sarahgn4t

Skygirl I am kind of confused at your question? The wedding guide shows what flower bouquets are included in the divine package. The cake options I think are the same for every package. We went with a basic cake and added real flowers. I think we paid $5 a flower on the cake. We only got the cake for 25 people and it was plenty for 46 people. I made my own bouquet and so I was able to get two smaller bouquets for my bridesmaids for the swap of my bouquet. Let me know if I answered that incorrectly I am kind of confused on what you are asking! )

If anyone has any questions please email me directly [email protected] It is hard to keep checking and figure out what questions have been answered and what help you may need still! I will say that I was so so stressed beforehand not having a wedding planner until the week before the wedding and nothing being confirmed from Claribel's mess but everything went perfect and they can make anything happen!! Please let me know what you need and I will make sure to put you at ease! Best of luck to all of you!

I used Milan from HDC and I was very pleased with him and his services. There were a few pics that my husbands eyes were closed and they fixed it. My hair was blowing in the wind and he fixed it. There was light shining on my husband and dad in pictures from the dance floor that made them looked bruised and they fixed it. So I think as a company they are amazing. I want to say if you go with the largest package they offer ($1550? around there) you get everything. I had pics of getting ready ceremony reception tons of pics on the beach etc. This package included 6 hours of photography, all of your digital proofs, some kind of album (I have not received it yet) but should get it by next week. A dvd slideshow of all my favorite picks (200 pics I think) also you get 350+ pictures printed by them. I didn't know which ones I should pick because it is very overwhelming but since you get all of the digital pictures it didn't really matter. I picked about ten pics that I loved and got a ton of copies to give to all my family. I also printed one of everyone 50 times so that I could make sure everyone got a copy of that. So don't stress too much. I think this package was well worth every penny. My aunt is a photographer too and she took a million pics but she said the package was very reasonable and that you get a lot for your $. If I had to do it all over again I may change the videographer and hire someone from HDC. Maybe there needs to be two videographers to capture everything from different angles. I wasn't a huge fan of our video (included in the divine package and we paid extra to have him stay through reception). I am in contact with the videographer now to see if we can edit anything to make changes to it. I will let you know how that goes. I forget who asked but it is $150 for each person that walks onto the property with outside vendors. Make sure to ask whomever you hire how many people are coming with them so you are prepared to pay that additional cost. As far as the 3 day rule. Don't quote me but google it. I want to say that only applies to legal ceremonies and that may have changed in the last few years. I will try to find out where I saw that information. When I met with Cristina it only took me about an hour to sit down with her and go over everything. I was pretty easy and just picked from what they offered. As far as rehearsal dinner goes......I was able to rent out the terrace at Capers for 46 people with a pre set menu but I did not pay anything for it? Not sure if there is something in the package that shows it is included but I would try and see if they will do something like that for free for everyone. We also looked at doing a boat cruise and even considered Jelly Fish for our rehearsal (food is amazing there) but when she gave us Capers we decided free was better. I am not sure if because the terrace at Capers is the only restaurant that has a divided space and that is why we were able to use that? No idea. But I would try for that. It was amazing!

Here is the link to my photos from Milan at HDC! Great Job!! hdcphoto.com username: sarahandkevin password: nowlarimar

I think you can use round tables!!

Hey ladies!!!! Looks like Val has covered a lot of what I would have to say! Thanks for letting my fingers rest! Ha! Here are a few things I will add..... It rained the morning and afternoon of my wedding. I had to decide by noon where all of my events would take place. At noon it was down pouring. I freaked out a bit okay ALOT but like Val said Cristina helped me get through it. We decided to cross our fingers for the fountain ceremony and change our reception from the beach to castaways which I am so glad we did. The afternoon cleared up and the sun came out and it was gorgeous!! At 1pm when I got out of the shower it was pouring rain and I started to reconsider the fountain for the ceremony but it was my cleaning lady that calmed me down and told me the sun would return in an hour and it was exactly that!!!! By 2pm the sun came out! The one thing I noticed in pictures about our castaways reception is that our sweetheart table backed up to the soft serve ice cream machine. So in all of our pics of us sitting at our little table I could see the ice cream machine. So if you do get Castaways make sure that your head table is somewhere besides the ice cream machine. Ha! Minor detail when I look back! We ended up renting the chair sashes from the hotel. We were not going to use them at first but Cristina talked us into it and I am glad she did. With the fountain set up we were able to use the pomanders that were included in the fountain set up price as our centerpieces. All we had to do was rent fishbowl like containers that were $15 each. Not bad. I did not give Cristina much direction on table decor but I am glad about that. She did a great job of taking what I brought (seashells painted in my colors, loose pearls etc. and did more than I could have thought of with them. I loved the way the tables ended up looking. Included in the $15 for fishbowls she included cute candles and a glass mirror under the fishbowls. Someone asked about my favors and I ended up finding spanish conversation hearts. I figured it was the week of valentines day and those are my favorite candies so it worked out perfect. I live near a hispanic grocery store and it was just a random find but they were awesome. They had some weird sayings but a lot of them said "Hola, Amor, Bien, etc) My guests thought they were hilarious! We also had fruity drinks in Pineapples. I didn't even know this was an option. We had our "signature cocktail" in them. They were $5 per person but they were such a hit!! We had a non alcoholic version as well. I am so glad we added this. As far as DJ Mannia goes. We did not pay him in cash. We used paypal the day before the wedding. We just told them we didn't have enough cash on us (which we did) but we figured it was worth a shot to ask. I loved them! They played everything we requested and we gave them a very detailed song list and they did exactly that. We did get the light up dance floor which was a hit as well. We rented it through them because they offered a better price. We didn't really need it because we ended up in Castaways and we were originally going to be on the beach but it did add a lot of color and pizazz. I also bought sparklers from them. They were more than I would pay for them here but obviously could not travel with them. I loved the pics with them. They are not perfect pictures but they are something different that I felt was worth it! Everyone loved the saxophone player at the ceremony. I didn't hear him I guess I was in la la land! Ha! I haven't been able to watch our video yet (we sent it home with our parents) but saw some clips and loved it. At first we only had the ceremony part with a videographer but we ended up hiring him for the whole evening and I am so glad we did. There are so many moments that I would have missed and now I have all of the speeches and first dances forever. We payed him $500 for the reception. We may have been able to talk him down but we didn't really have the time to work out a deal so we just went with it. He was from the hotel. I love love loved our photographer. Milan from HDC. He was awesome and honest. There were moments that my hair was blowing up in the wind and he made one of the girls fix it. He also told me halfway through the reception that I was starting to look shiny which at first threw me off a bit but thank god he was so honest. When we were about to cut the cake he didn't like the lighting near the cake so he had some of the wait staff move the cake table onto the dance floor so it was centered and made for better pics. There are a few pics that I still have to have touched up but for the majority of them I think they turned out awesome. (Val I have not seen yours yet so I can not compare but I am sure they are amazing too) We decided on a sit down dinner. Traditional Caesar Salad some kind of chicken vegetable soup(so amazing) filet and lobster. Our food was amazing!!!! We did have a tasting a few nights before and got to choose from a few different menus. That was helpful because we originally had the lobster bisque soup picked out and that was way too salty and the Caesar Salad at the tasting was layered in tomatoes and salmon which made it very awkward looking and unappetizing. We had 46 people and chose the cake included for 25 people. Which we had way too much of in the end. They also served a dessert with the meal so the cake wasn't even necessary except for tradition. We chose a marble cake with chocolate frosting inside and it was very good. We just had a plain looking cake and they added a few real roses to it which made it very classic. If you do get the option to have it at castaways I highly recommend it! We ended up staying at Secrets and our guests at the Now which was nice because we were really close to them still but far enough away. I used my credit for hair and makeup as a trial and ended up doing my own hair and makeup the day of because I am way too picky(maybe it's because I am a hair stylist) Ha! We went to the Paradisus Palma Real Royal Service for our honeymoon. It was very glamorous and the food was a bit better but I will say that the food at the NOW has improved 110% Yay!!!!!!!!! And we enjoyed the scene at the Now and Secrets better. We are glamorous people but enjoyed the activities at the Now and Secrets much more. We had our rehearsal dinner on the terrace at Capers and the food was amazing. We chose the caprese salad, minestrone soup, penne pasta and tiramisu. We decided on Wednesday that we wanted to do a private dinner on Thursday and Cristina made it happen. They kept it private with just our party out there. It was very nice. Most of our guests arrived Wednesday and it was impossible to get into the restaurants together so I would recommend doing a rehearsal. We didn't have to pay anything for it. So that was a plus. I am sure I am missing a million things so I will try to remember the rest of the important things and get back to you!! If you have any other questions please email me!! [email protected] Like Val said.....Don't sweat the small stuff they do this everyday all day so they know best and they really do make you feel at ease once you get there!!

Hey ladies!!! I am still on my honeymoon so I will share more when I get back! I got to meet Val and her husband and they are beautiful people! Here is the link to my share site for photos. There should be a link to my photographer pics as well. If not the link is hdcphoto.com and username is sarahandkevin and password nowlarimar and my share site is http://smartwedding.shutterfly.com/#%26emid%3dsite_siteupdate%26cid%3dSHARE3SXXXX not sure if those will work! Everything went perfect! We will chat soon!!0

Here is the contact to make spa and salon appointments [email protected]

Hey Ladies!! One week till my wedding!! I leave Monday!!!! I started packing and I have way too much stuff!! Ha! I have stopped stressing so that is good news!! I have everything done that is important and figured if the rest doesn't get done oh well! Dj mania [email protected] Cristinas email [email protected] I am having a tasting for food when I get there and the dj will drop off sparklers the day I get there so I can attach the matches and name cards to it before the big day. Cristina did email me a pic of the decor that is included with the walkway so if you want that pic please email me and let me know. [email protected] pastor York will be performing ceremony [email protected] and the photographer for hdc is [email protected] we have been in contact with a host that plans a lot of events and is available for hire if you want to do any group events like go to other hotels or plan a night out at some of theur hot clubs. He also knows the area well so for example if u need sparklers or other things I am sure he can be of assistance.. His name is Charlie. [email protected] contact him if you want to hire a driver or plan other events. Gotta finish packing! Talk to you all when I return!! thanks for all the love and support! Couldn't have done this without the help of everyone on here!!

Hey ladies! I went with HDC Photo and I found their prices seemed to be the best out there. I do remember seeing that somewhere as well that hotel transfer was included. I better figure that out by next week! Ha!!! Has anyone been on the Now Larimar website in awhile. I hadn't and recently did and they have so much more information on there that I had no idea was there!! It's been a few months since I have been on their website mostly because there was nothing to look at on there and now they have so many pics of ideas for cake and flowers and decor!! As far as the DJ goes I also hired DJ Mannia. I am renting a bunch of stuff from them as well because their prices are cheaper than the hotel. Like the light up dance floor is way cheaper thru them. We are also doing sparklers and they sell them which is great because I almost ordered them online and then realized I would probably get arrested for carrying fireworks in my luggage! Ha! I am starting to panic!!!!!!!!!!! I made a trial hair appointment on Valentines Day to try out hair and makeup. I am assuming I will not use their services the day of my wedding because I am a hairdresser and I doubt I will like their work. I really hope I do because that is less for me to do the day of but I am a hard one to please! Ha! I am having anxiety like crazy. I feel like this wedding is going to cost us a fortune and I don't feel like we are doing any crazy upgrades but when you add the tax to all the alcohol and food I feel like it almost doubled!!! We were going to do a buffet on the beach for our reception because for some reason I thought that you could not do plated dinner on the beach but maybe that was when we had more than 50 people??? We chose the divine package and wanted to upgrade to premium bar but Cristina said that Jack Daniels and Absolut were included in the International bar so we decided it wasn't worth it. We also wanted to add an extra hour of alcohol and it ends up to be $1,000 for one extra hour for basic alcohol. That to me seems so ridiculous considering we can walk to the bar and have free drinks. When I first started planning a destination wedding I really thought it was only going to cost us a few thousand dollars but I feel like nothing is included in any of these packages and we are still going to spend well over 10,000. Don't mean to be a downer I guess it is just the pre wedding jitters!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will all end up perfect and everyone will have a great time and in the end it will be well worth it!!!!! On a happy note. We went to the grocery store last night to get some snacks for the OOT bags and I found the little valentines day conversation hearts that have little sayings on them. And the sayings are in Spanish!!!! I thought that was super cute. Those are my favorite candies and I have a ton of little tiffany blue favor boxes left over from my shower so I figured I could add those to my tables as another favor. The other favor is just 2 sparklers with personalized matches attached to them. I thought that would make great pictures! Can't wait to tell you all how much fun it was and that everything went perfectly!! We return on the 25th so expect a response from me on the 26th unless I can respond on my honeymoon!!

So not to make you all panic but Claribel is no longer working for the Now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just posted a message on the other Now Larimar forum with some other details but I talked to my TA today and she said that is the reason why Claribel isn't responding! I can't decide if it is a blessing in disguise because she was terrible at responding or if everything I have done so far has been lost in translation. Make sure to doublecheck with Cristina on all of your important details. She didn't know I had pastor york confirmed and booked so that makes me nervous but nothing I can do at this point. She also didn't know where I was having all my events. So hopefully it is all available and it was just a little shaky without her this last few weeks but she will get on top of everything. So if I were you I would contact Cristina and just confirm services and locations. My wedding is in 3 weeks!! AAAHhhhh!!!!!! I am so not prepared!!!! Ha!

The plaza is in the front of the hotel right behind the lobby. I am sure it can be decorated very pretty but it is very plain. There are storefronts all around it and it is where the nightly performances are held. The restaurants are all surrounding the plaza. Not to be too blunt but it would not be one of my first choices as there is no privacy at all. Hope that helps. I spoke with my travel agent today and she told me the reason for the lack of response from Claribel is because she is no longer working at the Now!!!!!!!!!! I can not even believe it because my wedding is 3 weeks away and I was not told about this. I have been in contact with Cristina and I met her this summer. She is very nice and I am assuming she is taking Claribel's role until they find another coordinator. Cristina is in charge of the weddings at Secrets but she is more than capable of working on our weddings. The thing that scares me is when I had a few questions for her she didn't know what I already had booked. I already booked the minister and she told me she would find out if he was available! WTF I already booked him. She also asked where I wanted my ceremony and reception and I wanted to scream! I just hope that everything is available and that Claribel was on top of everything before she left because I have already had enough disasters with this hotel I do not need any more anxiety!!!!!! I did find out that if you use the wooden walkway at the fountain there are 6 sheppard hooks with poms and flower arrangement for canopy included in the $1500 fee. I would recommend making payments before you get there as I heard that some credit cards charge international fees for overseas transactions that large so make sure you speak with your companies first and try to make a few payments so your fees are not insane. I have been asking about making payments for 3 months with no response and I just got a form to use this week. It's a little late for that! But no worries! It is a beautiful hotel and as long as the food has been improved I wouldn't worry at all!!!! 3 weeks from today! I feel like I have so so so much to do!!! Aaaah!

Katusha, Can you give me some numbers on how much everything else cost like any extras that you had? I don't want to be surprised when I get there!! Did you get the divine package? Did you feel it was worth the cost even though you hired an outside photographer?? Any other info and pics would be great!!

I got price lists for HDC and Blue Lagoon Photography. I also received pricing from DJ Mannia. I was told by Claribel that the fee for bringing in outside vendors is $500 for DJ and $150 for Photogtapher. Not sure why the DJ is more expensive then the Photographer? I was comparing pricing for the photography package at the NOW and the package with HDC and it looks like the HDC package is cheaper than the hotel photographer? If you want these lists please email me at [email protected] Is the piece of wood from the Now or is that part of Innovart?

Can someone tell me what the price is for the divine wedding package? I had the pdf file from 2011 somewhere on my computer and I can not seem to find it anywhere???? I know the website has the prices for 2012 I just want to see what the price difference is from this year to next year???? Is anyone planning on having a rehearsal dinner? We have 60 people going to our wedding so we are wanting to have a welcome dinner the night that everyone gets there but Claribel told me that we can not rent out a restaurant for the event? I am confused on where we are suppose to have it then if we have over 25 guests? I feel like the pdf I had for 2011 package pricing had more options on it then the current pdf file online for 2012 and I am just wanting to compare what I was originally looking at to what the options are for next year! I am having such a hard time deciding on what extras I am going to incorporate into my package. I feel like these packages include nothing!! They include the officiant but you still have to pay for it??? They include the d.j. but you still have to pay for all of the equipment?? I am so confused! Any thoughts or ideas on what you ladies are going to do would be so helpful! Please give me an update on your wedding plans and what extras and options you are choosing would be great! Thanks, Sarah