janette34

Oh I forgot to mention that I purchased a bunch of space saving bags from the dollar store, the kind you pack and then use your vaccum to suck all the air out - these made a huge difference with how much I could fit in each suitcase, really helpful for packing my paper lanterns, oot bags and linens.

Who are you flying with? We flew with Sunquest and since we had a group booking everyone in my group got an extra 10 kg of luggage allowance so I had my mom take a suitcase, my husband's parents took one and we took 3 with no extra charges.

@Nicole, There wasn't an additional charge for the resort photographer, we had it included in our package, basically it was just coverage of the wedding and a dozen printed pictures. Since my sister in law had travelled with us she offered to do our pics, they did show us the prices for purchasing extra photos from the resort, but I can't remember what the cost was. I took all my own decor with me and there wasn't any extra charges for setting it up. I gave Elizabeth two large suitcases full of items and a handful of pictures of how I wanted things and they did a great job putting it all together.

When I first started planning my wedding I had planned on doing everything myself, then my aunt who is a TA offered to take care of the bookings for me which I'm glad she did. As the bride you are going to be focused on dresses, menu options, music selections, invitations, etc. etc. etc and this is one thing you can have someone else do for you. Having a TA gives everyone in your group a person to go with questions on flight times, hotel amenities, etc. I booked our wedding almost one year in advance (late April of 2011) and in September my TA called and told me that had cancelled our flight so I had to re-book for a week earlier at that point of my planning I don't know if I would have been able to handle the stress of contacting everyone and explaining the issue so she did it for me. For me I found there was many perks to having a TA and lot less stress.

To me it looks as if the ruffles in the skirt are in a straight line where as the original seems to be more triangular in shape coming from the bodice (hope that makes sense).

The hair flower came from Bloom Bridal along with my bouquet. Bloom Bridal does custom made real touch flowers and I was thrilled with how they how turned out. The linens I purchased from a past bride but I have seen them on Linens Direct.

Ahh the sparklers, they never made it to Mexico. I had them packed in luggage that my in-laws took for us and about an hour before boarding they were called over the intercom I figured it had something to do with the sparklers and sure enough they opened up my luggage and took them. The guys at the airport were very nice about it when I explained what I was doing and offered to let me take the tags off them so I could buy new sparklers in Mexico, I didn't bother and told them to take them home to their kids. The runners I purchased from a past bride and cut in half so I would have enough to do all the tables. The starfish were purchased from Winners, I got two bags with a dozen in each for $15 and they were between 7 & 9".

These were so easy! I had some PVC piping laying around so I had the hubby cut them into 3" lengths and then I cut burlap into 6" strips and hot glued the burlap around them. Once the burlap set I wrapped the ribbon around using hot glue to keep it on and then added the starfish. To get them to Mexico I packed them in bubble wrap and packed them in a plastic shoe box. On the way home I wasn't as careful and many of the starfish fell off.

I did not have to pay anything extra for using my own decor. I dealt with Elizabeth and she was fantastic! I took her pictures of how I wanted my stuff displayed and she took care of everything. I did have to pay to have them hang my paper lanterns b/c of the staff involved and the time it took to get them up. As for the cake I had kinda forgotten about that so when we had our meeting I just showed Elizabeth a couple pictures or what I would like and I thought they did a great job. Take some ribbon with you in your colors so they can use it around the cake. I didn't use an a la carte for my reception, we had the palapa which is private so they put out all my decorations how I wanted. I'm not sure what you could do with the a la carte's. You'll have a great time, I wish I could do it all over again!

Which resort are you going to?

Just wanted to clarify about the plated dinner - you do have to choose one appetizer for the whole group but you can let your guests choose what they want for their main course. I picked three options for the main course - steak, salmon & vegetarian pasta and then gave my guests menu cards to fill out. I gave Elizabeth our totals for all options the day before the wedding and everyone was extremely pleased with our plated meal. We also had our reception in the palapa and it was great, but one word of caution - if it is a windy day be prepared. It was extremely windy the evening of our reception, so much so that chairs were blowing over and all my centerpieces had to be weighted down with sand.

Congratulations! It can be a little overwhelming deciding to where to start the process of picking a resort. Many resorts have a swim up bar so that won't be an issue and many will extend the reception time but it usually means an extra charge per hour for the location and an extra charge per person for drinks.

I did a symbolic wedding in Mexico and then was legally married about 2 months later in Canada. The legal wedding was very easy, we applied for a marriage license and then had a justice of the peace do the ceremony. I think it was about $130 for the marriage license and another $100 for the justice of the peace. We have choosen to use our Mexico wedding date as our anniversary. To apply for the marriage license I went to Access Nova Scotia (dept that issues birth certificates and licenses) we needed photo id and answered a few questions. It took about a week for the license to be prepared. When we applied for the marriage license I was asked if I needed the paperwork to change my name, I kept my last name so I'm not sure what kind of a process it is. I opted to keep my last name since I didn't want to deal with the hassle of getting new credit cards, passport, license, etc.

The braclet came from Ebay, can't remember the seller but I just typed in starfish bracelet and it came up.

Can you send me your address so I can get a quote.

We did the presidential package and paid for a few upgrades such as lounge furniture, hanging our lanterns, extra dinner guests, etc and I believe it came to about $6500 CAD.

Was married at the Grand Sirenis this past April and couldn't have asked for anything more. I had previously stayed at the Grand Sirenis in 2008 and enjoyed it then but we picked the GS mainly because of the price for our guests and the fact that they have a private ceremony location and reception area. All staff went out of their way to make sure everyone in our group had a great time. The resort is big but easy to get around once you figure out the shortcuts. We were a group of 35 and about half of us are regular travellers. My father who travels at least twice a year and is pretty picky was really impressed with the food, saying it was the best that he has had in Mexico. My aunt who is a travel agent and usually travels 3 times a year was blown away with how great the service was. I have also stayed at these other resorts in the RM area so don't hesitate if you have any other questiions: Gran Bahia Coba Ocean Turquesa Grand Xcaret Grand Sunset Princess

Congrats!! I loved my wedding at the Grand Sirenis, our whole group had a fantastic time. Have you looked at the threads on the Grand Sirenis? There are a few but check out the one with the most recent posts, there are a couple reviews in there from the past 6 months along with pictures of my set up and a few other past brides. Also if you are looking for a photographer don't hesitate to go with Juan, he did my trash the dress and it was great!

Lanterns have been sold, everything else still available.

I got mine on ebay, I think the seller was Luktanya or something similar. It was about $50 for 20 lanterns, 16" in size with free shipping.

I got my custom made bouquet from Bloom Bridal in Toronto. Loved how it turned out!

Just thought I would pass along this great deal from CanvasPop in case anyone is looking for a unique way to display their wedding/TTD photos. Until the end of the day (June 25) you can get a $100 credit for only $45. I have already ordered one 20X30 canvas print from them of my TTD and it turned out great and just purchased this deal this morning. Shipping is really fast and a flat rate of $15 or free if you spend more than $150. Here's the link to the deal in case you're interested: https://apps.facebook.com/dealshq/contests/244436/entries/new?referral_entry_id=53558149

Hey, If there are any Nova Scotia or New Brunswick brides on this thread I have lots of items for sale! My colors were pink and orange and I would much rather sell locally than deal with the shipping. I also have a Pronovias dress I'm selling. Send me a PM if you are interested.