sarakelz

We had the special cocktails menu with no DJ. (tho there is a GBP staff who manages the volume of the music and makes sure everything goes smooth in that dept) we paid $5/person/hour. Our reception was from 8pm-11pm So for 39 people it cost just under $650. Even though we were only supposed to get the basics, they served us everything! No extra charge. The area was set up beautifully and was much more than I expected. The prices might change for 2014/2015 but it can't go up much more. Hope this helps! 1.We put our music on a cd. We also did a back up on our ipad as well in case there was a problem. When you meet with the WC she will confirm the order of the songs and when each song is to be played. We had 2 songs while everyone was getting seated. 1 for the bridal party. 1 for the bride/father. 1 for the document signing. 1 at the end as we walked out and 2 more while we were doing pics/toasting. 2.The walk lasts approx 30 seconds--- trust me, it didn't feel long enough! 3.We had out dinner at the Portofino, we were going to do our speeches there originally but we were afraid we would interrupt other diners, but once we got there- we were pretty much the only people in the restaurant for the first hour of dinner, so we could have done our speeches there.

@@kdnolan For our ipad, they had an AUX cord that plugged in where your headphones would go. So it should fit any device that has that option. We didn't have a DJ, we just made our playlists and let it go. The hotel does have someone there to make sure everything runs smooth and that its all working and at the right volume. He also helped when we had to stop music and use the mic for speeches/announcements. I don't think he will actually DJ for you though. From what i read from other brides- if you do bring your own music and opt to have a DJ, they will play your songs for you. Honestly- making our own playlist took a little work, but saved us a ton of money and the reception goes so fast, no one is paying attention any ways. Everyone is just dancing, singing, and drinking For our cake- it is ribbon. I brought it down with me, because I was particular on the color and found it for $1 on ebay. @@KatLew We all went barefoot for the ceremony. I had lace toms for afterwards and my hubby had Sanuks which were dressy but super comfy. You will need some sort of footwear if you are doing pics with the photographer- they take you down on the rocks and it is pretty rough and wouldn't recommend heels for that.

@@kdnolan Sorry for the delay! Was out of town. We did up a playlist for the the reception.... it was a little stressful! haha! We knew we had a 3 hour window... and wanted certain songs to play. We asked our guests ahead of time for requests and we tried really hard to include as many as possible. We started our reception at 8 pm. We did approx 15-20 min of speeches. Then we did bride/groom dance, followed by father/daughter, then Mother/son. We did broke down our playlist to take us till approx 9:30, where we then played the shoe game... this took approx 5-7 min. Then we made another playlist to take us to about 10:45... then we did an announcement to introduce the last 3 songs of the night and say good night and thank you to everyone. We bought an app from itunes called "Mix and Mash". It was great because we could fade songs into the next and make name our playlists to make it easy for our MC to navigate. The reason is was stressful was trying to get the timing perfect so we didn't run over... but also didn't run too short... plus trying to get in all the music we wanted was tough! As for the cake.... no extra charge! I had emailed the WC a picture of what I wanted ahead of time, I told her I would bring the ribbon because it was the exact color I wanted. When I met with the WC, I said 2 tier was fine... so I was amazed when the chef brought out the 3 tier cake. Hope this helps!

No problem! Love sharing my experience with everyone. I had my hair done at the COBA spa. I had a lady by the name of Marisol. She was amazing. I went for trail run the day before the wedding. I showed her 1 pic on my phone of a hairstyle I saw on pinterest. 15 minutes later she had created it perfectly. On the wedding day, she was also super quick... approx 25-30 min and my hair lasted the whole day and night. Didn't even have to add anymore hairspray. I had an updo done and it cost $95 I think but worth it because she was quick and it lasted. My make-up was done by a friend that came. She always has hers done so nice... so I asked her to do mine. I went and got my own concealer/foundation/powder/lip stain from MAC before we left, and she did the rest for me. We did a trial run a few days prior. My sister brought down some setting spray that she found at Sephora. We all used it the night of dancing at Coco Bongos and everyone's makeup still looked great at 5AM. LOL For the ceremony- we had some raffia fans that we glued some paper flowers onto in our wedding colors. Our guests loved this so they could cool down. We also had paper fans that hung on all the chairs in our wedding color. The resort provided white bows on the chairs. We also made up our own programs for our guests. And we brought down a chalk board that said "pick a seat not a side..." We later used the chalk board in our photos to use as our thank you sign for our thank you cards. For the dinner- We made our own dinner menus. We had twisty lollipops in our wedding colors that we taped together with colored tape. We made 2 puzzles and had out guests sign them. We took out the middle pieces and turned it into a frame. We had 4 tables of 10 at our wedding, so I had 8 lanterns that we put LED votives in. Then we had these glass starfish in our wedding colors that we put on each table. For the reception- We just bought a big basket of shells at the dollar store in Canada. they were spread out on the high top tables. I brought down some drink napkins in our wedding colors. The resort decorated the reception area with white paper bags with candles inside. They had some paper lanterns hung from above the area we did the speeches and the music was played. We managed to get everything into 2 suitcases. In my opinion... the resort and the beach itself is the decoration. That is what i kept telling myself so i didn't go overboard. Just a few personal things in your wedding colors is all you need. Everything goes by so quickly that no one even notices those small details.

Hi everyone! My review of my wedding at this resort is a few weeks late but thought I would share my experience with all you brides that are still planning. We got married on January 30 at 4:30pm on Akumal Beach. We had the Remember Symbolic wedding package. We stayed at the COBA resort for 10 days. We had 40 guests from all over Canada attend our wedding. We had Maria as our wedding coordinator. We bought the 3 hour package from Arrecife (Tropic One Studios) Luis was our photographer and he was amazing. He was fun, organized and really made everyone have fun with the pictures. We got 80 "finished" pictures. The day before we left we met him in the Tropic one office, he turns on a slide show of all the finished pics he took and then shows you how to select the 80 you want. Within 2 hours he had the disc ready to go for us. We had a poolside reception at the Arrecife Jaccuzi pool on the Coba resort. We paid for just the basic package for the reception and EVERYTHING was served, even made us different types of shots. The area was so beautifully decorated and we made a playlist on our iPad but they had a person working the sound controls and mic. We did our speeches before the first dance started. I sent pictures of the flowers and cake I wanted ahead of time and both the cake and flowers were exactly what I wanted. All in all it was a great week. Leading up to the heading down there I was nervous about the communication with my WC and the photographer, but trust me when I say that when you arrive, they are available any time, for anything. If you are looking for a timeline of events... Picked up guests and groom from COBA lobby at 3:50 Picked up bride and bridesmaids from room at 4:20 Ceremony started at 4:30 Ceremony lasted approx 15 minutes. There was sparking wine available for a quick toast. Group Pictures and family pictures took about 15-20 minutes. Then a shuttle brought our guests back to the lobby while the wedding party/bride/groom did their pictures. Dinner at the Portofino Italian Restaurant at 6pm. We did a little introduction to the wedding party as they entered. No speeches. though. We could have though because we were the only people in the restaurant until almost 7pm. We had to pick a set menu because we had over 30 people. We had the italian sampler which is basically a buffet. Then Minestrone soup and for the main course it was Chicken Gorgonzola. Cut the cake around 7:30. We had a 3 tier chocolate cake. Our guests then headed across the path to our poolside reception which was from 8-11. We brought down some small decorations and the WC set it up for us no problem. If you are wanting things done a particular way then maybe designate someone to go help the WC. We also brought down gift bags for our guests. The bag itself was a beach bag, inside we put in 2 drinking mugs, homemade soap, some SPF lipblam, sunscreen wipes, small packets of aloe, we bought a magnet for each bag from the Hacienda, and then a bunch of snacks/halloween sized candy. Our guests loved it! My advice to brides.... be patient with the Wedding Co-ordinator. Generally they don't start to take you serious until your final payments are due with your travel agent which is generally 2 months before your wedding. When you get there, they are super organized, always available and they really went above and beyond my expectations with lots of little extras thrown our way. If I can answer any questions for you, please feel free to contact me. I will try my best to help! Cheers! Sara

I just returned from GBP Coba and YES there is a new casino there. I didn't go in personally but a few of our guests did and said they had a great time.

welcome gemma! I am also getting married at the GBP at the end of January. Which hotel are you getting married at?

I am also having trouble getting any communication from Arrecife! I requested package pricing from them back in March. The first response I got back from them was in July, basically telling me I had to use them exclusively and that they wouldn't be releasing pricing for 2014 until August/Early September. So I emailed again at the end of August and again last week and not even a response from them. Its frustrating that we HAVE to use this photography company but yet the customer service is terrible and they won't release any pricing so that we can budget for it.

how are all of you early 2014 brides getting emails from your WC's? My wedding in at the end of January and I have only received one email response from Maria that basically told me she would be taking a long time to respond to any of my questions. I haven't been able to get any pricing from her or any confirmation on anything other than our wedding date and time of day. any tips?? anyone else dealing with maria? i am trying to be patient and haven't sent that many questios but its 4.5 months away and we are trying to work out budgets and stuff. frustrating! :s

great formula! Really helpful!

great site recommendation! I have bookmarked it for when I do my programs!

I just started looking for flowers ideas! Thank you everyone... I now know what to look for in a bouquet!

great thread!!! this was on my soon-to-do-list!!!

I bought a whole basket full from Dollars and Cents in Langley BC. Not sure if AB has that store or not. They were less than $10 for 2-3 lbs worth.

we used weebly for ours. Very easy to use for those who are not web design savvy. http://sara-and-darryl-wedding.weebly.com/

AHH! I wish I saw this post 24 hours ago! I was looking for personalized lollipops but couldn't find any, so we just oredered regular ones online. Will have to add my own stickers now. I got some decent totes at Dollars and Cents in Langley. But that was back in July, so I have no idea if they still have them.

Hey Miriam! Just saw this thread! Congrats and thank you so much for telling me about BDW!!! I have been on here reading daily and it has helped the planning process go much smoother. Cheers! Sara

Bridesmaids: Stand By Me- Phillip Phillips Version Bride: Angel- Jack Johnson Signing Papers: Toes- Zac Brown Band Post Ceremony: Crazy Little Thing Called Love- Queen

I had a similar problem when I was trying to book my wedding. If you wait until 10-11 months before your wedding to get a quote it will be much more reasonable. None of the flights or deals for late 2014 have been released yet so its hard for TA's to quote it. I saved $800 a person by waiting until the actual flights schedule came out. I did book with a TA who went thru Westjet Vacations.

Just some details for any of you ladies getting married at the GBP. I emailed Arricefe Studios back in March about photography rates for our wedding in January. I FINALLY got a response on Saturday from them. There are no rates available yet for 2014. Should expect to see the rates in September or October. And a reminder that they are exclusive to the GBP. Has anyone else been in contact with Arrecife Studio yet?? I have a friend who is staying at the hotel 10 kms away from the GBP and she is doing the photography for her nieces wedding. She offered to come over to the GBP on a day pass and do my wedding as well. Has anyone ever had a scenario like this? It states "no professional photographers allowed" She is just a hobby photographer, so does that mean she could do our photos instead of Arrecife? If we paid the day pass fee for her to be on the resort and attend our wedding that day? Thanks for any advice!

Hi everyone, I have been reading this fourm for hours now and love all the helpful info everyone has shared. I am getting married the GBP Coba January 30 2014. I have been to the GBP back in 2012 so I know a little about the resort. So if I can help answer any questions please let me know. I also have a good friend that was married there back in 2010 so I have been using her for info as well. I look forward to sharing any info I get from my WC Maria over the next few months with all of you and reading all your info as well. Sara

I am in the same boat as you! I am needing to cover 2 large tattoos on my shoulder blades for my wedding. I asked a friend who works in the cosmetic dept @ shoppers drug mart and she is going to send me some instructions and samples to try it out over the summer before my wedding in January. i will be sure to let you know how it all works....... also let me know if you find any good solutions!