swankster77

Hello brides old and new! It's been awhile since I've posted.. sorry! Anyway, I had some trouble printing my wedding photos from Arrecife due to copywright. I remember asking Nestor about this and he assured me there wouldn't be a problem but I should've known better... all the places I print at are very uptight about printing professional photos without a release. Anyway, after several emails back and forth I finally received this release form directly from Arrecife. Wanted to post for any of you who might need it. If it's already been posted sorry for the repost! I hope everyone is doing well! Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do! Arrecife Copyright Release-1.pdf

 Hey! Nestor was our photographer (not sure if you can choose or not??) He was great, took tons of pictures - both posed and candids... wasn't sure what to expect but when he showed us all the pics he took (they bring you in nice and cool air-conditioned room to view them on a large screen TV) I was very happy... we even bought more than we were planning. I'm actually on their Facebook page quite a bit (I tagged myself - ha!). Â

No problem! Glad to help! Â 1. I gave Jazmin 1 extra song for the guests being seated. I would've given more but she insist they use their music until just before the processional... she said it could take longer and they don't want to have your song run short and have to play it again or have a lull with no music. Â 2. Yes, we did tip Bijan... but a lot less. I think we gave him $50. I think we gave Jazmin $75 and Mara $25 (She was training).. In hind sight I wish I gave Jazmin a lot more as she definitely deserved it. Â 3. Kind of... you meet with Ariceffe right after you meet with Jazmin. She brings you to them... they're the people that take the pictures around the resort so they have a kiosk right there. You don't actually meet with your specific photog (at least, I didn't) but they give you all the info you need and then some (this took way too long in my opinion!). I met Nestor when he showed up at my room to take pics - Jazmin will go over all this with you as well but they usually plan to be to your room about 30 minutes before you are to be picked up for the ceremony. They use this time for 'getting ready' pics. And I would highly recommend making a list of the specifics you want (families, special people etc etc)... I didn't and there's some groupings I wish I would've had done. Â Don't worry! It seems like everything is up in the air but once you meet with Jazmin you'll feel so much better. They have all your emails on file and they have a form that has EVERYTHING on it that you've requested... and they go over it with you with a fine-tooth comb so nothing is missed. Everything will come together

LOVE your wedding tree/guestbook! So cute! And great idea with the cake boxes... my cake went to waste because we were all too full from dinner...wish I had thought of this!

Yes! I walked down the aisle to it! Here is a link to download the song.. it's only good for one week. https://www.yousendit.com/download/UFVyS3dwMGtTRTd2Wmc9PQ Â If you can't get it to work do a search on iTunes for the O'Neill Brothers. It's on the Music for your Beach wedding album. You will love it!

 Here is Paloma Flores email: [email protected]  Here is her signature/info:  Paloma Flores Gerente de Grupos y Eventos / Groups & Events Manager Gran Bahia Principe Riviera Maya Email:[email protected] Tel: 052 984 87 5 50 00 Ext. 28117 · Fax: 052 984 87 5 50 01 Ctra. Chetumal Benito Juárez, km. 250 Local B, Municipio de Solidaridad Akumal, Quintana Roo C.P. 77760 . México.  She is the first one you should contact regarding picking a date, etc. She should get back to you within a week.   Our room at Tulum was a junior suite. it was different than all our guests and much bigger. I think they give the bride/groom the bigger room.  Just another note on the speakers: I stayed at Tulum and the speakers/microphone were not an option. Just a heads up. They do not let you use them from one of the other resorts. And if you do go the speaker option, I would make sure they are powerful speakers. I have my own iPod speakers and they would never be loud enough to be heard for a reception. Â

Here is the resort map: http://www.dgweddingon888.com/resortmap.jpg  I'm not exactly sure where the beach wedding location is though - hopefully someone else can point it out on this map. The gazebo for anyone else interested is right by the Tequila restaurant on the Tulum side.  As far as speakers go, I think someone had luck doing this at Coba but Tulum does not offer this option. And I think another bride said they did this and you couldn't hear your own music over the nearby bar music.  SOME plugs are the same and some are the same but have a weird outlet cover which requires an adaptor. Bring a few from home (even for the rooms) or you can buy them in the shops for less than a buck.  If you want to play your own music you will most likely need to bring your own speakers, look into renting from a vendor outside the resort or hire a DJ. I would guess that playing your own music will require you to have a private reception.. which is not a bad idea... even for 15 people. However, if kids are your concern, don't be... kids are allowed at all the bars with the exception of the disco in the hacienda. My 11 year old daughter was with us at every bar and I saw several other kids of all ages. They're not like regular bars you're used to. Good luck!

Thank you! Yep, they were all slightly different in size but I remember reading that in the reviews on OT's website.... they were so cheap so I took the risk. But honestly they all worked out perfectly and the smaller ones weren't all that small but the bigger ones were borderline too big. They all worked great though! And it was a HOT day so they were all put to good use! Â Â Thanks! I bought the coil wrist bands/whistles from Oriental Trading company and the clear pouch at ebay. I had to buy the clear pouches in bulk (50 I think) but it all ended up costing around $1-2 each. Â

Thaodao - do you mean AFTER dinner or BEFORE? This is my opinion... our wedding was at 4 and over and done with by 5... everyone headed to the Tulum lobby bar to have some drinks while we had photos done... by the time we got to join them it was 6 and we had to start heading over to dinner (Tortuga) immediately... where we got to eat almost right away. So i don't think there is much time for snacking before dinner. As for after dinner... everyone was SO stuffed from dinner that no one even thought about food. In addition - our reception was literally right next to the snack bar where people can order food 24 hours a day. if anyone was hungry they had easy & quick access to FREE food (if you order apps I'm sure you have to pay for them, right?) Â Â Trust me on this! If you pick the gazebo you will still get all full of sand after the wedding when you take pictures! We all had to take our shoes off for pics and not only that Nestor had my sweaty self laying in the sand in my dress! And it had just rained earlier! I was worried about getting dirty but he kept reassuring me it would brush right off when it dried and he was absolutely right! once the sand dried it brushed off with little effort. So don't let that sway your decision - you will be in the sand with either option Â

I agree with the poolside reception! Ours was moved due to rain but they moved us closer to Las Olas snack bar... we were still outside but had a roof (the north side of the snack bar is pretty open and has a covered overhang... it was perfect and I'm actually glad we got moved! Â Someone wanted to see cake pics... here is ours. It was tres leches... it was okay but i was so stuffed at that point that I only had a bite. We had them add an extra layer (for 30 peeps). but we didn't need to add the extra layer because we had more than enough and ended up wasting most of it. Â

 DJ Bijan was awesome! I'm sooo glad we went with him. He played all the songs I wanted him to as well as a few last minute requests. Him and his wife were video taping us.. we had no idea why and then after we got back he sent a youtube link! Another friend of mine also video'd the wedding/reception and Bjian's didn't really compare... mainly because it seemed like he played the same footage over and over and dubbed in a song over the actual audio. Here is the link if you want to take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSvSqxMyw0E

 I know! I was away... but I'm back.. please don't hesitate to ask me questions in the mean time... i need to find time to sit down and get my review up!! I also have all our pics up on shutterfly if you want to see them! Send me your email and I'll send you the album! Or look me up on Facebook and friend me! (Kirsten Peterson) Â

Hey girls! I'm back after being MIA... SORRY! Since my wedding 2 months ago life became hectic FAST! Sold my house and buying a new one plus I'm standing up in 2 weddings this fall and their wedding event have begun, Craziness! Â I am terrible. I owe a complete review. But i would be more than happy to answer any questions in the meantime - just PM me. Â As for the photographer... I know it does suck that you don't have a choice in the matter however, you should not worry. The resort photographers are great. I agree the pics that Paloma/Jazmin/Ruser sent to me as examples were not my style... and even a little cheesy. But what we ended up with was amazing. At times I was annoyed with my photographer (we had Nestor) because it was hot and I just wanted to join the party... but he kept reminding me that this is once in a lifetime. So he kept us longer than we wanted but it was worth it in the end. I really love how our pics turned out! We actually are on the Ariceffe Facebook page a lot! He took over 600 pics of us! Some were cheesy - but we didn't order those... we only ordered what we liked - and it was a tough decision! Â Ok girls - gotta get back to work, but I promise to check back more often and get on on my review one of these days (it's actually done and saved in a word doc - just want to add pics!)...

I definitely recommend snacks.. after a long day of traveling most guests aren't running to the snack bars right away.. we were starving and yet we wanted to freshen up and get ready in our rooms... it would've been nice to have snacks included in the bags.. our mini-fridge had 1 squished milky way and a tiny bag of chips! I think anything would be good!!!

Just checking in ladies... sorry i've been MIA... since we've been back we've decided to put our house up for sale and start searching for new houses... it's kept me busy. I haven't forgotten about my review either. it's on a jump drive at work... ugh i need to get it up soon! Hope you all are doing well and planning is going smoothly! Any questions just ask!