becks1581

Cograts Samantha, We did a room block but not through HTR...through a travel agent instead. We signed a contract with the resort for the cost of the ceremony and the $20 per person for private events, etc. They basically just took out the room booking stuff. My only advice would be to make sure that the contract gives you the same private event fee for all of your guests at the resort. They initially wanted us to pay $20pp for everyone that booked via our TA and full menu price (about $80pp) for anyone that book through another outlet like expedia or AAA. We were able to get it worked out but it would have cost us a ton of extra money in the end (since you can't really control how your guests book.) The whole contract signing process was a little tedious for us, but if you just make sure that you read through everything carefully you will be totally fine...and then its on to the fun stuff!!

Congrats Wings!!! Have a GREAT time! You will have a fantastic wedding and we can't wait to see and hear all about it when you get back!!!

Just a few more: Here's the seating area for the (so delicious!) pizza oven....I can't wait to go back just for this :-) And here's the little make-shift bar that they set up by the pool. It looks totally cheesey but it gets the job done! They didn't keep the type of beer I liked at this pool bar but after the first day they always made a point to keep some in the fridge for me! They really do their best to make everyone happy and a little tip goes a long way! I met two girls while we were there and they ordered glasses of champagne to the pool. When the waiter brought them, one girl was in the bathroom and he insisted on keeping it cool at the bar until she returned. So cute :-)

We are having our welcome party on the beach area that is set up for volleyball during the day. There are trees and mangroves separating the area from the ocean and it's near the pool. If you've seen the video of Marissa and Louis' wedding, it's where they had their welcome party as well. Here it is during the day... And just for fun, the gorgeous pool area! (You can see the volleyball area in the background of one photo) Here, beach is to my left and I'm looking toward the resort

Here are a few pics of the plaza area. I don't think the pictures do it justice though. I tried to take a few snapshots with my point and shoot camera during the resort's Mexican Party on Sunday night and they came out dark. It was awesome in real life though and professional photos will be able to handle the low light conditions much better! and looking back over the bridge toward the martini terrace...

Here are a few. I didn't take the time to resize so my apologies if they are huge! This is the Martini Terrace--where we will have our cocktail hour. Gorgeous view of the resort and adjacent to the buffet restaurant and lobby. The bridge you see in the background takes you to the 'plaza' which is where we will be having our reception. Mrs M had her cocktail and reception in the same places Here are a few views of the 'point' where we will be having our ceremony. This is where the river meets the ocean.

I'm sending you a PM about the LED lights! Gorgeous wedding stuff (and we have the same colors!)

Here is what I'm thinking. It's pretty much just a variation of what everyone else has posted but it definitely helps to write it out. We want to do our first dance right after being announced (to get the jitters out of the way) but wanted to space out the formal dances so that people don't get bored. -Bridal Party Intro -Bride & Groom Intro -First Dance -First Course Served -Father/Daughter and Mother Son/Dances during first course -Main Course Served -Toasts (maid of honor, best man) during main course. We may also say a little something at this time or during dessert, thanking our guests for being there, etc. -Dessert Served and everyone encouraged to head to the dance floor... PARTY & DANCING...with short break for cake cutting No garter or bouquet toss

I just listened to this and I agree...It makes me smile too! I'm putting it on my list of songs to play at our beach welcome party!

Hi April, I also have some pictures of event locations from my site visit. Obviously there's nothing actually set up in the pics so you'll have to use your imagination a little bit but I think it will help...I look at them a lot when I'm trying to visualize decor, etc. They are on my laptop and I'm working nights this week (ugh) so I don't have access to them right now. I'll try to remember to post them for you. If I forget, don't be hesitate to remind me!!

Quote:Originally Posted by mbarnes04Â We are looking for someone to marry us in Cancun, but just a symbolic ceremony. Any suggestions? Â Thanks! Marianne I'm actually dealing with the same question right now. I just did a search and found someone that used cancunministers.com and recommended them. We were originally going to have one of my fiance's family-friends officiate but he can no longer make the trip to Mexico. Our resort can provide someone but I feel nervous having someone I'm not familiar with play such an important part in our wedding. Please let me know what you find out and I will do the same!

Yeah! Congrats Mrs M, it sounds like your wedding was wonderful!! I'd love to see pictures whenever you have time to post them...I feel like we are kind of wedding twins with the locations that we chose. We will probably have right around 50 guests as well. Did you think that the round terrace was a good reception spot for a group that size? Your welcome party sounds gorgeous. I can't wait to see your set up. We've started planning ours but I'm not sure what to expect. Did you do a BBQ? I also really like the idea of the ambiance music. We are using a different DJ but I will ask him if he has anything like that. Oh, and thanks for the info on reservations. Our welcome party is on Thursday so we want to have a family/rehearsal dinner on Friday night (the night before the wedding) and I was thinking that the Grill would be perfect...and my dad is thrilled to hear that we can get lobster served!! Did you just tell them that you wanted lobster when you made the reservation? Congrats again and thank you so much for your help. There's no way I would be able to plan our wedding without you girls!!

Hey girls---I've been communicating with Gabi about plans for our wedding and welcome party and she has been GREAT! She responds right away and is happy to work with you to help you get what you want for your wedding. I definitely recommend sending her an email :-)

To the girls who have had their wedding or been to HTR recently: Were reservations required at the sit-down restaurants? Not needing reservations was high on our list when we picked resorts and when we went on our site visit last May we didn't need them. BUT...I just read a complaint about this on Trip Advisor and I noticed that reservations are mentioned for some of the restaurants on the resort's website now!!!! This makes me kind of nervous because I think having to make reservations takes some of the relaxation and spontaneity out of a vacation. Thanks to anyone who can provide any info!

CONGRATS CONGRATS CONGRATS!!! I'm so happy for you...what a great wedding weekend!!! It seems like just yesterday that we all started posting on this thread about our wedding plans and now you are married! From a future bide, it is great to hear that Luis and Allibe take care of everything so well...I'm really hoping that once I get to the resort I can relax and let them take over!!

CONGRATS TO MRS M!!!!! I've been thinking about what a wonderful time you must be having and I'm sure that your wedding day was just PERFECT!!! Enjoy every second and we can't wait to hear from you when you return!!!!!

Our DJ is providing our lighting for both the wedding reception and welcome party. We decided to go with the lighted dance floor from DJ Ivan (we'll keep it all white during dinner) and he also comes with lighting. There are streetlight-type lanterns around the terrace that put off nice light too. For the welcome party we decided that it would be easy to use Ivan again. He is providing speakers for an iPod hookup and will bring lighting also. He is charging $300 for the speakers and $200 for the lighting (4 large lights). He met with us during our site visit so we could talk about what we needed. I'd LOVE to know any of your plans for the welcome party. I've found that this has been harder to plan than the wedding reception because there's no 'formula' so-to-speak! What are you doing for food and the set-up? I've looked into renting lounge furniture and a bonfire for ppl to hang out and make smores...and maybe just use the resort's round tables for a BBQ dinner. Also, does anyone know how the cocktail hour works? Passed appetizers or stations? Bar or cocktail service?? Ahh...details...

I just emailed Mrs Gama but my email got returned to me because their inbox is full. Do you guys happen to have an email address besides the ones that are posted on their website?

Hi ladies, 18 pesos per chair!! That is amazing! I was planning to just use the folding chairs for the reception but for that price I will rent them as well....what is the delivery fee? I also want to rent colored linens for our dinner tables at the reception so I will contact Mrs Gama tomorrow about that. Are you going to pick your colors before you get there or after arriving in Playa? Also, Allibe ended up not calling me as promised last week. I'm off of work on Mon and Tues this week so I'm thinking of giving her a call myself. I know that she's super busy but a lot of my budget is depending on rentals for the welcome party (lounge areas, etc) so I'd like to know what I'm working with!! Thanks to everyone for your help!!! I'm so excited for the weddings coming up!!! We're at about 6months now and all of a sudden time is going by REALLY fast!!! -Becky

I just thought of one more question for you...what kinds of rentals are you getting for you beach welcome party? We are doing a welcome party on the beach where the volleyball court usually is. I can picture what I want for the wedding reception but am having a harder time deciding on things for the welcome party. I'd love to hear what your choices were and what the prices were like for rentals, etc. Thanks!!!

I emailed Allibe again and CC'd Luis and she emailed me right back. We're planning to talk on the phone tomorrow morning. I was just looking for clarification regarding my menu choices since I'm designing the invitations now and I wanted to include that info on the RSVP card. I'm also still waiting for a quote from Planner 1 and was hoping for an update on that. I'll let you know what I hear. Future Mrs M: One month!!!!!!! You must be SO excited! I can't wait to hear about everything. What do you still have left to do??

Hey ladies, Has anyone heard from Allibe lately? I've been waiting for a few answers and quotes from her for a couple of months now. Last month she emailed me back to say that she was sorry that its taking so long ...but I've heard nothing since. I've sent a few polite emails in the weeks since but she hasn't replied. I thought his was odd so I wanted to check with you all. My fiance is suggesting that I email again but this time CC Luis.

Several weeks ago my fiance and I had our engagement photos taken by the wonderful and incredibly talented Terra Dawn!!! We went to Union Station (Washington, DC) then back to our home to take a pictures with our son--'aka' Weimaraner, Burton. Finally we headed to the tidal basin. It was a long day but TOTALLY fun! We've only received a few 'teasers' so I'll post those now. I can't wait to see the full slideshow--which I'll post when I receive it

It's so great to hear everyone's positive experiences...both with planning visits and with actual weddings. I need to hear this stuff every once in a while to reassure myself what a great place HTR is for our weddings!!! Â I'd love to see everyone's pics. Avi--your new profile picture looks gorgeous. How were your vendors? We all would LOVE to hear your advice now that you've had your wedding. CONGRATS on becoming a MRS!!! Â Oh, as for Planner 1--I'm still waiting for a quote from them via Allibe. I'll probably use them for rentals (wedding and welcome party) but I think that I'm going to go with a different florist. As for makeup, I'm using Fernando Fuentes. I met him on my site visit and he was fantastic. He gets great reviews as well.

Hey, I finally remembered to pull out the menu and take a look at what we tasted during our site visit. I'll try to list everything and what we chose. Let me know if you have any specific questions! Â Appetizer 1. Three Maria Salad (Lettuce, tomato, panela cheese, avocado and basil vinaigrette)---DELICIOUS AND DEF OUR CHOICE 2. Roman lettuce with bacon, puff pastry, parm cheese and creamy anchovy vinaigrette 3. Grilled Shrimp over apple crisp with goat cheese and caramelized onion--THIS WAS VERY UNIQUE/COOL PRESENTATION Â Main Course 1. Beef tournedo in bordelaise sauce with mushroom and marsala goulash, spring cous cous 2. Hacienda Chicken: Chicken breast stuffed with spinach and cheese covered in a buttered coriander sauce--THIS IS A TERRIFIC CHICKEN OPTION, IMO 3. Macadamia nut crusted lamb rack with warm chimichurri jelly served on a smoked arugula mirror---IF YOU LIKE LAMB, THIS IS TO DIE FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Â Dessert 1. Red wine canelones stuffed with cheese and pear mousse over balsamic reduction and caramel---DELICIOUS, WE WILL BE SERVING THIS 2. Coffee creme brulee and strawberry compote 3. Tres Leches cake---SOOOO YUMMY, I HOPE TO SERVE THIS AT THE WELCOME PARTY! Â Absolutely NOTHING was bad!!! I don't think you can go wrong with whatever you choose. We are hoping that Oscar will allow us to give our guests a choice between lamb and chicken for the entree (would have to provide the resort with exact #s of each in advance). We also have a handful of vegetarians and Oscar told us that he can create something to our liking for them. Â Makes me hungy typing this!!!!