mckievme

I second the vote for the Now Jade and the suggestion to look into the Wright Travel Agency for help. We got married at the Now Jade last month with the help of Babs V and Kelly Shiffman from WTA. All of my guests loved it and had a great time. It's very modern and there are 7 restaurants (italian, mediterranean, french, mexican, japanese, etc) that you can go to as many times as you want and don't require reservations. My grandmother had mobility issues and we thought she was accommodated very well. I think you just need to keep in mind your venue options - for examples we knew a wedding on the beach was definitely out so we chose to get married at the Pergola overlooking the beach (plus I'm not a fan of sand!)

We paid with the Southwest credit card and had a great experience. We got the card ~1.5 years prior to the wedding and had more than enough points points from purchases and their promotional deal to have both of our flights to and from Cancun taken care of. I think in the time we've had the card we've gotten 5 round trip flights off of points. The card also doesn't have any foreign transaction fees and has a high limit so we were able to use the card to take care of the NJ wedding fees and some of our wedding vendors. No matter what card you have, I wouldn't worry about using your credit card in Mexico - we used it without any sort of problem. Just be sure to tell your credit card company to expect a large foreign charge or they'll likely decline it out of suspicion. We've had credit cards stolen a few times in the US and had to get replacements (we had to rush order a new SW card because it got stolen 8 days before we left for Mexico), but no fraud has resulted from using it in Mexico.

In making your timeline, I strongly suggest you talk to the spa, your photographer, and your wedding coordinator - that's basically how ours was set. The spa will ask you your ceremony time and how many people you will have getting ready with you in order set your appointment time ([email protected]). They have one bridal suite and have to divide the time based on the number of weddings they have for the day (at least that's how it worked for me). After I had that information I talked to my photographers and they told me the amount of time it took to get all the pictures I wanted (getting ready for both the bride and groom, first look, ceremony, reception first look, etc) . We figured out the best way to make everything work and basically set up the timeline from there. After making the timeline, I talked with my wedding coordinator to make sure the ceremony and reception sites would be set up in time for the photographers to take pictures. It took a little back and forth and pumping the spa time a little but thats how mine was set. As for the spa price list and setting a time for your appointments, I suggest you talk directly with them. Just email them and they'll get back to you. This is what I was charged. I was able to haggle some things at the meeting with the coordinator though. They didn't remove the the set up fee for moving the bows, but I was able to get them to include programs, a crystal bead curtain, and a flowers on each chair for the same $47 ceremony set up price.

They've got a new policy where you pay $150 outside vendor fee for photography in addition to a day pass that is $65 per person (for example we are having 2 photographers and an assistant so we are having to pay for 3 day passes). As far as I know, you should only get charged $150 one time and then get charged per person for the $65 day pass. It used to be that there was no outside vendor fee for photography what this has recently changed. Even though I was able to show proof that I was told in the beginning that there was no outside photography vendor fee (old emails from Isela), it was difficult for them to remove this from our itemized list. I wouldn't be surprised if I have to argue about this when I get down there for the wedding.

You should contact him for his prices. Photographers don't post it online as a way to keep their prices low and not worry about competition, at least that's what I was told when I was asked specifically by many photographers I contacted not to share or post their pricing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What do past brides suggest for menu selections? I won't have time to do a tasting before the wedding so I'm hoping to get some suggestions from you ladies! I have the divine package.

Same here - everyone at my wedding aside from FI and my younger siblings will be engaged/married so no garter or bouquet toss for us. I will still be getting a garter because it will be made with my alma mater colors w/mascot pin and I think it will be great for pictures. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We are doing a first look for many of the reasons already spoken here. We want to get some pictures of just the two of us out of the way so we can take pictures with our guests and family and not miss out on too much of the fun. I won't be wearing my veil or have my bouquet during the first look so I've convinced myself that I will look different/more bridal when I actually walk down the aisle with my dad so I'll still get that special moment and reaction I'm hoping for! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We are having an "unplugged ceremony." I personally hate when looking through pictures of someone's ceremony and the guests faces are covered by iPads because they are focused on pictures! Since we are getting the disk and rights to our photos we can give them to our guests and they don't have to worry about taking pictures...at least that how we are going to phrase it! We will also be asking our guests to allow us the privilege of posting our first picture as husband and wife on all social media. We plan to put it in our welcome letter and on the programs. I don't care if they take pictures at cocktail hour and reception and put those on social media, just not at the ceremony. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You have a truly amazing planning thread!! I'm sure all of your guests will love all the little touches you've put together! I am also doing maracas for guests and would love it if you could post or email the tags you used (mmckiever11atgmaildotcom). The cardboard cut out of your dog is hilarious. It's difficult to incorporate pets at a destination wedding but kudos to you because I think you nailed it

I am in a similar situation! One of the reasons we wanted a destination wedding is because we wanted a small affair. We only invited 24 people for a reason! When FI's parents told aunts, uncles, and cousins on a family vacation about our destination wedding a few weeks ago (btw, my fiance and I were not at this family vacation as we purposely avoided it!), apparently about 5 of them have banded together and decided to crash our wedding. Apparently they now have our wedding website and are making plans to come. As annoying as this is, this is his family and I don't want to be that awful bride that asks them not to come. We have plenty of time before our April 2015 wedding to actually invite them and include them in all the festivities, but at the same time I don't want to have to pay for them as this would put us over the 25 limit and we would need to start paying per person. We also intend to book a catamaran snorkel tour, have welcome bags and gifts, etc so adding them would not just be a one time cost!

Please let us know all the details. I've been wanting a TTD dress and I'm in love with this one! I just may have to copy you

I love the dress you picked out for a potential TTD or reception dress. Who designed it/what's the style name because I am in love! Did you decide to have it made?

@@EmmA1025 How was the weather for your reception? My concern about the terrace is that there isn't air conditioning and I don't want my guests to be uncomfortable.

Currently live in TN for school but I'm a Clemson grad from SC!