JessiTaylor

well then congratulations and happy planning =)

hey! i havent had the food tastings but we're going for mushroom soup, surf and turf (beef in tamarind and shrimps in curry) and chocolate fondant. wedding is next year but for final prices they wanted us to confirm the menu pretty much now iim attaching some photos from my site visit for future brides to see when they check out this thread! so thats the st francis of assisi chapel. next is the stage in la isla restauramt (i dont have many photos of la isla restaurant for some reason) next i have a picture of the other chapel - guadalupe next there is an outdoor space for dinner receptions- but i cant remember its name?

next picture - shows the space of sand where they set up the ceremony above is view of beach and palapa. photo of the bruschetta we had at our food tasting food tasting main course - beef with mushroom sauce, vegetable gratin and garlic fettucine Hope these photos help!

ok here are 3 photos of blue venado for future brides. the first shows it in daylight with no decoration - is pretty much a blank canvas you can do what you like with the second is to show the small permanent deck area...could be used as a dance floor if you dont want to pay to have a temporary one put in the third is mainly to show the lighting that comes with the venue...(and it got darker) so more would probably be needed

eek his mother?! least romantic honeymoon ever! hopefully she'll understand you need alone time. we're going to have a mini honeymoon of maybe 2 days in a different resort. i have my family coming in from england and theres no way they can come for less than a week so we're encouraging them to come before the wedding, then we will stay a day or so after wedding for our goodbyes then go somewhere our mini honeymoon =)

i would say May. next year i believe easter is end of march? and for about 2 weeks after hotels are charging high season prices. by end of april/beginning of may low season starts i would avoid september-october as thats prime hurricane time. july or november would be a better bet. for me december is too close to christmas, so people want to be saving up for gifts/family time...and for the same reason january is a problem as people spend all their money at christmas

And the one I hate the most is.."Why can't you just get married in your hometown". Oh thats one of the worst too!! so annoying! my best friend said that as soon as i announced my wedding plans. "why cant you just get married in london? i dont understand why youre getting married over there" grrr. planning a wedding in london when im living in mexico would be too much to deal with (and the time difference wouldnt help). i may not live in cancun but 1) its not so far i cant take a short domestic flight and keep an eye on things 2) its on the same time zone 3) its on a beach and we want a beach wedding (or close to beach wedding) if people cant come, i understand. but i hate people trying to convince me its a bad idea or i should be doing things differently - frustrates me so so much!

most of the sky lantern websites say you can take them in checked luggage..and most of the brides seem to have done that! im bemused though - when i called airlines (and even courier companies like fedex)and wanted to get a christmas cracker abroad i was told they were banned as they were technically "explosive" (and lord knows even a giant christmas cracker wuoldnt affect a plane). fedex even had their explosive expert call me to discuss it (that was a silly conversation "you cannot ship explosives abroad" "yes, i know and i dont want to, but where does a christmas cracker fit in?" "well...its a little bit explosive?" etc etc etc) so i would have assumed that sky lanterns wouldnt be allowed either...but since so many brides have obviously taken them...i wonder if they simply didnt ask, or if they got the goahead? better to check anyway though

so thats the 4th may? im english so we write dates- day,month,year but i think people from US/canada do it month/day/year regardless congratulations! 4th may was my original date but i moved it to march 2013!

riviera maya is a stretch of coast that comes after cancun...i believe is from playa del carmen to tulum? playa del carmen is one specific small area...very nice beaches. as for photographers - this is dependent whether the resort allows outside vendors. some places say you can use any vendors you want (but they have a suggested list,) others say literally "if you want photographers/flowers/entertainement or whatever...you *must* use someone from our list or not have it." and some places will only allow you to bring in your own photographer if you pay an outside vendor fee...or a hotel room for them for one night. others, like the haciena tres rios for example will insist on their dj/lighting equipment...but you can use photographer of your choice so it really really depends where you choose. and rules can change from year to year...a bride being allowed something last year is no guarentee you will be allowed it the next year in packages...they are set and you cant reduce them BUT photographers are often listed as an extra and you can choose if you want one or not i dont know if i explained that well or not...feel free to ask for clarification =P i used a non-hotel venue so i dont know much about resort specifics

we had the daylight photos issues...and fiance and i have sacrificed the "big reveal" moment of me walking down the aisle so we can take an hour of photos before our sunset catholic ceremony at xcaret. id imagined that moment literally forever...but i dont want all of my photos in the dark so we dont have much option (ceremony can only be 6-6.45 and sunset in march is supposed to be around 6.55) are you sure arriving at 6 at kool is an option? when i sent an email last month i got this reply Our working hours every day are from 8:00 to 18:00 Hrs. so the schedule for a special event will be from 19:00 to 1:45 am from Monday to Saturday as i understood it arriving earlier wasnt an option, unless you have some kind of special arrangement? if possible i would arrive earlier then. the transportation is tricky...its not really far enough to be worth hiring transportation, but its far enough that they might be uncomfortable. maybe work out which guests are most likely to be in trouble (grandparents etc) and arrange something for them...or, how about as party favours/ OOT bags try to include flipflops/comfy shoes for the walk? then they could walk in comfy shoes for walk and party in their nice shoes? or invite them to bring a pair of their own.i have a similar issue...im not sure grand occidental hotel is close enough for a comfortable walk for guests but not worth transportation (high prices for a mini journey). i need to look into it =S good luck!! xx

grand coco bay not an ultra luxury hotel but affordable AI. wedding co-ordinator is lovely and offers you loads of options that might help. they greet you with a glass of sparkling wine and a wet towel which i liked. i arrived at around 12 (so 3 hours early to check in) but they give you a wirst band so can eat/drink/relax while you wait. internet is 200 pesos for 24 hours grounds nice enough big pool, and i liked my room and would sit on the balcony and relax. lots of towel/sunbed hoggers which annoyed me though. they have activities like dance classes/ bingo which people who get bored easily can join in didnt like - lots of boats in sea by resort. lots of seagulls in swimming pool (like loads of them) especially after idiot lady next to me thought it would be good to throw the food directly in front of our chairs. so they were flapping arround my head and poo-ing on my sandals. great. i hope there is a special circle of hell for you, seagull lady. possibly involving more seagulls all in all - pretty standard but with friendlier staff than other places, they were really lovely

continued site review (shame on me i got lazy) sandos caracol i stayed in the select club so i had the option of adults only time. this was a flying visit of one night! select club was lovely, they spontaneously upgraded me to a jacuzzi room which was unexpected but lovely. pool was quiet with enough chairs for everybody, attentive staff by the pool to bring drinks buffet had a massive selection -eg 5 kinds of potato not including french fries (hey im english and we like our potatos haha). really liked the food, slight drawback that it wasnt piping hot. but thats par for the course in most all inclusive resorts. was pretty busy and harder for larger groups to get in. they serve champagne at breakfast! i didnt have any but if i was staying longer i might have tried it grounds are beautiful, beach was lovely. staff were attentive and friendly at all the bars and restaurants (i bopped up to the mexican restaurant confused and lost and they helped me to cut through and get me where i wanted to go). lots of different animals to see and spot and they have free insect repellent stations ot keep the bugs at bay. lots of kids friendly places saw a wedding on the beach there - nice decoration. drawback that was *very* public. loads of sunbathers videoing it and taking pictures and one drunk guy shouting ugly things at the couple. but decoration was pretty (as with most hotels -standard floral arch, white chairs with bows, cd music etc) wedding co-ordinator fernanda seemed great, took me through packages and details efficiently above all id be happy to stay here again!

whilst im not doing it personally, i can say theres no right or wrong answer when it comes to weddings! you want a private wedding then its completely your choice =) i think private weddings can be very romantic, and you dont need to worry about your guests still being around when you want to start your honeymoon hahaha (lord knows how ill manage to make sure 100 guests leave us for alone time...i think we will have to change hotels!) there are definite advantages to doing it your way (less expense, private time etc) so don't feel like youre crazy. its probably crazier to end up with a whole bunch of guests you dont want there! take me, my dream wedding would be around 50 people, fiances idea of a wedding is way way bigger so we compromised on a "small" wedding of 100 people. 100!! so for me, i can totally imagine doing what youre doing were it not for the fact it would lead to a nightmarish amount of drama from my family and future inlaws! good luck!

thanks for the link! im having great fun playing with it...though i must admit my bouquets arent looking so good right now =P

yeah i think that sounds better thanks!

oh also bouquet toss/garter will be towards the end of the night... around 11.30 pm while we still have live band (12-1 is mariachi so mexican family can get sentimental drink and sing along) then we leave!

has anyone seen 2 colours of petals used - i was thinking blue on one side of the aisle...yellow on the other. but i cant decide if it would look odd and is better to have one or the other!!

i agree htat skylanterns are beautiful but im not allowed to have anything fire related in my venue except candles - sky lanterns, firedancers, fireworks etc i just read this article in an english newspaper http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/jul/31/sky-lanterns so the ones with wire approx 9 months to break down. which is a long time for them to be on the ground/in the ocean =S but there seem to be some wire free options available if you search online for some reason i cant open your sky lantern webpage, im having real issues with my internet and browser. but i would say unless it actually says wire free then it probably has wires -its still technically biodegradable, it just doesnt biodegrade very fast. the wire free ones are more expensive on the websites ive looked at oh and leenancy - i never even considered the airport issue. gosh!

the other thing is we would have to pay for his flight/hotel (granted its a domestic flight) so i dont see its going to save any money! i mean he's either a guest or an employee so to speak, cant ask him to spend his own money to get to a wedding that he wont enjoy (or would basically be earning nothing!). sigh. id rather just have a pro and the friend bringing his camera and taking occasional photos as a guest (which he does anyway...with top of the range camera). thing is fiance hasnt asked for many wedding things...so i feel bad rejecting one of his few ideas. im going to try more subtle persuasion i think =)

additional post since i cant edit the last one - well i asked via yahoo answers for someone to try to access the site, and 3 people did it no problem (and i couldnt access at all). today i also had problems with a newspaper site and even here so i guess its my computer/internet server thats the issue rather than the specific websites. sigh. i wish i was a technological type person and knew how to solve these issues on my own!! regardless...the times when i *can* manage to access the riu RM palace website it looks fantastic...im pretty sure its my newest no.1 choice! (old choice sandos didnt work as it was too far from xcaret my wedding venue)

KCdawn i dont know off the top of my head, but im contacting them within the next week or so to book (as i finally firmed up my venue and date) he did say if you book and pay online in advance he will give you 2-3 free laps and someone on tripadvisor mentioned special deals if you mention them. keep an eye on this thread and i will post the info asap =) the thing that most struck me though - was while there arent many reviews, they are nearly all excellent. and every single man i contacted replied super quickly and raved about it like it was the best thing theyd ever done and urged me to buy it for him. (and they cant all be plants from the company surely...not ten different people?!) Jay berry - there arent really any official rules, in fact some people dont give a gift at all. if you know he will love it and you guys can afford it - go for it!! some people like sentimental things that their husbands can keep (like i dont know..watches) some people like experiences/holidays. for me theres no better feeling in the world than getting the perfect gift (i think i even prefer to it receiving presents,) ive travelled a lot but my fiance has rarely left mexico (like hes crossed the border to texas and then gone to visit me in england before i moved here to monterrey but thats it) so when we visited my family in london they took us both on a trip somewhere truly different - sweden to see the northern lights, and he was truly blown away (i mean hed never even seen snow). people who dont travel much appreciate it so so much more than frequent travellers. i think your fiance will love it!! if it was a choice between a vacation and something you need (like if you didnt have the down payment) i guess id be miss sensible and say find something smaller...but since youre sorted financially itll be incredibly...and even better you get to enjoy it too!!

my fiance said his parents would want to invite 4-5 couples. ive said that its fine i understand they will want some friends, but they need to understand that its the maximum OR fiance will have to cut his guest list my list from england - is under ten. everyone else out of the 100 planned people is from fiances list (but makes sense, we're in mexico his friends are mexican so much greater chance of people he knows coming) thing is, where we live (monterrey, north mexico) its standard to invite people in pairs...the US/UK thing of cutting the budget by inviting people as singles simply does not happen here as mexican music (not pop but standard music) is for dancing in pairs. so people dont need to ask for a plus one, we've factored in say 30-40 couples and our families. i have never seen a mexican wedding where we live where anyone was invited with out a guest. which is how our wedding is 100 people rather than the 50 that i would ideally want (but at least is not the standard size of weddings here 200-350 people!!) places like yahoo answers (which would be more helpful if less trolls) kept trying to convince me that its not standard etiquette to do this and i could invite individuals...but is a culture different

in a year...i was doing some research online until fiance became pretty adamant he wanted to hire his friend! Thing is, for example if a professional was standing aruond chatting and doing nothing, id have no qualms about saying "hey you, youre here to work get on with it". With a friend (even if as hired as a professional) i really dont think i could!

The places that say no - is it fire concerns, trash concerns or eco-concerns? did they give you a reason? i think some are biodegradable but i know some arent...so maybe thats the reason?