TropicLover

Great review Kleenotes! Your pictures are beautiful! You and your husband look so happy! Congrats!

Wow your pictures are stunning! So beautiful! You two look so happy together! Nice review too! Glad everything turned out so well.

@andecker, I didn't get married at the Villa Marina, however I'm fairly certain they wouldn't let you have a dance floor because other people will be dining around you. If you're looking for a more private reception I'd upgrade to the Paradise Package and use the Lobby Terrace. It's spacious and can accommodate a dance floor....it would be perfect for 30 - 50 people.

Congrats Kleenotes! Can't wait to hear about it! Don't you just want to go back???

@Shanon09, a cute summer dress or skirt for the ladies is a good option...the right accessories can dress up a casual sun dress too. A nice top with nice capris works as well. Nicer sandals, wedges or heals are all good options. They just don't want you showing up in foam flip flops.

@Shanon09, you're welcome! I hope it will be helpful info for future brides! The dress code is a little strange at the OCT. The Japanese and Italian for sure have dress codes, however you still can't wear flip flops to any of the restaurants. For example, at the buffet for dinner my aunt was turned away because of her sandals even though she was wearing a nice outfit. Guys can wear shorts at the Mexican and Villa Marina, however they should be wearing closed toed shoes as well. Honestly my husband just wore pants to all the restaurants to be safe and then changed after dinner.

Hey ladies! I've FINALLY posted our wedding review. You can find it in the OCT wedding review section. Here's the link: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/ocean-coral-turquesa-all-inclusive/reviews/6316 There are a lot of photos and I've gone into detail on most of the wedding details. Enjoy!

@Shanon09, you're welcome! Dinner took about an hour to get though all the courses. We had speeches set up for in-between each course which really moved things along. Tipping was a tough one. I did a lot of research on BDW to see what other brides were doing and found it was really more of a personal approach. My rule of thumb was that if the individual providing you the service owned the company then they did not get a tip. If they worked for someone else than a tip was provided. We didn't provide an entire ceremony script, however we filled out Alina's & Santiago's questionaire and included our vows and this: Affirmation of Parents & Friends Marriage is the promise of hope between two people who love each other, who honor each other as individuals, and who wish to unite their lives and share the future together. In this ceremony, you dedicate yourselves to the happiness and well-being of each other, in a union of mutual caring and responsibility. Would the parents and siblings of the bride and groom please stand? 
This occasion is a special celebration for you, the parents who have brought these children into the world, and the families who have nurtured them into adulthood. Today you are witnessing another stage in the lives of your loved one. Your continuing support and encouragement will be needed as (insert names) unite in marriage. As they join their lives in marriage, they also bring you together in a new relationship, creating new bonds of trust and ties of affection. Will you who have loved and nurtured these two, with the greatest love and wisdom you have, support this new couple and help in every way? Answer: Yes! The affirmation of family and friends: Now, in the spirit of joy and affirmation, I want to ask your families and friends a question:
 
 Do you the families and friends of (insert names) give them your blessing and support, wishing them a wonderful life together as they marry? If so, please show them your support by saying "we willâ€. This really got everyone involved in the ceremony and it was cool to hear everyone cheer "we will" together. We didn't tell our parents we were doing this and it totally caught them off-guard so the waterworks continued and they told us afterwards they really appreciated this part of the ceremony.

@Shanon09 again ;-) we also did beach pictures with our photographer Sascha Gluck. Here are a few of my favourites:

@Shanon09, I'm happy the timeline helped! Instead of doing the Champagne Toast (we saved that for the start of the Reception) we paid a bit extra and did a Cocktail Hour on the Terrace. We opted for a 1 hour open bar with a "signature cocktail" which meant we had servers greeting us with drinks as well as taking drink orders. To save money you could probably go without the open bar, but then your Cocktail Hour may turn into "all-your-guests-standing-at-the-lobby-bar-hour" lol. We also chose to have appetizers too...which again are extra, lol like everything wedding related ;-) The hotel staff sets up a really nice food spread with carved watermelon and everything! These prices can be found the Extra Wedding Costs doc. Open Bar - $10/person/hour Appetizers - $18/person* * The menu we chose was $18/person, however I think there's a $16/person and even a higher priced option too. In terms of the amount of food served the hotel calculates that each guest will have 6 pieces. To be honest there was a lot left over so you could probably save money and cut 1/4 of your guests out of the calculation. For example, if you have 20 guests instead of paying $360 (20 people) aim for $270 (15 people). Our 5 hour Reception was also extra. We had the 3 hours included in the Paradise Package plus 2 extra hours. Basically you're just paying for the bar: $10/person/hour Here's a picture from my mom took of the Cocktail Hour food:

@Shanon09, you’re right my husband and I did a “first look†photo and met up before the ceremony. We’ve been together for 8 years, living together for 7 so the idea of not seeing each other before the ceremony didn’t even cross our minds. We wanted to feel comfortable and have an easy-going atmosphere the whole day. To us it didn’t take away from the “specialness†of the event. Even with all the pre-ceremony contact, I still had butterflies when walking up the aisle and my husband was trying to hold back tears as I approached the alter….everything was just as special. Our day started early because we did the bulk of our photos before the ceremony. Honestly it was great for us because: #1 we got to be there for our entire wedding and weren’t MIA rushing around to take pictures at Cocktail Hour and; #2 it allowed our Ceremony to flow seamlessly into Cocktail Hour and then Reception…so we avoided any 1 – 2 hour gaps in-between. My advice is to do what would work best for you. If you’re a traditional couple then yes, wait until the ceremony before seeing each other. If you can’t imagine spending the day without your soon-to-be husband then do a first look photo together. If you choose to do the first look then let everyone including your photographer know you want it to be private so it’s your moment. I was in a wedding once where the first look was done outside of the limo with the entire wedding party, parents and in-laws watching. It was super awkward for the couple and the “viewing partyâ€â€¦.honestly avoid this at all cause. Here’s a copy of our Day Of schedule. 10:30 am – 1:00 pm Hair & Make-Up for Bride & Bridesmaids. Meet at hotel spa (Despacio Spa Centre) 2:00 – 2:30 pm Bride & Bridesmaids getting ready photos (parents welcome). Room # Groom & Groomsmen getting ready photos (parents welcome). Room # 2:30 – 3:30 pm Private bride & groom photos 3:30 – 4:30 pm Wedding party pictures 4:30 – 5:00 pm Parents & wedding party meet before ceremony. room # 5:00 – 5:30 pm Wedding ceremony 5:30 – 6:30 pm Cocktail hour and Family Photos 7:o0 – 12:00 am Reception

@Andrea28 & Jdavidso, for our symbolic ceremony Ana gave me the website for the wedding officiant and I contacted them directly. www.cancunweddingofficiant.com Either Alina or Santiago will perform the ceremony. In our case I had email contact with Alina, however our wedding officiant was Santiago. Both of them were really nice and everyone loved Santiago's ceremony performance. He's such a nice man. [email protected] Alina provide me with a questionnaire about us and our must haves for the ceremony. We filled most of it out, gave them a copy of our vows, a reading we liked as well as a brief description on the type of ceremony we wanted (i.e. spiritual vs. religious). Oh and we also gave them access to our wedding website so they could read how we met. All in all we were really happy with the way it turned out. Just let them know exactly what you want and it will turn out great!

Just keep asking and see what they say. It took us months for them to agree on that location, but persistence worked ;-)

For all of the new OCT brides looking for a photographer, I've posted a review for my photographer Sascha Gluck. He's truly amazing and we have a ton of great photos! Check it out: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/sascha-gluck-photographer/reviews/6281 OCT review will be done shortly too