jszy10

J-Me -- my husband, my mother-in-law and myself all did the dolphin swim and we loved it!! Transportation isn't included, but it is literally a 3-4 min. cab ride away, so maybe $5? They put you into a group of 8 or so and each group gets their own dolphin. You get to learn a lot about them, touch them, kiss them, high five them, belly ride, etc. and a few of the dolphins show you some tricks. The main thing I would say is DON'T let anyone pay full price for pictures. We did end up with pictures, mainly because my mother-in-law and I really wanted them, but 'waited it out' and ended up paying the lowest price for the highest package there -- all of our pictures on a disc, dvd of our swim and a picture frame. I think it might have been $90, which is rediculous still, but the highest package is listed at like $250 or something outrageous. My husband and I also went to Xcaret on our honeymoon and had a good time!! That is part of the same company as Xel-Ha. If you'd like, I can open up that photo album on my facebook as well -- the dolphin swim, Xcaret and snorkeling from the resort. I actually don't think I made that one public?

Sorry, one more thing to add. If you do choose the Chichen Gazebo, make sure you ask them to put the runner (if you use one) straight with the alter, not straight with the entrance. If you don't have them do that you won't have a straight walk to the alter. I actually told them to do this and they still messed it up. Luckily I saw it out of my window and had my dad and bridesmaid make them fix it )

You'll see pictures of me getting ready on there too. That was in one of their presidential "hospitality" suites near our gazebo. They gave that to me for the day for FREE to get ready in...definitely request one of those too!! )

Anytime! I don't mind if you do that. Tell them that you know past brides have only paid $65 TOTAL for all setup. As for pictures, feel free to check them out on my facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/jszy10. I actually made all of my wedding albums public just so you girls and other people could see whatever they wanted. If you go to the "Our Wedding" album and scroll to the bottom you will see a few reception pictures. They have perfect lighting I think!! You can see the nice lighting in the pictures of us with our cake.

Also, here is a picture of the Coba gazebo, in case you would like to see a bigger picture of there. We originally chose the Coba, but I didn't care for the big white box in the front of it AND I absolutely fell in love with the Chichen as soon as I saw it!!! Unfortunately I do not have a big picture of the Tulum Gazebo because when I went for that walk my camera wouldn't stop fogging up!!

Hey Bree! I had my ceremony at the Chichen Gazebo and absolutely loved it! It is right on the water, has a beautiful bridge walkway, and is really the only one that is completely open to the air and has a straw type roof. Here is a pic: Also, are you having a private reception or are you having it at one of the restaurants? I chose Mundaca Steakhouse for our reception and loved it! We did not pay for a private reception but had a covered patio area all to ourselves. I am shocked they have raised the decoration price so much!! I was married there in June and we paid $65 for them to decorate my cocktail party and ceremony. We did not have much for decoration, but I still think $300 is quite excessive!! If they suggested more than $100 to us we would have done it ourselves.

) thanks so much!! I'm glad I can help!!

We actually ended up booking through BJ's (it is a wholesale club in our area that offers travel discounts) and saved like $600 off of what our travel agent offered us! I contacted Yesenia in Miami and asked her to mark our reservation as an anniversary trip so that we get our free anniversary cake and anniversary dinner? You don't really get much in terms of perks for returning.

Thanks so much!! I KNOW!! I can't believe we are less than 3 months away! We are SO ready to go back!!! We'll call it our 'baby moon'...if we make it that long! lol SPA PRICE LIST A.pdf

Hey ladies! Do any of you happen to have the spa price menu for 2012? As some of you already know, we are headed back in June for our anniversary and I was curious of the rates!

Yeah, Tres Leches is exactly what Amber said -- a vanilla cake drenched in 3 different "milks". It is SO moist and SO good!! I actually chose it specifically because I would not find anything like it back home!! I actually tried to make one myself after coming back, and it was a complete failure lol. I can't wait to have more when we go back for our anniversary!! Our first day there, they had it on the buffet at El Greco, and right there I knew that would be our wedding cake flavor!!

Bummer!! I know that my dollartree came out with them closer to the spring/summer time, so maybe they'll come back? These are the only ones I see on their website -- http://www.dollartree.com/catalog/search.cmd?form_state=searchForm&keyword=travel%20mug&x=0&y=0

Not stupid at all! I had to ask too! Chantilly is like a buttercream. They do offer different flavors of cake when you arrive. I think on the list were chocolate, vanilla and cheesecake?? I chose Tres Leches, which was not on the list, but wasn't a problem at all! It was delicious!!

We had chantilly and thought it was great! I'm not fan of the taste of fondant either -- I don't think many people are -- but fondant does make the look of a lot of cakes. They had our cake out for us when we arrived the the reception, and then we asked them to put it back in the fridge until we were ready for it. It did see a little slouchy, but I think in any heat like that, it's not going to matter what type of frosting you have? Even at my AHR the cake started to slouch a little, and we were indoors. :oP Here is a pic of our chantilly cake. We were surprised at how smooth the icing was -- I thought it looked a lot like fondant work! Quote: Originally Posted by J-me So less than 4 weeks and the planning is in full speed! I've been in touch w/Edith (who seems great!) and she sent me the contacts/emails for all spa/salon, golf, tours, etc. Spa/Salon - [email protected] Babysitting Services - [email protected] Tours & Golf - [email protected] Transfers - [email protected] ALSO - have a random question - any suggestions on fondant vs. chantilly? I prefer the taste of chantilly, but am wondering if fondant might hold up better during the outdoor reception...? Would appreciate any suggestions!

Mrs. G -- what do you mean about folding the cardstock? I did put stamps on the RSVP postcards!

Thanks! Yes, the video was from the resort. I was pretty disappointed with the lighting, but I guess there wasn't much they could do with the sun outside and us being under shade. You will always nit-pick your own video, but overall we are pleased with the memory. It might be nice to pay extra for a 2nd videographer -- as he missed me and my dad in the horse and carriage because he was shooting my girls walking down the isle. After watching the video again, I remember that the walk was very windy, but once we were standing at the alter I didn't feel like it was too bad. I agree that it will depend on the day and how close to the water you are. We were married in the Chichen gazebo, which is the most open. The ceremony was probably only 15 minutes, and I do feel like we did picutres for about an hour and 1/2. My timing seemed to go: 5pm wedding, 5:30pm family/party pictures, 6-7:15 couple pictures. I hope this helps? I did my cocktail party as the welcome party, so my guests just went back to freshen up and had drinks and apps at the restaurant while they waited for us.

Did you see the links to the wedding videos? I feel like you could get a real idea of the wind by watching those? It was definitely windy by the water in general, but I didn't feel like it was unbearable. I had my hair up, but my bangs were just sort of tucked, so I do remember they fell out a little during my walk, but once we were in the gazebo it was fine! You can see in the beginning on windy it was with the guys shirts, but if you use a good amount of hair spray, you should be fine!! Here is the link in case you never saw it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBG7wLv2YAU&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&noredirect=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBG7wLv2YAU&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&noredirect=1

Ahh!! Congrats Morgan!!!!! I was married at ASP last June, and am heading back for our anniversary this June! I think the switch isn't happening until after this summer? Although some have been saying that things are slowly starting to change now? I believe they are keeping the integrity of the resort the same but just mainly changing the decor??? I wish I had any information for you about that...I'm trying not to worry about any of it because we are already booked to go back, and we had an amazing time the first time we were there.

Yay...so close ladies!!! I could imagine how frustrating it must be to not have any communication from them . Yesenia was my god-send for the longest time -- she answered all of my questions, set me up with all of the right people, and reserved all of the locations I wanted for things. I know this may not be very comforting, but I can tell you that their department literally does tons of weddings every week, and I can guarantee you that a lot of them don't plan anything until they are there at the resort in their wedding meeting. You literally can make almost all of your decisions on site and you will realize you won't have to worry about them not getting it right. They are use to doing these things on a regular basis. Good luck in your last few weeks of planning ladies, hope it isn't too stressful on you!!

It might be worth asking your WC if you want to put the officiant in your program. I just didn't make mention of it and don't think I ever really knew the name of my officiant?

I did see someone comment about jelly fish, so I thought I would add my input... Jelly fish, and any other ocean creature, are definitely a possiblity in the lagoons. We saw a few huge baracudas while we were swimming!! Scared the crap out of me lol It is definitely something to be cautious about in my opinion. The water flows in and out of openings in the rocks, so if the openings are big enough, anything can flow in and out of them. With these openings, there is no real way to know what comes in and out on any given day. I do think that is a bit of a mistake by the resort, but it is what it is. I have heard on trip adviser of 2, maybe 3, instances where people have seen or been stung by jelly fish while swimming in the lagoon, but I would say it is rare. In the 10 days that we spend at ASP, I would say a good 6-10 of us on any given day were snorkling in the lagoon regularly, and weren't injured at all. The floor of the lagoon is sharp in some areas, so if you don't have flippers, definitely wear water shoes of some sort. There are very sharp sea urchins within the rocks as well, but unless you are sticking your hands in the rocks to find things (which my husband and his friends felt the need to do on a daily basis!!!), then you should be fine with that. The water gets murky when a lot of people are walking about on the floor of the lagoon and sturing it up, but other than that it isn't too bad. We stayed away whenever they did scuba tours though, because that is when it gets stirred up the worst. Hope this helps with any questions anyone has about the lagoon. When we go back for our anniversary, we won't think twice about going in again! My husband would snorkel all day every day if I let him LOL.

I didn't bring music for anything. Even though it was a bit on the pricey side, we splurged and went for their live music for both ur welcome cocktail and the ceremony. While I don't really remember hearing it, my husband and guests said the harpist was beautiful. I know they give you the option to choose songs for the harpist to play, but I just let him choose what would be appropriate. The Mexican Trio was awesome for our cocktail party as well, so I can bet that you would be happy with any musician you choose. There are definitely brides here that brought their own music, so hopefully they can chime in with their experience with that.