DinaQtobe

Personally, I was looking at a local photographers website of recent weddings he had done in the Riviera Maya and the Tequila terrace just drew me in. I loved the look of the dark stained wood, I loved the stairs leading down to the beach, I just loved everything about it. I just had this feeling in my stomach that told me this is where I wanted to be married. It was before I had even chosen a resort. I had done a lot of research on other resorts and looking at photos of the ceremony and reception locations did nothing for me. But seeing those photos helped me fall in love with NS and the Tequila Terrace. It's all about how you envision your day.

Worst case scenario you can still likely get flowers from the resort (at least the ones included in your package!).

In November the sun sets very early. During our dinner it was dark and the lighting supplied by the resort was perfect! You have nothing to worry about. Trust in Ramon, he knows what he is doing and is wonderful!! It's ok to send it in before things are finalized. The form is to give the planners a good idea of what you want and to get the ball rolling before you arrive. I left a LOT on my form blank when I sent it in. At the meeting we had with Ramon 2 days before the wedding we went over the entire form and he helped us fill in the blanks. He provided great suggestions for things I was not certain of. Things will be wonderful! Try not to stress This was included for us in the Divine package. You list the ingredients for your signature cocktail in the planning form that is sent in 30-40 days prior to your wedding. We for some reason had 2 signature cocktails - one during cocktail hour and then a second different drink (again your choice) was served with dinner- after appetizers before the main course. I thought it was a nice touch!

You can pay additional for each photo you want. For us last year it was 15$ each photo. They quoted us 500 for all of the photos from the ceremony. I was very pleased with the resort photographer. We wanted to choose way more than 25 pictures but had to limit ourselves. We went over by 3 pictures and paid the extra 45$.

Thanks very much. We just celebrated our 1 year anniversary It was a little bit frizzy at the end of the night (I have somewhat frizzy hair to begin with) but it lasted throughout the day (spa appointments at 12). The next day, after I managed to take out all of the bobby pins I couldn't get a comb through it (so much hair spray!!). Thankfully the tangles came out in the shower with a LOT of conditioner

Pulled from my review on the Now Sapphire: Spa: I had my nails, hair, and makeup done by the ladies at the spa. I had Lecticia (I think!). She spoke very little English. I showed her a picture of what I wanted with my hair, and tried to communicate that I wanted it to have some volume on top. Although it wasn’t quite what the picture showed, my hair looked beautiful. It framed my face very well and I LOVED it. I wear very little makeup on a daily basis, so I was worried how it would turn out. At one point she put a little too much; I said something and she fixed it immediately. I thought it looked amazing. My mom said that it looked beautiful and I still looked like me, instead of looking overly made up. When I got back to the room I added a bit more eyeliner, and right before leaving the room a bit more mascara, but I felt gorgeous! My three sisters and my mom also had their hair done. All three looked amazing, though not exact copies of the pictures they showed the stylist. All held up really well throughout the night too. I would like to add that the ladies at the spa overall were very helpful. My sisters painted our nails while waiting for our hair, and when we asked for nail-polish remover it was provided no questions asked. Some photos:

I felt the exact same way at the beginning of planning and choosing a resort. I had done so much research online that everything just started to blend together and I felt completely overwhelmed! What helped me significantly was I made a list of all of the resorts I looked at and liked. I included: 1. the wedding package price and # of guests that included, how much it was for each additional guest, 2. what I liked about each resort (ie: the ceremony location, non-restaurant options for reception dinner, etc) 3. what they offered that was important to me, or what "extras" I wanted that would have added to the overall cost (ie cocktail hour, bridal and bridesmaid bouquets) 4. I also added an approximate of how much the cost would be for guests. It helped for me to see it all on paper and immediately I could cut resorts out. It was kind of like a pro/con list for me. Then I could focus on a few resorts to help make the final decision. I think this could be useful for you if you plan to go with the basic or free package and then plan to add on extras: that way you can add all the costs up before you decide which resort you want to choose. It can be really easy to become wrapped up in what wedding extras you "should" have (decorations, invitations, napkins, photo booth, etc), but you can definitely stick to a budget with a DW and still have a beautiful and wonderful time. Good luck!

I can't say that I was ever there in the evening. I see you are getting married in May. What time does the sun set? You might not need as much light as you think (in November the sun set at 4:30 and there was more than enough light provided to us (no cost) on the tequila terrace.

The Preferred pool would be a super nice location to have a cocktail hour or reception. It is very private from the rest of the resort and really pretty! I don't have many pictures of it, but after being there I know it would be great.

Ramon definitely knows his stuff. He was our WC and was fantastic. The tequila terrace is big. If you google "Tequila Terrace Now Sapphire" you can view a lot of photos. The dress code applies to all of the restaurants except the buffet. It applies more to the men. My husband wore dress sandals, pants, and a collared shirt (golf shirt was fine) to all of the restaurants and he was fine. I either wore a dress or capri pants with a nice tank top.

We also had our cocktail hour right after the ceremony (or maybe it was about 15-30 minutes later (coming up on a year now, those details are a bit fuzzy). Immediately after we also had the toast and then went straight to pictures. We left enough time for the family to take some pictures with the bride and groom and then cocktail hour started. The servers saved a plate of hors d'oeuvres for us specifically so we got to try each one. I love the idea of boxing up the cake for later. We were SO full from dinner I don't know how many people even tried it.

I didn't use apple. My guests mostly booked through bookit.com. We went with the Tres Leches. It was great! We also chose the cognac truffle cake for our dessert and that was even better!!!

We had 19 total. We invited almost 100.

A mariachi will be extra. When you confirm your date you will be sent a few PDF documents with extra fees associated with different extras. I brought our own decor and that worked perfectly for us (and saved a lot too). Honestly, the terrace is so beautiful it doesn't need a lot. There is some discussion on how to cut costs on this thread. If you search this forum you'll find lots I am sure. Some of my tips: We saved money in quite a few areas. 1. We purchased our invitations at hobby lobby and then put them together ourselves. It took one evening and was not hard at all. I waited until they had a great sale and got 50 for $30. I bought my stamps in bulk which saved a bit of money too. I did not do traditional RSVP cards, but instead had people RSVP online (only about half even RSVP'd anyway!) 2. My dress - I bought my dress and veil off the rack at a sample sale. I got my shoes at TJ Maxx. 3. We got my husband's suit at JosABank. We waited until they were having a sale on the suit he wanted. We got it for half price! We got his sandals at an outlet mall, again, saving money. 4. We didn't use a DJ or rent speakers from the resort ($150/hr!). Instead we invested in a set of speakers for 120$. These we can now use at our home too! 5. I didn't do OOT bags. Instead I bought travel mugs from Sam's club in the summer and gave those to our guests. Six mugs were $20. My sister personalized them for me, which also saved me money. 6. We used the photographer included in our package. We also had my sister supplement the photographers pictures by capturing pictures of getting ready and the dinner. Though I did buy her a nice gift, it was nowhere near the cost of extending our photography coverage. I know this is not an option for everyone, but for us it saved a lot of money. 7. Decor: the resort wanted to charge anywhere from $80-$300 per centerpiece, then extra for linens, chair sashes, etc. I used the white linens provided in our package. To add some color, my mom made us a beautiful table runner. I had 3 bridesmaids and used all of our bouquets as our centerpieces. I brought down plastic cups/vases to put them in. I bought some seashells from Michaels, and some battery operated tealights from the dollar store. I had the wedding coordinator place the shells and tealights into wine glasses to add to the bouquets as centerpieces. All of this cost us nothing, but saved us tons. The resort is beautiful on its own, it didn't need a lot of decor. Also, when I think back to the weddings I have been to, I don't remember the centerpieces. Instead I remember the ceremony, the food, the dress, and how much fun I had! Night life was pretty good - the disco was a lot of fun. We went there after our reception was over and had a great time! You can always go to cocobongo or other bars in playa or cancun (which is a bit closer). Our photos were taken right on the beach off of the tequila terrace. You can view them in my gallery if you go to my profile. At the tequila terrace there were few onlookers. I felt it was very private. Food at the reception was amazing. I wrote a review which you can also find off of my profile. There is wifi at the hotel throughout the resort. It wasn't super strong. We were preferred guests and it was included in our stay. We also had a bluetooth speaker and it worked out very well. I didn't want to pay the extra money to rent speakers. We played music off of my husbands phone all night .

We budgeted $10,000 for our wedding. That included everything from invitations to the cost of the wedding package and everything in-between (rings, attire, wedding party gifts, extra flowers, decor). I am happy to say that we were under budget! Though we were able to cut costs on things like decor and photography (my sister did photos outside of the ceremony). We had 19 people including ourselves but the cost would have been the same for 25 with the Divine package we had selected. Add approximately $100 per person to your budget for every person over 25. There has been a lot of talk on this thread from brides with 50+ people and how they were able to keep their costs lower. With your vision of a simple wedding you can definitely stay on budget! We then had additional money budgeted for the cost of our trip and a second week at a different resort. Flying from Canada our guests paid anywhere from $1,500 to 1,700 per person for one week. That included flights, transfers, and the stay at the resort. Guests booked about 5-6 months prior to our November wedding. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.

I uploaded some pictures of the Generations resort. If you are able to make a reservation at any of the restaurants there I highly recommend them. We were able to eat at Habb, Jade, and the Grand Market. We wanted to try the Wine Kitchen but unfortunately it was closed the night we wanted to go. Sling bar is a nice place for a cocktail before or after dinner, and the deck that wraps around it is amazing to watch lightning storms. Some photos: Rooms at Generations: Habb: Jade Chef Market and Pier/Deck (Beautiful for weddings. Also used for Dinner on the beach) Wedding Gazebo in front of D'Italia (between Casitas 31 and 32). This location would be very private -aka no gawkers (casitas are not crowded and very spaced out) and it has a wonderful walk way in front of the restaurant) with palm trees and greenery and stone steps. Any questions let me know!