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@@LuluMai22 I will PM you the supervisor info The limit for items that you are bringing into Mexico that you will not bring home with you is $300USD per person. Keep in mind this only comes up for the 1/10 people who get their bags searched. For our decorations we decided we would tell them we would be bringing them back to Canada (we didn't) so they didn't count. The items that we were giving as "gifts" did count-these were our OoT bag items and wedding favours. We divided these items up between our wedding party. My MoH was the only one who had her bag searched and she had our favours which were leather luggage tags. I packed the receipt with them and thank goodness as the customs officer did ask how much they were worth ($290). For our centrepieces we rented items from Love and Lace and they looked great! Hope that is helpful!

@@snswedding2016 thanks! We had guests from the US booking directly through Karisma and not receiving discounts on their packages. Because my husband and I are Canadian we did not get the promos. If we were American we would have with the number of guests we had coming from the US.

@@Tallbride515 we did not qualify for any free promos as Karisma apparently hates Canadians so we just told our guests to gather at Cantina Zocalo following the ceremony and they did! If you ask the bartenders there they have bowls of chips/pretzels etc too. I would have preferred a private event but everything else was so expensive we just couldn't swing it. Your current plan sounds really nice.

@@calgarybride2015 thank you! You look lovely in your pic too! @@mrsgordoncomeondown Congratulations in advance. Your experience with the resort staff will be WAY better than dealing with Miami/Karisma. We had to speak with a manager to get the price of the outside vendor fee reduced, our WC couldn't do that. We basically said that we would have used a photographer they provided if they had given us decent option. Caribe has terrible reviews and the Lomas package with Matias Cano is so expensive it is more economical to pay the fee and hire someone else (this is because Lomas/Karisma takes 45-55% of what they charge the couples for these services). Choosing PhotoStuioAB was one of the best decisions we made! I follow him on FB and I can't wait to see your pics! @@BecomingaRiggio thanks! Your day is coming soon and it will be wonderful! @@LuluMai22 we had to complain A LOT to get the vendor fee reduced, but we basically told them we were forced to find a different photographer because they provided no good options. Now, they told us they often waive the outside vendor fees for couples that use the photographers that are on the approved list for the El Dorado/Generations resorts but for some stupid reason are considered "outside vendors" at Azul resorts. If we had known that before we would have looked into those options. I think the Miama WCs are overloaded with files, and our WC mixed up a lot of details for us too, included our wedding date and the spelling of my name! You really have to make sure you go over your detail sheet yourself to make sure it is correct. I had a bunch of people help me bring stuff down, and my bridesmaid and I got searched at customs. There is a $300USD limit for anything you are bringing in that you won't be bringing out of the country. My bridesmaid has all our wedding favours and thank goodness I included the receipt with them (total was $280USD). The customs agent asked her how much they were worth. I had all my linens, chair bows, etc-I used them to stuff my dress! I told the customs agent the beautiful chair bows were important to me and I would be bringing them home (lie, I gave them to Katy from L&L Decor). Good thing they believed me as I didn't have a receipt as I bought them on Kijiji.

Hello ladies! I wanted to thank all of you for your advice and help through our wedding planning process! We had a wonderful wedding, thanks in part to ideas I got on this forum! Here is my super long review! Overall we are very happy with our experience at the Azul Sensatori. Some photos of our wedding can be found here: http://abweddingrivieramaya.com/2015/03/28/wedding-m-and-r/ We chose the Azul Sensatori because we had a large group coming from all over the world that included a whole bunch of kids. There are direct flights to Cancun from almost everywhere, and the resort is truly and excellent place to vacation for all ages. The wedding planning was quite frustrating at times. Our coordinator was Brigitte in the Miami office. She was always polite and professional. She actually had a lot of good ideas and advice throughout the planning process. However, we usually had to wait a week to hear back from her, and sometimes more. She also occasionally mixed up our details. I think the main issue is that they are overloaded with weddings and there aren't enough staff in the office. This irritated us, as they make a TON of money off us wedding couples, Karisma should be able to afford a few more staff. One of the most frustrating things about the planning process is that Canadian couples are excluded from all wedding promotions. The official reason for this is that Canadian guests generally purchase their rooms through a package and so get a discounted rate. That was not the case for our group, we had guests booking directly through Karisma coming from the US, and just because we were Canadian we were not given the perks an American couple would have received. Also, our wedding bill was in USD, which was a huge disadvantage for us. We attended the BDR in November 2014 and I would highly recommend this. It was so helpful, and fun! If possible plan to go before you book your wedding. They were far more likely to accommodate requests from couples who had not yet booked their weddings than those who had already signed on. The resort is fantastic. The grounds, food, activities and rooms are all wonderful. The best part of the resort is truly the people who work there. They are all very customer-focused. The resort mixed up the room bookings for quite a few of our guests. We had singles staying in a room with two beds, and groups of platonic friends staying in a room with one bed. We also had guests who paid extra to stay in the adults only section, and ocean views, who did not get the type of room they paid extra for. We also had guests who requested "guaranteed connecting rooms" and were not even in the same building! We checked in late on a Sunday night, but still the wedding concierge Laura was there to welcome us and make sure we were taken care of. She confirmed our numbers and menu for our welcome lunch and made sure we were feeling comfortable with our plans. Our package came with a 40 person lunch or dinner at Spoons, and we used it for a welcome lunch. As always, the food was excellent and the staff was very helpful. We had guests with dietary restrictions and they were all served food they could eat, and enjoyed! The staff at Spoons was fabulous, as always. Our guests were well taken care of during our lunch, which we appreciated. We could focus on visiting with them instead of taking care of them. The wedding concierge Laura also present for our lunch making sure it all went well. Janet, the Lomas wedding coordinator facilitated our rehearsal the day before the wedding. She is always professional and can multi-task like I've never seen. If you have Janet taking care of your wedding rest assured every detail will be perfect! I went to the Vassa Spa for my hair and makeup, as did the two Moms and one of my bridesmaids. Everyone looked gorgeous and were very happy with both the hair and makeup services. The front desk staff at the spa are also really helpful. Angeles did my hair and makeup and it looked great and lasted all day, even in the heat. I paid extra for the airbrush makeup, and I'm not sure it was worth it. My bridesmaid who had regular makeup done looked great and hers lasted as long as mine did. We ordered flowers through Lomas. We got two hanging corsages for the ceremony arch, a bridal bouquet, two bridesmaids bouquets, five boutonnières, and two corsages. They were all lovely. The boutonnières wilted quickly. If I had to do it again I would skip them or use an option that is not a real flower. The corsages and bouquets looked great the entire day! We ordered a few decor items from Lomas but they were so incredibly overpriced we ended up bringing most of our decor ourselves and renting some from Love&Lace Decor. We were charged a set up fee of $250 but that was WAY less than we would have spent ordering our decorations from Lomas. Our ceremony was on the Rooftop Garden (which is not a garden, nor is it on the rooftop). Janet did a great job of overseeing the set up, and it looked wonderful. It was hot, they turned on the fans and served our guests drinks which really helped. Luckily the ceremony was quick! It only took one Google search for us to decide we were not using the "approved" Photographers. Caribe has a terrible reputation, and Matias Cano is so overpriced it was more economical for us to pay the ridiculous outside vendor fee of $800USD!!!! We negotiated that down to $500USD. Our photographer was PhotoStudioAB and we are so happy with our photos. Our reception was at the Plaza Zavas. Janet, Berenice and Laura did a great job of setting everything up, and they were there throughout the reception to make sure all was well. It looked wonderful and we had a great time. The staff at the reception was so amazing. All of our guests were so well taken care of. This was wonderful for us, as we could focus on enjoying the party! The service staff asked before taking the buffet away, and also made sure our Photographers had enough to eat and drink. We used DJ AllMusic. Our DJ's name was Vulcan (I think). He did an excellent job. We bought the package that includes MC services and he kept things organized throughout the party. The package also included a bubble machine, glow sticks, and balloons. We ordered the petite gourmet buffet for our guests, and everyone loved the food. I wish I had ordered plated meals for my guests with dietary restrictions. There wasn't really a good entrée option for my vegetarian guest, and my guest with a seafood allergy was concerned because the tongs used for the fish were also used for other items. The food was labelled clearly, and so most of our guests with dietary restrictions/preferences were fine with the buffet. If I could go back I would just order a few plated meals for those who needed them. We also ordered a cake, we chose chocolate and vanilla. It was beautiful and delicious! One final note, we were planning to use the "anniversary voucher" included in our package to return to a Karima resort but we never received it! We emailed Customer Service about that when we got home, but no one has gotten back to us. We are so grateful to the entire team at the Azul Sensatori for making our wedding wonderful. All of our complaints have to do with Karismas prices and/or policies, not the people who work at the resort.

Hello ladies! I wanted to thank all of you for your advice and help through our wedding planning process! We had a wonderful wedding, thanks in part to ideas I got on this forum! Here is my super long review! Overall we are very happy with our experience at the Azul Sensatori. Some photos of our wedding can be found here: http://abweddingrivieramaya.com/2015/03/28/wedding-m-and-r/ We chose the Azul Sensatori because we had a large group coming from all over the world that included a whole bunch of kids. There are direct flights to Cancun from almost everywhere, and the resort is truly and excellent place to vacation for all ages. The wedding planning was quite frustrating at times. Our coordinator was Brigitte in the Miami office. She was always polite and professional. She actually had a lot of good ideas and advice throughout the planning process. However, we usually had to wait a week to hear back from her, and sometimes more. She also occasionally mixed up our details. I think the main issue is that they are overloaded with weddings and there aren't enough staff in the office. This irritated us, as they make a TON of money off us wedding couples, Karisma should be able to afford a few more staff. One of the most frustrating things about the planning process is that Canadian couples are excluded from all wedding promotions. The official reason for this is that Canadian guests generally purchase their rooms through a package and so get a discounted rate. That was not the case for our group, we had guests booking directly through Karisma coming from the US, and just because we were Canadian we were not given the perks an American couple would have received. Also, our wedding bill was in USD, which was a huge disadvantage for us. We attended the BDR in November 2014 and I would highly recommend this. It was so helpful, and fun! If possible plan to go before you book your wedding. They were far more likely to accommodate requests from couples who had not yet booked their weddings than those who had already signed on. The resort is fantastic. The grounds, food, activities and rooms are all wonderful. The best part of the resort is truly the people who work there. They are all very customer-focused. The resort mixed up the room bookings for quite a few of our guests. We had singles staying in a room with two beds, and groups of platonic friends staying in a room with one bed. We also had guests who paid extra to stay in the adults only section, and ocean views, who did not get the type of room they paid extra for. We also had guests who requested "guaranteed connecting rooms" and were not even in the same building! We checked in late on a Sunday night, but still the wedding concierge Laura was there to welcome us and make sure we were taken care of. She confirmed our numbers and menu for our welcome lunch and made sure we were feeling comfortable with our plans. Our package came with a 40 person lunch or dinner at Spoons, and we used it for a welcome lunch. As always, the food was excellent and the staff was very helpful. We had guests with dietary restrictions and they were all served food they could eat, and enjoyed! The staff at Spoons was fabulous, as always. Our guests were well taken care of during our lunch, which we appreciated. We could focus on visiting with them instead of taking care of them. The wedding concierge Laura also present for our lunch making sure it all went well. Janet, the Lomas wedding coordinator facilitated our rehearsal the day before the wedding. She is always professional and can multi-task like I've never seen. If you have Janet taking care of your wedding rest assured every detail will be perfect! I went to the Vassa Spa for my hair and makeup, as did the two Moms and one of my bridesmaids. Everyone looked gorgeous and were very happy with both the hair and makeup services. The front desk staff at the spa are also really helpful. Angeles did my hair and makeup and it looked great and lasted all day, even in the heat. I paid extra for the airbrush makeup, and I'm not sure it was worth it. My bridesmaid who had regular makeup done looked great and hers lasted as long as mine did. We ordered flowers through Lomas. We got two hanging corsages for the ceremony arch, a bridal bouquet, two bridesmaids bouquets, five boutonnières, and two corsages. They were all lovely. The boutonnières wilted quickly. If I had to do it again I would skip them or use an option that is not a real flower. The corsages and bouquets looked great the entire day! We ordered a few decor items from Lomas but they were so incredibly overpriced we ended up bringing most of our decor ourselves and renting some from Love&Lace Decor. We were charged a set up fee of $250 but that was WAY less than we would have spent ordering our decorations from Lomas. Our ceremony was on the Rooftop Garden (which is not a garden, nor is it on the rooftop). Janet did a great job of overseeing the set up, and it looked wonderful. It was hot, they turned on the fans and served our guests drinks which really helped. Luckily the ceremony was quick! It only took one Google search for us to decide we were not using the "approved" Photographers. Caribe has a terrible reputation, and Matias Cano is so overpriced it was more economical for us to pay the ridiculous outside vendor fee of $800USD!!!! We negotiated that down to $500USD. Our photographer was PhotoStudioAB and we are so happy with our photos. Our reception was at the Plaza Zavas. Janet, Berenice and Laura did a great job of setting everything up, and they were there throughout the reception to make sure all was well. It looked wonderful and we had a great time. The staff at the reception was so amazing. All of our guests were so well taken care of. This was wonderful for us, as we could focus on enjoying the party! The service staff asked before taking the buffet away, and also made sure our Photographers had enough to eat and drink. We used DJ AllMusic. Our DJ's name was Vulcan (I think). He did an excellent job. We bought the package that includes MC services and he kept things organized throughout the party. The package also included a bubble machine, glow sticks, and balloons. We ordered the petite gourmet buffet for our guests, and everyone loved the food. I wish I had ordered plated meals for my guests with dietary restrictions. There wasn't really a good entrée option for my vegetarian guest, and my guest with a seafood allergy was concerned because the tongs used for the fish were also used for other items. The food was labelled clearly, and so most of our guests with dietary restrictions/preferences were fine with the buffet. If I could go back I would just order a few plated meals for those who needed them. We also ordered a cake, we chose chocolate and vanilla. It was beautiful and delicious! One final note, we were planning to use the "anniversary voucher" included in our package to return to a Karima resort but we never received it! We emailed Customer Service about that when we got home, but no one has gotten back to us. We are so grateful to the entire team at the Azul Sensatori for making our wedding wonderful. All of our complaints have to do with Karismas prices and/or policies, not the people who work at the resort.

@@KendraS Thanks for the reassurance. I have a rehearsal booked and now I'm so glad I did! I'll bring the contact info with me for StylingTrio just in case. Glad your day was awesome! I'm sure you looked gorgeous. @@lauralc That's so silly! They should be happy to take your money, for goodness sake. I'm using the spa and hoping that goes well. Another option would be to book your makeup artist a room so they are a guest at the resort. That would be an expensive plan but the spa at the resort is expensive too!

@@LaurenR attached is the cake info, flavours are -Red Velvet -Oreo -Vanilla rum -Coconut -Amaretto -Dulce de leche -Champagne -Hazelnut -Vanilla -Chocolate -Strawberry -Lemon -Carrot -Funfetti We are getting chocolate and vanilla, we figure everyone should like that. I tried A LOT of cake at the BDR, and I also LOVED champagne and hazelnut. 2014 Cakes - Mexico.pdf

@@KendraS Thank you for the info! I'm sorry to learn the spa was disappointing. I am booked there for my hair/makeup as is my bridal party. Eek! @@Janjin we have 15 kids coming and they each get to order from the kids menu. We are having a buffet for our "grown up" guests. The kids meals are free! See the menu attached. We also had the option of paying half price for each child to eat from the buffet. They are also providing baby food for our nephew. I really wanted to have a photobooth. I was planning to do a DIY one with a polaroid camera, but then I saw how dark it will be in my reception space (Plaza Zavas) and decided against it. Kids Menu.PDF

@@carrieandsam my wedding is the 19th! You'll be there for it! As long as the weather is good we will be at the Plaza Zavas. Feel free to pop by! @@Ybonilla we are getting our hair and makeup done at the spa, but the bridal suite is an extra charge, even though we are spending a bunch of money there! So we decided against it. I think more than four people would be uncomfortable. @@LaurenR I think if people from the spa will come to your room to your hair and makeup, but they add an additional 10% to your bill @@carrieandsam I found this helpful-here is the update sunset times with the time change considered Sunset Times @@mrsgordoncomeondown we got my FI's nephew one of these to wear in our wedding colours Ring Security Badge

@@carrieandsam Nice I hope that works out! When is the March BDR?

We are having ours at Spoon, but they are charging us $25 per person for everyone over 40 guests except for infants. I think Zocaloco could hold that many people if you can get your WC to agree to it!

Yup I just loved the candle&crystal centerpiece, but yes they are $50! The good thing about having your wedding in such a beautiful location is that things will look lovely-whatever you decide to do! Agreed! I've gotten so much useful info from this forum! @@rebepax thank you so much for the set up fee info. That seem like a LOT for a set up fee, but considering how much decor you would get from Lomas for that (not much) I'm sure it was money well spend. P.S. You look SOOOO gorgeous in your wedding photo! @@lauralc I'm getting my hair and makeup done at the spa on site, and crossing my fingers it turns out well! @@carrieandsam Wifi is extra unless your guests are staying in the premium section, although we get free access to wifi with our "Always and Forever" package. We found the wifi pretty crummy, it dropped out often and was pretty slow. I like the idea of a wedding hashtag-I think we may do one anyways and just see how it goes. @@BecomingaRiggio I feel your pain with the budget! I just paid my final bill, and the Canadian dollar WAY down so our wedding ended up being 20% more than we expected.

@@BecomingaRiggio that centrepiece is just gorgeous! Wow! @@linaco80 I'm sure @@AllieH is correct, there are way more item available from Lomas than on their website, which is silly. When I was at the BDR they had a bunch of display items that I could not find on their online catalogue.I have some photos in my gallery if you want to take a look. I send pics of the BDR items I liked to my wedding coordinator (Brigitte) and she got the prices for me. They were still too expensive for us! $50 to rent one lantern! We have ten tables so that was just not something we could do. I thought I would maybe use the "beach lanterns" which are $5, but they are super small (15cm) I'm renting some items from Love & Lace Wedding Decor, you can find them on Facebook or email the owner Katy at [email protected] and she will send you a dropbox link with her items.

I'm currently looking for my bags! I'll let you know what I find.

@@linaco80 we are hitting up the Mojito Lounge after the ceremony too, @@BecomingaRiggio I like your wording suggestion! We are going to have a wedding day timeline in our OoT bags for our guests. @@BecomingaRiggio the flowers by Lomas at the weddings I saw at the BDR were lovely, but they were so expensive. Because our reception is outside and starts at 6PM we are just doing lanterns and tealights. By the time our reception begins it will be almost completely dark.

That is just soooo beautiful! I really like the lace detail on the veil. @@colleentf09 that dress will look gorgeous anywhere! @@calgarybride2015 a towel is a great idea, and you look lovely in your dress!

@@Aliyedwinramirez and @@carrieandsam we customized our wedding cake and so far that has been just fine! There is even a little photo of it on our wedding summary sheet that our WC uploaded. We just send our WC a description of what we had in mind. Of course, my wedding isn't till March but at the BDR I was assured that the cakes can be made however we like!

@@TinkerSofi Thanks, I'm glad you found a dress you love too! Is there a pic of it here? I'd love to see it. Thank you @@acw271011 - my dress is Stella York in white from their "beach" line. @@maybeoneday I'm so glad you're able to start planning your dream wedding after a difficult time. I agree with @@Everly if you are going to do something non-traditional a DW is the best place to do that. I had a friend who wore red to a traditional church wedding too and it was gorgeous. Her husband's face was priceless!

@@JenniferH114 I love your entire ensemble! You are going to look great! This is my dress, on a model. I was surprised that I ended up buying a "destination wedding dress" as I mostly preferred the more formal/traditional dresses.

@@carrieandsam @@BecomingaRiggio and @@Aliyedwinramirez your STDs are awesome!

Thanks @@kmk2016 that's good to know! We will need tables for our escort cards and "guestbook" -which is actually an Oiler's jersey.

@@carrieandsam Thank you for the information about LeChique. @@ShannonLeAnn we are having our reception at the Plaza Zavas too. We checked it out at the BDR and think it will be just fine without a rented dance floor. Hopefully we get good weather! @@linaco80 I'm so sorry to hear about this! Nasty stuff. We are getting our act together with our OoT bags, finally. We are planning to do travel mugs/tumblers or something like that for the adults. We have 15 kids attending our wedding, do you ladies think we should do something different for them? They range in age from 10months-11 years. TIA.

@@BecomingaRiggio at the BDR Antonio from the weddings department told us they can make reservations for LeChique for up to eight people if requested by the bride and groom. Otherwise it is a maximum of four, and adults only. Hope that is helpful! @@raqpena we are doing the same thing for our cocktail hour. We are suggesting our guests gather at Cantina Zocaloco for coctails, unless rains-in that case we will suggest the Zavas Lounge. We didn't want to pay extra for another private event, as we figure some of our guests with small children will want to use that time for naps, clean up, etc. @@carrieandsam I like both of your candle holders! Are you using real candles or LEDs? If they are real maybe the first one would work better if your reception is outdoors to protect the flames from drafts/wind.

@@ObeBride07 Your decor concept sounds fantastic! We ordered one sheer from Lomas, which is ridiculously expensive. One thing we noticed when we were at the BDR is that the sun goes down really quickly- our reception begins at 6PM and by then it will be completely dark! We were planning to order centrepieces, but they aren't super visible in the dark, so I think re-using the bridesmaids bouquets will be just fine. I agree with @@murmel I think your group will enjoy the Plaza Zavas regardless of size. Best wishes for your wedding planning!