AnaS

Hi MissNikki, OCT in Riviera Maya does not have a garden location. Maybe another of their resorts? Ana

When we choose the hour d'oeuvres, we only tasted the international menu and the carribean menu. Aftre we picked our favorites we realized that we did not have anything vegetarian and picked the 2 options from the mexican menu. Unfortunately, I do not know how fancy the dress those too, but judging from the rest, they will be nice. Everything that we got was very nicely decorated and appropiate for a party. I do not think you can decide on the wedding day on the option. I plan on asking our guests to choose their entree when they RSVP for the wedding. This way I will give Ana a count in advance. BTW: not sure if you have kids at the wedding, but they do have kids menus as well ( chicken fingers with fries, pasta and mini hamburgers)

I think the menu choices you can make whenever you want. You can make them when you arrive or you can do it in advance. There was a couple that was doing tatings at the same time with us and they were getting married 2 days later. For me, it was important to make them earlier, because I want to create and print menus that will be placed on the tables for all guests and I would need to do that before heading there for the wedding.

I am glad I could help. Please let me know if you have any specific questions. I would be happy to answer them. I, as well, am counting days to the wedding Bring there made me so excited and I look forward to my wedding day. I also saw a wedding while there (it was in Villa Marina restaurant, because tehy were afraid of rain that day. I love the Villa Marina as a back-up option for the wedding. It is so nice, still outside but covered. The problem with that is that the restauant is closed on Thurdays only and not sure they allow it as an option for another day of the week. My wedding is on a Saturday. I have not received RSVP's yet either. I am a little nervous about that. I am pretty confident for about 50 guests, but I am not sure beyond that. We could end up with much more or none more . We will have to see. I am sure though we will have a great time. Ana

Food: We tasted 2 hous d'oeuvre menus for teh cocktail hour. We liked pretty much everything and ended up picking a couple of seafood options (the coconut shrimp and the ceviche from the carribean menu, the guacamole and quessadilla for the vegetarians from the mexican menu and the beef skewers and something else from the international menu. We tasted 4 menu options. Here is my review of all of the dishes. All in all anything would have been great. I am particularily impressed with the desserts which are soooo yummy. Menú 1 Salmon Carpaccio - i do not eat fish, but my fiancee said it was ok Guava and Mezcal sherbet - good but we mostly liked the lime one Surf and turf (beef fillet and jumbo shrimps) - we ended up choosing this one for the main course; the filet was nicely medium to medium well cooked, was juicy and very good; I do not eat seafood but my fiancee said the shrimp was good; it comes with 2 pieces of asparagus and a little bit of baked mashed potatoes Bitter Italian chocolate - it was good but a little too runny Coffee and petit fours Menú 2 Feta cheese and Balsamic vinaigrette salad - nothing special; just lettuce, cucumber and feta cheese; it was good Lemon and vodka sherbet - we liked this one the best and choose it for our wedding Wellington beef fillet - it was very good; the issue in my oppinion is that it is well done and no everyone likes that; it is baked in a pastry cover; my fiancee liked it very much but we decided not to go with it because not everyone may like it in our opinion Crème brûlée - was very good Coffee and petit fours Menú 4 Green pepper beef Carpaccio - it was very good Champagne sherbet - we liked this one a lot too Rosemary sauce lamb leg - I am not a fan of lamb but my fiancee loved this dish; it was a piece of lamb cooked in a pastry cover; we did not go with this one because lamb is not everyone's favorite Pineapple and coconut caribbean cake - we ended up choosing this one for our wedding; it is a vanilla based cake layered with a cream and fresh pineapple; it is very refreshing and delicious Coffee and petit fours Menú vegetariano Tomato and goat cheese pesto salad - we picked this for our wedding; it was really good; it may not be everyone's favorite though because of teh goat cheese Tangerine and vodka sherbet - it was good Vegetables strudel - I loved this entree; I am thinking very seriously of getting the veggie option for myself at the wedding; it was a pastry struddel with lots of veggies, but was very well seasoned and itis delicious; WE picked this for our vegetarian friends Yogurt and fruits cake - this was also one of my favoritel; so good and refreshing; My fiancee liked the other one better and since I loved them both, we ended up not choosing this one Coffee and petit fours Ana was so great to let us pick and choose from the different menus. On the cake, I loved all of them. We tasted: vanilla, pineapple, strawberry. We eneded up choosing the strawberry. They are all vanilla based cakes layered with cream (I think vanilla) and fruit. They are amazing all. I did not taste the chocolate because my fiancee does not like chocolate. Flower decorations: We had no luck with Walmart. It is a small store and they do not have the cylinders that we need. Since I will be using the cylinders both at the wedding and at the reception , Ana agreed to just bring them from the church aftre the ceremony, so I will be buying them from them. I have not been quoted a price yet, because I am getting them through my ceremony planner and she is working on my quote now. (better said next year) If the florist doe not take them back I will gladly leave them for you with Ana because I will definitely not be taking them back. I will probably have 8-10 tables. Favors: We think we will not be dong favors, but have a welcome bag for guests. I am not sure what I will be putting in the welcome bag yet. I found a cheap tote for $2 that I will be buying and I will add for sure: a personalized thank you letter, wedding weekend schedule - we are having some actiities: renting a catamoran, going to cichen itza, etc, sun screen and other stuff (maybe some mexican candy). Well, I hope this helps. Happy planning! Ana

Hello ladies, I just got back from a trip to OCT when I finalized some of the details for my wedding. I am so excited that everything is coming together so nicely. Ana is just great, helpful and it feels like anything you want can be done. I wanted to let everyone know that food is very good. We tried 4 different menus for dinner and 2 of the hoer oeuvre's (not sure about spelling ) and we loved it. But most of all the cake options are all fantastic. I could not decide because i wanted them all I am starting to count the days to my wedding. Countrybride looks like you had an amazing wedding. Congratulations! Happy planing! Ana

OCT has a shop that provides excursions as well. Their e-mail address is [email protected]. The guy we spoke with was called Coauhtli Quintanar.

Hi Sandy, Awesome! I will let you know how it went when I get back in December. Sharing the cost would allow us to even work with Ana's price if it si the most conveninet, but hopefully we will find even a better one. I was at target today and they had the cylinders and the cost of one was $8. Actually is was more than I expected. Maybe Walmart is cheaper and hopefully they have them. I plan on puttng Cala Lillies in the cylinders, but the same idea as in your picture. I actully will use these cylinders at the church as well. see picture below. I was planning on different centerpieces for the reception, but since I will use cylinders at the church I though I might as well just move them to the reception and not pay for flowers twice. At the church I plan on having something like in the orchid picture below but with Cala Lillies and make the cylinders 3 sizes so I can move them to the reception. When moved to the reception, they would add water and the floating candle. orchids in cylinders.bmp

@ Sandy Borie: Did you try the local Walmart for the cyilinders? Let's keep in touch. I am getting married on June 2nd and I will have 3 cylinder glasses as well. We could eventually split the costs and just buy one set of cylinders . I plan on checking Walmart when I go tehre in December. I will also use them at the church (like in the below pic but 3 different sizes) and then will move them to the reception. I am waiting from my church ceremony wedding planner on the price and will let you know.

Hey TropicLover, I have been out of this website for a while, but I am back now and in full wedding planning. My understanding was that you cannot choose multiple menu options. But you can have a different option for people with alergies. On the appetizers, I think you get everything. I mean the price is not small at all for those (for the cocktail hour apps, i mean). I plan on asking Ana to only pay for 70% of the people for apps and them providing less food. I do not think I need so much food. I am going there in one month. I hope to have all thes figured out by then. Ana

@ StephM I am planning to book my photographer a room and have them as part of my guests. This way, she will not make me pay the fee (it will be slightly cheaper in total), they will have a place to sleep after the weddinga and they will also be able to eat at some point in the night

The bar is actually open till 6am in the morning. I checked when I was there in July. Our plans are to convince Ana to let us have the reception till 1am ( I don't see why that would not be possible since they have the lounge area till 1am) and then move the group to the bar. Ladies, I am going down there in December again. I will be there between Dec 8th and Dec 11th. Let me know if you want me to check stuff for you, take pictures, etc.

I have both the packages and the menus. PM me and I can send over what I have. Happy Planning!

@TropicLover: Thanks for this. I will check with Ana. Your point makes sense. They should be able to give me the full disocunt for all the services I am not using. The wait staff makes sense because the menu options are the same regardless of the package as per the file that I received form Ana. I did not decide on the package at the time I received the menu options from her.

@ TropicLover: Do you know that for a fact that you would obtaoin $1,160 savings by doing just symbolic ceremony or is it just your assumption? I am not doing a ceremony at all at the resort (going to the Puerto Morelos Chappel) and the discount they gave me is much lower than that, so I am wandering how I could ask for more discount...LOL (I doubt that they deduct all the fees of doing legal from the package though). Thanks. I am going with the Paradise package bc. I am estimating about 80 people. It is so strange that the cost per person increases as you have more guests. I would have guessed the opposite. Has any of you asked Ana about that?

Thanks so much for posting these pictures. I love how it turned out! I hope I will be able to do the same for my wedding I will be getting married at the same church next year in June.

Yeah, I think I will be doing paper lanterns and/or tulle as well. Are you btinging them or are you getting them through Ana? I am not sure about the DJ. i want one and not sure if I should go with the resort one or bring my own. What are you ladies inclined to do?

Thanks! The pockets indeed were very hard to make but they turned out very nice in the end. The pics I posted are from my first try and they are not perfect the pockets were cut with the scissors instead of the cutter and the corners of the passes were cut with scissors as well. The final ones have nice rounded corners and perfect cut opening in the pockets ... LOL... (I looked at the pictures and felt the need to let people know that they actually are nicer than what I posted tehre ) Yeah, I will buy the precut pockets if I end up needing them for the invitations, but I am thinking I may not need them if I am making passports. I actually think that passports will be much easiesr than the boarding passes. Happy Planning!

TropicLover, your STDs are awesome! I wanted to do some embroising too and actually bought stamps and a heat gun but I am amking about 150 and realized that embroising would taken me too much, so I gave up on that The pockets I made tool very long! I worked for 2 days on them and my hands are hurting right now I plan on doing passport invites, but have not decided if I will make them myself or buy them yet. Happy Planning!

Ladies, Here are my STDs. I am very excited though it is quite a bit of work to make them. I got the template for the actual boarding passes from another bride on this website but I can't find it anymore, so I will be posting mines. I apologize for not being able to give her proper credit. The pocket template I found online by google-ing it. Below is a picture of the package that will be mailed to my guests: And now all the components: one main boarding pass one boarding pass with accomodation information one pocket The main boarding pass has magnetic strips on the back. I used magnetic business cards with adhesive. I cut them in strips and stuck them on the bacl. See below: And finally all the tools that I used besides the cardstock: paper cutter to cut the boarding passes round corner cutter for the edges of the boarding passes Xacto cutter for the little opening in the pocket scissors double tape for fording and putting the pocket together magnetic business cards with adhesives ruler And now, here are my templates: Happy Planning! STD template.doc Pocket template.doc

@TropicLover: I am only using green and white. I am not a very color coordinated person and I am afraid it would become a disaster if i tried more than that

Sandy, I really like your centerpieces! They are very elegant! Let me know when you hear back from Ana. Would be interested how much she is charging you for them. Few other question for everyone: are you guys using any additional decorations for the reception i.e. christmas lights, paper lanterns, tulle, etc I am considering white christmas lights but I don't want to overdo it are you guys renting a dance floor? I think the terrace would be fine without it but wanted to see what everyone else is doing. Happy Planning!

@TropicLover: Thank you for the encouragement! My fiancee thinks I am taking on too much, but I rather do some work than have no centerpiece. (need to cut some costs and thought this is an easy one) I do not think they will charge me a fee since I am not bringing in a vendor but only flowers. I asked Ana if I can bring my own centerpieces and she said that I can. I will have to make them on my own and give them to Ana once they are done. I will be putting them together the morning of with the help of my mother and sister (I will probably have to make 10 or so which is not too bad. I do not expect it will take more than 1hr-1.5hr). I am sure flowers will be fine for one day. I will get them the ebvening before the wedding day and will keep them in air conditioned till the reception time. Getting the flowers from a florist probably would help since they may be able to help with recommendations on what flowers hold the most. Since your colors are the same with mines, please keep me posted on what else you will be doing in terms of decoration. I will do the same Happy Planning!

Hi everyone, I am making my own centerpieces. My color is green and I will use limes to make most of the centerpiece. I will also put little candles around the centerpiece and green flower confetti sprinkled on the table. My inspiation for the centerpiece is a picture I found online. I will use limes instead of lemons and white flowers. I saw the vase at Michaels for $5. I am hoping I will find a similar one at the Walmart in Cancun for same or less and keep the whole cost for a table decoration below $10. Will probably get the flowers and greenery the day before at Walmart or at a florist. What do you guys think. I am looking for ideas There is a second place where ceremony can take place other than the lobby terrace. Please find pictures below. You can have the wedding set up in the middle or on one side and use the second side for a cocktail after the ceremony. This is the place I would have used if I had my wedding ceremony at the resort (I am getting married in the town church). Happy planning!

Hi Lala, I love your review. Very helpful while planning a wedding even if I am at a different resort. I wanted to ask you a few questions about the wedding ceremony: How did you decorate the place? (do you have pictures to share?) What did you do about music during ceremony? Any other pictures from the ceremony would be very helpul for me to be able to imagine the wedding day Thanks so much, Ana