AcutieRN

Hi ladies! Vav and Sarah, congrats! I have been waiting for your reviews for what seems like ages! You both gave such great advice and it was really helpful. Vav you looked gorgeous and it looked like all of your planning paid off. Sarah, can't wait to see some pics when you get back. Your calming words were good to hear as I am now 6 weeks away and still don't have a wedding coordinator, ha ha! The one kink I have run into is with pastor York. After Claribel left, my reserved date and time was not recorded. I did have my confirmation from her, so they were able to get close to my orginal time. Vav, after reading what you said about Pastor York being so tight between weddings, I realized that "close" to my orginal time may not be good enough. I was right! He is booked at another resort the same time they have my new start time. Oh well. They will just have to change it back, I have my happy little confirmation letter in hand to make a fuss if needed. Although it sounds like they are pretty laid back once you get there, so hopefully it will be no problem at all. You both anwered a lot of my questions, but do you know about the flower petal rules? If I bring my own do they have to be real or can they be silk? I really want a pretty dense rose petal walkway, but if they need to be freeze dried I need to be ordering them now and have not heard a response from the resort. Thanks again for all of the info girls! Congrats.

Skygirl: I would go ahead and reserve your rooms now. I found that the rates really didn't go up or down much throughout the year. Of course it is always higher at peak times, but I felt it stayed about the same over the last 12 months. Also, I feel like it is getting busier for them and I wouldn't want your date/time to reserved if you were to wait. Good luck. Suzz:As I am sure you read I have also been frustrated with hearing back from anyone. Apparently from what Mercy has told my TA, Christina will no longer be communicating with NOW brides that she has not already been in contact with. I therefore don't even have an email address for her. Mercy stated that they are working on sorting things out and that a new wedding coordinator was to be assigned last week to all of the NOW brides with future wedding dates. I was supposed to hear from the new person last week but did not. I think they are just overwhelmed with the transition. Good luck!

Everything looks so amazing! You were gorgeous on your day. It seems that I have done a lot of the same things as you in terms of gift bags and decorations. Big question...how in the world did you pack everything? We are concerned that with the mugs, pomander balls and hooks, along with all of our other decor and gifts we will be traveling with 6 bags! Any suggestions? Again, everything looked amazing and congrats.

Skygirl:When is your wedding? My recomendation is to wait a bit. I know it is hard to sit back and watch the prices every day but I bet they go down. I started looking at prices right around a year out and they were around $950 per person. (I live in Colorado). I was really worried for a long time. We continued to watch prices based on advice given by our travel agent, it was soooo hard! We ended up getting our tickets 6 months out and they were only $600 per person. That is awesome price for flying from Denver! Some family members just recently purchased tickets at about 3 months out and they paid $500! Wait a bit a see what happens, don't stress! Question, does anyone know if NOW requires real/freeze dried rose petals on the aisle or can we do silk?

What a mess this is. I went in yesterday and spoke with my travel agent who is also very upset with this entire process. She said she will no longer be recommending NOW Larimar to her future brides. She also requested that I write a letter that she will send to her supplier, the GM of NOW as well as the wedding planning staff. Amy, I can't believe they are asking you to change your date. I would refuse. It is way too late in the game for you to have to change everything. Did you have anything made with the previous date on it? What is wrong with them? So frustrating. Claribel really left a mess, I wonder if she just left for another resort or if she was fired. Does anyone know if the 3 day rule is for legal ceremonies only? We are doing a symbolic ceremony and Claribel had told my TA that we didn't need the three days. We are arriving late on Saturday and getting "married" on Tuesday. I am now starting to worry that the information Claribel told me was wrong since everything else she said was mumbo jumbo! Does anyone know? Skygirl, I think if you have a confirmation letter from Claribel you should be fine. That was the only thing that saved me. I sent it to them about a million times showing them I had proof, finally they figures it out. Amy, I don't know much about reception venues. That is why I was hoping they would get ahold of me to get this all figured out. Hang in there girls.

Hey girls, I have not been on here in forever. I have been planning as much as I can and think I have almost everything ready to go. I am frustrated beyond belief (nothing new as many of you who have been here a long time know) at the lack of response from anyone at this resort. I had no idea Claribel was gone and have not heard from one person from the resort in over 5 months. I have sent numerous emails, at least weekly, asking for information regarding what reception venues are available and examples of decor. My wedding is now 7 weeks away and nada. I have a confirmation letter, but apparently when Claribel left she took that information with her. I had my TA get on things and she sent 13, yes count them, 13 emails to Christina and the resort before she got a response. She even went as far as to phone the GM of the resort. The response was that the time I had booked was no longer available on my date. I finally said that is it, I want out. I can't take anymore. Magically as soon as I said that they said they could accomodate my date but had to push my time back an hour . That in itself is annoying because one of the reasons I picked this resort is that at the time they were promising only 1 wedding a day so things didn't get overbooked. Apparently that is no longer the case. I was then told that I would hear from someone shortly to start making plans. Guess what, nothing!!!!! That was a couple of weeks ago. JB, I am shocked that you are getting responses, we are in the same week! What is going on? At any rate, would you mind sending me that file you posted here? I still can't open attachments. Its [email protected]. Thanks so much, hopefully that will help me a bit. I can't wait to hear how the girl's weddings went this last couple weeks. I hope others are not having as many problems as me! Good luck!

JB: How in the world did you get your prices that low? Is that with the every 6th room free calculation and that dropped it more? Awesome job!!!

Hey girls! Things are looking up for sure! Lets hope it stays this way. JB:What a great rate! Good job! Can you send me the email with the cake and flower info?Thanks, that would be great. [email protected].

Moni thats awesome! I feel much better to at least know that they are trying to improve! Thanks for posting that.

Katusha:Thanks so much for the mail on La Baraza. It looks amazing. We are debating right now on if it would be too hard for the people with babies to bring them along...therefore we may decide to stay on land for the reception that way if people need to go to their rooms they can. We have 5 family members bringing kiddos under 1! Sarah:Can't wait to hear about your trip! That is coming up so soon. The reviews have trended back toward the positive on trip advisor. I can't wait to hear your thoughts. Asiamarie:That is great pricing for the majestic! We are for sure going to spend a few days there on our honeymoon, and it is my first choice if I change resorts. At this point though I really hope we can stick it out with NOW. Vav:You posted the link to the wedding booklet the other day which was awesome! We have all been waiting for that forever. I was unable to see any information regarding cakes and flowers though? Am I just missing it?

JB thanks for the website! I will check it out. Katusha please do forward me the price list. My email is [email protected]. Thanks so much. You are getting so close to your date! How exciting for you guys! Moni, glad to see you back! It has been a busy summer and hard to check in here often. You are getting so close to your date too. What have you decided for ceremony and reception sites?

Hey JB and Katusha: I know both of you have talked in the past about doing a reception/dinner party on La Baracaza. I was just wondering if you guys have pursued this at all? Do you have any contact info? I saw a post that said to get ahold of Flori, but I don't know how...I am thinking this may be a good alternative for us.How about pricing? I have seen aroudn $60-75 per person but does that include DJ? That way our guests have a good food experience and party experience at least for one night if the other evenings turn out iffy. Thanks so much!

Wow Dee, that is a great price! Almost the same as what I am paying at NOW. I am sad to see you go, but I will follow you on the Paradisus thread. Good luck. Vav:Can you tell me what email you are using for AmResorts? Thanks Sarah:Do you know if Cristina is Claribel's assistant or if she is WC for Secrets? I am wavering, so many good posts on facebook and so many bad on TA. Do you think TA maybe really has people being paid by other resorts to write bad reviews? It just seems like such a huge difference, I don't get it. I have also heard from Pastor York and my photographer not to worry a bit if we don't hear back from Claribel. They said she does an amazing job and she is great under pressure. They both said if you waited and planned everything the day you get there she will pull it off! That made me feel much better. I am still checking pricing for a few other places. I already sent my STD's so it would be a nightmare to change!

Thanks so much for all of the compliments! They were worth the hard work and everyone loved them. The template I used is from ayleebits.com. I just downloaded it for free and played around with word to get everything the way I wanted it. DaFont.com was also very helpful in getting the artwork-palm trees, flip flops, etc. It was way too hard for me to import clipart so I did it in fonts. I took them to Kinko's for printing. I just downloaded my graphic from word onto a flash drive and took it in. They were able to print it off for me! They didn't have some of the fonts I used for the palm trees so I also downloaded those fonts onto the flashdrive so they could download them on their computer. I just bought some cardstock from a craft store to print them on. The palm trees brads are from Archiever's, a scrapbook store we have. Its a nationwide chain so if you don't have one I bet you could order from them online. Hope this helps!

DeeSanders:What is your rate at Paradisus per person per night?

Girls, Thanks for the word of encouragement. Jamie, you are right about going with the flow. That is exactly why I decided to have a destination wedding. I guess I am not as concerned about the lack of response from Claribel as the negative reviews. I really want my family to get their money's worth, and if the food is awful and it is overrun by locals they will be sorry they came. I am hoping you are right in that they fix these problems soon. This does not seem to be an issue with the NOW resorts in Mexico. So frustrating. Dee, I am so sorry that you have decided to change resorts, but totally understand and may be right behind you. Did something else happen, or is it just the lack of response on all levels? Do you have a second choice? Right now I am looking into the Majestic. I know it will be about $60-80 per night more per person(at least), but may be worth it in the end for peace of mind. Had you actually sent your STD's yet? I have not checked into my deposit, but since it was only $100 I am not too concerned at this point. My FI still wants to stick it out...

Hi girls! I haven't been on in ages. My summer has just been so busy thus far with travels/parties at our house every weekend. Living on a lake is amazing, but leaves little free time. I will also be honest, I am thinking about changing my resort. I have been up and down with this decision for weeks. I really like the price we got, but I am starting to have reservations based on all of the negative reviews. I thought after a few months things would get better and it only seems they are getting worse. Since the management change this resort has gone from #26 on trip advisor for PC to number 38. It has dropped from 31 to 38 in two weeks! I have also emailed Claribel about a thousand times and have not gotten one email back since I got my confirmation email 3 months ago. I am also concerned about flowers, photos of receptions etc. What email is everyone using for her now? I understand the facebook reviews are better than TA, but I have traveled a lot to AI's in other countires and have found that if the TA reviews are predominantly negative than my experience has reflected that. I am so bummed out about all of this that I have literally done zero planning in two months! I want to keep my chin up and get excited about this again, but all of the worries about the resort are killing me! What does everyone else think?

Hi ladies: JB-don't worry about the bags at all! I have a back up plan. Go ahead and shred that check for me. Thanks for the offer! What a crazy turn of events. Sarah:What kind of work do you do? How exciting to get to go on a mini vacay to see NOW. I saw on the other NOW forums that outside vendors were $75 or the cost of a day pass. My TA said that was what she had heard too. Hopefully that is still right! DeeSanders:Keep harassing them about your confirmation, they should send you an email. Maybe they just aren't so worried because it is more than a year away?

Hi ladies! I have not been on in forever it seems! I went to Vegas for a few days with my girls so I have been recovering, ha ha! Vav, welcome. Sorry I did not see your question sooner. Welcome and congrats! I do feel like I got a great deal. My TA is supposed to be emailing me our contract(I don't have a scanner to scan it in). I can email it to you when I get it. I know the others are wanting to see it too, it is taking literally forever to get! JB:So glad to hear you FMIL is doing better and that you have had some help. I can't wait to check out the dress you posted a link to. The centerpieces are so amazing! They will be beautiful. I have not heard anything about the DJ either, I have stopped emailing because I just got more and more frustrated. One of my good friends just came home from her wedding in Mexico at Secrets, she said we shouldn't stress. She did no planning at all and she had an amazing time with a wonderful ceremony and reception. Hopefully we have the same experience! I made my pomander balls finally. I will try to post pics soon.

Hi girls! Hope everyone is well. My party this weekend went better than planned. It was a lot of fun. We had about 120 people in total come through. Kind of glad it is over so I can focus on the wedding again and wakeboard season! I finally signed my contract today. She is going to email it to me tomorrow so I will get it out to you guys ASAP. It is very simple,but I was able to lock in the $117 pp for a 7 night stay! Hope everyone's planning is going well!

Hey ladies! I have hardly been on in days, so many new posts! We are having our big housewarming party this weekend, so my mind has been off wedding and on that. It is so crazy, this party is bigger than our wedding. We are having 100 people in our back yard! Yikes! DeeSanders:I love the idea you have with the invitations and STD's. I think that is the only way to do it. They are so time consuming, I can't imagine doing 100 of them! I think no one would be offended by doing it that way. It is a good way to compromise with your FI. JB: How nice of your sister to fund the dress! Where are you going to purchase? Where are you trying to sell the knock off? I am having not much luck selling my first dress. Did you get to see the bags? Were they left out in the rain? How crazy that is! Jamie or MoniWoni: Do you guys have a phone number for Claribel? And she said no substitutions? Bummer, we don't need a photographer or a DJ. I guess I just go with a lower package and a la carte things. Sarah: Any reviews from your people?

Hey guys! So many new posts, I have been so busy with work and around the house I haven't been on in a bit. MoniWoni and Katusha:I would love to hear the answer to the substitution for the photgrapher as well. I have photophil coming, so I would love to upgrade my chairs or food for that slot. Keep us posted on what you hear. JB:I will check my Macy's if I make it over there this weekend. I love your invites! I like either jacket, very creative. Your colors look great! I really like the starfish on the envelopes. Where did you find them? Your circle logo looks great. I see that you are looking at new dresses....are these for TTD or for the actual ceremony? Are you still wearing your knockoff?Thanks for the updated list of brides! How exciting that there are six of us!!! DeeSanders:Did you decide to book now? I still have no contract and I have emailed my TA twice this week asking what is going on without a response. I will call her next week about it. I am starting to get really mad about this. What if she is messing around and I can't lock in those prices anymore? I am ready to change TA's but I just sent my STD's this week with all of her info on it. Grrrrr!

Wow ladies! I can't believe these are finally done. They took a lot of work, but I think they are so worth it in the end. I was even at a scrapbook store yesterday to pick up some supplies and the manager saw them and asked if I wanted to teach a class! Ha ha. I said no thanks, but please check out this web site. Thanks so much to everyone before me who posted ideas. I took a bit from everyone, and even a quote from SexyT. Thanks so much girls for the inspiration. I used AyleeBits template for the actual boarding pass. It took a few hours on word to figure out how to do things, but I finally did it! I really loved the website www.dafont for the starfish, palm tree and flip flop clip arts. I think most of them are tropicanaBV font. Make sure to watch the youtube video if you don't know how to import font. It really helped me! I also imported some pretty script that I didn't have on my computer. I found the AyleeBits template for the pocket holder to be somewhat confusing so I just made my own. I simply divided a regular sheet of pearlized paper into 3 even sections and cut off an edge at a diagonal to make the pocket piece. I would suggest using scrapbooking double sided tape that is very narrow to glue down the pocket. The smaller the better as anything thick makes it hard to slide your boarding pass into the pocket. Also, this is where a boner tool (used to make your creases) comes in handy, as well as a good ruler.I had them laser printed at Kinko's for $.59 a page! Hope this all helps! Thanks again to everyone who gave me ideas! Tools: I found the best tool ever to be the friskars rotary tool. I used the regular blade as well as the perferated blade. You will need this to bend back your left edge to round the corner and make it have that cut out look, or the divet. This is an expensive tool, but if you use a 40% off coupon at Micheal's it makes it manageable. You need a good corner punch, spend a couple extra dollars for the good one and it prevents blisters. Do it to each corner, and then fold back your perferated edge and do it to those corners for your divet. Boner tool-I used Martha Stewart brand from Micheals Good craft ruler White cardstock-5.99 at walmart Brown pearl paper $.59 per sheet at Hobby Lobby Scrap book double sided tape

Wow,this is great! thanks so much!

Such great ideas, thank you so much for sharing!