jnitschke

We're planning on using walkie talkies... and making room phone number cards to give to people.

would you be able to forward to me or post some of those pictures? I'm really curious about this too. wondering what the fabrics will look like before I go to the effort of spending the money.

I know some people were talking about buying a bluetooth speaker for outdoors... I just saw this in a cyber week deal.. thought I'd pass it along http://www.meijer.com/s/jensen-bluetooth-smps-650-wireless-outdoor-speaker/_/R-226452 44.99 reg. 79.99

Wait? you have to pay in cash on site? That doesn't seem right... and might put a bit of kink in things... hmmm...

Thank You SOOOO MUCH FOR THIS! I have been looking every where for affordable sheers. What did they quote you to set up the sheers that you're bringing?

So, after seeing Allie's most recent blog posting I thought that it might be nice to compile some wisdom from our past brides. So here it goes ladies... can you answer these questions? -What things from your wedding would you do again?What really worked? -What things would you have changed, or done differently? -What was the best expense that you would recommend that other brides add on? -What wasn't worth the extra money?

Allie, this is so super helpful... I'm actually thinking I'm going to pose a set of questions for the brides that have done this already... see what kinds of good info we can compile.

For those of you who went and got your marriage certificate at a JOP here in the states, did you have to have your married name on your passport for when you flew down to Mexico? I was just thinking about having to renew mine and I realized that might need to be adjusted once I'm married, especially since I'm going to be changing my name when I return.

You're not too far off from me. May wedding and I'm doing Teal, Purple, and Green... all jewel tones.. with silver as an accent if it's needed. These are my favorite colors. The dominate combo is Purple and Teal, since Purple and Green makes my FI think Barney... but there's still green here and there. My motif is peacock feathers. If you look at previously posted pictures on the board you'll see my aisle streamers and chair hangers that I made over the summer. I'm thinking Purple aisle and petals, with Purple and teal sheers on the Gazebo. I really like Nikki's center pieces and I think I'm going to use that as my inspiration, but with a teal table cloth with purple placemats, a green runner and white rose petals. Tall clear glass vases with petals in water, clear votives with silver tea lights (which I got on clearance after last halloween), and mercury glass votives with regular tea lights(which I'm making). I'm also going to try and get Blue Dendrobium orchids and have a few of those scattered amidst the rose petals. I'm debating on doing chair scarves, maybe in purple. ... of course I haven't gotten any price quotes on this yet. So, maybe all these ideas will change when I do. I do plan on trying to bring a bunch of the supplies with me. The real thing I'm looking for is a cheaper sheers option... $300 a sheer is just ridiculous.

This is a beautiful and very class dress. It looks like it will be light weight too. You might want to make sure you have a good slip, so the charmeuse doesn't stick to you when you walk. With the humidity that could be a real issue. My dress was nothing like I thought I'd want... it has ruffles, and usually I detest ruffles. But, I hear that's pretty normal.. do get a dress completely unlike what you were expecting. Do you know when you'll get to have your dress in? I was so excited when mine came in the mail.

I was thinking of not doing a package and just picking things ala carte... but I haven't gotten an ok for sure yet on that... so I don't want to be an authority on this... I asked if I could do that and Alejandro didn't really say anything about it one way or another.

My fiance has a Jawbone Jambox. It's tiny, maybe 5 X 3 X 1.5 inches. It works on bluetooth, the battery lasts about 8hours... and it's LOUD we use it to do sound when we're outside by our bonfire all the time, never a problem. So if we don't do a DJ that's what we were going to bring. It was pricey, about $150, but at least for the same amount of money you get to keep the speaker afterwards. That's my suggestion.

LKocelko, I'm getting married only a couple of weeks after you: May 25th!!! My WC is Alejandro, and he's been awesome so far. He always gets back to me within 2 days when I have a question. Right now we're in a rush to try and get our invitations in the mail before the end of the month, that is if Hurricane Sandy doesn't completely screw with my weekend. I have to agree with Allie, I think private reception is the way to go. I figure with a small group, which ours will be about 20 people also, the cost to have the private meal isn't actually all that much..and you're going all that way- you might as well do it up right and make that night something special, something to standout from all the other amazing nights at the resort. If you don't want to have the "dance party" kind of reception, you could always do a quite dinner on the beach. That alone would be special, I mean how many chances do you get to have a catered dinner on the beach? When we looked at what was actually included in the free wedding and what was included wasn't really the things we wanted, the extra cost of the room just wasn't worth the value of what we were getting as part of the "free" package, since we'd have to pay to change so much anyway and we're doing a symbolic ceremony instead of a legal one. We weren't too crazy about the blood tests being done in Mexico or the 4 day rule for your witnesses. That being said, I haven't gotten any quotes yet... so all that might change. Nikki said that the extra cost of the casitas rooms, is completely worth it just based on the increased luxury in those rooms. We're splitting our stay between both, Royale before the wedding and Castias after (to make it seem more "Honeymoon" like). Quote: Originally Posted by LKocelko Hi everyone! Just put down a deposit to save the date for our wedding, May 11th 2013 at 3:30 PM. We haven't gotten a WC or anything like that yet, but this forum has so much helpful tips and information! It's great that everyone is so willing to help and provider insider information. At this point I'm a little overwhelmed, I feel like there's so many decisions to make! We went with a DW since my fiance and I will be primarily paying for it ourselves, so this seemed the most economical. Including ourselves, we aren't expecting more than 25 people to come. Of those people it will only be parents/siblings (+ their significant others) and each of our best friends. Because of that we aren't having a huge, typical "reception" and weren't going to hire a DJ or anything - probably just go the iPod route. We had originally just planned on using the package deal and have our reception at one of the restaurants, but based on everyone's posts I'm starting to rethink that. Anyone have a similar size wedding, and have any recommendations as to if it's worth it to go private? It's kind of hard to swallow paying for that, since we will be at an AI, but if it's that much better to do private I'd be willing to pay. I think this is the big decision we are trying to make right now. We hadn't wanted to do the 7 night casita stay ($$) in order to get the free package, but now I'm also rethinking that. Is it worth it to pay extra for that, and just do the few add-ons to the free package? We weren't planning on doing tons of flowers or decor, and think the beauty of the beach will be enough. If anything, we'll just bring some ribbons, shells, etc. from home to decorate both the ceremony and reception. I do know we'll want to have a bouquet for me and my MOH, and a boutinnere for my FI and his BM. Sorry for the novel! Hopefully once the ball starts rolling things will become more clear. We're just really worried of little expenses adding up quickly. Thanks everyone! P.S. Anyone been down in May? We're wondering how the weather will be. Quote: Originally Posted by AllieH YAY Congratulations!!! I so remember being right where you are now. You will get a WC assigned -probably Natalia or Valeria, as they seem to do most of the WC for EDR. I think a private dinner/reception is the way to go. Instead of looking at it like you're paying for food at an AI, look at it like you're paying for the wait staff, bartenders and a private space for that 4 hour period. Most of the meal options are fairly inexpensive (especially when compared to what similar service would cost at a reception in the US). You won't be able to have an iPod with dancing without some sort of private event (cocktail or dinner/reception). When we were choosing the packages, we looked at all the "buy up" package inclusions, and decided we didn't really want most of those things. For us, it made more sense to spend the $$ on our room (Casita) vs. decorations and stuff for the wedding that we really didn't want to begin with. So we are doing the Free Sweet wedding package, with just a few add ons. You are correct though, the little add ons start adding up quickly! Have you looked at Lomas' Wedding site with the choices for the add ons, packages, and banquet kit?

That's what I'm thinking too, originally I wanted lots of people and fun dancing- but I think they'll need encouragement to actually get up and let loose. So, a DJ with glow in the dark necklaces and a light up floor seemed like the way to go. But, now it's looking like the group is going to be smaller and all of that will be over kill. It's hard to judge what this group will be like, since I've never had this exact mix of people together before. But, I don't have final numbers or even close to it yet...so I know I'm over-reacting a bit. Just, everyone and their mother seems to be getting pregnant right now and my friends/family keep dropping out left and right. The big scare is that of the 20 people I thought were a "yes for sure" 12 of them have real commitments that they won't be able to get out of. But, on the plus side the first couple on my "maybe" list just paid and bought airfare, so that is promising. There might be other people who surprise me still.

YIPPEEE!!!! -that's so fun. We'll be doing the same thing before we go, and then just not tell anyone other than our witnesses.

It does seem to be silly to pay for an all inclusive resort, and then pay for a seperate dinner. I've had to explain this to my FI a couple of times. But, I tell myself that it's not that you're paying for the food, but rather for the private services of your own chef, waitstaff, and prep team-and to me I just think when would there ever be another event that is special enough to warrant a private staff, and if we're going to go all the way and ship everyone down we might as well make it memorable. So, I'm doing the private dinner, it doesn't have to be your typical DJ party. If our group is small we might just do a quite meal next to the water. Tables set up on the beach with candles. I think that would be something special and memorable. And, you can keep the costs down by picking simpler meals, like the family style dinners. Or as a different possibility, if you do your pictures before the ceremony (which I'm considering just because it'd be good to have photos before the humidity/heat has a chance to wreak havoc on us), you could do a "cocktail & appetizer, or desert hour" package, which is for the 2 hours instead of the 4... you could do the toasts and other traditions, like cake cutting if that's your thing, 1st dances with an Ipod system playing... then after your two hours are up have everyone go over to El Cocotal for a later dinner. It might not matter then that it's crowded, since you've already done and said what you wanted to for the evening. Just an idea, since it seems like you're having trouble choosing... I figured, why not do a bit of everything. ..... ********************************************** ... on a totally unrelated side note.. I was just looking at the emoticons on here... when would you ever need to use this-->emoticon on a wedding discussion board? Unless you were talking about the beating you take from the ridiculous fees and rental rates.

I'm getting married over Memorial Day weekend next May. I think they charge you a base rate fee for the different events based on how much you want set up and how labor intensive it is. I'm not really sure yet, since I'm not to the "getting quotes" stage of planning. Some of the other girls might be able to break down the set up charges for you.

Like Allie said they'll charge you a set up fee. It used to be that you could have a family member put out a few things, but they've rescinded that. Even with the set up fee it can be much much cheaper to bring your own. It's really just a matter of what you're willing to put the effort into. You can either bring the stuff with you, mail it a few weeks ahead of time to your coordinator, or one idea I'm toying with is using the Walmart in Playa. Earlier brides posted (pg 86) that there is a shuttle bus that leaves from EDR to there or you can take a cab for about $20. I might order everything online and have it shipped to the store there directly.... then I might take the shuttle over, and cab it back with all of my goodies...just a thought though, right now I don't have anything completely figured out..... every time I think I've decided something I've changed my mind two days later...

THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!!!!!!! THANKS!

Did anyone include a card with cost/payment info on the resort? How did you word it/what did it look like?

The outside vendor fee is $800 and DJ Doremixx is charging $900 for just the basic 3-4 hours of DJ-no extras like the dance floor. Where as the EDR DJ rate was $1500.00 for the same thing... personally I think its ridiculous that they charge so much, when obviously the rate doesn't need to be so high. ... although I might not need a DJ after all... people are dropping like flies... Instead of the 30-40ppl I was thinking it might be closer to 15.. sigh... stupid life happening to people. Even though, I really want fun and dancing I feel like it might be forcing things if it's just US, our parents, and a handful of friends. I might just change it to dinner on the beach or something. ...but I could just be counting my eggs before they're hatched too. We haven't even sent out the formal invitations yet. Some of my "maybe" people may still surprise me. I'm trying to stay positive. It's funny because, before I started planning all of this I didn't even want a big party.. and now I'm sad I might not get one.

Has anybody asked about this yet? Just wondering. Originally I wanted DJ Doremixx, but he raised his prices and EDR raised their outside vendor fee making them more expensive. But, one of my best friends and her husband would never be able to afford coming- they already work 2 jobs each and can barely pay their bills... but if I give them that room then maybe they could swing it.

Allie, are you allowed to bring the real touch flowers into the country. Unless I'm miss thinking what real touch are, the freeze dried flowers, in which case sorry for being dumb.

Allie, these are awesome! did you mold them yourself, or send out to have them done?

gorgeous! Are the colored lights pointing at the ceiling always there, or did you request them?