We had an AMAZING time at Now Jade for our wedding week Feb 6 - 13, 2013. We travelled with a group of 35, departing from Toronto through Canjet (subsidiary of Air Transit). The airline was great with us - as Bride and Groom we got a lot of perks such as an extra 10 kg of luggage each, priority check-in and boarding and a reserved overhead bin for the wedding gown (which did not count as my carry-on). They put a little Wedding Bells sticker on our tickets so everyone was super helpful and offering congratulatory messages as we made our way through the airport which was a nice touch. On the plane we also got treats - free headphones and 2 free bottles of bubbly.

4:30 am flight but we are excited!

 

Resort

Once we arrived at Now Jade we were immediately greeted with drinks and cool washcloths before we even made it into the lobby. The bellhops were on the job right away of getting luggage tagged for room delivery - we were whisked away to the preferred club (PC) lounge for our upgraded check in. In the PC lounge we were offered drinks and snacks, explained the perks of PC and given our room which had been upgraded from tropical view (standard) to PC ocean view!! They brought Pilar into the lounge so we could meet her and confirm our planning meeting the next day. As we arrived about mid-day our room was not yet ready but they offered us a place to change into swimsuits and told us the room would be ready by 3. Back in the main lobby our group was still checking in (took a while since there were 35 of them) but everyone was enjoying themselves with drinks so no concerns there. Quite a few of our guests took advantage of room upgrades during check in - it was about $50/day more to upgrade to PC (compared to almost $200/night when we booked through a TA).  Those that upgraded were very happy with their choice to do so but the folks in the standard rooms were still very impressed with their rooms. Even the few who had a construction view were fine with it because they really didn’t spend too much time in their rooms.  I would say the perks of PC were very nice to have but I would not have spent $200/night on it.  Ask at check-in what the rate is since it varies depending on resort bookings.  When we were there the resort was between 70% booked (weekdays) and 80% (weekend).

 

Preferred Club Ocean View - free upgrade as Bride and Groom!

 

Standard Room - Tropical View with 2 double beds

 

The resort was awesome – our friends and family kept telling us how impressed they were with everything – food, rooms, nightly entertainment, overall cleanliness, service from staff etc.  My parents and Aunt and Uncle who travel frequently said they thought Now Jade had some of the best food they have had at AI – the buffet had lots of variety each day and the a la carte restaurants were very good too.   Between our group we managed to eat everywhere and I didn’t hear anything negative (a few people grumbled that serving sizes were small but that is fine dining, and the restaurant staff really anticipates you will order a starter, a soup course, a main and then dessert).  Some people ordered two entrees at some restaurants; others just ordered room service later in the night.  Room service was usually pretty good – the longest wait we had was about 35 minutes I think (and that was for an order about midnight), breakfast room service is speedy (ie under 10 minutes).  The pools and grounds were always very clean and the staff was very polite and friendly.  They work hard and do a wonderful job of keeping things fun for everyone. 

Buffet in garden on theme night (L); Water volley-ball in pool (C); Fruit kayak for snacking while in pool! (R)

 

Adults-only pool (L); Regular pool at night, awesome bali beds! (C); "Crazy Game" ie belly-flop competition with entertainment staff.

 

I know some brides have been nervous about reviews on trip advisor – honestly, don’t be.  Those reviewers obviously have some sort of end game in mind (ie free nights) because no one in our group had complaints.  Yes, there is seaweed on the beach (but they raked it up several times a day), and rocks in some parts of the ocean but don’t let that ruin your vacation!  I never felt staff were looking for tips as some reviewers’ state, but I was more than happy to tip because of the outstanding service.  We weren’t asked once about timeshare nor were we asked about purchasing a bottle of wine (other common complaints).

A TTD photo on the beach which shows the seaweed - there really isn't that much and they really work at keeping it raked up.

 

Only one drawback we encountered was the “free golf” that actually added up quite quickly by the time you added up the cost of transportation, renting clubs, and a premium tee time fee.  It ended up that the free golf was going to be closer to $150/person so the guys decided against doing that the morning of the wedding...but no worries, they still found other ways to keep busy.

 

Wedding Planners

We had our planning meeting with Pilar on day 2 of our trip – it took about an hour.  Wow, is she ever organized – she had a file for us with all of our notes, emails and paperwork.  First let me say, Pilar and Deisy are pros! They can execute a wedding of your dreams with just a bit of direction.  They are busy people though – she had almost 300 messages in her inbox!  She apologized for any poor communication she may have had with me (which I did not think was necessary, I completely understood DW planning and that if my wedding was months away there was someone else who’s wedding was a priority).  It is also true that you can pull together your entire wedding in this meeting –so don’t stress the details before you get there, you will get her undivided attention and she will ensure your day is perfect. 

Pilar confirmed everything from the planning form, asked our preference for things like how to tie the chair bows and drape the pergola (she had a binder full of pictures to pick the style you liked) and then confirmed seating arrangements and menu choices.  We also gave Pilar what we brought for decorations – we weren’t too over the top here – we made our own luminaries (using vellum paper and battery operated tea lights), purchased chair bows and table runners online as well as some “diamonds” to scatter on the tables.  We also printed escort cards and a menu card that featured a thank-you from us on the back.  For our guest book we did Madlibs so Pilar also took them to set up.  (By the way – highly recommend Madlib guestbook, they turned out so well: some are touching, some are hilarious but all of them are truly meaningful).

At this point we meet with Fredico from Adventure Photo to confirm our TTD on Monday morning – he was very easy going and did not mind at all that we were using our photo package outside of the wedding day.

At the end of our meeting Pilar went over our invoice – the only additional costs we paid for were:

• 10 additional entrees
• champagne for 10 additional guests for the toast
• 2 day passes for photographers
• Extending the reception by 2 hours * we forgot to mention this during our meeting so we had to go back to Pilar later in the day to discuss it, if we would have discussed it during the meeting I think she may have “forgotten” to charge us but no worries – she gave us a discounted rate and for all the other things we got without being charged I was fine with it.

 

Rehearsal

We did our wedding rehearsal Friday morning (took about 15 minutes total) with Deisy.  It was nice to do a quick run through to know what to expect and get a feel for the space.  Our rehearsal dinner was at Spice Friday night – they booked us a nice table on the terrace and had 2 dedicated servers (for 13 guests).  It was very good and private enough we could make speeches too.

At Spice for rehearsal dinner - semi-private table on terrace

 

Okay now onto the big day! 

First let me say how fantastic everyone at the resort was for acknowledging our special day – servers in restaurants, entertainment staff and people in the PC lounge all made a point to wish us well and congratulate us on the big day (and in the days afterwards)...it was so common that it became our joke that they obviously had our photos posted somewhere as “bride and groom” because EVERYONE seemed to know about our wedding.

We were married on Saturday, February 9 at 4pm at the Pergola with cocktail hour at 5 at Mix Beach Bar and dinner and reception in the Bamboo Room at 6.  We booked the Divine package but since we had 35 guests we had an additional fee for champagne and dinners – we opted not to add additional hor d'oeuvres or wedding cake and that worked out fine.  In fact we had leftovers of both.

 

Spa Appointments

The bridal party and mothers had spa appointments starting at 11am (they can do 3 people at a time).  The ladies in the spa are very good – there are books with examples of hair and make-up or you can bring your own picture.  They are very capable at replicating from a photo but it might take them a little bit to figure out the best way to do it.  Make-up wasn’t high end but it stayed put for the day.  Only thing I didn’t love was the use of (lots of) lip gloss, but after eating lunch and brushing my teeth I ended up just using my own lipstick.   We had 6 ladies for hair and 4 for hair and make-up, the last person was done about 1:30ish so it wasn’t bad for timing.  It gave us a chance to hit up the buffet for some lunch before the photographers got there for getting ready photos.  The servers at the buffet were amazing for us since they knew it was a wedding (and you could see them prepping the pergola from the restaurant) so they made a big production out of getting us a good spot, fancy beverages etc.  That was really fun!

Bridal bouquet - as delivered to Spa. They did a great job!

 

Photography

We hired an external photographer – Sweet Fire Photography – Lori and Tanya are AMAZING!  They are both Canadian (like me!) and so much fun to work with.  Lori got tons of great photo ops, and wasn’t cliché in her poses which I appreciate. She has a great way to play with light and reflections (as you can see in the shot below).  I would HIGHLY recommend you check Sweet fire out – we have seen a few sneak peeks and I can’t wait to see the rest! 

Sneak peek photos from Sweet Fire Photography

 

Ceremony

We picked the Pergola because we liked the privacy it offered and also that it had the beachy feel without quite as much wind and sand blowing around!  Our ceremony started at 4 so Pilar had the guests meet in the Lobby around 3:45 for a drink and then led them over to the Pergola.  Once they were there, Deisy came to my room to pick up the bridal party (and give me my bouquet – which looked super!).  We met my Father at the Lobby and away we went.  Everything with the ceremony went off without a hitch – there was someone to man the iPod for the processional and recessional music, the officiant delivered the script we gave Pilar and even added in a few touches including a traditional Mexican blessing.  The ceremony site looked lovely – exactly as we had discussed in our planning meeting.

 

Pergola ceremony site (L); Leaving the Lobby for the ceremony (C); Sand ceremony (R)

 

Cocktail Hour

Our ceremony only took about 35 minutes so our cocktail hour actually started earlier than 5pm and ran a bit over 6pm but everyone was enjoying themselves and the bartenders were awesome so I don’t even think anyone noticed.   Immediately following the ceremony we did our champagne toast and then we went for our photos so we missed out on the cocktail hour but from what I hear there was more than enough food and everyone really loved the guitar player we used as part of the Divine package. The bartenders also had our signature cocktail ready for guests as soon as the ceremony was over which was a nice touch.

 

Cocktail hour at Mix Beach Bar (L); Champagne Toast following ceremony (C); Yummy eats (R)

 

Dinner and Reception

About 6:15 we made our entrance into the Bamboo Room – it looked awesome!  Pilar and Deisy did a wonderful job – especially considering we did not really give them a lot of direction during our planning meeting.  I think it worked out best this way – they did better than what I could have tried to explain, lol! They had decorated the tables with the decor we supplied and set up a nice spot for our alternative guestbook.

We went straight into our first day then father/daughter, mother/son dances before eating.  We had our MC announce speeches in between courses and then did our cake cutting before getting the dance party started.  Deisy was in and out of the reception all night long, making sure things were going smoothly.  The servers were awesome during the reception – no one waited for drinks as a matter of fact they would bring you a new drink before you even finished your first one.  The food for the wedding dinner was very tasty – we did the asparagus salad, lobster bisque and then choice of steak and shrimp or tuna plus chocolate soufflé for dessert.  Vegetarians had a potato leek soup and a lettuce tacquito for their entree...only one snafu during dinner, my SIL (who is vegetarian) was served something with chicken in it, but we figured out that they had accidentally given her the entree for guest who was allergic to seafood. Luckily my SIL is very easy going and spoke with Deisy herself. 

The wedding cake looked great – a bit more elaborate with the flowers than I had suggested but I didn’t mind since the cake was barely on my radar, and the flowers matched my bouquet.  We did the cheesecake show stopper – it was good but different than what I would have expected...it is not a NY style cheesecake...more like a vanilla cake with a cheesecake filling.  Still tasty – and there was tons, it was 3 layers, and I don’t even think half of it was eaten since people were so full from dinner.

We opted for an iPod reception – and it was great.  At first it took a bit to get people out on the dance floor but they came, they danced and they had fun!  The only downfall of an iPod reception is keeping the party at the same level the crowd wants.  Planning a playlist at home it is hard to know when to switch it up from dance party to slow but we had a great crowd and they rolled with it (we did probably 80-85% dance).   

 

Table and ceiling decor in Bamboo Room (L); Wedding Cake (C); Table layout (R) - we used three long rectangular tables to make a U shaped setup which allowed a spot for dancing in the middle.

 

We actually danced our way out of the reception about 10:40ish (we had it booked till 11) because we didn’t want to be responsible for planning the after party – we had our own plans!  This worked out fine – most of the wedding guests just continued onto the disco until about 2am.  Awaiting us in our room was rose petals, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries! 

 

Romantic turndown service on the wedding night - with strawberries and champagne!

 

 

First Day as Mr. & Mrs.!

The next morning we had our champagne breakfast in bed – wow, do they ever give you a ton of food options.  All tasty!  Then we had a day to lounge by the ocean on our “micromoon” as we told our guests to leave us alone ;)  We also did our couples massage (so relaxing!) and private dinner on the beach that day – all of which are included in the Divine package and nice perks to have as Bride and Groom.  Sometime during this day they also delivered all of our wedding “stuff” back to us in the room – our decorations were all packaged back up and ready to be packed up again to go home.

 

Champagne breakfast in bed (L); Romantic Dinner on the Beach (C); Tasty steak and shrimp on the beach (R)

* We opted for a 5:30 dinner reservation thinking it would get dark quickly - it did but they are used to most couples starting dinner around 6:30.  We enjoyed a glass of wine as it got darker so it worked out fine.

 

Trash the Dress Session

Two days after the wedding we did our TTD photo shoot with Adventure Photo (as included in Divine package).  It was so much fun!  We stayed at the resort and moved between the beach, in the ocean and the pool.  The whole experience was probably just shy of 2 hours and our photos were ready by the next day.  The photos are awesome but I definitely think it solidifies our choice to hire an external photographer on the wedding day.  There is very little in the way of editing or touch ups made, and little things that another photog would catch and correct aren’t noticed. The divine package includes 24 pictures in a photo book – we liked about 30 photos of the 50 he took so we paid $15/picture for the extra photos.  The only discount they would offer is if we wanted all the photos.  I would definitely recommend doing a TTD – it was so much fun and to those not familiar with the idea of a TTD they are blown away by it. 

 

Trash the Dress session with Arturo of Adventure Photo

 

You can view our TTD slideshow online at

http://11-02-13grahamttd.nowjade.adventurephotos.com.mx/#/slideshow-1/

 

Afternoon Sail & Snorkel

Lastly, as a wedding favour we booked a private catamaran tour out of Cancun.  We used Catamarans Cancun – we did a 4 hour cruise with snorkeling and everyone enjoyed it.  The staff was great and so much fun.  They also had someone on board taking photos (and taking photos underwater as we snorkeled) that we purchased at the end of the cruise.

Catamarans Cancun Sail and Snorkel Excursion

http://www.catamaranscancun.com/cat3.html

 

Overall, we are thrilled with our choice to use Now Jade for our DW.  We definitely recommend this resort to others for wedding or honeymoon plans!  My best advice to any future brides is relax and know that your wedding will be amazing – Pilar and Deisy will make sure of it!  The day flies by so take time to enjoy it all – the perks of a DW include spending more times with your guests so do that and don’t sweat the details! When you look back on your big day your want to remember moments with loved ones not worrying about cake table decor or something silly that only you notice ;)

 

 

 

Wow, that was a short novel but it was all so wonderful I didn’t want to leave anything out.  If you have any questions let me know, I’d be happy to answer them as best I can!