awhiteside

You have plenty of time! Were only two months away and honestly we only have been knocking out some of the checklist this month and still have other loose ends to tie up. I am thinking of bringing decor down but I am waiting for the quote so I can compare. If it cost about the same, than it minimizes how much I have to lug on the plane:) I loved the shrimp bisque. It was really good so we are def doing that. I believe we are doing 3. Well the options, I believe you get two as the standard? We may be doing 3 due to guests dietary restrictions. But it was something that we negotiated with them before booking. So it would be a choice of seafood, meat or vegetarian. We actually have some guests that are non meat eaters and gluten free. The gluten free is not by choice and many of the vegetarian options were pasta, so we have to provide a seafood dish. I honestly didn't know they had a preferred vendor so I am not sure if there is advantages to going with them. But we booked over a year ago so it may have changed. We have our own wedding coordinator and everything seems to be running smoothly. There isn't a charge for any outside vendors , which is one thing that sold us on the place.

We are still deciding on the venue. But it looks like we will be doing: Canapes for Cocktail Hours Dinner Appetizer/Starter: Shrimp Bisque Main Options: Meat-Steak with Black Truffles and Foie Gras Sauce Vegetarian- Ricotta and Spinach Ravioli Fish- Undecided Dessert: We are actually just to have our wedding cake as dessert. Have you guys narrowed down food options? Ohh that is a possibility! We are waiting for a quote on the coordinator. We are weighing the possible cost of having items bought and rented there versus us bringing down wedding decor. Have you started working on decorations already?

We did a group rate that 11 of our friends ended taking advantage of. We did United but it seemed most Airlines were about the same in regards to procedure and booking 1) Each person put their own deposit down. It was $50.00 and it goes towards their cost of their ticket. So we just collected the $50 from each one and paid the airline. No money out of our own pockets 2) It did end up a cheaper rate. It turned out to be $150 more booking the normal way. The biggest plus for the group rate was that people were able to book and hold the rate without paying the full airline ticket. The rest of the amount isn't due till 1 months before the flight. It gave them time to save up. Even more for us, this motivated 11 people to book their trip way in advance

Yay! Congrats! We actually just came back from a site visit to tie up weddings plans. We are having our reception there on May 5th,2014. Less than two months away! When is you wedding date?

Our wedding is in the beginning of May. We sent out our Save the Dates about a year out. We had planned to send our invites in September. But due to craziness of life, we are not sending them out till Next week. We are asking for a RSVP by mid February. We actually have about 15 or more people book based off the save the date and our website . And I think 5 more next week. We are actually a little glad that we are sending out them a little later. It seems 4-5 months ( well for us) is about the sweet spot of when people can figure out if they can go or not. Whether it be finances , being able to take time off , etc. So, sending them out now kinda gives them that nudge to book since they are closer to the date or know if they can't go. Which we hope for faster RSVP's back. I feel like if we did send them out as we had planned alot of our guests would have looked at it, put it away and kinda forget about it since they really couldn't make a decision till months later. Than we would have to reach out to them personally for their RSVP's. For those guests who are planners and wanted to book in advance, they just went ahead and did so or reached out to us directly for travel questions. I do know other couples send out it way more in advance though... But for us, this seems to be working out timewise:)

Did anyone else get the notice about the imposed tax hike for 2014 and the offer to pay before the end of the year?

We also got the same notice from our venue. They offered a discount if we paid our amount in full by the end of the year and thus also are avoiding the tax hike. I don't know if there is anything the resort can do about it since it is the tax rate imposed by the government.

I will email them to you tonight. Sorry it just has been so busy! We also looked at Grand Coral but with the rental fee , it was pricey! We did go with BV since it was a more rustic and blank slate so we could do it up however we liked. I am getting my hair and makeup done where I am staying. The company is best moments. We are renting a villa rather than staying at hotel. Are you looking to get ready outside of where you are staying?

I Do have photos and I believe even a video of some of the areas that I can send you. I wouldn't be able to do it till later tonight or tomorrow morning though. There is no pool at Blue Venado. You may be thinking of Grand Coral , which does have a pool in their clubhouse. We actually looked at Grand Coral as well. I believe you can order flooring for the palapa. My wedding coordinator did mention that but I don't know the costs. I don't think there is an indoor area for getting ready. I'll try and upload the pictures tonight.

There is Blue Venado. We chose that as we needed a private beach club that had a longer rental time than 11 P.M. We did get to see it on our site visit. It's super secluded and the place is all yours during your wedding! Their menu is pretty big so a variety of choices there. Here is their website:http://www.bluevenadobeachclub.com/english/weddings.html

Quote: Originally Posted by brownsugarbride Well, I have my dress, planner, venue and one piece of entertainment (mariachi) locked down, and am about to lock down transportation and DJ for my guests in the next 24 hours or less. I am still pretty bummed that they have banned fire dancers and am considering other options. No luck so far though. What I really need to do is to send out my invites next week (don't judge me, I sent out save the dates awhile back!!!) and make some decisions on the menu. Awww.. So sorry to hear about your fire dancers. When we did a site last, one of the venues ( Grand Coral) had part of their building set on fire due to fireworks. So, given BV has that palapa area ... I'm sure they had to rethink about allowing anything with fire lol.. I'm sure you will find an alternative that will be even better... I think we are going plain ole photo book due to budget. We were thinking of arranging a night where we can go see fire dancers.While it may not be the same as having it in your reception, maybe you can arrange a night to see them or if you are having a welcome or rehearsal get together , have firedancers there? And no judging on the invites... were in the same boat! even worse as it looks like we won't be sending them out till mid December. But people have already been booking their travel based off our save the dates and website so were hoping the late invites hasn't impacted people decisions to much.

Quote: Originally Posted by brownsugarbride How is the planning coming along for fellow BV brides? There hasn't been much movement for us. We have the big ticket's locked down ( Ceremony, Reception, DJ, etc) but haven't really done much more... We are starting to get back into planning since were only less than 5 months away! How about you?

Quote: Originally Posted by Beee Hi awhiteside, I just booked BV but i'm having a hard time deciding on the menu. What menu are you leaning towards? Alcohol seems so expensive. We want the premium open bar for all night but it's an additional $80. What are you doing for alcohol? I'm going to ask BV if we can bring our own alcohol, if there is a charge and if we have to get a bartender. Hi, Sorry, I haven't been on here much and just saw this now! We decided against the buffet and I think were are going to do the menu gourmet sit down dinner? For the tasting: Shrimp Bisque With Crostini Goat's Cheese and Fried Leeks Filet mignon coated in fine herbs bathed in a creamy mushroom sauce And one of the deserts but I can't remember what We loved the shrimp bisque and we will most likely have that. I liked the steak but truthfully my fiancee did not at all. The quality of the meat wasn't that great but I am not a big steak eater, which is why I probably didn't mind it. FI is one of those guys who is all about steaks and did remind me we did have quite a few of guests as well. So, were leaning towards another option for the main course. Honestly, we are still up in the air! The menu is so big , it's kinda making it hard to choose! For the alcohol, we debated on this as well! But I think were pretty solid on just going with the Medium. While the premium does have a a wider selection, we compared the two and figure the medium has a pretty good brands. Most of our friends are mixed vodka drinkers so Absolut and sky Vodka works for that lol. We didn't get the prices for bringing in alcohol. I'd be interested to hear those prices!

Hi Ladies! We will be having our reception at Blue Venado as well! We originally were going to have our ceremony and reception at Xcaret. But after a site visit, we ended up loving BV for the reception. Has anyone chosen their menu options already? We were able to do a tasting but still haven't been able to decide on final options but they said that can be decided later anyhow:).

We are doing group rates directly with the airlines. We actually just booked with United Airlines. But it was the requirement that you read, which had to be 10 people minimum and on the same round trip flight. However, the really big upside is people only need to pay $50.00 deposit and they do not have to pay the full amount till 2 months before the flight. It worked out as some of are guests who didn't really have set dates , jumped on board since they felt it was a good rate. Plus now we have 12 people booked and we haven't set out our formal invitations yet!