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!

Quote: Originally Posted by janetw hey, waybuloo, yes from wigan in england uk. thanks for yr advise, but we want someting a bit more personal than just asking the band to play any song ;-( just not sure what are options are with there not being loads of us. ;-) Thanks I'm sure you can have a private poolside reception with DJ.. Cost associated is for cocktails (per person - pays for the staff, etc - very reasonable for 30 guests we payed $300) and the DJ... (our DJ was pretty cheap $250 for 2.5 hours - DJ Bijan - mayanvibes.com). If most of your guests want to dance (as mine did!) this might be a good option for you! Some other brides on here used an iPod with speakers or docking station... I have to say I loved the private reception - ours was to be poolside but was moved due to weather (chance of rain)... the location was awesome and I was glad it was moved - still outside but under a section of the 24-hour snack bar. Sounds weird but it was beautiful and everyone loved it!

Quote: Originally Posted by abbie32 Swankster...your wedding was beautiful!! Congrats! :-) I'm in the process of buying a wedding dress and I'm quickly eliminating half the store because of the weight of the dresses. I don't want to faint on the beach. haha Your dress is beautiful and similar to the style I'm looking for. What material is your dress made of? Just curious. Thanks! Yes, be sure to wear a dress that is not too heavy!! My dress was made out of taffeta. Bought it at Davids bridal... still felt very heavy even with no train!

Quote: Originally Posted by jjohnson30 Krama, i was just wondering how much did your flowers in total cost. what did your mothers coursage look like?? do you have pictures of your bridesmaid flowers. I know this question was not aimed towards me but thought I'd answer anyway since I was just there! Bride Boquet + Groom Boutonier were included with wedding package. Bridesmaid Bouquets $36x4 = $144 Junior Bridesmaid Bouquet $28x1 = $28 Boutonier $11x6 = $66 Wrist Corsage $16x5 = $80 Grand total $318.. but the actual bill (it was on the bill at check out) came to $329. The flowers were gorgeous though.. i was not sure what to expect. I will post more pics in my review (almost ready to post that I swear!!) but here is just one of the wrist corsage... way better than I imagined. Plus I had a bunch of left over ribbon and asked if they could use it and sure enough they did and it all looked amazing: This is my bouquet 3 days after the wedding.. will find a better pic for my review (this pic does not do it justice)

Awesome! I love the luggage tag sayings and your save the dates!

Quote: Originally Posted by KRama Oh yeah, me too! I didn't know they were going to throw petals at all after the ceremony either. There's a great pic of my hubby and I laughing with petals falling all over, and the aforementioned red carpet: Oh yeah! I just remembered that it was pouring rain right up until my ceremony started so I bet that's why they didn't use the carpet! I don't think anyone threw rose petals at mine... they were already spread on the ground.

Quote: Originally Posted by KRama Swankster - I noticed you didn't have the red carpet at the gazebo for your ceremony. Did you ask for it that way or did they just do it? When I was planning, I had noticed the red carpet in some pics and decided I didn't want it. And then I completely forgot about it when we were actually there! After the ceremony was over, the staff looked like they were setting up for another wedding and I said to my MOH "oh I'm glad they didn't have that carpet out for my ceremony". She looked at me and said, "Ummm...yeah they did". hahaha...so wrapped up, I didn't even notice! Haha that's hilarious!! I didn't want the red carpet either but totally forgot to even mention it... so they took it upon themselves not to use it! I didn't even know they were going to use the pink flower petals either.. so that was a pleasant surprise too!

Great job! I love how you were able to bring your blue theme throughout all aspects of the wedding!

Quote: Originally Posted by abbie32 Swankster...your pictures are beautiful! I love the idea of the post cards for your wedding album. I want my hair style to be quite similar to yours. Love the BM's dresses, your dress....I guess I love most of it. haha Can't wait to see your review! I'm getting married at the GBP next April but I wish it was next month. I love reading the reviews and seeing pictures. It gets you so excited for your own wedding! Did you stay at Tulum? I'm debating on whether to stay at Coba or Tulum. Where is the Hacienda located in relation to the hotels? Thanks so much!! We stayed at Tulum and I'm sooo glad we did. Coba looked nicer/newer but Tulum was right on the beach - and that was a must for me. Plus being the Bride/Groom you get a room upgrade and I'm pretty sure the room was the same as the Coba suites. The hacienda is walking distance from Tulum and a short trolley ride from Coba & Akumal. You can see the Hacienda from the Tulum lobby. But I do have to agree with other brides on here who have said that Akumal beach is way better - so true but then again Akumal is farther from the Hacienda... each location has their pros/cons and it's different for each person I guess. Just thought of something - somewhere earlier in this thread is a link to the resort map.. have you seen it? If not I can try to upload it later from home.

Quote: Originally Posted by A_J_Mitchell Do you remember who you bought the sand ceremony frame from on Etsy? Yes, the seller was SayAnythingDesign: Unity Sand Ceremony Frame by SayAnythingDesign on Etsy[]=tags&includes[]=title I later found out they have a website: Beautiful Wedding Sparklers, Unity Ceremony Vases and Signature Platters Quote: Originally Posted by Future Mrs. M You did an amazing job on everything!! I like the idea of the post cards instead of a guestbook. My FI and I love to travel so this is a great one for us to use. Where did you buy your maracas and the fan? How much were they? Were the invites hard to put together? I'm not crafty :{ How much was the total in the end? We're figuring out whether we should tackle this on our own or not. Thank you! I actually bought the maraca's once in Mexico. Our Resort had quite a few shops/vendors. They were 2/$5 and we ended up buying 10 - 2 for each table. But I wish I bought more because everyone wanted to keep them and obviously there weren't enough. The fans I bought from Oriental Trading Company... super cheap - 12/$9 I think.. and then I bought ribbon from a local fabric/craft store and wrapped the handles. The invites were pretty easy. The pocket-fold invite comes ready to go - you just have to print out the invite and the inserts, then cut a matte if you want that look. I bought them from cardsandpockets.com. They let you buy samples if you want to give one a try and see if it's something you want to do? How much were the invites? I think it ended up costing around $130 for 45 invites but honestly I don't remember exactly. Good luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by GCSC212 I love your custom tags you did for the place cards. I have been looking everywhere for custom place cards in that shape like that. Do you mind sharing how or where you got those from?? Love your planning ideas! No problem! I saw some cute drink umbrella's used for place cards on another bride's planning site awhile back (can't remember who??). Anyway, I bought the umbrella's at a local liquor store and forgot about them until the weekend before we left actually! So I just quickly mocked one up to see what size would work and then using Adobe Illustrator (you can use Word) I made a layout/grid with everyone's names & the flower graphic and printed them out on pink cardstock.. then just cut them, punched a hole and tied to the umbrella. Our wedding coordinator decided to put them in the wine glass which was perfect!