KCDawn

I'm lost on this too!! Our wedding is still about 6 months away so I'm just starting to think about this and when I do it boggles my mind. I was thinking I should tip the wedding coordinator (part of a package), maybe the wait staff and bartender but how do you go about that? And how much? I wouldn't have expected to tip the photographer or the officiant but maybe I'm wrong. I hadn't thought of tipping the mariachi band. Ahhh!!!

I'm still deciding what I'm going to do with decor. I'm with you on not blowing the budget so I'm trying to decide the best use of it in this area. We're not having a bridal party so we're saving money not having to buy flowers for everyone. I do want to incorporate flowers somewhere though. I want to do rose petals for the aisle but $20 a bag could add up fast. Do you know how big a bag is? I'd love to know how many bags we would need. I'm still on the fence about chair sashes. If I decide to do them I'll bring my own. I'm guessing I can get a couple friends to tie them on for us. I believe they charge $2 a piece to tie them on if you bring your own.

I LOVE your monogram!! Great job on it! I haven't attempted ours yet. Did it take you a long time to do?

Haha! YES!! Me too!! Glad I'm not the only one. Listing to music for the wedding or watching wedding shows on tv...never fails. It's a good thing we're taking pictures before the ceremony :-) Thank goodness for waterproof mascara!!

Beautful pictures Matt!!! Thank you for sharing! Makes me so excited for my wedding at Secrets

Great song choices!! I'm just starting to think of some of this stuff. I love that you guys are doing the Mother/Son, Father/Daughter dance in the same song. I wanted to do something like that but I wasn't sure if that was a good idea. Now I feel better about it. :-) Are you dancing the whole song at the same time or are you and your father dancing for one half and he and his mom the other half?

Of course!

Haha! I have no idea what my Fiance is wearing on his feet yet. Of course, he's planning on a linen suit with no tie so I think I could be ok with sandals. With a formal suit? Not so much. :-) Good luck on that one!

I haven't put any playlists together yet, but I have some links saved on Pinterest and found others by google searching. Bride's Entrance (I'm leaning towards "She's Got a Way". Had it in mind even before this list.) http://voices.yahoo.com/my-top-ceremony-songs-bride-walk-down-the-1578687.html DJ List http://www.jukeboxexpress.com/music-list/top-15-bridal-songs/ Soundtrack to I Do - Look at Categories-->Music. Posts are divided up by what you need the songs for. There's even a beach category! http://www.soundtracktoido.com/ Martha Stewart Song Suggestions http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/231275/classic-and-surprising-songs-your-wedding-music-playlist?lpgStart=1&currentslide=2&currentChapter=1 There are a lot more places to find inspiration if you do a little searching online. This is just what I found so far. Hope it helps!

Endless is great! I've ordered other shoes from them too. They ship really fast and it's easy to make returns if you need to. They have a lot of nice bridal shoes!

These are mine! I got them from Endless.com. They also come in Crimson, Black & Pewter.

Canapes are Hors D'oeurves so not really desert but I've heard of other brides who've done desert with the bonfire so maybe it can be either one. I was just curious what the options were for the price. I saw the S'mores listed on the wedding guide for $10 ea under Cakes & Special Deserts. I read somewhere too they weren't what we know as S'mores.

You are too sweet! I'm an accountant so I guess it's my nerdy tendency to read and research everything. :-D I've picked up on a few things just by reading reviews and posts on the Facebook page. If you're curious about a specific night of the week, email the e-concierge to ask. Her email is [email protected]. I saw this on the E-Concierge's Facebook page today: Diana Camardi I was wondering what days some of your theme parties are. Will be there in May. Want to plan an excursion and visiting Playa De Carmen, but dont want to miss your beach party or Mexican night! Like · · March 13 at 4:56pm · Econcierge Cici Secrets-MaromaBeach beach party is on tuesdays same as mexican night, friday night is fire show and its a show-dinner, also don't miss monday-wednesday and thursday night time shows, those days are the best, so basically you just have saturday and sunday off...lol...but totally worth it not to miss those days

Beachbride is correct. They have the activities Beachbride listed and every day the guests receive a newsletter called the Sundial in their rooms which lists all of the activities. Side note: If you're on Facebook, find the facebook page for Secrets Maroma! They have someone who manages it - the "e-concierge". The E-concierge also has a separate page. I follow both. There are a lot of pictures posted by guests and people ask a lot of questions which get answered regularly by the e-concierge and other people who have been there. It's been very helpful. If you have a resort related question, I would post it on the facebook page rather than emailing the wedding coordinators to get the quickest response. You'll also get answers and suggestions from other guests which is helpful. If you look through the past posts, chances are someone has already asked the question and the answer is right there.

Great! I'm still considering the desert part. Did they tell you what the desert is?

Thanks! I think we're going to do the same setup. It might be a good idea for us to have it Thursday instead of Friday. I was waiting to see when most people were coming in before I finalized it. We're very excited about the bonfire too!

Are you guys doing the bar or food of any kind?

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I've seen a lot of brides decorate the area around the cake too. That might help with a small cake since you can only put so much on it. You could add a table runner (maybe an extra chair sash?) for some color or some shells/starfish and some tea lights. Just a few ideas. I'm sure you could come up with more! I agree that $25 doesn't sound too bad after all the flower prices I've seen from Secrets. Of course we are only talking about a few flowers.

We're planning on doing one too but I haven't talked to Valeria about planning it yet. I guess I should get on that! haha I'd love to do the buffet on the beach but I hate to pay for another dinner when everyone's already paying for the all-inclusive. I think we're just going to do the bonfire and the bar. I'm thinking we might do dinner with our parents or something like that and let everyone else do dinner on their own. Plus, we're getting married on a Saturday and I think there's a good bit going on at the hotel on a Friday night (Fiesta night maybe??). From what I've read, it sounds like they set up the bonfire and put some of the beach chairs around it. I hadn't thought of decorations. I think we're just going to keep it simple, but I'm all for ideas! Love you girls and creativity!

Haha!! It seems like we'll have 30-40 guests. There are 19 of us booked as of now.

Thanks! The background they took the photo against is a little distracting. I was going to ask if it was possible to leave the little fondant flower off....or maybe I'll just have someone pull it off :-)

That's such a bummer. I would have loved to do those!

I found some deals at Staples tonight and I just had to share! Coupon - $5 off $25 Breakroom/cleaning supplies I used this to buy ibuprofen packets and bandaids. I got two boxes of 50 individual packets of ibuprofen and a box of 100 bandaids. The coupon is in this week's flyer. You can print it off their website or just grab a flyer right inside the door. Dollar Days They had the Spanish for Dummies books for $1! They also have a rebate deal on clear Avery labels. You get 50% back. I got a pack of clear address labels to use for invitations/rsvp's. Happy Shopping!!

Staples is having their Dollar Days right now. I saw the Spanish for Dummies books there tonight for $1!