becks1581

Welcome to the forum and congrats! You'll find a ton of great info...and you've chosen a gorgeous location!

Welcome to the forum. You're only engaged once so be glad that you get to enjoy it for a little longer than most. You'll be an absolute pro by the time your wedding comes. The girls on the forum will provide you with tons of great ideas and info. Congrats!!

Welcome to the forum. Communicating with the resorts and arranging travel can be frustrating...but it's true for all of us. The forum will provide you with tons of great info, ideas and support. Have fun planning and CONGRATS!

Oooohh! New Year's Eve in the Caribbean...what could be better than that? Welcome to the forum, it's fantastic! Have fun planning.

I think that this forum is helpful for ALL brides...tons of great DIY and decoration ideas...and support from other brides! Have fun planning!

Welcome...you have plenty of time. I got a lot of great ideas on the invitation sub-forum...people on this forum are SO creative. I also used istockphoto.com for clip-art. It isnt' free but for $5-ish you can get great, unique designs for your project. Have fun and keep us posted on your finished product!!

Welcome to another Royal bride. I'm getting married at the Royal in PDC...you'll find a lot of info on this site!!

Quote: Originally Posted by stevensFiance Hello Ladies, I havent posted in awhile but I thought id chime in. After my 4th phone call to the WC office in Michigan, I finally spoke to Angie yesterday on the phone, but first I had to play the im going to cancel game and have all my guests who've already booked change their hotel and then like that someone other then the receptionist got on the phone. Angie claims as of yesterday they have someone at Kimberlys desk forwarding all emails to the new WC's, however she says she is very familiar with my "wedding" and she will be my new coordinator. Still though have not received any email from her regarding my very important question and was told she'd be in touch with the answer by last night. I saw some posts about the cocktail hour, we are doing it, even if it wasnt included in the package, I feel you need to have that. However apparently with the luxury package it is not open bar, its only champagne, i can upgrade to open bar and hot appetizers as well for i believe an extra $15 pp. I realize they need to make their money but the hotel is all inclusive and all of my guest are booked at the royal, so I find it absurd that I would have to pay. Im sticking with just the champagne and cold appetizers for now. Im also trying to put together a "welcome/rehearsal dinner" for Friday night but was told by Kimberly that If it wasnt held in one of the restaurants I would have to use the same menu as my wedding reception? I was hoping she meant I would need to pick from the wedding menu and that I wasnt being limited to the same entrees i am serving the next night. However I havent had any of these questions answered, apparently just like everyone else and if my wedding wasnt 5 months away, I would 100% change resorts. The champagne vs open bar at the cocktail hour is something that I've been wondering about for a while. From what past brides have said, they ended up with the full bar and some have mentioned hot apps without asking or paying more money. If you look back to 'TightyWhitey's' wedding review last May you can read her comments and see pics. I'm not sure what the experience has been from more recent brides. I also wouldn't want to pay even MORE money for an open bar when guests could literally walk a few feet and get a cocktail for FREE! Insane. As for the welcome/rehearsal dinner...if you have a private event you can definitely choose a DIFFERENT menu option from the list of choices. You don't have to serve the same meal as at the wedding. You can also do a buffet to get the event a more casual and different feel than the wedding.

They look fantastic and great job getting them done in advance...you'll be SO glad you did. And I agree...Vistaprint is awesome!

I love these...they are SO adorable and original. I bet a lot of girls on here start making these after seeing yours. Good job :-)

I am so impressed and also love those metallic envelopes!! I'm working on finishing up about 75 now and agree that the project seems to go on FOR-EV-ER! Congrats on finishing, you did a great job!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by jamk32179 Ladies, Is anyone doing a cocktail hour before the reception or are you just going straight into the reception. Thanks! I definitely plan to do a cocktail hour...if you're doing the Luxury Package, it's actually included for up to 35ppl. We're having our ceremony in the gazebo and then doing the cocktail in the garden just outside of the gazebo.

Quote: Originally Posted by bmlynch hey girlies so i called the resort today and found out that they said the construction will be for about another 10 days... so i felt alittle beetter but who knows. I am having the beef/salmon and vegetarian(pasta) option for my guests putting it in with the reply cards for the invitations so everyone has a choice. Having one choice of beef is just not what we want to do.. We tasted everything and it was all very good. I was impressed. Im doing ivan gomez and since we booked him before the prices changed we will be paying the same amount as before. We are doing to ult luxary package and just sent my save the dates out and we invited 300 people soo we might be in trouble haha WOW! 300ppl, that would truly be awesome :-) We've got 120(ish) on the guest list and counting so we'll see... For those of you doing more than one meal choice for your guests, do you think that we have to give an EXACT seating chart or more of a "Uncle Bob at Table 3 wants beef" sort of thing. I'd like to assign tables but not force ppl into certain seats. I've seen weddings where each meal has a different sticker or color on the seating card. Also, if you haven't yet, check out Matt Adcock's post on the Playa construction. It looks like this could make the beaches even better...I'm hoping this is a good thing :-)

This is really interesting and thanks for the great info. It looks like a tremendous undertaking! Please keep us updated if you hear anything else re: the project....I wonder what the time line is?

Quote: Originally Posted by Jules2222 Has anyone been able to reach the wedding planners (Kimberly etc.) here in the USA? I've been sending email for 5 days straight with no reply and just get VM when I call. Thanks! I agree that calling is probably your best bet. I was lucky and Doreen actually picked up her direct line when I called yesterday. I didn't use the 1-800 number though which might require that you jump through more hoops before speaking with an actual human. Quick update on my wedding dress shopping trip today...The dress that I liked the best was completely different than what I expected. It was the Maggie Sottero Reema. It looks very different on the website than in person and I would have the straps removed. It had more beading than I thought I would like but the shape was very flattering and the tulle skirt is gorgeous. The Anniston, which is the dress that I went to look at was actually stocked in their plus-size dept so I had a hard time envisioning how it would actually look on me...the proportions were pretty off. I don't think that I"m ready to buy yet but I'm def getting a better idea of what I do and don't want. ALSO...I'm heading out of town tomorrow morning to go on a cruise with FI and his family :-) FI is afraid that I might go into BDW withdrawal. LOL...he might be right. I hope everyone has a great week. GO TEAM!

Congratulations and welcome to the forum. You've picked a GORGEOUS destination. The forum will so helpful in your planning. Have fun!!

Quote: Originally Posted by speedy130 Hi all! I am joining the Playa del Carmen bride team! I am getting married on May 7th, 2011. We are going to have a group of about 20, and I'm thinking of using a travel agent. Can anyone give me any cons to this, or have you just been happy to have one? Thanks! Nicole Welcome! Since we're getting married on the same weekend, we should def get together for a drink while we're there!!! Like I've said before, I think having a TA is great and it's been really reassuring for me. The only downside that I've heard of is that the Royal may offer a few perks to you as the 'group organizer' if you book through them. I don't think that we get these perks when using a TA. Go back a few pages on this thread and I think you'll find the post that references this.

Congrats and welcome to the forum. I'm getting married at the Royal but will also have guests (with kids) staying at the Gran. I think it's a great location...but of course I'm biased. There are a lot of great photogs who are members of the forum. Take a look and email the ones you are interested in!! Have fun...and come visit us at the Royal thread :-)

Welcome to the forum and congratulations! I definitely think that picking your destination and resort is the hardest part. After that, everything becomes more real and a lot more fun!!

Congratulations on your engagement and welcome to the forum. The girls on the Iberostar thread will help you a lot. Everyone on this forum is great. Have fun planning your wedding!!

I think 50% is the industry standard. We are looking at bringing a photographer with us from home and she also requires a 50% deposit at the time of booking.

LOL! Doreen called me today and said that I sent her the longest email she had ever received. I find that a little hard to believe but very funny ;-) We talked through everything and confirmed the outline of our wedding and that I would be locked in at the prices from when I was booked. It's a good thing that we talked because they had NOTHING recorded for me...just may name and date!! I must say that Doreen was very pleasant on the phone so I'll settle down on my ranting for a while. Still, I think that's another point for Team Bride!! The thought of dress shopping also motivated me to spend an extra hour in the gym today. Woohoo!! And thanks Lisa, you and your FI are adorable too!!! Our friends got married on NYE and my siggy picture is from the wedding. Its was a lot of fun but it's funny how much differently I look at weddings now that I'm planning one of my own.

Hi girls. We're thinking about having a welcome dinner at the Royal a couple of days before the wedding. We'd want it to be private so that families staying at the Gran could come and would probably do a Mexican buffet in the garden or something like that. Is the cost still $25pp? I'm hoping this didn't change too...otherwise it might be less expensive to go off-site!

Congrats and welcome to the forum! You will find SO much information here. I'm also getting married in spring '11 and picked the riviera maya for a lot of the same reasons you listed. Have fun planning...we're all here to help :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by Lady_Di Kimberly is! She's my WC and she has been fantastic. Thanks for the recommendation! I think I'll email TA Jill tomorrow to see if she can put in the request to switch coordinators. While almost all of the planning will be done by me, I'm just not ready to spend the next 16months frustrated by cryptic and/or non-existent communication. Also...I think it would be seriously funny if we kept a running tally of the bride vs. royal score!!!!!! Go Team Bride!