MyTye2B

At first we did not think we would tell anyone that we were getting married in Canada earlier, but now we've let it slip to a few people and it doesn't seem to be a big deal. My mom knows, and if she's not ok with it she hasn't really voiced it. I think she sees and understands all of the planning that's going into our resort wedding and knows that THAT will be the real day. I think because we're kind of keeping it quiet, and making the actual 'Mexico wedding day' such a big party that no one will really know the difference, or care.s To us, August 19th in Mexico is our anniversary, we're just signing papers beforehand. In August is when we'll start wearing our rings, and be married. Only the two of us will know that we're sneaking away somewhere in July for a romantic weekend, but although others know we're signing the papers then, the marriage is in Mexico. I'm sorry I can't help with the beach bash, but I do think a few others have looked into it/or are doing it, so hopefully they can put in their 2 cents. Lauren

Hi Amanda and Heather, Welcome! My fiance and I decided to do the vow renewal. It worked out better for us personally but I agree with Carlota that it is all what works best for you. The reason we chose that is because it was cheaper, we didn't have to be there as long ahead of time (although we are still arriving on a Wednesday, meeting with Vanessa on the Friday, our guests come in on Saturday and we marry on Monday), and we didn't want the blood tests and the hassle of translating documents into English which we heard could be pricy and time consuming. We both work for an airline so we are able to jet away somewhere in Canada for cheap and make a romantic weekend of it. We're thinking of going back to the location where we got engaged in BC to 'officially' marry. With the way the packages work currently (which I think has changed a lot this year) we were able to customize everything to what we wanted anyway. It still added up a lot, let me tell you hahaha. I don't know a lot about the packages that are being offered for 20113-2014 other than that they look beautiful but that you have to chose a theme and substitutions don't seem to be easily attainable. One of the reasons we chose GP is that you can bring in outside vendors for no fee and honestly the communication with the resort has been fantastic! Whatever you decide to do, I think you'll be extremely happy as a GP bride! Congratulations - I look forward to hearing about all of your plans!! Lauren

Hi Carlota, I am sorry you're feeling poor! I hope that you feel better soon. If you have to be at home with the flu there is no better way to spend the time than to DIY wedding things! I really like the idea of the cheap sunglasses! Cute! I am wondering where you found the Mojito lollipops? LOVE those!! I will be doing some DIY things myself this weekend. I am going to a friends house and she will help me make some table runners for the tables at the reception. I have NO idea how to begin, lol. Thank goodness for our crafty friends. I hope everyone else is doing well with their planning! Lauren

Awesome, thanks for sharing! I can already tell Vanessa is fantastic and it's wonderful to have someone write something like this!

Thanks Carlota! I am glad you explained what 'Mexican' flavour is, haha. I'm not a big cake eater, and vanilla's always safe, but knowing my family I'll probably get chocolate. Yum!

Does anyone know what flavours of cake are available? Vanessa wrote back about my document I sent her and almost all was good except I didn't tell her about the cake. What kind do you recommend?

Mikeycelle, you looked absolutely stunning on your wedding day! Thank you so much for your detailed review. You ladies understand I'm sure how helpful these reviews have been lately. Sooo appreciated! I am so happy to read that it sounds like everything went perfectly on your day. I did have to laugh at your dress situation - like Chrestena said this is so something that would happen to me. It's incredible how they came through for you at the resort. I imagine you were beside yourself! Your dress was so, so beautiful! Thanks too for all of your little tips and tricks. I was definitely going to put the tips into envelopes for everyone with names (yep, saw a cute idea and way to do that on Pinterest, haha!) but can I ask how you distributed these tips? For Vanessa I was wondering if I should tip her at our meeting before hand just in case I don't see her on our wedding night? I have also heard that the planners are not always there. I think it's so amazing that she was there with you the whole time - even through the party crasher fiasco, haha! I am not sure how to handle the tips for the waiters, etc. Did you put someone in charge of handing out the money so that you would not have to be bothered while you were celebrating, or did you want to hand it to them directly to say thanks? I'm not sure what would be best. Chrestena I downloaded the Wedding DJ app for my iPhone as well. It really is so easy to use. It's free, it fades nicely as was mentioned. Especially now that I hear how good their sound system is there and how well everything runs I wish we were just going with that. Especially since I've already organized a lot of the songs that I want to hear, lol. But Tyrel only had a few requests for the wedding to my 1000's of needs lol, so he wanted a DJ and we're getting one. I'm sure your hair will turn out wonderfully - it really sounds like they're good at the salon although I am still paranoid too haha. It's one of those things I guess we just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best. And the best will happen! I want to say as well that the pictures of the flowers you girls have been displaying are so beautiful. I've always thought that flowers weren't too important to me so I am just going with what the resort will do for us and I do hope that they will be ok! I'm excited for the centrepieces that Vanessa said they could do. Hopefully they look like the picture I've sent lol. Well, thank you again, Mikeycelle for such a fantastic review and encouraging words. Enjoy your new life as a WIFE!! How exciting! Chrestena I do hope you can make it back one more time just to know we're all wishing you the same happiness and peace on your day. Fly safe and have a blast! Lauren

Hi Everyone, I have so much to catch up on! I'm just in San Francisco for work so I haven't been able to keep up for the last 5 days. I will try to email you all the document that I made as well, using Carlota's as a guide (thank you soooo much, Carlota!) It's not complete yet and I have not sent it to Vanessa yet - I will do that once I get home. I will try to get that document emailed tonihgt after dinner because I am just leaving the room for dinner now and the wifi has been terrible at this hotel. If I don't do it today I return to Canada on Tuesday and I will definitely send it then.

Nevermind! I just saw the name of it. Sorry, haha.

Ok, now I have read it, Carlota! You are the best!! Since I write SO much and in English it is so nice to have some of the translations. Your document really must have streamlined things for Vanessa and made it so much easier for her to understand. I am going to have to get everything organized to do the same. I like that you included all of the extra costs as well. This was great! Can I also ask you what flower shop you used in Mexico?

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Carlota!!! I haven't looked yet but I really appreciate you sending this!!!! AND thank you for putting some translations! I wonder if the menu that Vanessa thought you chose was mine? Lol, I'll be getting married right after you and she is my planner too. MayBride thanks again for the detailed review. It certainly gives me a lot of insight and tips for how to make the best of a situation where the 'laid back' casual feel is not exactly what I'm going for on my wedding day. Also, thank you so much for the info on the decorations. It's great to know that I can have the resorts provide those flower balls - I like them way better than the typical flower arrangements personally. I think they are so clean and classy. Thanks again. Lauren Boda Carlota y Thomas BDW.doc

I also thought I should tell you how much time I spent at work not working yesterday but organizing our wedding papers. I made 3 folders - 1 that has print out of all of my communication with Vanessa, one that has all of my communications with those I have contracts with (the spa, photographer, TTD photographer, DJ and decor company) including the scanned copies of payments, and finally one with all of the receipts for things like my dress, the things that I am bringing down for the OOT bags, decorations, gifts, etc. as I heard that sometimes they want to see receipts at customs. As per Chrestena I will now also make another copy of those things too! Smart!

Hi Chrestena, Oh my goodness its 11 days now! I am so excited for you. I am glad you suggested having 2 copies of the information and emails too, one for you and one for Vanessa. I'm learning so much from you all! I too hope we hear from you one more time but if not I wish you nothing but happiness!! Carlotta, I'm so glad that Vanessa loved the document. Can I ask, did you just put things in point form or did you have headings and a template? I was going to ask if you you'd mind sharing it or how it was organized but then I realized its probably all in Spanish and I wouldn't be able to read it! Haha. If you have just a template though of how it was laid out or you wouldn't mind telling me how you set it up that would be so helpful since Vanessa love it. Thank you so much for all of your help ladies! I apologize for any spelling mistakes - this is the first time writing from my phone. I LOVE BDW mobile! xo Lauren

Thank you so much, Karen for this infomation. That makes me feel a bit better. Was your dinner also at La Laguna? I am assuming so since you had over the amount to have it in a restaurant. I also planned on having the speeches between courses, but it sounds like we'll just have to go with the flow of however much time things happen to take that day, lol. Thanks again for the help!

MayBride you looked absolutely gorgeous on your day! From the pictures you would never know that things weren't perfect. I'm really sorry that you had such frustrations at the resort. That is scary to me. It must have been even more frustrating as an event and wedding planner in the past yourself. I hate not being able to control certain things, especially when they are so important to you. Do you mind me asking who was your wedding planner? My friend 6 years ago had the same issue with the timing at dinner and the golf cart transportation, but eventually everything worked out. It was scary for a bit though. We are getting married at the beach location as well and I was really impressed with how beautiful it looks in the pictures. You had a clear and sunny day! You can tell it was quite windy. The decorations you had on the beach gazebo are awesome - exactly what I want. Did you order these from another company? I have ordered the tiffany chairs and crystal backdrop as well, but the pomandar balls were so elegant, I loved your decorations! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let us know about your experience. Carlota, I love the idea of sending the information to Vanessa, and I'm glad you've spoken to her about the timing as well. I think I will start a Word document too, as well as print out all of our emails as suggested by another bride too. One more thing another bride suggested that I liked was to print out pictures of exactly how you'd like things set up if you are bringing for example a guest book, memorial candle, any table decorations etc. Lauren

Hi Carlota! I don't want to make you have doubts - this wedding was 6 years ago. Mostly everything was absolutely perfect. But yes, there were almost 40 of us and we had dinner at Portofino and it took almost 3 hours for the dinner to be completed. It was a VERY long time between plates. I don't want anyone to feel rushed at our wedding to finish their meals, but I definitely don't want to be sitting there for 3 hours of our 4 hour reception either. I want to have time for dancing! We also will have more than 40 people - we have 45 booked right now and I think we will end up with about 55 in total, so I know it may take a long time to serve everyone the meals. The service was very friendly though, just really, really slow. If there are any former brides who still read these messages, can you tell us how long did your dinner take from start to finish? It would be so appreciated! Thanks! Lauren

KarenK your pictures are gorgeous! Like Chrestena I LOVE the hairstyle you chose. Did you find that it lasted all day/night? I don’t know what your hair is like, but mine is very thick so I worry that I will be SO hot with it down. Especially in August, lol. So I had my stylist here at a trial try something like that which can easily be put up after by my sister. Also I did not have an appointment for them to do my makeup – just my hair – but your positive review of the makeup makes me think I’ll have them do that too. Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and give us such a detailed review of your day and your time there. It is SO greatly appreciated. J Chrestena thank you so much for the suggestion on the shoe websites. I’m on them right now scouting some things out. We are getting married on the sand, so I have barefoot sandals. I have ‘Just Married’ flip flops for afterwards but I think I want a sexy pair for pictures too. My problem is that I can’t walk in high heels, I can do 2 and half inches tops, lol. I’m used to wearing steel toed boots. I’m hoping to find a beautiful, delicate pair that aren’t too high! Does anyone know how much it would cost for an extra for an extra hour reception at La Laguna? I'm weighing that option out vs. Las Rocas. I haven’t actually talked to Vanessa yet about the possibility of moving to Las Rocas afterwards and I’m thinking it might be a pain to move over there but I will definitely want to keep the party going. I wonder how far it is in distance from La Laguna to Las Rocas? I don’t know if there is music there but I think Carlota said yes there is. Right now my biggest concern is how long dinner will run. I’m also trying to figure out how to allocate the 4 hours we have the DJ for so if there IS music at Las Rocas and we can dance there, that would be great! Thanks for the suggestion too on the room request form on Palladium Addict. I need to head over there and check that out as well. How far in advance does this form need to be completed? Hi MrsShorey! Welcome and congratulations on your upcoming wedding!! Enjoy this time – it has been SO wonderful to have these ladies here to bounce ideas off of. I think a lot will change with the packages since the introduction of the Karen Bussen packages. They are beautiful but they were just introduced in the last month or two officially if I recall correctly, so I don’t believe any of us really have experience with those particular packages. As of right now there is no charge to bring in any outside vendors like a photographer. Is that changing? We are bringing our own photographer from Canada with us. I haven't really heard any reviews on the resort photographer but Vanessa did suggest that we use our own. What I can tell you for certain is that I have been to a wedding at this resort before. I LOVED it, and as a bride who is currently planning my own wedding at Grand Palladium, the communication with the resort (Vanessa in particular) has been fantastic. Any questions you have there is very little wait to hear back and you can tell they truly want to give you the day of your dreams. Lauren

Hi Carlota! I can't see the pictures that Vanessa sent you. But she did send me a few of Las Rocas before so maybe the were the same. I think it will be a great party. I will be bringing the OOT bags with me from Canada and put them together at the resort. We are arriving 2 days before our guests so Vanessa will hand them out to the guests rooms when they arrive. It will cost $2 per room for them to hand them out but otherwise Tyrel and I would have to wait in the lobby all day to give them to our guests. I think it will be nice for them to just have it waiting in the room as a surprise. Lauren

Hi Carlota! I can't see the pictures that Vanessa sent you. But she did send me a few of Las Rocas before so maybe the were the same. I think it will be a great party. I will be bringing the OOT bags with me from Canada and put them together at the resort. We are arriving 2 days before our guests so Vanessa will hand them out to the guests rooms when they arrive. It will cost $2 per room for them to hand them out but otherwise Tyrel and I would have to wait in the lobby all day to give them to our guests. I think it will be nice for them to just have it waiting in the room as a surprise. Lauren

You're welcome, MayBride! You're already flying down to Mexico now, so good luck and have a wonderful experience!! xoxo

You're welcome, MayBride! You're already flying down to Mexico now, so good luck and have a wonderful experience!! xoxo

Ola Carlota! First of all, again I think that your English is very good! I think your wedding will be wonderful and you have made all of the best choices based on what is important to you. I know it’s not a private beach party, but did Vanessa tell you about the beach parties that they usually have if the weather is good each Friday night? That might be something you can put together for your group too. I also made the choice to go with some outside vendors and I think that the flowers you have will make your wedding special and unique – different from everyone else’s. J It will be perfect! An OOT bag means an "Out of Town" bag. I also had NO idea what it stood for when I first joined this forum. Some brides who are getting married away from where they live normally (destination brides ) will put together bags for their guests including in them things that may be useful during the time they spend away for the wedding. For example, in mine I am putting small things like lip balm with SPF, bandages for cuts and scrapes, aloe, candy, Sudoku or Word Search game books, a welcome booklet that has information about the week and a thank-you note for coming, towel clips to hold beach towels on chairs, a holder that the guests can use for their room key or their tip money, playing cards, gum..... little things like that, nothing too fancy. They are not a necessity at all - some people choose to do it and others do not. I thought it would be a nice touch. For mine, I bought plain bags and I ironed on a simple design on the bags that are going to most of our guests. For the bridesmaids, maid of honour (my sister) and for my mom and Tyrel's mom I made a special design that I ironed on, but the bags will have a couple of different things in them, like the necklaces I got for the girls, and whatever gift I get for the parents - I haven't decided yet. I hope that helps explain it a bit for you! I do hope that I get to meet you! Wouldn’t that be so crazy!? You are leaving on the day of our wedding so I will make sure to post pictures here when we return. Thank you for the advice from Trip Advisor about the bracelets. That makes me feel better because I hadn’t even thought about how awkward that would look in pictures! Two final things, hello to Heather from Ontario (my ‘home’ forever) and omg Mikeycelle you are leaving like, tomorrow!!!!! Best wishes to you I know you will be an absolutely beautiful bride!! I can’t wait to see pictures and hear about how perfect your day was!!! Congratulations and enjoy every second! Lauren J

Ola Carlota! First of all, again I think that your English is very good! I think your wedding will be wonderful and you have made all of the best choices based on what is important to you. I know it’s not a private beach party, but did Vanessa tell you about the beach parties that they usually have if the weather is good each Friday night? That might be something you can put together for your group too. I also made the choice to go with some outside vendors and I think that the flowers you have will make your wedding special and unique – different from everyone else’s. J It will be perfect! An OOT bag means an "Out of Town" bag. I also had NO idea what it stood for when I first joined this forum. Some brides who are getting married away from where they live normally (destination brides ) will put together bags for their guests including in them things that may be useful during the time they spend away for the wedding. For example, in mine I am putting small things like lip balm with SPF, bandages for cuts and scrapes, aloe, candy, Sudoku or Word Search game books, a welcome booklet that has information about the week and a thank-you note for coming, towel clips to hold beach towels on chairs, a holder that the guests can use for their room key or their tip money, playing cards, gum..... little things like that, nothing too fancy. They are not a necessity at all - some people choose to do it and others do not. I thought it would be a nice touch. For mine, I bought plain bags and I ironed on a simple design on the bags that are going to most of our guests. For the bridesmaids, maid of honour (my sister) and for my mom and Tyrel's mom I made a special design that I ironed on, but the bags will have a couple of different things in them, like the necklaces I got for the girls, and whatever gift I get for the parents - I haven't decided yet. I hope that helps explain it a bit for you! I do hope that I get to meet you! Wouldn’t that be so crazy!? You are leaving on the day of our wedding so I will make sure to post pictures here when we return. Thank you for the advice from Trip Advisor about the bracelets. That makes me feel better because I hadn’t even thought about how awkward that would look in pictures! Two final things, hello to Heather from Ontario (my ‘home’ forever) and omg Mikeycelle you are leaving like, tomorrow!!!!! Best wishes to you I know you will be an absolutely beautiful bride!! I can’t wait to see pictures and hear about how perfect your day was!!! Congratulations and enjoy every second! Lauren J

Great question, Claire! I'm hoping someone has the answer to that. I hadn't even thought of that! Thanks for the compliment on the bags - they were a lot of fun to make, mostly because my mom and bridesmaids were there to help. Your shoes are gorgeous too! You guys are making me rethink my barefoot sandals. I should probably have a sexy backup in case! ~Lauren

Hi Again, I'm trying to make an actual wedding day itinerary to put into the welcome books. I'm looking for suggestions on what restaurant the ladies can have breakfast at on the morning of the wedding so that we can avoid the boys. Any suggestions? We're staying at the White Sand but will go anywhere. Also, what pool should we hang out at that morning? We won't have much time until the spa appointments, but just because we want to keep it separate from where the boys will be. Which I'm assuming will be the swim up bar haha! Thanks!