BeeJewell

Hey girls - I unfortunately heard from Daniel today and he is leaving the resort, just cynthia and ariel left! Also have a question - does anyone have a wedding video they could pass on to me? Wether it be their own or one that an already married bride has sent to them? Hoping to be able to catch a glimpse of what a civil vs. a symbolic ceremony looks like!

Congrats!! Im so amazed by the number of people that made it to your big day!! Our deposits are due by aug 20 so were just starting to find out who of the people we invited are not going to be able to make it down, a bit disappointing but oh well!! Unfortunately i don't have enough posts on here to be able to open your pictues and the website wants me to pay 30USD to do so…crazy!! wondering if you mind emailing them to me?? jewellba@@gmail.com Thanks and congrats again…hope you're enjoying the married life!! Britt

jenna if you don't mind sending some pics my way that would be amazing as well!! jewellba@@gmail.com

hey jill, congrats!! you're getting married the week after me, but we will miss each other at the resort unfortunately, we leave on the 7th and I'm sure you won't be there yet! I sent out just little save the date postcards with date and trip info and my TA's email and number. Goiing to send out formal invites later. jenna how on earth did you do it for 5000?? our package alone cost that!

Jenna did they charge you for putting up your decor? what was there primarily? The only thing I'm thinking of bringing is paper lanterns with one of those ugly dollar store battery operated faux tea lights inside to give the illusion that they are glowing…did they have a lot of those? Im doing coral and mint/turquoise for my colours (ironic i know…i chose the colours before the resort) and in the wedding checklist they only show a really limited number of bow colours (which didn't include orange…but obviously they have orange as they posted pics from the fushia and orange wedding). did they end up having a lot more colours than they said they would? ps. hows the married life treating you??

not sure about the iberostar. to extend the reception by an hour its 12 use/person/hour + 100 for the sound equip/hr and 150/hr for dj. Daniel just emailed me yesterday to tell me that. Never hear of brides being charged to put up decor, seemed like it was the norm - one bride said ana looked shocked that she DIDNT bring her own decor. They could have changed that by now though if everyone was doing it, would definitely be more labour intensive for the staff.

Hey Jill, Its like that throughout most of the mayan riviera so there definitely won't be anywhere within driving distance. If you're looking for seaweed free beaches id try cuba!

I would try to email daniel, Jill. He is the new "ana", his email is [email protected]. A few of the girls on here (including myself) have had very prompt responses from him. I think OTC is probably having some issues right now in their wedding dept since theres been some big turnover lately. Good luck!! (and you can always try calling them back too!)

Glad you and your computer are feeling better!! The deposit is 250 non refundable but may be transferable to another day (I'm not sure) work asking though! I was dealing with vanesa and ana before and they've both left the company, as I'm sure you've read. Daniel go back to me within the hour when I emailed him today so that was pretty impressive!! Good luck!

hi @@JustynaB and @@jill16 welcome to the group! justyna, i would love if you could send me the checklists, menu and cake choices, unfortunately daniel isn't getting back to me, ill pm you my email! unfortunately i don't have answers to your questions with the exception of those around the photographer. a bride that was just married a couple wks ago (@mrsshepperdtobe) used him and said he was fantastic. But I've also read that same stuff about him as you have. we are planning on bringing down our own photographer from canada as a "guest" for the week, that way we can get rights to all of our pictures instead of choosing a few. Also on the dj note, many brides have just used an iPod and a staff member to run it and said that worked perfectly, thats my plan as well!

man, I emailed daniel two days ago and have yet to hear back from him! you girls are lucky!

@@ddangel1975 hi carla, welcome to the group. If you read up just a couple posts thats been the hot topic the last couple days. Ana is no longer with the company, daniel is your main contact now, his email is also above. Good luck!

Hey Megan, welcome to the group! Im not sure how recently you've been following the thread but there has recently been a lot of turn over with wedding coordinators at the resort. THe good news is it sees they just recycle the same 2 emails so you likely have a correct email and someone will get back to you soon-ish. The only coordinator we currently know for sure is daniel at [email protected], he apparently replaced ana but that email is vanesa's old email (so depends on who you were speaking with, but i would try that email if you want a response) ​as for night life at the resort, there is no disco, we have a number of friends that have been to this resort before. There are apparently though frequent "pool parties" that many brides have talked about on here. ​I'm sorry but i can't answer your questions about the excursions or night life outside the resort, maybe someone else on here can Britt

If you could just send me daniel's email that would be great! Just want to send him a copy of my confirmation from ana to make sure that it hasn't fallen thru the cracks with her leaving + ask him if theres anything else I should be doing..hopefully hell send me the spreadsheets himself! (and save you the work!) it would be amazing if we started hearing back within 48 hours!! ( i won't hold my breath though haha)

no way!! thats concerning…how did you come to find that out? I haven't done anything or heard anything since my wedding confirmation (mind you it was from ana!!) but i figured most of the stuff can wait (now that I've got the important parts done time, date, location). Let me know if daniel sends you anything interesting that you think i should know about @@aborgesbride!!

Jenna Im so SO happy for you!! did you have a quartet playing at your ceremony? (I'm so impressed that they played 1000 years). I can't wait to see pictures and would LOVE to see your video if you feel up for sharing!! also, how did you decide how to time everything during your reception? were also just doing an iPod and I'm a bit nervous about when to do the speeches, first dances, bouquet toss, garter toss etc. I'm thinking about delegating someone in our group to be a bit of an MC. How did you work that out?

you look gorgeous @@SarahWember!! we've also booked that package so good to know we can rest assured! ps. you also look so in love in that trash the dress pic..so happy for you

the number for OCT wedding dept is Tel. 52 (998) 287 2100 | Ext 2004, one time i spoke to a man who had quite broken english and the second time i spoke to ana who could communicate fine, so your spanish speaking friend may not be necessary! IT was after speaking to ana that got the ball rolling, my confirmation came later that night. The deposit is 250..keep an eye on your cc statement, they charged us a week and a half before i finally called (and spoke to ana) and kind of demanded a confirmation since they had already taken our money. Turns out the coordinator i had been working with had left the company..im not sure that that is an excuse, but I can understand how things like that can fall through the cracks…ANYWAYS. ​what hanna is talking about is on the credit card authorization form there is a blank rectangle…they want you to put your credit card under the paper and then run a pencil over the top in that rectangle so that the raised numbers and name on your credit card appear in the rectangle..when i was explaining it to hanna i likened it to when we were kids and you would put a leaf under a piece of paper and run over it with a pencil to get a picture of the leaf…strange but thats what they want..we forgot to do that the first time we tried to send in our paper work. I scanned my paper work in and sent it to anas email..i think thats easiest..then you have a paper trail of it too. you can go to staples to do that if you don't have a scanner. hope this helps!

@@MrsSheppardToBe you're probably on your way now and SO CLOSE to being married!! Im am so so excited for you and can't wait to hear!! @@Marciemarce welcome to the group! Were both from London (Ont) cool eh? my FI and I have been on the opposite end of the spectrum planning a larger wedding at OTC so Im afraid Im not a lot of help to you there. I think i do remember brides on here talking about the creperie which is a very small a la carte and recall brides saying it was small and intimate and perfect for their small group..maybe shoot ana an email about that! Just kind of echoing what aborgesbride said, put your deposit down on the wedding day at the resort (by using the email and paperwork that @@HwesleyE sent you and give it a couple wks. then once that is confirmed (and I would also confer your wedding and reception location and time if you're fussy)then have your TA get a "new" quote on the trip and book that. With a small group you don't need to be as worried about availability of seats on the plane so you've likely got loads of time! congrats @@SarahWember!! Cant wait to hear your review

Hannna if you give me your email ill send them to you, i don't know how to attach files on here.

Hey Hanna, welcome!! Im planning my wedding for april 2015. Have you handed in your deposit at all the papers that come with that? (i know we forgot the credit card plating our first try!) It took almost 3 weeks for them to get back to me and that required two phone calls to them, finally the last one to ana directly that got the ball rolling. Apparently they've just had some staff turnover so i assume thats where the delay is coming from. I would give it a couple weeks and if no response start calling. Keep an eye on your credit card statement too, they charged ours and then never got back to us until i started making calls. Anyways looking forward to having you on this thread!! @@aborgesbride - itineraries are a great idea i think. As for the rest of the ppl attending your wedding im sure they can just make an announcement after your ceremony as to where and when everyone should be back for the reception. Were kind of nervous about ppl not putting in their deposits too, we got an "early bird" price so apparently that means that full payments are due by end of oct which is so soon!! i am afraid that will deter people from booking with our TA and maybe just risking it at the last minute…oh well,what can you do. i havent gotten a flower catalogue, I figured that flowers would be something we would decide on once we got to the resort, but maybe not.

That was my original plan but my FI wants to pay for the extra hour…i read him the most recent review (i forget her name but the last bride to get married on here) who talked about paying for another hour at the last minute.. @@aborgesbride Im sure people won't mind going back to their rooms to freshen up after taking some pics with you, and then grabbing a drink. Also based on what the last bride said …you very may well want to go freshen yourself up before the reception, she's said her curls fell v. quickly in the humidity. Another thought - some of the packages used to come with a pre-wedding cocktail hour, and ana said that I *could* have the cocktail hour after but that it would likely be at a time that the lobby bar was very busy and wouldn't work as well, however if you're getting married at 2 that might be perfect timing for a cocktail hour and some drinks and THEN let ppl go and freshen up, just a thought. ps. We booked with our travel agent last night (woo hoo!!) and apparently her daughter is a photographer and she ONLY CHARGES HER FREE TRIP all the 2000 pictures she provides for you are apparently free…so if you get an *extra* free trip beyond you and your FI the third one could potential be used to get your photographer there and that makes pics VERY cheap. She said that her daughter also takes her camera with her during the week to capture candid pictures of everyone on non wedding days too…sounds pretty cool. I don't know if this is common place or just her? I've emailed a couple other local photographers just to see.. ALSO wondering from you two - we are only getting ever 16th guest who books free, which isn't as great as we thought (we'd heard a lot about ppl getting the 11th person free). what are you girls getting and what company are you using? we booked through air transat. not too many perks but cheaper than sunwing.

are you girls doing a first look or doing all your couple pics after the ceremony? I'm torn between practicality and wanting chris and i to see each other for the first time walking down the aisle .. our ceremony is at 4 but I'm not wanting the reception to start until 630..thats a big break though and I'm a little afraid all my guests will be drunk by then!! haha

Hey amanda, I would..just to be safe. and also going off other brides who have posted on here before - keep a binder with all your correspondence with the hotel and ana and anyone for that matter printed out in a binder to bring with you when you go down…so you have a paper trail incase details get missed!!

Just wondering (even though its a long ways away still) who are you guys using for photography? (sorry if the answer is further back in the thread, i can't bring my self to go thru it again).