Tracysab

Hi Girls! I just heard back from Pilar about something a few of you might be interested in. I'm having my reception at Las Olas and she sent me an email today about random stuff like setting up a time to meet when I get there and going over some last minute questions. Anyway-about Las Olas. She informed me that it closes at 6 PM and it will take approximately 2 hours to set up everything for the reception. Naturally I freaked out a little bit because my ceremony is at 5 PM so I don't really anticipate the reception starting any later than 6:30 or 7...which meant there was no way las olas would be ready in time...and I wanted something semi outside but covered and the festival terrace was too small for my group. And a reception by the pool outside meant I just wasted a bunch of money on paper lanterns that can't be hung anymore. So she has assured me that it can indeed be ready for the reception-but I'm still a little nervous. I will let you guys know what I finally decide and if I still go with las olas-if they are actually able to get it ready in time. I just wanted to let anyone else that was thinking about doing it there know the time restrictions. Unless you want a big break between your ceremony and reception-the ceremony will definitely have to be at 5 or later to have it work out.

Yes Katrina

Fernando quoted me 170 for bride and 90 for bridesmaids. Adrian quote me 200 for bride and 60 for bridesmaids. I'm considering Adrian but $200 for makeup seems so high!

Amiep- I'm doing a rehearsal dinner/welcome dinner for all my guests at Cinque Terre the night before. It's their Italian restaurant. Let me know if you want more info on the cost and which restaurants you can choose from. snl - I'm not sure where the advil came from-my mom and her sister got all of those-but I know with the pepto-we bought a big box of the tablets. They are all individually wrapped in plastic inside so we put 3 or 4 in each of the bags (you can't mistake what it is!). I also got little first aid packs that had bandaids and burn cream in them at target just by accident. I went in one day and their dollar bin items were 75% off-I got the sudoku books during that sale too. So some of the stuff in there was purely luck. We also put some little mini hand santizer bottles in there that we got at Office Depot for 10 cents. You can keep the cost down by just kinda keeping your eyes peeled like that-especially if you have several months before the big day. I found a lot of the deals on this forum-just search OOT bag or deals or something like that. People always post deals they find and websites that might be having special offers. One great website is www.hip2save.com. That is my favorite-she had a post about an internet coupon on there one day for an online pharmacy and I was able to get 48 things of chapstick for like $6. The little hangover kits or survival kits would be a good guest gift just on there own-especially if you need to save room in your bag. I just got ziplock snack bags and made a little label that I cut out and stapled over the top. Here's a pic I took when I was trying to figure out how I wanted to make them- Please note-I did this at work and had started using a lot of the stuff out of the little baggy which is why it's sort of empty and missing items...lol

More anxious than nervous. Everything is basically done except waiting on Pilar to give me the ok for my time slot for our welcome dinner. Time should go by fast though. We are flying to Vegas for the night next Saturday and getting legally married there-just the 2 of us. Last minute decision instead of going down to the JOP to make it official...one of the perks to marrying a pilot I guess! :-)

Just FYI- The closer we get to the wedding-the email responses seem to pick up and Pilar is being very pleasant and accomodating. It's a nice change! So I guess the moral of all this is that you might have to wait till the last minute-but it should all (hopefully) work out!

My fiance is wearing pants and a linen shirt as well. He wants to wear sandals with it-but my lovely mother had a fit (she wanted to the full suit and all)...it wasn't worth the fight so we compromised and he's wearing dress shoes for the ceremony then switching to sandals for the reception. I think a suit just depends on the season. We could probably get away with it since it's an evening wedding in late October-but most of the summer months might be pretty hot. As far as the bags-we are giving some to the guests (although I should stop saying "we" as I am the only one that actually did any of the work!). I ended up getting some canvas bags with colored handles at the dollar store of all places. They are nice decent bags. I got travel mugs to put in there at www.discountmugs.com for a pretty reasonable price. If you sign up for their email-you get some great discount codes to use. Also-I put Sudoku and/or Crossword puzzle books in it. And finally-a little "survival kit" that has things like mini advil packets, pepto bismol tablets, bandaids, sunscreen, etc... I really had fun finding things to put in there but I don't think it's absolutely necessary to give to all the guests. It's just a nice gesture if you have the time (and space in your suitcases) to put everything. My future hubby is a commercial pilot so we don't have to pay any extra for multiple pieces of luggage-otherwise the expense might outway the novelty of it.

I'm using an outside photographer-Ivan Luckie. I was able to swap their photographer in the package for the caribbean trio...which from what I hear-they are not allowing anymore. I've using their videographer-have no idea what his name is.

FYI about the Buffets - I know I posted this before but I just got an update from Pilar on my swaps for the buffet. I asked for 5 different items throughout the menu and she ok'd everything. I think she's ok as long as you try to stay within the same kind of food. Like a salad for a different salad, dessert for dessert, etc.

I'll post pictures of everything once we get back so you girls can get more ideas of the setup and all that! I'll be the guinea pig...lol

I'm not sure about the hanging part. Pilar and her people will have to take care of that. I'll put some kind of string/wire/something to hang them with-haven't decided yet. I have 3 different sizes - 10 that are 12 inches, 10 that are 10 inches, and 10 that are 8 inches. I just like them because they don't take up much room in my luggage when folded down and they are super easy to assemble.

SHORN - Â Just emailed you the buffet options. If anyone else wants the hard copy of it-just email me at [email protected]

Thank you! I'll let you guys know if they turn out ok. It makes me a little nervous to not get to see any of the florist ideas until I get there...but I'm not too stressed about it. At least if it works or doesn't work for me-you guys will know for the future! She's not charging me any extra-so if you don't want any of the options offered-it doesn't hurt to send pictures of what you do like to see if they can work with you.

I'm just using flower centerpieces. I sent her some pictures of what I would like because I couldn't decide on any of the ones she sent me that go with the devine package. All I told her was that I wanted something with a little more color and more tropical and to use the pictures as a guideline-that they didn't have to look identical to what I sent. She claims she talked to the florist and they have agreed to make them for the same cost of the flowers in the package. She is also using them as ideas for the bridal bouquet and the bridesmaid bouquets. Of course-I have no idea what they will look like! That part is a little scary. The pics I sent are below. Â Aside from that-I am bringing menu's printed in my color scheme to place on the napkins, table runners, and little "shell" place holders with seating arrangements on them. Â Â Â

One more thing-I don't know if anyone else is using these-but I have about 30 round paper lanterns with lights in them that I plan to use at Las Olas for the reception. So far she has agreed to put those up and hasn't yet charged a service fee for it. Just wanted to pass on the info in case any of you were interested in doing something like that. Â Similar to the pic below (if it actually posted) but on a smaller scare of course :-) Â

I have 2 additional hours of the DJ-she is charging me $350 per hour-so with taxes it ends up being around $780. That quote is ridiculous and I tried to argue with her over it many times but it was one of the few things she wouldn't budge on-and something I wasn't willing to give up-so Pilar won that battle. Â My DJ for our at home reception in Houston is only $450 for 4 hours! And that includes a projection screen so I can play a slide show of Mexico for my guests.

Hi Girls- Â Just got an email back from Pilar-only took about a week this time...lol. Hopefully the correspondence will get faster since my wedding is in less than a month. I think we have finally got the quote totally worked out...except that she still shows my reception on the Festival Terrace instead of Las Olas (even though I've corrected it for her on about 10 emails)-but the money and all the swaps were correct. Speaking of swaps-I'm really disappointed that they are not allowing this anymore. The a la cart prices are high in my opinion-so it just makes sense to change out a few items to customize a package. Her flexibility with that kind of thing was one of the main reasons I chose this resort. I'm really sorry about the girls that are having so many issues with this stuff! I know it's a pain-especially when you don't get answers for 2 weeks and you're in the middle of trying to plan other things based on her answers. Â Ok-so here's the new info I have. Â DJ Info: Â Alex Martinez AV Solutions website: www.avsc.com.mx email: [email protected] Office: 8-98-84-09 Cellular: 9981-47-49-34 Â The DJ can make special announcements-he just wants to a schedule and an idea of what you want him to say. Â You can also bring your own CD or IPOD if you have certain songs you want him to play intermixed with his regular music. He would prefer them to be in ".wav" or ".mp3" format. Â Buffet Options for Dinner: I I had a hard time picking the buffet to use for the reception (I have more than 50 people-so I went with this option). Â There were different things I liked from each menu. I ended up going with "The Mexican" which is a random assortment of traditional mexican dishes. Anyway-there were a few things on the buffet that I did not really care for and asked if I could swap them for dishes from some of the other buffet menus. I was hesitant to post this because of all the swapping controversy-but she just sent me the emailing saying it was ok 2 days ago-so I'm hoping it's still an option for the other brides that may have been thinking the same thing. Â I got the impression that she would not let you create your own customized menu with all kinds of different things from all the menus-but she appears to be ok with changing out a few items. Â Hope this helps!

I would love to do a TTD session-but my mom said she would cry if I ruined the dress...lol-and I can't argue with her since she paid for it! Â I might try to find a similar dress at Dhgate.com or email one of the sellers with my dress to see if they can recreate it just so I can do those pics because they look so amazing.

Oh yeah-and I'll try to post a link to the photos Ivan Luckie does for my wedding as soon as I can. Then you guys can check out his work at the actual resort.

My wedding is October 25, 2010! About a month away. Â Jayski-I'll arrive at the resort early on the day you are getting married-so I might sneak a peak! lol

I'm using Ivan Luckie too! His pictures look amazing!

I sent Pilar an email about the DJ today. Asked if he will do introductions/announcements/etc... Â We'll see what she says! Now the waiting begins...

Thanks! I'm excited too. We have 50 confirmed-and about 4 stragglers that have still not made up their minds.

CherryCola- Â Like FutureMrsHolt said-just ask Pilar. I find the quotes really helpful because it shows whether or not she has been paying attention to all the emails and requests. I've already gone through about 5 quotes now-but my wedding is just over a month away (and it still isn't finalized...but getting close!). Â It gives you a really good idea of what you are actually getting charged for and if you need to make adjustments.

Do you know about how long it takes? The wedding is in less than 2 months-and we will only be back 1 day before the at home reception...so it's kind of a time crunch!