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!

My photographer was a friend from home and we had no issues at all. I told Arrecife that I had brought my own photographer from home and they had no problem with it. They still offered to shoot some ceremony and group shots (to include my photographer friend as a guest) since it was included in our package. They got in the way of a few of my friend's shots which was a bit annoying but we did choose our 10 free photos and were happy with them. Totally worth it to me to bring someone I trusted and not pay a fortune!

I did table assignments and would definitely recommend it. I went to a wedding once that didn't have assigned seating and it was chaos. People moving chairs and sitting 10 to an 8 person table so they could sit with you they wanted to sit with...leaving tables of 3 or 4 behind! I had a tent card placed on each table with the names of those who should sit there. Worked wonderfully.

I know a great one! She's based out of Calgary and she loves to destination weddings. All my friends have used her for their weddings, local and destination. Check out her website: http://www.shiphotography.com/index2.php

I brought down photos of bouquets I liked and when we met with the WC she pointed out the ones they could do that would still be included in the package price. I think the price is mostly based on the availability of the particular flowers you're requesting...like are they local to Mexico or do they have to ship them in.

Yes, wrist bands can be removed for the wedding day. Our wedding party and parents clipped their bracelets off but I think most of our guests left them on. You just go back to the front desk the next day and tell them you were part of a wedding and they'll give you new ones.

We kept all the flowers in the mini fridge in our room and put them in right before we left. Worked like a charm!

I had a real flower in my hair and it looked fabulous...for the ceremony and the pictures after. I took it out after dinner since it was pretty wilted from the heat and humidity. Still wouldn't have gone fake though. I loved the idea of having a real fresh flower!

I had a video done of just the ceremony (keep in mind this was over a year ago now!) I had inquired about price with the WC and she told me $400. When we arrived, we confirmed with Arrecife what we wanted and they told us it was $500. We mentioned that we were quoted $400 and they honoured that price. They arrived about 15 minutes before the tram picked us up and did a couple of shots of me getting ready, filmed the ceremony and a few shots of us getting our pictures taken after the ceremony. Just thinking about it makes me want to go home and watch it again! Definitely worth the money...although not for $700!

We had our reception at the jacuzzi pool at Coba. The trees and trellises around the pool were decorated with string lights and the WC's set up cocktail tables and chairs (white linens, chair bows from the ceremony, candles and a flower on the table) all around the pool so all our guests could sit while we did speeches. We had the resort DJ, who was awesome, and he provided dance floor lights and a microphone for our speeches. I honestly don't see the point in hiring an outside DJ when the resort handles it for you! And everything was amazing!!

Hope that helps!