kitchenwitch

Thanks Kim! Trying to get alll this done before the end of tax season. :s

Hi Ladies! I finally received my marriage certificate from Eugenia!!!! Now it's just a matter of taking the time to change my id to my new married name. Any Ontario brides please PM with the process you went through to assume your hubby' name!! I know there's tonsof posst on this subject but I simply don't have the time search through hundreds of posts. :s Will I need to have the marricage certificate translated? Or can I just bring in the marriage certificate to the Ministry of transportation as is? I've seen conflicting tips on this. Changing my OHIP card sounds like a pain in the butt. Thanks in advance!!!

You can choose between two three entrees, soups and salads. We had three pepper soup and for the life of me can’t remember the salad but the food was great as was the service. Eugenia had decorated the tables for me with rose petals and our giveaways at each place setting. There was a separate small round table near the entrance with our guest’s book, champagne for me and hubby to toast again and more of my fuchsia pink roses. After dinner, our cake was put onto this table. We had four tables set up. Our table consisted of parents, maid of honor, best man, groom’s sister, my brother, ring bearer and a cousin. We let our guests sit where they wished at the other three tables. PM me with your email so I can send you more details.

Hi, We chose Frutos del Mar which is right by the pool and beach. We chose teh chicekn supreme as our main. Being a chef myself, I was sceptical but honestly it was very well done. The plate presentation was beautiful. Instead of having dessert we opted for another tier on our tres leches cake. Everyone was vey happy with the dinner.

I wouldn't be freaking out so much if Eugenia would at least respond back to my emails and reassure me that it will be sent.

Hi Everyone! I hope all you future brides are enjoying the planning! I have a question for any brides that got married last October, Patoru, etc... have you received your marriage licence from the reosrt yet? I know they tell you it take 3 months to arrive. I've sent Eugenia multiple emails for at least a status of when they will ship and I haven't heard a peep. This is starting to stress me out!

You will not be disappointed with Fernando! It cost me $350 for makeup and hair. He uses only MAC makeup, perfect for lasting those hours of partying. Gama did an amazing job on my hair too. These guys are true pros.

Angie, You are gonna love DJ Bijian! He was worth it for the 3 hrs!

Quote:Originally Posted by Patourn Hi everyone, I apologize for the delay in writing this...I'm still trying to get over the fact we had to leave and am struggling to return to "normal" life! We (my hubby, myself and 29 guests) flew out of Toronto on Saturday October 23rd and arrived in Cancun around 12:15-12:30 Mexican time. The rest of our guests arrived later that day. There were 62 of us in total! We had 3 suitcase between the two of us. Hubby got the green light, I of course got the green one! But it all worked out in the end I was carrying the smaller of the suitcases which was full of just my husband's clothing. So in the end it was just a 5 minute delay. We had a huge air conditioned coach bus for transport to the resort. Our first stop was a local 7/11 where we purchased beer which made the 90 minute trip fly by! We made 2 quick stops to drop others off at 2 other resorts and arrived at the Bahia Principe (Tulum side) at approximately 3:15. We were dropped off at the front entrance where they took our luggage and then transported via tram to the Club Diamond check in. Fernando was there to greet us with a big smile and many more Cervasa's. Check in went very smoothly and then we were transported via trams to our rooms. First tip...if you or any of your guests wish to book any of the a la carte restaurants make sure you do as soon s you get there as they fill up very fast! You are able to access all the restaurants at all 3 resorts so explore around and see what you like best! The bulk of my guests stayed in Villa's 32 and 33. We did have some others scattered throughout the resort but there was no problem with this. We didn't get the Honeymoon suite, but I really was not heartbroken about it, for the amount of time that you are actually in your room, the junior suite was just enough for us. The weather was truly amazing! we lucked out. It rained for the first 30 minutes that we were there and then for about 10 minutes the next day. Other then that there was nothing but golden sunshine! I did find out after wards that it rained at the gazebo site about 25 minutes before we were due to get married. From where we were getting dressed you wouldn't have know a thing and then by the time we got to the gazebo you wouldn't have know a thing! It was as clear as a bell...so to hear after wards that they considered moving it inside was quite funny! For the bulk of the trip, we all hung our or should I say took over the main pool. We did the Mayan Ruins on the Friday and had a great time. We took a taxi for the 20 minute drive, the beach there is absolutely stunning. Our taxi driver waited the 2.5 hours for us and drove us back. As others have already previously mentioned...tip, tip and tip....and you'll get the service you want for sure. We had guests that did zip lining, scuba diving etc. and all had nothing but awesome things to say. I wish we had Had some more free time to do stuff like that but when you are there for your own wedding you are a bit Prue-occupied. We met with Jazmin our wedding coordinator on Monday which by luck was also y birthday...yes ladies it was a week long celebration. She was just amazing, I can't say enough about her. The minute that I shook her hand I knew that we would be taken care of. We went through everything that I had emailed her over the past year and a bit and she had everything laid out just as we had discussed. She was super organized and I knew that we could trust her with our big day! It was also at this meeting that we gave her our guest favors, guest book etc. She then arranged that night for myself and all 60 of our guests to eat at the Akumal buffet and that was just awesome! We had 10 pictures included in our wedding package. And like everyone site at the resort they were taken by the Arrecife photographers. We had Nestor who was really great and easy to work with. We took the 10 from our package and then ended up taking 4 others. We actually had a friend of ours take the bulk of our photos. I'm not sure how we were allowed to...I'm not sure if it was because we had booked well before Arrecife took over, but Jazmin was on board from the very beginning. Had we not have someone taking them for us I would have been extremely happy with the ones that Nestor took. I just found them very expensive....15 dollars US for each additional picture. My girlfriend's husband ended up getting the exact same shots and they were just as great! We had our wedding meal at the Gran Tortgua....and it was simply amazing. The food was spectacular, and the service was amazing. We couldn't have asked for a better time. We had a huge salad buffet with all sorts of other goodies thrown in. And then the servers brought everything you can think of meat, bread around on these huge swords and carved them right there at your table. We had a 3 layer tier cake and it was chocolate and yummy! We had our dinner from 6-8 and then we had a private poolside reception from 8-10 with DJ Bijan. For those of you that have him booked you will not be disappointed. The reception site was decorated beautifully all buy the hands of the resort. I did not bring anything extra for the reception. My advice to all of you out there planning, DO NOT STRESS! I know it's very hard and sometimes it takes a while for the wedding coordinators to get back to you, but they really, really do know what they are doing!! And they will help you out in any way to make it the day of your dreams! We had 62 guests go and they all say it was the trip of a lifetime. And we couldn't have asked for anything better then that! Enjoy yourselves and it will be the day of your dreams. Feel free to write or PM me any questions, or if you need advice etc! Patricia

Congrats! Have a great time!

Congratulations!! Great recap!

Hey Kat! Don't worry about the late correspondence. Its true they really are running around and rarely at their desk. My ceremony was both in Spanish and English. I requested the beach location and was barefoot as was my maid of honor. I put on my heels just before we headed to dinner. I was worried about my dress and walking on the beach, but my Dad held up part of it as we walked. I had asked for an early afternoon ceremony but Eugenia said the only time available was 5PM. It worked out fine as I had a really stress free morning and was relaxing into the afternoon.

Hi Ladies, I accidentally created a new post on the general Riviera May, Cancun forum. But it should have gone here. I've been back in Toronto for just over a week now. I was so sad to leave the resort everyone was amazing! I thought I'd share with you a quick run down of what my wedding week was like. Sorry if it's toolong! We arrived in Cancun after 6:45PM local time. After going through customs, I got a green light. Whoo! We were off to the buses for Nolitours. At first it seemed like mayhem with everyone's luggage all over the place but every piece made it onto our bus. The majority of the passengers were all going to the Gran Bahia's. We did a quick drop off for a few folks and finally arrived to Gran Bahia Akumal just before 9. We were taken to the Main Akumal lobby and were told to take the tram to the Royal Golden lobby for check in. Checkin was fast and smooth. We chose all our a la carte, you get 4 + the wedding dinner. After putting on our bracelets (hubby and i got gold ones, this made me really giddy) we headed to our building #68 and had Room 6821 right at the top right corner of the building. They bring your luggage right outside the door so no worries there. Once we got opur bearings we headed over to the 24 hour snack bar and filled up on beer and nachos. We were in bed by 1. Monday, October 25th: Our fist full day in sunny Mexico! We wook up to a beautiful golden sky and a pretty good view of the beach. We met our room attendant Iver. If you get Building 68 you'll probably see him. We gorged at the Akumal buffet and headed over to the Akumal beach side for the majority if the day. I made sure to bring mostly bandeau bikini's so I wouldn't get any ridiculous tan lines before the ceremony on Thursday. We took a cab with 2 other couples toPlaya del Carmen so we could buy our mmaraca giveaways for the wedding. It was nice. Lots of the same shops, they have a MAC store here with a cop with an AK47 in the lobby area, Hagendaz and other greatlittle stores. We were offered drugs on numerous occassions, no biggie just say no gracias! This day was pure chill afterwards. Tuesday, October 26th: We tried the Tulum buffet for breakfast. Not too bad. Better selection than Akumal but I'm not really picky. I'm a chef so I'll basically eat anything! We had decided to book our excursion at the resort. Marian and Cristelle were vgreat. We decided to go to Xel-Ha and Tulum for Wednesday. It cost $125USD per person. My bff's son who is 8 was half price. With that out of the way, we finally got to meet Eugenia at 4. She had our file and notes all in order. She was definately on the ball. She knew everything I had requested in all my many months of emails off the top of her head. I had previously sent her a picture of the flowers I wanted and she confirmed she could get them. We confirmed our dinner at Frutos del Mar and a private poolside reception. We gave her the ceremony music (4 songs) and taht was pretty ,uch it. She sent us to the doctor at the Hacienda to get our blood test done. ($90 USD) They only accept cash. We were in the waiting room for over an hour as there were 3 other couples there. Once we got there we signed the waiver got our "butterfly" needle and were done. We had our first a la carte at Mikado for 8PM. The restaurant was hot. And let me tewll you I know hot! It was actually cooler outside than in the restaurant. The food was not as good as the Tripadvisor posts would lead you to believe. But the service was great! Our waiter brought out the drink cart during desert and all was well! Later that night the 8 couples that came down with us including ourselves got into our swimwear and smoked cigars atthe Akumal pool. Perfect night chilling with friends. Wednesday, October 27th: We were lazy and had breakfast at the Akumal buffet. We met at the lobby before 10. You get a pink wristband when you get on the bus and the tour guide tells you the schedule of the day. Basically 10:30- 2:30 at Xel-Ha and the remainder of the day till 5 at the Tulum ruins. Xel-Ha is huge! If you don't like to snorkel there is still alot to do for both adults and kids. A $20 US deposit gets you snorkel gear for the day. I got tired of snorkeling and the not-so-lazy river after the first 1 1/2. I walked around for a while, met some manatees, cheked out cenotes and wlaked across the floating bridge. This bridge is on the border of the nature reserve and the ocean. It felt like it was going to flip right over. Your admission gets you lunch at the buffet. It was open air, very clean and much needed after all that swiming. The bus came for us after 2:30 and we were on our way to the ruins at Tulum. The first thing you do when you get off the bus is get ushered into the jewelry store where you can purchase your name in Mayan, other silver pieces, etcc all from the area. It was a bit suprising at first as it felt like it was forced on you. After 15 minutes our tour guide took us through the 10 minute walk to the mouth of the ruins. He was a great tour guide and you really learn a Cliff notes version of Mayan history. After the initial tour, you can wander about and go to the beach below. The waves are mental over here! I was knocked back by a wave, the pressure pulled off my bikini bottom so naturally I bent down to grab the and lost my new Coach sunglasses in the process. Alas, a sacrifice to the Mayan gods for allowing me to trample on their land. Great day overall. Since this was our excursion day, I din't get to see Patty's (Patourn) ceremony at the gazebo. CONGRATS Patty to you and your new hubby! Since the next day was W-Day, we just came back to the resort and chilled at the Hacienda and walked around. Thursday, October 28th: YAY! We asked to have our honeymoon breakfast on this morning. We hung out, watched some tv and were generally lazy until Ikicked him out at 11. Fernando and Gama from themakeupros came promptly at 11:45 and did a beautiful job. Fernado loved my hot pink Barbie shoes from Town Shoes so much that he took pictures of them. LOL! They were so worth the $350 US. After they left me and my maid of honor just relaxed until 4. AFter pictures of me gettining into my dress, etc... My Dad, maid of honor and I wee taken by tram just in front of the snack bar just before 5PM. Eugenia quickly lined us up, ripped offmy resort bracelet with her teeth and off we went. I was so nervous to see what the decor at the beach looke dlike. When my Dad and I stepped out I was in awe it was so beautiful. Simple and pink! Teh ceremony itself goes so fast, even though we wrote our own vows. Teh wedding party walked down to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I walked down to Se of Love (Cat Power version), we signe dthe certificate to Kiss The Girl and the reessional was Just Like Heaven (The Cure). We had a champagen toast right at the beach afterwards. The photographer provided by the resort, Antonio was great. Your package includes 10 free pictures. We weren't originally going to buy more but loved them somuch and ended up getting some extras. It ended up being $700 for a cd of all the pictures he took and 2 huge portraits of our choice. Wedding dinner was amazing. I honestly didn't expect it to be that yummy. Salad, Three pepper soup and Chicken Supreme = Yum! We chose the 3 milk cake, which was to die for. Just before 8, Eugenia walked us over to our private reception. It was beautifullly lit and DJ Bijan was smiling and ready to go. We partied till 11PM. So worth it! We ordered shutter shades from Oriental Trading Co. and handed these out along with our OOT bags on the first day. Everyone had a greta time, expecially my 1 year old nephew who was hypnotized by DJ Bijan's lights. The next day I had a deep tissue massage with Waldo by the beach. The rest of our stay here was amazing. I wish we had booked a 2nd week for our honeymoon. This was the best all-inclusive I have ever been to. It kicks Jamaica, Dom. Rep., Cuba and Costa Rica's butt! The staff here work so so hard and do not make alot They truly made this wedding/vacation stress free. From an emergency dress steaming to fixing our clogged (hubby's did it!) toilets they are fast and friendly. So remember to tip, tip, tip! My advice to those planning their wedding. It was all worth it! Don't stress too much, the wc's really know there stuff. Just remember to have a great time! We had 34 guests come from all over the world and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect wedding! I can't wait to go back! If anyone has any questions, please pm me!

Hi Ladies, I've been back in Toronto for just over a week now. I was so sad to leave the resort everyone was amazing! I thought I'd share with you a quick run down of what my wedding week was like. Sorry if it's toolong! We arrived in Cancun after 6:45PM local time. After going through customs, I got a green light. Whoo! We were off to the buses for Nolitours. At first it seemed like mayhem with everyone's luggage all over the place but every piece made it onto our bus. The majority of the passengers were all going to the Gran Bahia's. We did a quick drop off for a few folks and finally arrived to Gran Bahia Akumal just before 9. We were taken to the Main Akumal lobby and were told to take the tram to the Royal Golden lobby for check in. Checkin was fast and smooth. We chose all our a la carte, you get 4 + the wedding dinner. After putting on our bracelets (hubby and i got gold ones, this made me really giddy) we headed to our building #68 and had Room 6821 right at the top right corner of the building. They bring your luggage right outside the door so no worries there. Once we got opur bearings we headed over to the 24 hour snack bar and filled up on beer and nachos. We were in bed by 1. Monday, October 25th: Our fist full day in sunny Mexico! We wook up to a beautiful golden sky and a pretty good view of the beach. We met our room attendant Iver. If you get Building 68 you'll probably see him. We gorged at the Akumal buffet and headed over to the Akumal beach side for the majority if the day. I made sure to bring mostly bandeau bikini's so I wouldn't get any ridiculous tan lines before the ceremony on Thursday. We took a cab with 2 other couples toPlaya del Carmen so we could buy our mmaraca giveaways for the wedding. It was nice. Lots of the same shops, they have a MAC store here with a cop with an AK47 in the lobby area, Hagendaz and other greatlittle stores. We were offered drugs on numerous occassions, no biggie just say no gracias! This day was pure chill afterwards. Tuesday, October 26th: We tried the Tulum buffet for breakfast. Not too bad. Better selection than Akumal but I'm not really picky. I'm a chef so I'll basically eat anything! We had decided to book our excursion at the resort. Marian and Cristelle were vgreat. We decided to go to Xel-Ha and Tulum for Wednesday. It cost $125USD per person. My bff's son who is 8 was half price. With that out of the way, we finally got to meet Eugenia at 4. She had our file and notes all in order. She was definately on the ball. She knew everything I had requested in all my many months of emails off the top of her head. I had previously sent her a picture of the flowers I wanted and she confirmed she could get them. We confirmed our dinner at Frutos del Mar and a private poolside reception. We gave her the ceremony music (4 songs) and taht was pretty ,uch it. She sent us to the doctor at the Hacienda to get our blood test done. ($90 USD) They only accept cash. We were in the waiting room for over an hour as there were 3 other couples there. Once we got there we signed the waiver got our "butterfly" needle and were done. We had our first a la carte at Mikado for 8PM. The restaurant was hot. And let me tewll you I know hot! It was actually cooler outside than in the restaurant. The food was not as good as the Tripadvisor posts would lead you to believe. But the service was great! Our waiter brought out the drink cart during desert and all was well! Later that night the 8 couples that came down with us including ourselves got into our swimwear and smoked cigars atthe Akumal pool. Perfect night chilling with friends. Wednesday, October 27th: We were lazy and had breakfast at the Akumal buffet. We met at the lobby before 10. You get a pink wristband when you get on the bus and the tour guide tells you the schedule of the day. Basically 10:30- 2:30 at Xel-Ha and the remainder of the day till 5 at the Tulum ruins. Xel-Ha is huge! If you don't like to snorkel there is still alot to do for both adults and kids. A $20 US deposit gets you snorkel gear for the day. I got tired of snorkeling and the not-so-lazy river after the first 1 1/2. I walked around for a while, met some manatees, cheked out cenotes and wlaked across the floating bridge. This bridge is on the border of the nature reserve and the ocean. It felt like it was going to flip right over. Your admission gets you lunch at the buffet. It was open air, very clean and much needed after all that swiming. The bus came for us after 2:30 and we were on our way to the ruins at Tulum. The first thing you do when you get off the bus is get ushered into the jewelry store where you can purchase your name in Mayan, other silver pieces, etcc all from the area. It was a bit suprising at first as it felt like it was forced on you. After 15 minutes our tour guide took us through the 10 minute walk to the mouth of the ruins. He was a great tour guide and you really learn a Cliff notes version of Mayan history. After the initial tour, you can wander about and go to the beach below. The waves are mental over here! I was knocked back by a wave, the pressure pulled off my bikini bottom so naturally I bent down to grab the and lost my new Coach sunglasses in the process. Alas, a sacrifice to the Mayan gods for allowing me to trample on their land. Great day overall. Since this was our excursion day, I din't get to see Patty's (Patourn) ceremony at the gazebo. CONGRATS Patty to you and your new hubby! Since the next day was W-Day, we just came back to the resort and chilled at the Hacienda and walked around. Thursday, October 28th: YAY! We asked to have our honeymoon breakfast on this morning. We hung out, watched some tv and were generally lazy until Ikicked him out at 11. Fernando and Gama from themakeupros came promptly at 11:45 and did a beautiful job. Fernado loved my hot pink Barbie shoes from Town Shoes so much that he took pictures of them. LOL! They were so worth the $350 US. After they left me and my maid of honor just relaxed until 4. AFter pictures of me gettining into my dress, etc... My Dad, maid of honor and I wee taken by tram just in front of the snack bar just before 5PM. Eugenia quickly lined us up, ripped offmy resort bracelet with her teeth and off we went. I was so nervous to see what the decor at the beach looke dlike. When my Dad and I stepped out I was in awe it was so beautiful. Simple and pink! Teh ceremony itself goes so fast, even though we wrote our own vows. Teh wedding party walked down to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I walked down to Se of Love (Cat Power version), we signe dthe certificate to Kiss The Girl and the reessional was Just Like Heaven (The Cure). We had a champagen toast right at the beach afterwards. The photographer provided by the resort, Antonio was great. Your package includes 10 free pictures. We weren't originally going to buy more but loved them somuch and ended up getting some extras. It ended up being $700 for a cd of all the pictures he took and 2 huge portraits of our choice. Wedding dinner was amazing. I honestly didn't expect it to be that yummy. Salad, Three pepper soup and Chicken Supreme = Yum! We chose the 3 milk cake, which was to die for. Just before 8, Eugenia walked us over to our private reception. It was beautifullly lit and DJ Bijan was smiling and ready to go. We partied till 11PM. So worth it! We ordered shutter shades from Oriental Trading Co. and handed these out along with our OOT bags on the first day. Everyone had a greta time, expecially my 1 year old nephew who was hypnotized by DJ Bijan's lights. The next day I had a deep tissue massage with Waldo by the beach. The rest of our stay here was amazing. I wish we had booked a 2nd week for our honeymoon. This was the best all-inclusive I have ever been to. It kicks Jamaica, Dom. Rep., Cuba and Costa Rica's butt! The staff here work so so hard and do not make alot They truly made this wedding/vacation stress free. From an emergency dress steaming to fixing our clogged (hubby's did it!) toilets they are fast and friendly. So remember to tip, tip, tip! My advice to those planning their wedding. It was all worth it! Don't stress too much, the wc's really know there stuff. Just remember to have a great time! We had 34 guests come from all over the world and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect wedding! I can't wait to go back! If anyone has any questions, please pm me!