Brenners

We got married February 11, 2012. Our wedding was at 4:00 and our reception was at 6:30. Our ceremony lasted about 30 minutes (we had a sand ceremony and reading during our ceremony) and they have champagne for you and your guests afterward for a toast. We had group pictures afterward then pictures of my husband and I alone as the sun set. This time seemed perfect for us. Our reception lasted 3 hours (we did not add on) but the dinner lasted fairly long as we had multiple people gives toasts. Between our best man, matron of honor, us and family, there were 7 people total that gave speeches! It was sweet and I would not change it but the time seemed to fly by! This would be the only change we would make - to extend our reception. Overall, our wedding was wonderful so we really have no regrets. Good luck!

I have seen many questions about the menus. I verified that you can choose your menu but also make some exceptions. For us, we had guests who were vegetarians and others that had shellfish allergies. They will make special menu items for those guests without extra charge. You just need to tell them how many for each special diet.

We brought biodegradable sky lanterns and they had changed their policy in January of this year - one month prior to our wedding. It had nothing to do with them being biodegradable, rather the fire hazard as they had a wedding where the lanterns went inland rather than out to sea. No more sky lanterns after that. We were very bummed and now have 25 sky lanterns sitting amongst the other wedding things that seemed so important but never got used. I guess the lesson for me was to really ask myself if the item was a necessary and integral part of our wedding that would affect the enjoyment, pictures, and the overall day. I realized that the most important parts to our wedding were us, our family and friends and just enjoying the time together.

sswed13, we went on Amazon to find a frame that we liked. Here is a picture of what we bought (not our actual frame as I am having difficulty finding photos of our ceremony with us using it) It comes with the frame, the vases and we had to buy the sand. We went to Michael's, used a coupon and got the sand there.

Trace2013, other brides have also purchased bridesmaid dresses in white or ivory and have loved them. I think this is lovely and you cannot tell at all that it is a bridesmaid dress. You sound really excited and happy so I think you found the one. Do not let the fact that it is technically called a "bridesmaid dress" rather than a "wedding gown" bother you one bit. If you want to bling it up with a belt, then go for it! Good luck and so happy you found your dress!

Hi chrisdior. Sorry for the delayed response! No, we were not charged a fee for having a videographer. The only fee we paid was for having an external photographer. Someone else asked about a place for a reading. We had my husband's aunt do a reading at our ceremony. She came up to stand next to the table where we were standing and everyone could see her just fine. The audio is really good at Barcelo and it is all very clear on our video. Also, someone mentioned doing programs for the wedding. We thought about it but decided against it. For one thing, it is generally pretty windy on the beach so unless your ceremony is indoors, they will likely fly away. Also, your guests will likely just throw them away. If you want to spend the time, money and effort into creating them, you can but we chose to put our efforts into a welcome letter, map of the resort, activities schedule for those events we had planned and a general overview of the resort and things to do. This we thought would be much more appreciated by our guests as it was something that would be helpful during their stay. Just a thought.

chrisdior, we used Cancun Wedding Video and booked them through Claudia Rodriguez Studio. We booked our photographer Erick Rodriguez through Claudia and found out that they could also book our videographer so we just had her book it for us. Alex was our videographer. Here is the link to their reviews: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/cancun-wedding-video-professional-wedding-videography/reviews/ Alex was great and you are so completely unaware of the shots that they are getting. He sent us our video in just a few weeks and when I saw it, I cried. It was beautiful and just a wonderful reminder of our wedding day.

I am a firm believer to try on any and all styles. I had no idea that my dress that would be "the one" was going to be lace. I tried on many styles, fabrics, and every shade of white and ivory until I found MY dress. And I knew that it was my dress as did my girlfriends who saw my face when I turned to look in the mirror. And when they put the veil on me (I was dead set against one), I was a goner. So don't just try one style, one designer, one anything. Try them all and remember that it is supposed to be fun! Even try on the ugly ones to throw in a good laugh! And do not worry as you will find the perfect dress that is meant for you!

We had the violinist for our ceremony. She was amazing! We walked down the aisle to traditional music (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and Canon in D) and our processional was rather untraditional - All You Need is Love by the Beatles. She did all genres of music very well. As for cake, we chose the pineapple flavor. It was delicious but I only had a couple of bites as I was so full after all of those courses!

We bought a sand ceremony frame rather than vase as we thought it would be easier to transport after the ceremony. It is engraved with our names and wedding date. Everyone loved it and thought it was unique. None of our guests had heard of a sand ceremony and thought it was a great idea.

[We brought our own cake topper that the service staff put on it for us. Like danandjamie though everyone was too busy having fun to notice. quote name=melcrna80" url="/t/21746/barcelo-maya-palace-brides-post-here-d/3050#post_1772716]Did anyone bring a cake topper or bring anything to dress up their cake?

Congratulations Kellygrrrl! I have been thinking about you and am so happy you had a great time and found time for yourselves! So happy for you!

Thank you ladies! I had a wonderful day and it was over way too fast! So glad to have our photos to remember that special day!

You look gorgeous! So happy for you!

Some additional photos from our wedding day and TTD: