MaggieandJay

Quote: Originally Posted by jazz04 How many guests do you have? How did you get your rooms booked so early. My coordinator said the specials come out in Dec/Jan so she is gonna start booking around then. At this point I want to do something to get the word and info out but not sure what to do. We aren't quite there yet but my FMIL and her TA are bulldogs. (My FMIL was a TA for 25 years so she is helping us out) but with that said we haven't signed on the bottom line yet. I will let you know what they say and if they end up locking in 2010 rates for me so maybe you can get the same thing.

Congrats and welcome! This is the best forum ever with tons of great ideas and advice!!

Quote: Originally Posted by jazz04 Actually she came back and said around 1900 for 2 people which I feel good about! Sounds like I'm quoted right. Awesome! It makes me feel good to know your in the same price bracket as me

Quote: Originally Posted by jazz04 I have just decided on Azul Sensatori! Yeah! Date June 11 2011. Right now we are getting the invite list together but trying to decide whether to send out save the dates and wanted to know what others have done for destination weddings. What else should I be doing? So clueless! Orginally I was going to do STD and Invitations but due to budget I cut the STD and I am going to straight to the formal invite. I figure since we will have all the info and group rooms booked why not just skip over the STD plus i was making cuts and it was either the STD or the reminder postcard.

Quote: Originally Posted by Leigh17 We leave 3 weeks from today...still so much to do! I'm working on OOT bags right now. Once I get my last couple of orders from VistaPrint, they'll be done. I need to figure out what I'm going to pack all this stuff in to take to Cancun. I don't think I own enough luggage. Checking in on you Leigh? How are you doing? Excited??

I am interested in what everyone thinks as well! I am almost 80% Azul Sensatori but I need a back up if this doesn't work out. Also ladies who asked what about Azul Sensatori do you not like?

Quote: Originally Posted by meghan What is everyone getting their maid of honours or bridesmaids for gifts? I have no idea. My little brother (Not so little, he is 29) is walking me down the aisle and then being my witness. I haven't thought a ton about it but I want to get him a badass gift. He is very metro. What about Tiffany cufflinks? Quote: Originally Posted by mmc1105 Hey ladies! I went to a Brides Against Breast Cancer event on Friday and ended up buying a dress! It was the first on I tried on, and my wedding is a year away. I loved the way the dress fit, but wasn't crazy about the neckline. The ladies told me that the top could be altered, but now I am having second thoughts!!! Could it turn into your TTD if you got a great deal on it and end up finding something you like better?

Quote: Originally Posted by Soon-to-be-McRae Hi Ladies Well i have now finally decided on a colour for our special day and it is going to be Turqoise and i have found these 2 dresses for my bridesmaids so thought i would ask what you ladies think. I thought between my BM's i could have a mix of the two both styles in turqoise I like them both but if you made me pick one I am going for the short one! They are both going to be flattering no matter what

Quote: Originally Posted by Nicyx I said to FI today when i got back from work.... I think it "finally" hit me today that we have booked our wedding... (only 6 weeks late) OMG!!! We've ACTUALLY booked our wedding, i cant believe it!!! x LOL xox I HAVE HARDLY DONE ANYTHING TOO :-( xox I hope to be where you are by the end of next week!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Mischaka I want to shop for my OOT items and chair sashes..but I don't know how many people are going. lol My FI is telling me not to even do the OOT bags. But I just think it's a nice touch. If it helps here is what I am doing. I am currently making a OOT goodie bag for every "couple" we think is coming. If we get way less people I will just give each person one as my backup plan. Just a thought!

Welcome Heather! There is a great thread for Azul Sensatori on this forum. Just search the Threads and you will find it. It is long but worth the read. The ladies on this forum are so helpful and I learn something new everyday!

Hey ladies! My goal is to get all my invites and booking info out 10 months in advance! I want to give everyone plenty of time to get the $$ together!

Quote: Originally Posted by jazz04 How much is the resort charging you for rooms in June? My wedding coordinator originally told me a guessing price for rooms and flights for June 2011 and now she is saying the rooms are going to be a lot more! Orignally we were looking at with flight and 5 days and 4 nights - 2 people to a room $1000 a person. What are they quoting you?

I am inches away from putting the deposit down on my resort. Azul Sensatori on May 30th 2011

We just firmed up our budget based on how much we have. $14,500 including our honeymoon but I will say THIS budget is very hard and I had to sacrifice some things for others. I wish we would have had about $20K

Quote: Originally Posted by vlynnw My MOH and I went shopping for BM dresses today and although we went in wanting something short we ended up liking the long dress more. So excited to have this checked off especially since my MOH lives in Germany and we only had one day to find a dress for her. Alfred Angelo... Find the perfect Wedding Dress, Bridesmaid Dress, Prom Dress, Flower Girl Dress or Mother of the Bride Dress at Alfred Angelo. we ordered it in the burnt orange/cream This weekend I have started a new DIY project making fabric pomanders...so far it is extremely time consuming! I really like that pattern!

Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart Meghan - Hope you had an amazing bachelorette! Two weeks girl, I'm SO excited for you I know how it feels to wait two year, whew! Ditto on your bachlorette!!! I hope it was awesome! Two weeks for both of you. So Exciting! It's going to be great!

Quote: Originally Posted by taylorwd Well welcome! Are you here all weekend or just today? I don't think I realized you live in Houston. Come all you potential Austinites, move here! LOL I'm so jealous of the larger cities (like Dallas/FW, Chicago, Jersey/NYC brides) and their BDW meetups! So far there's only one other Austin bride on here that I know of. I'm on a mission to recruit more! I am technically in Kyle, TX for the weekend. but I will be in Austin proper at the end of August for a Bachlorette party for a friend of mine getting married in Houston. I will also be in New Braunsfel second weekend in Aug. But if you ever decide to attempt an Austin meet-up and it's on the weekend I will drive over to Austin NO problem!!! I went to a Houston one a couple weeks ago with 6 ladies and it was a blast. It's so much easier to talk for hours to other brides instead of endlessly droning on to my friends who don't always want to talk about my wedding...IMAGINE THAT! LOL

Quote: Originally Posted by jazz04 I am also thinking of the Azul Sensatori but am still looking at others. How did you decide? So hard! I picked it because how nice the rooms and the wedding packages including the donkey that can be part of your cocktail reception. In the private banquet packet look up Mexican Donkey Cocktail Party

Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart HAHA! All adorable outfits! I too want you to go SO bad! The F650 30 person limo I'm renting has a freaking color changing acrylic stripper pole, why am I so stoked about this?!! You are stoked because that is AWESOME! Almost as awesome as a beer serving donkey at a wedding! So excitied for you! Quote: Originally Posted by amandamarieb You girls are too funny! Got to love all of it...the planning, the encouragement, the compliments! And you are all so right! Wendy, what's coming up, AHR? Where are you having it? In Austin? Love it there. FI ad I may move there soon. Fingers crossed. He and the baby have been so sick for the past month. First the stomach flu and now strep (sic?) throat! Between that and traveling to NY for work and Boston for college reunion, I really could use some family around. And I think Austin would be a nice change of pace. I live in Houston but I am actually going to Austin to visit my best friend today. Austin is AWESOME! If it wasn't for the FI's job here in Houston we would be in Austin!

Quote: Originally Posted by cjb0arder13 Maggie...just FYI...don't be surprised if people don't book right off the bat, no matter how persuasive you are I sent out my invitations a few months ago with a very nicely worded (if I do say so myself) instruction sheet that explained the importance of booking early because of the resort's size. Four months later...I only have four rooms booked, and it's all my immediate family. We still have plenty of time so I'm not freaking out, but once October rolls around and we STILL don't have any bookings, I might have a hissy fit. I'm hoping peeps book before then, though. So just wanted to let you know that it's totally normal if people don't go right out and book (GingerLover is an exception to the rule!) so don't panic Yeah I figure at some point I will need to bully my friends into committing! LOL - The good news is my mom has offered to front the money for the deposits since FI and I are pretty much paying for 1/2 the wedding costs and I didn't want to tie up our money. I mean I got a dress shopping trip to NYC in July

Thanks for all the feedback ladies!!! You guys are wonderful. I cut and paste alot of what you guys said and sent it to my TA. I am sure we will get this worked out but I got a little stressed over it. Right now I have 25 verbal yes so I am sending out an email to say look people once we do this you need to BOOK ASAP! I think I was more concerned with coming up with $7500 on the front end. Again THANK YOU LADIES! Your the best!

Hi Ladies! I orginally was ready to go with Azul Sensatori but now we are having trouble with the group rates and booking. I have some children coming so I needed a second option and have been looking for info on Gran Caribe Real because I like the resort and the wedding packages! I hope one or the other works out!!! Thanks for all the info ladies!

Quote: Originally Posted by abbypoo Hey Everyone, I am getting married at the Gran Caribe December 4th 2010. I saw that a lot of people were concerned about not hearing from their wedding coordinators. The same thing happened to me, but all has been resolved. If you haven't heard from your WC, try to contact them by phone or send them an email about how upset you are, chances are you will hear from someone soon. That's what I did and I haven't had a problem since. My new WC usually gets back to me within the same day or the next day. Anyway, I will try to tell everyone a little bit about how my wedding planning is going because I know I had to search these forums high and low to get info on Gran Caribe brides. The wedding planning begins by setting a date and time and giving them a $200 deposit. At that time you will also sign a wedding contract. We chose the Villas Terrace for the reception and the Gazebo for the ceremony. Also, we are having a "symbolic" ceremony so that we don't have to jump through the hoops of getting married in Mexico, and officially getting married here the week before. So here's some helpful hints: Go to the real website and "book your wedding." Make up fake names and dates so that you can get to the end to see all of the options (you'll see what I mean once you do it). Your WC will eventually send you all of this stuff, but this is the easiest way to see most of their options (flowers, cakes, prices etc..) before committing to this resort. If anyone's interested in having a signature cocktail during their cocktail hour, it is an extra $5 per person (I'm having blue lagoons!) Table linens can be rented in pretty much any color available (that was another question I had). Table linens are $12 each to rent and napkins are $1 each Ok so I'm pretty much going to walk you through my wedding and tell you how much it is going to cost so you brides thinking about the Gran can get an idea. First of all, my guests are quoted at $355 per person (based on double occupancy) for 4 days... pretty dang good for all inclusive. We're having the Luxury Wedding. Ceremony is at 4 with a guitarist and a few floral decorations (standard ceremony decorations are white tulle at the entrance, white chair covers and red carpet). Also we are purchasing 3 bridesmaid bouquets, bridal bouquet, and 3 boutonnières. We have also upgraded our photo package which will be about an additional cost of around $1250. (we're using the hotel b/c outside vendor fees are $350, plus the cost of the vender, of course) From 5-6 is cocktail hour w/ signature cocktails and a live mexican trio. From 6-10 is the ceremony with a DJ. There will also be 5 centerpieces. The total cost of the wedding will be about $8200 for 40 guests. If you're wondering how the luxury wedding went from $3800 to $8200 I will try to add up the additional costs. $400 for a judge (or minister or priest, this is not included in the package) $1250 for photography, $850 for DJ, $400 for reception extra hour (wedding package comes with only 3 hours) $200 for signature cocktails, $250 for couture cake, $150 to feed extra guests, $500 for bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, table linens, and ceremony decorations. And also a $400 surcharge for all weddings Thur-Sun after 4pm. I hope this post wasn't too long and that it helps future Gran brides. Feel free to ask me any questions. Thank you so much for sharing!!! This is awesome info!!!

Ladies, I have a question! The resort is telling my TA that in order to block a group of rooms for May 2011 we have to put up $300 a room. Did you guys run into this? My TA was a bit taken aback with the price. I knew we might have to put something down. Now with that said it's not like I have to block rooms but to get the current promotion they are running you do. Any Advice? Side Note: Current promotion if you block or outright book 20 or more rooms you get 20% off room rates and 20% off private events