ironman

Our photographer just sent us a sneak peek from our wedding at Now Jade! Can't wait to see the rest of the photos.

We got back from our wedding yesterday and although I didn't gain any weight while we were away I sure feel it! I asked Santa for T25 for Christmas, so hopefully by the New Year I'll be rocking out to Sean T again. Party can't stop with the wedding, I've got a husband to look good for now!

We had my oldest brother officiate for us in Mexico last week. It was really special for him to do this for us, and I way preferred it over having a stranger.

We just got back yesterday from a four night/five day stay at STV. It was a fabulous location and I wished we had picked it for our DW, but we had kids attending and could not. The resort was beautiful, the rooms amazing and the food and drink fantastic. I can't say enough good things about this resort!

We're back now in cold Canada. I'd like to put some thought in to my review before posting, so I'm going to start working on it and will post shortly. Here's a few photos. We used the resort photographer for our cocktail hour only, so until our professional photos are ready, these are mostly shot by family/friends. It is crazy, and it adds up quickly. We had 14 extra adults for dinner and that alone was nearly $1000, plus $100 for 4 kids. You definitely don't need any extra wedding cake. We had the cake for 25 people and we barely even put a dent in it.

The flowers on the pergola are included. You also get to choose one centrepiece as part of the package Yes, whatever the price is I believe it is per chair.

Hi Ladies, So we're here at NJ right now. Our wedding hasn't happened yet, so I can't report back on that yet! But... My thoughts from the first few days. Pro: We are booked in a governor suite and it's absolutely gorgeous Contrary to recent trip advisor reviews, yes, there was a tray of bacon at the buffet. It wasn't hidden at the omelet station. We've eaten at Mercure for breakfast, castaways for lunch and Cin-Cin for dinner. All meals so far were lovely. We have our private dinner tonight (see below...) We enjoyed our couples massage. The hydrotherapy circuit wasn't very impressive though. The coffee shop is great. We enjoyed the frozen lattes and frozen baileys We haven't seen them, but have heard from our guests that the entertainment staff is good We did a cake test (got to pick 3 flavours) when we met with our WC. I highly recommend this! Con: The check in process was PAINFUL. We weren't offered a welcome drink, it took us at least 30mins to check in on the preferred side and probably another 15 after that for them to come to the lounge with our luggage. They messed up on several of our guests room bookings as well, and they also had horribly long waits Despite booking and confirming our private dinner a month ago and confirming the time with our WC yesterday, an hour before our dinner they bumped us to a different time slot. Slightly annoying when we scheduled plans with family and friends we can no longer make Even in the governor suite the mini bar replenishment is not consistent At least one of our guests complained about a swamp smell in their room Since we paid for the governor suite we were told we could "gift" our room upgrade to my fiancée parents. The WC asked us for their confirmation #, so I thought it had happened. It didn't. When we asked about it we were told that there was no availability. Again, frustrating. And also... The road conditions to get here depends entirely on how much it rains. It was fine on Wednesday, but was a mucky, mess with huge lakes today. Honestly though, unless you're the one driving, don't worry! We had quick, delicious room service one night, and incredibly slow service on another. The jury is still out on that one.. So I guess a few things have happened that have bugged me a bit, but I am trying to stay as open minded as possible for the rest of the week! No promises I'll log on again while we are down here, I have time to kill right now waiting while our dinner was bumped. Let me know if you have any questions!

The only way I re-found this was by clicking on an email that I received saying that my post had been quoted! We leave in a day and a half for Now Jade. I'm pretty nervous by the recent less than stellar Trip Advisor reviews, but I'm going to go into it with a totally open mind, recognizing that a positive attitude by the bride will hopefully help make a difference to the attitudes and opinions of our guests! I think my top priorities are cleanliness (people not getting sick, clean rooms) and service. I will report back... We're doing a "mini-moon" at Secrets the Vine after our stay at Now Jade. I wish the NJ reviews would be as glowing as that have been for Secrets.

Wow, it took me forever to re-find this forum again... Writing a post in the hope it will show up in a quick link again somewhere..

Quote: Originally Posted by EmmA1025 Hi ironman, I can not view these pdfs for some reason?! If you dont mind, Can you email them to me? [email protected] Thanks! And OMG your date is like soooo close when are you leaving? Can you tell me what type of things your bringing with you and how many guests you are having? GOOD LUCK! It is very close, we leave next week! We have 39 adults 4 kids and 1 infant attending the wedding. We just received the invoice from the resort and I posted the breakdown of our expenses a page or two ago. For decorations we have chair bows & table runners, paper lanterns and LED lights, centrepieces, table numbers, items for a photo display, place cards and maracas. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'll try and post a "planning thread" with the info of everything we've done once we get back.

Quote: Originally Posted by amarie4713 @AdamShannon that is good to know. I think we're going to bring down our own chair sashes, possible a few table runners and minimal decoration. We'll also be flying with our 18 month old though, so depending on how full luggage starts to get we might have to readjust! We'll only have 25 at the most and I'm just concerned it will look empty if we don't do something a little extra. I go back and forth. I haven't been in touch with anyone from the resort though so I'm not 100% sure what the rooms look like or their sizes. Someone shared this .pdf awhile back that I think is really useful. It's a good compilation of all the different dinner options including several photos of each. This are also two great documents for those of you who are considering or booked at the pergola. After our wedding I'm probably going to start deleting a bunch of this stuff off this computer, so I thought I'd post it.

Quote: Originally Posted by MKEbride2be We uploaded our video from the resort Videographer to share with our family. You can see it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXCD9IwqAxQ Overall, I thought they did a nice job and worked well with our outside photographer. I could see the video no problem! It's actually nicer that I thought it would be, thanks for sharing! Looks like a beautiful day! Our fiancés will totally going to look the same - grey pants/vest, white shirt, purple tie!

We got our quote/invoice from the resort last night. A bunch of info was incorrect, wrong ceremony times, and two of the locations were incorrect, said we wanted the violinist when we requested the guitarist). Definitely worth a thorough read-over! Ariadana was very quick to correct it for us though and we received an updated invoice from her today. For those of you who might be interested, included on it is: Chair set up - $44.40 Extra dinners - $934.92 (we have 39 adults, so that's the dinner fee for 14 extra adults) Champagne toast - $70.56 (for 14 extra adults) Kids menu - $100.80 (4 kids) Sound system for dinner (microphone and 1 speaker) - $166.50 Additional hour of reception - $737.10 (again, charged for 39 adults) Wedding package 2999.00, less $500 deposit already paid, and viola, our total due when we arrive is $4553.28. That adds up FAST. We requested no extra cake and no extra hors d'oeuvres. Prices include tax, and service fees for everything except the chair fee and the wedding package. I'm assuming this means for anywhere service is charged, no tip is needed.

Seriously, what's up with all the reviews about Now Jade hiding the bacon at the buffet? Is there a bacon shortage in Mexico or something? Why's it so difficult to get bacon for breakfast?!

Quote: Originally Posted by DinaQtobe My Mom took this photo with her smart phone, not great quality but the high Res pics arent posting on the mobile app. Highly recommend ttd! The dress is fine after a jump in the pool and a soak in the tub Oh my gosh, you looked gorgeous!!! Have an amazing honeymoon!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by shannonmarie I just happened to see this comment and went over to read trip advisor. I haven't read it in a while! Those few one star reviews are an absolute joke! It was quite comical to actually read them. I truly believe some people are crazy. One of them were complaining of their Ocean View room. They said they had to look to the left of their balcony to see the ocean! Well folks, that's what ocean VIEW means! It means you will have a VIEW of the ocean, just a view. They did not pay for ocean FRONT, there's a difference. Oh, and they found an egg shell in their eggs! The people making their eggs are humans and that happens, could happen at ANY resort/restaurant. And this: "WE were left in the lobby for 5 minutes and were follwed by a bus full of people" What does this mean? They were left for FIVE minutes? Five minutes? Wow, that's not a long time. Oh, and they were followed by a bus load of people?? So what??!!! Some people you just cannot please! I don't understand how that is a complaint! I could go on and on about that review. It's a freaking joke. And now, the review about the balconies caving in and numerous complaints of flooding in rooms within the same review, whatever! They are saying that not only ONE but TWO different balconies caved in! "The bride and grooms balcony roof fell into their jacuzzi" "Another couple that came for the wedding had the roof collapse inside their room," We had 60 guest at the resort for our wedding back in June and nobody had any of these types of problems. What i find most comical about this review and the reason I do not believe anything they say is because of these sentences: "One of the nights there was the typical wedding going on until the bride blacked out cuz the staff sold her ecstasy." Okay, even IF this DID happen, that's not the resorts fault that the bride was dumb enough to buy ecstasy! "I don't entirely blame the coordinator as they have two weddings a day and only one coordinator and she doesn't even have an assistant." I know this is a complete lie, most of us girls here on these boards know there are at least 3 wedding coordinators. "They are giant rats and ants. Lizards all around the rooms. Giant spiders" Yeah, okay, there are giant RATS roaming around the place, yeah right. And for the lizards, spiders, bugs etc, it's the tropics, there is this problem everywhere! Sorry for my rant. We're slow at work this and I had some free time to read these and laugh! Good luck to all future brides. Don't stress about anything! Your wedding day will be absolutely perfect! Thanks! This is exactly what I needed to see this morning 16 days until we leave!

Quote: Originally Posted by hortonk I just read this as well and am a little concerned! I have been to the NJ and know what it is like, and it was NOTHING like this. I hope the reviews improve!!! Wow... now that's just awesome... For many of us reading these reviews is definitely too late. Sure sucks to see a bunch of one star reviews all posted on the same day. I'm super nervous, it makes me feel a little sick to read these. I think I need a strong drink.

Quote: Originally Posted by kking Hello Future Now Jade Brides! Quit worrying and know that everything they do at Now Jade, they do it well! My fiancé and I visited Now Jade last week November 9th-16th and let me tell you that it was amazing! My mind has been put at ease for my wedding on June 18th, 2014! Everything was incredible. FOOD & DRINKS: The food was delicious, neither of us got any stomach sickness and I am extremely sensitive. The restaurants were all delicious; my least favorite would probably be the Cin Cin, which was the ‘adults only’ one. Remember, when you go to the restaurants in the resort, the portions are extremely small, so you order an appetizer, salad/soup, and a main dish each or else you will still be hungry! No reservations are needed and my fiancé and I are early eaters so we never had to wait. The restaurants open a half hour earlier then the buffet so we went to the restaurants mostly, however, when we did have the buffet and it was very good as well! The service of the staff getting drinks for you while you sit at the beach, pool bar, or anywhere is amazing! As soon as your drink is getting empty another one will appear in your hand! The drinks were strong and made with top shelf liquor if you request, they have Absolute Vodka, Bacardi Rum, and other well know alcohol! For the beer drinkers, they have Corona on tap, Corona Extra in cans, Bud Light in cans, and Modelo in the mini fridge in all the rooms. There was also a café on site which is included in the all-inclusive, that was like a mini Starbucks, something unique that I haven’t seen at most resorts. ROOMS: The rooms were spacious and updated! We stayed in the basic room because that is what our guests will be staying in when they are visiting for our wedding, and we wanted to see it from there view first! The bed was pretty comfy, there was a sitting room as well, a balcony with two chairs and a side table, although we didn’t have a view being on the first floor it was still nice, and the bathroom was extremely large! There was a bidet and toilet with a door in the bathroom, a large tile shower, two sinks, and a jetted bathtub! Also, the mini fridge is included, no extra charges as well as a safe in the closet! This was the best all-inclusive room I have ever been in! ROOM SERVICE: We didn't have any complaints will room service! They were quick, especially with breakfast! I ordered the American Breakfast which consists of two eggs made to order and sausage, bacon, ham, whichever that had, some days they wouldn’t have bacon, toast and choice of coffee and juice. They would tell you there’s about a 30-45 minute wait but it never took over 30 minutes for breakfast. We also ordered a late snack, of macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers and they were quick as well! We didn’t get our room serviced every day by choice because we just didn’t need to but it you still needed a couple bottles of water or a couple towels you could just ask the room service ladies in the hallway. POOLS: The pools are beautiful, clean, and refreshing, there are three separate pools, not too hot as you might expect! The infinity pools look straight into the ocean which is gorgeous! The pool bars are always kept clean and they have pretty good service for the demand! My favorite pool bar was on the preferred side, which it doesn’t matter if you upgrade or not you can go to whichever side of the resort, because it was right next to the ocean! By the way, there are also no bracelets worn at all, so they do not designate if you are preferred or not, it all goes by room number. BEACH: The beach is gorgeous, not as deep of a sand/beach area as I expected but very nice, they keep the beach area neat and they are plenty of cabanas if you want shade! We had no problem finding chairs every day! I was concerned about the clearness of the water and seaweed but it was pretty clear and not much seaweed at all! The workers are out every morning raking the sand to make everything look nice and get the tiny bit of seaweed off the beach. Only complaint is that the beach is a little rocky, mainly in the middle area, and I would recommend telling the parents of children that are coming to get them water shoes if they want to play around and run in the ocean (my fiancé cut his foot on a rock when he was playing in the ocean like a kid)! Also, there are servers that come and get drink orders constantly, like no other resort I have been to before, we never had to make trips to the pool bar! WEDDING LOCATIONS: While we were there we watched a couple of weddings, all set ups were unique and they were all beautiful! They were mostly located on the beach, but there was one on the Pergola. I have seen questions about if the Pergola was handicap accessible and it is unless the Bride and Groom are handicap because they are standing a step or two down from everyone else. I have a couple of pictures of some set ups below. I am having a beach wedding, beach cocktail hour, and my reception will be in the garden area, unfortunately, we did not get to see anything in the garden area or a cocktail hour on the beach. Most of the cocktail hours were at the Orange Lounge and one at the Blue Beach Bar, both were nice! We saw a reception in the Terrance, that was pretty with paper lanterns hanging and one in the Bamboo Room, but we couldn’t really see that much detail in there! We almost have to do an outdoor reception because we have approximately 70 people already booked, and that is the only location to hold that many people!! If anyone can help me with the garden reception, please let me know! Also, most brides hired outside photographers, and I would recommend it as well, just because pictures are very important!!! I am having Del Sol’s Melissa photograph mine! Besides your memory that will be what you have when it’s all said and done! Oh, and a husband that you love and adore of course! MY WEDDING PLANS: So far, we have picked the locations as stated above, we are having our wedding on the beach, our cocktail hour on the beach as well, so far but that might change depending on the wind, and our reception in the garden area. At this point we have sent out our Save the Date magnets from Magnet Street, which I highly recommend for all things wedding, it is not a very publicized 'wedding' site but so far it has my favorite everything! Also, the dresses I have picked for my bridesmaids are long chiffon Mori Lee dresses, they were affordable and because I feel long dresses are more elegant and there are four different styles for 9 bridesmaids. I choose the color Turquoise and I am going to use Hot Pink as an accent color with the decor and flowers! I am working on picking invitations and there are from Magnet Street as well! I would like to have them sent out around February or March with an RSVP by April to know for sure how many people are going that might not have booked with our travel agent! Also, for men's attire I am going with Island Importer.com they have nice linen pants and shirts for the men and we are staying neutral with natural colored pants and white shirts. I ordered my dress which is a Maggie! So most of the hard part is done besides going through the options of cake and that other stuff at the resort, but those choices won't be as challenging! OVERALL: It was very nice, and Now Jade Brides have nothing to worry about! I was so nervous about going there because we were already committed to having our wedding there June 2014! I was very critical and I have been to many all-inclusive resorts but this one is perfect for weddings! Now Jade had the best overall food, service, and beach combine! Don’t be nervous or anxious; just be excited to have the time of your life with your future husband, family, and friends!! Enjoy Planning! It is suppose to be fun! Thanks, Kacie Thank you for this Kacie! I almost had a breakdown yesterday reading recent tripadvisor reviews (I really need to stop reading those...). We leave in 22 days. I'm nervous and excited. Reading your review definitely helps make me feel a little less nervous though.

Quote: Originally Posted by hezmshaw Did anyone else do this? Buy a smaller dress on purpose? I realize now it was a pretty ballsy move, but I am determined to make it fit. I WILL fit into that dress! Since I don't know you all, I feel like I can tell you they wanted me to buy an 18. EIGHTEEN!?!?! No way Jose! I ordered a 14 which is STILL bigger than any other clothing item I've ever bought, but I guess wedding dresses are just like that. Turns out it would fit in the bust and the hips, I'm just a little too round in the middle. From what I've read, good news that's the easiest stuff to lose! I want to lose even more, so I can feel great in beach wear, but one step at a time. So far, I'm eating way healthier, getting exercise a few days a week at least and trying very hard to stop drinking calories. I'm open to any tips or suggestions or stories of success (or failure for a dose of reality!). If you're on the same mission, I welcome you to keep in touch with me - I have great support with my friends and I'll be happy to support you too, we can do this together! Hezmshaw! As the starter of this thread, I'm very curious to hear how your wedding went! Just remembered that it was a few days ago! I hope you're having a fabulous vacation and that everything was perfect. I'm sure you looked fabulous in your dress! Congratulations!

Quote: Originally Posted by amarie4713 I'm fairly laid-back and I have a flexible view of my wedding day so I don't have any really specific things to worry about, however, did anyone have any surprises once they got down there or in the planning process? I'd say the biggest surprise is how much the costs really add up. We have 39 adults and 5 kids, and since 25 adults only are included in the Divine package I think we need to pay almost an extra $1000 just for the dinners alone (and this is an an all-inclusive. $1000, seriously?!?!). I've also been warned about chair bow set-up fees ($40) and lantern hanging fees ($40). So be prepared for them to try and make a little extra any way they can. Our wedding is less than a month away now, and I'll post a review of everything once we're back.

Did you ever buy the costumes? I was hoping to see the finish product! I love these!! heheh

Quote: Originally Posted by hortonk That is too bad i JUST bought orange lanterns! that would have worked perfectly as we are getting married Jan 09! Cant wait to read your review!! Anything else that you are leaving behind? I am bring down vases but am trying to avoid it if i can at all costs! I wish the resort didnt charge SO much for centrepeices!! I agree! I bought some lanterns and tealights for our centrepieces (hope we can have tealights?!?!). It's going to be a pain to pack them down with us. We were also thinking about hitting up Walmart or Costco the day before or day of for some cheaper flowers.

Wow, these photos at Xcaret look amazing! We already booked months ago, but I so wish I had seen this back then!

We ended up booking STV for four nights in December. I am so excited, their trip advisor reviews have been awesome. Plus they've been super quick to respond back to any inquiries we've sent them, which is the total opposite of the resort we're having our wedding at. I too am surprised this resort isn't more popular for weddings yet, possible because it's adults-only?

Has anyone done the "Hydrotherapy Circuit" at NJ? What's it like?