We just returned from the best vacation ever! We had a great trip with wonderful people at a beautiful resort. I’ll try to sum it up as best I can for you:

Resort:

ILA is a huge, gorgeous resort. The ‘huge’ part could be seen as a positive or negative: on the bright side, there are tons of activities, a-la-carte restaurants, pools, bars and things to do. On the negative, it’s just a large space to try to locate your group in. I was a little concerned about this when we first got there, however it turns out that I didn’t need to be: 24 hours in, we had already pegged a daytime and a nighttime meeting spot. Not on purpose; it just happened organically as they were the two most popular hangouts for our group. So as long as your group does the same type of thing, then you need not worry about how large the resort is.

The beach is lovely, the pools are clean, and the bar service is relatively fast. The a-la-cartes were all good (we went to the Steak House, the Cuban and the Italian). The staff were all very friendly and helpful. I found the buffet food to be delicious with lots of variety- and I’m a vegetarian! The rest of my group was very happy as well. The snack bar (24hr) could use some help, as it’s basically just a selection of 4 types of grease (burgers, hot dogs, fries, and pizza), but we made do.

Wedding:

As you know, there are a lot of weddings at the ILA. I at first wasn’t sure about this- mainly for selfish reasons. I thought it would be nice to go somewhere where we were the only wedding party around, perhaps at a smaller resort where they don’t hold them often. As it turns out though, I do think it’s great that the ILA does a lot of weddings- it means that they’re prepared. They know the best spots for the ceremony, dinner, reception and pictures. They have decorations. They have answers to questions like “where can we do speeches?” or “can we have a slideshow?” And that means a lot when you’re busy planning your wedding and need fast answers! I agree with Cristina- 3 is too many in one day (though we were lucky- we were the only ones on our day). 

I know that some people have said that Yahimara isn’t overly friendly, but I’m happy to report that I didn’t find this at all- in fact, quite the opposite! I found her to be warm, happy and organized (though, it probably helped that I gave her some gifts when we first arrived). We arrived on Saturday, and on Monday we sat down to finalize all of the details… we went over the locations for ceremony (Spa Terrace), dinner (Palapas with chicken menu from Cuban restaurant), and reception (disco), chose flowers, and talked about decorations, etc. TIP: if you are already married when you go down, then make sure you review your ceremony options during this meeting with Yahimara. She didn’t ask me whether I wanted the ‘Cuban Wedding’ ceremony or the ‘Vow Renewal’ ceremony until we were in the elevator on the way up to the terrace! I just said we wanted the wedding one, because we wanted it to sound like a wedding… but as it turns out, the ‘wedding’ ceremony is very dry, legal-sounding jargon that made me incredibly thankful we’d written our own vows. I know other girls had mentioned this before, but it just didn't occur to me seeing as how I was about to walk down the aisle in 2 minutes! I never did get to see the ‘Vow Renewal’ ceremony, but I’m sure it’s much better! Either way, definitely write your own vows.

It turned out that our wedding day was the only day it rained during our whole vacation. It’s funny now as we look back, but at the time it was stressful. They kept asking us to make a decision about moving dinner inside the Cuban restaurant (instead of at the Palapas) and moving the ceremony into a “1980’s ballroom” (my husband’s words- I never did see it) off the lobby, instead of at the spa terrace. In the end, we did move dinner inside, but kept the ceremony on the terrace. Both of these decisions turned out to be perfect, as the sun came out right before the ceremony, and it poured rain during dinner. I have to say- if you’ve been thinking about having your dinner at the Palapas, consider having it right inside the Cuban restaurant. Not only will you not have to worry about rain, but we actually enjoyed the setup inside better than what it would have been in the Palapas.

The dinner was great (we chose the chicken menu at the Cuban). Everyone kept talking about how good it was. They also made me a vegetarian pasta, which was delish!

We rented out the disco for two hours (9-11). Between speeches going on longer than anticipated, and a heavy rain which made everyone stay inside at the restaurant for too long, we didn’t get to the disco until about 9:40. That was unfortunate because we had a great time with just our group in the disco. It opens to the public at 11:00, and there’s nothing you can do about that… I wouldn’t have minded other people coming in if the DJs had kept playing our music, but they switched to salsa at 11:00 on the dot! Our party started to fizzle after that, but we did reconnect for a beach party. TIP: bring your own iPod dock so you have the ability to have a party wherever and whenever you want!

Note: We had speeches and our own music (with a DJ who would switch CD’s/turn volume down for a speech) at dinner, and a slideshow during the reception at the disco. I know a lot of people ask about those two things.

Our decorations at dinner looked great- we brought tealights that we arranged on little mirrors, some votives in frosted glass holders, some coloured marbles, and some silver confetti. As our favours, we filled little jars with sand from the beach, which we put labels with our names and date on. Then we tied ribbons around them and set them on the tables at dinner… they looked pretty. We also gave out fans during the ceremony (big hit).

Okay, so I’m going to try and conclude this novel now! I’ll just sum up some tips for you:

-Ceremony on the spa terrace= you won’t have to worry as much about rain (unless it’s coming in the sides, like it was right before our wedding!)

-Chicken menu at the Cuban restaurant was a big hit

-Plan out (and write down) the pictures you'll want beforehand (You with your girls at X location, you with your mom, you with your Aunt, etc.), so you don’t forget any while you’re caught up in the moment.

-Review the Ceremonies beforehand, if you’re already married. Write your own vows.

-If you’re having a private reception, burn CD’s

-Burn CD’s for dinner

-Ask everyone in your group to be on time for the dinner and reception. Maybe even tell them it begins 15 minutes before it actually does

-Bring an alarm clock- there isn’t one in your room

-Don’t expect to get your decorations back afterwards… I’m the second one I know of who didn’t. (Not that I wanted them, and I knew I probably wouldn’t after reading Cristina’s review.)

-Bring an iPod dock

-The catamaran trip is a blast… (the one that’s $101).. see if you can organize a big group of your guests to go and you’ll have an amazing time!

That’s about all I can think of for now! Sorry I rambled so much! Relax and have a great time… if something goes wrong, you’re probably the only one who will notice!

Congratulations!

-Lindsay