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Posts posted by orionandmari072510
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Originally Posted by andreslove Hi everyone,
I've been extremely busy since I've returned, but I wanted to write my review while things are fresh in my mind. We had a ball in Mexico! All of our guests keep thanking us for having it there. They seem to have had just as much fun as we did. Let me start with the pictures.
Lenita & Andre
Photography: Jill Higgins and Josie Martin (Charleston Wedding Photography by Jill Higgins - Childrens Portrait Photographers)
Jill and Josie did an amazing job on our photography! We love our pictures. It captured everything we'd hoped. We met them the day before to do a get to know you shoot. They were really nice and funny! The morning of my wedding, they met me at 8:00 am to take pictures of me getting my hair and make-up done. They were full of personality to keep me calm and laughing on what could be a stressful day. Once things got rolling I forgot they were there, but the pictures reveal that they didn't miss a thing!
Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort:
We were pleased with the resort. The rooms were clean and the service was great. However, the resort is so big we didn't get a chance to see everything. We stayed on the Nizuc side and never made it to the Sunrise side. The restaurants that we tried were all good. My favorite was El Manglar which is the Italian restuarant. A couple of people also recommended the other Italian restuarant by the golf course but we never made it.
We chose the "free" package and purchased add-ons once we were at the resort. Upon arrival, we received a welcome letter from our wedding coordinator, Carolina, informing us of our meeting with her the next morning. She was well organized and I soon realized that I stressed for nothing. Everything was taken care of. We did the civil ceremony which lasted about 5 minutes and then my cousin who is a minister took over for the religious ceremony. Before I get ahead of myself, I would have to recommend the horse and carraige. I loved it! They had everything timed perfectly. We went riding and when we came around the corner where the gazebo was all I heard was "Awww" from our guests and flashes from the cameras. My father rode with me in the carraige.
Immediately after the ceremony while we were taking pictures, the cocktail hour began with the Mariachi band. We had it in the garden area near the gazebo and everything was set up beautifully. Next we moved to the private dinner reception held in the Laud ballroom. We had a DJ, but this is where I would have saved some money. We didn't need it. The sound system is great, so we had our iPods and one of our friends acted as the MC. For those who are getting married at Moon Palace, you may want to assign someone the tasks of hosting and MC. Once Carolina had the DJ announce us and passed out our favors, we didn't see her again. My friends took over and kept things going (announced first dance, garter toss, cake cutting, etc.).
Videography: We used the resort's videographer. We upgraded to the DVD and it turned out nice. They use your ceremony music on the DVD, which is a nice touch.
Ceremony music: I made a list of music to be used during the ceremony and gave it to Carolina during our meeting. I've attached our wedding songs just in case anyone is interested.
Flowers: They will give you a book of flowers and centerpieces to choose from. I was so nervous about not liking my flowers that I decided to use fake flowers. They looked, felt and even smelt real. This saved us some money. However, it was a real pain traveling with them. The centerpieces were real and were provided by the resort.
Cake: The cake came from the resort as well. I emailed Carolina a picture of what I wanted and they were able to create it. It looked good, but didn't taste that great. The only time I ate it was during the cutting of it.
Salon services: The day before I had my nails done and the day of I had my hair and make-up done. I took a picture with me, but after I realized how windy it was I ended up having to pick a picture out of the book. This was what I was most nervous about. I even had Josie (the photographer) translate some questions that I had for the stylist. He didn't speak much english, but knew what he was doing. I was happy with the way both my hair and make-up turned out.
Welcome bags: I think I'm the only lazy person on this forum...lazy enough to order our bags. We ordered them from Swell Sweets (www.swellsweets.com). I told them how much I wanted to spend per bag and they presented some options. They were really easy to work with and they arrived early. I posted a picture in another thread, but would be happy to share if anyone wanted to see.
Shoes: I love my shoes because they were custom made by my friend Candra of Artyce Designs (www.artycedesigns.com). I posted a picture of my shoe in another thread as well. When I began designing my shoe, I didn't know what I wanted, but that soon changed. I enjoyed working with her and I loved the end result. They were comfortable too. I kept them on the entire time.
OK, I think that's about it. I am a huge fan of destination weddings and couldn't be happier with the way things turned out. Hopefully, someone will find this review helpful. I know I probably forgot something, so if anyone has any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them. -
This is epic! i love it!!!!!!!!!!
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o man! i am sorry about that terrible time! thanks for letting others know in advance
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Gorgeous godiva chocolate boxes. Where did you get them?
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Originally Posted by Erica_Bellerive Thanks! Here are some pictures!
Our Wedding April 28 2010 pictures by bellandbake - Photobucket -
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Where did you get the bridesmaid dresses! They are so pretty! I am trying to find a nice one for my maid of honor.
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Originally Posted by dolfinluck Reception: A+
The reception site was just perfect. We were set-up right behind building 4. The resort marked off the wrong location with yellow caution tape in the morning but Yanna was on top of it and went down there and had them move it to the correct location. I gave Yanna most of the details for the tables, and my sister just finished up with favors, LED lights for the paper lanterns and the food for the smores. I got the silver menu and the food was great. We got the assorted Assorted Dominican Appetizers; Dominican “Sancocho†(warning has big pieces of bones in it); Chicken Cordon Blue in a Pomodoro Sauce & Broiled Beef Tampiqueña Style; Pineapple “Volteado†with a Rum-Raisin Sauce and chocolate for the wedding cake. Yanna stay around during the reception and would come over every once in a while to ask if everything was good. Once we cut the cake the bonfire was lit and we had our first dance near it. And then made s’mores!! Overall there was too much food; I only had a little bit of each course. I thought we should have ended at 10:30 since we started at 7:30 but Yanna wasn’t there so we kept going till a little bit after 11. The workers were patiently waiting for us to end so they could clean up, so once we saw that we moved it along to wrap things up. The other wedding was at the SSG and I could hear their music a couple of times but it did not affect us at all and was only really during our softer songs. But if we would have been at the pier for the reception it would have been more of an issue. We did have some onlookers but it didn’t bother me, the resort did put up a private function sign but that didn’t stop some people. We even had a women asked to take mine and DH pic so she could show her niece. But once again I didn’t mind at all.
for better pics see the link at the bottom of this post for the pro teaser pics
Reception set-up
Table set-up (a little dark)
Cake
Seavis: A++
So glad I found Seavis, Alexander is very quick to respond and open to ideas if you want to do something a little different. Plus he reorganized a couple of things so they could fit us in. Since we had ppl coming and leaving on all different days we just had 8 of us go on the Hookah Catalina half day Tour on Friday. The staff is great and we all had so much fun. My dad stayed in the water forever we almost had to pull him out of the water so we could go back. If you’re planning a trip for your group book it with Seavis. Also they are still collecting items for Haiti, they have a truck go over every two weeks, and the day before we left we dropped off the items we had for them to take over.
My friend using the hookah
Beach at Catalina
Photographer - Elisabeth Millay: A+++++++++++++++++++
Photography was the most important item of the wedding for DH and I. I love Photojournalist style and really couldn’t find what I was looking for in the DR. So I went to wpja.com and looked at all the photographers in NJ (30 plus!) and cut down the list to my top 5 and contacted all of them. Elisabeth responded very quickly and with such a cheerful tone and like she really wanted to travel down there and shoot our wedding; where as some of the other photographer I contacted it sounded like more of a hassle. She was a little out of our budget but worked with us to make it work. Plus Jonathan Young (from Love Captures) would be coming as well as our second photographer and his work is just as great! Our first meeting with Elisabeth went so well; we talked about our ideas for the wedding and colors; she is so easy to talk to. Whenever I had any wedding related question during my wedding planning she would lend me her expertise. The best piece of her advice was to build in extra time to cool off in the AC, which helped sooo much. It was amazing to have someone I trusted so much to just do her thing and know that it would turn out perfectly. Like I was running late at the spa and I left out all of my wedding stuff so when Elisabeth got to my room she just started taking pictures and setting up all the little stuff for some really great shots, this really helped to make-up some time. We did our first look at the pier, and my dress got pretty dirty and when I went back to my room to cool off before the ceremony Jonathan took the chalk from my sister so she could help my mom finish-up getting ready and started to work on hiding the stains, thanks again Jonathan! They were such great people to have at the wedding; they had tons of great ideas and were open to ideas as well. Below is the link to the teaser picture I just got from Elisabeth and words cannot even describe how overjoyed we are with them. It brought a tear to my eye and that is something really hard to do! When I look at her pictures all the little bumps and things that annoyed me that happened that day are completely forgotten and I just remember all the great things from the day!!! My co-workers even commented that they look like they are from a movie! I can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures!
Teaser pics from Elisabeth!!!
Tips
-Hire a BDW TA
-Hire an amazing photographer (ie Elisabeth and Jonathan)cause when it’s all said and done it’s all you have to remember the day
-Get your room in building 5 if using the spa and gazebo so you will not melt in the walks over.
-Build in extra time before they ceremony, I thought I would be on time but so many little things pop up and in-laws did their own thing that pushed back the timeline
-Sharing items, if you must have those items you are sharing you should be the first maybe second person to use but being the 3rd person things went missing or were not in the best condition. For me in the end it did not save me any money but live and learn.
-Assign someone to go over the reception and ceremony locations so everything is set up the way you want (if it’s important to you) & to make your instructions for the WC as clear as possible (I even drew a reception layout on PowerPoint that was very easy to follow)
Feel free to ask any questions! -
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Originally Posted by dolfinluck Reception: A+
The reception site was just perfect. We were set-up right behind building 4. The resort marked off the wrong location with yellow caution tape in the morning but Yanna was on top of it and went down there and had them move it to the correct location. I gave Yanna most of the details for the tables, and my sister just finished up with favors, LED lights for the paper lanterns and the food for the smores. I got the silver menu and the food was great. We got the assorted Assorted Dominican Appetizers; Dominican “Sancocho†(warning has big pieces of bones in it); Chicken Cordon Blue in a Pomodoro Sauce & Broiled Beef Tampiqueña Style; Pineapple “Volteado†with a Rum-Raisin Sauce and chocolate for the wedding cake. Yanna stay around during the reception and would come over every once in a while to ask if everything was good. Once we cut the cake the bonfire was lit and we had our first dance near it. And then made s’mores!! Overall there was too much food; I only had a little bit of each course. I thought we should have ended at 10:30 since we started at 7:30 but Yanna wasn’t there so we kept going till a little bit after 11. The workers were patiently waiting for us to end so they could clean up, so once we saw that we moved it along to wrap things up. The other wedding was at the SSG and I could hear their music a couple of times but it did not affect us at all and was only really during our softer songs. But if we would have been at the pier for the reception it would have been more of an issue. We did have some onlookers but it didn’t bother me, the resort did put up a private function sign but that didn’t stop some people. We even had a women asked to take mine and DH pic so she could show her niece. But once again I didn’t mind at all.
for better pics see the link at the bottom of this post for the pro teaser pics
Reception set-up
Table set-up (a little dark)
Cake
Seavis: A++
So glad I found Seavis, Alexander is very quick to respond and open to ideas if you want to do something a little different. Plus he reorganized a couple of things so they could fit us in. Since we had ppl coming and leaving on all different days we just had 8 of us go on the Hookah Catalina half day Tour on Friday. The staff is great and we all had so much fun. My dad stayed in the water forever we almost had to pull him out of the water so we could go back. If you’re planning a trip for your group book it with Seavis. Also they are still collecting items for Haiti, they have a truck go over every two weeks, and the day before we left we dropped off the items we had for them to take over.
My friend using the hookah
Beach at Catalina
Photographer - Elisabeth Millay: A+++++++++++++++++++
Photography was the most important item of the wedding for DH and I. I love Photojournalist style and really couldn’t find what I was looking for in the DR. So I went to wpja.com and looked at all the photographers in NJ (30 plus!) and cut down the list to my top 5 and contacted all of them. Elisabeth responded very quickly and with such a cheerful tone and like she really wanted to travel down there and shoot our wedding; where as some of the other photographer I contacted it sounded like more of a hassle. She was a little out of our budget but worked with us to make it work. Plus Jonathan Young (from Love Captures) would be coming as well as our second photographer and his work is just as great! Our first meeting with Elisabeth went so well; we talked about our ideas for the wedding and colors; she is so easy to talk to. Whenever I had any wedding related question during my wedding planning she would lend me her expertise. The best piece of her advice was to build in extra time to cool off in the AC, which helped sooo much. It was amazing to have someone I trusted so much to just do her thing and know that it would turn out perfectly. Like I was running late at the spa and I left out all of my wedding stuff so when Elisabeth got to my room she just started taking pictures and setting up all the little stuff for some really great shots, this really helped to make-up some time. We did our first look at the pier, and my dress got pretty dirty and when I went back to my room to cool off before the ceremony Jonathan took the chalk from my sister so she could help my mom finish-up getting ready and started to work on hiding the stains, thanks again Jonathan! They were such great people to have at the wedding; they had tons of great ideas and were open to ideas as well. Below is the link to the teaser picture I just got from Elisabeth and words cannot even describe how overjoyed we are with them. It brought a tear to my eye and that is something really hard to do! When I look at her pictures all the little bumps and things that annoyed me that happened that day are completely forgotten and I just remember all the great things from the day!!! My co-workers even commented that they look like they are from a movie! I can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures!
Teaser pics from Elisabeth!!!
Tips
-Hire a BDW TA
-Hire an amazing photographer (ie Elisabeth and Jonathan)cause when it’s all said and done it’s all you have to remember the day
-Get your room in building 5 if using the spa and gazebo so you will not melt in the walks over.
-Build in extra time before they ceremony, I thought I would be on time but so many little things pop up and in-laws did their own thing that pushed back the timeline
-Sharing items, if you must have those items you are sharing you should be the first maybe second person to use but being the 3rd person things went missing or were not in the best condition. For me in the end it did not save me any money but live and learn.
-Assign someone to go over the reception and ceremony locations so everything is set up the way you want (if it’s important to you) & to make your instructions for the WC as clear as possible (I even drew a reception layout on PowerPoint that was very easy to follow)
Feel free to ask any questions! -
Does anyone have a map of moon palace resort. We are trying to link a map to our wedding website so ppl can see where they are staying and where locations are.
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Lenita's Moon Palace Wedding Review
in Destination Wedding Reviews
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what flavor of cake did you have? do you think fruit is ok?