gannonham

Yep, this is what we did. We had our ceremony on the Tequila Beach and our cocktail hour + reception on the Tequila Terrace. It worked out perfectly and our guests appreciated not having to relocate to 3 different places.

@@cneedham congrats, looks like you're there

tripcentral.ca is who I used and they were awesome

Answers above in red. Hope this helps

We just got married at NOW Sapphire on April 23rd and didn't ship any decor or wedding items in advance in fear that they either wouldn't make it at all or they would arrive damaged. Instead, we brought an extra suitcase and packed some of our items (padded in bath towels or clothing, I might add) and checked them like regular luggage. With items that were breakable (like our favours), we brought rolling carry-ons with us and packed them in those. Everything arrived safely, thank God. However @@niknic456 has a great point in regards to using the natural beauty of your surroundings as your decor. Don't go overboard and stress yourselves out. No one will be looking at the decorations anyway ... they will be look at YOU

Congrats on your upcoming wedding! I just got married on April 23rd at NOW Sapphire and we hired DJ MANNIA as our DJ.

@@vanessav53 Congrats! So exciting!!! We still have to get legally married. Guess we should get on that, huh?

Thanks so much @@niknic456! Your wedding pics are so nice as well! @@ranidae23 I was quoted $350 for my bouquet as well, but asked Ramon if there was any way I could do something similar with different flowers to make it a part of the package and not have to pay extra. He recommended different flowers and my bouquet looked almost exactly the same as what I sent. @@KathyandEthan I booked through a Canadian travel agent and they were able to hold flights and seats for us. I booked in May 2013 and people didn't have to put down their $100 deposit until August 2013. It might be worth it for you to contact a TA to help with this. They have relationships with the hotels and chains and can often do more than the average person can.

I got married at NOW Sapphire on April 23, 2014 and am not exaggerating when I say that it was one of the best nights of partying I’ve ever had in my life! We hired @@DJMannia and it was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. Carlos was AMAZING and DJ’d our wedding like it was a club. The dance floor was packed all night long and people were still ready to party when the wedding ended at midnight, so we all headed to the disco and closed it down at 1am, then tried to find a beach party because we were all still so high on life and wedding bliss. We paid to have a lit-up dance floor from DJ MANNIA and it was worth every single penny we spent. It really added to the ambiance and party atmosphere. If you’re thinking about hiring DJ MANNIA, I would say DO IT!!! It was less expensive than hiring the resort DJ and the quality of the work was so much better. They are the best!!

I got married at NOW Sapphire on April 23, 2014 and am not exaggerating when I say that it was one of the best nights of partying I’ve ever had in my life! We hired DJ MANNIA and it was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. Carlos was AMAZING and DJ’d our wedding like it was a club. The dance floor was packed all night long and people were still ready to party when the wedding ended at midnight, so we all headed to the disco and closed it down at 1am, then tried to find a beach party because we were all still so high on life and wedding bliss. We paid to have a lit-up dance floor from DJ MANNIA and it was worth every single penny we spent. It really added to the ambiance and party atmosphere. If you’re thinking about hiring DJ MANNIA, I would say DO IT!!! It was less expensive than hiring the resort DJ and the quality of the work was so much better. They are the best!!

Answers in red

Here's a link to a photo of the sign closer up: http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/gannonham/media/sign_zps34c54c2b.jpg.html It was a bridal shower gift from my BFF. Her and her Dad made it for us and constructed it so it could be folded down (hinges) and taken apart (Allen key), so it was super easy to pack in our luggage. We just wrapped it in a towel to avoid it getting damaged. Isn't it awesome?! I told her she could start a business and sell them.

@@vanessav53, I am so happy this helped you. I just posted some pics as well, in case that is any further help. You are going to LOVE all of the vendors you chose. They are pro's and are going to make your day incredible. Are you going to do a TTD shoot with Anel and Jacob as well? We were sent a music form to fill out prior to getting to Mexico and we willed it out, however, Carlos also came to meet us at the resort the day before our wedding to go over music and speeches. He had great recommendatsion and we are happy we listened to him. We weren't picky with the songs that were played, we just asked him to make it feel like a club and to keep people on the dance floor ... and that's exactly what he did! I think he played every genre of music out there (minus polka, LOL) and all of our guests loved it. We asked him to read the crowd and also take requests from guests. This worked out perfectly. We were quoted for the taco bar as well (I think it was $15 per person) and decided it was too far out of our budget. I fell in love with the guacamole at the resort and asked if we could do a nacho or chip bar, and that's what Ramon came back with. I am so happy we did this. It was a nice way to cap off the night. OMG, I could totally go for that guac right about now!! How many guests are you having at your wedding? I would suggest ordering for only 1/4 or 1/2 of them to save some money ... plus it's a shame for all that food to go to waste. I wanted to take it all back to my room, LOL.

BTW, I am trying to upload pics, but it's not allowing me to. Anyone know if I need a certain number of posts in order to post photos? Here are some photobucket links, in case they work ... Ceremony: http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/gannonham/media/ceremony_zps3936fe6f.jpg.html Cake: http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/gannonham/media/cake_zps96fa8818.jpg.html Table (w/ guestbook, favours and other decor we brought from home): http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/gannonham/media/table_zps2302e2ea.jpg.html http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/gannonham/media/JampJ_zpseb3d90d8.jpg.html Head Table: http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/gannonham/media/headtable_zps0652efd6.jpg.html Centrepiece: http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/gannonham/media/centrepiece2_zps83c975fb.jpg.html Favours: http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/gannonham/media/ornament_zps971f8b0e.jpg.html I promise to post more pics once we receive our shots back from Amorcito Corazon Studio!

Hi brides! I got back on Sunday from my wedding week at NOW Sapphire and I just wanted to write and let you know if was perfect and every way!! Honestly, it was a dream come true. In fact, it was beyond our wildest dreams. All of our guests raved that it was one of the best nights of their lives … and it was absolutely the best day/night of our lives as well. So, you have nothing to worry about, because yours is going to be the exact same way - MAGICAL! My wedding coordinator was Anel until she transferred me to Ramon a couple of weeks before my April 23rd wedding. I had some of the same difficulties as all of you did in not getting timely responses in the planning stages, but I want to assure you that they have all requests documented and have everything little detail under control. Ramon (and I’m sure all of the wedding coordinators) are awesome and highly organized. Someone joked on here awhile back that they are wedding factory, and it's true - they know their stuff! So, leave the worrying up to them and just enjoy the whole wedding process, and of course … YOUR WEDDING DAY!!! I will write a more detailed review when I have the time (and figure out how to do it!), but here's a quick recap ... CEREMONY @ 5pm on the Tequila Beach: It was so special and wonderful. It lasted about 15 - 20 minutes, which was just the right amount of time in my opinion (my guests also appreciated this). The minister was so lovely and warm. She asked my groom what kind of ceremony we wanted when she first met him a few minutes before everything began. We opted for a simple, love-focused ceremony, with some religion peppered in. We also incorporated 2 readings. I was running a little bit behind schedule and Ramon kept all of our guests in the shade until he got word that we were on our way. I thought this was a nice touch, so our guests weren’t sitting in the sun. However, the sun starts to cool off by that time and the breeze from the ocean is wonderful. Our guys were all in tuxes and none were sweltering or counting down the minutes until they could take their jackets off. Actually, a few of them left their jackets on the whole night. We also paid $50 to do a sand ceremony, which was a nice added touch. We likely could have gotten this for less back at home, but it would have added to the weight of our luggage and I didn’t want to risk it breaking or sand spilling all over our luggage. CHAMPAGNE TOAST @ 5:30pm on the Tequila Terrace: We left about 15 - 20 minutes for this and that was a perfect amount of time. It gave our guests time to hug, cheers and take a few personal photos, then off to do our professional photos with our photographers (who I can't rave enough about!!). COCKTAIL RECEPTION @ 6:45pm – 7:45pm on the Tequila Terrace It was perfect ... so we hear We left an hour in between our champagne toast and cocktail reception to do our photos, with the intention of not missing our cocktail reception ... and we ended up missing it anyway, LOL. By the time we did group photos (we had 52 people, so it took some time to get everyone organized) + family photos + bridal party photos + bride & groom shots, all the time was eaten up ... but we wouldn't change a thing, since photos were extremely important to us and we wanted to make sure we got all the shots we wanted. I did get to try a couple of the apps right before being introduced as husband and wife to the reception (they kept some aside for us, which I thought was very sweet) and they were delish! I tried the mini taquitos (so yummy) and the bacon wrapped shrimp (AMMMMAZING, my mouth is still watering) and my groom tried the curry chicken skewers and said they were really good as well. The only thing we didn’t get to try was the goat cheese mousse. We had 2 signature cocktails to match our colours (turquoise and coral). I didn't try the turquoise one, but was drinking the coral one all night long. It was so yummy! We also ordered personalized cocktail napkins from theknot.com, which were a huge hit with our guests. FOOD It was amazing and all of our guests raved that it was the best meal they had at the resort (and all the food at NOW Sapphire was really good). We gave our guests their choice of 3 entree options (seafood stuffed chicken, surf & turf, vegetarian lasagna) and everyone enjoyed their meal. One of our guests said their steak was the best steak they ever had - and they travel lots and eat at very nice restaurants. We chose the goat cheese and apple salad (yum!), the mushroom soup (I really loved it, but I also LOVE mushrooms), the 3 entrees I listed above (our guests had their choice of which one they wanted and we supplied this info to Ramon in our first meeting) and the cognac truffle chocolate dessert (SOOOOOO GOOD!!!). Our dulce de leche cake was also delicious. We cut it right at the end of our dinner reception (before the first dances), but didn’t serve it until later on in the evening since our guests were all still stuffed from dinner. We decided to only order a cake for 25 people, which was included in our package vs. upgrading it for 50+ people and I am so happy we did. It was 3 tiers and we ended up with a ton of leftovers. With our savings, we added fresh flowers to our cake ($50) and also decided to pay $6 per person to do a late night menu of chips + guacamole (it’s THE BEST) + pico de gallo, which was served around 11pm. This was another big hit with our guests. At Ramon’s suggestion, we only ordered enough for 20 guests, as he said many people would have left by then and many people would still be stuffed from dinner. I thought it was really nice of him to want to save us money … and there was way more than enough for all of our guests, even though 95% of them were still up and dancing at that time. Actually, there was a ton of leftovers for this as well. We probably could have gotten away with only ordering enough for 10 people. DJ & DANCING approx. 9pm – midnight) I am not exaggerating when I say that it was one of the best nights of partying I’ve ever had in my life! We hired DJ MANNIA and it was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. Carlos was AMAZING and DJ’d our wedding like it was a club. The dance floor was packed all night long and people were still ready to party when the wedding ended at midnight, so we all headed to the disco and closed it down at 1am, then tried to find a beach party because we were all still so high on life and wedding bliss. We paid to have a lit-up dance floor from DJ MANNIA and it was worth every single penny we spent. It really added to the ambiance and party atmosphere. If you’re thinking about hiring DJ MANNIA, I would say DO IT!!! It was less expensive than hiring the resort DJ and the quality of the work was so much better. We also paid to extend our reception and were SO HAPPY we did. There is no way we would have been ready to end the party when it was scheduled to finish. It was worth the extra money! PHOTOGRAPHY We hired Amorcito Corazon Studio (http://www.amorcitocorazonstudio.com/), and although we won’t receive our photos for another few weeks, we already know we made the right decision. Jacob & Anel were amazing to deal with leading up to our wedding day and were even lovelier in-person. They arrived at 3pm to shoot our get ready photos and stayed until 10pm to cover everything in between. We also did a “Trash the Dress” shoot with them the day after the wedding and loved every minute of it. We didn’t really TRASH my dress, however, we had lots of fun in it … and it was cleaner after our session than it was when we first began J We spent a couple of hours in Puerto Morelos doing a beach/town shoot, then went to a cenote to do an underwater shoot. I cannot wait to see how the pics turn out from our wedding and TTD session. We used our hour of free photography that came with our wedding package at our rehearsal dinner. The pictures turned out nicely, but they were pretty basic and lacked artistic or creative flair, so I am very happy we spent the extra money to hire Jacob & Anel, since their photos are incredible and their prices are really reasonable. Honestly, if you can work it into your budget, I would highly, highly recommend going with an outside vendor as a photographer and would highly, highly suggest Amorcito Corazon Studio. You will not be disappointed with this decision. FLOWERS We took advantage of the free flowers that came with our Devine wedding package and hired http://www.floresrivieramaya.com/ to provide our centerpieces, bridesmaid bouquets and groomsmen boutonnieres. They also provided us with flameless candles + holders for the tables, as well as vases for our bridesmaid bouquets to go in at the head table for a small fee. Their work was incredible and their prices were much less expensive than what the resort was charging. Alina was also amazing to work with and offered many suggestions/recommendations, including how to avoid paying the $300 vendor fee. The groomsmen met with her at 2pm outside of the hotel gates to get the flowers, then delivered the centerpieces to Ramon for them to be placed on the tables (he did this free of charge). Her work was incredible and I absolutely loved our flowers. SPA One word – AMAZING! When I went to the spa a few days before our wedding to confirm appointments for our hair & make-up, I was asked if I was interested in upgrading to their bridal suite, which would give us access to the hydrotherapy pools, steam rooms, etc. I was expecting this to be a major charge, but it only cost me $75 ($50 for 2 bottles of sparkling wine + orange juice to make mimosas, plus $25 to add some small sandwiches + chips, guac and pico de gallo + a fresh fruit platter). I easily would have paid HUNDREDS of dollars for this in Canada or the U.S.A. It was a steal! We were all blown away by the service we received at the spa. We started our day ordering room service breakfast, then headed to the spa around 10am in our bikinis to take advantage of all of the pools and services. At 12pm, 4 of my bridesmaids started with hair & make-up, as I sat in our private Jacuzzi filled with rose petals, drinking champagne and taking in the whole day. At 1:30pm, it was my turn for hair & make-up and at 2pm the mom’s and one more bridesmaid. Everyone was super happy with their hair and make-up. Everyone looked magazine shoot ready WELCOME BAGS & FAVOURS Our welcome bags were a huge hit with our guests. We included plastic mason jar tumblers for drinks at the pool (these were AWESOME!!), a hangover kit (Advil, TUMS, Lifesaver mint), a door hanger for the day after the wedding, a CD compilation of music we love and have shared over our dating years (we have a friend who is a DJ and mixed this for us), our itinerary which explained the welcome cocktail reception and timing for the wedding day. We distributed these to a few guests before we left for Mexico and the remainder at the airport (if they were on our flight) or at the welcome cocktail reception. We are so pleased at how these turned out and our guests really appreciated the extra touch. We were also over the moon at how our wedding favours turned out. Me and my husband (ahhh, so exciting to type that) have a vacation tradition that we started a few years back, where we collect a Christmas ornament from every new place we visit, that way we can reminisce about our vacation memories every Christmas as we are decorating our tree. So, it only made sense to pass this tradition along to our guests. We saw really nice beachy ornaments on Etsy for $12 each, which was out of our budget, so we did them ourselves! We took clear glass bulbs (purchased at Michael’s) and filled them with shells and sand (actually from the NOW Sapphire beach) and personalized them with a few details about our wedding day. Everyone loved them and cannot wait to hang a piece of our special day on their Christmas tree. WELCOME COCKTAILS We couldn’t justify spending more money to do something private (especially since it’s an all-inclusive resort!!), so decided to do something at the lobby bar from 4:30pm – 6:30pm. However, after spending the day in the pool with everyone and having so much fun, we decided to move the cocktail reception to the pool bar. It was very casual, relaxed and so much fun! It wasn’t private or anything, but it felt like it with the amount of people we had. My guests much preferred being poolside in their bathing suits, mixing and mingling with one another vs. going up to their room early to get ready for a more formal event. Oh, and we decided this only a couple of hours before the event was set to begin and got the word around by asking our guests to pass along the message to anyone they saw. This gave them another opportunity to chat and get to know each other … and it all worked out. All in all, our wedding and whole trip was amazing and not only lived up to our expectations – but exceeded them! It truly was a dream come true. I am actually quite envious that you ladies still have your weddings to look forward to, because I already miss ours! I keep joking with my husband that we should do it again and again, since we had so much fun, LOL. You are going to have the time of your lives and the best day ever, I guarantee it! We have been married for over a week and we’re both still on a high. I don’t expect that to fade any time soon Honestly, enjoy the whole ride and whole wedding planning process … and leave the worrying up to your wedding coordinator. Your day will be perfect, you will be beautiful and your story will end with a “happily ever after”. ~ Jackie P.S. – I just realized this was far from a “quick recap” … but I hope it was helpful and answered any questions you might have. If not, please holler. I would be happy to help in any way I can. I found this board so helpful when I was in the midst of wedding planning and I would love to offer the same help and guidance to anyone who may need it.

We are getting married on April 23 at NOW Sapphire and were debating between NOW Sapphire and NOW Jade. They are both stunning resorts and I am sure you are going to have an amazing wedding.

I am getting married on April 23, 2014 at NOW Sapphire in the Mayan Riviera, but stayed at PPC in November 2012 and absolutely loved it. Actually, one of the reasons we hose NOW Sapphire was because it was a former Paradisus and we love their chain so much. I also stayed at the Paradisus in Playa del Carmen this past January and it was wonderful. You made a good choice. Congrats!

Congrats! I got engaged in St, Thomas in December 2012. What a gorgeous island!

I got engaged in St. Thomas. It is such a beautiful place and will make a wonderful wedding destination.

@@vanessav53, thank you so much for your reassuring words. I am betting married in less than a month and have been waiting for a response from Ramone since last Saturday. I followed up again yesterday, but still nothing. I am relieved to know that they are working behind the scenes to make our dream wedding come true. Has anyone else heard from Ramone lately? I had been dealing with Anel until she put me in touch with Ramone last Saturday. @@meganwitt, we are still deciding whether to do a TTD. I'd really like to, since I love how these photos turn out, but I just don't know if I want to spend the day away from our resort and away from our guests. If we were to do one, I wouldn't want it to ruin my dress. I think we would just do them in town or maybe in the water ... but no paint - that would break my heart

I think I am in love with washi tape!

Thanks for all your timeline posts, ladies! After reading them, I am considering moving my cocktail reception to later to allow my fiance and I enough time to take photos and not miss our cocktail reception. I was concerned about people getting bored in between, but if there's a bar nearby, they could always grab a drink there. Plus, it might give guests a moment to go back to their rooms to freshen up, etc. And of course be a part of group shots. Here's what I'm thinking for our timeline now: 5 - 5:30 ~ ceremony 5:30 - 5:45 ~ champagne toast (past brides, is 15 minutes accurate?) 5:45 - 6:30 ~ photos 6:30 - 7:30 ~ cocktail reception 7:30 - 9pm ~ dinner, speeches, toasts, first dances, garter & bouquet toss, cake cutting 9pm - midnight ~ drinking and dancing @@meganwitt, I am using amorcitocorazonstudios. I love their work and have seen so many positive review about them. Are you doing a TTD session as well? @@JaxBchKay, happy to hear you're ahappy with Juan Carlos! I was also bummed to see how much it costs to do the lanterns. They are so pretty and my heart was set on them, but it's just so expensive. Ladies, I am totally blanking on how many hours are included in the Divine package for the reception :S Is it 3 or 4 hours? 26 more days until I am a wife

For any of you Canadian brides who are looking to do OOT bags, Dollarama has quite a few plastic tumblers that are really nice and only $2 each. We chose mason jar looking ones with handles (kind of like a mug) that normally retail for $8 - $12 each. We are planning on giving these as part of our welcome bags, which will also have an itinerary, door hanger, a hangover kit, and a couple of other things we are still deciding on. They have a number of designs for regular tumblers, but the mason jar mugs either have blue screw on lids and straws or pink ones. We're hoping people use these for the pool bar or their beach drinks. However, this is also something I think/hope they will bring home and use. And every time they do, hopefully they will enjoy sipping that drink and reminiscing about their trip Here's an idea of what a similar mug looks like (the ones we got have a translucent lid and no writing, just a mason jar like design):

For any of you GTA brides out there who are looking to do OOT bags, Dollarama has quite a few plastic tumblers that are really nice and only $2 each. We chose mason jar looking ones with handles (kind of like a mug) that normally retail for $8 - $12 each. We are planning on giving these as part of our welcome bags, which will also have an itinerary, door hanger, a hangover kit, and a couple of other things we are still deciding on. They have a number of designs for regular tumblers, but the mason jar mugs either have blue screw on lids and straws or pink ones. We're hoping people use these for the pool bar or their beach drinks. However, this is also something I think/hope they will bring home and use. And every time they do, hopefully they will enjoy sipping that drink and reminiscing about their trip Here's an idea of what a similar mug looks like (the ones we got have a translucent lid and no writing, just a mason jar like design):

What will your guests do for that hour? Are they going to be a part of the pics? I am trying to find cost saving ideas, so this might be an option for us as well. I'm just concerned with there being a lapse in time and keeping people entertained. However, I am known to worry too much