Hi all, sorry for the delay on this it has been a bit of a rollercoster since we have come back from Mexico as we had a party at the weekend with all friends and family but now finally ready to give my review:

OVERALL EXPERIENCE

I personally could not be any happier at how my wedding went and the holiday we shared with all our friends and family at Now Sapphire, the resort is excellent for a group holiday and I would recommend this venue to anyone now for each individual part:

Hotel

The hotel is great, it is really well set out with the main bar being the central part of the hotel and a great place to meet. We all come in from the sun around 4:30/5ish and so would meet religiously at 6:30pm in the bar every night have a drink and wait for our tables. We were a group of 12 - 20 depending on what date of the holiday it was and we ALWAYS managed to get tables together, sometimes broken into tables of 2 or 3 but with that size group we expected it. We did have a problem with getting sunbeds in general, unless you want to get up really early althoguh they say they do not let people reserve their beds, people do and we noticed some people then did not come to their beds until around midday whilst others would be stuck without beds. The food and drink is amazing, we have always stayed at The Excellence which is the hotel next door and I was a bit dubious about staying at the hotel and it not being quite up to scratch after staying in such l uxury next door but I was so impressed. It is a family hotel and only 4 star (some claim 5 star but when you arrive it has the 4 diamond star on the wall) but I thought the food and drink was excellent, maybe the servive not as attentive as next door but then its not as expensive and so you pay for what you get. The rooms are so spacious and have everything you need,. We took hairdryers and iron but ended up using the hotels and so no need to take this. There were always events going on around the pool and the beach was also busy. There is alot of seaweed and danger of jellyfish and so its probably not the best beach in Mexico but you certainly could not complain and its a long stretch of beach so you can walk along it. We travelled with a few friends who were after a party holiday and after going into Cancun a few times found that they had more fun in the hotel - it is quite lively of a night in the main bar and we did go to the club most nights although it is just like a typical british pub inside - quite dated but if you want a dance and a late night drink it did the trick! The spa is AMAZING, just as good as the one at The Excellence and we loved the free massage included in the Divine Package and so please make sure you use this. There are people in reception constantly trying to sell you time shares but we just politely said no!

The Wedding-

Wedding Planners

You may have seen my previous worrying comments on Anel and Ramon as I was not recieving responses from them in the lead up to the wedding, now after my wedding and how well it went I wish I had not have worried BUT in saying that I feel as a bride to be getting married in a location many would not have even seen, regular contact should be made beforehand to put the brides mind at ease. They are so busy out there, there were 8 weddings out of the 11 nights we were there and so not sure how they would also manage responding to all queries but it did make me panic before I left. When I got there I expected to have a letter in my room to say when to meet, but did not so went down the day after arriving and met Ramon in his office and then made an appointment for the next day so I would advise to maybe email before you head off to Mexico and arrange your time and date, or just pop in the office when you get there. At the meeting you will realise that everythi ng you have asked and put in emails will all be noted down and they are so thorough. You will also have your injections there and then and have to pay $250 cash to the doctor. We also handed over all our table decorations etc at this meeting. I am an events organiser and had an itinerary with minute by minute detail but I really should not have bothered, Ramon was brilliant on the day and I just completely relaxed and enjoyed my day as everything run like clockwork - Ramon is there throughout the whole day and oversees everything.

Flowers

I LOVED my flowers, they were exactly what I would have had back home and was over the moon when they arrived. I took ribboon with me to put round them but again I should not have bothered as they arrived beautifully with ribbon round. I got one bouqet for my MOH as my bridesmaids has parasoles and two buttonairs and a corsage for my flower girl - all were beautiful and of wonderful quality. I stayed another week in Mexico after the wedding and the flowers lasted the whole week after. I was also really happy with my table centrepiece, I was with the divine package so choose a square vase with roses which were originally on the ceremony table and they then moved them to the dinner table after the ceremony. I gave these to a friend who also kept them in her room for the week following.

Hair

The salon is wonderful, very calming and tranquil and has enough seats for 6 bridesmaids to be done in one go (I suppose it depends how many staff they have in though whether you could all be done at the same time) I was so worried about my hair and make up (my make up included in the package I had my mum use as I was so worried to let someone else do my make up but they did it really nice for her) as for our hairs - coming from a group of girls who regularly go to the hairdressers for nights out and events and very fussy - well we all took pictures and every one of us were over the moon with our hair. They know exactly what they are doing and so professional, its a really nice way to start your wedding day all girls in a salon. The only thing I would say about hair is that the heat made my curls drop instantly from leaving the salon and then during the ceremony on the beach the wind just took control of my hair! I stressed about it for all of 10 seconds then realised I could do nothing about the wind and just went with it - luckily my photographer had some grips on her and pinned some of it back as it was all over my face (you can see from the pics how my hair started and how it ended) and in hindsight if I had known how strong the winds would be I would have had it all alot tighter and off my face more. But I was really happy with what the hairdresser did and so if you just take a picture they will do exactly as you show them.

Photo's and videography

This is the part that I feel so strongly about! As many friends and family could not be there I wanted to really capture the day. We had a party on Sunday and showed a slide show of our photos (attached for anyone that would like to see

http://davies.amorcitocorazonstudio.com/) and everyone cried and said watching the pictures they felt they were part of the day. Included i the divine package you get an hours photography and an hours videography. I was orginally going to upgrade both and have the hotels suppliers for 3 hours each and so glad I did not. I used the hotel photographer just for our speeches and cake cutting (attached http://animoto.com/play/UnSiLh9Fbl4BvoInSobgaA) and I am sure you will all agree the quality is really terrible. We were quite upset looking at them and after our wedding a bride I met a few days before my wedding come up to me in the bar and said she had been in tears as she had that photographer the whole wedding and her pic tures were awful. My heart went out to her and just thanked my lucky stars I had Anel and Jacob on the day for mine. They were amazing, so passionate about what they were doing and would find ways to use the space in a way I could not even imagine, at one point Jacob was in the pool photographing us just to get the right angle. They made the day so special and then when we recieved the photo's we could not have been happier, I felt like they captured everything I remember seeing on the day. The videographer was ok, we only had him for the hour but I dont feel he really listened to what I wanted, I emailed with songs I wanted on it and he put his own ones on (one song my husband hates which did not go down well). I think you sort of brush it off as they are included in the package and so did not expect anything amazing but you still pay for that package and so I think they should have been much better quality.

Ceremony

We had our ceremony on the beach. I was originally going to have on the terrace as I was worried about walking on the beach and it looking awkward, but I took my shoes off at the top of the terrace and did not put them back on until after dinner! I am so glad I had it on the beach, it felt so special and unique (I am from the UK and so we could never do that here!). I was worried that my songs for the ceremony would not be heard or played at the right time, but they all worked perfectly and really fitted in with the wedding - I had Canon in D for my aisle song, Crazy Love by Michael Buble for whilst we were all signing the documents and walked back up to Only Love by Ben Howard. I took petals to scatter on the aisle but because of the wind they could not be laid so bare this in mind. I kept it simple with just white linen on the chairs and mocha sashes.

Cocktail hour

The cocktail hour was great, we had the saxaphonist included in our package and he was amazing, everyone was dancing and the bar was set up with all the drinks you would get at the normal bar - I asked for a peach cocktail which on the day I did not like so maybe ask for a specific cocktail or try it before the day. But they made anyting you asked for anyway so this was not a big deal. We went off to have photo's taken for most of the cocktail hour and was upset to miss that but there would have been no other time to do it.

Dinner

We could not fault the dinner. You have to make one choice for all and so obviously some did not eat every course if it was not their taste but everyone commented on how good the food was and how lovely to eat on a big long table in that setting. We had -

1. Appetizer or Salad: Vegetable Confit Terrine
2. Soup: Creamy Lobster Soup
3. Entrée: Beef Filet Bordaleise
4. Desert: Creamy white chocolate aux mint

Timings

12pm - girls at salon to have hair and make up done

4pm - ceremony

4:30pm - group photoshots

5pm - cocktail hour

6pm - sit down for dinner

6:30pm - dinner served

8pm - speeches and cake cutting

Music

I took my own portable ipod docking station and just made some playlists for the dinner which worked well. After the meal we went into the bar and carried on drinking there, most weddings did this whilst we were there although we did see some set up with dance floor and DJ and it looked really good.

I hope this all helps you future brides and if you need anything at all please just ask as I am sure there is loads that I have missed! So excited for you all, its an amazing place to get married xxxx