OliveiraWedding

@@Tsampson I can't remember what the bouquet number was and I don't have the catalogue anymore. I believe both mine and the bridesmaid were under the BB category. I told Viviana that I wanted the bridesmaids to have all white flowers, preferably roses and hydrangeas, and I wanted mine to have some pinks with white. So it wasn't an exact bouquet from the catalogue, I kind of made my own. Since we used to resort photographer, he was only supposed to shoot the ceremony; however he offered his time before and after the ceremony. He spent about an hour and a half shooting us and the groomsmen getting ready, and probably about a half hour after getting shots on the beach. I think this was plenty of time. I remember being sick of smiling and just wanting to go enjoy ourselves at cocktail hour. Our hor d'oeurves selections were: Hot Hors d'oeuvres: 1. Mini fish tacos with guacamole and Mexican salsa 2. Baked stuffed polenta with spinach and roasted tomato 3. Mushroom filled with Italian sausage and basil, gratinated with mozzarella 4. Chicken jalapeno quesadilla with Mexican salsa Cold Hors d'oeurves: 1. Brie canapé with marinated roasted balsamic apple 2. Curried chicken salad on cucumber boat 3. Brochette of cherry tomato and buffalo mozzarella with pesto dip 4. Tortilla pinwheel with red pepper cream cheese and cilantro From what I can remember, they were all delicious, I missed the first round due to pictures, but I think everyone's favorite was the stuffed mushrooms. I personally loved the Brie canape. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the food at this resort, everything is so good! I chose chocolate cake w/ buttercream frosting for the cake, and again it was good. The flowers did start to melt off not long after they brought the cake out, so try to get to your cake cutting and pictures as soon as they bring it out!

You have nothing to worry about! Viviana is amazing, and so is the photographer! We did use the music trio during our cocktail hour, whether you choose "romantic" or "caribbean" it is the same band, so Viviana told me whatever you choose you can just ask them to change if you don't like it. We went with romantic, everyone loved it. For some reason, I can not find any good pictures of the reception but I have some candids that I will upload, so you can get an idea of the ambience

@@lizzjameson Thank you! We had our ceremony in the stone gazebo, i HIGHLY recommend having it there instead of directly on the beach. We watched a few weddings that were on the beach and there is just way too much going on, people in the water, people on the beach, volleyball games going on. If you have the option, have your ceremony in the stone gazebo. It is set back and all the way over to the left side of the beach, and you still have good views of the water minus all the people. Our cocktail hour and reception dinner were at Las Dunas. Originally, it was to be at Sky Bar, but I really wanted a more intimate, rustic feel. Sky Bar has a minimum for guests and we only had 24 people total. They had given us an exception to use Sky Bar but when I saw pictures of Las Dunas set up for a wedding I fell in love with it. It was exactly what I had in mind for our destination wedding. The ONLY problem with this was the mosquitoes. September is rainy season, and along with that comes the mosquitoes. They seem to be out from 6:30pm-8:30pm and are relentless. We got attacked for the first hour of the reception which was awful, but the resort does everything they can to help control them. They spray the area daily actually came out to spray right before the reception and offered us plenty of bug spray for ourselves. Once the mosquitoes were gone around 8pm, the rest of the night went by perfectly. The food was delicious, we went with the tenderloin and everyone said it was the best meal they had the entire week at the resort. I really have no complaints about anything, the service at this resort is amazing, everyone is so unbelievably nice and super helpful. My mother in law has trouble walking and they got her a wheelchair right away and were always offering to help get her around. As far as vendors and extras, we went with everything the resort offered us. We chose the gold package which included a video of the ceremony and a photography package with the resort's onsite photographer "Beach Weddings Studio." Our photographer was Federico, and he was amazing! We didn't pay anything extra for his service and he ended up coming to our suite as well as the guys to take pictures getting ready prior to the ceremony, and then stayed another hour after the ceremony to take pictures on the beach. We ended up purchasing a package that included a slide show he made for us, a large photo album, and a disc with edited, copyright-free photos. My only complaint with the resort's vendors is the videographer. I do not believe he was affiliated with Beach Weddings Studio and the video is very low quality but at least we have something to watch to remind us of our wedding day. We did not hire the DJ, but instead rented a speaker system from the resort for $400 and brought our Ipad with a playlist we created prior. The DJ service costs $1300 and we were trying to save as much money as possible and didn't feel the need to have a DJ for 24 people and everything worked out perfectly, I have absolutely no regrets there. With the gold package, my hair style and make-up application were included. I did pay to have a hair trial the night before which I also HIGHLY recommend. I had Monica as a stylist and she really is amazing. I did not love the trial hair style but I told her exactly what I didn't like about it and my hair was perfect the next day for the wedding. She did everything I asked for and I loved it. She also did my make-up (no trial) and did an amazing job. If you can, request Monica!!!! Finally, my wedding coordinator. I had Viviana and she is absolutely amazing. I never did a site visit and planned everything via e-mail with her and she did such a great job. The whole day was exactly how I had imagined it to be and more. She is available to meet with you whenever you want at the resort. She knew exactly how I wanted everything to be and made sure it happened. I seriously felt like I've known her forever, she is so good at her job and making sure everything goes smoothly. There were a few bumps, which I had expected- nothing can ever go perfectly smooth- but she fixed them right away. All of my bouquets and boutonnieres were delivered to my mom's room instead of mine so we had to relocate to find them and have someone run the boutonnieres down to the groomsmen, but it all worked out. The guy in charge of music at the ceremony played the wrong song for the wedding party entrance, but mine was right and there is nothing I could have done about it, so I let that slide. I apologize for the length of this comment but I wanted to make sure I told you about everything! I seriously can not say enough about this resort and the service, it was absolutely amazing. We are already planning our return!

Hi everyone! Just got back from my wedding vacation @ Finest Playa Mujeres and I can not even begin to tell you all how absolutely AMAZING the entire experience was! If any one has any questions, ask away! I will try to get back to all of you, and I will post some pictures

The outside vendor fee is $500 per vendor.

I am havin a small wedding, only 24 people. Viviana said we could probably do one long table with one large centerpiece, it's just hard to scale size and color from those pictures! And does anyone know anything about the bouquets? The cataligies for the bridal bouquets and bridesmaids bouquets are exactly the same, except the bridesmaids are less expensive. Wondering if this means they are the same, just smaller?

Hey Everyone! I am getting married at Finest on Saturday 5, 2015, getting nervous. I never did a site visit or anything, have just been planning via e-mail with Viviana, who is amazing btw. Just wondering if anyone had the bonfire and had any feedback or pictures. I am also having a hard time picking flowers and bouquets from the picture catalogue, any opinions? suggestions? Thank you!!