Trace2013

Hey Sandy, I CAN NOT EVEN BELIEVE how fast time has flown by! I just had my final dress fitting - Starting to get so excited! We booked with Air Transat, as that is who our Travel Agent worked with. I've personally travelled with Sunwing a few times and have been very happy with the service, no complaints and champagne toast to start your vacay!

No problem, I didn't want to go to all the trouble of a passport invite (too lazy!) so I just did a two-sided invitation. The timeline was on the back... Here it is:

Hi Zoe! Welcome and congrats on your engagement. I was also concerned about this and created a fun wedding day timeline on the back of my invite that told guests to arrive at the beach at 3:45 for our 4:00 ceremony. I thought it was a cute, but important reminder for them that we plan to start immediately at 4:00. Same for the reception, since its in a different part of the hotel I asked them to start making their way down 15 minutes in advance of dinner service. This way we hope most everyone will be there and we can get things going fairly quickly.

I sent the email off to you late yesterday Christy! It sounds like you will be having an amazing wedding, that plan will be great. Then whoever wants to keep the party going can hit up the disco and I'll bet you'll have it mostly to yourself for the beginning of the evening. We went with the package because we wanted a more traditional reception: Sit down meal, speeches, dj, dancing and we wanted it to go until 1am. Just to let you all know I rec'd an email yesterday from Alejandra that they have changed photo providers on site. They no longer deal with Adventure Photo, it is now Photo-Pro. A little concerning considering we had negotiated a custom package with Jorge and were booked for the last 6 months. She said we could still keep our agreement with Jorge if we wanted but looking at the new packages, we may stand to save $1100 if we switch. And since Jorge didn't ask for a contract or deposit we may do that. Ultimately, the correspondence I get back from the new company will be the deciding factor. If I don't feel at ease, I'll stick with Adventure. However, I'm wondering if I'll be charged an outside vendor fee now? So many decisions. Anyway, I sent you the new price package for Photo-Pro and not Adventure since that's who you'd be dealing with on site. We've been to Playacar but never the IB so I'm kind of relieved to hear you love it so much. I have been to other IB's in Dominican and felt really good choosing them based on the chain but it's always good to hear first hand what a great place it is. Anyway, I'm off for my last dress fitting!

hey girls! Congratulations! So nice to hear about more Tucan/Quetzal brides on here! It was a little scary to be searching for information last February when we started looking. I am set to leave for Mexico is 4 weeks and I couldn't be more excited. We have a really large group joining us for the whole week (92) and so we went with the largest package to help cover off some costs. Now that you've signed the contract I'm sure you'll be hearing from Alejandra, she is fantastic and responds to all emails within a day or so. Don't be alarmed if you don't hear back right away, as they say - they are busy with wedding happening now and not so worried about yours. But my experience is that her attention to my emails and response has sped up as we get closer to the big day. She'll be sending you all your options for set up, decor, flowers etc. But I can send it to you if you'd like to see it, just leave your email here. The hotel has a contract with the on site photographer - Adventure Photo. We ended up going with him, he sent us a bunch of work he's done and it looks really good. You are free to choose an outside photographer but there is a fee of $300 due to loss of revenue for the hotel. That being said, I've heard if you book your photographer a room there is no fee as they are technically "guests". Sometimes that is easiest especially if you plan to trash the dress the next day. Feel free to ask any questions, I'll do my best to answer you.

Hi all, I did one and just sent it out to my guests with a more formal invitation that outlined details of the actual wedding day. I felt it was super important to send the newsletter since we have so many people coming that have never been to an all inclusive or Mexico in general. I wish I could give full credit to a couple of ladies on this site because I got most of my information from newsletters ladies posted in their planning threads... So, thanks all!!! I am so lucky to have an incredibly talented graphic designer as a SIL and she did both my invites and the newsletter... Feel free to steal away! T&C_Letter_Final ..pdf

Best wishes for an amazing couple of weeks! Enjoy your vacation and of course the big day! Can't wait to hear all about it

One of our good friends is actually doing our ceremony since we opted for the blessing package, we're planning to marry discreetly in Canada next month to make things super easy. I think the conversion is approximately 1USD = 10-13 peso's dependent on current rates. It can be tricky to calculate. Just wondering about the upgrade, we went with the Dreams package as it was the best value for the size of our group and I notice a suite upgrade is listed but our travel agent upgraded us to the junior (their compliments) immediately due to the large booking so I was just curious... No big deal either way as we'll hardly be in the room except for the wedding day to get ready in which case the extra room in the Presidential would be put to good use!

I found this link when searching here... http://www.frugalbride.com/tipping.html I still couldn't find the link percentages but this gives a decent idea... It looks as though 50 - 75 bucks seems to be an average, I may go with that. The wedding package doesn't say anything about gratuities either. I was at first dealing with Antonieta but for the last 4 months I've been hearing exclusively from Alejandra and except for a few minor squabbles she's been really great. Less than 30 days for you to go... Can't wait to hear all about it Did you get offered an upgrade when you booked the package? Just curious as I've read about other brides being upgraded to presidential for wedding night and balance of week afterwards. Also, is your groom staying in a different room night before? Not sure how you handle that in Mexico, I know if we were getting married here we would probably stay apart but now I don't know about Mexico... Just curious!

Good question Kali - So far I have running list to tip: WC, Photographers, Wait Staff, DJ & Mariachi. I think that pretty much covers everything for us. I know I saw a thread on here somewhere about tipping and approximately percentages, I was just trying to find it again so I can have a guideline for approximately how much to give.

Hey JessicaLynne! Congrats on your upcoming wedding, so nice to see another Quetzal/Tucan bride - we seem to be in the minority around here Unfortunately I can't help you with rates because all of our guests have purchased an all inclusive tour package for 7 nights... In Canada, its usually easier and more bang for your buck to book this way, unless you live in a big hub like Toronto or Montreal. It worked out to 1225 per person because of our group rate or approx 175/night. Are you working with a travel agent? If not, I suggest you hire one and make sure they are specialists in DWs. Use your group to your advantage and leverage your guest count to get a better rate. Your travel agent should be able to negotiate a group rate that will be economical for all. Good luck and use this forum to your advantage, the BDW has been my go-to source for all of my planning needs.

Hi girls! Just thought I'd update you as I have also hit less than 3 months to go before the big day! AC only a month left for you right? You must be ready to get going now that everything is pretty much planned. I thought I'd update you on what's been happening with us: - It ended up we had a crazy response to our save the dates, so much so that we are now sitting at a guest list of 92 people! We've had to make some concessions of how we will do things because of the guest list but it will be amazing having all those people with us for a week - After many arguments, hassle and a few tears (of frustration!) we have planned a welcome party for the day after everyone arrives, we wanted something private over the course of a few hours but trying to set it up without costing us the same as the wedding reception was next to impossible! So, we have booked exactly what they offer in the package - fingers crossed because I STILL am not sure what we're going to get! - We hired Jorge at Adventure Photo for the big day, as well we decided to go with the videographer they offered. The pricing was competitive and it was just easier than going through the drama of bringing in an external photographer which they do not permit without a $500 fee. As others have said, he sent many different portfolios of past work and I'm confident it will all be beautiful. - I hired Sara Tamargo (SO EXCITED!) to come and do hair/make up for myself, my 4 bridesmaids and my Mother. We are planning on taking pics and a first look before the ceremony so she'll be coming to us early around 10am. (Ceremony is on the beach at 4pm) She was exceptional to deal with and really stood out among the others I quoted. As well, since I am paying for hair/makeup for all the girls I wanted something within my budget and she totally worked with me to get to a price I needed to be. I've been watching her work closely on FB and am getting so excited. What a gem! - Champagne toast will follow immediately after the ceremony with the mariachi's playing (also included in the package) - Due to the size of the wedding group we have moved our reception to the convention centre off of the lobby. It has way more room, they have offered standard decor and I will be bringing limited items to accent (Maracas, balloons). We also want a 6 hour reception vs 4 hour that is included in the package so we will be paying per person for the last two hours. The fee is nominal and worth having our own private party until 1 am. Those wanting to continue partying can hit up the disco afterwards. - We have hired an external DJ for the reception as we wanted an MC/DJ - someone to really get the crowd going if necessary, but I'm not too worried about that! After much quoting and decision making we went with DJ Doremixx - his pricing was competitive and I read every review on him on BDW. So far he's been great to work with and super professional. - We have decided not to do OOT bags, they are awesome and I'm sure it would be fun to out together.. But not for 92 people! The only thing I will be doing is kids activity bags for the reception as there will be 9 kids present. Already started picking up crayons, activity books, glow sticks, cards, candy from dollarama. Just going to put them in kraft bags and then draw with a sharpie on the bag so they can each decorate their own bag as well. Hmmm... Is that all? I have no idea. My head is spinning as we are also planning our social next month so that has been the focus, once that is out of the way I think a complete calmness will come over me For you non-MB brides Social=massive party/fundraiser in celebration of the bride/groom before the wedding. So stressful! But super super fun. Ok! Hope you ladies are all doing well and planning is going smoothly Trace

Oh my goodness, that is such a great idea! I'm going to look into that. Sounds like the best option so far.

Thanks. I agree it will be beautiful and my guests for the most part will probably not think anything of it, its just not how I've thought my beach wedding reception would be like. We are having a cocktail hour after the ceremony on the beach. I have also tried to push back dinner until 730 or 800 to try and get more time outside but that is also a no go so it looks like we are stuck with the convention centre. The other thing is I wasn't really going to go crazy with decorations because I felt the restaurants would be enough atmosphere, but there is no way in hell I'm having a reception in an undressed banquet room. SIGH! I just need to keep reminding myself that it will be amazing regardless of my disappointment, is just been hard. I feel like all I've done is compromise with my hotel on every aspect. You'd think with over 50 rooms booked for 7 nights (some are booked for 14!) that they'd be more willing to help us out.

I'd also like to add that I'm not trying to insult those who have chosen that route by any means, but the thought of dragging our guests across the resort right smack in the middle of a party seems absurd to me!

Hey Ladies, I'm about to pull my hair out trying to finalize the details regarding my reception (mostly the after dinner portion). We were planning to have our entire reception in one of the open air restaurants near the beach. Unfortunately, due to time limitations the hotel will not let us extend our reception time past 4 hours. I am completely blown away by this as we really wanted to have a full reception (the same as we would here in Canada) Who wants to end their wedding reception at 10:30 pm to go to the hotel disco where anyone could come and go as they please? The only solution the hotel has offered is the have the reception in the convention center off the lobby. The thought of doing this is killing me! All the way to Mexico and we're having a party in a ballroom - GAHHH! The other catch is that we have had an amazing showing from our friends and family that want to come, over 90 people are fully paid! I think this is really the reason why the hotel doesn't want us in the restaurant but you can never be sure... Anyone have any suggestions for me or has anyone experienced this dilemma? What to do, what to do!?

Woah! I never thought of that, but I should have considering sometimes I get hit with crazy duty fees at my door when I order items online that are manufactured in China. (SO annoying) I think I'll inquire to see how much an extra bag will be... Just such a pain because it will be empty on the way home - what do you do about that?

Hi Ladies, I am just wondering if anyone has or is planning to ship some of their items (favours etc) ahead of travel direct to the hotel in order to avoid having to haul it with you onto the plane? Is this something that we should plan to do or should I be weary of the items making it to the hotel? Can anyone give me insight on this? thanks!

Hi Nicole, I will send you the information I have - I'm getting married at the Quetzal but everything seems to be branded for both hotels and I believe the wedding sites are all the same regardless of where you are staying. You will get an email from Hewlkowedding

Hi Ladies, I was thinking of purchasing a canvass painting from one of the local vendors and having all my guests sign it then have it stretched at home so it can be hung to admire. I'm thinking all we'd need is some black sharpies for people to sign it?