Brenners

Gorgeous! Makes me wish I could go back to Barcelo. Congratulations!

I really wish someone would have told me this so I hope it saves you some pain and frustration! Good luck!

Thanks! It is a Casablanca Bridal style number 1918.

It was so fun and our guests had a blast! Thanks for the idea. Many tequila shots were had that night as our guests were horrible shots!

Chrisdior, we had 20 people at our wedding which was the perfect number for us. It allowed us time to spend with everyone. We had the Strawberry Passion package and had the choice of any beaches for our wedding and reception. All of our guests except one couple (who stayed in Playa del Carmen) stayed at the Palace and loved it. We did a tour of the hotel one year in advance of our wedding and booked it about 10 months in advance so none of the locations had been chosen since we were so early in reserving.

Got our professional pics back from Erick Rodriguez and love how this photo turned out. Loved my dress!

One last addition to my list: AHR: I would do this again, however, I have learned that this has nothing to do with the bride and groom and EVERYTHING to do with your family. Instead of trying to have a say in anything, I would just save myself the headache and just let my family control the whole thing, show up, greet and thank guests for coming and go home. The disagreements, differing opinions about the purpose of a reception (my family thinks it is simply to receive as many gifts and as much money as possible) and just the utter frustration of dealing with my family just wasn't worth it. My husband and I had our AHR yesterday and went out with friends for dinner last night. My husband turned to me and said the best words I have heard in a long time, "Now we are done getting married." Amen!

Keep in mind that the Carey bar has drinks and snacks available as well so your guests can munch and drink there while you take pics after the ceremony. That is what our guests did.

Bridesmaids in our watermelon and tangerine colors. They are look lovely! My bridesmaids and me where you can see our bouquets. They had pink Asiatic lilies, green Fuji mums, pinnk daisy poms and orange alstroemeria. Very pleased with how these turned out! Stole a game from another BDW bride. Had our guests throw bocce balls into hearts and if they made, then we kissed. If they missed, then they had a choice to kiss someone, sing a song with the word love in it or take a shot of tequila. Our guests had poor aim as this kiss was us showing our guests how it was done!

Hrcahill, we did not do a cocktail hour. Our wedding was at 4:00 and lasted about 30 minutes. Afterward, we did the champagne toast and some pics with our guests. By then it was around 5:00 or after and everyone went back to the Carey bar. At 6:00 a bus came to pick up our guests to bring them to Playa Azul where they were greeted with drinks prior to our arrival at 6:30. No one seemed to miss the cocktail hour as all of our guests had a great time.

Your WC sends a spreadsheet that labels everything that needs to be paid in cash - or at least ours did. We tipped the WC, JOP, violinist, videographer, photographer, and the reception waitstaff for our wedding. We gave US $$ and that was acceptable for both tips and the wedding costs that required cash. Also, we had around 50 people who verbally told us they were coming. Worry about final numbers after people book. We had a final number of 20 people. Seriously, people talk big and some will come but most get caught up in the fun idea of going on a vacation to Mexico but do not think about the reality (cost, time away from work, where to leave the kids or take them with which adds to the cost) until it gets to the point where they need to make a final decision. Then reality kicks in and people back out. You may end up like some who have 70-100 people, but most DW do not end up like this so don't worry until you have real numbers to work with. Also, the Capital One credit card is a good idea, but determine what you can really pay. Finances should be taken into consideration before you even send out the invites or start verbally inviting someone. By the time you have chosen your resort, these things should have been taken into consideration. Our WC told us how much extra it would cost per person above our 15 included in our wedding package so we sat down to ask ourselves, how many could we afford to have at our wedding and who did we really want at our wedding? Questions we would have asked ourselves had we gotten married in the US anyway. If you cannot afford 70-100 guests, then do not invite 70-100 guests. Our photographer was Erick Rodriguez. He is an amazing photographer and I highly recommend him!

I agree with valsalerno. We had our reception at Playa Azul as well on the beach - no dance floor. We did not have a problem dancing on the sand and our guests had a blast!

Picture of me with my bridesmaids. I just love the colors!