StephyD

Turtle Bay Bakery made my cake and I would not recommend them at all. Althought the cake was delicious, the communication up until the wedding day was just horrible. The cake did not look anything like the pictures I sent and anything like she had promised. I've never heard of the other two bakeries you mention but I wouldn't go with Turtle Bay...

At the time of planning, I was told that you could have dinner at one of the a-la-carte restaurants and have a ''dance reception'' at another location (like Las Rocas) afterwards. I remember a past bride saying that she had done it before too... maybe I've read it in a different thread? I'm assuming you'd still have to pay a cocktail fee per person if you want drinks and service available. I believe that the cocktail fee is about 5$ per person (without appetizers).

Everything was picked before hand. I had external vendors for the flowers and cake, but Rocio had sent me pictures of the flowers they offered at the resort.

We had our reception at La Laguna and just loved it. I was happy with my choice when I got there. La Laguna is a bit more secluded and (maybe it was just a slower time when we were there) but just seemed quieter. It is surrounded by pools... while Gran Azul is surrounded more by jungle than pools. We were staying at the Colonial and it wasn't a problem to make it there and back. They will arrange for transportation for you and your guests on the wedding day.

We had a hard time finding suits at a decent price here in Montreal too... We got our suits at Gaudi (they are located in various shopping malls) and they weren't linen but they were a light grey and we paid 275$ for each suit. Other than that... no idea, sorry

You can have your cocktail reception at any time you'd like... Bars open to all of the resort's guests at 6PM (and some are open all day) so depending on what time you have your reception, it might not be private. The bar by the salt water pool won't allow you to have a private reception as guests have access to it throughout the day. We had our cocktail reception at the Sport's bar terasse (go back in the thread to see my review) and it was private since none of the guests ever hang out at that bar. We held it from 4PM to 6PM and had our dinner reception from 7PM to 11PM at the White Sand.

5th avenue in Playa del Carmen is very crowded. Obviously, there are some locals so you need to be careful anywhere you go in Mexico but Playa del Carmen is very touristy. I wouldn't wander in the connecting streets, but it is safe on 5th avenue. Coco Bongo isn't right on 5th avenue, but very close. The bus drops you off a corner down from the club itself but I felt very secure the whole time we were there. None of us (there were 18 of us... 7 girls and 11 guys) brought purses with us, but I'd be careful what you bring in case of theft or whatever. I'll be going to Coco Bongo again for sure! It was SO worth it and SO much fun!! The bus picked us up around 10PM at the resort (we had a party bus!!) and came back to pick us up after the show around 3:30AM. The guide said she would come with us but didn't. I guess she had went a few nights before and didn't feel like going again... She promised we wouldn't have to wait in line when we'd get there, which didn't happen... we had to wait about 30 minutes and made it in just in time for the show to start. I did argue with the staff a bit so they gave us an awesome spot for the show. Alcohol is included in the ticket price, so it's all you can drink. Make sure to give good tips if you want good service... the guy was on our side for most of the evening and brought regular rounds of drinks remembering what everyone had even without us asking for it.

Not to rain on your parade, but we had 70 guests stay at the resort and we never got a free room. They wouldn't even let us have a room for the day of the wedding so that my now-husband could get ready in while I got ready in our own room... You can get deals through your travel agency... you get rebates when you have a certain amount of guests book through them, which we did... but they have all kinds of rules you need to respect. Everyone usually has to leave on the exact same day, with the exact same flight and have the exact same kind of room at the resort. But Grand Palladium itself won't offer you anything... you'd have to get it through your travel agent, from my experience. Maybe some other brides had different a different experience.

We had a welcome dinner at one of the buffet restaurants (if you want an a-la-carte restaurant, you'll have to have a set menu for over 10 guests... which we didn't want). Rocio reserved a section of the restaurant for us, which was nice. No extra charge. I'm assuming you could do it for a brunch as well. For our rehearsal dinner, since there was once again more than 10 people and we didn't want to force a set menu on everyone, we had it at the Beach BBQ. It just so happened that the BBQ was the evening before the wedding, and worked out perfect since we did a quick run-through rehearsal before heading to the BBQ. The food was good too... BUT, it was extremely windy and we couldn't wait to get out of there. It's hit or miss... the BBQ that was 2 days later was better, now wind. We only went to Coco Bongo's in Playa del Carmen. We had a bunch of guests that went to Delphinus to swim with the dolphins... some went to visit the ruins... other went on various excursions. There is something for everyone

You need the long form birth certificate. A copy of your regular birth certificate won't do. It needs to have both of your parents' names on it, etc. I also found out a few days before leaving from Rocio that I didn't have the right birth certificate. You need an original copy. I was lucky enough to receive it within a day, 100$ later. You need the Apostile. We got ours about 6 weeks after the wedding. Then, ,you'll have to have it translated and do whatever paperwork you need to do with your province. It all depends where you live. In Quebec, we have to add it to the province's wedding's registry or whatever they call it. We still need to get it done... I can't change my name (the province doesn't allow it) so, no rush I guess...

We used Claudia Rodriguez for our photography. I haven't done my review yet since we're not fully done dealing with her yet. It's a bit hard for me to recommend her since she lost some of our pictures (memory card failure, apparently) and refuses to send us her memory card. If you want me to be honest, I believe she is lying about it... Anyways! I would recommend Citali Rico from Claudia's team. She's really good. DelSol are also amazing, though a big more expensive. Elizabeth Medina is also good, Fer Juaristi as well... La Luna is DelSol's sister company and is a bit cheaper but also has amazing photographers. If you ask Rocio, she will probably recommend Claudia. She seems pretty close to her and even called her when I told her we had problems with our pictures and wrote me back telling me how good Claudia is and yadayadayada...

Congrats to all the new mommies-to-be! How exciting We found out last Friday that we are also expecting!!! I am 6 weeks and 4 days exactly today. I had blood work done to confirm it all and I'm meeting with my family doctor tomorrow. It came much sooner than expected but we are just so excited about it all, it just seems surreal. My due date would be around February 10th.

Power outlets are the same in Canada and in Mexico. It makes it so much easier!

My dress was diamond-white. It's not white and it's not ivory either, it's somewhere in between. I think it's a matter of personal taste. When I tried white dresses on, I thought I looked sick, it didn't go well at all with my skin tone. I'd say go with what you feel best in

Here is a picture of my bridesmaid's bouquets and one of my bouquet as well, done by Vanessa Jaimes in Cancun: