quote: Originally Posted by renee1811 OMG, I leave in 12 hours!! Sorry I haven't been around a lot recently, and I hope everybody is doing awesome. I have spent the past few days running around like crazy trying to get everything finished! I hope everyone has a fabulous next few days, and next time I post, I will be a Mrs!!!! There is no way I'll be getting any sleep tonight! hope you've had a fabulous time Renee! can't wait to hear all about it and see the pics!

Quote: Originally Posted by whit-Bride Hey Katie! Thanks for answering all the questions and giving some pointers! What excursion(s) did you or any of your guests go on? Any good or bad reviews? - We are planning one group excursion for everyone to go on together, and Dawson and I are going to go on an excursion the day after the wedding (one of the dinner/sunset cruise ones to get a little alone time). I'm so happy that you loved your hair and makeup! I have been worried about that and trying to come up with a plan incase I hate it! lol So your good review makes me feel much better! I checked out all of your pictures! On here and on FB! You looked incredible! You have a ton of great pictures! Did you have your UK reception as soon as you got back? I gotta ask... did you have 2 dresses? lol I saw the pics of you in the water in Mexico... then you had a UK Reception!? Thanks again, Whit we did a few...some did the Mayan village excursion where we went and climbed the highest temple in Mexico (which was a great accomplishment), visited a mayan village and people, and went to swim in a cenote on the way back. was good but for us the group was too large to get as much as we wanted out of it, but it was good. we also did the swimming with dolphins. the best by far is the Dolphin Encounter in Riviera Maya - you get nearly a whole hour with the dolphins and the groups are only of 8. we did this last time we went to mexico as well and it was just as brilliant this time as it was last time. 4 of us did the pub crawl in cancun...it's a one-off payment and then it's all inclusive for the whole night. the clubs were absolutely brilliant and we all had a totally amazing night. it included a trip to coco bongos too which is a must to go to if you're in Mexico! on a previous trip Chris and I went to xel-Ha which was lovely. a whole day around the resort with as much amazing snorkelling as we wanted and things to do the whole way round. may be a bit difficult to do with a big group, unless you just took everyone there and got them to go round on their own and just told them when to be back for.... also done the Jungle tour which is a good one for a group....2 people per speedboat (you get to drive your own) and you drive it to a reef and then spend some time altogether snorkelling around there. on this trip, my dad actually went down to porto morelos and spoke to some locals down there and arranged a snorkelling trip where they came and picked us up from our beach (!!) and took us to 2 spots for some amazing snorkelling. they had us for 4 hours and it was much cheaper than booking through any tour operators. we landed back in the Uk on the Monday and our AHR was on the Saturday... and it was perfect. the sun even came out for us and it was a gorgeous day. made it all feel more real. and yep, i did have 2 dresses! I bought a cheap one off of ebay from a shop that made them to measure in China...it was actually a really nice dress but only cost about $49! i didn't want to risk my dress when I was going to wear it again when I got home!

hey girls, sorry I haven't been on here much - having been delayed getting home we had less time than we wanted to plan final details for our AHR that we had on Saturday, and since friday, I have had an ear infection and felt like total BLAH. Monday was my first day back at work and I lasted until 1pm when they sent me home....today I only lasted 10 minutes before they sent me home. but anyway....sorry. for those interested, here are some links to my brother's website. He worked alongside our hired professional photogs in Mexico, and worked alone with his wife for our AHR. pics from my wedding - JD Photographs - Kate and Chris' Wedding pics from my AHR - JD Photographs - Kate and Chris's Wedding - UK Reception there's also pics on my facebook from the official photogs so add if you like Katie Day. much love girlies xx

pics from my wedding (taken by my brother, not our official photogs) - JD Photographs - Kate and Chris' Wedding pics from my AHR - JD Photographs - Kate and Chris's Wedding - UK Reception more photos on my facebook if anyone wants to see... xx

Quote: Originally Posted by whit-Bride Hey Katie, I'm so happy for you... its great to hear that you loved every moment of your special day! Also great to hear yet another bride compliment Ana! Here are a few questions I have for you... 1. How was the week with all of your guests? - Did you all go on a group excursion? 2. What did you think about the hairdressers? Did the step by step pictures help? - Was it exactly what you wanted? 3. Did you get your makeup done at the spa too? 4. What did you have to eat at the Villa Marina? - Ana just sent us the menu options. 5. Did you do your dinner, first dance, etc all at the banquet hall before you went to the lobby bar? - We are torn right now about what to do regarding our reception. We want to be outside (Villa Marina/Looby Terrace) but aren't sure how it is going to work out. - Any advice on this? 6. What cake flavour did you go with? - Did you get to try them first? 7.Did you and your hubby stay for an extra week? I'm sure I will end up having more questions for you... but I will leave it at that for now! lol Thanks. Whit hey Whit. ok here's some answers to your questions.... 1. our guests were out with us the whole 2 weeks (coming from as far as here people don't really do such a long haul flight for less than a 2 week holiday). My tip on this is either have them with you but be disciplined to not try and run around after everybody, or go somewhere else for a week just the 2 of you. It was great having our loved ones round us, but we couldn't stop ourselves trying to look after everyone and spend time with everyone the whole time we were there, so we didn't really get a honeymoon, or any time alone. re: excursions we went on what we wanted to, and if other people were doing the same things we all went together, but we wanted people to spend their money on what they wanted to do. this did work out as we got to do different things with different people. 2. the hairdressers are brilliant. I'd given my trial pics from the UK to Ana and they were there with the hairdresser when I turned up for my appointment. and they used them to refer to to make sure they got it right...not just make up what they wanted to. I was very happy with the results. 3. My makeup I didn't really know what to do about...just in that I didn't really have much of an opinion! I just said I wanted it to look quite natural....and the results were stunning. The were also brilliant with my BM who got her hair and make up done and she hadn't had a trial in the UK and didn't know what she wanted doing but they gave her magazines to look through and she ended up asking them to do a cross between 2 styles - which they did perfectly. again, her make up was fab and lasted the whole day. 4. I ate at the villa marina once as just an evening meal and had the steak, and then the romantic meal on the beach was chicken, served from the Villa Marina. Both meals were absolutely gorgeous. just remember to ask for the steak well done - anything less than that has a lot of blood! Our meal we chose for our reception in the banquet hall was beef and was gorgeous - everyone said how great it tasted and really good quality food. 5. yes we did it all in the banquet hall and had our 3 hrs of DJ in there as well. then at 10pm when it finished we all went to the lobby bar. in all honesty, where you have it is your call, but just remember the entertainment happens in the lobby bar (such as karoke - sp?!!) BUT we didn't change our mind about where we had ours until we got there and that was no problem at all - it wasn't even mentioned. ana just offered to show us round the options and we made a decision from there. All i'm saying is, don't panic that you have to decide now. There is absolutely nothing wrong with finalising it with Ana once you get there, and it won't cause a panic or stress as ana sorts every single bit of detail out. 6. we chose the vanilla cake and it looked beautiful. unfortunately we never got round to doing anything with it as husband's niece got rushed to hospital during the meal and everyone, including us, was a bit preoccupied and forgot about the cake. but we didn't ask to try the cake so couldn't say either way if you would be able to or not. always worth asking! 7. answered in question 1! lol hope that all helps. I'll do a post with the links for photos on after I've posted this.... so excited for you!!! wish i was doing it all again!! Quote: Originally Posted by whit-Bride Congrats Krystal! Great to hear another happy bride from OCT! Your whole wedding day is pretty similar to Katies! Do you have any pictures to share? I would love to see your special day! Did you use the hotel photographer? Do you have any specific advice or pointers for myself and all the other future Brides? lol Thanks... and Congrats again! Whit did you see my pics on facebook Whit? Quote: Originally Posted by PinkBride I have pictures on my facebook account...not the professional ones yet, but ones from friends! you can search me - Krystal Branton -just leave a msg so I know whos trying to add me I was fortunate and my aunt did our pictures, she does them back home for weddings and was there for us! Honestly, trust Ana! She is AMAZING! And I would reccomend the Rooftop wedding if you want privacy...only you and your guests up there. and the banquet hall was great for the reception. It was intimate, decorated beautifully and AIR CONDITIONED! lol And the meal was sooooo good ! Our guests are stilll talking about the meal! Any other questions, just ask! Mrs. B welcome back Mrs!!!! Quote: Originally Posted by Sweetpea_Mtl Congratulations Krystal! All this advise is very helpful as I'm still undecided on which resort to pick. So many things to consider... Budget being a bit of a limitation for our guests mostly. I would love to see your pics on FB (will PM you). Thanks for sharing! hey, feel free to add me too - I'm Katie Day and already have some of these girls on my account so it should show up as having friends in common. Feel free to look through the pics on my facebook - the albums are our official photographer pics and the links on my page are from my brother. hope this all helps.

Quote: Originally Posted by lisafleury LOVE your pics Katie, you look absolutely stunning! I just sent you a facebook friend request - I'm Lisa Maria Fleury and my profile pic is my Roller Derby team logo... we just got it done up and are stoked for our first bout next weekend So Katie from your pics. it looks like you had your wedding on the terrace and dinner in the banquet hall - is that right? What made you decide to have the wedding on the terrace vs. the beach? How did that work out for you guys? Did your night end in the banquet hall or did you guys just hang out wherever the action was happening that night? I feel like I have a million questions for you but I'll wait to hear all the details when you have a moment to relax and enjoy being Mrs. Day for a while - that's so exciting!!! So great to hear from you ladies, there's so much comfort in knowing and sharing all this invaluable info Chat again soon! hey Lisa, we had our ceremony on the rooftop terrace which is totally out of the way and totally private - no-one anywhere near you or your wedding party. we didn't get married on the beach as we wanted something more private, and I HAD to be able to wear a great pair of heels!! I loved it, as we went onto the beach for photos afterwards anyway so kinda got the best of both worlds. we chose the banquet hall after hearing about the lobby terrace - it's not private at all and all other hotel guests can basically be sat inside looking out at you - they're literally just behind you! plus it was sooo hot, we were glad to be in the airconditioning! after our private reception finished at 10pm we all headed up to the lobby bar and hung out there. I don't regret one single decision we made and would keep it all the same if we did it again. I loved the private-ness of the rooftop terrace, the photos on the beach, and being inside for the food. here was what we did: 4pm - ceremony & sand ceremony on rooftop terrace 4.30pm - cocktails and nibbles on rooftop terrace 5.30pm - photos on the beach (we did photos of everyone first and then sent our guests to the lobby to relax while we had our couples photos done) 7.00pm - reception in the banquet hall 10.00pm - up to the lobby bar! please do ask away with the questions....I can't see me having much time to do a review this week so it's easiest if you ask questions and I'll answer them! Quote: Originally Posted by whit-Bride Welcome back Katie! I just checked out your pictures... you looked amazing! Hope it was everything you dreamed of! Can't wait to hear your review! lol Whit ah thanks Whit it was amazing - even better than I imagined. and Ana is AMAZING!! she just sorted everything out. perfect. Quote: Originally Posted by whit-Bride Hey Lisa, Your dress looks great! Can't wait to see the pics of you wearing it in Mexico! lol Ana did respond... she said it will be extra to have the reception on the Lobby Terrace. For 3 hours including dinner, music setup etc would be $60 a person. I was pretty shocked with the price to say the least! lol So I think we are going to stick with our original plan at the Villa Marina. I am just waiting for Ana to reply about having our dancing, bouquet/garter toss, etc on the lobby terrace after dinner. I'm sure it will be for a fee though. My countdown is at 86 days till the weding which means 82 days until we leave! What about you? Whit Villa Marina is a lovely restaurant was our fav by far! good luck and let me know if you have any questions...only too happy to try and help. xx

Quote: Originally Posted by chong oh WOW.. I love you pictures! I love that you picked PINK for your wedding color. I love the cute wedding cake. Did you get your hair & make-up done at the resort? I am terrible at doing my own make-up. I do not wear make-up except for maybe blush... Did you have to bring your own make-up for them to use? Did you bring a picture of what you want your make-up to look like? I might have to go see someone at the mall to do my make-up and take a picture of myself.. Can't wait to see more pictures from you! Congratulations!!! Chong ah thanks chong I didn't get married at AS or AB - I had booked at AS originally but it got too out of our price range and we changed hotels...but I still stayed in on this thread as these girls are amazing and I'd have missed them too much! my make up I just asked them for nothing too OTT and keep it natural looking....and I loved the result I only took pictures for my hair which they recreated no problem. Quote: Originally Posted by MaggieandJay YOUR PICS ARE awesome! You look stunning!!! thank you Quote: Originally Posted by meghan Gorgeous photos, Katie! Your brothers photos look pro! You had a different photographer as well! Lucky you to have 2 professional photographers! thanks Meghan. my brother isn't professional - he's just started getting into it but wants to start up his own company so he's used my wedding to start up his portfolio and set up his own website. he's doing our pics on Saturday for our AHR and I can't wait! Quote: Originally Posted by amandamarieb Looks like everything went off great! You looked beautiful. Congrats and welcome back! Where on the resort did you have your ceremony? I don't think I've seen that spot before. hey Amanda, thank you! I didn't get married at AS or AB so you wouldn't have seen it before lol i got married at Ocean Coral & Turquesa and would highly highly recommend it. Quote: Originally Posted by renee1811 OMG, Amy, you look absolutely stunning in your wedding pictures!! Your wedding looks like it was amazing. Welcome back; we've missed you on this thread! Katie, you look absolutely gorgeous in your pictures!! I love your dress and flowers; and your TTD are fun and sexy! Welcome back!!!! thanks Renee!! it was a real dream I want to do it all over again!

hey ladies...again! my TTD pro-pics are now up on my facebook so check them out if you want....and add me if you're not my 'facebook friend' already! I'm Katie Day (wow that sounds weird!!) and my profile pic is me and hubby on our wedding day so should be easy enough to find...I hope!! pro pics of wedding day should be on tomorrow...still sorting through those ones!! Muchos love amigos

hey ladies...again! my TTD pro-pics are now up on my facebook so check them out if you want....and add me if you're not my 'facebook friend' already! I'm Katie Day (wow that sounds weird!!) and my profile pic is me and hubby on our wedding day so should be easy enough to find...I hope!! pro pics of wedding day should be on tomorrow...still sorting through those ones!! Muchos love amigos