becks1581

Hi ladies! I've been very MIA from the forum in the last couple of months but thought I'd stop by to see how everyone's planning is going! It was a sweet surprise to see that Terra (best and most fun photographer-EVER) had posted our magazine page :-) Glancing back at the last few pages, it seems like everything is going well. Let me know if you have any questions...H3R was great and we loved our vendors. In fact, I was really surprised to read that Allibe thought Ivan was no flexible. We changed several things the week of our wedding...like reception location, size of dance floor, etc and he never blinked an eye. Basically, if there were problems, we didn't know (which was fine by me!!) Marvin was AWESOME for flowers too! I'll try to keep in better touch b/c I know how helpful it can be to talk to a past bride. I can also be reached on my email; [email protected]

Hi girls...we got some exciting news last week that I wanted to share with the HTR brides... Our wedding in going to be featured in the Nov/Dec issue of Destination Weddings & Honeymoons Magazine!! Our amazing photographer submitted our images and we just found out that we were selected We're obviously SO excited! I'll keep you posted when the magazine comes out so you can take a peak! Aquabride--Congrats! HTR is a great place to get married. Let me know if you have any vendor questions. We used mostly our own vendors that I found through this site. I'm always happy to help!

Thanks April! I just sent you my info... We had 70 guests come with us to Mexico

Ooops...I did my math a bit wrong. We actually paid a little less than $1700 but of course it all depends on how many tables and bridesmaids you have! I'd be happy to answer any other questions. Selecting flowers for a destination wedding when you can't preview anything in person is definitely a stressful experience!!!

I just took a look at my contract. It looks like my prices were a little bit more (but still significantly less than what I was quoted by other vendors). It probably has to do with the types of flowers I requested. Our resort let us chose whomever we wanted for vendors so I priced out 3 or 4 different florists and found that Marvin gave me the most for my money...most others couldn't promise orchids for my budget! In total I believe we paid a little less than $1500. My bouquet: $165 Bridesmaids: $75 each Mother's presentation bouquets: $55 each Bouts (orchids) $12 each Floral Chuppah (incl. aisle petals): $350 Chair flowers: $20 per corsage Centerpieces: $95 each (roses, orchids, tulips and calla lilies surrounded by 5 floating candles) In this pics you can see a comparison of the bride, bridesmaid and mother's bouquets: And here's a pic of the flowers Marvin provided for our cake:

You can see my short after-party dress hanging in the back of this picture. It's made by Sue Wong and the bottom has ostrich feathers. I wore it to the bar at the resort when our reception was over and I'll also wear it to our AHR next month.

I wore purple Kate Spade heels for dinner and dancing and LOVED them! Our ceremony was on the beach so I wore beaded Steve Madden sandals to walk down the aisle.

Jumping into the pool during the last song of our reception is a feeling I'll NEVER forget! About 20 of our guests jumped and after seeing the girls jump I knew I didn't want to miss out on the fun! Everyone was so shocked that I jumped in wearing my dress. Everyone danced and sang in the pool and kissing my new husband in the water while reflected on the night was the most amazing feeling EVER!!

We also used Marvin for our wedding on May 7, 2011 at Hacienda Tres Rios! He did our centerpieces, chuppah, ceremony chair flowers, aisle petals, bouquets and bouts. His customer service was fantastic...he brought us centerpiece and bouquet samples a few days before the wedding which was very reassuring. He was also very affordable. Orchids were far more expensive at most other florists I researched and Marvin did an impecable job!! Here are a few pics from our day...

A pic of La Tortuga...sigh, I want to go back right NOW!!!

We stayed in Mexico for a total of 12 days. We arrived to HTR on the Monday before our Saturday wedding. This was great b/c it gave us time to meet with our vendors and finish up last-minute details before guests arrived. I think that a lot of our guests were surprised to arrive on Wed and find me essentially stress-free. We left HTR on Monday and spent 5-nights at La Tortuga Hotel in downtown Playa del Carmen. I HIGHLY recommend it if you are looking for a change from the all-inclusive. It was really fun to be able to wander around the town, try different restaurants and do a few excursions. The inside of the hotel is very calm and serene so it felt like our private little escape...just what we needed after 4+ days of being the center of attention!

My timeline didn't attach before but here it is... Wedding Day Timeline (for Pictures).xlsx

Thanks Samantha! I'm a bit of a ridiculous Excel spreadsheet-maker so I definitely have time-lines. I'm attaching the one for the day of the wedding (getting ready, pictures, etc) but feel free to PM your email address to me and I can send you more of my stuff. Our ceremony started at 5pm and we did a 'first look' before the ceremony. It was super hot for pre-ceremony pics but starting at 5pm worked nicely because we got the pretty sunset light during dinner. Also, it wasn't too hot at all for the ceremony or dinner. We had a great breeze and everyone said that they felt really comfortable. The GREAT thing about booking DJ Doremixx is that he provides you with a very detailed spreadsheet for the reception time-line. We were able to put our song choices for the special dances on there and he ran the reception schedule to a tee! I emailed him my completed time-line the week before we got to Mexico and then we went through it again when we met the week before the wedding. For an overly-organized type like me, it was great to have that reassurance! The resort did the cake. I decided that it was best to have them keep it simple (less chance for disaster) and then we gave them the purple ribbon and cake toppers. Our florist brought the fresh flowers (free of charge!) to complete the cake. It turned out better than I anticipated.

A few more. LOL...once I get started it's hard to stop!!