KRama

I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you're really picky about flowers! I had about 6 different pictures of bouquets that I showed Jasmin at our meeting 2 days before the wedding. She pointed out which ones they could do that woudn't cost extra and I picked one of those.

Hi Peach! I would definitely recommend Mena's Bridal on Centre St and 12 Ave in Calgary. I also had a $1000 dollar budget for my dress and they had an excellent selection. Mena herself helped me find a dress. She's been doing business there since 1985 so you know she's good!

Hi Yeemin, see below!

Quote: Originally Posted by fraggle42 We have been to the one in Cancun years ago and it was an absolutely fantastic night so we are definitely going this time too. How long does it take to get to coco bongo from the hotel and did you by your ticket and transport through the resort? We went to the one in Playa Del Carmen. I haven't been to the one in Cancun but I've heard it's just as good, if not better, than the Cancun one. I honestly can't remember how long it took (too many bevies perhaps!) but I think it was about 1/2 an hour betwen the resort and Coco Bongo, maybe less. We bought our tickets through the resort. Coco Bongo has a rep on site that will organize everything for your group.

Definitley worth it! Enough that the boys went twice! All the guys went 2 nights before our wedding for a stag night. They were raving about it so much that all us girls were super jealous so we all went later in the week! I think we paid $65/ea for a ride to and from the club and included all drinks. Most fun ever!

We had our wedding dinner at Portofino and it was amazing. There is a raised area in the center of the restaurant where you and your guests will be seated. They had an appetizer/salad bar as well which was amazing. I pretty much filled up on that before dinner! The mushroom soup was the best I ever had and the chicken was also delicious. Good choice.

We had 40 guests but I don't think it would look silly with 16. Most of the time is spent near the bar and dance floor so all your guests will be on the one side of the pool. The other side of the pool will have tables and chairs set up for those who want to sit. The pool itself is small so I don't think it would look empty with 16.

I really enjoyed the DJ for our wedding (although we're coming up on 2 years now so maybe it's not the same DJ!). We didn't have our reception as scripted though. We had a friend act as MC, did speaches by the pool and we didn't bother with a garter or bouquet toss since we had very few singles. We found the DJ had an excellent selection of songs we liked and took all of our guests requests as well. If he didn't have a song he'd play it off someone's ipod and I never noticed any pauses between songs. I do recommend having your speaches at the dinner, like another bride said, because you'll want to dedicate your whole reception to dancing! It goes so fast! We had our dinner at 6:30 and no one else was in the restaurant until 8 pm.

Hi Amalia, The private dinner poolside would be lovely. There is definitely space for 40 guests. But for me it wasn't worth the cost when the al a carte restaurant was included. We had a private dinner in the al a carte because they didn't book any reservations for other guests until we were finished and everyone loved it. There is a bar close to the pool but I would recommend paying for the open bar poolside. You don't want your guests constantly leaving the party to get drinks and I'm not sure they allow you to book the space without a bar. Even if you pay for the lowest level of bar service (wine, beer and margaritas) it's totally worth it! Hope that helps!

Hi Jasmine, yes, there were white chairs with white chair bows set up in front of the gazebo.

The poolside reception is extra and all you pay for is the bar service and the DJ ($210/hour), all the decor (tables, chairs, lighting, candles) was included. I believe we paid $18 per person ($8 for the first hour, $5 for each additional hour) for the bar service and we had a 3 hour long reception. I wish it was longer! It went by so fast! I'm sure the email address I have for the wedding coordinator is the same one you have. It's the generic email for the wedding department. It took several days for them to get back to me which is typical for this resort since they do several weddings per day and are not in their offices very often! I did check to make sure a wedding date was available for the week we wanted to travel and then provided the resort with my quote number from my travel agent in order to reserve the date. We then went ahead and booked the trip and send the info to our guests. We booked about 8 months in advance. The official thread for this resort has lots of great information so make sure you check that out too since my wedding is now nearly 2 years ago and I'm sure things have changed! Happy planning! Kayley

Thanks Angela! My bouquet and the flowers at the ceremony were included in the package. I paid for the bridesmaids bouquets ($45/ea), the bouts ($15/ea) and the corsages ($10/ea). For the reception, we only paid for the dj and the bar service which includes the decor and the set up. I did a lot of research before we chose this resort and this was by far the most bang for our buck! I would definitely recommend it!

I provided a quote number we had received from our travel agent as our "booking" number when I reserved my wedding date an no one questioned it. We didn't officially book until about a month later!

The resort salon does not suck! I had my hair done there and so did my mom and sister (also MOH). We all were very happy with the results!