Panda2015

@@KirstenChrisDW2016 Abraham is my WC too and I haven't heard from him after emailing him twice; once in early January and once this week I have time, so I'm not tripping out yet, but it's a little nerve wracking. As for organizing, I keep everything on my laptop in folders and I have a Pinterest board. I made a budget in Excel with each category as a sheet, then made a master sheet which pulls figures from each of the categorized sheets and gives me overall figures in USD and estimated CAD. I have a Word document that is essentially a "dump" document; categories and pictures of what I like. I also have an Excel document of my various to-do lists; packing lists for each of our checked bags and carry-ons, stuff to buy or do specifically related to the wedding, things I need to buy for the kids, etc. I feel unorganized because I haven't received any answers to my questions from the W/C so I feel like not very much is set in stone and booked. Wow, at $5.00 per tree, it definitely makes sense to just book with them and save the luggage space!

Re: websites and Facebook. I did make a wedding website, although I'm pretty sure no one uses it. I just included the prices from our travel agent, things to do in the area (shopping, golf, attractions, etc., etc.). I didn't make a Facebook page because a lot of my guests aren't on Facebook and I don't want to feel like I'm bombarding them with wedding stuff. FI and I are really adamant about not making the whole week about us because technically everyone is on their own vacation too. It's just the day, and there isn't much to inform them about the day besides where they have to be and when. I think everyone is excited enough about the trip because a lot of people haven't been away before and because there are so many of us going. Question: does anyone know anything about the water parks at the resort? I read somewhere (can't remember where) that it was an extra fee to get in and I'm just wondering how true that is, so I can budget buying a pass for each of the kids coming. Oh god wedding dresses! I bought my dress two months ago when I was just over 3 months pregnant and it's expected to arrive in May, just after I give birth to my second. So I basically have four weeks to get in pre-pregnancy shape for alterations! LOL! This should be interesting. @TaraW: Yeah, good point about the vendor fee. I don't think they're expecting me to pay, but I just feel really bad because I know how much they're spending already on the trip. I think I'll go with your idea though of letting them know the cost and the different options and letting them choose what they want, and I'm just offering to book it for them. $15.00 USD per person isn't that bad, I was expecting a little more. Then again, all these little things add up quickly!!

You are SO helpful! Yeah, I think I'm losing the Mayan ceremony battle with my guy...I can't justify $1,000 (ish in CAD) for the ceremony. Ours wouldn't be a legal ceremony anyway because we didn't want to go through with the blood tests and other requirements, but as always, it really comes down to the money factor and where I would rather spend on extras. A new idea I had was a tequila burro...lol! Basically a donkey that comes in with tequila for everyone. I know it's an all inclusive resort and the booze is free flowing anyway, but I thought it would be cool and different. We'll see how much that will end up costing. Thank you for the tip about the room booking for the photographer. I'm definitely going to price that out and consider it as an option. I think we're going to go with Ivan Luckie...out of the portfolios I saw and the quotes, I thought his was the best for our needs. I think for hair and makeup, we will go with Sara Tamargo. I really loved her work and she uses MAC products which I love on my skin and which I use myself at home. Is there a vendor fee for makeup and hair as well? I think I may give my mother in law the hair and makeup at the spa so she can get hers done there. I have myself and five ladies needing hair and makeup and I'm not sure what is the "proper" or "right" thing to do...if I pay for everyone's hair and makeup or ask them to. It's awkward, I feel like as the bride I should be paying for these things since it's my wedding and I hate asking people to pay for things. I know I was in a wedding party recently and was astounded by how much the bride expected me to pay for things like my dress, hair, makeup, bridal shower stuff, on top of the gifts for the shower and wedding, a ticket to the stag, etc. and that didn't even require me paying for a $1,500 vacation! I'm thinking we will extend our reception time as well. Do you know remember how much you paid for that? I have our ceremony at 5, so I'm assuming we'll do the reception from 7-11 PM. I just have to think about what I do for our guests in between the ceremony and reception while we're taking pictures...maybe everyone goes to their rooms and changes or goes to the lobby bar, or I have a cocktail hour with some food and drinks. I'm going to send you my email address for the packages - thanks so much, that will be very helpful in planning this out! Sorry, I can't help with that...we considered the Catholic ceremony but we weren't sure if it was considered legal and we would therefore have to do blood tests, document translation and the longer time period in Mexico before the wedding. We may ask to have our marriage blessed in our parish when we get back. We'll see about that though.

Hi everyone! Sorry in advance for this long post but I've been creeping for a while and now I'm finally joining in! I'm booked at the Barcelo for July 14, 2016! My WC is Abraham as well (I saw him mentioned a few pages back). I emailed him some questions a few days ago but haven't heard back, which I think is typical for these resorts. Anyway, after a lot of time over the last year spent going back and forth between hotels, and prices, we settled on this one and I am starting to get excited!!! I've read all the latest posts; you guys are extremely helpful and the information sharing has been great! As of right now, I have no clue where we are going to have the ceremony. Has anyone done the Mayan ceremony? I think it looks so cool but my guy thinks it's the funniest thing and can't keep a straight face whenever I show him pics. But how cool is it to have a MAYAN ceremony in the MAYAN Riveira? Lol, I'm still trying to justify it. Anyway, if anyone has done it or looked into it, I'd love to hear feedback. I think we're going to go with the Palmeras grill for the reception. So the package includes 15 adults and then after that I understand it's $70 per adult. Does anyone know the price per child? I have 10 kids coming between the ages of 2 and 11. Does anyone have the menu options? I'm also looking into photographers. I reached out to Oceans but after reading here, I may hit up Octavio as well. I really love del Sol's work, but they're soooo expensive and I'm Canadian so our dollar is just really shitty right now, making it even mor expensive. Is anyone else bringing in someone to do their makeup? I've contacted three vendors and love all of their work. It may come down to price in choosing them because again, they are quoting me in USD and my CAD is getting shittier by the day. Anyone have any feedback with Styling Trio, Sara Tamargo and MVP? I don't think we're doing Welcome Bags because I feel like people won't use what's in them and it's just more stuff I have to bring. I'm travelling with my 1.5 year old and my son will be 7 weeks old by July, so I'm already packing heavy. We will be sending out something to everyone before we leave; I bought a luggage tag and passport cover for each person. I don't really have an itinerary because the only thing we're doing is a Welcome dinner, which is just a group dinner in the buffet. Besides that, I don't want to bother people with events and stuff besides the actual wedding because it's their vacation too. We aren't doing a rehearsal dinner either because I don't think there's anything to rehearse really. That's it for now! I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions as time moves on!

@ thank you! I believe it's in Playa del Carmen. Thanks again, I already find this forum so informative!

Hi everyone! We have finally decided on Riu Palace Mexico for our July 2016 wedding! It took us a long time to decide on something we liked yet would be affordable for the majority of our guests. I'm guessing we will have about 40 people and I'd like to do a private dinner and after party, preferably both on the beach or in an open air venue. Does anyone have any information about their packages? I find it's quite hard to get something with details and prices from them. Also, does anyone know if they charge outside vendor fees? Thanks in advance! I'm so excited to finally start planning!

Hello everyone! I'm new here and starting to plan our 2016 wedding in Mexico. We have it narrowed down to two places; Riu Palace Mexico and Playacar Palace. My FI and I have decided to choose whichever resort offers what we want for the least amount of money. That being said, I'm finding it very difficult to find information about the cost of extras, such as for example a private reception or outside vendor fees if applicable. Does anyone have any updated information for either of these resorts which they could share? Also, maybe I haven't searched enough, but are there any more recent brides at either of these two resorts who could help me out and share their opinion of the resort and wedding process? Thanks in advance!