kmarie

Hi Everyone, I just got back from my wedding in the Mayan Riviera. When I left on November 14th I was a Grand Riviera Princess bride. An hour and a half into our flight an explosion happened at the Grand Riviera Princess in the Platinum lounge. Our rooms were reserved in the Platinum area. When we arrived at Cancun Airport we had no idea about the accident. We got on our bus and proceeded towards our Resort. Our first stop was The BlueBay Grand Esmeralda. Several guests got off the bus and then we were told we would also be staying at the BlueBay. We flew WestJet Vacations and were told to wait in the bus until a rep could come and tell us what was happening. As you can imagine I was totally confused and everyone was looking to me and my fiance for answers. When the rep came on the bus she told us there had been an explosion at the GRP and that several people had died, it was so sad. The BBGE opened an entire building to accommodate us and were just trying to get the rooms cleaned for us. We spoke with the Front Desk Manager and the wedding coordinator and they assured us they could accommodate our wedding. It turned out that the new wedding coordinator, Sandra was the coordinator that we had at the GRP. They were able to put our wedding together in three days! The day of the wedding it poured and poured. In fact it was the only day of the trip that rained... but we hear rain is good luck. Because of the rain we had to move our ceremony site from the beach to the lounge by the a la cartes. It was a beautiful setting even with it pouring all around us. At one point the rain was coming down so hard I had to shout my vows. We had planned a Sand Ceremony and to use the sand from the beach and some blue sand I had brought. Because of the rain there was no dry sand available. When I went to pour it it wouldn't come out. I ended up using my finger to loosen up the sand. We got about halfway through and decided we would finish at home...lol. We had planned on having our first dance on the beach and had brought and ipod dock to use. Because we couldn't go down to the beach they allowed us to set up our ipod in the lounge after supper and were able to have a semi dance. The ipod was on shake shuffle and switched songs halfway through... We ate in the french restaurant which was actually oriental that night. The food was awesome and everyone loved the wedding cake. My heart goes out to those who died in the explosion. To know that one of the people was the groom at a wedding three days prior is heart wrenching, I keep thinking if it was one day later that would have been us. Even though nothing went as planned we had an amazing time. In the end all we really wanted to do is get married in front of our friends and family and that's what we got to do! So my advice to you is this.... take a deep breath...smile.... and know that its going to be the most amazing day of your life no matter what happens because you are marrying your best friend today.

How is everyone wording their programs if a parent has passed? I wanted to include our fathers names under parents of the bride/parents of the groom. I can't decide if is should put (the late) Firstname Lastname or Firstname Lastname (the late) or ? Any advice?

thanks for sharing!

does anyone know of any good flower shops in Playa Del Carmen? I'd like to have a single flower for each father but don't want to go through the hotel to order just two flowers.

Thanks for sharing, it's always great to have girls on here that have been through it. I don't know where else I would go to find out the answers to all of my questions!

Congrats and welcome, this site is amazing and has so many great ideas!

Congrats and welcome... don't be nervous, you'll find that having a destination wedding was the best decision you ever made.

I love this idea and totally helped me check off another thing on my list... Thanks!

Wow, these look great! I am hoping to do something similar! Thanks for sharing!

Congrats, I am getting married there Nov 2010. There are a couple really great threads and a group on FB.

Welcome and congrats fellow canadian bride. You'll find so many great reviews on here. Your cousin will be able to help you narrow it down. We are going to Mayan Riviera for that price range but it all depends on time of year, what you want in a resort, etc. Planning a DW is so fun, Good Luck!

Congrats and happy planning, There are so many helpful reviews on here. Have you tried consulting a travel agent that specializes in DW. Choosing on your own can be overwhelming so it's nice to have someone do the work for you and narrow it down.

I hear Hawaii is amazing but more expensive than Mexico. Either place would make a great backdrop for a beautiful wedding.

The fans look great! i hope mine turn out so well! Love the colors!

We used Pingg.com too and it was great and free. For just over a dollar you can send a "postcard" version of your evite in the mail (for the electronically challenged) Because our wedding was so close (Nov 2010) we had a short booking window to book for our group discount so we didn't have time to send paper invites. We called everyone to tell them we were sending the evite and within a week and a half we has RSVP for all 40 people!