HereFishie

Quote: Originally Posted by Lou HereFishie, did you have a poolside reception just using your ipod? This has been an issue that a lot of people have talked about, but Jazmin insists that there is no way to use your ipod for the poolside as the resort doesn't have a sound system for us to use. She said I would have to hire the DJ and then he can just play my ipod. Obviously, not the greatest option... If I am making the playlist I'd rather not pay extra for him to hit "play". I'm getting married at the Tulum Gazebo, with dinner at Tequila, followed by a poolside reception on July 7th, 2010. Yep, we had our dinner at the Dolce Vita and then the poolside reception afterwards for 2 hours at the White Sands poolside (just outside the Akumal main). Thankfully we had the wedding at the Akumal and she let us have the speakers for free. You could hear perfectly. We were not paying for someone to press play either!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by swankster77 Jazmin told me that is not an option... unless I bring my own speakers or rent from somewhere local. It may be a per location thing. I was at the Akumal and had no problem with this... if anyone is considering doing the iPod thing make sure to check and double check w/ the WC for your wedding location.

We had 40 people and had no problem hearing the iPod. They hook it into big speakers, not just a little dock. The DJ would have been a colossal waste of money IMO.

Our WC charged us a lower cost for children since they can't drink booze. I can't remember what it was though. A few dollars less per child I recall. Can't help you with the DJ since we didn't use one. iPod was the way to go for our poolside cocktail party! Cocktail party is after dinner. We paid to do the private poolside one which was great fun! Re: Cocktail hour I'm not sure if its for all weddings or only certain ceremony types, it should say I think in the documents they sent you when you chose the type of ceremony you wanted. Its directly after the ceremony (it was free for us) and its just toasting. They set up a table and have a couple of bottles of champagne for right after the ceremony so you can do toasts/pictures before you move over to the dinner location. It's a time filler mostly

Send an email to Jazmin and tell her. Ours was known to us before we got down there but there was also a letter from her in our room reminding us when we got there

Quote: Originally Posted by msamanda Hello Ladies, Does anyone have any current rates and information about pool side receptions? Possible dinner menu's as well if choosing this option poolside etc. I am considering a pool side reception and am more or less curious about the costs and options available. Secondly, did anyone do this and what are your thoughts on the matter? Thanks! Quote: Originally Posted by msamanda Herefishie, I read your review it was awesome!!! Loved the pics you posted as well, I took a sneak peak on facebook. You looked gorgeous on your wedding day. Makes me more excited to start getting all my bookings done... still waiting on the travel agent. I am getting pretty frustrated now, I just want to be booked already and start the planning process. Anyways, thanks for sharing all your information ladies, makes me feel a bit more at ease with the whole process!!! Thank you msamanda! It was a magical day! Just keep in mind that it will all work out and try to not get frustrated with the planning. I know its easier said than done but try because you'll realize its all worth it in the end! The prices are the same as far as I know.... they were listed earlier in this thread. If I have a chance I'll find it for you but just go back a couple months

Wahooo! Congratulations KRama! Aren't the WC's awesome!!?? Can't wait to read your review. Gorgeous pic!

You have to be there for 4 days (to satisfy legal requirements and get blood tests etc) prior to your wedding. I don't know if they do weddings on weekends but I'd think it would be a Saturday or Monday most likely? Ours was a symbolic ceremony so we only had to be there 2 days prior but we decided to make ours 5 days in so we had it as last as possible in the week so we could spend it all with our friends/family.

Ours was conch shell, drums and chanting... we heard it clear as a bell

Here's the best pic I could find to show how far it is. It doesn't really do a great job at showing it because there's actually a hill to go down there that you can't see from this angle. direct link to pic to see image full size http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/DSC_0153.jpg

The Akumal hammocks location is all sand once you get off the road. And yes, it is quite a little bit of a walk. If you wear heels you will end up taking them off after a couple steps. I wore flip flops and I was ready to ditch them and go barefoot in no time! I'm alot shorter than DH (he's 6'3" and I'm 5'5") and we had no problems with the height in pics and stuff. In fact it just makes me look more petite than I really am!

Quote: Originally Posted by northernflasher We organised a specific 3hr playlist for our reception in the order we wanted songs to play and made sure not to press "shuffle" when we started it off. We were really informal so we just started our reception playlist with the father & bride dance, I got my dad up onto the sand and the groom pressed play. We followed it with the mother/groom dance and then just let the music play on from there. If you dont want or have time to do an entire playlist devoted to the reception why dont you just do a mini playlist with first dance, into father/ bride, into Mother groom and put someone in charge of pressing play? We did the exact same thing except we had my brother in charge of the iPod. We were constantly warning anyone in earshot of the iPod... DON'T PRESS SHUFFLE! lolol

Would do again Mugs! Huge hit. People had alot of fun "personalizing" them to make them unique so they didn't pick up someone else's by mistake! iPod speakers provided by resort. There was no way I was paying someone to push a button on my iPod. Especially since our reception was cut a little short and we kind of went with the flow. If I'd paid for a DJ, I would have been really unhappy about it! A second week at another resort for our honeymoon. With the site visit and then the wedding week, as nice as the GBP is I wouldn't want to spend yet another week there. The 2nd week gave us that chance to relax that we didn't really get the wedding week. Its like having a week long reception! Blue ribbon in the back of my corset instead of white. Really made it pop! Marimba band while we had dinner. Such a cool touch! Video confessional/well wishes for our guests. It was a huge hit! Site visit. Totally cemented the choice for our wedding location and resort for us. We absolutely fell in love with it Mayan Symbolic Blessing. Absolutely breathtaking ceremony. Used the private shuttle service Kinmont Cancun Shuttle. Fantastic service, courteous drivers, CHEAP prices! 5 pm ceremony. It was apparently a record setting temperature that day and thankfully it was already starting to cool off by the time our ceremony came around. I couldn't imagine having it at 3pm like it was orginally planned! Use an experienced DW travel agent. It makes all the difference and takes all of the stress away. THEY get to deal with your guests deposits, booking requests and ZILLION questions! Wouldn't do again Bubbles. Waste of money. It's too windy for bubbles. They would have looked pretty but it just didn't work I wouldn't pay for the private poolside reception again. DH disagrees with me on this one. He really liked having the private reception with our guests. Book our airline with a 4 hour layover in between. It made for a very long day coming home. 14 hours from hotel to airport and then another 3 hour drive home makes for a very long trip.

Excellent! We really liked them too. They're a small step away from the traditional wedding guayabera to a little more dressy which is why we liked them. They're silk and DH said they were very comfortable and breathable.

CDN Redhead - our brother in law is in the promotional business and he found those shirts among his suppliers. The maker is Bobby Chan.

Aww thank you Erica! I didn't even realize it was you! Congratulations!!

Don't be nervous! It will all go so well! A month from now you'll be wondering why you were nervous!

Here's a couple of my favourite shots! He took the opportunity to lick my arm... lol This was a candid shot... we were taking a break. My dress was hiked all the way up to cool myself off under my dress!

Thank you so much Wendy! It was great getting to meet you! I'm looking forward to all your pics!

Our pics Cheryl Scott's Photos - 2 weeks in Paradise | Facebook

You're allowed to use everything everywhere

I'm going to look through my pics tomorrow! I can't wait to contribute!

Pictures are slllowwwwllyy going up a few at a time on facebook. Friday nights are DH's time with the boys on Xbox LIVE and every time I try and upload, his game freezes so I'll put more up soon! Here's the link on FB Cheryl Scott's Photos - 2 weeks in Paradise | Facebook

My review! http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...2/#post1286479 Pictures to follow!

Here is my review of our wedding and honeymoon. We stayed at the Coba but our wedding ceremony was at the Akumal Cancha (beach location) Our honeymoon was at the Sandos Caracol Eco Resort and Spa. Airline: Our group was booked with Signature and from what we heard there were no complaints. Because of the timing, DH and I booked with Fun Sun and Continental. Usual tight seating and 50 pounds baggage allowance. We had a layover in Houston so we ended up going to Duty Free and getting some bottles for our reception. It was really inexpensive and a nice touch we thought. Arrival into Cancun: Cancun airport was a relatively quiet when we got there. Basically no real lines and we were on our way to the resort in no time! We both got green lights so it was a nice easy walk through. Ride to the Bahia: Our group came in on the Signature bus. Apparently they had 4 stops before our resort. No one had any complaints other than it was a long trip and they were happy to just be there finally. We took an outside airport transport with 1 other couple in our group. HIGHLY recommend them and we will use them again in the future. They were called KinMont Cancun Shuttle. For 4 transfers to GBP, then 4 transfers to the honeymoon resort, then 2 separate 2person transfers on different days back to the airport was only $125US per couple for ALL of it!! They were always early from when they said they'd be there, the transfer was quick and private. I'd do this again over a group bus ANY day! Coba Main Lobby Checkin: For DH and I it was really quick because we were returning guests. For the rest of the group, it seemed to go a little crazy but in the end, everyone got their rooms and were off with their luggage in no time. My only complaint was that nothing regarding our room requests was honoured. It wasn't too much the hotel's fault though... they had a bunch of people that couldn't leave from the UK because of the volcano so the hotel was overfull. Not sure what they did to accommodate more people coming than leaving but in the end, our guests rooms were *somewhat* close to each other. Villas 17/18/20/23/25/30. Our room was beautiful as usual with champagne and fruit and flowers waiting for us. There was a letter informing us of our meeting with Eugenia the WC at the Akumal waiting on the table for us. Wedding Coordinator Meeting: We had already met Eugenia once when we came down for our site visit in December. She is an absolute sweetheart. Very professional, easy to understand, explains everything thoroughly... she knows her job really well. We went over the details of our wedding day again with her and she explained more about how the ceremony we wanted was going to play out. We had the Mayan Symbolic Blessing so it's a little different than the reviews most of the gals that went had. Hotel: COBA We had been there before so we knew what to expect and again the Bahia did not disappoint. They take very good care of the rooms, grounds, beaches, lobbies... The trams run all through the 3 properties and while many of our guests used them alot, we knew the resort well enough that we walked everywhere unless we were in a time crunch. Our wedding day: I got ready in our room and hubby stayed and got ready with his son in his room. A couple of friends of DH did my hair and my MOH/BM's hair for all of us. I was pampered and surrounded by lovely ladies! At 1pm, all of the bridal party met at our building for pictures. We did our pics before our ceremony because our ceremony wasn't until 5pm so we wanted nice bright beach pictures. We did the "First Look" picture and DH bawled his head off when he turned around to see me. It was the sweetest thing ever. He said that I surpassed everything he expected and more. We went to our wedding location with our BP took alot of photos, the typical and untypical types for about 1.5 hours. Apparently the temperature broke records that day. It was SO HOT! After our pictures, we separated again for awhile to freshen up before the ceremony. All of the guests and the Groom met in the Premier Lobby (lobby between the Akumal and Coba Main) and were transported to the wedding location which was the Akumal Beach Hammock site. They sent private transportation for me and my two gals. I was panicking a little because when we talked to Eugenia she said the bellboy would be there to pick us up at 4:50 for our 5pm wedding. By 5pm he still hadn't shown up and I was phoning the Akumal reception freaking out a little. He showed up shortly after that and we arrived at the site. We were greeted by Eugenia, my dad and the men from the BP. Eugenia lined us all up and reconfirmed how we would all walk in and where to stand. Then she gave the signal for the BP to start walking the path to the site. I waited excitedly for it all to start. I was rather impatient and wanted to get down to my groom! It was our turn next and when I rounded the corner I was overjoyed at all our guests waiting for us. I was trying so hard to take it all in and when I saw my hubby crying… man, it was hard to focus on anything else! When we got there, we really had no idea what the ceremony would be like because so few people had done the Mayan blessing so there wasn't alot of info about it but it was absolutely perfect for us. We had the opportunity to do our own vows mixed into the ceremony of the flowers and I don't think there was a dry eye in the place! The Mayan couple was so spiritual. You could actually feel them speaking to the 4 directions north/east/south/west, to the earth, the sun, wind, sky, ocean... the conch shells resounding with the crashing of the ocean and the chanting of the woman... it was a very unforgettable experience. Everything was awesome… literally everything we had dreamed it would be! The weather was hot, the skies were clear, the breeze was cooling, our friends and families there, an amazing authentic Mayan ceremony …simply amazing! We had mimosas after the ceremony right there on the beach behind the location site and managed to get a great group photo of all of us! Photographer: Our wedding package included 5 free photos with the resort photographer. The images were good, very photoshopped with effects, but we kept only the free ones because our friend is an intermediate photographer and was a guest of ours so he got alot of the same pics. He had over 1400 pictures taken of the entire wedding day! Dinner: We chose the Dolce Vita for our reception. The restaurant was blocked off for 1.5 of the 2 hours we had it for before people from the resort started coming in. We were able to get the marimba band to play during our meal and it was such a cool touch. We were very pleased! Our dinner was leisurely and informal . Our MC took over, did a couple of jokes, some quick comments and kept it light for our guests. We didn't do our speeches during dinner. We decided to use the dessert provided and opted for the small 10 person symbolic cake. It was more than enough and many of our guests also got a taste of the Tres Leche (3 Milks) cake. It was very good... very sweet though. Private Poolside reception at the White Sands (Akumal): We chose to go with the least expensive drink package for our reception and we're very glad we did. It ended up being about 1.5 hours and it moved so fast between our speeches and the dances that we barely had enough time for the partying! Not as many people danced as I would have liked but people were all visiting, signing the guest book, and leaving a private video message for us that it was busy enough. I don't know if I would have done the private reception again but DH really felt it was worth the cost to have our group alone like we did. The location was really decorated beautifully and the iPod was MORE than enough for our group. I am very glad we didn't pay for a DJ. After the reception, several people called it a night and went to bed. DH and I went back to our room to change and then we all headed to the Hacienda and some of us stayed for the disco and danced until the wee hours but most left within an hour. DH and I left our guests dancing the night away around 1am Honeymoon: Sandos Caracol Eco Resort and Spa Everyone left us on the Wednesday after the wedding except my DH's sister and BIL who were also celebrating. They stayed for their 36th wedding anniversary and us for our honeymoon. We all moved to another resort for a change of scenery. This was a great idea. We had a wonderful week, we definitely recommend taking an extra week for your honeymoon! The wedding week with your guests is like 1 LONG reception and you never get to truly relax until they're all gone home! We spent our 2nd week in a lovely very organic, smaller, more personal feeling resort. Definitely wasn't the 5* GBP we had been spoiled with but overall a nice place and were upgraded to the Jr Suites within a day. The suites have jacuzzi tubs on the large balcony and our room directly faced the ocean. It was beautiful! The day after we got there we made our first large purchase as a married couple. We bought a vacation weeks+points club membership! We are really excited to be members of the Royal Elite Platinum and RCI group for the next 25 years! Its something we have talked about in the last year because of how much we like to travel so it was a perfect time for us. We got in on the baby beginner package but with 4 weeks every 2 years, spa and golf membership packages and 15 free weeks... it was a deal we couldn't pass up and we're already planning our next vacation down to the amazing and incredible Sandos Playacar with the private pools at every building! Overall wedding experience: Incredible! We are SO glad we went with our hearts and had our dream wedding on the beach. It was an amazing day and our guests can't stop talking about how unique and beautiful the wedding day was as well as how much fun they all had during their week there.