We got married at Now Jade on January 22, 2012. We had a total of 38 guests attend. We could not be more happy with this resort and how they pulled together our wedding week/day. Our wedding coordinator was Pilar. She did a great job. Although the communication at the beginning was sparse and I got impatient at times, we understood she had other weddings happening that day/week/month that took more priority. Once our wedding date got closer, the communication vastly improved and we got all our questions answered. We met with Pilar the day after our arrival to drop off all the decorations/favours we brought and went over the program, set up, timing, flowers, etc. We felt a load off our backs after the meeting. She was on top of everything. It was so fun having a destination wedding with a big group. Walking around the resort and seeing familiar faces and seeing how much fun everyone was having was great. We all spent time together but also several people did their own excurisions and enjoyed their vacation. Everyone told us it was the best wedding they have ever attended!

 

We booked our wedding date approximately 11 months beforehand so we had plenty of time to prepare. Guests started booking around August. We booked our group travel with Escapes Canada. Our travel agent was great and easy to work with. However, our package was with Sunwing. *BRIDES BEWARE! - DO NOT book your group travel with Sunwing Airlines. I cannot emphasize this enough. It is a terrible airline notorious for delays and its lack of customer service. Please book with any other airline. We had no choice when we secured our group rate when it was about 8 months out and Sunwing was the only company who had pricing for Now Jade. Our flight time was changed twice causing guests from different departure points to change their plans completely, and the morning of our departure, we arrive to the airport only to find out the plane was 8 hours delayed. There was no prior notice of this and very little explanation. We had no choice but to wait at the airport the entire time. Also, carry-on lugguge can only be 11lbs - my suitcase empty weighs around 8lbs!! I had carefully packed all the items for the wedding day (decorations, wedding favours, flowers, etc) in the carry on bags just in case anything got lost. I had to unpack EVERYTHING at the counter because it was over weight. Luckily we had 29 of our guests on the same flight and everyone just helped us out by taking little bits and pieces of our wedding stuff into their carry on. It was a major pain! I researched Sunwing after we got back from Now Jade and found so many horrible reviews on this airline. They have a lot of unhappy customers. Save yourself the headache and wait for group rates from West Jet, Air Canada or Air Transat.

I know there are tons of reviews already on this beautiful resort so I'm not going to review every little detail about Now Jade and mostly focus on the wedding stuff.

Overall Resort & Experience - Now Jade is an amazing resort. It is so beautifully kept and all the employees are willing to please. The main lobby bar is huge and great place for meeting up. We had our "Meet & Greet" game here. There are two pool areas - the main pool (aka party pool) and the adult pool on the preferred side. Our group mostly hung out on the preferred side. It is calmer without all the loud music and kids/teenagers running around. Plus there are really comfy cabanas to relax on. Rooms are great too - most of our guests stayed in the Jr Suite Tropical View. All rooms were spacious and decent and everyone loved the modern decor. We got a nice surprise upon check-in where they gave us a free upgrade to an oceanfront room on the preferred side (Building 7). The room was HUGE with a separate living room, bathroom, two large closets and a jacuzzi on the balcony. We faced the ocean without any obstructions in view - just gorgeous. Complete privacy too as we were on one of the higher floors and no one can see onto our balcony allowing us to use the jacuzzi! Many Restaurants/Cuisines to choose from - main buffet has everything and there are the main restaurants featuring French, Mediterranean, Italian, Asian and Mexican cuisine. Castaways was great for lunch! Food was awesome and there was something to please everyone. Several guests did day excursions to Chichen Itza, Xel-Ha, Puerto Morelos, Coco Bongo at night, golfing and snorkeling.

Although we were the bride and groom and on the preferred side, we noticed some inconsistencies with the room service. Our friends (also on the preferred side) had a bottle of champagne waiting for them after their 2nd night  when we didn't. And they got fresh fruit and chocolate dipped strawberries another night. The only time we got that delivered to our room was on our wedding night. My husband called the front desk and asked for champagne and they delivered a bottle to us. As well, small detail but something we usually looked forward to are towel art  - we only got that on our wedding night. Some of the room doors had banners across it saying "Happy Birthday" or "Happy Anniversary", we would have loved it if they put a banner on our door saying "Happy Wedding" or "Congratulations". Finally, on our wedding night, there was champagne, strawberries and rose petals all over the floor and bed but the jacuzzi bath wasn't drawn. All small details not a big deal but these things would have made a lasting impression for our wedding trip.

 

We had our couples massage a day before the wedding at the Spa - included in the wedding package. It was so relaxing and great to just spend some alone time together. The spa is very soothing and we used the hot tub after our massages. We spent about 2 hours at the spa and then joined our families for dinner. We booked our appointments before we arrived to the resort.

 

Now onto wedding stuff!

We chose the Divine Package. Highly recommended as it includes everything you need for the wedding day and more! We got a videographer who did an amazing job capturing our special day, a DJ who stayed for all 4 hours of our reception (only 2 hrs are included in the package, a private/romantic dinner on the beach for just my husband & I and a couples massage at the Spa! The package also includes bridal hair and makeup styling. My cousin is a makeup artist and my sister-in-law is a hairdresser so they did that for me instead. I was able to do trial runs at home before going to Mexico so they knew exactly what to do on my wedding day. I gave the hair appointment to my maid of honour and the makeup application to my mom.

I highly recommend brides to bring their own decorations as much as possible. There is a charge for everything extra not included in the package. We brought our own chair bows and table runners (www.linentableclothes.ca), fake rose petals for the aisle (Michaels Craft store), my bridesmaids bouquets x 5 & groomsmen boutineers x 3 (www.afloral.com), table number stands, coloured napkins and tealights with holders that were our wedding colour - magenta. We also brought our own iPod with specific entry and exit songs for the ceremony & reception.

Locations: We had our ceremony on La Pergola (rooftop terrace), cocktail hour at Mix Bar and reception in the Bamboo Room. Ceremony started at 3pm and this gave us plenty of time to take pictures afterwards. The set up of the Pergola was so beautiful. There were white drapery around the pillars and large floral arrangements. They put an aisle runner and sprinkled the fake rose petals on it. All chairs had a white cover and the ivory chair bows we provided. We also provided our own vows to the Minister. The only thing that I would change is the Minister. He was very nice and polite but he had the thickest accent. Most guests could not really understand what he was saying half the time. It was hard to repeat after him as his words were mumbled. If you can, provide your own minister or request someone who is well-versed in English. There were large speakers set up for the songs and the Minister had a microphone so people could hear our vows.

 

 

After the ceremony, we did a champagne toast with all our guests and started the photo session in the garden/lawn area. We took photos with the families and friends and then our wedding party moved down to the beach for our photos. It was quite windy but we got some amazing shots. While we took photos, the rest of our guests enjoyed appetitizers and drinks at the Mix Bar. We had a signature drink - raspberry mojitos and they served that to all our guests along with any other drinks they wanted. We had the Mix Bar for 1 hour. We did go back up to the Pergola for more pictures as I wanted some where we had our ceremony but they took down all the decorations already! I was a bit disappointed with this.

 

The reception was in the Bamboo Room - highly recommended! It is essentially a large ballroom that is connected to the main buffet restaurant but is completely closed off and curtains closed so we get privacy. We had 5 round tables seating 8 guests at each table and a main dance floor in the center. We also made a slideshow and they provided a DVD player and white screen. It did cost us a pretty penny though (around $300). Pricey but I spent a lot of time on the slideshow and we really wanted to play it for our guests. Dinner was fantastic - everyone raved about the food. We did the speeches, first dance, mother/groom dance, garter & bouquet toss and cake cutting after dinner. They did a great job with the cake too. It was very pretty and tasted delicious. Then came the dancing part - our favourite! All our guests danced up a storm and our bartenders (we had 4) grabbed a bamboo stick off the wall and encouraged all of us to an impromptu limbo! One of the bartenders stood on a chair on the other side and everytime someone limbo-ed thru, he would pour tequila in their mouth! It was awesome and people loved it. We were only suppose to have the Bamboo Room for 3 hours but we got it for an extra hour (along with the DJ) at no extra cost. It did get quite hot in the Bamboo Room and some of the adults sat outside for a bit while the rest of us continued to dance. Reception officially ended at 11pm.

 

 

Flowers: The Divine Package includes bride & maid of honour bouquets and groom & best man boutineers. We had a total of 5 bridesmaids and 3 groomsmen so instead of buying fresh bouquets at $65 each and boutineers at $18 each from the resort, I ordered silk flowers from www.afloral.com. They looked and felt so real. Only hassel was packing and traveling with them carefully but we got them there in one piece and it was great! No one could tell they were fake unless you touch them. They looked great in the photos too. We did get fresh wrist corsages for both mothers and fresh boutineers for both fathers from the resort. I had a print out of the bouquet I wanted for my bridal bouquet - white roses with white calla lilies. Pilar delivered the bouquet to my room the morning of the ceremony and I was very happy with it.

 

 

Photography & Videography: The Divine Package includes an upgraded photography package and an edited DVD. We used the company on site - Adventure Photos. Our photographer was Federico. We met with him on the same day we met with Pilar and went over what we wanted him to do - take getting ready shots in my room, ceremony, photo session on the beach and the reception. He seemed very genuine and wanted to do everything he could to please us. He did not disappoint. He took amazing photos! We got to see the pictures two days after our wedding and picked out our favourites ones. He burned those onto a disc and also printed out 24 of photos (included in the package). The package also includes a wedding photo book. We got this delivered to our house about two weeks after we got home. Our videographer was from Cancun Wedding Video and his name was Eddie. He did a great job too. He came into my room with Federico and took some video of me & my bridesmaids getting our hair and makeup done and me putting on my wedding dress. He edited the DVD and we got it before we left the resort. The editing was amazing and he did a great job capturing our day. It brought tears to our eyes to see our special day again. It passed by so fast so it was nice to re-live it.

 

The night after the wedding, we scheduled our "romantic dinner on the beach" which is part of the Divine Wedding Package. It was amazing - they set up a private cabana type tent with tiki torches and chair covers and sashes. It was so romantic and wonderful to just be with each other on the beach with (almost) complete privacy and listening the waves crashing just 5 feet away. The server was great and the food was amazing.

 

All in all, I cannot believe that after 13 months of planning, our wedding day has come and gone. We had the best day of our lives and everything surpassed our expectations. It was amazing how all things came together and we had exactly what we imagined. Brides, my best advice to you is to please enjoy every moment of your special day. It really passes by so quickly so don't sweat the small stuff and just trust that everything will work out in the end. Happy planning everyone! I wish you all the best for the most wonderful wedding day!

 

Feel free to message me with any questions. I am happy to help!