FutureMrsSingh

Quote: Originally Posted by lastminbride Hi Dina, Great to hear you are happy with the Karisma chain. Azul Sensatori is a finalist. I just really dislike their low-celiing, apartment-complex-party-room-look ballroom. I'm having my reception indoors, for climate control and a bit more glamour. lost and stuck with zero time to spare ( Oh wow. What a bummer about Moon Palace. I will say this: November is total conference season for them, so it is entirely pos things did get booked that fast. I know we ran into that issue when booking our dates. You can still gets lots of benefits without the membership though. It goes based on room nights. Some thoughts based on our site visits: Azul Sensatori - GORGEOUS property, total money suck! They only use one vendor for EVERYTHING and we felt totally nickle-and-dimed during our meeting, which is why we didn't book. Also, for a "gourmet" resort, our taste test at a TOTALLY empty restaurant took three hours. And they totally botched every course. We specified vegan, no cheese, and get cheese and shrimp. Plus there are LOTS of rules about who can be in what room - read the trip advisor reviews. Not so hot experiences by multiple brides. Now Jade - I have stayed there before. It's a 3 star I believe. The food sucked. And my luggage got totally ransacked upon checkout. The person that took it from our room obviously went looking for money. Not great, especially for a wedding scenario..... We really like the Dreams resort, it just didn't have enough space for us. The staff there was probably the most knowledgable about various ethnic/religious wedding needs, and the property is really nice. The hotels in the Hotel Zone all have great beaches, but they tend to be very small and tall hotels, with limited options. The beaches run one into the other, and the pool areas were really crowded. If you still wanted to go the Palace Route..... Beach Palace - too small for us, and the rooftop ceremony option was only accessible by stairs - not cool for anyone old or with mobility issues. Or too high heels. But there were a few options of ceremony locations. PlayaCar Palace - LOVED this place. LOVE LOVE Playa del Carmen, but again, it was too small a property for us. Great space though. Same Palace Resort benefits. Best of luck and hang in there. Maybe consider a destination wedding planner, or at least a great travel agent at this point.....

Hi Hellen, Thanks for the congrats. Yes, we are excited, but stressed too Our wedding planner is Daniela. But I have also had contact with Renee and Alejandra. Daniela is fantastic! And the other two were really great to deal with also. Our onsite coordinator will be Zaray. We met her during our site visit, and she is very familiar with Indian weddings so we specially requested her. Our DJ is going to use the equipment provided by the resort. It goes through one of the vendors - JSAV I believe. They have a few package options (for booths, speakers, mixers etc.). We also struggled with the question of "should we ask our friends or not" because we have a couple of professional DJ's amongst our guest list, but opted to instead keep them as guests and go with people that they recommended. We did look at local photographer options in Mexico, but not too hard because we knew from day one that we wanted the person that we ultimately booked. We might go with local, or the resort vendor, for videography though. Yes you can make spa appointments ahead of time at the resort. Talk to your wedding planner about it and she will put you in touch with the spa manager. A warning about resort credit - you can only use a certain amount towards spa services. Not sure what the member benefits are like, but of the $1500 credit, I think you can only use $300 for spa. Good luck with the room booking thing. We are using a travel agent and she has been an absolute dream, not to mention make-shift wedding co-ordinator. Honestly, if you can afford to hire a wedding planner for just this single aspect of things, and make that the point of contact for your guests to book through, that might save you a lot of personal time. Many wedding planners have "a la carte" services, and this could be the one thing that is worth throwing some money at. There are specific destination wedding planners that will probably offer that service. Despite having a great travel agent, we still got lots of calls, texts and emails from people with travel questions. It was really nice to always *gently* redirect them to our travel agent for the answers. It also puts a nice buffer between you and any complaints/issues people may have. People get VERY fussy about travel stuff, especially those that don't travel often. Get used to the whole "THIS YEAR??!?!?!" shock. Many people can't wrap their heads around the idea that a couple isn't going to spend at least one year obsessively revolving their lives around the wedding. Take solace in the knowledge that you chose the path less taken, and will only obsess for a couple of months! At the end of it, the wedding is nice, and a very important event, but it's the marriage that counts. That's where the real time and effort should go. Happy planning and good luck shopping!

Quote: Originally Posted by lastminbride Hi fellow brides, Congratulations to all of you! I JUST booked my wedding for NOV 17, 2013 (<--- yes, this year!!!!) at Moon Palace in Riviera Maya/Cancun. I'm full of excitement and of course stress!!!! We have to do a totally last-minute wedding due to family illness and I've taken the plunge. Friends of ours are memebers of the Palace and Hard Rock resorts, so we booked our group through them. Anyway - I need to set up a destination wedding website ASAP. Any recommendations? I'm going shopping for a dress tomorrow (rush delivery please!). What else do I need todo right away? Any tips advice you can offer are much appreciated. Let's see of I can pull this off! I'm know as an amazing hostess and throw unforgettable parties. I want ,y wedding to be grand, and with this deadline, we'll see what happens! Thanks!!! Congratulations! And sorry to read about the family illness I am just in the final stages of planning my own wedding at Moon Palace on November 1! I totally left soooo much to the last minute - for instance I *just* had a full purchase order run through with the wedding co-ordinator today, and I still don't have my menus, or decoration, or sound equipment, or ANYTHING really sussed out. It's going to be a busy few weeks. Fear not though - you can, and WILL, totally get through this. The resort is great to deal with - just make sure that you review EVERY DETAIL again and again. And start emailing the vendors as soon as possible, because some of them take a few days to respond. Not good for the time crunch factor. For a WEBSITE, I used mywedding.com and I LOVE IT! It's free, they have cool designs, and there are no annoying ads. Just a small credit to the template designer at the bottom. You can also have privacy settings, and customize quite a few aspects of it. I checked out all the wedsite options, and really liked this one the best. I would also get on invitations RIGHT AWAY. We got ours printed locally, but it took a while to design (we went with a passport style), and depending on how busy the printer is, it can take a while to get things printed, bound, etc. Then you have to mail them out, and if you have any international invites being sent, they will take extra long to arrive. We chose to send an email invitation as a precursor to the formal paper invitations. It included all of the travel info listed on our wedsite, and we made sure to emphasize the booking deadline several times. Trust me, people skim over long emails and will ask you many questions that you have already answered many times. Have patience. They love you and want to be included. You should also start thinking about any outside vendors you may want. The resort options are quite pricey, and we opted to fly in our own photographer and dj. There is a fee for using outside vendors, however the fee is waived if they are staying as guests at the hotel included in your travel group. I think they recently changed the rules on that though - so you might want to double check. Make any waxing appointments you need now, and do a test wax (like tomorrow!) if you haven't been in a while and want to see if you have any reactions. You can then get these things done at the resort right before the wedding. Think about gift bags. If you need to order anything online, lots of stuff takes a while to ship. Remember to breathe, and take a day here and there where you and your fiance don't do anything, or talk about anything, wedding related. It's important to remember that you have lives outside of the wedding planning I wish you all the best with your plans, and enjoy the process, even though it may be stressful!

Hello brides! I am getting married at the Moon Palace in November. I am having a traditional Indian Sikh wedding. I could really use some feedback on the following services from the resort: 1. MAKE-UP AND HAIR: I am planning to use the resort salon services for hair and make-up. Does anyone have any experiences that they can share? Good? Bad? Did you bring your own make-up? What about waxing, nails, etc.? 2. I am also looking for a videographer, and am considering using Ocean Photographer Studio, but am weary because I don't know if they have ever filmed an Indian wedding. Has anyone used them before? Are there any other local videographers that you recommend? Thanks ladies!

Any updates on this thread? I am still looking for examples of the Moon Palace "in house" videography team.

Hmmm...not sure where all the Indian destination brides are, but I thought I would update this thread with information just in case any future Indian brides need the help I will preface all of this by saying that I am Sikh/Punjabi, and therefore looking for some very specific styles of clothing for my wedding. I initially wanted to do a salwar kameez for the Anand Karaj, but ended up finding a gorgeous lengha in our wedding colours, so I made the choice to go for it. My fiance and I went to Toronto to check out our shopping options, and we ended up coming home with one ready to wear outfit (the aforementioned lengha), and the rest are being custom made by two different shops. I will update this post later with information about those shops once the outfits have been received. The one ready made outfit that I bought was a bridal lengha for the Anand Karaj from Raja Fabrics in the Great Punjab Business Centre (Malton). There is a MUCH smaller location in Brampton on Kennedy which also has some stuff, but we ended up going to the one in Malton twice to check things out. The ladies in there were very nice and helpful. They were definitely willing to negotiate. We bought my lengha at closing time, and by 1pm the next day they called me to say that the choli/top had already been altered and the sleeves added, as per my request. Overall a great experience and I definitely recommend this shop! Here is the master list of shops that I created before we left. I divided it up into areas of the GTA that we would hit each day. The hours listed are for weekend only, because that's the time when we were there. I have also included my own notes and reviews of each place. TORONTO SHOPS: NuCreation Fashions 1414 Gerrard St. East, Toronto, Ontario M4L1Z4 416-465-1096 HOURS: 12-9 (Sat, Sun), Monday Closed * We did not end up visiting this shop CHANDAN FASHION http://www.chandanfashion.ca/store/ 1439 Gerrard Street E Toronto, ON M4L 1Z7 416-462-0277 Bridal wear, big lengha collection, custom bridal takes 2-3 months for custom and the work is all done in India HOURS: 11:30-9:30 (Sat, Sun), CLOSED MONDAY * We did not end up visiting this shop, but we did pass by it at night when we went to Gerrard to eat. From what we could see through the window they had a big selection and some very nice looking outfits. MISSISSAUGA SHOPS: Pinky Sughand Inc Designer Dinesh Ramsay http://www.dineshramsay.com 808 Britannia Road West, Unit-109, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, L5V 0A7 401 & Mavis Call: 416 571 9010 (his personal cell) / 289 290 0002 (call on Sat & Sun for the store) Ready made available Custom made is their main focus HOURS: 12-8 (Sat), 12:30-6 (Sun), Monday Closed * This place was not my style at all! Everything in there was very blinged out, low cut, and over the top. Also pricey. The woman working in the shop was quite pushy and didn't listen at all to what I was looking for. Bombay Trendz 801 Matheson Blvd West Mississauga, Ontario ,L6V 2N6 905-890-8902 * Had a good selection of ready made outfits, but mostly does custom order stuff. Really nice work - definitely of quality. Zedds Boutique Contact Rita Singh http://www.zeddsboutique.com Address: Mississauga, Ontario L5V 2M2 By Appointment Only: 905-755-0755 Email: [email protected] OR [email protected] * We did not end up visiting this shop Garimas Boutique Contact Mrs Garima Sharma Store Location: 568 Navigator Drive, Mississauga, Ontario L5W1P9, Canada (near Heartland) Telephone/ Mobile: 289-242-2361 * We did not end up visiting this shop. I called ahead of time and got a voicemail with a totally different name on it, so I wasn't sure if this place is still in business or not. Oriental Costumes http://www.oriental-costumes.com/contact_us.html 3180 Ridgeway Dr. Unit 39-40 Mississauga, ON L5L 5S7 905-569-1515 HOURS: 11:30-7:30 (Sat, Sun) * We did not end up visiting this shop. I have been there previously and know that they have very nice clothing that is high quality, but mostly Pakistani influenced designs. Sonia’s Collection 905-820-2547 3100 Ridgeway Drive, Mississauga, ON L5L 5M5 * We did not end up visiting this shop. There was no answer when I called so I don't know if they are still in business. Eastern Collections http://www.easterncollections.com/ 3985 Woodchuck Lane Mississauga, Ontario , L5L 2T5 Canada Email: [email protected] Tel: +1-416-818-4025 Please note that we are available to serve you by Appointment Only. All custom work Based on styles from Pakistan *We did not end up visiting this shop Lishkara Fabrics Inc. Mississauga Address: 42 Dundas Street West, Mississauga, Ontario Website: http://lishkarafabrics.com Email: [email protected] Telephone: 905-566-0827 Cell No: 416-846-5945 HOURS: 11-8 (Sat) 12-7 (Sun) 11-8 (Mon) Bridal wear fabric only, no ready made bridal clothing Ready made party wear available They have a tailor that they recommend * We did not end up visiting this shop. I have been there previously though, and they have a GREAT fabric selection, lots of nice trims and notions etc. Nisha Fashion Address: 1151 Dundas Street West, Mississauga, ON L5C 1C6, Canada Telephone Number: 905-232-0083 * We did not end up visiting this shop Aksaya’s Fashion & Giftware 93 Dundas Street East, Mississauga, Ontario L5A 1W7 905-306-7052 HOURS: 10:30-10 (Sat, Sun), 11:30-10 (Mon-Friday) * We did not end up visiting this shop BRAMPTON SHOPS: Krishna Raj https://plus.google.com/101510672138180965266/about?gl=us&hl=en 503 Ray Lawson Bl Brampton, ON L6Y 3T8 Canada +1 905-455-6112 * We did not end up visiting this shop. There was no answer when I called so not sure if they are still in business. Frontier Heritage http://www.frontierheritage.com/ 1-107 Kennedy Rd.S, Brampton, ON L6W 3G3 (T): 905.796.0600 [email protected] HOURS: 11-8 (Sat) 11:30-8 (Sun), Monday Closed * I have been here many times previously, and they probably have one of the nicest collections of ready made bridal outfits, and fabrics that are unstitched. However, they are very pricey, and don't negotiate much at all. They had a nice selection of men's wear, but again, quite pricey. ASH CREATIONS http://ashcreations.ca/index.php?route=information/contact 545 Steeles Avenue West Brampton, ON L6Y 4E7, Canada (905) 456-2274 * We did not end up visiting this shop. There was no answer when I called so I don't know if they are still in business. AIRPORT AREA SHOPS: Mausam The Seasons 7071 Airport Road, Mississauga, Ontario L4T 4J3 905-673-7829 * We did not end up visiting this shop. There was no answer when we called, but we did see a sign for the shop when we were driving by. Raja Fabrics Address: 2980 Drew Road, (The Great Punjab Business Centre), Unit 111–116, Mississauga, ON, L4T 0A7 Tel: 905-677-4360 Fax: 905-971-2498 Email: [email protected] www.rajafabrics.com Indian Fabrics & Garments Available in Variety Of Colours and Designs. HOURS: 11-8 (Sat, Sun) This place has a HUGE selection of ready made bridal wear for women AND MEN!!!! Great men's selection! Lots of unstitched fabric, ready made non-bridal outfits and they definitely negotiate! This is where we made our one and only purchase. Riwaaz The Trendz Great Punjab Business Centre 2980 Drew Road unit 129 Mississauga, ON 905 678 8686 HOURS: 11:30-8 (Sat, Sun) CLOSED MONDAY Another great find with regard to ready made bridal wear for women, and a few options for men. This and Raja are my two big recommendations for ready made lenghas, salwars, anarkalis etc. HERZ N HIZ 7116 Airport Road Mississauga, ON L4T 2G8 905-677-4379 [email protected] HOURS: 12-7 (Sat, Sun), MONDAY CLOSED I was VERY disappointed with this place. It is tiny. It does have ready made outfits, including bridal lenghas, but everything looked a bit tattered and picked over. Great selection of costume jewellery though. The great Punjab Business Centre also had another shop called Sonum's Creations that we liked. Great bridal lengha selection, some stuff for men, and they too are up for negotiations. The biggest asset in all of this shopping is the ability to speak Punjabi and/or Hindi. It will go a long way in the negotiation department, and for general communication since many of the ladies in the shops don't speak English that fluently. I hope this is helpful to my fellow Indian brides that are looking for bridal outfits without having to make the trek to India!

Hello ladies. Thanks for the responses. I thought I would update this thread and inform you that I did end up going with my travel agent in the end. I am extremely pleased with that decision as she has been a very valuable asset throughout this entire process. She's basically become my makeshift wedding planner! I agree with all the previously mentioned points about why a travel agent is a good idea, and am so happy that we made the choice to move forward with one. It turns out that the issue was with the tour operator that she originally tried to go through, and once that got sorted out, things were totally smooth sailing!

Update: So we are heading to Toronto this weekend to see what we can find. Anyone have any suggestions of shops we should check out OR avoid?

Hello my fellow destination brides, I am looking for places to get my Indian bridal wear. I am trying to avoid a trip to India, but am having problems finding anything local. The main issue I am facing is that I am Punjabi, and most of the bridal wear in my city is catered to a more Gujarati or South Indian body type. Very stick straight cuts with no room for curves of any kind. Therefore, I am looking towards options in either Vancouver, Toronto, or California - places where I know there is a big Punjabi population, and therefore tailors and outfits that will be more tailored to my hourglass figure. Any suggestions are MUCH appreciated. What have all you Indian destination brides worn for your Anand Karaj, Sangeet, Mehndi, etc.? Thank you!!

wowzah! i can't believe how much helpful information is in this thread - thanks ladies!

I don't remember exactly where those terraces are - you might be able to look at a map of the property online....As for the beach ceremony, from what I remember them saying during our inspection, ALL wedding ceremonies take place in the Nizuc section of the resort. The 2 gazebos (Tucan and Bugambilia) are there, as is the chapel. I hope that helps!

There are some nice outdoor terrace areas (both by the beach and further into the resort area), depending on how big your party will be. There is also a roof top area on the Grand Side. You could also consider doing something in one of the smaller ballrooms in the sunrise section.

Thanks for the feedback about the knot. I think I am going to go with the mywedding site. I will let you know how it goes! As for that app - you can actually download it right from the itunes app store. Little did I know that my fiance had already found the app long before I found the wedding website!

What wedding website are you using? I just started playing around with mywedding.com today, but am curious to see what others have gone with? Apparently Moon Palace is going to give me a wedding website, but I have no idea when that will be, or what it will look like, so I'm trying to get on the ball now on my own.

Thanks for the feedback. Do you know if those issues existed before or after they moved the wedding planning department from Miami to Mexico?