MrsHK

Hi ladies! Congrats to you all on your upcoming weddings! I'm a May 2013 bride that happens to live in Playa Del Carmen in the Riviera Maya. I saw that there were a couple of brides in here that are getting married down here, specifically DEWed2013 and Lindsay Green. First, I wanted to offer my assistance if either of you has any questions about the area. We've been living down here for a year now and know the area quite well. Throw any questions you may have my way! Second, I'm in the process of collecting some decor for our rustic vintage themed wedding down here on May 22nd. I'm having a hard time finding everything I need since the area caters mostly to tourists and doesn't really have a ton of options in the way of home decor. If anyone having their wedding in Cancun, Playa Del Carmen, Tulum or anywhere in between would like to sell some of their decor items to me please let me know! This may also help with baggage fees on the way home These are some of the things we are still looking for: - anything that would suit a vintage or rustic style wedding - fans in lighter shades of pink, teal, lavender, ivory or just made of wood - a birdcage (rustic looking if possible) - string lighting of any sort, exposed bulb and christmas lights - props and frames for a DIY photobooth (nothing too cheesy, we're think more of a "gentlemen & ladies" style" - oil lamps - tin buckets of various sizes - a parasol in any shade of purple, teal or turquoise - small glass candleholders - burlap or lace runners that would fit rectangle tables for 10-12 people - white or teal paper lanterns - white or teal paper picado (as long as its not personalized of course) - anything else that's ivory, blush, lavender or turquoise Thanks, and happy planning to everyone! You guys are getting really close!

Okay, here's the flower info! There are quite a few little flower shops in town, or "florerias" as they are called down here. One is on 30th Av between Constitueyntes and 20th St and its a little shop painted green. I'll keep an eye out for other ones and will let you guys know the cross streets if I see one. Another place I've consistently seen flowers available is Walmart. I took a picture of what the roses cost and as of last week it was 47 pesos for 6 roses ($4) and 85 pesos for 12 roses ($7). At both places, the florerias and Walmart, I've only seen roses, carnations, lilies, orchids, china mums and maybe a few others that I'm forgetting. The selections are not as big as you'd see at home but between Walmart and maybe one floreria you would be able to find enough for your bouquets and tables, depending on which flowers you want. The roses come in various colours too although I'm not sure exactly which colours aside from the usual red and pink. The quality here can vary, meaning that the displays could have have a combination of flowers in good condition and some not so much, but there will be enough in good condition for you to choose from. Another thing to consider is if you'll have a fridge to keep your bouquets in. It is very hot and humid down here and your bouquets might wilt if you leave them out for a day or two even if they're in water. I'd recommend keeping them in a fridge in a bucket of water if you can. We're getting married in Tulum which is a small town south of Playa Del Carmen by about an hour, for those who don't know. I have yet to find a flower shop down there, so I'm using Vanessa Jaimes for my flowers. http://www.vanessajaimes.com/ I want peonies and ranunculus for my bouquets which she said they'd have to import from Holland for a very high price. No thanks! She suggested that I buy silk peonies and ranunculus and she will mix them with roses, freesias and lisianthus for my bouquet and centrepieces. She's had brides do that in the past and she said they looked good. I'm going to order the silk flowers from afloral.com and save-on-crafts.com to Canada and bring them down here before the wedding. That's another option if you are particular about the types of flowers, although its probably more expensive than just grabbing them in town. I wish I knew where she gets the freesias and lisianthus from, I would just buy them myself! I'll keep looking over the next few weeks though before I give her a deposit.

Here's our coozie and drink tumbler for our Welcome Kits. We're also including a welcome brochure, a collapsable cooler bag with no logo, and tote bags with an anchor logo (one per couple but we haven't ordered them yet). Our hotel is eco-friendly so they don't have fridges in any of the hotel rooms. I thought if we gave everyone cooler bags that might make up for the lack of fridge! It will also cut their booze cost for the week since they can keep a six pack cold in their room. (We're not staying at an all-inclusive.) I was considering doing little hangover kits too with tylenol & maybe some pepto or tums, we'll see! We got everything from discountmugs.com. They were great to deal with and we're very happy with the product. You get discounts the more you order so we ordered 100 coozies, 80 tumblers and 50 cooler bags (one per couple) and it ended up being around $500. We used our wedding logo for the imprint. Our friend is a graphic designer and drew our wedding logo by hand. He's so talented! He actually drew the Herschel backpack logo too if anyone's familiar with that brand. Here's our wedding website too if anyone's interested! Mikee is a web developer so he made our site for us, with my guidance for content of course! https://loveandrum.squarespace.com/

Are there any Playa Del Carmen or Riviera Maya brides that are curious about finding flowers down here for DIY bouquets, or wondering what sort of flowers are available? I got a PM inquiring about it earlier and I can paste my reply here if anyone is interested. Just let me know!

Yes, I'll go take some coozie photos right now! The boat to Cozumel is about $15 per person each way, or $30 round trip. I recommend buying a one way so you can choose which boat you want to take on your way back. If you do round trip you have to go back at a certain time. Cozumel is great for snorkelling and diving or renting a car and exploring the beaches around the island. The town is smaller than Playa Del Carmen but is very similar. Same shops selling the same stuff, lots of diamonds international stores and things of the like. It's a cruise ship port so they cater to that crowd. I don't know what kind of travellers you are, but I would consider Tulum for your honeymoon. If you like to relax on the beach (the nicest along the coast in my opinion) with no crowds or resorts around, Tulum is your spot. They use the term "eco-chic" to describe it because a lot of places run on solar power or generators. Its got a laidback and bohemian vibe and I always feel so happy and at peace whenever I'm there. The Tulum town (pueblo) has lots of places to eat for cheap and is more quaint and less touristy than Playa Del Carmen and Cozumel. The Tulum beach strip (a $5 cab ride away) has lots of cute boutique hotels and prices range from $50 a night to $350 and up. You can find anything that suits your style. There are some really beautiful and unique places to eat too. We've had a lot of friends that have spent time down here in the last year and everyone loved Tulum. It depends what kind of traveller you are though! Here's an article about Tulum that describes it quite well: http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/the-stylish-beaches-of-tulum-mexico

Thanks for the warm welcome ladies! Yes, I went through all the pages over the last few days, although I did skim over some of course. It's great to see the process of everyone's weddings coming together and all the little projects along the way! Tova I loved your passports, they looked great! Since we live in Mexico we're doing digital invites, so that's saving us some time and money. I'll write my list of things we've completed and things left to do later tonight and maybe some questions will come up. I'll also upload photos of our personalized beer coozies and travel mugs. In the meantime if anyone has any questions about the area, let me know!

Hi ladies! I'm a May 2013 bride and just came across this thread recently! I went back to the very beginning and read through all the posts (all 143 pages hehe) and am very happy to have found you guys! There's so much support in this forum and this thread. My fiance and I were engaged 2 years ago on New Year's Eve and moved down to Playa Del Carmen one year ago. We held off on the wedding planning until we were all moved down here and settled. We work online and basically just relocated the home office! If anyone has any questions about the area I'm happy to answer them as I've been lucky enough to explore the area over the last year. Our wedding is on May 22nd and we are having it at El Bistro Ziggy Beach in Tulum. All of our guests are staying at Cabañas Tulum and their sister hotel that is opening this week, The Beach. Both hotels used to be one but they are separating the higher end boutique side and naming it The Beach. So far we have 70 people booked with 10 more that are maybes! We were expecting 50 people to come and we are so very happy that many more people have decided to come join us in paradise! Happy planning ladies, and congrats to you all on your upcoming weddings! -Katy HK

May 22nd down in Tulum, but we'll be staying in Tulum from May 18th to May 25th. I see you are May 18th near Puerto Morelos! That's about an hour North of Tulum. What kinds of things do you have?

Hi Ladies! I'm a bride that lives down here in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. If you are having your wedding here in the next year or so and have some things you'd like to sell once your wedding is done, I'd love to have a look at some photos and possibly buy them from you! No extra baggage fees for you on the way home would be a great way to save some money! Here are some of the things I am interested in: - a birdcage (rustic looking if possible) - string lighting of any sort, exposed bulb and christmas lights - props for a DIY photobooth - oil lamps - lanterns - small glass candleholders or candles holders of any kind - LED candles of any size - white or teal paper picado (as long as its not personalized of course) - unique bottles, mason jars or small rustic details - anything else that would suit a vintage or rustic style wedding Also, If your wedding is coming up in the Riviera Maya anytime in the next year or two, I'd be happy to rent some of these items to you! Please PM me if you're interested in renting rustic/vintage style decor in the Riviera Maya. My goal is to help other brides like me decorate their venues without costing an arm and leg for "wedding pricing". I know how frustrating vendors and resorts can be with their outrageous prices, so expect a fair price from me! I've also sorted out a way around outside vendor fees from your resort if we end up working together Here's a small sample of the things I have for rent: - lanterns with LED or real candles - mason jars of various sizes, both for flowers and candles - tea light holders with LED or real tealights - exposed bulb lighting - Xmas lights with lace overlay for whimsical effect - paper lanterns of various colours and sizes with light inside - papel picado, either multi coloured or all white - burlap & lace table runners (can be rented separately) - large oval tin for drinks/craft beer station - vintage suitcase with "Cards" sign or set up with whiskey decanters & cigars - wooden crates - variety of vintage style mismatched bottles & vases - hanging bottles for gazebo - vintage books of various colours and sizes - small tin buckets - wooden ampersand - vintage coca cola chalkboard - customizable table name/number frames - customizable banners for sweetheart table, dessert table & photos - ivory parasols Plus much more, message me for a full list with pricing! Happy planning! ~ Katy HK

Hi ladies! I'm new here and have a question - I've seen threads about Dreams Punta Cana, Dreams Palm Beach and Dreams La Romana. On the Dreams website it only list two Dominican resorts. Does one of them go by two names? Thanks, Katy