diadiamond

Hi Everyone! I'm not sure if I let you all know, but I ended up picking the Iberostar Varadero for my wedding. My wedding is on September 24, 2015. I will definitely write a review and post pictures too so that future brides have a wedding review to look at. Good luck to all the brides out there still trying to choose a resort it was so far the most stressful part of planning.

Hey hun! I was stuck between all of those resorts too! I have never been to any of them before either so it was really scary to pick out a resort for my wedding and pretty much pick the place all of my guests would vacation to. I was torn right down until the day I actually booked. I was torn mainly between Iberostar Laguna Azul and Iberostar Varadero. I did so much research and I went with the resort that had better reviews around the time we want to get married. I found that the Iberostar Varadero had better September reviews than the Iberostar Laguna Azul. I really loved the Spa Terrace for the Iberostar Laguna Azul but I also loved that the Iberostar Varadero was a smaller resort. I totally understand it's a tough choice I hope that I helped a bit. Good luck!

We finally booked and based on my own experience I think that a year in advance is a safe option. Our TA told us that for popular times of the year it's best to book a year or more in advance. Our wedding is booked for September 24, 2015, and we booked with our travel agent on August 24, 2014. My TA made me coordinate the wedding date with the resort and they said that my September 24, 2015 date was available. Our TA said that the deposit is $250.00 per guest so my fiance and I put down $500.00 for both of us.

We ended up booking with Air Transat as we really loved our experience with them in the past and the fact that it was cheaper than Sunwing!

I'm a Toronto bride and we've planned our wedding for September 24, 2015 at the Iberostar Varadero in Cuba

Oh wow! I really hope it works out for you. Let us know when you find out!

Hi Everyone! I just booked my wedding a few weeks ago and we have 90 days for everyone to get their deposits in so we've been rushing around trying to get our invitations and everything out so that people have enough time to come up with a deposit. Anyways, I was wondering if it's weird to send your save the dates and invitations at the same time? We are doing save the date magnets and our invitations have more information on the resort and has our travel agent's information as well.

I did the same thing you did after my initial option failed. I looked at quite a few options and got quotes and made a budget for each of them. I think the biggest thing to us was making sure we chose a resort that everyone would most likely like. We were torn between a larger resort with so-so reviews in the low season, but breathtaking views and a smaller resort that had amazing reviews, but wasn't breathtaking. At the end of the day we cared more about an amazing overall trip rather than just a stunning wedding day. We wanted to pick a place that would please us and our guests for an entire week. We're not picky with all the extras as well. I think just being in paradise is all the decor I need. I'm so happy you found your venue! I definitely think that finding the venue is the toughest part. I'm with you on not wanting to do the venue search all over again. What made it a bit easier for us is that we knew what country we wanted. It must be even more overwhelming for brides that need to choose a country and a resort!

I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one that felt that way! I thought planning a destination wedding would be stress-free and easy, but I've learned that it comes with its own set of challenges and can be very stressful.

Hi Everyone! It's been a LONG while since my last entry. Partly because I haven't really had much to say and because I've just been really busy. A lot has changed since my last entry. I finished college, my field placement, and ended up getting a full-time job. My fiance has also found full-time work as well. My fiance and I have decided that we want to move in together, so we've been really busy looking for apartments. And well when you live in Canada summer is really short, so we've been busy trying to make the most of our summer. I am really glad to be back though! As far as my wedding goes this is a rundown of what's happened since the last time I posted: - Everyone disagreed with us having a late November date. - One of my fiance's family members went to a wedding at the resort we were hoping to get married at and she said she had an awful time. - We were very stressed as to how we were going to pay for our wedding and what the cost would be. - My fiance was nervous about booking really far in advance for our wedding. - We had to pick a new date adding a lot of stress to our planning - On top of picking a new date we needed to pick a whole new venue! Somewhere we hadn't been to before and would not be able to actually visit until the wedding. After all of the above happened I was a little hesitant to start planning again. I was very upset that my vision had really fallen through and I was worried that I wouldn't be having the wedding I dreamed about. It was only when I stepped back from everything I initially wanted that I remembered why I was getting married. I love my fiance and I genuinely want to spend the rest of my life with him. When I took the time to step back I realized that a wedding is one day, but I have the rest of my life with the man that I love and that's all I want, so none of the details really matter. It's not like I only cared about having a wedding before I took that time to reflect. I feel that sometimes brides, like myself, become fixated on making the day so perfect and stressing over all the little details that we forget that it's only one day and it will be great no matter what! I'm positive that my wedding day will turn out great as long as I get there with a heart full of love and an open mind. A few weeks ago I called a wedding meeting with my fiance. I made a PowerPoint presentation and everything! We had agreed after the new year that we would have a meeting about our wedding in August to see where we were at with our job situation and whether we think a 2015 wedding would be possible. Our meeting was centered around picking a venue, picking a date, and picking a colour. I felt bad for my groom to be as we sat in a coffee shop for about three hours gathering all these details. Cuba brides, be sure to check out Facebook's pages for the resorts you're interested in and general Cuba brides pages too! I found them really helpful in my planning process. I love this site, but there aren't as many Cuba brides on here or pictures. I love that this site has great ideas and general information for planning a destination wedding. Since our wedding meeting we have come to a decision on the following: - We decided on a Wedding date! We will be leaving September 19, 2015, and returning September 26, 2015. We're still waiting for confirmation on the date of the ceremony though. - We decided on a venue! We are getting married at the Iberostar Varadero in Varadero, Cuba. - We decided on a wedding colour! We are going with red. - We are making our own save the date magnets. - We picked invitations, and will be customizing them next weekend. A lot is happening, but I'm so happy that we're finally in the planning part of our wedding!

Hi Everyone! I always thought planning a destination wedding would be so much more easy than planning a traditional wedding, but I think that there are different challenges to each. At first I thought that picking a date was going to be my biggest challenge because we wanted something that would be convenient for everyone, but realized that there is no perfect date. We are still trying to pick something we think would be convenient and we're okay if people aren't able to make it. I'm having a hard time picking a resort to have my wedding at. Initially I wanted the Melia Cayo Santa Maria because I had been there before and loved it. My fiance's sister went there for a wedding earlier this month and said that the wedding was not good and the resort had definitely gone downhill. She supports whatever we want, but was warning us. Upon hearing this I started looking into other resorts. Right now I'm looking at the Iberostar Laguna Azul and the Iberostar Varadero. I was also looking at some of the Paridisus resorts in Varadero as well although they may be a bit out of our price range. My fiance and I just started working full-time so we don't want to take any time off to visit any of these resorts and we would rather save our money for the wedding than travel right now. I'm just wondering if anyone else has gone though something similar when trying to narrow down a venue?

I'm so sorry about what happened to you. It made me so sad to read about your experience. As a future Cuba bride I appreciate you taking the time to give us a heads up.

Does weight watchers actually work? I thought about signing up for it online, but I wasn't sure. Has anyone done the online sign up? When I lost weight before I used myfitnesspal to log my workouts and eating habits.

I haven't set my date yet, but this is something that my fiance and I have worried about. I know I'll be disappointed if certain people don't go; however, my fiance cheered me up and said that at the end of the day all he wants to do is marry me and all I want to do is marry him so I think as long as we're doing just everything is fine. At the end of the day all you need is love.

I'm sure it will all be okay in the end. I'm not too sure about your destination, but I heard that when it comes to hurricanes they are more likely to happen in September and October. My fiance and I are planning a September wedding date and I have the same concerns you do. As far as I know destinations that are at risk of hurricanes have really good procedures to deal with them. I'm planning to get married in Cuba and I read that tourists are given high priority during hurricane evacuation procedures. I took comfort in knowing that our interest was being thought of and the situation will be dealt with by people who have been extensively trained to deal with hurricanes. I also worry about the heat too. I know that time of the year can be very humid. We chose September because it seemed to be most convenient for our friends and family.

@@acw271011 Really great advice! I really love my fiance and I can't wait to get married and spend my life with him. I won't lie sometimes I have cold feet. My parents got divorced when I was really young so sometimes I wonder whether our marriage will last and I get scared about it ending. We both just found full time jobs and we've been talking about moving in soon which makes me nervous because I've never lived away from home before. I also worry that we could break up because we can't stand living with each other. I don't worry about this stuff all the time, but it does cross my mind from time to time.

@@acw271011 I'm sorry to hear about you having to have surgery. I hope everything goes well. I love the point you made about the wedding dress models. I talked about that a bit on my facebook. It's hard to picture what I would look like in a dress when a size 0 model is wearing the dress. Also I'm not 100% sure, but I was told swimming is a good form of exercise if you have certain concerns because it is easy on your joints and provides a total body workout. Loving all these responses. I still think it is important that we ladies love ourselves regardless of our size. I just want to be the best me I know I can be on my wedding day and feel incredible too! I just got a full-time job which takes me 2 hours to commute each way. Not sure how to stay motivated or fit exercise in my schedule. Any tips or advice would be appreciated. Thank you hun! I will definitely look into Curves. And your source of motivation is great. I think I will do that too and maybe it will help!

Hi Everyone! I'm just wondering what your fitness goals are and how you plan to achieve it? Weight has always been a struggle for me my entire life. I was always overweight. I got up to 265 lbs when I was 17 and then decided to join Herbal Magic where I lost 100 lbs. When I started University I gained 70 of the 100 lbs that I lost. At the end of University I got back up to 235 lbs and decided to make another healthy lifestyle change in my life. Through diet and exercise with a trainer I managed to lose 40 lbs. I went back to college and gained the 40 lbs that I lost. I haven't booked my wedding yet, but we're hoping for the end of 2015. I'd really like to lose about 50 or 60 pounds. I feel so discouraged because I have gained and lost it so many times that I feel like I'm just bound to fail. I'm also torn between using another weight loss program or doing it the old fashioned way again.

I flew air transat and Sunwing for vacations before. I prefer Air Transat! The plane was larger and there was more leg room (my fiance is 6'5 and I'm 5'10 so leg room is very important for us). Also they had ipads attached to the seats with movies, tv shows, music, and games. The service was good and so was the in flight meal too! I definitely want to book my wedding with them. I had a bad experience flying sunwing. The plane was really small, the in flight meal was really small and not good, there was terrible leg room, the staff was rude, there was a movie with small screens during the flight. I got caught in the ice storm during my vacation with sunwing and was stuck in Cuba for more than 40 hours. There was no communication between sunwing on the Cuban side and the Canadian side. They even forgot our flight! I understand that the weather conditions were really bad, but Air Transat, Cubana air, and westjet were all able to leave on time and didn't have the same issues that us sunwing passengers had.

I'm hoping to get married September 2015!

I'm still in the beginning stages of planning. I haven't booked or anything yet. Our biggest stresses have been where and when. We're trying to pick the most convenient time for everyone and the perfect resort that will hopefully please everyone.

Thanks everyone =) My main concern is my guests not having a good time or not liking the resort for whatever reason. The star rating in Cuba is so different from the star rating in Canada, so something 5 star there might be 3 star here. Because of the embargo it is also hard for them to import certain food items or to get food items. That's why everyone says the food isn't the best. Despite all of that my fiance and I love Cuba and couldn't think of tying the knot anywhere else. To be honest I'm most worried about my future mother-in law and what she will think. She's really hard to please and picky, so I'm more worried about her opinion. We all went to MCSM last year and she loved it. My fiance and I loved it as well and we would go back, but it just doesn't scream wedding to me; whereas the ILA does. The ILA is everything I pictured when I thought of having a destination wedding. I feel stuck between playing it safe and choosing something that's nice, but no quite what I want and taking a risk by choosing something that is my dream come true (in pictures)

Hi Everyone! I'm really wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this one. Would you get married at a resort that you have never been to before? Have you gotten married at a resort that you have never been to until your wedding? I was pretty set on getting married at the Melia Cayo Santa Maria in Cayo Santa Maria, but I'm having second thoughts because I have seen pictures of other resorts in Cuba and now I'm totally confused as to where I want to get married. I've been the Melia Cayo Santa Maria and It's amazing! I recently saw pictures of a bride's wedding on this forum at the Iberostar Laguna Azul in Varadero and I'm really considering getting married there, but I've never been to that resort or to Varadero before. We don't currently have the money in our budget or the time in our schedule for a scouting trip. I have heard an honest review from another bride on here which was amazing and super helpful! I also read some pretty negative reviews on trip advisor. I'm a little nervous because I'm the type of person that has to be on top of every little detail and I hate not knowing things. I really hate surprises too lol. Am I being crazy? Am I alone in this one?

I was thinking the same thing. Thanks for listing it. I'm not quite at 150 posts so I can't see the files the other girls attach =( Further to what you have I also have gravol and bandaids on my list too.

Hi Everyone! I was so set on getting married at the Melia Cayo Santa Maria until I saw pictures of the resort and wedding pictures of other brides at this resort. We would really like to get married in September 2015. I was wondering how much flowers and centerpieces cost? Also, how much did the bridal hair and makeup charge? I couldn't find any of the prices on the Iberostar website.