Mrsktobe

Wow, what a trip! Can’t believe it came, went and is gone already – what an amazing time though with our friends and family in paradise, really enjoyed ourselves  It’s hard to believe all the planning and what not is over! Anyway, onto the review: Resort: Luxury Grand Bahia Principe Akumal Length of trip: Wedding couple, 2 weeks. Everyone else, 7 days, 10 days or 2 weeks Wedding Venue: Blue Venado Beach Club Wedding date: November 11th, 2014. The Resort: We decided to stay at the Bahia Principe complex as we had stayed there a few times previous and love it there and wanted our guests to enjoy one of our favorite places  Also, as we had many different personalities on our trip and the fact that you could stay at one resort but play at all 4 was a big selling point for us. The resort had changed over to Luxury status – I’m not sure if I would call it Luxury while we were there though. Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing experience and we are pretty easy to please however they were still changing a lot of things over while we were there and there was confusion as a result for many of our guests or sub-par service. Like certain rooms not getting towels for days. But it is what it is. We ended up being in villa 64, which was very close to the snack bar, pool & beach, perfect location. I would have liked ocean front but honestly, we aren’t too picky and it suited us just fine  As part of the luxury status, we had butler service, turn down service and deserts every night in our room. It was a nice added bonus, not that we used it very often but made our trip more special. The resort, after staying at Coba three times previous, is just awesome. I loved being close to the ocean every step I took –it was just fantastic. The food was amazing, as part of the new branding to luxury, they had unlimited a la cartes and it was fantastic. I have medium grade IBS and the only thing that would make me sick was the snack bar food but honestly, I can’t eat that stuff here at home. So it was all good. The only thing was the resort at times was too big – hard to run into everyone and hard to try and see everyone that we wanted. I found myself always spreading myself thin to people as it was almost too big to try and find everyone – but then again I had 50 people.  Maybe if you had a smaller number, it wouldn’t be as bad. But I still wouldn’t change it, I love the Bahia, I love the people – it was a wonderful time. B- The Wedding What a perfect day. Honestly. I had prepared myself that something was going to go wrong as everyone says to do so but literally, besides my hippie nudist brother losing his 14 month old for a bit (he was found in the jungle mind you) nothing went wrong that was big stressor! Makeup: I used MVP Makeup and Artistry – all I can say Is WOW. Just amazing. Edgar was so wonderful to deal with and then meeting Melissa, she is the biggest sweetheart ever. And holy hell did she make all of us ladies look absolutely amazing. She is so good at what she does and takes such great pride in her work – I splurged to use her but I am so happy that I did – best investment that I made hands down. She is worth it! Her assistants are absolutely amazing as well – so talented, you can tell that she trained them extremely well. Even in the middle of her doing our hair and makeup, she would stop if something wasn’t right with one of the girls hair and advise them how to fix it or get them on the same page as her. Just awesome. If you are hesitating splurging and can do so, DO IT! You won’t regret it. I honestly have not felt more beautiful in my entire life. A++++++ X 1000 lol  Getting Ready – Hotel Akumal Caribe We weren’t able to bring Melissa and them on site as Bahia has these rules about vendors and such, so I ended up getting a room at the Hotel in Akumal bay and getting a taxi to take the ladies there that morning and back (as it was only a 5 minute drive) Best decision I made, the hotel is clean, spotless and has amazing views of the beach. It was the perfect place to get ready in and way more relaxing than being rushed and hiding from the husband that morning at the resort  My maid of honor went to Turtle bay Bakery and grabbed some muffins, croissants & other delicious stuff that was freshly made – just amazing. Even if you are not staying in Akumal, make sure you go there and get their baked goods or homemade ice cream!  A+ Transportation We used Rutas Hispanics and they were fantastic. Very clean, comfortable vans and very good service. A+ Blue Venado Absolutely wonderful. Wow, what an amazing place to have a wedding. I had heard such good things from a few of the ladies on here about it but apart from seeing pictures of the venue online, I had not seen it in person. We went for our taste testing the Friday before the wedding and holy man, we were in awe. It’s on a private beach with nothing else close by – 100% private. When you come out from the jungle road and it opens to the beautiful ocean, you are just taken back. FOOD The food was amazing. We had our taste testing and tried the shrimp bisque, mixed greens salad, spinach and cheese ravioli, steak with foi gras sauce and truffle oil and cheesecake & Tiramusu. We ended up going with the shrimp bisque, steak with foi gras sauce and truffle oil (with a potato and veggies on the side) and cheesecake for desert. EVERYONE was raving about how amazing the food was. The chef, Angel, is just a “angel” (lol corny I know) but he is absolutely amazing at what he does. There was literally no flaw with the food. They also supplied homemade bread with the meal – wow, everyone was raving about that. SOOO good. I just want to go back and eat the food, 6 weeks later I am still craving it  We had cocktail hour after the ceremony and had prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe, cream cheese tarts, tempura shrimp, tuna sushi & blue cheese chicken. They were all delicious but everyone raved about how good the shrimp and blue cheese chicken was. In fact, we went back there for an excursion a week later and Angel made us some of the chicken for us, it was that good and they are that nice. A+++++++++++ X 1000   DÉCOR I’m not going to even describe it – here are some pictures. If you want to know everything I did, here is a link to my planning thread: MUSIC Part Planet - They were ok. We had sent them a list of what we wanted for our DJ list and they pretty much didn’t listen to what we had requested and played their own music, minus the Ukrainian music I had requested. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a fun time and people were up dancing but we had made our playlist with our guests in mind and as a result, a lot of the older folk didn’t even get up and dance. It was a little bit frustrating to pay them the money that we did and for them not to listen to us but it is what it is. I think maybe it was the language barrier or what not but I would not use them again. Also we had paid more money for the glass dance floor and ended up getting the acrylic one – it was what it was but just another frustration. D- Photographer I’m a little bit biased because she is my sister in law but she is absolutely amazing at what she does – she does do destination weddings, so if you are looking for a good photographer with knowledge of the Mayan Riviera, look her up! Captureitphotography.ca We also had a second shooter, Laura McNaurma from Playa Loves Me Photography in PDC. She was so wonderful to communicate and work with, love the different angles and pictures that she took.  A+++ Blue Venado Staff Top notch. Amazing. Attentive and just plain awesome. Everyone was looked after, no one went without a drink for too long. They were just absolutely fantastic. I think they had a good time too, I heard from some of my guests that they got a few of the waitresses up dancing! Wedding Coordinator absolutely amazing. Joyce wsa just so wonderful to work with - attentive to detail and always responding to emails right away and being patient with me. I had a vision for our day and she worked with me to try and get it to come to life, which it did in the most amazing way I could of ever imagined. Day off she made everything run smoothly and took care of any issues that arose. Melanie was fantastic as well, we wanted to get pizza as our late snack and she went to PDC to go pick it up and bring it back for us.. so awesome. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Joyce for anything - she was the best wedding coordinator hands down. I am happy I had the chance to meet her and have now gained a life long friend It was just a wonderful wonderful day. Looking back at our pictures now makes me want to relive it over and over!! P.S - here are some trash the dress photos my sister in law took

So my parents are paying for our at home reception as they were the ones who wanted to have it. My husband and I paid for Mexico and did all of that, so they are taking it on as they want to have one to invite their friends, show us off (their words, not mine) However, they wanted to have it April 18th (We got married November 11th of this year) as it's after Easter so hardcore old school Ukrainians don't get upset and so that the roads are better. I honestly think that it's too long after the fact and that it looks bad to have it 5 months after and I am feeling pretty crappy about it and what people will think.. Has anyone else had there's this long after? What was the feedback? I have already put my foot down and told them I am not wearing my dress again as it's too long after and that we aren't having a head table or speeches or the dances again. So we have kind of compromised a bit. Thoughts???

That's annoying. I would lose my sh*t if It was a week and I hadn't heard from my wedding coordinator. But I know from reading a lot on this forums, that's normal for the one's who work on the resort? Though one would think as you get closer, it would be better communication. I checked out your planning thread and wow!! Looks amazing. I can't wait to see pictures of how it all turned out

You should be ok. It was only a few of them and it was close to the handle - sometimes stuff happens like that in shipping, but it was done by the UPS, not me. All should be good. How excited are you?? It's coming fast!

I can't find the thread that suggests tipping guidelines but I remember it said it was dependent or not if she owned her own business or not. Tipping is a very personal choice - I don't think there is a right or wrong way, as long as you doing are so. We ended up giving our wedding coordinator 150.00, however she did own her own business. I would of loved to give her more but with paying for the wedding ourselves and other tips, we were spread thin.

She's right, I got the 20 oz ones. and LOL I ended up bringing 44 down hahaha. I was that person. We got Option plus, plus spread them out between a few of our friends. I also bubble wrapped all of them with bubble wrap from home depot. Because I got so many of them, there was a discount - I think it was 15-20% off bulk orders. I liked ordering off the website as there were various colors to choose from. And the customer service was awesome. We ended up receiving 3 broken ones and they shipped out new ones, no problem the next day.

I put a reminder on the bathroom mirror and made sure I put it on before I left the hotel room - worked for me!

Here are the tote bags I ordered: http://www.bagiva.com/100-Cotton-Economical-Tote-Bag.html Ended up buying some iron on paper at Michaels using their weekly 40% off coupon and creating a logo with designmatic: http://www.designmantic.com/ Welcome books I created and did all on my own with a rough template I had found on here.. I just spruced it up a lot more and added a lot more information. Printed the covers on cardstock I got at Michaels and got the rest printed at Staples front and back in a large quantity - it came out to 50.00 but well worth saving the time I would of used printing it on my crappy printer I still have it incase you want me to send it to you!

It is - and yes, it sucks tanning before hand but it made a difference for sure. I totally forgot the tip about wearing a hat as well. My hair stylist told me to keep my hair vibrant to wear my hat before hand so I picked up a cute straw fedora one and wore it religiously in the sun till the wedding

We had 6 days before we got married and I was definitely worried about tan lines. Anyway - I made sure I pre-tanned before Mexico, lathered up with sun screen and wore my bathing suites that had no straps or removable ones when I was in the sun. And made sure my cover ups were strapless as well. It all worked out and I had no tan lines

Get get GET a marriage license . Our minister who we had booked didn't tell us this part, she said she would supply everything and forgot that part - and who are we supposed to know, we haven't been married before! So we ended up finding out 3 days before we left that we couldn't get legally married in Canada and had to have our wedding planner figure it out last minute, god bless her, it all worked out and we got married in Mexico.

Generally 4-8 weeks, 12 weeks for some. My sister in law who is a professional photographer likes to get them done within 4 weeks even though she tells her brides 8 weeks. I get mine on Thursday from her, which will be 5-6 weeks.

I ended up giving the gifts the night before when we did a quick rehearsal. Mind you, mine didn't have makeup or anything in it, just hangers for their dress and a robe for the next morning. I paid for everyone's hair and makeup though, so that was part of the gift.

MVP all the way! I had MVP and they were absolutely amazing. Definitely worth it. I get my pictures back from my photographer this Thursday, so I will post some before and after's. Melissa is absolutely amazing and made me feel so gorgeous on my wedding day. One look at their reviews just shows you how good she is

I don' think there is a right or wrong way to tip - I too searched the threads to look for guidance.. there is one that someone posted (i'll try to find it and post it) that was a pretty good guideline.

We did bubba's and I am SO happy we did - I debating filling our OOT bags to the brim and then thought the bubba's were more of a worthwhile investments for our guests as the husband I travel quite a bit and it's one of those things you don't realize how useful they are until you have one. Ordering them online was waaaaay cheaper off of the bubba kegs website and I got them sent to our PO box in the states. However I ended up gettings bags off of bagiva. They were linen bags that were like a $1 each, so I ended up paying 30 bucks with taxes, shipping and what not. In our bags, we ended up putting the bubba, welcome book, and toys for the kids but that was about it. The feedback with just the bags and bubba's alone made me think they were so worthwhile.

I hung mine in my MOH's bathroom for 4 days before the wedding and all the wrinkles came out. So happy I did that and didn't spend the money on steaming You'll be fine. How excited are you getting? It's coming close!

The bottom one is my grandpa's old typewriter and my other grandpa's old glasses. Neither of them are alive anymore.

Everything looks so awesome! You have done such a great job It's coming so fast, you must be on cloud nine!

Thanks ladies. You all have made me feel a lot better about things. At the end of the day, I did all I could to make people feel appreciated & welcomed and tried to spend as much time as I could, so there's nothing more I could of done. I'm seeing that now and slowly releasing my guilt on the subject