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Hey ladies- I'm getting married on Saturday in the Riveria Maya and the weather is terrible! It looks like there may be a tropical storm this week...anyone else in the same boat? We leave tomorrow and I'm about to be in tears if it ruins everyone's vacation!

Thanks for the feedback ladies. I just changed the title to Cocktail Shower and Reception and kept the hosted by friends and family. Oh and changed the very bottom to read "more info at our website" so if they want to know wedding info. I think you just start to stress out about the little things that just are not that important especially since everyone just wants to come and have a good time! Â

I'm getting married on Oct 16, 2010. I sent out my STDs the first week of February. The first wave of bookings was in March/April and then I had another wave of procrastinators about 3-4 months out. I had two sets of guests just book last week- four weeks out. At first I thought we would only 25 people, but now we're at 45. Generally, my immediate RSVPs were the ones that booked right away. Most of those that are on the fence or ask the most questions do not end up coming. Then I got a few nice surprises. :-) Â Don't stress about the number- I did at first and now I can't be more excited for the crew that's coming. (Oh and when I thought there were only a few people coming, that opened up budget for additional activities that I could pay for!)

I'm actually doing a small Catholic ceremony the weekend before my Mexico ceremony. The Catholic ceremony is immediate family only, with grandparents (who couldn't travel to Mexico). No aunts/uncles. Â I'm doing a legal ceremony in Mexico. Now, I just met with my priest (who is a relative) and he wants us to do the legal paperwork for my Catholic ceremony. I'm against this as I am using MX as my legal ceremony. I may just get the paperwork, sign it at the Catholic ceremony and never turn it in- just use my Mexico paperwork with the Apostallite seal. Â My priest is a bit confused with my intentions. My views really separate church and state. I'm a very private person, particulary with religion and therefore, don't want alot of people around. Since my DW represents my close friends and family, I still want it to be special and recognize it as my legal ceremony. Â I would maybe try to get a priest who's a bit more progressive and do a legal ceremony in Mexico and then do your Catholic ceremony when you return.

We are not having any sort of party, best man, MOH, etc- just a flower girl and ring bearer. I don't think any one really cares, but I do sometimes wonder if I would have had a party of whether some of my friends from high school would have come (if I would have asked them to be in the wedding). I'm still relatively close to some, but most of them live in the state in grew up and I've since moved away. I was kind of shocked how much they disregarded my wedding as option. I know they don't really travel, but I was definitely shocked at how quick they dismissed the possibility of attending. Kind of hard when I know that when I go home, I travel all over the state to visit some of them. Â Oh well, my wedding will nice and simple and full of friends and family who want to be there.

I apologize if there is already a thread on this. I found some similiar threads, but none addressing this exact issue. Â Most of family is not coming to our DW and therefore, they keep asking my mom about a shower. I am not doing a shower before the wedding, so we have decided to do an at home shower/reception (co-ed). Friends and family are preparing food, etc, but we are the ones sending the invitations indicating "hosted by friends and family". Â 1. Is it appropriate to have a combined co-ed shower/reception? (We really can't afford to have them separate and I live very far from most of my family.) 2. I'm stressing about sending the invitations myself, but I don't want to ask my relatives that are preparing the meals. I know the etiquette is far from their minds, but I'm still concerned. 3. We've listed at the very bottom of the invites "Registration info can be found at *weddding website address*" Again my FI and I keep debating about this, but since the event is titled as a Couples Shower I feel that we need to list some kind of registration info. Again, my family keeps asking where we are registered, so my mom thinks it perfectly fine. Â There will be approximately 60 plus invitations to this event- all family and friends of the family. Most of our friends are coming to the DW and therefore, we're not inviting them. (And these friends all live close to us and not in the state of my family.) Â Please help- I don't want to offend anyone, which I don't think any of this will but just wanted some extra thoughts.

That's wierd- I would definitely call out the change and cite my previous emails. How responsive has Xhail been? I have Gabriela and my wedding is October 16, 2010. I've only gotten Gabriela to respond enough to get my through my itinerary, cermony, location and menu. Tables, rehearsal dinner, reception music, spa appts, etc have not all been planned yet. She has not responded to my email from 9/8 yet. I just sent her an email this morning saying we are less than a month away and tacticfully said "her lack of responsiveness has been ridiculous and I would like to get the rest of wedding planned asap". Â I'm not too worried based on other comments of everything working out once onsite, but I will be rather pissy if I don't get my initial choices for some things. Have you been having this issue? Â

After ordering my dress in March, I finally got to see it on Friday. I was so worried that I wouldn't like as it was one of the first dresses I tried on, but I'm still so in love with it!! It still needs to be taken in a bit and I'm removing one layer of tool under the dress so it's not that puffy. Â

About the minimum night stay for the photographer, I was under the impression they could stay only one night- not two nights. Has anyone tried to only do one night? If it is two nights, is there a cheaper flat fee for external vendors? (Sorry if I missed all these details earlier in the thread, but I could have sworn people were saying one night...) Thanks ladies!

Quote: Originally Posted by Daily2011 Hey Ladies, just checking in. Anyone making progress on photographers? Anyone know of anyone who has used Adrian or Victor Herrera? Also I thought maybe it might make sense for us all to add our wedding dates to a list so we know who has a wedding next up coming. If you all think it is a good idea, add yours to the list in date order. Christa (Daily2011) January 15, 2011 (January 11-18, 2011 trip) Hi Christa- I'm getting married on October 16th and booked Victor for my photography. I've been tracking his blog and so far very happy with his work. There's a thread on this forum about Victor and Adrian. I haven't checked it in a while, but I think some Barcelo ladies had him booked in the June/July timeframe. I can't wait to see those pics!

Wendyjd- Love the dress- so perfect for the beach and those super cute shoes! Pink right? And great creativity in not breaking your FI rule! ;-) Sungoddess- Amazing back on this dress! I actually tried this one on and loved it! All the shimmer will be great on the beach!

Girasole- Congrats! Don't stress to much- I promise you cannot take a bad picture in T&C. It's that beautiful!! I'm not even getting married here and I can't wait to hear your review!

Quote: Originally Posted by coley88 Finally decided on a dress and it's been ordered. Here it is: Dessy - Wedding Dress - STYLE - 1022 Love this one--can you tell I'm a fan of the flowy bottoms?--Which color are you getting?

Quote: Originally Posted by pamphilia i thought it might have pockets! i am currently in love with Priscilla of Boston - Vineyard Collection "Sophia" which also has pockets and is very simple. thanks for the designer info! Oooh- I like alot! I've been stalking simple dresses with great fabric- love, love, love the sheen on this one! Good luck in the search!

Pamphilia- It's a Angeline Faccenda style #1086 (this is a sub-set of the Mori Lee line.) Oh and it has pockets too!

Hi Ladies- Although I'm getting married in Playa in October, I just attended a DW in T&C last weekend. We all stayed at the Royal West Indies (RWI) and the wedding & reception was held at the Seven Stars. First, I'm so glad the bride and groom asked everyone to stay at the RWI. Prices there are definitely reasonable compared to the other resorts. It was small, quaint and had all the amenities would could possibly desire. We loved that the group could gather at the restaurant or in the hot tub each night and chat. The rooms at the RWI were awesome. We had two couples in a 2-bedroom suite. The rooms were very nice and had a full kitchen and huge living room. There's nothing like making breakfast and having a cup of coffee on the balcony! (Btw- groceries in T&C are super expensive. Mustard was like $4!) Ok- on the ceremony. The bride had her ceremony at 5pm on beach in front of the Seven Stars. Great set-up...etc. We then had cocktails on the beach- super strong- and took a bunch of group photos. Next we moved to an indoor banquet room where everything was set-up very nice; however, still a casual feel. The spacing between the courses was a little long, but I don't think anyone noticed except the bride! We were all having great conversation! The reception was held at an open bar/lounge area between the pool and the beach. It was a great location for the reception...perfect space for our crowd of 25-30. (I wouldn't suggest more than 30 unless you rearrange the lounge furniture.) Since dinner was a bit long, they served the cake at the reception area...much appreciated...the chocolate raspberry cake was to die for! We had a great time and even continued on after at a local bar across the street- can't recall the name...this after several hours of drinking! Oh the photographer, I think it was Brilliant photography was super awesome! He was great to work with and knew how to liven the crowd and get some fab shots. The hair and make-up lady also did an amazing job. (Not sure her name/company, but I'll try to get the info if anyone's interested!) It was such a great time!! I hope my vendors are as great as the ones in T&C. Good luck ladies! The views in T&C were spectacular!

After stalking this thread, I finally went dress shopping and found my dress (and purchased) in a day! I love the simplicity! Please don't mind my face in the pic of me...my mom could not figure out how to push one button and take the picture...hence it being so blurry! I'll post more when the dress actually comes in! I'm thinking about taking one layer of netting out so it won't be so poofy. In my super blurry pic below, I have most of the netting actually tucked in between my legs. [/img] [/img] [/img]

Quote: Originally Posted by smiranda Hello All - I too have booked Victor for my upcoming wedding in October 2010. Although there was some initial concern surrounding the lack of feedback on him/his services, he has been incredibly responsive to my emails and a pleasure to correspond with. If I happen to come across any feedback on his work, I will be sure to post it to this thread. Hi smiranda- I'm a October 2010 bride also! What's your date/location? I am in the process of booking Victor also. I've been negotiating a few contract terms with him over the past week or so and he's been very responsive/flexible. Although I too thought the 50% down payment was steep, I'm ok with it, but I definitely had the final payment date changed to the day of the wedding. Victor was fine with this along as the payment is in cash (just sent him an email making sure money order was ok.) He has been very easy to work with so far and quote me a very reasonable price for only the items I wanted. I can't wait til someone posts a review of him! Good luck everyone!

Hello ladies- This thread has been so helpful! I have a few questions- hoping someone can answer. 1. Strawberry package dinner- Can you downgrade the food to buffet style or just more casual to try to cut back on costs? Has anyone tried to negotiate this? (I'll prob have approx 50 guests and at $64/person, the price will grow really quickly! And my FI and I would prefer more casual dining.) 2. I would like a cocktail hour, but was hoping to use one the hotel bars (so we don't have to pay extra). Has anyone done this? And there a good bar to use near the gazebo/beach area? 3. My wedding is at 4pm. I'm having a cocktail hour, but would not like to start the dinner/reception until about 7. What do you do in the meantime? Ceremony should last around 30 mins; Group pics about 30 mins; Cocktail hour...I'm only at about 6pm... (Thoughts? Feedback on timing?) Thanks ladies!

Hi everyone- I read this thread last week and decided to check out Victor. His prices are great and so are the pictures. Too bad we can't find anyone that has used him yet. He's sending over the contract in the morning. I'm so excited to finally have made a decision!!

Does anyone know how the dinner and reception is setup? From some of the replies, it seems that the 3 hours allocated to the dinner and reception (Strawberry package) is together? So, does this mean that we only have 3 hours to eat AND dance? I was hoping to have dinner in 1.5-2 hrs and then have 3 hours to dance after. Would I then have to pay the additional per person/per hour extra cocktail beverage fees? Hope this makes sense!

Quote: Originally Posted by KELLANDERSON Welcome and congrats! Who is your contact at Barcelo Maya Palace? I went there once and I love it. I would like to get some information from them Kelly Hi Kelly! Our wedding coordinator is Gabriela, you can contact her at [email protected]. There is another WC named Claudia. Hope this helps! delaina

Greetings everyone! I'm new to this forum and will be getting married on October 16, 2010 at Barcelo Maya Palace in the Riveria Maya. I'm very excited about the destination wedding opportunity and hope to gain some insight on wedding planning here on this forum. So far, I have booked the resort and sent out Save the Dates...not much more! I can't wait to interact with everyone and share tips! Thanks! Delaina Pitre