Future Mrs. M

Quote: Originally Posted by Jess aww thanks ...DD is in PV...do you mean Riviera Maya? I got them from etsy. Here is the seller, she was great and will make them in your colors!: http://www.etsy.com/shop/JloveS Thanks Jess!! Yes I meant that I wish they were in Riviera Maya! You lucked out witht the church and them by doing it there! Congrats again! I loved seeing your wedding featured in the magazine.

Thanks! I did read that you can buy it in different fonts/colors/sizes etc. I was just curious about changing it but having it the same font as it is now. Do I still have to buy that?

How can I change my user name? I tried doing it under the edit option but it didn't give me the option to change my user name. Thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jess Hi Kimberly, if you include everything (favors, DJ, coordinator, transportation, dance floor, cake, food, decorations, etc. etc. etc) I'd say about $230 per person. I'm really guessing here though and that doesn't include the fireworks as I'm not sure how much those were since they were a surprise. Sealed with a Spice - not yet! We will be in the Fall issue of Destination I Do magazine. There is one picture of us and our wedding party in the June issue of Destination Weddings & Honeymoons magazine though. Jess I saw your pictures in Destination Weddings Magazine!!! I loved it!! Your pics are amazing! I wish there was a Dazzling Details in Puerto Vallarta. That was the main reason I was looking at Puerto Vallarta to begin with : Dazzling Details and Iglesia de Guadalupe!! BOTH INCREDIBLE!!! Where did you get your groomsmen boutteniers (sp)?

Quote: I booked it through the Royal and they are $700 for a 7 person mariachi. $900 that is insane!!! I asked my outside WC Yazmin and she quoted me at $550 for a 7 person. But with the $100 outside vendor fee to save $50 and go through the hassle we just stayed with the one for the resort. I thought $900 was insane for Mexico! $550 sounds more like it. Can you send me Yazmin's contact information? Thanks!!

Nice pics!

Quote: Originally Posted by jesmcan I am using Marvin from Maya Deseno Floral .::: Maya Diseño Floral Profesional :::. Flores y Plantas Exóticas for flowers. His prices are amazing and I know past brides that have used him and said he was great. For music my cousin and a good friend of my family is playing some where over the rainbow on spanish guitar for the ceremony We did the mariachi band for the cocktail hour who is than going to walk with us over to Kool I am using DJ Doremixx (Ivan) for the reception For favours I got luggage tags made through etsy that are also going to double as the place card holders. We also got personalized cigars and little vanilla ones for the girls. Lastly I also got pashminas for all the ladies. By the way the suggestion on the side pony tail is definitely I am going to consider. I have to wait till October until my trial so in the mean time the hair inspiration binder just keeps growing lol Where did you find your mariachi? How much are you guys paying? We're looking for a 5-7man group but we were quoted $900...is that too high?

I'd love to make these! How long did it take you? Would you mind posting the templates so you don't have to email them to all of us? These are amazing you did a great job! Where did you get the boxes? how were you able to get the passport to stay together? I'm not too crafty so I'm curious:)

Very Cute!!! Where did you get them? What was your total cost if you don't mind me asking? This is my next project!

Quote: Originally Posted by angelov321 I was gonna go with Ana, but she was out of my price range. I just paid my coworker $100 to put together my invites. I guess it depends on what type of invite you want. I researched and researched for passport invites and I didnt find anything for less than $400. SO lucky!! I wish I knew someone crafty:)! Invites can get really pricey.

Wings of Innocence - that is exciting that your dress came in!! I can't wait for mine to get here in September! Hey girls have you guys gotten a menu of what they will serve during the cocktail hour? I never asked about this...

Quote: Originally Posted by Eadon216 I think the price I was quoted for hair and makeup is ridiculous But I"m not sure how to negotiate down. I mean, $350 is a ridiculous number. It wouldn't cost nearly as much here. I'm not doing a site visit for a couple reasons. Mostly it comes down to not having the money and ability to take time off of work. But we only discovered H3R because that's where we got engaged! At a wedding convention I went to the year before for my Matron of Honor I won a free trip there! So we've seen the place and we know we like their food. That's going to have to be good enough for us. I agree with you. $350 seems like A LOT! I wish my hairdresser were going with me. I love her. If you loved the resort and stayed there then you don't really need to do a site visit IMOpinion. We hadn't seen the resort so that's why we went the first time, the second time we went to scout more chapels so we decided to try the resort overnight. They can probably set up a food tasting for the wedding menu when you arrive. I actually didn't get to eat at all the restaurants but I'm hoping they're all as good as the ones we tried while we were there.

How much are you guys paying for invitations? I'm going to reach out to Ana de Roux her work seems awesome.

Are there pics of his work anywhere? I'd like to see pics of other brides also =)

Quote: Originally Posted by chipotle99 I'm doing cobalt blue and fuschia! Was thinking of getting blue satin chair sashes...what kind of decorations are you thinking of bringing down? Awesome!! We are thinking of using gray tiffany chairs. But if for some reason we decide to go with the others we will definitely need chair sashes. We are still pretty open in terms of decorations. We hired an outside wedding coordinator so I want to speak with her and see what she will be providing for us. I wanted to do these tall tree center pieces with candles hanging from it and wanted to see if she would be able to incorporate blue accents on it. I will keep you posted! You do the same too:)

Quote: Originally Posted by chipotle99 Hi! I'm getting married in Dreams Cancun on Nov 13th! Getting there the 10th and staying until the 21st...suuuuper excited! Wouldn't it be cool if we could all coordinate decorations (vases, chair ties, parasols) and buy them from each other WHILE we were all down in the RM, rather than lug all the stuff down, use it, then lug it back to sell in back home. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I would much rather take a cab to pick up stuff from another resort than buy it back here and have to take it down. And likewise, would rather sell my stuff while I was down there rather than have to pack it up and bring it back up.... just some thoughts That is an AWESOME idea!! I am getting November 12th and my colors are silver(grey) and cobalt/saphire blue. Let me know if any of you girls are doing anything similar!!

Quote: Originally Posted by becks1581 Thanks for posting your budget breakdown Tricey and you're right...it really is all of the small things that add on fast. We're trying to stay at $15k not including our travel and room expenses. That also doesn't include my dress which my parents bought for me or our site visit. FI's parents are helping out by paying for the welcome party which also helps us stay close to budget. It's all very much an estimate at this point though. All in all, your breakdown looks really similar to mine. Another question for you Tricey...I got my wedding event contract from Allibe today b/c we are doing the group contract via TA Jill. The contract says that anyone who doesn't book through Jill and the group contract will be charged the FULL cost (i.e. $80 plus bar) for the dinner reception. Isn't this RIDICULOUS?!? I emailed her to ask what the rationale is but I think it's just absurd!! Was this in your contract too? I would talk to them about this. Not everyone will book through your travel agent. PM me if you'd like to see our contract. We ran into the same problem when they asked that all bookings be done through our outside wedding coordinator. This may be a TA issue not a resort issue as we found was the case for ours. We were able to negotiate this with them though because we know everyone has their own preferences when it comes down to booking.

Quote: Originally Posted by Tricey628 Hi ladies! And welcome to Erin.. I actually just worked out my budget this week while waiting for the group contract negotiations, and man, it hurts. It’s like even if you save money on the big things, it’s really all those little things that add up. Some of it though is based on averages for things I don’t know yet, so I hope they will be cheaper! The travel between the trip itself and the site visit is a big piece, and then things like photo/video/music etc are going to be expensive. I haven’t received any pics of flowers. According to Allibe, the $800 fee and $20/pp includes all linens but only in white, no chair sashes, and serving dishes etc obviously since they are catering. Also includes officiant services, ceremony table with white linens, microphone if necessary, white garden chairs for everybody, recep. tables and chairs, all food and drinks, servers for cocktail hour and reception, all that. It doesn’t include cake, chair covers, other color linens, flowers, music, arch, aisle runner, dance floor (if needed), or anything else I’ve tried to think of to ask her. The only other costs she has said are $3 gift distribution fee. I’ve asked her a few times about other fees and she says there is nothing else. I think she will serve our vendors food for free, I’m waiting to hear more on that. Anyway, my budget totally freaks me out. It’s currently $21,400 and when I first worked it up (with fireworks etc) it was $30,000. I’m not really sure what else to do to lower costs though, without skimping on things. This is based on 35 people as an estimate. The breakdown is: Attire/Hair/Makeup: 2265 (includes everything for FI and I and paying for hair, makeup, mani, pedi for bridal party) Ceremony: 1360 (includes ceremony musician @ like 350, the 800 fee, guest bk, RB pillow, FG basket, arch, sand ceremony kit, unity candles) Reception: 2700 (includes 20/pp fee for 35 guests, music @ 1500, cake @ 200, other rentals linens, décor, etc @ 300) Other Events: 1400 (20/pp for welcome party with smores etc on beach, and same for rehearsal dinner) Photo/Video: 4300 (no idea, but want to do a BD shoot, and feel like photo/video is most important to us) Stationery: 1015 (includes std’s, invites, signage, pre-dept packet, welcome letter, wedding website, napkins, thank you cards, and programs with fans- we got those here, cost us 100) Gifts: 1110 (includes bm and usher gifts at 40/ea, parent gifts @ 80/ea, welcome gifts @ 15/ea, and favors @ 3/ea.) Flowers: 1160 (bride bq 100, 4 bm bq’s 200, hairpiece 10, corsages 100, groom bt 25, 6 ushers and dads bt 150, ceremony altar 50, pews/aisle 75, petals on ground/tossing 150, centerpieces 300) Travel: 4280 (includes 7 nights for us @ like 192/nt each ~2680, 600 flights, 100 transfers, 800 his parents flights, 100 his parents transfers) Site Visit: 1600 (3 nights for the 2 of us @ 150/nt/each plus flights and transfers) Misc: 200 (insurance? Still looking into this) We are/were hoping we can get the free room for his parents, still negotiating on that, that would save us another 2680 on that, otherwise add that in too Anything in yellow is stuff I’ve been told by Allibe – estimates on flowers she’s given me, etc. I can’t believe it gets so high so fast! How are you keeping your costs down? So far I still feel like HTR is cheaper than what I’ve seen elsewhere, the no vendor fees, music prices she’s quoted seem good? The 20/pp is amazing I think. How are you ladies keeping costs down- what are your budgets?? I did NOT thinking I’d be spending $20,000… Do you think any of my numbers are off or I could save anywhere? Wings~Who did you book for photo/video? I think that’s going to be my next step with research… I think mine is actually a bit higher because I wanted to use the tiffany chairs. I didn't even put our site visits in the budget and it's still quite high. Yikes! I thought flowers would be a bit cheaper in Mexico. What are you guys doing for guest favors etc?

Quote: Originally Posted by lisanicole I am currently living in White Plains, NY but used to live in Stamford, CT! Getting married 11/12 in Riviera Maya also! Lisa that is too funny! I'm from Stamford but live in Norwalk now:) We visited the Iberostar and the beach they have there is AMAZING you're going to have great pics:)! We almost rented their chapel for our religious ceremony.

My budget is somehow way over 15K and that's just for 85 people not sure how the number is getting so high. Are you girls seeing the same things?

My dress will be in in September and I'm wearing my Mom's veil. I still need to get everything else though! When you girls ordered your dress did they give you a specific date? I called the bridal store and they told me it's still in order and will be in first week of september.

Hey girls I hope you all had a nice weekend. We were looking over our budget and realized we might be getting a little out of hand with expenses. 1)Most importantly how much are you guys paying in total to have your wedding at the Hacienda Tres Rios? (set up fee, dj, photog, etc). 2) Do you know if the set up fee includes tablecloths to match your colors or chair sashes etc? 3) Do any of you have pictures of the flowers?

We live in Norwalk, CT:) So nice to see another CT bride on here that will be getting married in the Riviera Maya!

Quote: Originally Posted by wisconsinbride2010 we have about 45 people coming. I decided to use sanddollars with our guests name written on them. I thought it was a simple beachy touch. We are going to have them in a box filled with sand and just have them propped up so each guest can choose their name and put it at whichever seat they would to sit at. We are having our own table for just the two of us though. I love this idea! I've been wanting to incorporate this as well. We saw a picture of the sanddollars when we first started our wedding planning. The sanddollars were in a huge shell and looked awesome. Where are you buying the sanddollars?

Quote: Originally Posted by angelov321 From what I hear, its hard to tell the difference between a civil ceremony and a symbolic ceremony. I believe everything is still the same except for the fingerprinting. If you dont tell any of your guests that you were married prior to coming to Mexico, they wont figure it out. I dont think there will be need to sign any paperwork to make it look "real". How are you guys doing a symbolic? Are you hiring someone from your resort?