KCDawn

I have the file with the reception locations. I can send it to you.

Secrets' included cake is pretty boring!! I'm not overly concerned about the cake either but I was also looking for ways to dress it up a little. I'm leaning towards this cake topper from Etsy. My fiance is an avid mountain biker so I love it :-) I'm also thinking of putting some flowers to add some color. I'll ask Valeria how much they'll charge for real ones, but my guess is they'll be too much so I'll just bring a few imitation ones in that case.

Everything looks amazing! I LOVE the luggage tags!! How did you make those? Just looking for pictures online?

Bose was our first thought because they're typically top of the line and we figured we could splurge a little since we're saving money not getting a dj or renting a system. We're still researching which one we want to get but we wanted to get a good one so it's loud enough and has good sound quality. Even if we go with the Bose, there are a couple different Sounddock options - Sounddock 10, Sounddock Portable and the Sounddock Series II. The Sounddock 10 is the most expensive at $599 but it's also the biggest and heaviest at 18.5 lbs. The other two are around 5 lbs which would make more sense in carrying it to Mexico. We're going to go to Best Buy or somewhere like that to get an opinion on whether either of the smaller ones would still do what we need. I'll let you know if we figure anything out anytime soon! Hi KCDawn, we also are planning to use our iPod for the music. Because we're going on a cruise afterward I'm worried about having enough space in my pack for everything + the dock. I'm worried that buying a smaller model may not give enough sound though. Is the Bose Sounddock the most appropriate one you've seen?

We're doing the ipod dock. We're going to buy a good one, maybe the Bose Sounddock, and take it with us. We'll use it for the Ceremony, reception and the bonfire the night before the wedding. We're doing the Ultimate Package which includes the Mexican trio so we're using them for the cocktail hour. If you're doing one of the packages they will let you substitute. So if you really want live music and there's something in the package you don't need, you could get some credit to put towards it.

HI Alianne! Congrats on your upcoming wedding! I'm getting married at Secrets in September. We are using a travel agent for our trip and she arranged our transportation to and from the airport through Olympus Tours. Since our trip was booked as a package I'm not sure of the cost of the transfer but you can look at their site and book online. http://www.olympus-tours.com/ We are paying for our hotel and all wedding charges by credit card. If you haven't already, you should look at the Secrets Maroma Brides thread. There's a ton of information on that thread if you have the patience and time to read through it. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/32238/secrets-maroma-brides/1110#post_1746785 Also, the resort reviews are extremely helpful and a little easier to read. I highly suggest you read at least some of those. Here is the link to the Secrets Maroma reviews: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/secrets-maroma-beach-resort

Response time seems to be the biggest gripe everyone has on here. From what I've read, they give more priority to weddings coming up in the next 3 months but it seems to be hit or miss. Since your wedding date isn't until December, they're likely to be a little slower in getting back to you. I've also heard they get a ton of emails everyday and they can get pretty bogged down in general. Unfortunately this seems to be one of the drawbacks to having a caribbean wedding. If it's something you really need answered, I'd just send a reminder so you don't get lost in the pile!

I also meant to say that I could be wrong on the time slots each day, but from what I saw it looked like they only had 3 slots per day. It makes sense they would adjust the actual times for different reasons.

I could be totally wrong on this but my understanding is that your reception follows the ceremony. We have the 4 pm slot so I didn't question it. That would definitely be something to ask Valeria or Cecilia.

Another Fall bride!! Yay!!! We're also doing the Ultimate Package and using Juan for our photos. I'd love to do a trash the dress session but I'm not sure we'll be able to. I've seen some of Juan's trash the dress pics and they're great. We're using an ipod for the reception and buying a portable bose system to take with us. The photobooth idea sounds great!! We are getting an instant camera and using that for our guest book. I'm wearing my hair all up, but I would have done that no matter where the wedding. My hair just doesn't look that great half up. Everyone's hair is different, but it will be hot and humid so that's definitely a consideration. You could look at the websites for photographers in Cancun/PDC to see pictures of brides and how a lot of girls wear their hair.

They only have one at a time. There are three time slots - 8 am, 12 pm, and 4 pm. So, max there are three weddings per day, but only one at a time.

Have you girls seen this?? Valeria sent it to my travel agent when we were finalizing the contract and reserving locations for the ceremony & reception. Hopefully it will answer your location questions. If you need me to email it, let me know....or just pay the $30. It's totally worth it! Wedding areas-Secrets.pptx

I'm pretty sure you're referring to the Gazebo Terrace. That's where we're having our reception!

Do you know if they charge you to tie the chair sashes you bring? I thought I saw somewhere they charge $2 for each one, but I can't remember where I saw that. Just wondering if you had asked Cecilia or Valeria about this. I was considering bringing chair sashes too. We still have a little while to go.

You are so welcome!! I'm glad I could help. We are going with Juan as our photographer. I actually did a good bit of research in this area before making that decision. I contacted several photographers including Juan not knowing he was Secrets’ photographer until he responded. I emailed him back and forth a few times. He was great! I told him my ideas for what I wanted and didn't want and he was totally on board. For example, I told him I wanted some getting ready pictures but not the whole morning. I also wanted a First Look and to do pictures with my Fiance before the ceremony (he said he loved doing those!). I wanted him to do the ceremony, cocktail hour and a group picture with all of our guests. He came back with a perfect schedule and didn’t push for a minimum number of hours like most of the other photographers I had contacted. He also said he always comes prepared to work longer so if we changed our minds and wanted him to stay, he would. With the package at Secrets, it is Juan "or one of his associates" that will do the photography. By emailing him I was able to confirm that Juan was available and would be there on our wedding day. Based on my communication with Juan we upgraded our package from Photo Package 3 (included in the Secrets Ultimate Package) to Photo Package 6 and we will just be charged the difference between the listed price of the two packages. The packages are all listed in the pdf Wedding Guide. This was by far the cheapest option I found, even for the same amount of time and pictures. I was prepared to spend more if I had to but I'm so happy we didn't. You can see samples of Juan’s work on his website and blog: http://juanphotos.com & http://blog.juanphotos.com. You are so welcome!! I'm glad I could help. We are going with Juan as our photographer. I actually did a good bit of research in this area before making that decision. I contacted several photographers including Juan not knowing he was Secrets’ photographer until he responded. I emailed him back and forth a few times. He was great! I told him my ideas for what I wanted and didn't want and he was totally on board. For example, I told him I wanted some getting ready pictures but not the whole morning. I also wanted a First Look and to do pictures with my Fiance before the ceremony (he said he loved doing those!). I wanted him to do the ceremony, cocktail hour and a group picture with all of our guests. He came back with a perfect schedule and didn’t push for a minimum number of hours like most of the other photographers I had contacted. He also said he always comes prepared to work longer so if we changed our minds and wanted him to stay, he would. With the package at Secrets, it is Juan "or one of his associates" that will do the photography. By emailing him I was able to confirm that Juan was available and would be there on our wedding day. Based on my communication with Juan we upgraded our package from Photo Package 3 (included in the Secrets Ultimate Package) to Photo Package 6 and we will just be charged the difference between the listed price of the two packages. The packages are all listed in the pdf Wedding Guide. You can see samples of Juan’s work on his website and blog: http://juanphotos.com & http://blog.juanphotos.com.

For some reason that link seems to be taking me to the Colorifics which isn't what I got. Not sure if that's just me. I got ivory to match my dress. They have a crimson in the same shoe which looks nice too!

If you look at the Secrets Wedding Guide (the pdf file on their website) you can see all the music options. They have listed a Mexican/Mariachi Trio which is what is included in the Ultimate Package and what we are having. They also have a full Mariachi band which I'm assuming is a bigger group with more instruments. We chose the beach for the cocktail hour because we are having our ceremony and reception at the gazebo. We thought it would be a nice change of scenery and it would feel like a separate event and not just an extended part of the reception. Also we are doing a group picture with all of our guests on the beach in the time between the ceremony and cocktail hour. It seemed to make sense to guide everyone to the beach for pictures then keep them there for the cocktail hour. Of course, the pictures made it look like fun too! I found them just by poking around on line and on this site. Here is one place I saw some pictures of a beach cocktail hour with the mexican trio: http://secretsresortsblog.com/2011/12/28/a-real-wedding-at-secrets-maroma-beach/ There was also at least 1 bride in the Secrets Resort Reviews on this site that mentioned the beach cocktail hour and that it was fun. Like you said, I'm sure either place would be fun, but since the ceremony is relatively short, it might be fun to extend your time on the beach a little more.

I got my shoes from Endless.com. I couldn't get the picture to save, but here is the link. http://www.endless.com/Womens-Shoes-Bridal/b/382776011/ref=topnav_sd_womensbridal_gw/176-9713240-1991428?ie=UTF8&pf_rd_r=1DADXYM3H74C1VTQQ384&pf_rd_m=AF16NM0QF9TKW&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=homepage&pf_rd_p=1344840282&pf_rd_s=headernav2#__ie%3DUTF8%26cAsin%3DB00464AMFO%26fromPage%3Dsearch%26sr%3D2-22%26qid%3D1331219037216%26asinTitle%3DBourne~~20Connie~~20Slingback~~20Sandal%26contextTitle%3Dsearch~~20results%26clientPageSize%3D100%26node%3D382776011%26sort%3Drelevance-fs-browse-rank%26page%3D2%26nodes%3D382776011%26colors%3D519121011%26asin%3DB00464CGRG%26ref%3Dsr_2_22%26pageCode%3Dd I love the little bit of bling on these shoes. There are other sandals by Bourne on Endless that would be beautiful wedding shoes too. It was hard to decide!

How many laps are included in the base price?

We're not having a bridal party either! We had lots of reasons for not doing the bridal party. I didn't want to exclude anyone when it's already a select group, didn't want them to spend extra money on dresses, hair, etc, and as my FI put it...It's our day, why can't it be about us? haha I've actually seen quite a few brides on other threads in this forum say they didn't do a bridal party either, so you're definitely not crazy. :-) It's your wedding and you should do what you want. Sharon99 has a good suggestion is just getting a couple friends to stand with you while you're waiting. They can help you with your dress and your nerves

This is great! Thanks for sharing!! Wedding Drinks.docx

Do you mind sharing your template for the luggage tags?? I LOVE those!! Great job on everything!

I haven't ordered one (yet) but I've read some good reviews somewhere on this site for Butterfly Enchantress on Etsy. They have a nice variety of beautiful hair flowers and at least some that I've seen have real feel petals.