melady24

Quote: Originally Posted by Sunshine2680 Wow - not going to lie - those 3 cakes are extremely disappointing Any past brides that can post pics of theirs? Maybe they're not as bad as they seem? Or has anyone felt the same way and gotten one from outside the resort? Hi, Sunshine! There is an option to forgo the desert and put another layer of cake instead (no fee). You can also put flowers on it (that' extra). I think there was an option to upgrade your cake, but don't remember for sure. This is how our cake looked (Tres Leche). We are not big on cakes, but everybody loved the taste of it. (That flower was free.. we did not request any flowers for our cake).

Quote: Originally Posted by cdlillad melady24 - thanks for sharing the link to your Arrecife photos. You look beautiful! The pictures are great! I'm so excited. I'm in the process of putting together the key card holders now and I was hoping to not have to personalize them. :-) Because there are some people who still haven't booked their flights yet. I was hoping since there are different colors then they can keep them straight. Also, I can't decide if I will print something on both sides (don't really know how to design that) or just one side. Thanks. As for the key card holders, I printed on one side and just did a cut out from the white cardboard for the back thinking it will not show through, but lots of people just removed everything from the holder and just used it clear. But that's just preference, I prefer for people not to see into key holders, others don't care. As for colour - I was not able to get diffirent ones, so if you can, it should work. As a matter of fact, I just used a hair clip on mine.

Oh, just remembered.... I wanted to let future brides to know that if you are doing key/tips holders, it would be a good idea to personalize it. I cannot mention how many times our guests were not able to get into their rooms because they switched their holder... Well, it was mostly us and younger crowd as we were hanging our together on the beach. We could not find different colours expando bracelets in Canada that's how this all confusion started...

Quote: Originally Posted by Sunshine2680 Awe - so does this mean you can't have your reception (dinner, cake, speeches, 1st dance) by the poolside unless there's 50 people?? If so -that sucks - I didn't think you needed a minimum about of people if you're paying per head. So does that only leave the restaurants for a reception? Sorry- My definition of wedding reception is the whole thing from dinner - to 1st dance... Anything after that i consider the 'After-party' nooooo.... you can have whatever you want, money talk... but seriously.... in the wedding package usually dinner at A la-cart restaurant is included where you have your dinner and cake with desert. Anything else is optional. you cannot have dance at the restaurant. If you want 1st dance, you can request a DJ for after dinner that is $190 per hour and drinks (which depends on which package you choose). This option does not require any minimum number of people. Other option is to get a private dinner (you need minimum 50 people for that) by the pool, or on the beach (think that is your only options). Maybe it will help if I describe the order of events for the day. 2 pm (or whatever time is your wedding) - ceremony 2:30 pm - toast on the beach (this can be included in the package or if not you can pay extra for this) 2:45 pm - photography session with resort photographer AFTER THIS YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS: Option One (whatever number of people) 5:30 pm - dinner at a la-cart restaurant (you get to choose your restaurant and menu while corresponding with wedding coordinator) where you cut your cake as well 7:30 pm - pool side reception with first dance, toasts, etc (with DJ (they have mic for toasts, and drinks) you have to pay extra for this until whatever time you want Option Two (minimum 50 people required): 5:30 pm (or whatever time is good for you) privet dinner at the pool side or beach the rest of it I don't know as we were not interested in that package (we only had 20 people)... I think you still get DJ for extra money at the appropriate time. Extras for pool side reception and private dinner can also include mariacci band, dancers, etc. Hope that helps.

Quote: Originally Posted by sjust Does anyone know how much the poolside party is per person? I'm hoping to have dinner in one of the restaurants and then have the party after that. Thanks. I think people confuse pool side reception with private dinners. Pool side reception is only drinks, appetizers (if you want them) and music) for any number of people which can be done after the dinner in a-la cart restaurants. Private dinner is for 50 ppl and up and it costs from $35 I believe per person (don't quote me on that I did not request it). Pool site reception is $5 per person for special drinks (cocktails and mixers mostly) and $3 per person for extra hour. There are other, more expensive options (like international liquors, etc) I think it's like $8 and $11 per person. And dolphinarium is open from April 16, 2011. We had our hour with dolphins, it's fun...

Strange.... MH was all about that idea as he did like the idea of carrying anything to the pool. Ours were a big hit, even with the women that carry purses all the time.

Arrecife can provide you with the letter saying that you have purchased copyrights from them. You can save, print, e-mail whatever you want - it's all yours. Vidiographer is also available, but we did not use them. I think Arrecife's website has some samples or I saw them here somewhere.

yeah, I just quoted as an example, because I think other packages have other number of free prints. Whatever free prints you have in your package, it will be for ceremony only. Meet with that Maria person anyway to confirm that you want only ceremony photographed and that's it. They have a schedule of the day down there in the office, make sure that they have you down for ceremony only. Just so you understand. Ceremony is you walking down to the beach and the minute you hear "I pronounce you husband and wife" I think he will not take any pictures after that. So no group pics, family pics, etc. If that is what you want, then your free pics will cover it.

Hi, Julie! There are tons of fun stuff to do. Frankly, some of our guests said that the resort is soo much fun that they did not want to get off the resort. It has water sports, snorkling, volleyball, etc.... we did not get a chance to do any of the stuff they offered, but many of our guest did and they loved it. As for the excursions - we did Rio Secreto, FANTASTIC!!! It's a system of underground rivers where you can walk and swim. They give you PFD, helmet, flash light, watershoes, and wet suite. We did 1.5 hour tour. We walked the most part and swam for the last 15 minutes. If we could do it over again, I would do 5 hour tour - you get a lot more swimming/floating and snorkling.... Some of our guest went to Coba - resort has two tours one is more history oriented and one sports oriented. Our guests loved both, but it's what they like more. In the sport one you get to do zip lining, kayaking, I think snorkling, but not sure and Coba ruins tour. Some of our guests did catamaran snorkling (also booked through the resort). They take you towards your snorkling location, you get to see turtles and fishes and then they feed you lunch of lobster (I believe) and serve drinks. I would suggest planning for tours on your first or second day of vacation since popular tours get booked very quickly. We, however, did some taxiing around... We got a taxi to Tulum ruins and walked around on our own. You can get a tour guide in different languages right on the spot. There is an awesome view from the ruins. I believe Tulum ruins are the only once right on the ocean. The view is breathtaking. There is a beach right on there, but I would suggest getting yourself to the public beach right beside ruins. There are two entrances to the ruins. One is where most of people get dripped off (you have to walk about 750 meters to the ruins) and then there is another entrance which are known mostly by locals. If you stay with your back to the ocean, walk left on the walking path and you would be able to get to that entrance. You will get out to the road and keep left. Taxi guys will ask if you need any ride and that public beach is very far. But if you are not afraid of walking, the beach is located about 700 meters away (they say 1.2 km, but I think it is less then that). Walk right on the road (there is nowhere to turn anyway) and you will see on your left a huge sign saying public beach. Walk all the way to the bottom of the hill, you will see houses and beach to your left. It is very long and very nice and you can see ruins in the background. We spend their about 2 hours with not a lot of people on it. Where on Tulum ruins beach, there is no place to put your stuff since the beach is very small and there are tons of tourists. NOTE: you can only walk to that beach if you are on your own. You would not be able to skip from the tour.

Music suggestions: We did only one song for when guests are arriving and getting seated. Eugenia asked us for 4 songs, if you want your own music playing while guests are arriving as they are there about 20 minutes before you. So if you want music playing while your guest are arriving, go for 4-6 song at least. What Eugenia ended up doing, when MH arrived, she put our song for seating guests so they can be seated and then started the rest of the songs. Worked our nicely. It was very hot at 3 pm and our guests were under the shade anyway (there is no shade around the hammock site).

Akumal and Coba is within walking distance. We had our dinner booked for our second day there and we waited and waited for that golf cart train... We ended up walking and were surprised that it took us 5 minutes to get to the Akumal lobby. Rooms are exactly the same. We even had our guests stay in Royal Club and their rooms were exactly the same as ours, they just had a bit more perks.... so don't stress. Coba beach and Akumal beach locations are close by, well.... if you walk on the beach. I would even say that Akumal is nicer since you have the more option of decoration on that location. At Coba, they can only put table and chairs. Akumal is also very private, people are around you, but not close by. They can see whats going on, but cannot walk into your ceremony. Don't stress, you will like Akumal as much as Coba. If you get new WC, Eugenia at Akumal is very organized.

Hi, girls! We just got back! Congratulations to those that just got married! I saw same beautiful weddings!!! We got married at the Akumal Beach location. The walk is about 1 min 30 sec to 2 min depends how you walk. My song was 2 minutes long and I had some time left in it. The guy who regulates music sits just right next to the location and he can see when to turn music off or on. His timing is excellent. I will do my review a bit later (had to go to work today... grrr..) Photos: We had Nestor. He is AWESOME!!!! He can do different types of photographs (classic, candid, journalistic type, you name it). We budgeted for the cheapest (Basic package), but ended up buying 140 photos as out of all photos we did not like only 10-15 photographs. So if you are going with the resort photographer - Nestor is your guy. I am sure the other photographers there are as great. For those of you who think of brining your photographer to the resort, this is how their photography session works. If you book Remember package you get 10 photographs free. This photos are ceremony only! So basically saying, resort photographer will be there only during your 15-20 minute ceremony and you can choose your free photographs. That is it. No photographs of bride getting ready, no photos after the ceremony. He/She will leave after your ceremony is done. Maria (is the person who you are meeting with at the resort to sign your contract for photography) is VERY pushy. She does not know how photography works, what photographers do, etc. She is there only to sign you up for the contract. He favourite answer to any question is "sign this contract and I will answer your questions". Anyway. You have an option not to sign that contract and photographer will only show up for the ceremony. That way, you photographer who is coming with you (make sure he/she is a guest at the resort) will have not problems taking your photos after the ceremony and definitely not a problem for pics before the ceremony. (It was not said to me directly, but we asked Maria and Nestor all questions indirectly and got our answers). But seriously, in my opinion their photographers know what they are doing and you pay fairly the same amount as if you would pay your photographer. Good luck to those who are still in the planning process! I will put pictures on the web soon so you can see location and pics, etc.

Thanks. We made a frame rather then a vase. We used shadow box and sealed the edges (I found similar frame as Umbra in Michaels). You too!!!! Have fun!

Does anybody know where I can buy Glass Funnel? We are doing sand ceremony and I have a plastic white one (which we will use if I don't find anything else). I cannot recall ever seeing any glass funnels in Canada. Any idea? (still have one day to look for it.. ). Thanks.

Just to share, I've ordered Thank you cards from Vista, and not very impressed (well the free onces, probably the premium would be a bit different). Print is great, but paper is very thin. So I would be using them definately.