AusCan2010

21 days to go I think every thing is sorted... well if not oh well All inclusive drink and poll here we come

Quote: Originally Posted by RobynZee We had an amazing wedding, we wouldn't have changed a thing. We were really easy going about everything though, as we didn't have a set idea in mind. We aren't really traditional adn knew that it wouldn't be like a catered at home kind of wedding especially since we weren't paying for the extras. We didn't pay for any of the extras (or even the champagne / cake). Our wedding was in the afternoon, then we took pictures with our wedding party and families then met at the a la carte restaurant for dinner, we had dinner and mingled for maybe an hour and a half. Then we met up with Patricia the wedding coordinator and she let us use a conference room to view a slideshow presentation i had made with music/pics. We brought our own projector/laptop down with us, so we didn't have to pay for anything extra. Then after that we went to the bar and just got drinks together. At the GPR there are little coves that have green kind of water around them with lots of chairs and a straw roof. We all went into one of those and did our speeches and had drinks and visited. Around the main bar area at the Grand Princess they have a live band and a little dance area and tables all around outside. The band was playing that song "you say it best when you say nothing at all" - I dont' know what it's actually called.. just those words... anyways so my husband and I danced and that was our first dance. Our families didn't really see it because they were in the little hut area sitting down and having drinks and visiting. We didn't have a dance with the parents or anything like that, which I think the mom's secretly regret. We thought about bringing down our ipod and a bose sound dock/speakers and doing our own dance on the beach. In hindsight, I think that might have been really cool. The private reception is probably worth the money if you want a more traditional type wedding where you don't miss out on anything. You really have to be easy going and not be really set on certain details if you are going to go the route of note going with the private reception, because some things are possible - and some aren't. I felt really out of control, but by the time I was down there enjoying our vacation and drinking mojitos I found the little things didn't really matter to me as much. I could put it into perspective and was just so happy to be marrying the greatest person I've ever known. I found Patricia to be an absolute superstar though, she was happy to help with any and everything. Thanks Robyn this was great to hear I am trying to keep it simple too 22 days to go Looking forward to it

Quote: Originally Posted by Bride2Be21 I'm unsure what type of reception to have, and I know I have lots of time but those of you who did not have or are not having a private reception where did you do your first dance, parent dances, speeches? Any chance of doing this anywhere without a private reception? Any suggestions would be great. Hello I am getting married there next month and we went with the princess package only. I have been told that you can either do your speeches with the champagne and cake or at the A la Carte resturant. Apparently they try and keep you some what seperated from the rest of the guests for dinner. I am also planning to do my first dance after dinner in the lobby. hope this helps

Quote: Originally Posted by allie Hello, we burnt our music on CDs. :-) Thanks Allie Woo Hoo 4 weeks too go!!! I am getting uber excited

Quote: Originally Posted by sasse75 You won't have any problems finding a bar open, however you will have to wait for the disco thanks Sasse I am looking forward to it can any one tell me wether I should take a CD or an IPOD for the ceremony music

I am just finalizing my booking now for my wedding on July 27th We will only have about 16 people so pretty small We decided to just do the princess package and have dinner at mama mia Our Dinner is at 6pm I was hoping we could all go dancing some where after Does any one know if the bars/disco's are open that early?

Quote: Originally Posted by c and m Does anyone the day fee for the resort? We have a few friends that are staying elsewhere but are coming for the day... Thanks I would also love to know this we may have the same

Quote: Originally Posted by AshleyBrendan We are back!! I am going to write a novel here because I have so many good things to say about this resort, our wedding, the service provided by Sandra and Patricia and our super fabulous photograhers from BlueLensCaribe Photography (please see the link at the bottom to see some of our favourite photos...though we ended up with 900 from our photographer lol). Brendan and I were married on November 18, 2009 at the Grand Riviera Princess. It was absolutly PERFECT! Our Packages were the Royalty Package and the Private Beach Party (2009 Package): Total: $5,200. We arrived on Saturday night, to our guests who were already there asking where in the world did we find this amazing place. All of our guests say they are going to return (as we did after our first time here). We entered our room and the front desk had let my maid of honour go in a decorate our room. It was beautiful! Hearts all over the bed. We were also greated with a bottle of champagne on ice with champagne flutes, compliments of the hotel. Monday morning I met with the lady who was preparing all of the legal work and received our blood tests. It was smooth and easy and the blood tests were gentle... not a bruise or a mark!! We then met with Sandra and Patricia to go over all of the details and itinerary for the wedding. After that I had arranged an appointment with my outside photographers Dennis from BlueLensCaribe Photography to go over details for the wedding. We were a little worred because what people have said on here but, Dennis showed up exactly on time and was full of energy and ideas. We just knew he was great and are so happy with our choice. Monday night we had our "Welcome Dinner" which was the dinner included in our Royalty Package. There were only 28 of us and we ate a Mamma Mia. We had the veal menue and it was REALLY GOOD!! Everyone was so impressed. Everyone who didn't know eachother got to meet eachother too which was great. We also gave everyone lime green mugs with our logos on them so that you could regonize eachother. It worked out so well!! Wednesday at noon my maid of honour and I went for our hair and make-up. I was really worried because of the language barried, but I brought my own picture and she did the EXACT same!! I couldn't have asked for more!! My photographers Dennis and his assistant for the day Jack (i think) came around 2:00 pm and took pictures of us girls getting ready and then pictures of the boys. They were so funny and had us laughing. They got some amazing candid shots. Then they headed with us down to the beach for the cermoney. The Ceremony was in the gazebo at 3:00 pm. We brought our own lime green and brown sashes and fans and gave them to Sandra at our Monday meeting and said to have them do whatever looks nice. I also asked them not to put down that red carpet and gave them CDs with all of our chosen music. They did a beautiful job!!! Everything was organized and set out perfectly!! We were legally married in about 20 minutes. We had both of our parents as our witnesses which we loved as well!! Following the Ceremoney we all had some pictures taken on the beach. We had group shots and single shots. Then the guests were asked to head to the lobby to the Ibiza Lounge for the 1 hour cocktail reception. Brendan and I stayed for more photos for a bit and then we can make an entrance to the cocktail reception, The Just Married Cart waited for us to finish. Again, we had such an amazing time with Dennis. If we weren't smiling enough.. he made us laught.. if he wanted us to kiss.. he made kissing noises. It was so fun and we had so much direction (which we really needed lol). We then went up to the lobby and had some champagne and drinks with our guests. It was so much fun. We retook some of the group pictures because people we squinting in some which was great. We were so happy the photographer caught that and knew to redo some for us!! Near the end of the cocktail hour, Brendan and I went with the photgraphers for phots in the lobby and around the resort a bit and the guests were shuttled down to the beach for the beach party. Again, so much fun with the photos and such great ideas. He took some awesome sunset pictures. We finished with them and told them to take head down to the beach for the entrance and first dance pictures and if they would like, just stay for the dinner. Their time was up after the first dance, but they stayed for dinner anyway and actually took more pictures after. We then headed down to the beach for the beach party. Again, we had told them to use our brown and lime green and not the tuquiose they use. It was so BEAUTIFUL!! I couldn't beleive it. I usually have somethign to complain about, but it was so perfect. We had a huge buffett and 6 waiters who carried everyone's plates to the tables and the head table had their own waiter. Champagne was unlimited, the service was INCREDIBLE. Everyone couldn't beleive this was the reception. So when we entered the Reception, we did our first dances before dinner. We entered and cheered and the DJ (with his Mac Computer set up) started the music and we danced barefeet in the sand. It was so romantic and more than I could have asked for. We then did the dance with our parents. We sat and had some drinks and then the waiters went to each table and told them that they could go up and eat. It was so organized it was unbeleivable. The food was amazing. It was a line of salads and veggies and fajita table and then at the end a chef bbqing the meat and fish. I could beleive how professional everything was. You would have thought this was a really expensive wedding reception. We ate and drank and then cut the cake. The cake was beautiful. With white chocolate starfish and shells all over it. Everyone actually ate the cake! lol Since Dennis and Co. were still there they took some photos of us cutting the cake which was really great too. Then came dancing time. Everyone had their shoes off and we all danced in the sand for 3 hours. The DJ had an assortment of Music and also let you play your own IPOD and selections. We had all of us up dancing and it was amazing. We even had the waiters dancing and brought some people watching from the bridge over!! It was so much fun!! My mom even ordered tequila shots for the whole party and the waiters delivered them around for everyone. It was great. People who never really party... partied hard that night!! Brendan and I had a rule of only 2 shots (and only clear drinks for me) that day though because we wanted to remember our wedding.. and we are so happy we did. We ended up clearing off the beach around 10:30 and all headed to the lobby for drinks before the disco. We ALL of our guests in their dancing around. It was amazing. Our parents and aunts, uncles, friends.... all of us dancing around. It was hilarous and so much fun. My wedding dress is filthy, but it was so worth it!!! I think we ended up heading back to our room until around 2:30 am.... and we were up very late. lol The next morning we had room service breakfast to our room. We picked the omlettes, but Sandra gives you a big menue to choose from!! You can also order as late a noon which is good lol So all in all, the wedding was more than I ever expected. Our guests said they have never been to a wedding like this and couldn't beleive how organized and perfect everythign was. They and We will recommend this resort to anyone and everyone and we HIGHLY recommend that you have the beach party. It was a movie star party!! If you have any questions, please send me a message!! Picasa Web Albums - Ashley - Our Wedding Thank you so much this has made me feel so much better and maybe I can see if we can swing the beach party it sounds fantatasic

Quote: Originally Posted by echo2_62 I'd purchased the packages from Northern Safety out of the US in a group order with a couple other girls. The duty charges were a little high in my opinion but we had a few of us to split it so I think the price still worked out okay. Northern Safety If you have someone in the US you could ship to first then it might be even better. I hadn't been able to find a vendor for these located in Canada though either. Another option depending on how many guests you have is just to buy a large sized bottle of the items you want, leave them sealed just to cover your butt in customs, and then separate them into little pre-labelled ziplocks once you get down there (kind of a last minute pain but it might be a lot cheaper!!). If we didn't need so many for our guests, this is likely the option I would have chosen. Agreed Echo I got what I wanted from northern safety but the duty charges were almost as much as the merchandise So I would budget that if you re ordering from them I will say they have the best selection I found online however

Thanks.. that makes sense lol yeah I think my bags are getting a bit OTT at the moment Quote: Originally Posted by echo2_62 AusCan - I like your short form of OTT!! I'm sure a lot of us can relate to that one But I think you're referring to OOT which stands for Out Of Town. I know somewhere in the many threads here there is a huge list of all the acronyms that we all use, which I'm sure you'd find with a quick search. I found it really helpful when I started out and still go back to it once in a while (it's saved on my laptop, not my work computer).

I have been using dollerama and ebay mainly Also been getting bags and pens from Vista print which has been great oh and I have to ask... What does OTT stand for? is it over the top? its been driving me nuts

I have just booked my wedding here for July 27th 2010 I am excited. But I definately have some questions for those of you also plunging here or have. We are doing simple as we dont have the budget for a private beach party or private reception. We are thinking of just going to one of the bars/clubs after dinner for dinner and drinks is/has any one else doing/done this any advice?

Hey Michelle Congrats Can I ask where you did your first dance? We are looking at doing the Italian resturant for the reception and then going to one of the bars after. Not sure how we are going to do the first dance though Or any one who has done... would love to hear how you pulled it off Also what bar do you recommend for dancing etc after?

thanks all

Hello My name is Kirstie I am getting married on July 29th 2010 We are having it at Grand Princess Riviera, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico