TropicLover

Wow that's awesome! Such an improvement in just two weeks! Way to go!

Welcome! It's a great resort isn't it? Check out this thread pasted below. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/33243/ocean-turquesa-coral-brides It has a tonne of info from 2008 - current brides. Good luck!

Definitely! Wow your numbers are so motivating! You can totally do it. The say a routine takes about 2 weeks to become 'normal' so if we can both get through the 2 weeks I'm hoping the next 2 wouldn't be so difficult to get motivated for. I just did the fit test today and was totally entertained....lol mainly by my low numbers and the fact that I can barely do a push up let alone a power jack push up ;-) Either way I'm happy that I can cross day 1 off....day 2 here I come!

Yes ! Thanks for your help....now time to start video 1

Hey ladies! So I've decided I'm starting Insanity tomorrow morning! I'm excited, but scared at the same time ;-) I'm also seriously thinking about following the eating plan and wanted to know if there are any vegetarian ladies that have modified the food plan? I'm lacto-ovo, meaning dairy and eggs are okay, but meat, chicken and fish/seafood are out. I've glanced through the meal suggestions and many of them are focused around meat. Being a veggie I have my protein tricks up my sleeve, but I'm also looking for some other ideas (that preferably don't include soy). Thanks for the help and wish me luck tomorrow ;-)

Hi there, I totally know what you mean! I was in price shock when first choosing a resort. Ideally we wanted Jan/Feb 2012, but those prices from Van were in the $2200 range! We decided to move the wedding to May 2012 and found Ocean Coral & Turquesa in Pureto Morelos, (in the Mayan) to be the best option. It's a beautiful hotel, lots of pools and restaurants and is fairly new so it's in good condition. Check it out: http://www.h10hotels.com/en/hotel/hotels-riviera-maya/ocean-coral.html This hotel was on my top 5 list, but I really really wanted Dreams or Barcelo. To be perfectly honest the prices for Dreams or Barcelo didn't change from the Jan/Feb quotes to May. I would say to keep your options open. There are a ton of great hotels around Mexico and the perks for a non-Dreams or Barcelo is that it feels more intimate and there are usually only one wedding per day rather than 3 - 4 at the big resorts. Good luck!

Hey! I've been a little MIA on the forum lately, but have been following the thread....I was sooooooooo pleased to read the menu tasting review! Anyway I'm writing about the Officiant information. I haven't seen anything from the hotel, but I'm wondering if that's because I'm doing a symbolic ceremony??? What about you? Are you doing a legal or symbolic ceremony? Thanks!

Along with the other ladies on this thread I highly recommend Blue Petal Destination Weddings! They're wonderful, extremely helpful and have great experience with a ton of resorts. Check out their Facebook page to see recent photos from a few site inspections in Mexico https://www.facebook.com/bluepetalweddings As a side note, in the very early parts of my dw planning I was in touch with Fight Centre's wedding department and they totally dropped the ball and do not recommend them at all. I have friends who have worked at FC and they have all said go elsewhere when it comes to your wedding. FC is good in terms of booking a regular holiday, but the are totally inexperienced when it comes to weddings. Save yourself some stress and call up Blue Petal ;-)

Congrats and welcome! Maybe you can help me with some excursion ideas...ideally I'd like to have 2 options planned. Everyone seems to be quite keen on seeing the ruins...since they are the "go big or go home" type I think they'd be disapointed in Tulum and would rather see the Chitzen Itza ruins. How far away is that site? Is it worth the distance? Also if you have other excursion ideas geared around the cenotes please let me know :-) Thanks!

Hi AnaS, You're so right about the meal options. Most of my guests would be happy with the Surf and Turf, however I do have some that are picky and don't eat read meat. In that case I guess it's safe to say they have a shellfish allergy and book them with the salmon, lol. Then again I'm going to have the vegetarian option as I don't eat any meat or fish...basically nothing with eyes, haha...so I have a feeling I'll need to say that a few of my other guests are veggies too because they don't eat red meat and dislike salmon. I so wish they would let our guests pick their meal choice before the wedding...oh well. For all the ladies that have been to the resort how would you rate the steak? Was it any good or should I stick with the salmon? What is everyone else choosing?

Hey! Our travel dates for our guests are from May 6 - 13...so technically everyone flies out on Mother's Day (my FI and I are staying until the 16th). At this point I don't know what time they depart and I haven't even thought about what we could do for Mother's Day. If you have any ideas please post away.

@TriSport Aww I think it's cute he's the traditional type. In my opinion you can totally have the reception/cocktails later on. I think most weddings are like this anyway. I actually went to a wedding where the ceremony was at 1pm and the reception wasn't until 6:30pm. BTW I totally get wanting to get the wedding done early in the week. Our trip is also a Sun to Sun and we're not getting married until FRIDAY! It's all so we can accommodate one of our guests work schedules (she's only coming for 3 days). My biggest fear is burning and tan lines...lol the search is on for a good strapless bikini! @Countrybride I totally didn't realize the resort doesn't offer steaming! I've actually never steamed anything in my life so I'd have no idea how easy or difficult it might be. If it's easy then I'd say bring your own (even borrow one). On another note, OMG you're almost a month away! I'm so looking forward to hearing about your big day!

Hey TriSport! Personally I would go for the 4pm Wednesday for a couple of reasons. 1) To avoid melting during the mid-afternoon 2) You'll get better light and therefore better pictures later in the day 3) Most of the wedding packages include a 3 hour reception so if you'd like your party to go later into the night without paying for too many extra hours the 4pm would fit better On a side note, you might want to check the typical sunset time in November because that could affect the number of day time pictures you'd like. I'm a little nontraditional so we're doing the bulk of our pictures before the ceremony. Hope that helps :-) Quote: Originally Posted by TriSportBride So - just got word about different dates that are available. Assuming a Sunday through Sunday stay ... does a 2pm Tuesday ceremony or a 4pm Wednesday ceremony make the most sense? I would love to have it Tuesday, but that's awfully early in the day ... Any thoughts? Comments? Opinions? Experiences? I would love to hear them all! Thanks!

Nice! Glad you found it helpful. I also sent it over to a bunch of guests!

Hey ladies! Thought I'd pass this on to you ;-) My Wedding Coordinator / TA was recently in Mexico doing site visits to many hotels INCLUDING the Ocean Coral & Turquesa! She posted a ton of pictures (113 in total) on the Blue Petal Destination Weddings facebook page. Check it out: http://www.facebook.com/bluepetalweddings

Hi there! The ceremony is on the lobby terrace of the Ocean Coral & Turquesa in Puerto Morelos, Mexico (Riviera Maya). The picture on the grass is just an inspiration picture, I'm not sure where that hotel is located. Happy Planning!

@queenoftheu, wohoo another May bride! After reading your post I looked up Minted and they do have some great stuff. I love that they do custom work too...I may need to contact them for formal invites. We haven't decided on whether we go for a dj either. If you do decide yes, I'd love to know who you go with. Happy planning! @Akumal Bride, boutique hotels are soooooooo nice! You guys are going to have an awesome time! I'm kind of curious if your guest list fill up the hotel? That would pretty sweet to get the whole place to yourselves.

Wow what a great deal! And they must obviously ship to Canada?

Wow $70 each is a little high. You new centerpiece idea sounds awesome! Nobody will ever know especially since the flowers will be submerged in water. I totally googled your shoes and they are beautiful! I love them! And you can totally wear them again...great find! If I were you I would get the walk way for the aisle. It will be the first time people see you so you'll want to look fabulous!

@andecker: OMG you have sooooooooo much time I wouldn't worry about the STD's just yet because people will forget. Jan or Feb 2012 would be perfect. We sent ours out in June 2011 and had our group booking deadline of mid-August...and even then we had to remind people to book. People just saw 2012 and didn't even bother looking at the info. My FMIL didn't even notice that we had a wedding website which was very clearly listed on our boarding pass std, lol. For now I would suggest telling people that you're doing a destination wedding and then sending the STD's in the new year. BTW I like the idea of a luggage magnet! It sounds super cute! Yes the 1 hour open during cocktail hour is an extra fee. I did find out that instead of a champagne toast you can do a signature drink! In our case we're using the signature drink as people walk in a sit down for the ceremony. I PM'd you the flower ppt so hopefully that came through okay. @Sandy, I haven't heard back from Ana about my bouquet flowers either. My TA/Coordinator is doing a site visit this week so I may have some answers when she's back. Quick question, how many cylinder vases are you bringing and how are you packing them? I'm trying to get an answer from the resort if they can have 3 glass candles holders at different heights for each table. If it's too costly I might bring my own, but I'm worrying about the amount of baggage I'll have. Yay for buying your dress! I have mine too! I bought it in April and it was ready in August! I went to try it on and it's perfect! They're holding it at the shop and said I should have alterations done 6 weeks before we leave - plenty of time to shape up ;-) I still haven't found shoes yet, although to be honest I haven't looked that hard. Believe it or not I'm one of those girls who hates shoe shopping, lol. I wear a size 10 shoe so finding that size in a store feels impossible!

Oh wow so you have two events to plan for?! I thought about an AHR, but a lot of our family and friend are spread out across Canada that we'd probably need to do 2 AHR's, lol.

No problem, I'm on this thing everyday getting new ideas (lol I'm slightly addicted). For the flowers the hotel just sent me a ppt document showing the flowers. Since I didn't like any of them I don't have it saved, but I'll take a look through my emails to see if I can find it. As for the linen colours I haven't seen anything from the hotel. They've basically said to tell them what colour I want...I'm a little skeptical on that because when you say "green" it could mean anything from olive to neon. I plan on showing her what I'd like and then asking for a picture of what they can do. If it doesn't work out then I'll just use their white linens and bring a table overlay or runner depending on our set up. I've actually asked her to see if they can do square tables of 8 people each instead of round or rectangular...I'm still waiting to hear back. The outside vendor fee for the photographer is a little steep...$400. I have my photographer booked for 8 hours so it might be lower if you want less time (I'm not sure though). As for our plans well they change on a weekly basis because I keep getting more ideas! Haha...I'm also keeping track of all of prices so if things start to get out of hand I'll be able to "pull" something of the list. Here's what we're doing: 12:30 - 2:30 Hair & make-up, will probably use http://www.stylingtriorivieramaya.com/ (photographer will get there for 1:30pm we're using Sascha Gluck http://www.cancunphotos.net/) 2:30 - 3:30 First look and Bride/Groom pictures. I want to find more of a private area for this as I don't want an audience :-) 3:30 - 4:30 Wedding party pictures 4:30 - 5:00 Make-up retouch, my fiancee will probably change into his second shirt. Lol he sweats a lot so we're getting him 2 identical shirts...still need to buy his outfit, I think March 2012 would be a good time as summer styles come out then. 5:00 - 5:30 Ceremony on Lobby Terrace. We're thinking of offering a cocktail as people are seated. It will be a symbolic ceremony...I found a rock ceremony script that I like so we'll do that. 5:30 - 6:30 Cocktail hour on Terrace. We'll have a 1 hour open bar and will serve appetizers. During this time we'll do pictures with our families 7:00 - 11:00 or midnight Reception & dancing. Location is still TBD, but will probably be on one of the terraces. The package only includes a 3 hour reception so depending on our budget we may stop at 11pm or go to midnight. My sister's reaction to ending at 11pm was "What are we suppose to do after?" Lol, I responded with "Umm I don't know, go to the pool bar" ;-) Oh and we'll most likely hire a dj, but to be honest we haven't started looking into prices. Phew that was a lot...good luck with everything! Have you sent out your save the dates or invitations yet?

We have 28 people booked and 6 people for sure booking closer to the date...so a total of 34 that are for sure coming. Everyone else won't know until later. Some are waiting for deals and others can't commit that far in advance. Either way I think we'll have 34 - 40 max. We've had a couple of people write back saying they will not be able to attend so when it comes to our formal invites I won't be sending it to them. It will save some money plus I don't want to make them feel bad by having to RSVP "no" a second time.

Sharon99 I would love to see them! You can PM me or post on here...I'm pretty easy :-)

I just looked them up and they're great! She did such a good job! Quote: Originally Posted by AquaCait TropicLover...I got my invitations through Custom Paper Works. I think the link to my review with pictures is in the signature...but Kate was fantastic. She knew exactly what I wanted, made it happen, and I couldn't be happier!!!!