Panama Bride

Hey Everyone, We're baaaaack!!! Thanks for all the well-wishes, we had an awesome time in a beautiful country...Now, since I know we've all had a hard time finding info, I'm going to post everything for you....it will be long so skim through if you have to! Airport Transfer - they screwed this up royally. They told FI and I that our group of 32 would all be on the same bus. Negative. We were split up on 3 different buses and had a heck of a time trying to track everyone down once we arrived. If this happens to you you are best to go back in the airport and make the Nolitours reps give you a list of everyone's room numbers. Seriously. Arrival - Julia met us right out front and we had a special check-in desk. She takes you on a golf cart right to your room and she will set up a time to go through everything with you. (Our room was gorgeous by the way and they had champagne and fruit waiting for us). Julia - I would strongly advise that if possible, you take a Spanish language course. It was quite difficult to understand a lot of what she was was saying. I know she didn't understand a lot of what we were asking for but she said yes anyways. She tries hard but there is a definite language barrier. Also, she's doing like 4 or 5 weddings a week which explains why it takes a while for her to respond. Bar Fridge - do not make the mistake of paying for this as they do not stock it anyways. Shuttle for Groom/Bride - the shuttle that was promised for the groom/photographer never showed up so they ended up hiking to Lobby 3 and begging for one there. Ours did come but was late. Ceremony music - we did give her a list of songs and numbers but the song I chose to walk down the aisle to was not the one that was played. Ceremony - it's kind of a free for all cos you don't really practice...it was fine though. They do the entire ceremony in Spanish first which I didn't know so that was slightly confusing. Also, the officiants wife stands RIGHTTHERE to take pictures which was really annoying and distracting. Pictures - Tell Julia that you want at least 2 golf carts to truck you around for your pictures. Otherwise you will have to walk everywhere and trust me, it is still hot at 5pm. Reception - we had ours at Sushi Samba. From our room we could see that they were setting it up all wrong (even though I drew a diagram) so luckily I had friends that ran in and re-did everything. Also, the morning of the wedding (if you have paid for exclusivity). CHECK EVERY LOBBY. One of the lobbies still took reso's so we had randoms keep trying to walk in for dinner. The meal was absolutely delicious though - best one we had all week, it was like 5 courses and it was served so yay! If anyone has any questions, just pm me...I probably won't be on this site as much anymore now that it's over! Jenn

You were able to just book the sound system?? Jealous! I wasn't even given that option. Julia just said that the disco movil cost is $450 and include: Lights, sound, Dj, speakers, music. What is included with the $200 package? Cos I would love to switch to that and just have someone from our group be in charge of the ipod all night. Less than 2 weeks! Jenn

Quote: Originally Posted by CND_Redhead Yeah!! congratulations To be quite honest, I've sort of let it slide a bit lately. I've been so wrapped up in work and other stuff I have not sent any emails or confirmations or anything. So no I haven't gotten any prices on ipod systems or such. Plan on sitting down with the FI this week or next and getting everything sorted out. Once I do that I will email Julia with all the details and see where that goes. Are you doing beach or garden? morning, afternoon? What made you choose Panama? do you have a big group going? Cheers, Yeah, I think all we've narrowed down is the ceremony location. We're doing the beach and I think in the afternoon. We chose Panama because we wanted to go a little bit off the beaten track and choose somewhere that would be new for a lot of our guests. Plus, our TA was able to get us a great price so that helps too!! I think we'll end up with around 25 going which is perfect (since we'd like to be able to spend time with everyone too!!). Let me know how things go with Julia, hopefully your luck is better than mine!

Canadian Redhead! I'm so excited to find another Decameron Bride. Looks like I'm getting married the week before (January 20) and I can't wait!! I'm also working with Julia and was wondering how things are going with you? Did she ever get you the price for the ipod system? (I'd also requested pricing and haven't heard back yet!)