janette34

Hi Janette. Great pics. I am just curious the chair sashes,,,,, are those just regular chair bows but tied differently? I like this better then the traditional bows. Yes, they are just regular chair sashes, but instead of doing them across the backs I asked if they could do them vertically instead.

I can't comment on Puerto Vallarta but I love the Mayan Riviera for so many reasons! First and foremost the Mayan Riviera is very affordable with many options from budget hotels to luxury resorts. Food and drinks is great, in my opinion much better than the DR or Cuba. Countless activities are available from visiting the ancient ruins of Tulum to ziplining, horseback riding, snorkeling, catamaran cruises etc. 5th Ave in Playa del Carmen is a whole experience in itself with all of its restaurants, bars, shops and of course Coco Bongo's. The people are absolutely fantastic as tourism is their main income they are so helpful and friendly. Money exchange is easy with almost every place accepting USD (Tulum Ruins is the only place I can think of that only take pesos). The Cancun airport is large and sees a huge volume of flights daily so it should be fairly simpe for your guests to get direct flights in and out of the country. On the downside the beaches are not as great as say Punta Cana in the DR, there is a lot more coral but are beautiful to look at and the water is warm! Also to make your marriage legal in Mexico you must arrive 4 business days prior to the ceremony and have blood work done. Because of our flight schedule we opted to a symbolic wedding in Mexico, arriving on a Friday night and getting married on Monday, things couldn't have been easier. We met with the wedding coordinator on Saturday morning to go over the details and then enjoyed ourselves until Monday - no blood work, paper work or passports required. To narrow down the huge lists of resorts in the Riviera you should ask yourself the following questions: How much do you want your guests to spend? All Inclusive? Family Friendly? Large or Small Resort? What amenities do you need at the resort? How long of a drive are you willing to go from the airport? I have stayed at the following so if you have any questions about these resorts in particular let me know. Grand Sirenis twice Gran Bahia Coba Grand Sunset Princess Ocean Turquesa Grand Xcaret I also stayed at a resort in Cancun (I think it was a Barcelo) which I enjoyed but I prefer the Riviera. Congrats & happy planning!

For anyone considering doing a TTD - DO IT! Once I saw some pictures I knew I wanted to do a cenote session but my husband was pretty reluctant. He thought it was a waste of money and why did we need to do this, no one else we know have pictures like this, which is exactly why I wanted to do it. So I paid a deposit and told him and gave him the next 6 months to get used to the fact it was going to happen. The day of the TTD he was like a kid at Christmas and couldn't stop saying how much fun it actually was. Here are some of my tips if you're going to do an underwater shoot: Wear your hair up - I didn't and ended up regretting this as I constantly pulling my hair away from my face. Don't worry about the make up - its going to wash off anyway once you get in the water. If you think you're a decent swimmer imagine what it will be like with a wet dress and a weight belt around your waist. I'm not trying to scare anyone off but with my wet dress and an extra 20 lbs or so tied around my waist I couldn't swim nearly as well as I thought I would be able too. I did have a teeny tiny incident when my dress got tangled around my legs and I couldn't make it to the surface but that is why they have assistants with them - he was quick to grab me and pull me up. Take some accesories with you - I took my real touch bouquet and some barefoot sandals with me. Relax and have fun, trust your photographer and just go with it. I can't wait, I should have my pictures by next week and I'm so excited to see them!

At our resort each balcony had a clothes line so I painted the clothes pins to match our colors so our guests wouldn't have to worry about their clothes blowing away. Not sure if anyone actually used theirs but it was a cheap filler.

I never got the feeling that "This is the one" when trying on dresses and eventually just bought my Pronovias, Alfil because I was running out of time. On the day of the wedding with my hair and make up done though it felt right and I loved that it had a little Mexican flair.

Art & Photo just posted a short video from the wedding on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfPLtTey3a4&feature=share

Here's a link to a short video from my wedding last month http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfPLtTey3a4&feature=share

My mom's dress came from seller rozannedee, its a Maggy London dress. I found it by searching coral dresses, short, short sleeve, sleeveless.

I made one in excel. It was fairly easy if you are familar with the program: Make a rectangle using the shapes option half the size you want your topper to be Create an identical rectangle directly below it In each box type what you want in and add any pictures, clip art, etc Do the same in the second box Flip/Rotate your wording and pictures so when you print and fold the paper in half it reads correctly Before printing make sure you get rid of you shape outline or add a border if you like Print and cut to desired size Fold in half (I used a boning tool to get a sharp edge) To attach I placed the topper over my bag and used a hole punch to create holes on each side of the bag and then secured each side with a brad. Tools Used White Cardstock Home Printer Paper Cutter Boning Tool Hole Punch Brads

Our color scheme was pink and orange, but the maid of honor, groom and best man wore coral. Here's a pic of the bridal party to give you an idea.

What a great find!!! You're mom looks fantastic! Finding a dress for my mother was by far the hardest part of the wedding planning. With only a few weeks before we left I ordered a dress for her off ebay and kept my fingers crossed that it would fit - it did and matched our colors perfectly.

Some pics of our attire and a few other favs from the day. I have no idea what we are laughing about and we look like huge dorks but this picture just screams "happy"

Ok, so its been awhile but I now have almost all my pics from the big day and thought I should post them so you can see how everything came together. The barefoot sandals I made for myself & maid of honor. The ceremony set up, I took everything with me except the real flowers and white fabric. Shells were purchased from Winners & Ebay, Fans from Oriental Trading, white capiz chandelier off Kijiji and chair sashes from ebay. The WC did exactly what I wanted with everything. The cake provided by the resort with my DIY cake boxes, I took some extra ribbon with me for them to use. The DIY napkin rings. Guest Table Set up, prior to being completed, still need the luminiaries and shells.

You don't need anything to do a symbolic wedding and they don't care whether you are legally married before or not. I did a symbolic wedding last month and we still haven't done a legal wedding here yet, probably will next month.

My best piece of advice would be work with your travel agent. My TA secured our booking one year prior to our wedding date. At that time our resort was advertising rates of $1850 per person but my TA got us a group booking rate of $1350 per person plus extra benefits. Since we had booked as a group we also had a price drop gurantee, so if the price went down 45 days prior to departure we would get a one time price reduction - the rates didn't go down until about 2 weeks prior. Also with our group booking we had enough guests travel with us so my husband and I went for free, upgraded luggage allowance and free drinks on the plane.

If you are getting married in Canada prior to going to Mexico then you don't have to do anything once you get to Mexico. You would be doing a symbolic ceremony since you would already be legally married and nothing is required. We did a symbolic and it was the easiest thing ever. We arrived at the resort late Friday night, met with the WC for about 3 hours on Saturday to confirm location/decorations/menu, etc and then had our symbolic ceremony on Monday. No passports/papers, etc required for the symbolic ceremony, we did sign a paper at the ceremony to make it look real which was nice since most of our guests didn't know the difference.

Contact a travel agent. I planned on taking care of everything myself then my aunt offered her services and I'm so glad she did. She was able to secure a group booking rate for us one year in advance and there were many other perks as well. Because we had enough people book my husband and I were able to travel for free, we got free drinks on the plane, luggage upgrades & everyone in my group got a special gift in their room upon arrival at the resort (tequila and a fruit platter). Also by booking as a group there was a guarentee that if the rates went down 45 days to departure we would get the difference refunded to us - it didn't but it was nice to know that it was available. My guests paid about $1350, taxes included to stay one week at the Grand Sirenis Resort, flying out of Halifax, NS.

Most resorts spray for insects. I've been going to the Mayan Riviera every year for the past 8 years and never been bitten until this year when we went into a jungle to do our TTD in a cenote.

I didn't want anything traditional so this was our playlist: Seating Rhianna - We Found Love Selena Gomez - Love You Like a Love Song Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved Calvin Harris - Feels So Close Bride's Enterance Akon - Angel Paper Signing Plain White T's - 1, 2, 3, 4 Recessional One Republic - Good Life

My cake made at the Grand Sirenis Resort, I brought the ribbon and cake boxes with me. It was a tres leches with layers of fresh strawberries.

Check out the Grand Sirenis Resort. They have two locations for weddings, one being private as well as a private area to have a dinner and reception. I was just married there and had 35 guests with me we booked over a year ahead and the cost was about $1300 per person, taxes included flying from Halifax. If you are interested in seeing pictures of the ceremony and reception check out the thread Grand Sirenis Brides, there are a few but just look for the one that was recently updated.

Here's a pic of my cousin and myself wearing ours the day of the wedding.

Ok, now onto the Dinner & Reception For dinner we had the tropical salad followed by a choice of steak, salmon or ricotta ravioli finished off with chocolate brownies and coconut ice cream. Everyone raved about how good the meal was I heard from so many of the guys that it was the best steak they ever had and my mom said hands down best salmon she has had. I had the ravioli and it was good but kinda wished I had gotten the salmon. I tried a piece of Colin's steak and it was really good, the chef's did an amazing job since they were using a portable kitchen and it ended up down pouring on them. Our head waitress was Corinna and she made sure we never had an empty glass in front of us. During dinner we had the Mexican band play to keep our guests entertained, also made for some great pictures. Following dinner the DJ started and I was worried about this since I had read somewhere the DJ was really bad - ours was fantastic he played a great mix of music with a lot of current songs and some good oldies to keep everyone happy. My aunt's boyfriend became our unofficial MC and he did a great job of keeping everyone laughing (hilarious since he had only met Colin & I once before). At one point in the night I noticed that there was 2 chairs in the middle of the floor and got a little worried about what was about to happen. Sure enough next thing I knew I was being pulled to one of the chairs and being made to sit down. I started to panic slightly since I wasn't wearing a garter but they had other plans in mind - out came the Tequila shots. Before I knew it Corinna was pulling my dress up and I had to hold a shot between my thighs while Colin licked the salt off my neck and then without using his hands had to do the shot. He somehow missed the shot glass and it ended up spilling down my legs. Next up was my turn at the shot and after Colin's poor performance I knew I had to show him how it was done so like a pro I licked the salt and grabbed the glass with mouth and tilted my head back - I looked like a hero for a moment but I can't stand Tequila so I ended up letting it go back into the glass before swallowing. Unfortunately that wasn't the end of the Tequila shots as they had some green mixture in a squirt bottle that they were going around with getting everyone to drink. All in all the night was perfect even with the heavy rain and high winds (Hurrican Janette as my father would say). Our Tres Leches cakes with real strawberries. Guests were encouraged to cake back to their rooms with them. My DIY napkin rings My very conservative and rather nerdy brother absolutely loves LMFAO's Party Rock and thought he would bust a move, much to the horror of my nieces. The guys thought they would give the servers a little break and take over their job for awhile. Hope you enjoyed the pictures, I have more of little things throughout the week, like our nightly snacks they left us and I'll try to add those another day.