mzgillis316

IN the monring the weather was wonderful...the only thing that was that cold was the water but it wasn't unbearable...it was perfect

Heres a review I posted from my wedding a few weeks ago http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/azul-sensatori-hotel-by-karisma-all-inclusive/reviews#4113 And a quick video from my recent wedding showing some of the resort http://cancunweddingvideo.com/wedding/shalon_darwin/ Quote:

When we booked it was 20% off of the room rate that was listed online at the time of the contract...we worked directly with the hotel. It was also 20% off of all private events. We booked our wedding back in March 2010 so im not sure if it was a special for 2010 and its no longer valid for 2011 or what...what kind of run around are they giving you? I love Dreams Tulum but their pricing for a reception was not conducive for bigger partys, which was why we chose AS...Dreams had per person rates for a private reception around 80-90 buxs, Azul was only 14 pp...

HAPPY NEW YEARS LADIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's Great News!!!!! I'm sure you won't be disappointed =)

Definitely Will! =)

The dress didn't get ruined at all ...there was some sand on it and we laid it out on the balcony for an hour or two and it was fine lol it still looks good just need to get it dry cleaned...I'm still debating if I want to sell it or get it reconstructed to wear somewhere else...

Yes the resort did my makeup and I was very impressed..they also added a few eyelashes =) It stayed on all day and night!!! It was still on that morning for the sunrise session lol I was too tired to wash it off and knew i wouldn't have the patience to try to redo that early in the AM. I did bring my own makeup, even though they had a good selection of brands there. I purchased both of my dresses at Davids Bridal surprisingly... I wasn't expecting such a good deal which is why I bought two before I had even planned a TTD session...I actually bought my dresses before I was even engaged soooo LOL

Thank you!!! I just can't believe how they turned out! We got up around 6/630 and were out there for an hour or so ...we wanted to catch the sunrise and it was so beautiful!

My Day After/TTD Session is posted on my photographers blog...they are AMAZING!!!!!! I think these are my favs!!!! check them out =) http://vidacarson.com/blog/weddings/shalon-and-darwins-day-after-session-riviera-maya-mexico/

People are going to to stop and watch no matter where you are...typically there arent many ppl on the beach at night but you can still stand on the walkway and see over the ledge and there were rooms directly across from zavas plaza ppl were watching and dancing on their balconies LOL ....I had my welcome party at palapa yoga and all my guest were there for the most part 60 plus ppl. They'll sit everyone around the gazebo on the sand if you want to have dancing...I personally LOVE the way Zavas Plaza is set up with the lights and the huge gazebo is gorgeous...if you decide on palapa yoga you'll probably need alot more lighting on the beach as it gets pretty dark. I have a good set up picture of my welcome party and of my reception so you can see...I should have it in a few days =)

The resort provides the sand it comes with your package...you'll see on your detail sheet you have to tell them the colors that you want. Quote: I also purchased my sand ceremony from Say Anything, but I went for the other one... where did you buy your sand from?

Aww thank you dear...I loved it ..Ooh the bride robe came from Victorias Secret it was like $60 buxs. I was going to sell it but its so cute and I figured I'll always be his bride so I can wear it forever LOL We actually left all of our lights there didn't feel like tugging them back. We bought 6 boxes but they said that it wasnt enough but it ended up being just enough ...my husband ordered them from somewhere I'll find out for you. But yes we def had a welcome party lol we had the Beach BBQ at yoga palapa it was soo nice and fun we had tikki torches and used the lights to light up the gazebo a bit...the photographer has good shots of how it was all set up I'll post them as soon as she gives them to me =) The sad part about that resort is that they make you pay for stuff other ppl left behind ...I swear when they brung out our cake it was Merediths Knife Set (we forgot ours) I remembered seeing it in her pictures :/

For the future brides who did not get a chance to check out my review ...it has been moved and I just wanted to post the link for anyone who'd like to see for future references http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/azul-sensatori-hotel-by-karisma-all-inclusive/reviews#4113 Also someone asked about the SEAshells and my Sand Ceremony kit... The Sand Ceremony kit was ordered off of Etsy by a seller named SayAnything Designs heres that link http://www.etsy.com/listing/61083327/unity-sand-ceremony-frame-with-engraving?ref=sr_gallery_2&ga_search_query=unity+sand+ceremony+frame&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes[0]=tags&includes[1]=title&filter[0]=handmade And the gorgeous pearlized Nautilus Shells were from http://www.conchking.com The gentlemen there were very nice ...he called me once he realized what I wanted the shells for and told me to order different ones if I wanted my sand to hold it....I believe I got the 5-7'' shells not the halves...I would call and speak to them to make sure you're getting the right ones and tell him you want them to be a nice size not too small but not big either...THey shipped pretty fast and were perfect but make sure you carry them on the airplane with you as they are extremely delicate and may break...they made it back home in one piece and we are going to set them up in our new home....they are soo pretty! You ladies will love them!

Technically you can not pick and choose from different menus but I will still ask...they told us no b/c we wanted a different appetizer and dessert at first but after we told them we did not want to serve our guest raw salmon they allowed us to have different salad and let us have treche leche instead of the Mexican Rice Pudding lol so it doesnt hurt to ask...

I would imagine that you want the photographers to be available the entire night to take pictures correct? If so I don't think its such a good idea to tell them to disappear and come back ...what if they don't come back in time and they miss something really important or something really funny that you wished you got on camera...I mean it comes down to $80 buxs and if its worth it...If I'm not mistaken if you were home you would have to pay for the photographers and the DJ to eat at the reception thats just protocol...but if it is a major concern I would talk to your photographers before making a decision...A week is a long time to spend with someones family...my photographers spent just a weekend with us and they partied and shopped along with us we had all become pretty cool by the end of the trip, I think I would have felt a bit awkward to make her go somewhere else while everyone sat down for the reception...

HI, I actually got them from Macy's they were about 50 buxs heres a pic below ( I took this before I purchased them to remember who they were by)

Nope thankfully Mike and his team are approved on the resort so we did not have to pay an extra fee!!!! I was very happy about that =) His colleague Diego was the actual videographer for the day And thanks again I'm sure you'll be pleased with their work The highlight DVD was an extra 300 buxs tho on top of the $1650 but I thought it was worth it, no one wants to sit and watch our whole ceremony/wedding day thats over an hour long lolol so the highlight is perfect for family and friends who could not be there to view.

HI Girls!!! For all who were considering Cancun Wedding Video they have finally posted my highlight DVD i love it! http://cancunweddingvideo.com/wedding/shalon_darwin/

I was fortunate to score a pretty good deal with my photographer...I was her first destination wedding and she's still up and coming ( well at least when we first met lol) but for her she didnt charge us any extra she just told us to pick one of her packages and w/e her travel and room fees would be to just deduct it and w/e is left over give to her.Her package was $2600....Cancun wedding video package was $1650 for 5 hours of DVD he didn't get the whole reception but it was just enough =) For me that was worth every dime ...I love watching it.

Sorry for the multiple post but yes we had 30 days to put a deposit down for 20 rooms....and it was around 6k for us NOT 3K LOL ...this was pretty stressful but after this was done they were pretty flexible with everything else. We had soo many ppl who put deposits down for rooms that didnt come they actually covered the cost for a few of the rooms that me and him were paying for in the end so it really worked out! lolol BTW YOU ARE GOING TO BE SO IMPRESSED WITH THE VIDEO!!!!! I watch it everyday and it takes me right back to my wedding day ...we had so much fun!! I'm still waiting for my 8 minute highlight dvd and the link so you guys can see it =) My contract was $200 per room, they had 30 days to book their rooms, and anything not booked in that time-frame would have to be paid by me until it was booked. I was not aware of any deadline date of 63 days. With money going all over the place for other wedding-related issues, I was not willing to have $2000 just out there hanging for 10 rooms, so I did 5 rooms for $1000. Hindsight is I should have booked a larger block of rooms, but my wedding was almost 9 months out, and I'm not sure that would have mattered if there was a deadline date for the guests to book. My guests were able to get on a monthly payment plan for up to 6 months. You have enough time before your wedding to really stress to your people that this could happen so that you don't end up in the same situation. Be sure to let them know it is a very real situation! I don't want it to happen to anyone else.

No it wasn't our fault the wind knocked them out ...Yes try sand ...they filled them with water and they still fell....we actually bought ours with us ...borrowed them from a woman we know who does weddings. I felt awful bc they all broke we didnt bring one home :/ I didnt even want them my husband did ! lolol and now we have to pay to replace them!

No you're right it was 30 days initially we just paid for our first 20 rooms but that was risky and now to think about it I dont know why we did that LOLOL...and our's was $300 deposit for rooms!!!!....LOLOL i was lucky to have a husband who really took over this whole wedding thing so he really kept me out of the loop b/c he knows how stressed I can get and I stress him out LOLOL he was actually the one who found this site LOLOLOL ..... My contract was $200 per room, they had 30 days to book their rooms, and anything not booked in that time-frame would have to be paid by me until it was booked. I was not aware of any deadline date of 63 days. With money going all over the place for other wedding-related issues, I was not willing to have $2000 just out there hanging for 10 rooms, so I did 5 rooms for $1000. Hindsight is I should have booked a larger block of rooms, but my wedding was almost 9 months out, and I'm not sure that would have mattered if there was a deadline date for the guests to book. My guests were able to get on a monthly payment plan for up to 6 months. You have enough time before your wedding to really stress to your people that this could happen so that you don't end up in the same situation. Be sure to let them know it is a very real situation! I don't want it to happen to anyone else.

Oh and even after that we still needed 10-12 more rooms and they gave them to us with no problem....

No i don't think so...I have to verify this with my husband and his mother b/c they did all the work LOLOl but i think what we did was pay for the deposit for the first 20 rooms which was like $2-3000k (after the 60 days), which was a bit of a risk but at least 15 of those rooms were a guarantee . So we paid that initial deposit and set up a later date for our guest to give them a few more weeks to gather their first deposit...So our guest had 4 months to pay their initial deposit which was June 1st, their next deposit was in September, and their final was in October. But the people at Karisma was so slow, they were supposed to take our money June 1st but they didnt take it until July lol so ppl had even more time. And even with that I still had ppl trying to pay last minute. smh you just can't win lol