daniepps

Quote: Originally Posted by meghan I always feel so much better having things done early...I'm not a last minute type person with anything. I am still stuck on centerpieces though! I wanted to do something like what are you doing...floating candles in a tall clear cylinder vase with flowers or something underneath the candle, but I can not find vases like the ones I want anywhere! Any suggestions? Check Dollar Tree. www.dollartree.com

Good morning Ladies. I'm happy I found this thread. I'm getting married in Riviera Maya on July 31st and I'm from Upper Marlboro, MD.

Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart Wow this is really frustrating... I was NEVER offered any promotion by DW.com. I think you should ask. All they can say is no. The promotion that's going on now says you have to have booked since Dec 2009 but I booked in Sep 2009 but my TA says she asked and they allowed me to use it. Like I said before I'm kind of skeptical but it won't hurt to ask.

Quote: Originally Posted by erinandbrent2010 I saw you guys talking about costs of the hotel. I am not going through a TA, I am going through the hotel and they are having a deal through Karisma Resorts. It is called the "bride and groom stay free" promotion. If you are getting married at any of the Karisma resorts I'm pretty sure it applies (which it looks like you are Azul Beach). The promotion is that if you book more than 5 rooms, everyone in your party gets 20% off the rack rate and the bride a groom stay free for an average of the # of nights your guests stay in the same room category. For example, I have most of my guests staying in the jacuzzi jr suites and they are staying for an average of 4 nights. So.....we get a jacuzzi jr suite free for four nights. We are upgrading and using the credit to get the credit towards a honeymoon suite. I also think you get 20% off all services like reception, dinner etc. Did you get this deal? If not, you should call the hotel directly and they should give it to you. I just asked and they said it shouldn't matter if you have a TA. Good luck! That promotion is available if you're using a TA. I'm using that promotion and actually it was my TA who told me about teh promotion because I had no idea about it. I also had a promotion through destionationweddings.com that gave me a free room upgrade. My TA said I could use both but I'm still kind of skeptical of that one. I can't see them giving anyone both but we shall see!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsVaughn2B I did the real touch (Thank you Amy F) and no one even knew they were fake. My photoogh even made a comment and said he had no idea they were fake until he notice how much lighter they were than real flowrs. http://www.sharonnagassardesigns.com...dingFlowerOrde I just requested a quote. Keeping my fingers crossed that it's not too late!!

Quote: Originally Posted by gingerlover36 I have a question? For everyone that has done some DIY projects...Are you shipping anything down ahead of time or packing? I know I am so worrying about the wrong things right now esp since I haven't booked AS yet (but going in 9 days for visit!!) But I am for some reason obssessed with centerpieces. THinking should I do them myself ahead of time or use theirs...if I DIY then should I ship...would that cost outweigh doing it myself... Also...what does Siggy mean?? hahahha I have no clue. I'm taking mine with me. I'm scared to ship them because I've heard horror stories of people's stuff getting stuck in customs. Siggy is a signature!

Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart You mean the ones that will hang from the Chuppah at the ceremony? Those I'm getting at the resort. Yeah those are the ones I'm talking about. I'm just worried if I get a bouquet that looks nothing like those they'll clash. I'm sure I'll probably be the only person who notices though! Can't wait to see a pic of yours!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart I got my real touch flowers http://www.sharonnagassardesigns.com/ Andrea (MrsVaughn) here also used her for real touch. I love working with Sharon, she is wonderful and very accomodating and helpful. My proof photos are coming in 2 weeks and I'll post my flowers. I got quoted by the resort thousands of dollars for bouquets and centerpieces and I just felt it a huge rip off. Thanks! I'm on her website now and I see a couple of bouquets I like already! Did you get the hanging bouquets from the resort or did you get them from her?

Hi ladies! I'm really at a loss as to what to do for flowers. Did anyone get their flowers from the resort and if so how much did they cost? And if you didn't, where did you order your real touch flowers from?

Quote: Originally Posted by meghan Just wondering why so many of you chose to do the symbolic ceremony instead of the llegal ceremony? I'm doing symbolic because I don't want to give blood nor did I want to have to arrive at the resort so many days before the wedding. I was also told that legal ceremonies were done in Spanish and there's a translator who translates the ceremony. I don't know if that's true but that didn't sound appealing to me and finally I don't want to wait months to have my marriage license/certificate translated from Spanish to English in order for it to be legal.

Quote: Originally Posted by gingerlover36 what are some of the TA's you all have been using? I read a post today that kind of made me go Uh ohh! Someone said that Destination Weddings really pushes Karisma hotels and I noticed that at first she was pushing me there and I said I thought it would be too expensive but my TA said no she didn't think ti would be out of my budget. I guess it doesn't matter because so far from what I have seen and researched I love the look of both AB and AS. But just don't want to think that my TA (who I happen to like) has "gotten one over on me" I guess that is just me being paranoid/silly though b/c if I am happy with my decision to check them out then I shouldn't care how or why I chose them. ok enough rambling sorry.... Sounds like we may have the same destination weddings TA. I had never even heard of Karisma resorts until my TA told me about them and then she sent over pictures and said she had just visited the resort and how beautiful it was. She did conveniently leave off how much everything costs. At this point I'm so far into planning that it doesn't matter but I did feel like once I said I was open to the Riviera Maya area she pushed this resort on me and didn't really show me any others.

Quote: Originally Posted by Afrommert I had a legal ceremony AND sand ceremony which took all of 20+ mins... At the most 25mins lol so quick. I thought there was a rule of only 2 weddings a day, I could be wrong, But I thought i read that somewhere... Ill have to do some research? No surprise to me, Tiffanys dancing around your question. It drove me nuts. I would call her directly and ask her. Then after your phone conversation write her an email confirming everything you talked about. But ask her how far in advance may your guest arrive at ceremony location for pictures etc. I know this is rough to hear, but trust me when I say the onsite team will do everything to accomadate YOU. They really will make it run smoothly and fix everything Tiffany f's up. They seriously ROCK. As for the DW.com, I had Gayle. I wonder if you call gayle and speak with her directly if she can help. Gayle was amazing to everyone in my group, which was 20+ppl. My family raved about Gayle. If you want her info, pm me and Ill send it over. Otherwise send your ta an email saying you have received complaints about her and wondered if she's having a hard time with your group and that you would be ok with changing agents if she doesn't want your wedding group because you'd rather not have complaints and want a stress free planning expirence... Goodluck :I & let me know if I can help. Great advice and I love the suggested statement to the TA! I'm using DW as well and my specialist is Susan. She's ok, not great but she's good with the guests.

Quote: Originally Posted by EmmaGaussoin Thanks everyone! I ordered my flowers (real touch calla lilies and orchids). I will put them together over the holidays when I actually have some time. I will put pictures up when I'm done! Have you finished them yet? I'm thinking about making my own bouquets with calla lilies and I'd love to see yours.

Quote: Originally Posted by Afrommert ok, so here are the pics from the photographer. www.frommert.com/wedding andrea and I are at the end of the slideshow. Enjoy! Beautiful pics!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Afrommert I dont know where to even begin. And im sure shes a great person and shes really nice. She was horrible at getting back to me in a timily manner. But the important things... A week after our final payment was due, i called her because she never confirmed she got payment and we wanted a recipt. When I called her, she claimed she never got payment!! WHAAAT? And this was a week after it was due. I would think it was important that if she didnt get our payment on the due date, she would have called us to tell me? Then she never sent me or told me about wedding registration that is due 30days before your wedding date. I only knew of this from having a phone conversation with andrea 2 weeks before we left .... Then I faxed her all our stuff when I got to mexico, they had no such paper work from tiffany. She said she never got thatl WTF. There are tons of little things, like bio degradable pedals, no arificial and bla bla bla, send me a dj song list the night before I left and asked for a playlist? Should have got that months before so we could work on it, THE NIGHT BEFORE is just flat out wrong. I was packing and busy and hubby was working!!! BUT the biggest thing is that she never told me that my wedding cert was ONLY goin to be in spanish and the states do not accept a spanish cert. it MUST be legally translatted into english which cost an extra $150 and takes 6-7 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So here i am at home now and cannot go register our marriage because we have to wait for the translation. ;( Congrats on your wedding!!! I'm glad everything turned out wonderful. I have Tiffany too and I haven't had any problems with her as of yet with the exception of her being slow in response times. She did tell me she has a lot of brides she is working with and will respond within 2 days and I can say she has done that. I think she give a lot of conflicting information but even though I don't comment on this site much I read every post on this thread so usually when I ask her a question I've already gotten the answer from a post on this thread. LOL It seems like in your case she started dropping the ball the closer you got to the wedding. I have been saying to myself that the closer I get to the wedding I think I'm going to have to have more telephone and email interaction with her because I want to make sure everything is the way it's supposed to be. Hope everyone uses your situation as an example of what we need to do! Congrats again!!!

These are beautiful. I think I may go this route too.

Quote: Originally Posted by mrsvaughn2b hey ladies i just want to say thank you for all of the support during my wedding planning. We leave at 6am in the morning and are very excited. I will be sure to tell you all about it when we return!! have fun!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by suzannepdc I would check with Tiffany to see what the "current" outside photographer policy is. To use an outside photographer, you have to pay $500 fee or have them stay for 3 nights. I recently booked (yes, I am getting married in less than 3 months! ) at the Azul Beach and was told that I could not use anyone that was Mexican-based that was not the "approved" photographers. We could, however, bring in someone from the United States. I am still baffled by this policy - I get the extra fee since they have relationships with certain companies, but I would think they would prefer for us to spend our money locally. We are flying someone in from Ohio - it's a little pricey, but something we decided to do. Hope that helps! The most recent policy I got (2 months ago) is that NO outside Mexican photographers are allowed except Matias Cano and Caribe. If you bring someone from home they must stay 3 nights.

Quote: Originally Posted by meghan The pasta dish is not on the menu. It is a vegetarian dish. We originally wanted either 1A or 1B from the menu, and that means you just get one meal choice. Since we have more than 5 vegetarians, they told us they would not make that many alternative dishes. So they emailed me to vegetarian pasta dishes that we could get for $11 (that was the price when I first booked...I think the cheapest price is now $12 or maybe even $14). So, instead of having the chicken or pork, everyone is having the pasta option. These were the vegetarian options we were given: 1. OVEN BAKED “CAPPELACCIâ€,STUFFED WITH SPINACH AND RICOTTA CHEESE,ORANGE,TOMATO SAUCE 2. “EL ROYALEâ€PENNE PASTA,WITH SAUTEED SHRIMPS,PEPPERS AND CILANTRO IN TEQUILA-LIME SAUCE We are having the oven baked cappelacci. If you are interested in either of these, I would suggest emailing your coordinator and asking about vegetarian options. Ok thanks! I'm going to get on this. I'm going with the set menu too but I'm not impressed with it at all. I like both of these pasta dishes better than anything on the set menu.

Snapfish: Share Photo:Registration

I had to get one from Tiffany but it wasn't very good. I'll try to upload it.

Quote: Originally Posted by meghan Hey Sam, Welcome to the forum! I am having a private dinner, but with the cheapest meal option...$11 for a pasta dish, salad, and dessert. If you have less than 45 people, you can have a semi private dinner at the spoon with no extra cost. Photographer policy is really annoying. I didn't like the photographers the resort provided so I am using Claudia Rodriguez. I booked her before the resort took her off as one of their approved photographers, so I got the $500 fee waved, but I am paying $2000 for her service. Where did you find the option for the pasta dish? I didn't see that in the banquet kit and that sounds like it's right up my alley.

Quote: Originally Posted by taylorwd They took away the donkey cocktail hour? Well what they tell you is that you can have the donkey cocktail hour but the donkey isn't available! LOL

The one thing I am under budget on is my dress!! It was being discontinued so it was on sale for half the price. Woo-hoo!!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart I got a really good deal on some hard shell suitcases and just bought them anticipating needing them. I have so much stuff it's ridiculous, I should take a picture of my livingroom, it's embarrassing. I went waaaay overboard on the OOT bags and am buying all the groomsmen Converse and I don't trust they'd remember to bring them. I'm bringing all my bouquets and bridesmaids bouquets, bouts & centerpiece flowers too so that's a lot of space oh and tons of candles for the table, guest books etc. I ALWAYS bring a ton of stuff for vacation, even if it's a couple of days I want options and I get nervous so imagine me packing for 2 weeks! You can always bring real touch flowers for centerpieces, that's what I'm doing, they will be submerged in water and no one will know they aren't real... especially with the candle lilt on top, no oen will be touching anything or else they'll get burned My budget is more than DOUBLE what I projected... my guestimate was about $5k off too for months... Oh and my dress is TRIPLE my original budget... after I started shopping I made a new budget according to what I liked then went over my new budget by $1,000 so... yeah. I'm over budget because I really didn't consider travel costs when I was planning. Our travel is costing more than the actual wedding but I guess if we had a wedding at home and a honeymoon we'd be paying more. I can't even begin to imagine how much luggage I'm going to have. I always overpack even for a weekend getaway so I know I'm going to overpack this time and couple that with all the other stuff such as OOT bags and vases, I know I'm gonna have to give some bags for people to carry. For the vases I'm only going to do one per table so I should only have 8 vases, which isn't that bad for me to bring. I'd rather pay $1 each for 8 vases and pay the airline for an extra bag than pay $20 per vase for Lomas.