shannonmarie

Please don't let my review get you down. I bet it will be tons cooler in December. Also, since you have a smaller group than we did, you won't have the awkward set up like we did. I'd stick with Castaways over the Ocean Terrace. The terrace would have been too small for our group.... It even looked a little small for a group your size, especially if there will be dancing. Plus, I don't think it would be any cooler than Castaways.

We were legally married 2 days before we left. I'm so happy we did it this. We just consider it paperwork and don't even think about that date. In our heads, we only have 1 date, the day we walked down the aisle in Mexico.

Thanks Trisha! I wanted to keep things simple and we did not want to drag down a lot of extra luggage. We each had one checked bag for our own clothes & only one extra bag packed FULL... That bag contained welcome bags for our guest.. We had 60 and did one bag per couple. Kept them simple, survival kits, koozies, deck of cards, welcome note, ect... For decor, we only brought some picture frames, chair sashes, bubbles, menus, & programs.. That's it, and squeezing it all into one pretty large checked bag without going over the 50lb weight limit was hard. I honestly couldn't imagine if we took down anymore decor. In my opinion, it is not needed. We did splurge and just used the resort centerpieces. We got 8 @ $65 each. Expensive, but worth it in our opinion. Would not want to lug down all the vases/glass in our luggage. My motto is always less is more & I'm so happy I stuck with it. So in all honestly, don't sweat the small stuff, do a little DIY projects that don't take up too much time or room.. Towards the end of my planning, I had a "to-do" list of some small things I wanted, like paper lanterns, acyrlic ice, etc & I just said screw it! So happy I didn't waste the time or money on it. It's not needed. The location itself is absolutely amazing without all the headaches!

Thank You! The upgrade was $850. Not cheap, to us it was worth it. Veronica came to my room first, then to the guys room. Took pics during the ceremony, cocktail hour, family pics & reception pics. We had to choose 100 which was nearly impossible out of the 1,026 pics she took. We ended up narrowing it down to 215 and paid extra for them.. I'm happy we got the pre-ceremony shots, but if I could do it again, I wouldn't have had her at the entire reception. I would have just had the 1st dances shot. The party pics were good, but everyone was so dang sweaty. Plus, all of our guest were taking candid shots during the dancing.

The ride took about 25-30 min from airport. We booked our Zip Line/ATV excursion right at the resort--by the way, I highly recommend! It was great. You can rent jet skis near the pool.

I have no idea. I've never been in November, I can only say it was HOT HOT HOT in June. No air flow what so ever. Honestly, not only was it extremely hot, but I did not like the set up at all. Probably because we had a larger group but at Castaways, there were 3 different areas. We had 8 round tables with the dance floor being in the middle. Tables 1-4 were on the side with our sweetheart table and 5,6,7,8 were on the other side. I felt like they were soooo isolated. It really felt like they were in a different room. I hated it. My dad didn't even realize they were over there until like 30 minutes into the reception! Choosing Castaways as our reception location is my biggest (actually only) regret. Once dinner was over and dancing began, it got a little better since everyone was up. It may be different with a smaller group that way you are all on one side. I also dislike the dance floor. In the very center, it's really rocky on the floor so it was difficult to to our first dances right in the center, we had to do them off to the side & i felt like it looked kind of awkward. After seeing the bamboo room, it felt more "wedding-like" to me & if its possible to change your location, I would look into it. We were the only wedding that day so we tried to change it, but unfortunately, there was another event going on in there at the time we needed it. Part of the reason I originally chose Castaways was to be ocean front, but it's so dark, you can't even see the ocean.

I am not sure about this either. I can't even remember hearing the ceremony music, but everyone assured me that it was playing. If I had to put money on it, I would say there's one speaker... Don't quote me on this though! Note that if you are having your cocktail hour at the Mix Beach Bar, they already have music playing for you.

We are back home and I'll eventually write a review, but for now I just wanted to share some pics and just say a few things.... As everyone says when the return, DO NOT worry about a thing. If you are more than 4-6 months out, I would not even bother Pilar or Deisy. They are soooo busy and everything will be amazing. I believe I emailed them maybe 3 times since we put our deposit down in December 2011... I'm so happy I didn't bother them, I just asked most of my questions on this thread and the majority of you past brides were able to help me Thanks a bunch girls! A few more things... 1) I was impressed with the resort photographer. We had Veronica and upgraded to the full day coverage. I love all our pics. I'm not sure why there was so many negative reviews about Adventure Photos. 2) We had 60 guest.... Not one person got sick... If they did, we heard nothing about it. I was terrified of myself or our guest getting sick, but thankfully it wasn't the case for our group! 3) I highly recommend having your wedding early on in your vacation. We arrived on the 12th and the wedding was on the 14th. I feel like I was able to relax and enjoy my vacation after the wedding, didn't have to worry about getting sun burned or sick! (thankfully, neither one happened!) Oh and one more thing... I am still trying to decide if the preferred upgrade is worth the cost. We were upgraded for free to preferred ocean view as a part of our package. It was nice having access to the preferred lounge, but a few of our guest, my parents included payed anywhere from $50-$70 per day for the upgrade and I am not sure if it's worth that price. The wi-fi is spotty and you can only have 1 device, it expires after 2-3 days and you have to keep going to get a new password, the hot tub on the balcony is filthy, I often saw housekeeping cleaning others across the courtyard, but they always looked dirty.I would not get in it. The rooms are really no different than the regular suites, with the exception of the bathroom area being a little different. Having access to the preferred lounge was nice, but not worth the extra money (in my opinion) If you have any questions, please ask away! I'll work on a review sometime soon Here's some photos!

I'm back at home! So sad that it's over but luckily we don't go back to work until next week! I hope everyone's day is/was as perfect as mine! It was amazing!

Hi ladies!! Our wedding was absolutely perfect!! We have been here since Wednesday and today was the first day it's rained. It started around noon and stopped around 2ish. Not too bad!

Hi girls!! I´m married! Everything was amazing and I will write a detailed review when we get back. My only regret was having our reception in Castaways... That is one thing I wish I could change!! It was soooooooo hot, we all made the best of it but if I could go back in time I would have scheduled the Bamboo Room... If your having your wedding in June, do not choose castaways! Other than that, I would not have changed a thing!!

Thank you so much!! I'll let you guys know how it went when we return! Just wanted to verify - - Does anyone know if we can pay for the wedding via American Express?

We told our guests that we needed an answer 4 months prior to our date b/c seriously, if you don't know if you are going to Mexico 4 months in advance, you probably aren't going. Â This was what I always thought as well.... Well, my guest proved me soooo wrong! I've always said "If you don't know if your trawling to Mexico 3 months prior, your more than likely not going." Well, I was way wrong! I would say about 30 of our guest booked within the last 2 to 3 months before the wedding! It may just be my group that's so last minute, but be careful thinking that! Some people will book late!

I just saw this post--sorry! I also used rack cards, just choose any design punched 2 holes at the top & tied the ribbon--easy peasy!

Congratulations!!!! Hope it's amazing! ;-) Interesting about the luggage locks. I was always told not to use them, as they will just break them to inspect your luggage anyways.