KCDawn

Un4gitabl - I did get your email about the runners. We just moved in the last two weeks, so the runners are in a box somewhere. They weren't a special size. I thought the tables looked like a standard round banquet table, but I could be wrong. I will measure the runners as soon as I can find them :-)

I walked down the aisle to "Forever" by Ben Harper. It was perfect and I received a lot of compliments on the choice. We also used "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Ingrid Michaelson for the sand ceremony. It's a beautiful version of the song. My husband and I are big Jason Mraz fans, so while we didn't use his songs during the ceremony we did use quite a few throughout the rest of the day.

We used the included tablecloth overlays that Cri showed (They're very nice in person) but added a table runner. I bought 10 of them for about $40 on ebay. They have them in a bunch of different colors and it really added some color to the reception. We didn't have ten tables but they used the extras to decorate some of the cocktail hour tables and the guestbook table. Here is the link to the store: http://stores.ebay.com/craftsnfavors. We purchased the pintuck runners. We used the Big Jambox for our wedding in September. It was awesome! We used it for the reception and the bonfire, plus we now have a nice portable speaker. We did use the hotel sound system for the ceremony, which ended up being a good move. We had 36 guests. It may not be as necessary with a small group, but for ours, I think it was.

Here is the link for the flutes. They are included in the Secrets of Love and Ultimate Packages. http://www.secretsresorts.com/wedding_flutes/

Hi Ladies! We are finally getting our marriage certificate this week! It took 3 months, like other brides have said. Just a heads up/reminder that in order to get the toasting flutes that are included in the packages, you need to request them on Secrets' website after your trip. They don't come automatically. I'm sure some of you already know this but I figured if I didn't realize it someone else might have missed it too. I actually forgot all about them until I was looking on their website last week when I was looking into our marriage certificate.

We chose one soup, salad, and desert for everyone then gave our guests the option of their main course. We had stuffed chicken (I think it had chili sauce and cheese inside) and the Surf & Turf (steak and shrimp). We also had two vegetarians and Valeria arranged for them to have Vegetarian Lasagna. If you do it this way, you have to give them your choices ahead of time. You can't give the guests a menu and let them choose at dinner. Valeria asked for the choices a week ahead of time. I made place cards for everyone with different colors based on their choice. It was a little extra work but everyone got what they wanted and everyone LOVED the food!

Congratulations on a stunning wedding! Everything looked beautiful! I agree with the Preferred Club. We had a hard time getting the wireless internet in our room to work, so I was able to use the computers in there to look up a few things I needed like deposits and emails. Also, I printed welcome letters for all of our OOT bags. I ran out of time ahead of time to do it and we ended up changing the location of the cocktail hour so I was able to type up something and print it right there. It was also great being located closest to the pool and beach area. The little extras in your room are great too! Our video turned out great. It's a great addition to the package.

Aww thanks! I'm glad you found it helpful. You'll love this forum. Let me know if you have any other questions! Good luck with your planning!!

Good luck for a smooth trip! I'm so excited for you!! Congratulations!

Yes! After all the worry about shoes after switching to the beach I went barefoot. I had heels I wore for the pictures and after the reception when I changed into a shorter dress. I bought wedges from Victoria's Secret for the ceremony but ended up just wearing them for the reception instead.

Have a great time! It will be amazing I'm sure!

Thanks! My hair was pinned up. It was all curled, then pinned up low and to the side. It was sprayed A LOT with humidity spray and had a lot of bobby pins in it so it held up pretty good in the heat and the wind. The little pieces got in my face a little, but otherwise it was good. There is a series of the pro shots where the little section of bangs are standing straight up! Not sure how my husband (love saying that, you will too!) didn't see it and fix it, but oh well! haha Congratulations! I'm so excited for you! Have a great time!

So for any of you worried about not getting enough pictures...Tony just sent me the links to our pictures, all 1239 of them!!! Now, a lot of those are the same shot with a different treatments or edits, but Holy Cow! We had him for 3 hours! I can't share any of them until I get the DVD but here are a few snapshots in the meantime. There are a lot more so if you wanna see something in particular, just ask!

During dinner we had it sitting on the same table as the guest book. I kept my Iphone with me and controlled it from my seat. I had a playlist so I didn't have to do much but when the dinner ran so long I was able to add songs to the playlist. When we started dancing in the gazebo, one of my friend's husbands grabbed an empty chair and sat it on the chair right inside the gazebo against one of the pillars. There is an outlet there in case you need one for anything.

Awe Thanks Cri!! It was awesome. I want to go back already! Unfortunately I didn't get to the mansion. I really wanted pictures there but we just didn't have enough time. I was late getting ready and we did the first look pictures which was really cool. I'll stick around for sure. I got so much benefit from this site. I owe it to those ladies to pass it forward!

I'm happy to answer your questions! Originally Posted by msop04 THE WEDDING DAY! **Our wedding is March 15th at 3, so our cocktail hour will be about 4ish... do you think it will be too hot to have it on the beach? I just wanted to have more time on the beach, since our ceremony is only about 30 minutes and we've paid for extra decor and have our photographer flying down -- but I also don't wanna "fry" my guests!! I would check with Valeria or Cecilia on that one. None of us are going to know the weather better than they will. We switched it when we were there when we were in our meeting with Valeria. Even though the ceremony is short, my guests still spent about an hour or a little more on the beach. The ceremony started at 4, but they were told to make their way there about 10-15 minutes earlier. The ceremony is about 20 minutes or so, then everyone will greet you and get champagne. After that, we did group and family pictures on the beach, before heading to the gazebo at 5. **Would you recommend the Mexican Trio over the Caribbean Trio?? We didn't see the Caribbean Trio so I can't really speak for them, but the Mexican trio was great! Valeria said the Caribean trio is a little slower paced, more of an island feel. I wanted to do the Mexican trio because my guests came to a wedding in Mexico. I liked the idea of giving a little local flavor so to speak. Dinner was fantastic but slow. Valeria told me initially the dinner would take about an hour leaving 2 for dancing and other stuff, but it ended up taking more like 2 hours. **We only have 14 guest (including bride and groom) - do you think the dinner will take longer than 1 hour? We have rented the resort Sound System for 2 hours for the dinner reception, but I'm worried that won't be enough time. That being said, if you think the Big Jambox will be loud enough, we'd happily go with that option (save money AND have a cool speaker to take home)! We are having a big reception once we return home, so I don't think anyone will get too crazy at SMB... LOL Well it didn't sound like that was typical and they did correct the situation. We did have plated service and I gave my guests options, so that may have contributed to the confusion or whatever slowed things down. I'm not sure. Of course, if you get the jambox you won't really have to worry :-)

Thanks!! It really was a dream wedding. I couldn't have asked for anything more. I'm excited for you!! It's going to be fantastic! I didn't have to deal with the limit, because we never got searched. When you go through customs, they x ray your bags then you take a few steps to a booth where you hit a button. Green light means you're free to go, Red light means they search your bag. I'm guessing this is where you'd have to justify all the wedding stuff, because I didn't see anywhere else where I'd have to.