saramatthews

@@hapykat they did contouring but only a little. I added more when I got back to my room! We used some different songs or not so traditional. I'm trying to even remember what my husband chose for the bridal party since I couldn't hear it lol. I walked down to my aunt singing the beyonce version of Ave Maria (the song has special family meaning) After the ceremony we walked back down the aisle to "I got a woman" by Ray Charles lol. We has a super laid back wedding though. For our 1st song we also did something more untraditional and did "Blowers Daughter" by Damien Rice. For centerpieces, we did BC-13 since 2 were included with the gold package. From the picture they looked small but they were HUGE and beautiful. I wish I had gotten a picture of it because a lot of people complimented them. They were only $70 each so we only had to pay for 3 after the 2 free ones. Let me know if y'all have any other questions! @@Sabes44 we didn't do a first look pictures, our "first look" was when my husband saw me walk down the aisle. For me 30 minutes was plenty of time for getting ready, I didn't have any shots in mind and she captured more than enough for me. If you are wanting to do first look I can definitely see why you would want the additional 30 minutes. My husband didn't care that much about pictures so we went pretty basic are were more than happy withy how everything turned out. And our first look pictures of him seeing me walk to the alter are some of my favorite and very special

@@JenniferH114 totally makes sense. We only had the photographer come 30 minutes early to the room because we didn't want to pay for the extra hours. She came at 2pm photgrapher for about 30 minutes...then went to the pier to get the shots ahead fo the ceremony and we got married at 3pm. If you have the photgrapher coming that early you definitely may want to go earlier

@@JenniferH114 I would consider switching the order. I went first too and thought it would be better so I wouldn't be rushing around. We all ended up sitting in the spa anyway so maybe worth considering going after them @@Sabes44 2 of my bridesmaids and my husbands cousin put their hair up and he was equally as fast!

@@Sabes44 we did hot pink and red rose petals (may sound a little weird but our colors were purple, red, and hot pink) I think they looked awesome and added a great pop of color and looked really tropical. We had some vases that were filled with water and white orchids (they made a mistake, they were supposed to be purple but it wasn't a big deal) on the table where the judge was, and honestly they blended a lot with the rest of the scenery. Just my two cents. Let me know if you have any more questions! I would be happy to help. I wish I found this site BEFORE the wedding

@@Sabes44 I did have a LOT more downtime than I expected. My wedding was scheduled for 3pm. At first they had said hair and makeup at 1pm which I thought was crazy. SInce they had two stylists and I had 4 people that needed to get their hair done, we scheduled at 9:30 and 11:00 (since they told us it would take two hours for long hair). They were able to do makeup on two additional people and do one additional hair and we were still done by about 11:30 LOL. So we had about 3 hours to hang before the wedding. It was fine, we went back to my suite, ordered room service for lunch and just hung out but I would have prefered to not go so early looking back...

@@upstatekj It was sooooo windy that day but not any more windy on the pier than it would have been on the beach. It was windy about the first 3 days we were down there and then of course the day after we got married totally still. But I can't complain, it was 70% chance of rain the day of the wedding and we stuck with doing it outside and it was a gorgeous day minus the wind. It just made for some funny pictures with dresses blowing and hair all over the place I honestly don't remember who did my hair and makeup? I wish I could remember his name but he was really fast and good! If they stay in the same chairs, he was in the chair to your right when you walk in the salon. I really had not narrowed down what I wanted to do and explained a couple of ideas and he went with is. I also loved my makeup too. I wanted a more natural look and I think he did a great job. After two bridesmaids saw my hair and makeup, they decided to get theirs done and he worked them in. He was much faster than I thought (the email said 2 hours for long hair) and he was done with hair AND makeup in like 45 minutes ha! and thanks for all the compliments on the pics...they really do a GREAT job there. It was stressfree and just how I imagined it. Only small snafu, we did a legal ceremony and the judge was a hour late. Luckily we just sent the guests to the bar and my bridesmaids came back up to hang out with me and everyone had a great time!

Hi All! Sorry for the delay! I will post as many as I can! @@upstatekj we got the gold menu...don't remember the exact number but it had a soup, caesar salad, and then a pistachio crusted fish and seafood stuffed salmon. The food was actually REALLY good. Especially for banquet style food. The service was a little slow during dinner but it was totally fine. We missed the cocktail hour because we were taking pictures but everyone said the cocktails were great too. I would have to look up what we actually ordered. I will also say, the cake was OUTSTANDING! I normally do not like cake at all. I was pleasantly surprised I actually ate it! We got vanilla with raspberry filling. The frosting was a whip cream like frosting, not your traditional buttercream. Here are some pics of the ceremony and reception!

@@SusanMarie813 - did the other pictures I posted show up?

@@Giocivs88 I will post some more later tonight! I have some great ones of the pier where the ceremony was and the oregano room where the reception was. WHat else would you like pics of?

@@upstatekj - we actually had 46 not including us and I was surprised it fit surprisingly well. I can post a pic of the actual pier later tonight but they are on my computer at home...Since they can fit 4 people across, two on both sides of the aisle, it only was 12 rows deep. I took these pics of the pics from my computer so the quality may not be that great but you can get the idea of the shots! Let me know if you need anything else

We just got married on January 10th at Excellence Riviera Cancun and it was the best experience ever! I like many of you was a little hesitant because the email responses seemed to be delayed a bit from Jessica and nothing seemed to be very cohesive as far as price and information. I will say though, about a few weeks out she sent me an email with a pdf of everything. We went back and forth a little bit about things butit was organized. When we got down there, she met with us and we got everything taken care of in about 30 minutes. We got married on the pier and it was absolutely stunning! It was cool to have a different backdrop than the traditional beach setting. We did our recpetion in the oregano room. We actually loved it! We had 49 people at our wedding and it was the perfect location that felt a little enclosed while still being outside and also felt seculded from the rest of the resort. We loved the beautiful dark beams and architecture of the space. Here is what we paid for as far as extras: We got the gold package so almost everything was included except what we had to pay for the extra guests... -We paid the $220 for the lights and paper balls. It really ended up making the room and added a beautiful ambiance. -I also upgraded the bouquets for myself and my bridesmaids because I had something specific in mind. -I added an extra satin bow on each chair which looking back on now definitely didn't need it. -I had to pay for a few extra centerpieces because only 2 were included and we ended up having 6 table including the head table. I wish I would have taken a picture of the ones we selected from the gold package because they were gorgeous. We upgraded the head table ones and if I had seen the ones we used for the other tables I wouldn't have paid the extra money. They were actually prettier that the head table orchids we got. -Jessica used a few of the orchid columns from the head table at the ceremony table so we actually didn't get any flowers for the ceremony. It was more than enough to suffice and the backdrop was so pretty. -We got rose petals (I believe they were $65) That was so worth it! They made the pictures and added a beautiful pop of color! -We paid $400 for the sound system and just made our own play list on an ipod. It worked perfect! As far as photgraphers, we used the in house photographers Beach Wedding Studio. I absolutely loved Ashley! She was very professional...we met with her ahead of time and went over what we liked and didn't like as far as style. We like more creative photgraphy as compared to staged photos and gave her free reign to do what she wanted with the pictures. We were absolutely thrilled when we got them back! She captured the joy of the day and the photos were stunning. It was really windy the day of the wedding but she worked with the elements to create some gorgeous shots! We were so thankful we had her to capture out special day. II can try to attach some pictures if anyone wants! Hopefully this info was helpful...I saw all of the reception options in person so if anyone needs any more specific info or suggestions, I would be happy to help. Everyone at our wedding had an amazing time and I would go back to the resort again!!