lesley_mexico_bride

I would recommend the Westin. It is in the Marina. We stayed there with our guests for our wedding weekend, and then stayed at Dreams PV for our honeymoon. We loved Dreams, but there was a lot of things we liked about the Westin better. It is very nice and they gave us a group rate. We got upgraded to the penthouse suite. Quote: Originally Posted by Bride2BAmy Nov 9 2012....I'm getting MARRIED @ LC!!!! YAAAAAAY! Now....I was original plan was Dreams PV....can anyone give me some other options? Looking for a little more affordability and maybe closer to the marina? Thank Ladies!

Lauren, I think your wedding looked gorgeous, we had the same colors, except my green was more lime (spring/summer wedding). I am jealous you got the purple calla lillies, they are beautiful! Looking back, I guess there were something things that did not go "perfect" with the wedding, but overall it was such an amazing time and place that I didn't even think about it. I never came back with the sand ceremony or our wedding certificate, but I was not paying attention at the end of the night. However, I did come back with my husband, so that was the most important thing! Kelley told me my requested calla lillies that came in didn't look nice, so they improvised, I loved what they came up with. The DJ played most of my songs, but threw in a few of his own, which I appreciated, since I didn't put older people friendly swing songs in, and I have the best pictures now of my grandmother and uncle performing a swing dance because of it. He also played "Im on a boat mother-ff" on the way back, twice, but we just laughed it off. He pretty much stuck to the playlist though, and all of the important songs were there: ceremony, father/daughter, mother/son, first dance, etc. And he played Britney Spears "Till the World Ends" as the last song on the beach, as I requested, which was awesome!! Lots of fist pumping and jumping, just how I want to end my parties lol. I feel privileged to have had Kelley and Brad, they were amazing, but I am sure if Kelley trained the new folks, they should be good. I think that with ANY wedding, your day won't be "perfect", something will not run as planned, but I don't think, in most circumstances, it could overshadow the joy that is in the air that day. Also, considering you are doing a destination wedding, where you have to take a boat to get there, to have a ceremony outdoors, in a place you may have never visited before, you can't expect perfection. Even though some things may not have gone "right", I still consider our day "perfect", and everyone who came said it was the best wedding they have ever been to. I know I had the best wedding ever, stateside weddings are so boring to me now, no offense to anyone! Lol!! lvietti, I had the videographer from Adventure, and I am glad we did it. It was nothing fancy by any means, I would have loved to have one of those amazing HD ones, but those were way out of budget. It should do for showing the grandparents. A lot of it was set to music, but for the vows and the speeches he recorded the entire thing so you could hear it. He also did a mini "interview" of myself and my husband, which was sweet. My friends enjoyed seeing their drunk selves on the boat on the way back too, lol.

I think I remember Kelley telling me the tables sat 6-8. I think I did a mix and had about 6 tables besides the bride and groom table. We had about 45 people. We also stayed at the Westin for the wediding and had our rehearsal dinner at the River Cafe. like choeft201. Actually, she helped me get in contact with the guy, thanks again! He arranged a "coach" bus service with a tour guide. People loved the margaritas and guacamole I remember. It was a good price also. We stayed at Dreams PV for the honeymoon but our guests had already left. I found some really cute bags at forever 21 for 1.00 each. I took their whole supply! . I gave one bag per couple, singles got their own bag. It had water bottle (dad bought bottles in mexico at Sams) with our label (I made and brought down), an "oh sh*t kit" with medicine (wholesale generic packets online) and first aide (dollar store), a mini bottle of local tequilla (my dad got from Tequilla, Mexico, he lives in Guadalajara), my dad also put together a trail mix snack, wristlets with a whistle and plastic ID holder to hold cash/key/cards, monogram breath mints, monogram sunscreen chapstick, monogram playing cards, postcard, etc. People loved it and it did not cost a lot. I did a lot of DIY, and I am not crafty. Go to your local dollar store (I love dollar tree) and find free label templates online to help cut costs. I used vista print for postcards/printed materials, found wholesale ID badges online, and I found the wristlets on oriental trading company online.

We had bouts for the groomsmen and the fathers. The mom's got corsages. It looked nice. As far as going to the site visit before hand, we skipped it and spent the time with our guests. Also, they let me use the site visit for two we didn't take toward the wedding party coming over earlier on the boats (saved money). I actually recommend NOT going before, I cannot describe to you the feeling of pulling up and seeing it for the first time on your wedding day. The girls and I headed over earlier on Sunday and a small boat, so there were no tourists and we had the entire place to ourselves. It was so serene and peaceful, and gorgeous!! I am almost started crying seeing it in person for the first time after staring at pictures online for a year and planning, planning, planning. As far as not hearing from the coordinator, they will get in contact with you.I also sent a word document with inspiration pics, as well as filled out the form. Kelley met with us at our hotel 2 days before and went over everything. She knew exactly what we wanted, was very organized, and went through the whole timeline with us. We were extremely impressed. We also gave her our favors, name cards, table numbers, etc. that day so we didn't have to worry about it the day of the wedding. The day of everything was so beautiful, better than I could have chosen for myself. I had asked for calla lillies but Kelley told me that they came in and didn't look that good, so she did something different and to tell you the truth it was probably even prettier and I didn't even notice, or care that I didn't have them. I think you will see the day of that you will be so filled with excitement that the day is finally here and in awe of the natural beauty of the place that you will not worry about any of the details, especially since they are so good at their job. Just trust them!!

I had the boys come over earlier with the photographer from Boca de Tomatlan, which is the fishing town south of Dreams. I believe this would be considered or close to Mismaloya. Its a small boat and not a fancy port, but everything went smoothly. The boys even had a beer while they waited at a small place there. We stayed at the Westin (in the Marina), and it was a long cab ride there but no one minded.

Oh, I believe Las Caletas will "live up to the hype"..and more! Of course I am biased but it was amazing, amazing, amazing. However, it is not the garden/grass/gazebo scene, which I am sure a lot of the hotels on the water have. If you want my opinion, Las Caletas is unique, gorgeous, and intimate. From what I have heard, and seen, the hotels can have at least three to five weddings going on at the same time and other strangers will be snapping pictures and standing around. We stayed at the Westin and Dreams PV. My husband asked and Dreams PV said they can have 5 weddings at once. The Westin had three in one night when I was there and my hairdresser/make up girl and her friends (they flew down) crashed two of the weddings. That would upset me. Not possible at Las Caletas. But that is just my two cents. I am sure wherever you have your wedding it will be wonderful wherever you choose. Like I said, I am extremely biased lol. Quote: Originally Posted by CassidyKristen Hello everyone I'm looking for a little advice! I am heading to Puerto Vallarta this Friday and I really want to try and scope out as many things as we can while we're there. We have made arrangements to visit Las Caletas on Monday. We are staying at Dreams Villamagna and visiting Dream Puerto Vallarta. My concern is that Las Caletas will not live up to the hype. I want to visit some other locations and really make use of my time there. If anyone has any ideas about other places I should be visiting i would be VERY grateful!!!!!! I really like the garden-like scene, grass, and gazebo areas by the water. Thank you PV brides!

You can have a parrot fly your "ring" (they use a fake one for obvious reasons) in, kind of like the ring bearer. I think it was around 200 bucks. I decided to spend that money on the firedancers instead.

I got married in May and had Kelley, so I cannot speak for the new people but I am sure it will be all the same.......Pretty much anything can be done if you are willing to spend the money on it, it is something reasonably available to them down there, and you give them enough of a heads up. It might not be exactly what you wanted but pretty close. When my husband and I went down there, we checked two boxes of our wedding stuff (like all of the welcome bags and their contents, maraca favors, etc) and only had to lug it to the hotel. We gave Kelley all of our extra stuff that I brought two days before the wedding when we met with her. If I were you, I think it would be better to find a bulk amount of flip flops in the US and check a box as part of your luggage. Make sure you keep the receipts and make it obvious it is for a wedding (make sure you are carrying your wedding dress or have your hubby to be with you going through airport security in Mexico).....because they will check your boxes and ask questions. They did not make a big deal of it though and they just want to make sure you are not trying to re-sell the stuff in their country and they don't get the tax money from it. It will also probably look good if you have tags on some stuff saying "Lesley & Andrew 5/29/11" (insert your name and date) to show it is wedding favors. Hope this helps!!

Thanks everybody for the nice compliments!! I want to go back and do it again every day. Although I would be exhausted. Exhausted in paradise doesn't sound too bad though lol. To answer your question, Andi, We did the trash the dress partly at the Westin, then downtown PV, and the beach is at Dreams PV. The dress was pretty trashed and I haven't gotten around to doing anything about it.

By the way, tips were included in the spreadsheet at 10 dollars per guest, but we mailed Kelley an additional check just cause she goes above and beyond and is awesome. I wish I could have given everyone a lot more because EVERYONE, Brad, the assistants, the waitstaff, boat staff, etc were beyond exceptional.

Hi girls! I got the pro shots back, and there were SOOO many of them that it has taken me a while to go through them, my photographer, Jared Rey, has begun to post some in his blog http://jaredrey.com/blog/# but here are a few

They actually did carry it with them, I just think they stuffed it somewhere in the boat so it wouldn't get wet.

the boys had a place to get ready above the restaraunt....

We had our wedding on a Sunday. The boys, photographer, and my hair/makeup girl and assistant came over from Boca De Tomatlan earlier....its a small fishing port south of town. It was about 45 minutes to an hour from the Westin (in the Marina) and was 600 pesos (approx 60 bucks) taxi ride. Well worth it though. The girls and I came over around 10ish I think leaving from the marina, the makeup girls around 1:30, and the boys around 2 or 3 I think. I can't explain how amazing it was pulling up to Caletas. It was a Sunday so no tours were there, it was so beautiful, calm, and peaceful, like we had the whole place to ourselves. We swam in the ocean, ate a yummy lunch, and then went up to get ready. By the time the boys got there, we were at the casita getting ready so they didn't see us. They were able to go swimming and relax also. If you do go this route, just know that Boca is a small town, not touristy by any means, but safe. The boys actually waited for the boat having a beer at an outdoor bar. Kelley came over with them also, and it was just a small boat, nothing fancy. I feel comfortable and safe in Mexico but I know a lot of people don't so you might just want to let them know.

we did not do a site visit.....if you don't do a site visit you can use those two "spots" toward any extra people coming with you early on your wedding day.

We flew in Thursday PM , met with Kelley Friday AM, Rehearsal Dinner Sat PM, and wedding Sunday. That gave us 2-3 days before for hanging out with guests or going to dinner together, because everyone pretty much left Monday (Memorial day) and we did our TTD session then went off to our honeymoon.

Guests signed the postcards and placed them back in the box, I will probably make a little book to keep them in and I am keeping a few keepsakes from the wedding in the box. I got the box from NanaMontana on etsy (http://www.etsy.com/transaction/48147142). Looking back, it was huge!! I thought it was going to be smaller when I ordered it. However, it might be a nice size to keep stuff in for after the wedding. I had to carry it to Mexico and back though. We just bought the postcards at the Westin gift shop the day of.

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/49151099 spanish postcards picture of the cake....forgot to include this earlier....I just told Kelley to make it chocolate with flowers....people said it was good but I think I had one bite and then just went back to dancing! He got one of our maraca favors....