TinkerSofi

yeah! The funniest one was when I pulled out my vows book and he's like "don't I have one?!" and I told him, I figured you were going to say that it was a stupid idea so I didn't get you one. He just laughed and hugged me lol. He knew it was true, but then he was jealous I had a fancy book and he didn't hahah. He ended up writing his vows the day of the wedding, on a hotel notepad *facepalm*, you can see he's laughing about it on the video hahah. Juan brought his walkie talkies but for some reason they didn't work. They were charged and everything, but nothing. Our hotel was great with wifi, so we all just used whastapp to communicate and it worked out wonderfully.

Thank you! Some new ones got posted today on facebook by more friends. I've been meaning to create a flick account for everyone to share their photos but I just haven't had time! aha. The week was amazing! I really wish Juan and i had been able to stay a few more days after everyone left, but oh well. I felt like I was always torn, wanting to spend time with him, but also with guests. In the end I did the best I could, but I wish I had more time to enjoy the beach and time with our guests. It all went by way too quickly, but yet we have so many memories that you'd think we were there 2 weeks! haha. @@Meandhim I loved how the hair and makeup turned out. As I said before, I took a bit of a risk going with the hotel spa because I hadn't heard a lot about them and i hadn't seen many pictures of their work. However, they surprised me with how good they were and I wondered why people were paying $800 to bring someone else in haha. The service there was amazing, they were even so patient with me when I got sick while on my hair trial. I felt really bad for them . The guests loved the bags!! It was so funny because Juan was totally against the whole idea, but when we were there he said "I have to eat my words, those were a great idea". I was like "HA! i told you so!"- This happened a lot may I add, with him admitting that all the work I put in really paid off, despite his doubts haha.. Most people wore the glasses all week, and they all went crazy over those waterproof pouches I got for the guys! Looking back, I should have bought one for everyone. The girls usually ended up stealing them from the guys hahah, and somehow my brother ended up without one . They were not fully waterproof, I took one to Xel-Ha to put my glasses in there while we swam down the lazy river by the end the pack had water in it and my glasses were wet (which i didn't really care, thankfully). They're more waterproof when you first get them, but I guess as you keep opening and closing them, the zipper becomes weaker and then water leaks in. People still used them, as it will protect your phone from the sand and drops of water here and there, if say, you leave it by the pool. They're just not good enough for swimming with your phone in there. I didn't see a lot of girls wearing the sarongs, but a few of them did, including myself. For the emergency kits, this was a huge hit! Most people (including me) got sick at one point or other, so I got a lot of comments of how much of a lifesaver these things were. People also broke nails and needed the nail file. One of my MOHs got a bunch of cuts on her toes from too much dancing haha, so she basically used everyone's supply of band aids hahah. This was another thing that Juan was very set on not doing and I went behind his back and did it anyway. He was happy I did!

It sounds like you had a blast!! Enjoy every moment of the planning. I miss it now and every time I head down to my basement i get super melancholic, knowing that there's no more wedding projects waiting for me. The whole week went by too fast, and the wedding day went by even faster. So, enjoy. I made sure to take a few deep breaths on the wedding day and just take it all in, as other brides suggested. I'm so happy I did! I remember quite a bit from that day and I cherish those memories so much . I'm sure your veil will be fine! Maybe try and find a little clip or something so you can clip it on to your dress from the back. I don't know if I'm explaining myself, but let's say that your right profile is facing your guests during the ceremony, then place a clip on your left side, holding the veil to your dress. The veil will blow around a bit but it won't be on your face. I'm thinking of a little alligator clip or something like that, which would be easy to clip and then take off. You can get them from the dollar store probably. During our pictures, Juan was actually holding my veil down behind me haha, and it looked like he was" hugging me" . Funny story (and kind of unrelated), one of our guests has a son who will be getting married in about 2 years. They were considering a DW wedding as well, and I was so happy to hear that when our guest came back and spoke with them she was like "do it! it was awesome!" hahah. I'm so excited for you to head down there and experience a DW. I am beyond happy that Juan pushed me to do this! (Initially i wasn't sold on the whole DW idea).

Hi! I just caught up on your planning thread. I've been busy with the move coming up and haven't had much time to be on the site. I have to say you have been one busy lady! I love all your choices. I love the jewellery, but I agree with CalgaryBride, you might have to buy some of that double sided tape to make sure the brooch doesn't move. I got it at Shoppers Drug Mart for a very low cut dress I have, and let me tell you, it has saved me from a few wardrobe malfunctions haha. I always bring it now when I travel . You can find it where they have those adhesive bras and things like that. I love the TTD dress as well as the regular dress. I wouldn't worry too much about the heat in the dress. I don't think your wedding day will be hotter than ours, and the breeze in the terrace made it bearable. The worst part was standing in the sun during the ceremony, I was definitely sweating there, but afterwards it's not too bad. Also, my excitement and happiness to be wearing that dress really made me overlook how hot it was! I'm really glad that I didn't change into a shorter dress for the whole reception and just toughed it out. If push comes to shove you could change into your TTD dress at some point . The only thing that comes to mind when I think of breaking in shoes is when I used to go to ballet and the girls who wore pointe would grab those shoes and start bending them one way and the other, and open them with their fingers to stretch the "toes space". I still don't think this made them a lot less painful when they had to wear them for the first time, but it probably helped a little. Then it's just a matter of wearing them, sadly.

Thanks! That's what I was planning on doing as well. I don't think I have a picture of everyone, but I'll use the ones I have. I felt that the reception went by so quickly! I even barely had time to make it to the photo booth! I was enjoying the music way too much haha. Thank you! Our photographer said we should have our photos fairly quickly, probably in about a week, so I'm super excited to see those. I'll also post a full review for him when I get them

We actually used a DSL-r camera on a tripod . It was fun! Yeah they don't look professional but we had fun and they make me laugh when I see them haha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've been working on the dance video, apparently I can't download it off of facebook which is too bad. I need to ask my guest to send it to me . I also want to download the video from the streaming but I can't. I think i've watched it every day hahah

I’m basically just reposting my review from my planning thread, but I thought this might be easier to find for future brides, rather than going through pages and pages of a planning thread. I posted a bunch of pictures on the planning thread but they’re so much work to re-attach (Am I lazy or what?!) so you can head to this link, they’re on page 84 and 85. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/78768-tinkersofis-planning-thread-azul-fives-august-13-2015/page-84 In a few words, our week was amazing!! Our guests had so much fun, we had so much fun, everything turned out the way we planned (or better) and even things that I had no control over fell into place and things were just perfect. The resort is just beautiful, all of our guests were raving about it and the food. A special shout out to the resort staff as well, I am beyond amazed at how they make everything seem to seamless and perfect. They were on top of things, they were super nice, etc. I'll get into it all later. Ladies, those of you getting married at AF, you absolutely have nothing to worry or stress out about, words just can't describe how awesome these people are at their job. Some details about the wedding: When: August 13, 2015 Location: Sky Deck for ceremony and reception, no cocktail hour. # of guests: 32, all adults Arrival and check in: Our arrival to the airport was a bit of a gong show. We had a lot of suitcases, plus the dress and suit to take care of. On the flight, they didn't give us the green custom form, and of course when you're dealing with so many people, so many suitcases, it just makes everything a lot harder when you have to fill it out once you get to the airport. I had Juan's passport, but because we don't live together, we had to go through customs separately and fill a separate form. I got separated from my family (which should have been one form), so we made customs really clumsy haha, the guys there were not impressed with us . Of course, both Juan and I got the dumb red button so all our suitcases had to be opened and inspected. They just asked why we were bringing so much stuff and I told them that because I was getting married, I think the dress might have given it away haha. Also, I brought some cookies for favours, there were 35 of them, sealed and packaged, but they asked what they were and they opened the boxes. I thought they'd confiscate them but luckily they didn't . I think the fact that they were sealed made it easier for them to accept them coming in. Then we were off to the resort I know a lot of brides have said that check in was cumbersome, but I had the opposite experience. I had warned my guests to expect delays, but most of us were out of there in about 30 min. Just make sure everyone has their passport and confirmation for their trips with them. This makes things a lot easier for them to check you in, Only two couples didn't get the room they had paid for, and had to wait from 5 until 8 to get their room but they were happy that the hotel accommodated them. You can also leave your luggage with them and hit the gin bar (which is connected to the lobby) until your room is available. The room: When Juan and I arrived to our room we were wowed. This is definitely the nicest hotel we had ever been at. We got upgraded to a one bedroom sky suite, with a private terrace, and everything was just beautiful. We were in villa 1, the closest one to the lobby, gin bar, gym, and some of the restaurants. Also the furthest one from the beach. The walk to the beach was 5 minutes, if that, so definitely not that far. I was very concerned about the rooms being far away from the beach but luckily it wasn't an issue, it's quite close. I had read some reviews of people complaining that no one picked them up with a golf cart to come back from the beach. All I can say is b*** please hahah, it's really not that far. Golf carts are also always available in case you have someone with mobility issues. We even got one one day at 1:30am after they kicked us out of the sky bar because they were closing. Some of the older rooms seem to be a little more dated. For ours, everything was working and aside from a few minor details it looked in pristine condition. Juan's parents' room had their couch a little more used, it just looked older, but it was still very nice. My parents and brother stayed at the essence section. Their rooms were just lovely. My parents had a one bedroom sky suite as well and it was beautiful. Some of our guests got upgraded for free and I think this made their week . The beach: This was also another concern for me, as some people have said the beach was a bit rocky, plus of course, the seaweed problem. There's two sides to the beach, if you go to the right, it is more rocky, and we didn't really swim there all that much. To the left, there's no rocks. The seaweed was pretty bad on day 1 but got progressively better through our stay and there was pretty much nothing by the time we left. Even when it was bad, it was swimmable, especially on the left, less rocky side of the beach. To give you an idea of the amount of seaweed left on the beach on the worst day, you could step over it with just one step . Then we played at chucking seaweed at each other, it was fun haha. I thought it would be the slimy disgusting kind but it was the rough plant kind, which is not too bad. Also, there's some huge sandbags on both sides of the ocean to help with the current. These were fun because they're so hard to get on but then you can slide or dive off of them. The fishes also eat the seaweed that grows on them, so it was a nice and natural way of luring them in for some great snorkelling. The food: Well, let's just say that it will be very hard to return to any other all inclusive that is not a gourmet inclusive hotel haha. The food was great, even on the two buffets that they have for breakfast or lunch. There's enough selection of different restaurants for you not to get bored in one week. We didn't even have time to eat at all of them. We tried both of the ones that needed reservations, the Thai and Italian and I loved both, some of our guests liked the Thai more, some the Italian, and some neither haha. There's really something for everyone The restaurants were so accommodating of our large group. If we showed up and asked them for 20 tables, they did their best to try and fit as many of us in one table as possible, or adjacent tables. It was easier to get bigger groups together at the restaurants that needed reservations, but even the other ones tried to sit at least 8-10 of us together haha. The Spa - Hair and makeup trial On Monday, before our welcome dinner, I went to go get my hair and makeup trial. I got really sick and even though I thought I was doing better by the afternoon, it came back full force as I was getting my hair done so I had to postpone my makeup to the next day. The trial went really well despite the fact that I was so out of it haha. I worked with Andrea and she was so nice. After being done, she took a few pictures and then I told her the kind of changes I wanted to do. For the makeup, again I gave Andrea an idea of what I wanted and she went ahead and recreated it. I thought she had used too much bronzer when I first saw my face so I asked her if we could use more of a pink blush for the wedding, since that's what I usually wear. At the end of the night the makeup from the trial looked great and even loved the bronzer, but I still decided to go more with a pink blush for the wedding. It was funny, I got to my room and was getting ready to shower, when Juan and his best man walk in, and they both go "wow Sofia! You look like a model!" hahah. At that point I was like, goal achieved. I decided to keep the makeup on for the rest of the night. By the way, I got airbrush makeup. and if you have the chance, get it. This thing lasts through the night, and it doesn't look or feel like it's caked on. The welcome dinner: We had our welcome dinner at Flavours on Monday. I was feeling kind of sick but even though I felt like i would have to excuse myself after about 20 minutes, I was able to pull through and stay the whole night. We chose the meal with the beef medallions and OMG, that food was delicious. Everyone loved it. Just as quickly as my sickness came, it left. I felt much better after dinner, and a couple of Imodium haha, and we made it to the sky bar to once again party until we dropped, and they kicked us out again hahah. Spa on wedding day: While there, I decided to book a bridal spa day. For about $200, I got a facial, a massage, reflexology, my hair and makeup was included in this package, and the use of the bridal suite at the spa for that day. My bridesmaids could come over, and even though they had a maximum 4 people limit, we ended up being 7 at one point haha. Another good thing, your bridesmaids don't necessarily have to get any services done at the spa to come in and get ready there, but if they want to, they'll do their hair and makeup all in the same room. I am so glad I did this, it was so relaxing to begin the whole ritual at around 11am (wedding was at 5pm), getting my massage done, being able to have a shower at the bridal suite and having my hair done before people came over. Just the smell at this spa and the whole ambiance is amazing and so relaxing. I could have also gone before 11am to use the hydromassage room, but with so many last minute preparations, I didn't have time. The airbrush makeup application was an extra fee, that again I thought was very worth it. I took some really bad pictures of the room we were in. It looks messy because the massage bed had not been re-made yet. This was right after I took my shower and before Andrea came in to do my hair and makeup. The lady who did my massage (I can't remember her name) came back and put the bed back together for everything to look nice again before the bridesmaids and bridal party came over. Andrea again did my hair and makeup. On the day of, and the trial, I totally forgot to give her my headband haha, so without headband it was. they also provided us with some mimosas and a few bites, which were delicious BTW. The guys getting ready: They gave Juan and the boys a room to get ready in as well. They provided them with food and drinks. It was in the newer section. He had to go on the day of, at around 11:30 to find out what room they'd be staying at. Then they were off to the ceremony... The Wedding Department: I cannot say enough good things about this department. After all my frustration and anger with Lomas throughout the planning process, these guys totally made it up to me. We met with them on Tuesday, there was a person from the hotel and the Lomas representative, Lucely and Claudia. We went over the last few details, including who was in the bridal party, who was the MC, my timeline, they asked me when I'd like to do the toast and offered me their opinion when I had no clue haha. I gave them a few sheets detailing in point form how I wanted my decorations set up and we talked about it. One thing I recommend future AF brides, make sure you have an electronic copy of your script and bring it with you. I didn't give it to the Miami coordinators and just printed off a copy and gave to the on site coordinators. They asked me if I could send them an electronic copy to give to the officiant before hand but my email didn't work all week so I couldn't. I only had an electronic copy on my email, but if you have a flash drive that would work. On the day of the wedding, they communicated non stop to make things flow really well and even reminded me of things on the timeline as we went along. I felt so scattered, I was having too much fun haha, but thanks to them we hit all the items on my timeline and things had a nice flow. Brian was there on the day of the wedding as well, helping me with my bouquet and shoes as we took pictures and making sure the reception flowed really well. He was awesome! The ceremony and reception looked amazing. I didn't have a lot of decor for the ceremony and I guess it looked a little empty. As I was getting my hair done, Claudia from Lomas came up and asked me if I wanted to dress the chairs with the Vintage Elegance theme for $150. I thought the price was reasonable so I said yes and I'm glad I did. I think it added to the whole thing and otherwise it would have looked like it needed a little extra something. The Ceremony: Juan arrived first, at 4:30 to greet our guests. I came in at around 5, they drove me in a golf cart and funny story, I almost fell off on a curve there hahaha. It would have been pretty hilarious. When I looked down the aisle I was amazed, everything looked beautiful, the smile on my guests' faces and Juan's face, of course, just made my day. It was the perfect day, hot and sunny, but there was a nice breeze going up at the sky deck which made it bearable. I still had drops of sweat running down my legs, but it was all good hahah. It sounds really windy on the video but it was actually very nice, we would have died without it. Our video, for those who haven't seen it yet. We will have our professional one hopefully quite soon . http://www.ustream.t...ch?q=azul fives Our officiant did our ceremony in English and we did our vows in Spanish. The whole thing took about 10-15 minutes, which is exactly what we wanted. Anything longer would have been torture in that heat. Photographer and Videographer: I can't wait to see these pictures and the video!! We worked with Octavio Montes for both photo and video. He was very nice, he had a very good sense of humour and he was assertive enough when he needed to be in order to get people organized. I felt like I was very disorganized as to what I wanted from the pictures. By the time we went downstairs to the beach, we only had about an hour left before the reception, so we didn't get to do any pictures on the grounds of the hotel (more towards the rooms), which are gorgeous. It was a tough choice as to whether I wanted beach photos or photos on the grounds, but oh well. I'm sure they'll turn out beautifully. I wanted sunset photos and we got an amazing sunset. Brian (one of the wedding coordinators) said they don't always get a sunset like that, with pink and orange. Juan wanted some night time photos and from the ones that Octavio showed me on his camera, they looked amazing. I didn't even notice Octavio in the whole commotion of things haha, or the videographers for that matter haha. I guess that's the point, for them to be seamless. According to my guests they were always there, taking pictures of every moment. The Reception We went back to the sky deck for the reception at 7:00. They had changed everything and set up the tables. We chose the Vintage Elegance theme and it looked beautiful as the sun was setting down. We chose the BBQ deluxe menu, it was family style, so each table had their own sides which they passed around and the servers came with the meat and people chose what they wanted to eat. We had the food served right away, and while people were eating the salads I went and changed into my attire for our first dance. Originally my mom was going to help me change, but I decided to let her enjoy the food and the guys from the wedding department helped me out. The dance came out ok, Juan had had a few too many tequila shots and he blanked out ahaha. I tried to help him out but we missed a bunch of steps, oh well. After the first dance, I changed back into my long dress to party the night away haha. I'm so glad I didn't stay with my short dress. once again, the coordinators helped me back into my dress. I got back to the reception on time for the main course. I actually had a lot of food! I was surprised because everyone tells you that the bride and groom have no time to eat, but we definitely did, despite the wardrobe change and everything. The food was soo good! After we finished the main course we had a toast and then kind of opened the floor for speeches. They were all very heartfelt, we had one from our best man, one from each one of my MOH's, from both our parents and my brother. When it came to my brother, everyone was crying. I was bawling like a baby. After that, we cut the cake, and then we finally got to the dances with our parents and then the party!! We had so much fun, that the 2 hours left for the party felt like 10 minutes, not just for me, but even for my guests. I was really sad when at 11 they said we had time for one more song. We then went downstairs to the sky deck and continued the party there. We actually gave my phone to the DJ there and gave him a nice tip for him to play our songs! haha, it was like we never left the sky deck. Again, time flew by, and at 1am they kicked us out. All of us could have kept on partying until 4am haha. I need to thank the bartender at the sky bar, Salvador, for keeping our hands full of drinks haha. Both Juan and I definitely had a nice buzz going when we left. Juan was so happy I don't think I had ever seen him dance that much hahaa. Overall we had a blast. Our DIY photo booth was a hit! I'm really glad we did that. I actually left my prop signs with the wedding coordinators. Maybe they threw them out, I don't know, but if your wedding is coming up you could always ask about them. I had forgotten to give them about half of the signs, so there was a limited selection at the wedding, I still didn't notice until I found them the next day in my bag hahah. Wedding DJ app: This was definitely the best choice when you don't have a dj. If you organize it properly, everything is really seamless and it's so easy to learn that anyone can be using it in about 5 minutes. The hardest part is thinking of everything and making sure that you have music for every part of the wedding, and having the playlists in the right order. I'll post some screen shots later so you guys can see how I organized things. I will say, if you're on the fence about this app and you're not planning on hiring a DJ, buy this! Even Juan said those were the best $7 spent haha.

oh that's too bad. I'm glad you were able to make it out with your bridesmaids and have a good time regardless. I can't believe your friend said that. What age you get married at has nothing to do with how successful you'll be in your marriage. Also, you can't just marry someone because you're "turning 27" and otherwise you'll be alone, those are the wrong reasons and that does actually predict your marriage success a little better

I have to say, a dj for $250 is a steal! Definitely consider yourself lucky and go with that! I had to put a lot of work into the music and I wish I had been able to afford a DJ and not have to worry about it. A DJ for us started at $1500 and went up from there. For the tables, originally I was going to sit the bridal party with us at one long table but then I also wanted them to be with their dates so I just sat them across the different tables and they sat with their dates (basically as if they were guests). We only had 4 tables, so the whole thing still felt quite intimate. Juan said he would have preferred to sit with everyone else, but I liked this set up. 7 people up there would have looked very crowded. Another thing, if we had sat the bridal party with us, that meant we would have had 3 tables instead of 4, and I felt that would have looked a little empty. I felt like we got the best of both worlds . Just something to consider depending how many guests you have. I've been to weddings with 100+ people, and it looked very nice when the bridal party sat with the bride and groom, it made them stand out more. I don't think that's the case for smaller weddings.

I had weights and didn't use them. In the end I didn't like how they made the veil look and when it was blowing all over the place, the weights stuck to each other, so it ended up looking worse. I stayed with my veil throughout the ceremony and beach pictures and I don't regret it. Just let it blow in the wind! They make for some amazing pictures! I'll show you when I get them back. I was just unlucky that the wind was from my back on the ceremony haha so it was blowing on my face. The officiant tucked it around my arm and that worked wonderfully. It was also down to my waist so she was able to do that. Then for the pictures I just let it free, for some pictures, Juan was actually holding it at the back so it didn't look like it was blowing all over . I'm really glad I went with a veil. I think the look would have been missing something had I not had one.

@@snswedding2016 I only asked him once, and he said they had wraps and things like that, so it looked like they had an actual lunch. Us girls literally had a few bites, but I find women eat very little when we're getting ready. Out of all of us, I was the only one who stuffed her face with these haha. They really helped because I began getting hungry by the time the reception came around. I think also when the nerves started to come down @ the app is great and I felt like people barely noticed there wasn't a DJ. You can always go to the phone and skip that song if you feel like it's dragging a bit. The app will fade the next song in and it seems quite seamless. I had the settings at a 4 second fade in between songs and I felt that was good enough, not too abrupt. For breaking up the songs, I actually broke up the party playlist in two, with the bouquet and garter toss in the middle. In the end this is how things went down: I forgot to throw my bouquet because I was having a blast dancing, until Brian (WC) came up and asked me if I was going to do it. All we did was put the volume of whatever song was playing a little lower, the MC announced the bouquet toss and the garter, then we put the volume up again and kept on dancing. Unless you want a very specific song to do this to, I suggest you do the same. I had specific songs for each of those two events, but honestly at that point I wanted to be over with these two things so I could keep partying haha. No one even paid attention to the song during the tosses. I'm super sick today, but I'll try to post the screen shots either tomorrow or the day after. It looked disorganized in my head, but the whole thing actually had a very nice flow to it. @@Wafflesmom it actually looks decent. I have to find a way to take it from facebook and post it on here haha. One of our guests posted it . @@acw271011 the app is actually perfect if you don't have wi fi because it plays the songs that are in your phone storage. This means you actually have to spend the time downloading them and creating playlists and then putting them in your phone. This is the most time consuming part, but hey, anything to save $2000 haha. Once the songs are organized into playlists you choose on the phone what playlist you want to play for what event and you're done! . We had free wi fi, but it wasn't perfect, it was great for sending whatsapp messages between guests. We made a group with all 30 of us and that's how we communicated, but I couldn't check my email and I doubt I would have been able to play musing from internet apps like Songza. I had to do all the work before hand. I was actually finalizing everything until the very last minute before we left haha.

Time for the review and pictures that everyone has been waiting for! Let's start off with how my day started. The pictures are all the ones we took, as I still haven't received the professional ones Spa on wedding day: While there, I decided to book a bridal spa day. For about $200, I got a facial, a massage, reflexology, my hair and makeup was included in this package, and the use of the bridal suite at the spa for that day. My bridesmaids could come over, and even though they had a maximum 4 people limit, we ended up being 7 at one point haha. Another good thing, your bridesmaids don't necessarily have to get any services done at the spa to come in and get ready there, but if they want to, they'll do their hair and makeup all in the same room. I am so glad I did this, it was so relaxing to begin the whole ritual at around 11am (wedding was at 5pm), getting my massage done, being able to have a shower at the bridal suite and having my hair done before people came over. Just the smell at this spa and the whole ambiance is amazing and so relaxing. I could have also gone before 11am to use the hydromassage room, but with so many last minute preparations, I didn't have time. The airbrush makeup application was an extra fee, that again I thought was very worth it. I took some really bad pictures of the room we were in. It looks messy because the massage bed had not been re-made yet. This was right after I took my shower and before Andrea came in to do my hair and makeup. The lady who did my massage (I can't remember her name) came back and put the bed back together for everything to look nice again before the bridesmaids and bridal party came over. Andrea again did my hair and makeup. On the day of, and the trial, I totally forgot to give her my headband haha, so without headband it was . Here I am with her when she was done they also provided us with some mimosas and a few bites, which were delicious BTW: The guys getting ready: They gave Juan and the boys a room to get ready in as well. They provided them with food and drinks. It was in the newer section. He had to go on the day of, at around 11:30 to find out what room they'd be staying at. Then they were off to the ceremony... The Wedding Department: I cannot say enough good things about this department. After all my frustration and anger with Lomas throughout the planning process, these guys totally made it up to me. We met with them on Tuesday, there was a person from the hotel and the Lomas representative, Lucely and Claudia. We went over the last few details, including who was in the bridal party, who was the MC, my timeline, they asked me when I'd like to do the toast and offered me their opinion when I had no clue haha. I gave them a few sheets detailing in point form how I wanted my decorations set up and we talked about it. One thing I recommend future AF brides, make sure you have an electronic copy of your script and bring it with you. I didn't give it to the Miami coordinators and just printed off a copy and gave to the on site coordinators. They asked me if I could send them an electronic copy to give to the officiant before hand but my email didn't work all week so I couldn't. I only had an electronic copy on my email, but if you have a flash drive that would work. On the day of the wedding, they communicated non stop to make things flow really well and even reminded me of things on the timeline as we went along. I felt so scattered, I was having too much fun haha, but thanks to them we hit all the items on my timeline and things had a nice flow. Brian was there on the day of the wedding as well, helping me with my bouquet and shoes as we took pictures and making sure the reception flowed really well. He was awesome! The ceremony and reception looked amazing. I didn't have a lot of decor for the ceremony and I guess it looked a little empty. As I was getting my hair done, Claudia from Lomas came up and asked me if I wanted to dress the chairs with the Vintage Elegance theme for $150. I thought the price was reasonable so I said yes and I'm glad I did. I think it added to the whole thing and otherwise it would have looked like it needed a little extra something. The Ceremony: Juan arrived first, at 4:30 to greet our guests. I came in at around 5, they drove me in a golf cart and funny story, I almost fell off on a curve there hahaha. It would have been pretty hilarious. When I looked down the aisle I was amazed, everything looked beautiful, the smile on my guests' faces and Juan's face, of course, just made my day. It was the perfect day, hot and sunny, but there was a nice breeze going up at the sky deck which made it bearable. There was still drops of sweat running down my legs, but it was all good hahah. It sounds really windy on the video but it was actually very nice, we would have died without it. our video, for those who haven't seen it yet. We will have our professional one hopefully quite soon . http://www.ustream.tv/search?q=azul+fives Our officiant did our ceremony in English and we did our vows in Spanish. The whole thing took about 10-15 minutes, which is exactly what we wanted. Anything longer would have been torture in that heat. Photographer and Videographer: I can't wait to see these pictures and the video!! We worked with Octavio Montes for both photo and video. He was very nice, he had a very good sense of humour and he was assertive enough when he needed to be in order to get people organized. I felt like I was very disorganized as to what I wanted from the pictures. By the time we went downstairs to the beach, we only had about an hour left before the reception, so we didn't get to do any pictures on the grounds of the hotel (more towards the rooms), which are gorgeous. It was a tough choice as to whether I wanted beach photos or photos on the grounds, but oh well. I'm sure they'll turn out beautifully. I wanted sunset photos and we got an amazing sunset. Brian (one of the wedding coordinators) said they don't always get a sunset like that, with pink and orange. Juan wanted some night time photos and from the ones that Octavio showed me on his camera, they looked amazing . I didn't even notice Octavio in the whole commotion of things haha, or the videographers for that matter haha. I guess that's the point, for them to be seamless . According to my guests they were always there, taking pictures of every moment. The Reception We went back to the sky deck for the reception at 7:00. They had changed everything and set up the tables. We chose the Vintage Elegance theme and it looked beautiful as the sun was setting down. We chose the BBQ deluxe menu, it was family style, so each table had their own sides which they passed around and the servers came with the meat and people chose what they wanted to eat. We had the food served right away, and while people were eating the salads I went and changed into my attire for our first dance. Originally my mom was going to help me change, but I decided to let her enjoy the food and the guys from the wedding department helped me out. The dance came out ok, Juan had had a few too many tequila shots and he blanked out ahaha. I tried to help him out but we missed a bunch of steps, oh well. After the first dance, I changed back into my long dress to party the night away haha. I'm so glad I didn't stay with my short dress. once again, the coordinators helped me back into my dress. I got back to the reception on time for the main course. I actually had a lot of food! I was surprised because everyone tells you that the bride and groom have no time to eat, but we definitely did, despite the wardrobe change and everything. The food was soo good! After we finished the main course we had a toast and then kind of opened the floor for speeches. They were all very heartfelt, we had one from our best man, one from each one of my MOH's, from both our parents and my brother. When it came to my brother, everyone was crying. I was bawling like a baby. After that, we cut the cake, and then we finally got to the dances with our parents and then the party!! We had so much fun, that the 2 hours left for the party felt like 10 minutes, not just for me, but even for my guests. I was really sad when at 11 they said we had time for one more song. We then went downstairs to the sky deck and continued the party there. We actually gave my phone to the DJ there and gave him a nice tip for him to play our songs! haha, it was like we never left the sky deck. Again, time flew by, and at 1am they kicked us out. All of us could have kept on partying until 4am haha. I need to thank the bartender at the sky bar, Salvador, for keeping our hands full of drinks haha. Both Juan and I definitely had a nice buzz going when we left . Juan was so happy I don't think I had ever seen him dance that much hahaa. Overall we had a blast. Our DIY photo booth was a hit, as you can see on the pictures above haha. I'm really glad we did that. I actually left my prop signs with the wedding coordinators. Maybe they threw them out, I don't know, but if your wedding is coming up you could always ask about them . I had forgotten to give them about half of the signs , so there was a limited selection at the wedding, I still didn't notice until I found them the next day in my bag hahah. I'll post this first because I'm afraid that I'll lose everything I've written, there's one more part with some miscellaneous things. I wanted to post some more pictures from our guests I think I'm just forgetting one piece for the review to be complete: Wedding DJ app: This was definitely the best choice when you don't have a dj. If you organize it properly, everything is really seamless and it's so easy to learn that anyone can be using it in about 5 minutes . The hardest part is thinking of everything and making sure that you have music for every part of the wedding, and having the playlists in the right order. I'll post some screen shots later so you guys can see how I organized things. I will say, if you're on the fence about this app and you're not planning on hiring a DJ, buy this! Even Juan said those were the best $7 spent haha.

@@yycbride2016 they did an amazing job on the hair and makeup and I'm very glad I took the leap of faith and went with the resort spa for their services. I hadn't been able to find any reviews on them and was a little apprehensive, but they are great. That place is soo peaceful, just walking in to get your trial done is super relaxing. For the wedding day, I asked for the updo to be a little higher, and for the sides to be a little tighter. I thought it looked a little more "young" that way. Also, she put a lot less bobby pins on the trial haha, so eventually it fell apart and I took it off. On the wedding day, I actually slept with my updo and went to the beach with it the next day bahaha. Then I had to take it off, not because it was falling apart, but because the pins were starting to hurt after 24 hours haha. @@snswedding2016 the airbrush is not included on the package, but it's not that expensive, can't remember if it's $40 plus gratuities, which comes out to be about $60. You can also choose whether you want to do airbrush on your trial too or just for the wedding day. You have to pay twice if you want it on your trial too, but I thought it was worth it. I had never had it done and I wanted to see how it felt and how my skin reacted to it. I ended up paying for a day at the spa on the wedding day, which included hair and makeup, and gave the free hair and makeup from the GIWC package to my mom. It was soo worth it, but I'll get into it more on my next review post

thank you everyone, I don't want to make you wait anymore to hear something from me haha, so even though this is might not be a full review yet, I'll try to hit some of the points. This might be a little long for most of you who just want to read about the wedding, but I wanted to give other AF brides some more info of how things went down. In a few words, our week was amazing!! Our guests had so much fun, we had so much fun, everything turned out the way we planned (or better) and even things that I had no control over fell into place and things were just perfect. I have to say I couldn't have done it without our guests, who quickly formed one huge group, they all became friends and were inseparable during the whole week, yes, all 30 of them haha. We all went to eat together, met at the beach or at the pool, and even if we got separated due to different plans, we soon formed the tradition of meeting up at the sky bar every night where we danced and drank until they kicked us out haha. We were one rowdy crowd, a bunch of party animals really, and I loved it haha. A special shout out to the resort staff as well, I am beyond amazed at how they make everything seem to seamless and perfect. They were on top of things, they were super nice, etc. I'll get into it all later. Ladies, those of you getting married at AF, you absolutely have nothing to worry or stress out about, words just can't describe how awesome these people are at their job. Arrival and check in: Our arrival to the airport was a bit of a gong show. We had a lot of suitcases, plus the dress and suit to take care of. On the flight, they didn't give us the green custom form, and of course when you're dealing with so many people, so many suitcases, it just makes everything a lot harder when you have to fill it out once you get to the airport. I had Juan's passport, but because we don't live together, we had to go through customs separately and fill a separate form. I got separated from my family (which should have been one form), so we made customs really clumsy haha, the guys there were not impressed with us . Of course, both Juan and I got the dumb red button so all our suitcases had to be opened and inspected. They just asked why we were bringing so much stuff and I told them that because I was getting married, I think the dress might have given it away haha. Also, I brought some cookies for favours, there were 35 of them, sealed and packaged, but they asked what they were and they opened the boxes. I thought they'd confiscate them but luckily they didn't . I think the fact that they were sealed made it easier for them to accept them coming in. Then we were off to the resort I know a lot of brides have said that check in was cumbersome, but I had the opposite experience. I had warned my guests to expect delays, but most of us were out of there in about 30 min. Just make sure everyone has their passport and confirmation for their trips with them. This makes things a lot easier for them to check you in, Only two couples didn't get the room they had paid for, and had to wait from 5 until 8 to get their room but they were happy that the hotel accommodated them. You can also leave your luggage with them and hit the gin bar (which is connected to the lobby) until your room is available. The room: When Juan and I arrived to our room we were wowed. This is definitely the nicest hotel we had ever been at. We got upgraded to a one bedroom sky suite, with a private terrace, and everything was just beautiful. We were in villa 1, the closest one to the lobby, gin bar, gym, and some of the restaurants. Also the furthest one from the beach. The walk to the beach was 5 minutes, if that, so definitely not that far. I was very concerned about the rooms being far away from the beach but luckily it wasn't an issue, it's quite close. I had read some reviews of people complaining that no one picked them up with a golf cart to come back from the beach. All I can say is b*** please hahah, it's really not that far. Golf carts are also always available in case you have someone with mobility issues. We even got one one day at 1:30am after they kicked us out of the sky bar because they were closing. Some of the older rooms seem to be a little more dated. For ours, everything was working and aside from a few minor details it looked in pristine condition. Juan's parents' room had their couch a little more used, it just looked older, but it was still very nice. My parents and brother stayed at the essence section. Their rooms were just lovely. My parents had a one bedroom sky suite as well and it was beautiful. Some of our guests got upgraded for free and I think this made their week . The beach: This was also another concern for me, as some people have said the beach was a bit rocky, plus of course, the seaweed problem. There's two sides to the beach, if you go to the right, it is more rocky, and we didn't really swim there all that much. To the left, there's no rocks. The seaweed was pretty bad on day 1 but got progressively better through our stay and there was pretty much nothing by the time we left. Even when it was bad, it was swimmable, especially on the left, less rocky side of the beach. To give you an idea of the amount of seaweed left on the beach on the worst day, you could step over it with just one step . Then we played at chucking seaweed at each other, it was fun haha. I thought it would be the slimy disgusting kind but it was the rough plant kind, which is not too bad. Also, there's some huge sandbags on both sides of the ocean to help with the current. These were fun because they're so hard to get on but then you can slide or dive off of them. The fishes also eat the seaweed that grows on them, so it was a nice and natural way of luring them in for some great snorkelling. The food: Well, let's just say that it will be very hard to return to any other all inclusive that is not a gourmet inclusive hotel haha. The food was great, even on the two buffets that they have for breakfast or lunch. There's enough selection of different restaurants for you not to get bored in one week. We didn't even have time to eat at all of them. We tried both of the ones that needed reservations, the Thai and Italian and I loved both, some of our guests liked the Thai more, some the Italian, and some neither haha. There's really something for everyone The restaurants were so accommodating of our large group. If we showed up and asked them for 20 tables, they did their best to try and fit as many of us in one table as possible, or adjacent tables. It was easier to get bigger groups together at the restaurants that needed reservations, but even the other ones tried to sit at least 8-10 of us together haha . The Spa - Hair and makeup trial On Monday, before our welcome dinner, I went to go get my hair and makeup trial. I got really sick and even though I thought I was doing better by the afternoon, it came back full force as I was getting my hair done so I had to postpone my makeup to the next day. The trial went really well despite the fact that I was so out of it haha. I worked with Andrea and she was so nice. After being done, she took a few pictures and then I told her the kind of changes I wanted to do. For the makeup, again I gave Andrea an idea of what I wanted and she went ahead and recreated it . I thought she had used too much bronzer when I first saw my face so I asked her if we could use more of a pink blush for the wedding, since that's what I usually wear. At the end of the night the makeup from the trial looked great and even loved the bronzer, but I still decided to go more with a pink blush for the wedding. It was funny, I got to my room and was getting ready to shower, when Juan and his best man walk in, and they both go "wow Sofia! You look like a model!" hahah. At that point I was like, goal achieved . I decided to keep the makeup on for the rest of the night. By the way, I got airbrush makeup. and if you have the chance, get it. This thing lasts through the night, and it doesn't look or feel like it's caked on. The welcome dinner: We had our welcome dinner at Flavours on Monday. I was feeling kind of sick but even though I felt like i would have to excuse myself after about 20 minutes, I was able to pull through and stay the whole night. We chose the meal with the beef medallions and OMG, that food was delicious. Everyone loved it. Just as quickly as my sickness came, it left. I felt much better after dinner, and a couple of Imodium haha, and we made it to the sky bar to once again party until we dropped, and they kicked us out again hahah. It's kind of late, so I'll leave the main event for tomorrow. But I'll leave you with a few pictures from our adventures:

I got my hair and makeup done at the resort and I have no regrets. They were great and it was easy because you're right there. I'm glad I didn't go outside the resort to get it done, there's so many things going on that day that I really didn't want to add a trip to that. I'm trying to recover today haha but I'll post pictures soon Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@@Eryncita i just came back from my wedding, sadly haha. We used Octavio Montes and his team for photos and video and they were great! We run out of time to do some of the shots I wanted, but we only had about an hour to do all the photos for the couple. I'll share as soon as I get the video.

@@diadiamond i feel the same way lol. I love your favour bags, I think your guests will love the items in them

It is very weird to have all the attention on you. Yesterday at the legal ceremony I felt very weird at first and then I kind of relaxed haha, even though it was just my parents and two family friends who are like my aunt and uncle. Then my family from Argentina was on skype watching from home . I think it was good practice for when I have 30 people looking at me the next time we do this haha. It was great how people got along, now I'm not so nervous about trying to "entertain" people while in Mexico. I know it's silly to think that i'd have to, but I always worry whether people are having fun haha.

@@calgarybride2015 yeah, we're staying 7 days. I'm so tired from packing haha. I still feel like I'm forgetting things haha

thank you everyone. Today was just wonderful. I know it wasn't supposed to be more than a technicality, but it ended up being special in its own way. I don't think it will take away from the Mexico wedding, but it was a nice and I'm glad we didn't downplay it either. Now I'm so excited for Mexico and to share this moment with all of our friends. After the ceremony we went around our new house to take some pictures around the fields there, my dad took them and I think they turned out pretty well. Since we didn't get engagement pictures, it was nice to have these. Here's a few of them: