janette34

Wedding Day!!! - Monday, April 16 We got up went to breakfast, I had a mini freak out since it was very cloudy and overcast and would rain occasionally. I warned everyone within arm's length that if they told me it was good luck to have rain on my wedding day they would get punched in the face (I was joking, somewhat). My mom was getting her hair done at the spa and she had to be there for 10:30, my cousin and maid of honor was getting her hair done and a mani/pedi so she had to be there at 9:30 am. I didn't have to be to the spa until 12:30 so I hung out at the beach praying the sun would come out. At 12 I went back to my room had a quick shower, grabbed my dress and headed to the spa. Marizita greeted me and told me that she would take care of my hair and make up so I showed her some pictures of what I wanted and she went to work. I was a little worried about the make up part since I don't normally wear anything more than a little powder and mascara but she did a fabulous job and even put on false eyelashes. After my hair and make up was finished I went downstairs and grabbed a bite to eat, checked the weather still cloudy, slight drizzle and then back into the spa for a manicure which was done by Gero and like Marizita she did a great job too. My only disappointment with the spa would be the private room they give you to get ready in - it really wasn't much more than a basic room with only 2 chairs and a coat rack, guess I was expecting something a little more glamorous. Finally I got dressed had some pictures taken, one word of advice if you want to have your pictures taken outside don't go down the little wooden boardwalk by the spa. We thought this would be a great location with lots of greenery in the background but when we were finished I lifted my dress up to start walking back the bottom of it was covered in ants, seriously there must have been about 100 tiny little ants all crawling around the bottom of my dress, oh well what else is your maid of honor good for except swatting the ants away. At about 4:30 we got ready for the shuttle to come pick us up and waited and waited and waited some more. The ceremony was scheduled to start at 5 and it had to of been 5 when I finally got picked up. This didn't bother me since nothing was going to happen without me being there anyway. When we arrived at the ceremony location Elizabeth was there to meet us with my cousin's flowers (I took my own real touch bouquet) and gave us a run down of what to do. It was at that moment that the skies cleared and the sun came out for about an hour, it then rained like hell for the better part of the night but I didn't care anymore. From here I think I went on autopilot b/c I don't remember too much about it I just know that by the time I made it down the aisle my legs were shaking so bad I thought there would be no way I could stand there for the ceremony without falling over. The ceremony was short and simple and then we had some group photos done after that the guests went and enjoyed appetizers and cocktails while the parents and bridal party did more pictures. I never got a chance to try any of the appetizers but I asked a few people and they said they were good.

Alright pictures from Wedd Pict Cancun arrived today and picked up other pictures from my sister in law last night so I can finally start a review! Travel Agent - My aunt, works for Expedia Cruise Ship Center Tour Operator - Sunquest Flight Operated By - Thomas Cook Canada Wow, its hard to think back and get to all the details and planning that has gone on over the last year. In April of 2011 by aunt contacted me and told me she would be happy to take care of all the booking details for us. I had originally planned on doing this part myself but was happy that she offered and I figured she would be better suited to deal with any issues that might come up. About a week after speaking with her she called and had some prices on a few resorts. One of the resorts was the Grand Sirenis leaving on April 20, 2012 and returning on April 27, 2012. Having stayed at the Grand Sirenis in the past I started looking at the wedding packages they had to offer and decided because of the private ceremony space and the palapa this would be the place we would be married at. We had two weeks to tell our guests and I would secure a deposit for them and they would have 6 weeks to pay me the deposit with the balance being due on Dec. 1. In total we had 35 people booked so my husband and myself travelled for free. Everything was going great, the wedding coordinators were quick to respond to my emails and we secured the date of April 24, 2012 for the platinum package. I kicked my planning into high gear ordering lots of freebies from Vistaprint with our wedding date of 04-24-12 on them. Fast forward to mid September I'm at work and I get a call from my aunt, I automatically knew it had to be bad news if she was calling me at work and it was. Sunquest/Thomas Cook had decided to cancel our flight with the last flight to Mexico leaving Halifax on Friday, April 13 so we had two choices - we could book this date at the same rate or cancel all together and start the whole process over with a different tour operator. I opted for the flight on April 13 and frantically contacted the WC to see if we could even be married the week of April 13 - 20 and confirmed the date of April 16. Thankfully everyone in our group was really flexible and were still able to attend. My aunt asked me to write a letter to Sunquest explaining what a stress it had been cancelling our flight and the extra expenses I incurred having things reprinted. As a result they offered my husband and I each $50 off our package (wow, so generous) but my aunt explained to them that we were travelling for free so they wanted to know what would make me happy. I asked for extra luggage allowance knowing that I was going to have 5 suitcases to take and they said NO so then I asked for emergency row seating since we're both pretty tall and find it hard on our legs flying for for 4 hours and they said NO, but did give us seats in row 1 - bulkhead seating. I thought well this will be good since we'll be the first off the plane but guess what, Thomas Cook flights don't have doors at the front of the planes but rather at row 10 so we weren't the first off the plane. Other than that the flight was pretty good, but Thomas Cook planes are older models with horrible entertainment systems (think old school planes with monitors in the aisles) however since we had booked as a group everyone was given vouchers for an extra 5 kg of luggage and 2 free alcoholic drinks, even for my 3 underage nieces which my aunt gave to me. The flight to and from was on time and no issues with the flight at all. About 2 months before we left I changed my mind on the package and decided to go from Platinum to Presidential (especially after seeing MJKH's room) but unfortunately the Presidential suites had already been booked but Elizabeth assured me that we would be in a great room anyhow and still get all the benefits of the Presidential package. We arrived at the resort around 1 am and when checking in the front desk kept saying "Ooh, you're in a very nice room" which I figured they probably said regardless of what room you're in but was pleasantly surprised when we arrived to our room. We were in building 19, top floor overlooking the beach. I took pictures of the room but they didn't turn out but it was great we had a huge bathroom with tub, seperate shower, 2 sinks, bedroom area with king size bed and a canopy around the bed to pull close in case we wanted to leave the patio doors open to hear the waves crashing. The room also had a seperate sitting area with dining table, couch, desk with computer and internet access and 2 large screen tvs. As part of the package we should have had a full bar in our room, we didn't but I wasn't upset we never spent much time in the room anyhow. Upon arrival their was a bottle of champagne and a fruit platter waiting for us along with a letter from Elizabeth asking us to meet with her at 10 the following morning with our decorations. I stayed up until 4 am putting together the welcome bags and unpacking and was back up around 7:30 to start my vacay! Meeting with Elizabeth - Elizabeth went over all the details of the package and asked us whether we wanted a religious ceremony or something with less reference to religion and we told her that we would be more comfortable without a religious script. She then asked to see what I had brought for decor so I pulled out my pictures for her and showed her what I wanted. I realized that I had forgotten to print a few of the pics so I asked her if I could borrow her computer for a minute to bring up my planning thread on here so she could see the rest of my pics - thank you BDW you saved me! We met with Elizabeth for approximately 3 hours and she set up our spa appointments, welcome dinner, etc. She is such a sweetheart and if she is your WC you are in good hands! I asked her if it was possible to switch the vanilla ice cream for coconut and the chef had originally told her no but she asked again while we were there and finally got a yes from them. While meeting with Elizabeth she asked if we would mind having some pictures taken for them to use in the office which was fine with both of us. We left Colin's suit with her to be pressed and headed straight to the pool bar to join the rest of our group for drinks. Welcome Dinner - our welcome dinner was held at the Japanese restaurant on Saturday night. They reserved 3 show tables for our group and had a great time, for some in the group it was their first time seeing such a show and everyone really enjoyed it. Honeymoon Spa Package - since the week was packed with things to do and places to be we opted to do our spa package on Sunday. The spa package included an 80 minute massage, a steam bath and some other type of bath with changing colors and jets finished with their massaging water bed. Neither of us really cared for the spa services except for the massage, it was great the baths just seemed to drag on. We spent about 3 hours at the spa. If you go to the spa make sure you eat while you are there the little restaurant has great salads, sandwiches and stirfrys.

To do a legal marriage in Mexico you must be there 4 business days before the ceremony and have bloodwork done. If you're just doing a symbolic it doesn't matter.

I wore wedges for the ceremony so I could walk in the sand without sinking and then changed into flip flops for the reception.

MJKH - I did ask for the coconut ice cream - its my absolute favorite! Elizabeth told me that she didn't think it would be available but I was so happy that we got it. The salad is in a ring of pineapple and probably one of the best salads I have ever had. Elizabeth did explain to us that the charge for hanging the lanterns was due to having extra employees and the time it would take to get up to the beams to hang them. It was so windy the night of our reception that chairs were blowing over and they had to fill my luminaries with water to keep them from blowing down. The head table was the furthest from the ocean so I felt really bad for the tables closest too especially when it started to rain and it was blowing in on them.

We did the presidential package and paid extra for them to hang up the lanterns ($5 a piece) and for the outdoor lounge furniture (about $500 for 2 sets that woud seat 8 people each). As for the wedding decor I took just about everything with me except for the fabric around the arch and the flowers. The resort photographer emailed me about 2 weeks prior to the wedding with his package prices and I did find them to be a little high especially since I hadn't heard anything really great about the quality of their pictures. Fortunately for us my sister in law does some photography and offered to take our pictures. We took the 10 photos from the resort that were included in the package and he had taken about 135 of the ceremony. Most of his work was really good but my sister in law had all of the same pics. As far as decor goes just make sure you take pictures of how you want things to look and the ladies in the wedding office will do a great job of recreating this for you. When we met with them I realized I forgot some of my photos so I just asked them if I could use their computer for a moment and brought up my planning thread on here so they copied the link and used that to go by. I have to question the quality of the resort photographer since the resort brought in Jesus Vazquez from Wedd Pict Cancun to get some shots for them to use for promotional material.

Thanks!! Just bought one.

We did a TTD in a cenote! It took a while to get my husband on board with this as he kept saying it was going to be a waste of money but if you asked him now he would tell you it was one of the most fun things he has done. I've only seen one picture so far but I love it and I love the fact that it's so different from everyone else's wedding pictures. We booked Juan for 3 hours and he had two assistants with him, everyone snapping pictures from different angles. 3 hours flew by the only con I can think of was that I was FREEZING by the end of the 3 hours. It was an overcast day to begin with and the water in the cenote is chilly so I was literally shaking when we were done, but I'm so happy we did it.

I did a TTD, but I used a cheap dress from China and I'm glad I did. When we got back to the resort the bottom of the dress was filthy, but more from walking thru the jungle rather than being in the cenote. I ended up leaving the dress in the bath tub at the resort.

Oh and I forgot to mention that if you look up Wedd Pict Cancun on facebook you can find some pictures from my ceremony at the private beach location. The resort asked me if they could take some pictures for future use and this is who they used.

Yay, just found out that some of pro picks were shipped today so I should have them by next week. Once I get them I'll do a proper review on the resort.

I was married on April 16 and this has been bothering me ever since so I hope someone else feels the same way I do. It seems that since we decided to have a destination wedding that no one has taken it seriously and I feel I've been "ripped off" in some areas. For starters there almost wasn't a stagette for me. If it wasn't for a friend of mine calling my mother 2 weeks before we left it never would have happened. So with only a week before we left for Mexico a very short notice party was arranged. It was nice to have a little gathering before leaving for Mexico but with such short notice not that many were able to attend and not one person brought a gift. Now don't get me wrong I wasn't expecting gifts or in any need of things but come on, a card would have been nice. Departure Day - this wedding had been in the works for a year and I planned my heart out, right down to making everyone in flight snack packs with homemade seahorse & starfish cookies, gum, snacks, customized brochure, etc. Out of the 35 people who travelled with us I think about 3 thanked me. OOT Bags - again a year's of work and these were handed out during a welcome dinner at the resort and I can tell you that exactly 3 people personally thanked me for the gifts. Husband's Brother & Sister in Law - my husband has one brother and he's only 2 years older than him. They get along fine but they couldn't find the time to call us before we left to congratulate us or wish us luck. They didn't come to the wedding b/c at first they couldn't affort it - then went and bought a new truck & camper. 2nd excuse was b/c their daughter is diabetic and from what friends told them about the DR (hello, we're not going there, we're going to Mexico) she would get sick and no one would be able to help her b/c doctors in 3rd world countries don't know how to treat diabetics. His niece's birthday was the day after we got home so went to visit them and they didn't congratulate us or ask about the trip. We brought it up and still just blank expressions. Wedding Night - we had our wedding at a private location on the resort that required a shuttle to get back and forth. When the night was over and the shuttle came to pick us up everyone jumped on leaving myself, my husband & my mother with our hands full of flowers, shoes, etc. No one offered to get off and let us on even though it was obvious that we were struggling to carry/hold everything until I made a slightly too loud comment about the bride & groom getting priority. Arrival Home - since we come home we have received exactly 5 cards, 3 from guests who travelled with us. We did not get married for the gifts/money but I just feel like everyone has forgotten about us, whats wrong with sending a card with congratulations. Oh and here's another good one about a week before we left I got an email from my TA asking if it was alright for 2 people whom I've never met to go to the wedding and reception - WTF? Long story short 2 of our guests switched tour operators and these 2 strangers filled their places and as it turned our were friends of my aunt. My answer was no since I did not want to pay for 2 more people whom I've never met or pack more items for the ceremony decor for them. I did say it was ok for them to come after the dinner and join the reception - what a mistake! They guy was a total ass and made some really rude comments through out the evening.

#2, the one not made by Angel's.

I actually like the second bouquet better.

I bought one of these deals the other day too! I think mine was through Groupon, and it was a 20X30 for $49. Can't wait to get my TTD pics so I can have it printed!

I brought my own centerpieces, basically just vases from the dollar store that I wrapped velum around to make luminaries and had some shells on the table. If you are going to go with candles and you're going to be in the palapa I would suggest flameless as it was extremely windy the night of my wedding. There was a small joke made to my husband that it was Hurrican Janette and that is what he has to look forward too! They did charge me for putting up the lanterns, I had taken 60 with me but they only charged me for 30 but they put up some of their own which looked great! I don't have my pro pictures yet but here is some my cousin took showing the lanterns and some of our meal. I think they charged me $5 per lantern for set up. Tropical Fruit Salad Brownie with Coconut Ice Cream My table inspiration, they did a great job or recreating this. And this shows how windy it was, we are holding onto our glasses so they didn't blow over!

This was my concern too since I only had my Maid of Honor, no other attendants. I used Angel by Akon and downloaded free music editing software and shortened the song to 1 1/2 minutes. Using the software allows you to fade the music out, join pieces of music together if you want, take out lyrics, etc. It worked perfectly for me and by having the song fade out no one was able to tell that it abruptly stopped.

We rented lounge decor for our cocktail hour and I loved the way it looked plus I didn't want all my guests just standing around for a hour. It was going to be available for the whole evening so guests could use it during the reception as well, but it started to rain, alot, and they had to take it back to storage. I should have some pictures soon!

Hmm, I posted a reply the other day but it doesn't appear to be showing up. I have stayed at the Gran Bahia Coba and the Ocean Turquesa, loved both and here are some points for you to consider: Gran Bahia Huge property, lots of restaurants, pools and activities to choose from Food was great, but reservations needed for a la carte's 3 Theatres on the property for evening entertainment Easy to get to the highway to take the collectivos Long drive to and from the airport Long beach, but lots of coral in the sand so a little rough Nice rooms, large, really liked that they had snacks such as chocolate bars and chips in the mini bar Ocean Turquesa Close to the airport, about 20 minutes if I remember correctly No annoying plastic bracelets Food was good, no reservations for a la carte's Nice beach, long could walk a distance Other resorts close by Long walk to the highway so cabs would be necessary to leave the resort Loved that you could see the ocean from the lobby Nice rooms, more modern than the Coba Very small theatre, but they did have a really good circus show It has been a few years since I have been to either property so some things may have changed but you can't go wrong with either of them.

We had the same bags! Everyone in my group loved them and used them too.

Wedding Dress & Alterations $1650 TTD Dress $280 Groom's Suite $300 Best Man's $130 Maid of Honor $60 Shoes $20 Jewelry $60 Hair Flower $20 =$2520, wow, wish I hadn't just added that up

Brush on paint, I bought the foam rollers that fit on the Martha Stewart bottles but ended up using a small foam roller as it gave better coverage. The boxes folded down so they were easy to pack and the wedding coordinators set them up for me. I'm still waiting for pictures of the reception set up but when I get them I'll post them, lots of pink and orange details.

Oooh, the cake boxes! They were plain white and I hated them so out came the Martha Stewart paint and many, many hours later I had pink & orange boxes. After they were painted I just used zots to add the cardboard flowers.

I stayed at the Bahia Coba in 07 and the Ocean Turquesa in 08, loved both resorts. Here are my thoughts on both: Gran Bahia Property Very Large Long Beach, but lots of coral so sand is rough, no other resorts close by Long Drive to and from the airport Good Food, but had to make reservations Great Nightly Entertainment - 3 theatres on the property so if you don't like the show at the Coba, go to Tulum or Akumal Very easy to get to the highway to catch a collectivo Rooms in the Coba section were nice, loved that the mini bar had snacks such as chocolate bars, nuts and chips Lots of pools to choose from Ocean Turquesa Close to the airport, about a 20 minute drive if I remember correctly Loved that as soon as you entered the lobby you could see the ocean Nice rooms, more modern than the Coba Food was good, don't think reservations were necessary at the time, but I understand this may have changed No annoying plastic bracelets for the week Very small theatre, but they did have an excellent circus show when we were there Nice beach, long could walk a distance but there are other properties next door Very long walk from the resort to the highway so cabs are necessary to leave the resort Hope this helps in making your decision.

I just had a pink & orange wedding, here are some of my pics.