MrsHK

Quote: Originally Posted by DinaQtobe Not even one week now! (til we leave anyway, a little over a week until the day of the wedding). I am doing a lot better this week. We got a lot of little things wrapped up, and packing is 95% finished. Huge relief to have that done. I just can't wait to be on that plane down to Mexico with my soon-to-be husband! (Hope the weather forecast improves for the Mayan Riviera - right now lots of rain for the week we are there! ) Don't fret too much about the weather! I've lived here for two years and it is almost always wrong. It has been sunny here for three days now, with just a little bit of rain at night that only last for about 20 minutes. For example, right now it says it is mostly cloudy but I don't see a cloud anywhere. Here's a webcam, where you can see what the weather actually is: http://www.webcams.travel/webcam/1306626123-Weather-Playa-del-Carmen-Playacar-Palace-Beach-Playa-del-Carmen I think there's a few different webcams on there for different areas along the coast.

Quote: Originally Posted by Hillary Diana Great idea. My e-mail is [email protected]. Please send me some more info,pics, pricing etc. hope to hear from you soon. -hillary Hey Hilary, Thanks for your inquiry! I'll send you the info right now.

Hola Playacar Palace brides! Congrats on your upcoming weddings, and hope your planning is going well! I've posted this in another PP thread, but I thought I'd post here too since I got some positive feedback from my other post. I'm a newlywed from Vancouver, Canada that lives down here in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. I have quite a few decor items leftover from our wedding in May, mostly in a rustic vintage style. I've decided to rent things out to brides that don't want to lug things like vases & mason jars down here to Mexico, and have priced things quite fairly compared to the resorts' prices. I have a lots of different types of bottles, mason jars, vases and lanterns, as well as a variety of other items like wooden signs & frames, table runners, rustic birdcages, string lighting and even a portable sound system. You can tell your WC that you are bringing the items yourself to avoid the $800 external vendor fee. If you want a Style Me Pretty or Ruffled type of wedding in Mexico without a huge price tag, I'm your gal! I'm also always interested in buying items that brides bring down and would like to sell after their weddings. If you'd like to see some photos and a price list, please send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you all the info. Also if anyone has any questions about the area, ask away! I've lived in Playa Del Carmen for two years and know the area quite well. Happy planning ladies! Here's a couple of photos of some items we used in our wedding and that are for rent:

Hello fellow Canadian brides! Congrats on your upcoming weddings, and hope your planning is going well! This post is for any brides getting married in the Mayan Riviera, Mexico... I'm a newlywed from Vancouver, Canada that lives down here in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. I have quite a few decor items leftover from our wedding in May, mostly in a rustic vintage style. I've decided to rent things out to brides that don't want to lug things like vases & mason jars down here to Mexico, and have priced things quite fairly compared to the resorts' prices. I have a lots of different types of bottles, mason jars, vases and lanterns, as well as a variety of other items like wooden signs & frames, table runners, rustic birdcages, string lighting and even a portable sound system. If you want a Style Me Pretty or Ruffled type of wedding in Mexico without a huge price tag, I'm your gal! I'm also always interested in buying items that brides bring down and would like to sell after their weddings. If you'd like to see some photos and a price list, please send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you all the info. Also if anyone has any questions about the area, ask away! I've lived in Playa Del Carmen for two years and know the area quite well. Happy planning ladies! Here's a couple of photos of some items we used in our wedding and that are for rent:

Hello all you 2014 brides! After many of you getting such a great head start on planning, your big days are finally coming up! How exciting! This post is for any brides getting married in the Mayan Riviera, Mexico... I'm a newlywed from Vancouver, Canada that lives down here in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. I have quite a few decor items leftover from our wedding in May, mostly in a rustic vintage style. I've decided to rent things out to brides that don't want to lug things like vases & mason jars down here to Mexico, and have priced things quite fairly compared to the resorts' prices. I have a lots of different types of bottles, mason jars, vases and lanterns, as well as a variety of other items like wooden signs & frames, table runners, rustic birdcages, string lighting and even a portable sound system. If you want a Style Me Pretty or Ruffled type of wedding in Mexico without a huge price tag, I'm your gal! I'm also always interested in buying items that brides bring down and would like to sell after their weddings. If you'd like to see some photos and a price list, please send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you all the info. Also if anyone has any questions about the area, ask away! I've lived in Playa Del Carmen for two years and know the area quite well. Happy planning ladies! Here's a couple of photos of some items we used in our wedding and that are for rent:

Hello January brides! Your big days are coming up soon, you must be getting so excited! This post is for any brides getting married in the Mayan Riviera, Mexico... I'm a newlywed from Vancouver, Canada that lives down here in Playa Del Carmen. I have quite a few decor items leftover from our wedding in May, mostly in a rustic vintage style. I've decided to rent things out to brides that don't want to lug things like vases & mason jars down here to Mexico, and have priced things quite fairly compared to the resorts' prices. I have a lots of different types of bottles, mason jars, vases and lanterns, as well as a variety of other items like wooden signs & frames, rustic birdcages, string lighting and even a portable sound system. If you want a Style Me Pretty or Ruffled type of wedding in Mexico without a huge price tag, I'm your gal! I'm also always interested in buying items that brides bring down and would like to sell after their weddings. If you'd like to see some photos and a price list, please send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you all the info. Also if anyone has any questions about the area, ask away! I've lived in Playa Del Carmen for two years and know the area quite well. Happy planning ladies! Here's a couple of photos of some items we used in our wedding and that are for rent:

Quote: Originally Posted by Sarah519 Hi Traci Thanks for starting this thread. I am getting married December 3 at Grand Palladium Whitesands in the Mayan Riviera Mexico. So far I have booked it and just purchased my wedding dress but don't have much else yet. Bridesmaid dresses are the next step! Quote: Originally Posted by KlBride December 9th, 2013 Gran Porto Real Bride here! Where is everyone in the stages of planning? We didn't get any STD, but will be sending invites out soon. Quote: Originally Posted by KK2013 December 7, 2013 at Paradisus Playa del Carmen =) Thanks for starting this thread! Hello December brides! Your big days are coming up soon, you must be getting so excited! This post is for any brides getting married in the Mayan Riviera, Mexico... I'm a newlywed from Vancouver, Canada that lives down here in Playa Del Carmen. I have quite a few decor items leftover from our wedding in May, mostly in a rustic vintage style. I've decided to rent things out to brides that don't want to lug things like vases & mason jars down here to Mexico, and have priced things quite fairly compared to the resorts' prices. I have a lots of different types of bottles, mason jars, vases and lanterns, as well as a variety of other items like wooden signs & frames, rustic birdcages, string lighting and even a portable sound system. If you want a Style Me Pretty or Ruffled type of wedding in Mexico without a huge price tag, I'm your gal! I'm also always interested in buying items that brides bring down and would like to sell after their weddings. If you'd like to see some photos and a price list, please send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you all the info. Also if anyone has any questions about the area, ask away! I've lived in Playa Del Carmen for two years and know the area quite well. Happy planning ladies! Here's a couple of photos of the items we used in our wedding:

Oh, and don't try shipping anything. It is when you ship things that there are issues at customs and things get returned to sender, stolen or, if they actually arrive at the destination, you pay around 50% duty on the items. Shipping things ends up being waaaay more expensive. Bringing things on your person is the safest, cheapest and most effective way to get things here. Myself and several other ex-pats down here can attest to that!

Quote: Originally Posted by lastminbride Dina, Any chance you can ship some things? Customs is going to try to rip you off. Make sure you have we're receipt. The max you are allowed to bring in without paying taxes is $300. I'm not sure how much the official tax rate is for everything above that. But they will try to rip you off, lie, etc... So do the research, being the receipts, and be prepared to be assertive (not aggressive). Good luck hon! Quote: Originally Posted by DinaQtobe Thanks for the advice about the receipts. It's really not that much stuff, it's just these stupid cups take up so much space. I will definitely be under $300 in "gifts". The cups were only about 45$ and the BM gifts were a max of $200. I don't expect that we will have any excess baggage... I think I am more stressed about actually packing everything and not forgetting anything. I'm making a big deal out of something that I really shouldn't. Just stressed all around. Lastminbride: have you had a previous bad experience with customs? Quote: Originally Posted by lastminbride Hi Dina, Great to hear you are under $300 and that you'll take the receipts. You'll be covered then. I have not had a bad experience, but I know well how the customs officials work in Latin America. Also, goods are sometimes more expensive there than that we find online here, and so they don't believe the price of things (specially those that come from the $ star). If they see people with lots of baggage, they don't do the random check system (red/green light button - you'll see when you're there), they just pass you to inspection directly because it's likely you are brining in more than $300. Without the receipts, they can assign any amount they want to your merchandise. Anyway, good luck with the packing. The list sounds like a great idea! Sending good juju your way Dina! H Quote: Originally Posted by TealMarie What items are they focusing on? I'm assuming it doesn't include clothing, or else all of our wedding dresses would be over. Same goes for shoes, jewelry, accessories. I have receipts for the stuff we got for the OOT bags, except for now I see I may have lost a few dollar store receipts! Hey ladies. Just to calm your minds, the customs officers down here are not that bad, at least not in my experience. My now husband and I moved down here two years ago with FIVE large suitcases and two carry ons. Since then we've been back and forth to Canada and the US about 9 times, and each time I bring back a TON of stuff for our wedding and our house down here, at least three suitcases each time, if not more. I've brought 80 tumbler mugs, 60 tote bags for welcome kits, lots of new clothes (tags off though), housewares, bottles of craft beer, my wedding dress, 50 lbs of aloe vera gel, even 72 yards of burlap for my table runners, and much more. They only look through your bags if you get the red light, after they X-Ray your bags. It is totally random which light you get, and we've gotten both the red and green light on different occasions. They just open your bags, ask what all the stuff is for, you say "Para nuestras boda" or "For our wedding", smile sweetly, and you are on your way. It is a very good idea to bring receipts just in case, but I wouldn't be too worried. I've never had to show any receipts in all my trips through customs down here over the last couple years (knock on wood). The Mayan Riviera is a wedding factory, and they see hundreds of brides coming through every day with all kinds of decor, dresses and welcome kit items. It is a huge part of tourism and they won't give you a hard time because of that. At least not in my experience!

I don't think it's gross, people should be washing them before using them anyhow. And booze kills any sort of grossness anyhow! Haha Good luck with the packing! It will all turn out alright, it's just overwhelming when you think about it. Think of all the brides that have miraculously lugged a TON of stuff down here, including myself.

Quote: Originally Posted by DinaQtobe Started seriously packing today. How overwhelming! Our tumbler mugs don't stack overly well, so they are taking up a huge amount of space. I've never had to pack for two weeks before. I made a list so that is helping... Any good tips from brides that are packed already? Could you stuff things like clothes or bathing suits inside the cups and then stack them? That way all the space inside the cup is being used. Also, pack the heaviest things in your carry ons, and maybe even hang some extra clothes inside your wedding dress garment bag to make more room in the suitcases.

Quote: Originally Posted by misbosox I would love to do this for our guests, just not sure if we can afford this.. I should've mentioned, we didn't pay for our guests catamaran trip. We picked a few options for dates and sent a group email out seeing who would be interested and booked based on the answers. I had a friend help me collect all the cash from everyone a day or two before, and then I paid the balance in cash when we got to the dock. It was a little more complicated because of collecting payment, but in the end it all worked out! We decided to throw a big Welcome Party for our guests instead of paying for everyone's catamaran trip. This way everyone was able to enjoy the party, since some people get seasick. Between the Welcome Party and the wedding, we definitely hit the high end of our budget!

Quote: Originally Posted by m8chow Again MrsHK, thank you so much!!! We are never sure who is a reliable vendor and it's so great to have you down in that area providing tips and feedback. You're very welcome! Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help with my insider info.

Quote: Originally Posted by flo628 Love love love your place settings and message in a bottle! Thank you! Took a while to print, cut, tea stain, and tie the little messages/quotes, but I was happy with how they turned out. Our blog's slogan is "Because you can't send a message in a bottle, until it's empty", so the messages in a bottle with drinking quotes was a great expression of us in the reception. I guess since this is a seating chart thread, I could attach our table assignment frame as well! Each table was named after a place we've been together, and I made the table frames out of vintage travel style wrapping paper, gold frames and hang tags.

Quote: Originally Posted by Jess878 So excited for you. We leave the 5th... Ive been following the weather and it looks like rain from 11/5-11/8, the 8th being my wedding date. Im really hoping its sunny and no rain... but at this point what can I do but pray... It looks like it supposed to be beautiful the 4th so hopefully you luck out. Lydia1120, Ive started tanning this week this way to give me a base, I burn at times so I really want to avoid that. The weather reports down for down here are never accurate. Sometimes it says it's raining with thundershowers in the current forecast, and all I see is blue sky all day long. Lately it has been raining in the middle of the night a bit, but today is all blue skies! Mostly if it rains, it is just quick bursts of rain and sunshine afterwords. November is usually a lot less rainy than September and October. It also varies along the coast quite a bit and the showers are very isolated. It can be raining in Cancun but sunshine in Playa, or rain in Playa and sunshine 10 minutes up the highway at one of the resorts.

I'm not sure if this question was directed at me, since I just gave the list of the decor I have for rent down here in Playa Del Carmen? If so, send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you photos.

Hey ladies! This post is for those of you getting married in the Mayan Riviera, Mexico... I'm a newlywed from Vancouver, Canada that lives down in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. I have quite a few decor items leftover from our wedding in May, mostly in a rustic vintage style. I've decided to rent things out to brides that don't want to lug things like vases, mason jars & lanterns down here to Mexico, and have priced things quite fairly compared to the resorts' prices. I have a lots of different types of bottles, mason jars, vases and lanterns, as well as a variety of other items like wooden signs & frames and rustic birdcages. If you want a Style Me Pretty or Ruffled type of wedding in Mexico without a huge price tag, I'm your gal! I'm also always interested in buying items that brides bring down and would like to sell after their weddings. If you'd like to see some photos and a price list, please send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you all the info. Also if anyone has any questions about the area, ask away! I've lived in Playa for two years and know the area quite well. Happy planning ladies! Here's a couple of photos of the items we used in our wedding:

Hello Playacar Palace brides! I'm a newlywed from Vancouver, Canada that lives down here in Playa Del Carmen. I have quite a few decor items leftover from our wedding in May, mostly in a rustic vintage style. I've decided to rent things out to brides that don't want to lug things like vases & mason jars down here to Mexico, and have priced things quite fairly compared to the resorts' prices. I have a lots of different types of bottles, mason jars, vases and lanterns, as well as a variety of other items like wooden signs & frames and rustic birdcages. If you want a Style Me Pretty or Ruffled type of wedding in Mexico without a huge price tag, I'm your gal! I'm also always interested in buying items that brides bring down and would like to sell after their weddings. Actually, one of the brides I bought some things from for our wedding got married at Playacar Palace! If you'd like to see some photos and a price list, please send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you all the info. Also if anyone has any questions about the area, ask away! I've lived in Playa for two years and know the area quite well. Happy planning ladies! Here's a couple of photos of the items we used in our wedding:

Quote: Originally Posted by smithandsweet Would it be cheaper to buy the flowers at hobby lobby or off the internet (afloral.com or saveoncrafts.com)??? I know hobby lobby does there 40 or 50 % sales on flowers a lot Hmmm... I don't know? We don't have Hobby Lobby in Canada, as far as I know. You could go online and compare prices with Hobby Lobby when you go in in person?