BahiaBride16

Quote: Originally Posted by swankster77 Do you have any pictures posted somewhere that I could see? I'm still undecided about using the resort photographer because I have yet to see much of their work. Thanks in advance for any help!!! Hi Swankster, You can foresure look at my pictures on photobucket. I have uploaded a bunch off of my Facebook account, they don't look as sharp as they do in real life, but I still love them! Also I've only posted about 40 and there were 191 altogether...it's so hard deciding which ones to post. Jose took so many different pictures...funny, posing, natural. Anyways I'll PM you my photobucket account info. Happy planning!

I'm starting to wonder about the marriage certificate as well....although Karla (our planner) said it will take up to 3 months to receive in the mail...it's almost been 3 months for us and I haven't seen anything yet. Did you other married ladies recieve it in the time period they told you?? Also as far as the resort photographer (we had Jose, he may be the same for the whole resort, im not too sure). He was awesome, we originally thought that we would get the package for $540 too, but he told us there is no way we'll be able to pick only 36 photos. And he was right!! He took 191 pictures and we ended up wanting them all...we paid $1200usd for a cd with all of the photos, a slide show cd (with our wedding music added to it) and 20 printed pictures. I wouldn't have changed anything about the photographer or the amount we payed for the pics...we still get compliments non stop on how gorgeous they turned out...I couldnt have been happier! Yay!

Awww everyone's pics are SO AWESOME!! Here are my 3 favs :-) Sorry if they're huge...lol :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by Lou Thanks Nicole, your info really helped us! I am so excited to know that the poolside cocktail reception might work out! I have just emailed Jazmin all of our information (names, package request, restaurant choice, etc.) so I guess now I just have to wait to hear back from her.... I read somewhere that you weren't allowed to hook up your own ipod, but that was way back on the first 100 pages of this thread (2007...) so things may have changed now, it sounds like. If we can get away with using our own ipod I would love it.... way cheaper for one thing, and it leaves us in control of the tunes which I also like I was wondering, what type of service was included with your cocktail reception. Did they put up cocktail tables or anything? Decorations? Lights? A bartender and server? And most importantly (according to my fiancee) what kind of drinks did they serve? Thanks! Yep they set up the Poolside cocktail party with lights, tables and chairs, tableclothes, candles, a bar and bartender. We choose the simplest bar menu which was wine, beer, pina Coladas and Margaritas for $8 per person for 2 hours :-) We also cut our cake there, so we had a chance to let our dessert settle.

Quote: Originally Posted by midnight24 i was told we could choose from 4 restaurants at the coba side for our dinner. i'm having a hard time picking a menu because myself and 3 other guests have food allergies that will be attending. they all range (one being seafood, one chicken, one beef and another all meat/poultry). when i spoke with karla she suggested a pasta dish. i'm vegetarian so i wouldn't complain...but i'm pretty sure all my meat-eater guests would complain. has anyone had an all pasta dinner at any of the 4 coba restaurants? or has anyone had any luck with maybe paying extra to accommodate those with food allergies and the rest of the guests eating a set meal? i'm still unsure how many guests will be coming on the trip for our wedding but i'm thinking it is over 20 for sure. We choose the Medditerranean Restaurant and the 2 dishes that our guests could choose from were a Linguine Pasta (vegetarian, and everyone thought it was delicious, including me!) and Lemon chicken, which our guests raved about! Also for our soup I choose the Cream of garlic (which sounds weird) but it was a total hit, I dont think anyone had a complaint about it! And Tiramisu for dessert which was also yummy :-) Everyone was very impressed with this restaurant menu!

Quote: Originally Posted by midnight24 thanks for sharing your review. as time goes on and i'm getting closer to my date i'm actually thinking more about the little details. for the decorations at the gazebo...did you pay extra for the balloons & set up? did you bring your own cake topper? oh i'm also glad to hear someone say positive things about the resort photographer. your pics look fun and you look beautiful. Yeah I found the little details are what made our wedding a little unique :-) The balloons did cost extra (I ordered them so at the end of the ceremony, we could do a balloon release). It only cost $60usd for 30 balloons and the wedding planners set everything up. They also used the extra balloons at our private cocktail party which looked awesome! As for the flowers hanging from the gazeboo that was all included in our wedding package and turned out so beautiful! I did bring the cake topper with me and asked them to put it on our cake for us :-) Also if you like my cake topper I can send it to you if you just want to pay for the shipping, its still in perfect condition! Goodluck with your planning!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Lou Hello everyone! It's been a long time since I posted on here, but we finally have our date confirmed at the GBP Tulum (July 7, 2010) and we have 25 people booked so far! We are expecting between 40-50 people to make it, which is WAY more than we originally planned! I have just received my first email from Jazmin asking where I would like to have the reception, etc, and I am looking for some advice... I have been reading through the forum and am only up to page 100, I will keep going but I am too impatient to read all the way through before I ask for help, please forgive me if these questions have already been asked! Here is what we are thinking for our wedding day: 6:00pm ceremony at the Gazebo, followed by drinks in the lobby bar for our guests while we take some pictures. 7:30 - dinner ... here is where we need some help. Our choices are the Tequila or Tortuga restaurant with a set menu. I have heard lots about the Tequila and think it sounds great, but I haven't heard anything about Tortuga. Has anybody had their wedding dinner there? The menu is a bit different, and it is a "Rodizio" which is a Brazilian mixed grill. I am wondering what this is like... we are leaning towards it just because it would give our guests more choice over what they are eating. Next, we LOVE the idea of the poolside reception, but we just don't have that much money to spend on our wedding, we are doing this on the cheap side. Here's what I was thinking though, after dinner in the restaurant (around 9?) do you think we could have a cocktail hour/DJ rental beside the pool to have our first dances etc.? After that we could just head to the disco for more dancing, but it would be nice to have some private time first. Does anyone have any ideas if that would work out, and how much it would cost? For the 1 hour poolside reception it is $5 per person. For 2 hours it is $8 per person :-) I would recommend the 2 hours, believe me the time goes so fast, it felt like we barely had time for the dances! Although we also cut our cake and did our thank you specch at the poolside cocktail. The Resort Dj was $180/hour and we took our Ipod and had him announce our dances, cake cutting and toasts, but used our own music. I would say if you trying to save money, that you dont really need the dj, just you ipod and they hook it up to some speakers for you ($20 charge). You could just have the best man etc. change the songs for you :-) As for the restaurants we preferred Tequilla (although we had our reception dinner at the Medditeranean restaurant, which was awesome). We tryed both the Tequilla and Tortuga, the Tortuga was cool that they brough the meat on swords, but we wern't very impressed with the food. Happy planning :-)

Hi ladies!! I'm Married!!! So its been so long since Ive been on here!! I finally did a review as well, but I dunno how to post the link. It's called Nicole's GBP Coba Review Our wedding turned out perfect!! Enjoy!!

Hi Ladies!! Sorry it has taken me soo long to write my review, I've been basking in the happiness of being married, lol! So here it is (it's gonna be long!) Enerjet to Mexico (from Vancouver via Edmonton) C The flight was really the worst part of the trip. We were originally supposed to fly Air Transat but because of the Swine Flu incident they changed the plane to a smaller one. It was very cramped and uncomfortable, I was okay with it b/c I was so excited about Mexico, but some of our guests were not very impressed! BCAA Travel Agent B+ Sue our travel agent was VERY accomodating! Almost all of our guests decided to book through our travel agent, as we recommended it to everyone because we though it would make everything a little easier (which it did). And because we had so many people book with us, Jamie and I got a discount on our airfare, which was a plus!! Booking as a group orginally was a little confusing for everyone, but in the end it worked out wonderfully and our whole group was put in the same area of the resort! GBP Coba A+ We were SO impressed with this resort, it was so beautiful, from the landscaping and beach to the rooms and restaurants. Everything was so well kept and the staff was sincerely friendly and always out to lend a helping hand! We found the ride or walk to the beach was not far at all, and I really have no idea why people complain about this! As far as the food, yes after 2 weeks the buffet does get a little tiring, but the good thing about being the wedding couple is that you get to go to as many A La Cartes as you want! I would recommend the Medditeranean and Le Gourmet!! They were our favorites! As for the entertainment we found the night shows somewhat boring, but they were good for a laugh! I wouldnt recommend the shows, we would normally head down to the beach at night with a group of friends and sit around listening to music and chatting! We went into playa del carmen on a couple of different occasions, I definitely recommend the shopping! So easy to spend alot of $$! Being the wedding couple there were so many perks and the resort definitely went out of their way to make it a special 2 weeks for us, I am not gonna ruin the surprise, but just a heads up! Karla and Christian (Wedding Planners) A+ Karla and Christian were absolutely wonderful!!! They were so accomodating and tried they're best to make it such a special day! Pretty much everything that I had asked for was done, and everything went SO smoothly! It was hard to stay in contact with them through email, but dont worry, they will take all of the information once you get to the resort and will do a wonderful job turning it into your dream day! Just remember if you are having a destination wedding you have to be relaxed and go with the flow! The Ceremony and Reception A+++ My flowers and my bridesmaid flowers turned out exactly like the pictures I had given her, I couldnt have pictured them being any nicer! As for the wedding cake it was gorgeous, it was so simple yet elegent (most guests said it was the nicest one they had seen). This isn't the greatest picture but you get the idea :-) As for our wedding location it was exactly what I had wanted. We choose the gazebo and once again it was perfect. The greatest backdrop for our ceremony. And the decorations that Karla and Kristian put up for us suited it wonderfully! The only complaint that I have about the wedding ceremony is that I had asked them if I could write our own ceremony and they had said yes. But when it came time for the ceremony they skipped most of what I had written. Which didnt bother me that much, but its just something to think about if you would like to write your own. The champagne was delicious and we had a balloon release at the end of the ceremony, which was the perfect ending to a wonderful ceremony! We had our Reception dinner at Le Gourmet Restaurant (but with the Medditeranean Menu) as the Medditeranean Restaurant was closed. I'm so happy we got to do it at Le Gourmet as they had a seperate private room for all 25 of us to eat in. The service was outstanding and the food was awesome!! Absolutely no complaints! Everyone did their speeches after dinner and then we headed to a private poolside party. The private cocktail party was a success, Karla had used the extra balloons from our ceremony at our cocktail party, it was a great idea! We cut the cake, had our fist dance and Jamie and I said our speech at the poolside, such a gorgeous setting! We took our own ipod with our music, but also hired the resort DJ, he did a good job intorducing us, our first dance, specch and playing our music. Resort Spa A The spa did a good job on my hair!! I was happy with it, but I recommend taking a picture with you, as they dont speak very good English. I had not booked hair appointments for my bridesmaids, but last minute decided that I wanted to pay for them to get there hair done too. The spa was wonderful and was able to get an extra person to come in for the day of my wedding to help with my bridesmaids hair. A couple of my bridesmaids that had not taken pictures weren't very happy with their hair (although I thought it looked good, lol)! Photographer A+++ (Jose) We decided to book the resort photographer to do our wedding, I was a little unsure as they had recently changed photographers on the resort and didnt have alot of his work. But wow was I wrong to be worried. He was fantastic, and our pictures turned out so unique and perfect. I can't tell you how many people have commented since we've got home saying that they are the best wedding pictures they have ever seen!! Jose was thoughtful and unique, we did funny poses, serious and playful! I am SO happy we choose to use him!! I highly recommend him to the future brides!! And finally some pictures! Hope this helps :-)

Nice! Thats coming quick too!! Well I'll try and post a review before that :-) Or a least let you know how everything went!

Quote: Originally Posted by KLee147 Wow Nicole!! You're one week away!! I am soo excited for you and for Emme! You girls are going to have a blast and I can't wait to see what it all turns out like. Will I have to wait 1 or 2 weeks before I hear all the details? Lol! 2 weeks for me, we get back Oct 25th :-) I'll try and post asap for you though! What day are you leaving on??

We used BCAA and got a group rate, everyone ended up saving only about $150/person, but I guess thats bettr than nothing! We also got a perk throught the airline if we booked 17ppl we got a $500 rebate (which helped out!). Our group rate also expired after 1 week, but your travel agent can request the rate over and over again, and actually by the time she requested it the 3rd time it dropped another $50. Sorry if this is confusing...lol! Nic. PS- We leave tomorrow...ahhhhh!!! So excited!!

I know its listed here somewhere but can someone tell me how much it is for a day pass for a photographer And do you think I have to tell them ahead of time, or during the meeting at the resort would be okay?? Thanks for your help ladies!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by swankster77 OMG! This thread has been soooo helpful! It's taken me over 2 weeks to read everything.. but I'm so glad I did. I'm getting married at GBP - Tulum on June 12, 2010.. can't wait! Here are a few questions... 1. The wedding reception dinner... if choosing the a la carte option (vs. private reception)... how do we go about mentioning to our guests that they need to save/use one of their dinner coupons (or whatever they are) for our wedding? I'm especially concerned with the small group that are coming for only 4 nights and will have only one. What have the other brides out there done/plan to do? 2. Documents needed... I'm divorced... blah. So I'm pretty sure I need a birth certificate and divorce decree... but do I also need my previous marriage license? And does EVERYTHING need to be translated into spanish and apostiled? 3. The resort photographer... The wedding packages come with either 5 or 10 pictures... this seems absurd to me. Does that mean printed pictures or do they only take 5 or 10 pictures? I was hoping to hire someone from outside the resort but a few recent posts mentioned this possibly not even being an option anymore. Booo to that. To you other ladies heading out in the next week or so... good luck and congrats! Thanks in advance for any help Kirsten Congrats Kirsten! 1) As far as the a la carte restaurant, I made up brochures for everyone with things to do in Mexico, our itinerary, guests names, etc. And I included the information on the A La Cartes on one of the pages as well, stating that our reception will take up one of their dinners :-) Plus they are there for our wedding so I don't think anyone will really mind! I made these using Vista Print (really cheap prices) 2)I am not completely sure about the docs you need if your divorced sorry, but they will let tell you if you email them! 3)As far as the free photos, from what I understand is that the resort photographer wil take a ton of photos of your ceremony and photo session and then you get to choose the 5 or 10 photos that you like. But Im not completely sure if you have to purchase the minumum standard package in order to recieve the free photos as well! We are actually using the resort photographer and buying the standard package (b/c you have to purchase this at the minimum) with includes 36 photos for $540usd plus the 10 free photos that we get in our package. With the Standard package they will take pictures at your ceremony and then your photo session, but if you would like them to be at your reception dinner,cocktail party or trash the dress sess. etc, it is $200 extra per event. Hope this helps a lil! I'll be able to tell you a bit more when I get back! Good luck:-) Nic.