sgreen99

Sorry I haven't been on forever! My bach bags were from Ardene's, such a great deal!

Thank you! I actually didn't even know about the lights until we got there, so we didn't have to pay for them they just did it. Might be worth asking about!

My photographer calls it a "Rock the Dress" which I think is a bit more appropriate (and less "scary) terminology. You don't wreck your dress by any means. It's just more sassy, sexy photos, hair down and more casual (and yeah, you maybe get a little wet) Tons of fin, do it!!!

With the exception of the chair bows, white sand runner and rose petals, this is how the standard PRESIDENTIAL setup looks (this is the private beach area). Note that the Tiffany chairs would be an upgrade if it were not the pres package. The fans and mason jars were my own. Off the top of my head I believe it was $3 per chair bow (which they do move over to the palapa for the reception) and I think like $75 for the runner and rose petals. Should be in the extra brochure though.

Check my review (link in my sig) - the only thing about the ceremony set up that we paid extra for were the coral chair bows. All the rest was included in the pres package. (minus my own decor things which I think I describe there). Bridesmaids bouqs were like $25.

I had the girls at the resort do my hair (I believe my girls was names Isa, she was fantastic!). One of my girlfriends is an amazing MUA, so luckily that was her gift to me, which was great!

Oh! We DID end up getting it for the whole stay, but literally did not know until actually checking it whether we had it or not. Make sure you ask about this up front. They tried to give me a run around about it and it was hard because the girl who initally helped me with planning no longer worked there. I had emails to back it up, but I suggest getting it in writing right away. They basically said, you can have it if no one else who wants to 'pay' for the room ends up coming in. Since it is a free' upgrade, they say they only have to give it to you for the night of the wedding, which is ridiculous/ Who wants to move rooms in the middle of their trip?!!? Especially with the amount of crap you tote along to have a wedding. Sheesh. All ended up well, but they really could have avoided the whole situation by just saying - yes you have it. It started us off with a bad taste in our mouth about the resort and it wasn't even needed.

Ask away! Our location is the "secret spot", which is on the Maya Beach resort side (we stayed at the riveria maya side so we could never find the place). It's right behind the disco of the resort. This spot is what you get with the Presidential and I highly recommend it, as you will not have any creepers and onlookers like you would with more public beach ceremony spots. I think with the Pres package and all of our add-ons we came in at around $5800 for the resort costs (not including our own trips or photography costs of course). the value of the package was huge in my eyes. We had a luxury wedding experience but at greatly reduced cost to what it would have been at home.

Thanks! The dresses are from David's bridal, we just got one here in edmonton. Super reasonable prices!!

I thought it might be fun to show a few of my crafties in action... We were super pleased with how they all turned out!

For flowers there is a catalogue that explains it, the standard offering for Pres. package is really nice, stay within if you can because any of the upgraded "exotic' choices are ridiculous. The flowers were just find from the standard so that's what we went with. If you look at my review, the only upgrades we purchased for the actual ceremony set-up was: The coral chair bows, The White runner and two bags of roses sprinkled on top of the runner. (*the mason jars, programs and fans were our own). So, pretty sweet setup with the Pres package. I think the extras we got came out to about $250 or something?

My hair was done at the resort, makeup by a friend (it's all in my review....)

Question for any of you ladies that were married previously: Did you send a thankyou card to your WC at the resort? What did you use as the mailing address? This is what is says in their email sig, wondering if that is an address?? GRAND SIRENIS RIVIERA MAYA RESORT & SPA ***** Ctra. Federal Canc?n - Tulum, zona costera, km. 256.3 What do you think?

Yes true! Elizabeth brought it up in our meeting. I had never mentioned anything about the photographer before but it came up during our meeting because of guestlist VS. seats at the ceremony (photogs were on guestlist from AMA but not requiring seats at the ceremony). She said something about the outside vendor fee but after explaining that they were both guests and paying for seven days accomodations she dropped it. Sounds like they are def. sticklers though, which sucks that was one of the reasons we brought from up here, by the time you pay for a min. $3000 photography package down there plus outside vendor fee, you might as well just pay for someone's trip and at least get the style you want!