First off, I would like to say that our wedding was wonderful. It was everything we could have asked for. I distinctly remember walking down the aisle and thinking that it was the most wonderful day of my life. Everything was perfect – the flowers, the music, the food. All was great! This review is quite lengthy. I can say with certainty that reading other brides reviews helped me the most in making a decision to choose the NOW Sapphire, and also helped immensely with the planning process. I want to be able to help all future brides as I was helped.

Wedding Date: November 21, 2013
Package Selected: Divine
Ceremony Type: Symbolic
Ceremony Location: Tequila Beach
Cocktail Hour & Reception Location: Tequila Terrace
Wedding Coordinator: Ramon

Communication with WC prior to leaving:
I had very little contact with the WC’s prior to arriving at the resort, however, this was my choice. After reading numerous other reviews I knew that I was in good hands. I did not e-mail the WC’s any questions prior to our wedding, so I cannot comment on their communication. I sent in my planning form about one month prior to the wedding as requested and that was it. I read through the entire Now Sapphire thread on this website, asked some questions and this answered ALL of my questions. I had complete faith that they would make sure everything was great.


Meeting With the Wedding Coordinator:
We met with Ramon two days prior to the wedding. We arrived on Saturday and were married on Thursday. On Sunday we received a letter giving us a time and place to meet him.
Ramon went over our entire planning form ensuring that everything was still as we wanted. I left a lot of the planning form blank, as I was unsure of what would be best. Ramon gave great suggestions about ceremony times, sunset timing, scheduling of cocktail hour, music, and speeches. Ramon also went through our dinner on the beach and breakfast in bed included in our package. He also double-checked which rooms we were getting ready in, and explained what to do to have our wedding attire steamed. He even made sure that I had my dress picked up and dropped off in my parent’s room!
Overall, the meeting took about 20-30 minutes. He then showed us the location where the wedding would take place, and explained the layout for cocktail hour and dinner. He also showed us the back-up rain locations.


Spa:
I had my nails, hair, and makeup done by the ladies at the spa. I had Lecticia (I think!). She spoke very little English. I showed her a picture of what I wanted with my hair, and tried to communicate that I wanted it to have some volume on top. Although it wasn’t quite what the picture showed, my hair looked beautiful. It framed my face very well and I LOVED it. I wear very little makeup on a daily basis, so I was worried how it would turn out. At one point she put a little too much; I said something and she fixed it immediately. I thought it looked amazing. My mom said that it looked beautiful and I still looked like me, instead of looking overly made up. When I got back to the room I added a bit more eyeliner, and right before leaving the room a bit more mascara, but I felt gorgeous!
My three sisters and my mom also had their hair done. All three looked amazing, though not exact copies of the pictures they showed the stylist. All held up really well throughout the night too.
I would like to add that the ladies at the spa overall were very helpful. My sisters painted our nails while waiting for our hair, and when we asked for nail-polish remover it was provided no questions asked.

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Flowers:
Extra flowers was the only area that we added to our package. I added 3 bridesmaid’s bouquets, and 2 additional boutonnieres. This added about $250 to the package, but I feel it was worth it. Looking back on it, I think I was also charged for the corsages that I used for my mom and God mother (which should have been included in the divine package), but at this point, I am not upset about it.
In my planning form I indicated exactly what I wanted, complete with pictures. In the planning meeting Ramon went over these details. I also showed him pictures on his computer just to be sure about the colors.
Ramon explained that he would deliver the bouquets and corsages to the room about a half hour to an hour before the ceremony, but explained that if we wanted them sooner that it would be no problem. He also said that he would keep all of the boutonnieres and help the men pin them on.
Ramon called about 15 minutes before delivering the flowers to give us a heads up that he was coming, and also to check in with me about how things were. When he arrived with the flowers I was thrilled. They were beautiful and exactly what I wanted. All of the flowers were wrapped with white satin ribbon, and were beautiful.

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All Bouquets
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Bridesmaid Bouquet
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Bride Bouquet

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Centerpiece


Getting to the Ceremony Location:
Ramon said in our planning meeting that I should not leave the room until he called, and that he wouldn’t call until everyone was ready for me to arrive. “It might be late, but do not worry!” He said that when he called he would have a cart come to pick all 6 of us up. Our room was right beside the pool. When I came out of the room everyone by the pool was so excited and started cheering and congratulating me. It was an amazing feeling. The cart drove us to the lobby. In the lobby I met our photographer. She was great at explaining a few things about how to get great pictures (make the first kiss at least 10 seconds, and how to put on our rings), and what pictures were a priority to me.
The bridal party then walked through the lobby to the buffet restaurant. The photographer snapped pictures the entire way. People in the pool and in the lobby continued to cheer for us and it made the atmosphere so light and exciting! Ramon was with us the entire way from the lobby to the start of the ceremony. He made sure that my soon-to-be-husband could not see me as we arrived, and that everyone knew where to go and what to do. He ensured that the music we selected was played appropriately and that everything ran on time.
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Ceremony:
Our ceremony took place just after 3:30 and was perfect. Walking down the aisle seemed unreal. The sun was just starting to set and I felt like my husband was illuminated. We had a symbolic ceremony. The minister approached my husband just prior to the start and asked if we wanted a religious ceremony or one focusing on love and relationships. At this time my husband also indicated that we had written our own vows. The minister incorporated this into the ceremony flawlessly. His words were beautiful, focusing on our love for each other, and how we were starting a new family – it was beautiful.
Immediately after the ceremony we walked up the aisle to the tequila terrace where everyone was served a glass of champagne.

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Photographer:
Included in our package was 1 hour of photography coverage, which covered the ceremony and about a half hour afterwards for photos. From this we were to select 24 photos that are packaged into a book. These 24 photos are also put onto a CD for you to take home as a digital copy. I had read mostly negative reviews about the photographer provided by the resort, however, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of photos taken of my new husband and I during the ceremony and afterwards. When we had to choose 24 photos we found it quite challenging, as there were so many that we loved! There were some wonderful photos that we had to pass up, as each additional photo above the 24 was $15. To have all of the photos put on disc was $500 (ridiculous!). In the end we couldn’t whittle them down enough, and ended up purchasing 3 extra photos.
Although the shots of my husband and I were great, I was not happy with the group shots. I told the photographer prior to the ceremony that the group photos were my priority, that I wanted pictures with each of our families. I felt she rushed through these photos. It was very hard to pick the group pictures as there was always someone blinking or not looking. She also did nothing to pose the group shots, so some people are not visible in some photos, or people are standing too far apart. This only applies to the group photos though, the ceremony shots were great.
Some photos from the resort photographer:
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My sister took photos before and after the ceremony (and one of the reasons we did not purchase an extra photography package). I wish she could have also photographed the ceremony, but it was more important to me that she was one of my bridesmaids! My sister also did a trash the dress, which was a lot of fun! (And my dress is totally fine!!!)


Cocktail hour:
Due to photos we missed most of cocktail hour. However, when we returned to the Terrace the bartender immediately poured us our signature drink (included in our package), and served us our very own tray of hors d’ouerves. My family said that there was a lot of food, they were all able to sample each type, and that the bartenders took care of everyone very well.
We selected:
Salmon and dill cream cheese (my favorite!)
Shrimp wrapped in Bacon
Sliced tomato and mozzarella al pesto
Prosciutto ham bruschetta

All four options were presented beautifully and tasted awesome! I wish I had a picture to show everyone, it was so good!
Also included in our package was a musician. We elected to use this during our cocktail hour. We selected the guitar player. He was FANTASTIC. He played a wide selection of various contemporary and older songs. Everyone commented on how great he was, and what a nice added touch it was to our small and intimate celebration.

Dinner and Cake:
Dinner was wonderful. Ramon set up our decorations exactly as requested. I didn’t have much, but I thought he did a wonderful job. I brought plastic vases to add the bridesmaid bouquets for centerpieces. We also had a centerpiece included in the package and it was stunning. I gave Ramon a seating chart for all of our guests with their meal selection. This allowed us to give our guests an option of meal choice for dinner (that they had RSVP’d with ahead of time). Ramon also set out our wedding favors according to the seating chart I had given him. We were not charged for a set-up fee.
The food at dinner was wonderful.
Appetizer: Seared Tuna salad
Soup: Lobster Bisque
Main Course – Surf and Turf or Seafood Stuffed Chicken (guest choice)
Dessert – Cognac Truffle Cake

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The tuna was phenomenal. Everyone raved about it. The Lobster soup was good also – complete with a fried seafood ravioli garnish! The surf and turf was served with shrimp and asparagus and was very good. The chicken was served over couscous. I had the chicken and wasn’t overly thrilled with it (I would say that was how I felt about the chicken at every meal I had over the week. It all tastes the same – very salty). The dessert was awesome, it was a chocolate-y decadent mouse/cake covered in a white chocolate shell.
Before the main course arrived our guests were served a second signature drink (different from the one at cocktail hour). I chose mango margaritas.
After the main course but before desert guests were served champagne, and this acted as a signal to start the speeches (this was Ramon’s suggestion). I think it was perfect timing!
After speeches we cut our cake. We chose Tres Leches. It looked beautiful. We only had 19 guests and the cake was 3 tiers. I brought a cake topper and Ramon had flowers added that were the same as my bouquet. I only tasted the bite that my husband and I fed each other after cutting and photos. It tasted good, but after that truffle cake dessert, nothing compared!
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Reception:
After we cut the cake, my husband and I had our first dance, and then we had a combined father/daughter and mother/son dance.
Instead of renting the speakers from the resort at $150/hour (plus tax!), or paying for a DJ we brought our own portable speaker system that we purchased at Costco for $130. It ran on battery and was Bluetooth compatible. We ran it off of my husbands phone all night.
With the divine package dinner and the reception are a combined 3 hours. We did not want to extend the reception for only 19 people. After the speeches were finished and the cake was cut we maybe had 45 minutes left over for dancing and drinks. The bartenders definitely worked hard, my husband and I never had to ask for a drink, they would seek us out with a fresh one whenever they were getting low. They also brought shots around during the dancing to liven up the party. They were great!
After the 3 hours the bartenders packed up, and our table decorations were cleared. That didn’t stop us from dancing though! (Because we had our own speakers) We stayed and danced for a bit longer on the terrace and then moved to the nightclub at the resort. It was a lot of fun!

When we returned to our room our bed was turned down with tons of rose petals. It looked beautiful.

Dinner On The Beach, Massage, Breakfast In Bed:
We opted to have our massages and dinner on the beach the day before the wedding. It was such a great idea, as it gave us some time to connect before the big day. Splitting time between our two families and ensuring that everyone was happy and having fun was stressful and exhausting. It was so nice to have some time for just the two of us. The massages were wonderful. Definitely go to the spa an hour ahead of time and do the hydrotherapy circuit beforehand.
The dinner on the beach was great. The waiter was wonderful, and the food was delicious. It was by far the best entre I had the entire time we were at the NOW.
We had our breakfast in bed the morning after the wedding. It was nice to not have to get up and out for breakfast and enjoy some more time together. There is a LOT of food included in this. I don’t know if we barely even ate half of it, but it all was good.


Although our day was absolutely amazing, there are two things that I wish I had done differently:

• I wish I had made our hair appointments for an earlier time. Our ceremony was at 3:30, and hair was scheduled for 12. I thought that this would be ample time. I was finished at 1, but my sisters and mom were not finished until after 2. This didn’t leave much time to eat some lunch (my dad ordered room service for us for 1:30), get dressed and take pictures. The time before the ceremony seemed very rushed, and many of the pictures felt forced. I also wanted to do a first look with my husband, but there definitely was not time for that. I now know that it isn’t always the bride that puts the wedding behind!
• I wish that I had been firmer with the resort photographer about group photos. Although I said it was a priority for me, I wish I could have made that more clear. As I said, it was impossible to pick photos where everyone looked decent.

Overall Comments on the Resort:
The resort is wonderful. The grounds are beautiful and the pool is huge. We booked preferred and I am so happy that we did. We had a private check-in in a separate area. The preferred rooms are literally right on the beach. We were also able to book a section for the entire week on the beach or by the preferred pool, so we never had to worry about finding chairs super early in the morning. It was also nice to have a quieter breakfast with the preferred club.
The food was great at the restaurants, though my favorites were Lemongrass and Paramour. The buffet was small, but the food was always fresh, warm, and tasty. Service was great throughout the resort. Jose Louis at the preferred pool was fantastic. The sand on the beach is great, not rocky. I was disappointed that there was a lot of seaweed in the water at the time we went. I am not sure if this was because it was at the very end of hurricane season and during the rainy season for the area.
My parents travel extensively throughout the Riviera Maya, and were very impressed with every aspect of the resort. You will not be disappointed!