Overview:

Wedding Date: June 5th, 2013

Package: Divine + extra 1 hour for the reception

Guests: 30 (including bride and groom)

Ceremony: 5pm at the Fountain

Cocktails: 6-7pm at the Mix Bar

Dinner/Reception: 7-11pm at the Bamboo Room (originally planned for Carnival Terrace)

 

The Resort:

We visited the Now Jade a year before our wedding and found it just as lovely when we returned for the wedding.  We knew from our first visit that we wanted to stay on the preferred side, so we booked this despite the likely upgrade with the package.  We tended to hang out at the adult only pool and liked that the preferred rooms are so close; also, we found it convenient to be able to use the computers in the preferred lounge to check email/check in with vendors for the wedding (the wireless in the rooms was always slow or not working).  When we arrived we were immediately escorted to the preferred lounge and checked in without any troubles.  There was a bottle of champagne delivered to the room within minutes of our arrival along with some snacks.  We didn't eat at the special preferred breakfast area (Mercure) this time around since we preferred the buffet, but it is a nice option for a more private breakfast.  My parents stayed in a non-preferred ocean front room which had an amazing view.  Their building was near the adjacent construction, but it didn't bother them.  We had the majority of our guests stay on the non-preferred side and all of their rooms were quite nice.

 

We were a little unlucky in our arrival timing and ended up catching the aftermath of Hurricane Barbara that hit Mexico, so there was a lot of rain the first 4 days of our stay.  The resort did a nice job of providing activities and entertainment (live music, dancing, movies), although of course nothing quite made up for the lack of sun.  They also opened up additional restaurants for lunch options since outdoor dining was limited during the rain.  The one downside of being on the preferred side with the rain was that we were unable to use our outdoor jacuzzi until later in the week.  When the sun finally did come out, we were easily able to find chairs by the pool and on the beach.  The staff is very attentive about keeping you well supplied with beverages.  The Entertainment Crew is also active in putting together volleyball games, etc.  On our last full day at the resort, the staff cooked a giant paella on the beach and cut open coconuts (great with a little Malibu or Rum poured inside) for a refreshing drink.

 

The restaurants were all quite nice.  We liked Mercure the best, but enjoyed Capers, Spice and CinCin (great romantic decor) as well.  In general, we were able to obtain tables for groups of 8-10 without too much of a wait when dining by 6:30ish.  If we did need to wait, we would just go grab drinks in the lobby until tables were ready.  The resort was able to accomodate a large group dinner at Mercure the evening before the wedding (my MIL arranged this after we had arrived at the resort; I don't believe she paid an additional group fee, but she did purchase multiple bottles of wine for the dinner).  It was a lovely dinner--they set rose petals down underneath my plate and made us a small cake that patched out wedding cake to wish us well.  We liked the buffet for breakfast/brunch, especially the made-to-order egg station (if you are lucky the cook will also make you a heart or flower pancake).  I had a small brunch with the women of our group the morning of the wedding and they were easily able to accomodate the 14 or 15 of us.  Don't miss out on the frozen Baileys at the coffee shop!  We never ate at the buffet for dinner since the other restaurants were so good.

 

The Spa

We used the couples massage from our package and I also used to spa for a mani/pedi and to do my hair.  The massage was nice, especially since I was pretty stressed out about the rainy weather (predicted to continue through our wedding day).  Go early, since they have a sauna you can relax in before and after your massage.  I had Maria do both my nails and hair and she was AMAZING.  I managed to forget to bring my hair inspiration photos, so had to flip through the books they had there.  I found a few photos with aspects I liked and after explaining my general concept let her do her magic.  I LOVED my hair and it stayed put through all the heat, humidity and a rain shower during our cocktail hour.  Since I have very fine hair that refuses to hold a hairstyle I was extremely impressed.  My mom had her hair and makeup done at the spa as well and it looked lovely.  I chose to do my own makeup, but after seeing how well my mom's turned out, I probably could have let them do mine and it would have looked great.  There are a limited number of hair stations, so if you have a large wedding party, plan ahead appropriately.  For my nails and hair, my mom's hair and makeup and a few friends getting manicures/hairstyles, we were at the spa for 3-4 hours.

 

(Photos from Adventure Photos)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wedding

Coordinators and Planning Meeting

Pilar and her team are very good at what they do and will make sure your day is memorable.  I was frustrated initially at communicating with Pilar, but after reading the Now Jade forum on this site and these reviews I relaxed.  They are very focused on the weddings that are occuring at the resort, which is what you will want when it is you day.  We did find that for the few questions we needed to have answered that I couldn't find on this website a phone call was the best way to get answers.  I think the one thing I was still frustrated by was that we didn't receive and estimated invoice prior to departing for Mexico.  My estimates were pretty close, so everything worked out, but it was a little stressful not knowing exactly how much we would need to pay the resort.  Everyone always wants to know costs for the wedding; for us, the Now Jade part was about $5,000 which included 5 extra dinner meals and cake (but no extra appetizers or champagne), extending the reception for an extra hour, a DJ and 2 photographer day passes.  We spent additional funds on an outside photographer (Del Sol Photography, review to come) and on fireworks (Pirotechnia Cancun-more later).  Before we left for Mexico, Pilar did email me to confirm our arrival transportation, romantic dinner, post-wedding breakfast and a time to meet to discuss our wedding.

 

When we arrived, Pilar found us to say hello.  She also asked to delay our planning meeting, since she was dealing with re-arranging the numerous weddings that now needed indoor locations because of the continued rain.  When we did meet, it put me at ease.  As we continued to check the weather forecast and saw rain on our wedding day, I had become more and more stressed out.  Pilar helped me relax, showed me the options for rain ceremony locations (one underneath the outdoor terrace adjacent to the buffet and around the corner from the Pergola and the other along this column lined corridor near the main entrance), but reassured me that if the rain stopped even for a short time (30 mintues) they could set up and get everyone outside for a ceremony.  I brought along a fairly large number of decorations and she and one of her assistants (Marie-Carmen, who was with us throughout our wedding day as well) went through everything with me to ensure they understood how we wanted the different ceremony and reception sites set up.  We then went through the billing process together to make sure we agreed on the charges and then paid for everything at the front desk.  I believe there was a $40 charge for ironing our chair sashes and table runners and another set up fee ($40) for the paper lanterns I had brought with; otherwise, everything was as I expected from the prices listed in the wedding planning guide.  As another bride has pointed out, in the past it seems there was more swapping of items from the packages, but this is no longer the case.  We arrived expecting to forfeit several items from our package (the minister and bridal/grooms flowers since we used silk flowers) without compensation.  They did provide use with a 4th hour of the DJ as compensation for not using the mentioned items, but we did not request this, it was offered by Pilar at the time of our meeting.  We were allowed to use our hour of photography at a different time (I had them come to the salon since my outside photographer was not arriving until after this).  The whole meeting only took about 1 hour.

 

You can leave your wedding dress with them at the time of your meeting and they will arrange to get it pressed and returned to your room prior to your wedding.  The decorations were delivered to our room the day after the wedding (although my paper lanterns went MIA somewhere along the line).

 

The Ceremony

We were able to have our outdoor ceremony--the rain stopped about 2 hours before our ceremony was scheduled to start and Pilar came to find me to let me know we were a go for outdoors.  We had our ceremony at the Garden Fountain-we liked the look of the fountain as a background.  The location is definitely not private since it is in the middle of the resort, so if this is important to you, the Pergola is probably your best location.  Also, if it were a usual bright, cloudless day, the Fountain is a rather sunny location (not a problem for us given the storms) so you might want to think about that if you want to avoid squinty eyes in photos.  We had a few onlookers, but overall people were respectful of our space.  If you have the Divine Package, the set up at the Fountain includes a centerpiece and some floral arrangements lining the aisle/walkway.  Our decorations included chair sashes, folding fans, a cut out of our dog (adorably set up at the ceremony table), and the sand ceremony.  They provide a sound system as part of the package for playing your music, someone to control the music and a microphone for the ceremony.  Pilar has all of the guests meet in the lobby and then brings them out shortly before the start of the ceremony to minimize their time in the heat.  I waited with my father around the corner near the preferred lounge until it was time to start.  We walked down the large staircase in front of the lobby for a grand entrance--something to think about if you are wearing heels.  Make sure to keep a copy of your program before giving them to Pilar, since I think mine were all handed out and I didn't end up with one!  We had a brief ceremony consisting of readings my several close friends/family, wrote our own vows, sand ceremony and had my uncle (who is a minister) do the ring exchange and introduction.  We didn't do a rehearsal, but in hindsight, I would if you are not going to have one central person running the ceremony.  Things were a little confused, including our first speaker starting before I was completely down the aisle, no one realizing my uncle had the wedding rings and there being a weird jumble of colored sand already in our unity bottle.  In the end though, everything worked out--I'm sure it will make for an entertaining video.  After the ceremony, we had guests be handed champagne as they left and immediately did our champagne toast and took a whole group photo.  My husband (yay!) and I did a few formal photos and then left for a few photos together.  Most of our guests immediately headed to the cocktail area and started having drinks.  The bartenders were accomodating even though the cocktail hour didn't formally start for another 40 minutes and no other resort guests crashed the bar area once we were there.

 

(Photos from Del Sol Photography--a link to my review for Del Sol is below in the comments)

 

The Fountain Ceremony Site-hard to see, but before the chairs there are flowers lining the aisle.

 

 

The ceremony is set up right in front of the fountain which, with the palm trees, makes for a nice backdrop.

 

 

 

 

Cocktail Reception

We chose to have the 45 minutes of guitar music at our cocktail reception rather than the ceremony.  It worked out well as everyone was able to enjoy the music for longer than they would have before and after the ceremony.  The musician did a great job of providing an fun ambiance without overwhelming conversation.  We chose the following appetizers: acapulco shrimp ceviche on a tartlet, fruit brouchettes, boursin chesse canape, and mini tamales.  I didn't get to eat any--they were gone before we were done with our photos, so they must have been decent.  We chose to have Purple Rain as our signature cocktail and it was delicious.  We brought custom napkins and straws for use with the cocktails.  There were even a few left over and the bartenders remembered they were from our wedding and would give them to us for the rest of the week when we went back to the Mix bar.

 

We ended up moving our fireworks display to the end of our cocktail hour, despite still being light, since a rain shower started up again during the cocktail hour and we were worried we wouldn't be able to do them later (they can't set them off if the wind is too strong or, obviously, if it is raining too hard).  It was nice because everyone was still around to enjoy them going off, but clearly the artistic effect was less since it wasn't dark out.  Also, I think because of the rain, several did not explode correctly.  My husband and I both love fireworks, so we still felt it was worthwhile, but I think it could have been better if the weather cooperated.  Unfortunately, there is no rain policy, so I would keep that in mind if you are planning on these--once you pay for them, you have paid even if they cannot launch the fireworks.  Our fireworks must have appeased the rain gods, since the rain storm quickly blew over and we ended up having a rainbow just before sunset for our photos.

 

 

Appetizers

 

Signature Cocktail

 

Firework

 

Reception

Our reception was originally planned to be on the Carnival Terrace, but Pilar and I decided to move it to the Bamboo Room due to the chance of rain.  I am glad in the end that we did--with all the rain it was very humid in addition to the usual hot June weather.  I am normally a freeze baby, but was quite hot dancing in my wedding dress despite the air conditioning.  We had them set up the room with one large table (for 30 people) with us seated in the middle, a cake table and a table with the guest book and photos of our legal wedding (done in Las Vegas before we went to Mexico).  The reception set up was gorgeous--better than I had planned.  They followed my general instruction, but went above and beyond in arranging the tables.  For the dinner table, we had brought table runners, short square vases with clear expandable water beads and silk flowers, circular floating candle vases with clear stones and votive candles.  I had brought along some extra silk flowers I hadn't used in any of the bouquet/corsages and they made good use of them--placing them in with the floating candles and using them for the wedding cake.  They also found photo holders to display our photos (I think they might have been the table number holders from another wedding); I was just expecting the photos to be laid around the guest book.  They also hung the paper lanterns artistically from the center lighting fixture.  My husband and I missed out on the salad course (smoked salmon and tomato) since we were taking more photos (something to think about if you want sunset photos), but others liked it.  The lobster bisque soup is delicious and my favorite part of the meal.  We had beef/shrimp, yellowtail and vegetarian options and I indicated each persons choice on their placecard with a small gem.  The staff was great and even got my father-in-law a beef dish after he decided he didn't want to have the vegetarian choice he had originally ordered.  We had passionfruit creme brulee for dessert which was also quite good.  We went with the chocolate passion black tie wedding cake, style WC008.  Since it was dark chocolate, it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet and went quite well with the berries and frosting.  We ensured that we only had a 2 tier cake given the number of guests (and actually paid for the 5 extra pieces for our 5 guests beyond the package) to make sure the layers were adequately sized.  I had two issues related to the cake-the first was that we apparently needed to let the staff know when we wanted them to cut it up for serving (several guests had alread left before I realized that the cake hadn't been cut and served).  The second was that there was left over cake since not everyone was present for eating it, but I have no idea where it went to--we would gladly have taken some back to our room for a post wedding snack, but it had already been cleared away.  Pilar or the assistant wedding coordinator were there throughout the night and we felt well taken care of by the them and the waitstaff.  I never lacked for a drink and they always had bottles of water handy.

 

Single long rectangular table set up in the Bamboo Room.

 

 

Table settings

 

The Cake

 

Paper Lanterns

 

 

We used the resort DJ and extended our reception by an hour.  He did a nice job of incorporating the music selections we had requested and figuring out what kind of music was getting everyone dancing (um, 90s anyone?).  He played a nice mix of classic and modern romantic music (and a little Bob Marley) during dinner and then kept us on our feet for the rest of the evening.  He was also really good about finding songs (or genres requested-we were a diverse bunch and he kept up with our salsa, techno and classic rock and Indian dance requests).  The one thing we did notice was that we needed to request a few slow songs--maybe something to put on your DJ form?  I'm not sure if he was worried he would ruin our fun vibe, but I did want to slow dance with my husband a little :)  I definitely felt it was worthwhile to extend the reception.  I believe it was an extra $15/person, but 3 hours would have been way too short.  We brought glow stick bracelets and necklaces for during the dancing and then finished the night off with some sparklers before we headed back to our room.  A number of our guests headed to one of the bars and then their room for an after party.

 

When we returned to our room, we found it decorated (I'll let you find out at your wedding--I don't want to ruin the fun).  There were chocolates and champagne waiting for us and a honeymoon banner on the door.  It was a perfect ending to the day.

 

Resort Photographer (Adventure Photos) and Videographer

We used the resort photographer for pictures at the salon while we were getting ready.  The photos were ok, but nothing amazing--similar to what I probably take with my SLR camera.  I think that a lot depends on your photographer.  Since we were only using Adventure Photo for the minimum that came with the package, I don't think we were assigned anyone in particular.  The photographer was very nice and it was very easy to go back, look at the photos (right outside Pilar's office) and select the ones we wanted for our photo book.  I have yet to receive it, but it looked nice on the computer screen.  To be fair, I am quite picky when it comes to photography; knowing this, I made sure to go with a photographer whose work I have consistently enjoyed and was willing to spend the extra money.  One thing to keep in mind with photography is hiring them for enough time.  In hindsight, I probably should have hired mine for 6 hours, rather than 5.  I didn't feel we had quite enough time for photographs before the wedding and I would have liked a few more once we got the dancing started.  I haven't received my wedding photos yet, so maybe I'll change my mind and think 5 hours was just right after I see them!

 

I have yet to receive my wedding video, but the videographer worked well with my photographer (at least from my viewpoint) and the two coordinated taking some romantic and beach shots after our ceremony.  I thought the videographer was very friendly and she put us at ease when taking video after the ceremony.  Hopefully the video comes out well!

 

Del Sol Photography

I'll post a separate review for Del Sol Photography after we receive our photos.  We used Juan for our wedding and did a cenote and beach trash the dress with Sol two days later.  The TTD was a blast.  Both Juan and Sol were working hard--Juan waded out into the ocean to get a photo of the sunset reflected in the water and Sol was in the cold cenote longer than I was looking for that perfect shot.  Here are a few of my favorite wedding photos.  See my Del Sol Review for some amazing TTD shots too.

 

Our Rainbow

 Our Sunset

 

Chichen Itza Private Tour

I wanted to also briefly mention the private shuttle company we used to take a group trip to Chichen Itza and Ik-Kil Cenote.  We used USA Transfers/Entertainment Plus to book a private shuttle for 14 people.  The company promptly picked us up from the resort, had a planned rest stop at a small souvenier store just outside Chichen Itza (prices were ok, the restrooms were clean), helped us arrange for a guide at Chichen Itza (separate payment) and then took us to the cenote where there was also a buffet lunch before returning us to the resort.  It was nice being able to pace our day as we saw fit, rather than going with a larger tour group and the driver was available to us for the day.  The ride to and from Chichen Itza is long, but our driver had lots of information about where we were going, the Mayan Riviera and life in the area.  We enjoyed talking to him to pass the time (and being able to stop when desired on the way back for a restroom break!).  The rates were quite reasonable (with 14 people, it was cheaper than the tour package offered at the resort).  Our tour guide at Chichen Itza was recommended by our driver and was excellent-very knowlegeable, clear English, efficient but thorough and good at avoiding the larger tour groups (he has apparently taken Bill Gates on a tour in the past).  If you are planning any group activities, I would definitely recommend looking at this companies website.  I have also used USA transfers in the past for airport-resort transfers and had good success (a number of guests used them for the wedding).

 

Wow--that is a long review.  I hope it helps you picture how your own day at the resort might go.  Good luck with your planning and remember, you will have an amazing time regardless of how all the small details turn out.  We had rain for almost half of our vacation and still had a week to remember!  Thanks for reading!

 

~Laura