ceiba del mar hotel and spa

[wedding decor]

Congratulation!

 

You have selected a great hotel. We love to coordinate and deocr wedding reception there - you have so many otions in terms of locations. We are having a wedidng there the upcoming weekend and will post pictures on our facbook page.

Regards

[tweets.13]

Hi!  I will send you a PM with my personal email so it is easier for you to communicate with me.  CONGRATS on Ceiba!  You and your fiance (and your family and friends) will have the time of your lives!

 

We used Ivan Gomez from DJ Doremixx and we LOVED him!  (I am VERY delayed in posting reviews on here (our wedding was in April), but he will receive a glowing one!)  He was easy to communicate with by email (a little delayed in responding compared to what us NY'ers are used to, but nothing concerning and he always answered my questions).  He played our song list as well as other songs in line with what we like.  He was set-up and ready to go on time.  We had 60+ guests, and there were very few songs where more than 5 people or so were sitting - everyone danced the whole night!  And, he has GREAT props!  We were thrilled with his services.

 

We did not rent a dance floor.  With the number of guests we had (64 including us), there was plenty of room on the terrace for tables and dancing.  Plus, we did not want a lighted dance floor.  If you do, or if you will have a lot more guests, you may want to consider it.  I am happy we did not rent one. 

 

For lighting and Flowers we used Gabi at Planner1Events (again, I am delayed in writing a review, but she was FABULOUS)!!  We had her hang Chinese lanterns (and we loved the look of it), but she has numerous lighting options.  If you email her, she will send you a full list of services, set-up, flowers, bamboo arch/gazebo, maracas (which I put the place cards on), etc. with pricing.  I described what I was looking for, and she sent various pictures of options that were in line with what I wanted.  She is readily available by email, and very helpful.  My flowers looked exactly like I pictured/ordered - they were beautiful!!   

 

Here is a link to a slide w/pictures,  http://harris.brookeboling.com/  and try this link for all the pictures so you can really see the set-up, etc.  http://www.pictage.com/client/event.do?event=1035226

 

Paola and/or Diana can give you the contact info for the mariachi they recommend (I have it in my email somewhere, but could not locate it quickly).  They were fantastic!  We had them play at the rehearsal dinner. 

 

For the ceremony, we had Javier Rojas play his guitar http://www.javierrojas.com.mx/en/bio.html  He was excellent. 

 

Pam from beautyweddings.com offciated our ceremony - she was great and had half our guests in tears! http://www.beautyweddings.com/

 

For photographer, we flew in Brooke Boling.  http://brookeboling.com/   She is photographer out of Nashville (and one of my sister's good friends).  We loved that her pictures were creative and unique.  The cost of her flight, hotel, and fees was comparable to some of the more highly recommended Mexican photographers.  Check out her blog (link is on her website) - she shoots in many different states/locations.  Try this link for all of our pictures: http://www.pictage.com/client/event.do?event=1035226

 

Hair and make-up - I had my mom and sister do it (they are stylists).  So I cannot help you there!  Remember - it is windy and humid, so unless it is all pinned up/back, it makes photographs more difficult.  (I kept it half up/down, and it was a bit of a struggle.)

 

The food was delicious (we are total foodies as well!).  We did not do a tasting before, but we had eaten in both restaurants when we did our site visit and felt confident in the food.  For passed apps, we had Vol au vent Mushroom, Panko Japanese style breaded crab with sweet chile, and grouper ceviche with green mango, shallot, and piquin chili .  Delicious.  .  Delicious!  For dinner we had green salad w/goat cheese, tortilla soup w/garnishes, and choice of Grilled Grouper with almond rice and asparagus julian OR Angus beef steak with mushroom sauce, potato au gratin and vegetables sautéed in garlic.  We did not do a dessert and just went with the cake - vanilla w/dulce de leche filling.  VERY good as well. 

 

I really do not have any complaints - everything went smoothly and all of our guests had the best time. 

 

As for prices, I was quoted everything a year ago when we were planning, so I would assume that the prices have gone up a little.

 

I hope this answers your questions - sorry for the lengthy reply!  

 

 

Originally Posted by tappleton 

Hey tweets, I tried to send you a PM, but my computer froze and did something weird (so you got a half message that's why).  Anyway, I'm from Ny too and just booked my wedding at ceiba. I'm starting to look for vendor and just wanted to ask who you used and get some recommendations and pricing. 

 

 

 

 

-DJ who did you use and how much? Did you like them? We are looking for someone to really get and keep the party going!

-Lighting for reception area, what did you pick and how much did it cost?

Did you rent a dance floor? If so were you glad you did?

-Mariachi? 

Photographer? recommendation, cost?

Hair and makeup? Did you like whoever it was? How much was it? Was the trial included.

 

And most importantly food recommendations. My fiancee and I are total foodies. I think you said you did a tasting. Are there any dishes you'd recommend getting/not getting, good appetizers/bad appetizers? Did you have their cake? We didn't do a tasting when we were there.

 

Thanks so much! I am starting from square one right now

 

If anyone else has any tips that would be awesome too!

 

Tiffany

 

 

[Lupita]

Hi Thresa,

 

OMG.. Your pictures are AMAZING it looked like a amazing experience. Congratulations on a wonderful wedding and thanks for sharing.

[tappleton]

Theresa, 

Thanks so much, this is so awesome! You did so many things I want to do.  I loved your pictures. ok, a few more questions. I loved the lighting you had for the reception, both the chinese lanterns and what looked like colored lighting, what was the colored lighting? Was that something you arranged through planner 1? I Also, your rehearsal dinner looked like so much fun. I was talking to Diana about a taco bbq, but it looked like you had some awesome desserts, salsa, churros, etc.  What kind of food bbq/buffet did you arrange?  Mariachi's looked like so much fun, I was thinking of having them for my cocktail hour but now am second guessing and thinking of maybe doing them for the rehearsal. Did you like it that way or would you recommend cocktail hour? Lastly for the ceremony, what made you pick the beach over the pier? Was the pier windy during cocktail hour? Was the beach windy during the ceremony? Was the guitarist loud enough to hear?  Thanks so much! you are awesome!  Congrats and what looked like a killer wedding!

 

tiffany

[mexbride83]

Thank you KPSouthie! Sorry, I don't get on here very often, but I really do need to get my reviews done:)  Anything that stands out as a must do... I absolutely LOVED our margarita glasses (from Omniglow: http://www.omniglow.com/og/)

And I know it's a little biased, but I think the wedding on the terrace was the best spot at Ceiba for a wedding:) Everyone could sit comfortably (we had 70 guests), there was a great breeze, women could wear whatever shoes they wanted, and the views are absolutely gorgeous.  Oh and another must you are all already doing - have your wedding at Ceiba del Mar!! 

Originally Posted by KPSouthie 

Alexis -you looked gorgeous & what a fantastic wedding you had!  I have to say, some of those pictures are a riot!!!  OMG the one with your buddy hanging from the tree....hahaha!  One thing is for sure, looks like everyone truly enjoyed themselves. 

 

Is there anything that stands out in your mind as a must do for the wedding or in general?

 

[mexbride83]

Hi tappleton,

 

I know this was to Tweets, but I thought more posts would help you and everyone else! I don't know much about pricing, as I've already forgotten what most of the prices were... oops:) But I can offer some recommendations!
 

Originally Posted by tappleton 

Hey tweets, I tried to send you a PM, but my computer froze and did something weird (so you got a half message that's why).  Anyway, I'm from Ny too and just booked my wedding at ceiba. I'm starting to look for vendor and just wanted to ask who you used and get some recommendations and pricing. 

 

 

 

 

-DJ who did you use and how much? Did you like them? We are looking for someone to really get and keep the party going!  DJ Doremixx!! If you check out our pics, posted back a few pages, you'll see that he definitely kept the party going. For more about his awesomeness at our wedding, my review is here: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/dj-s-doremixx/reviews/4666

-Lighting for reception area, what did you pick and how much did it cost? The cost of our lighting was part of our overall decor costs, which we did via Eventos Euforia (also awesome, a review to come!). But we did the chinese lanterns streamed across the entire eating area, and then the colored lights that the DJ brought for the dancing area (upper part of terrace). We did do DJ Doremixx's cold fireworks and they were so awesome. He surprised us with them right as my husband twirled me. This picture shows those and the lanterns over the dining area.

Did you rent a dance floor? If so were you glad you did?  We didn't rent the lit up dance floor because we were worried about it being big enough for our group (70 people), and also because we had glow products, from Omniglow (http://www.omniglow.com/og/) and I wanted them to really stand out in pictures. 

-Mariachi? To be honest, I never even knew the name of the band. But we LOVED them! If you ask Paola, it's the band that CdM always uses, so she can direct you to them.  We had them play at our cocktail hour and everyone raved about them.

Photographer? recommendation, cost? Moments that Matter!!! I can't say enough great things about them. They are the takers of all these awesome pics I am posting, and the rest of my pics are a few posts back. Again, I don't remember the full cost, as we paid almost a year ago, but I do remember them being one of the more reasonably priced photographers. Here is my full review of them: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/moments-that-matter-photography/reviews/4664

Hair and makeup? Did you like whoever it was? How much was it? Was the trial included. MVP Hair and Makeup/Melissa V. Parry. Phenomenal. Seriously. I'm writing my review for them today. I wasn't even completely sold on the idea of getting my makeup done, because I'd had it done for a friend's wedding and I hated it. I don't wear a lot of makeup and I looked like a completely different person with the loads and loads of makeup they put on me. Melissa was nothing like that. She had me looking totally natural and like myself, just a much better version! And her work on all of my girls was nothing short of amazing. I don't know prices because my mother did the booking and paying for the entire bridal party, mostly because I balked so much at getting my makeup done:) I couldn't be happier that she did it!! They typically do include a trial, for a fee of course, but I didn't have one done due to Melissa traveling back to Mexico the day before our wedding. Here are some pics, and I'm posting a full review later today with more:

And most importantly food recommendations. My fiancee and I are total foodies. I think you said you did a tasting. Are there any dishes you'd recommend getting/not getting, good appetizers/bad appetizers? Did you have their cake? We didn't do a tasting when we were there.  I did a tasting at a previous visit and loved the sea bass with red pepper sauce so much that it is what I got for the wedding day (we offered steak, the chicken with cheese dish, and sea bass as our three choices). I was kinda disappointed in how it tasted the day of the wedding. The steak and chicken, I had one on each side of me!, turned out great though. I think the chicken dish was my favorite of our wedding. I was totally in love with our salad, it was mixed greens with peppers, goat cheese, and candied pecans. They created it for me and it turned out perfect. The husband and I are big foodies also, but I think it's important to realize that food cooked for 70 people will never taste as incredible as if it were cooked for just 2:) I was incredibly happy with how everything turned out though. And we had the Mexican appetizers at our cocktail hour. We didn't make it to cocktail hour at all so I couldn't try them, but people are actually STILL telling me how incredible they were! Apparently that was the food that stood out the most to all our guests. Go figure:)  I will say that everything we ordered during our week there, with the exception of the tuna dish (we live in Hawaii, so we're very particular about our tuna!), was amazing and people kept telling us how much they loved everything they ordered. The fried calamari at the pool is a MUST. 

 

Thanks so much! I am starting from square one right now

 

If anyone else has any tips that would be awesome too!

 

Tiffany

 

 

[mexbride83]

I finally got my CdM review up! http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/ceiba-del-mar-spa-resort/reviews/4765

[lshaef]

I thought I would post all of the vendors we used so those of you still in the planning stage you can get more input to make your decision.

 

I ended up using Tropical Wedding Experts b/c we were dealing with Paola (not the fabulous one there now) and we weren't getting much support.  A former Ceiba WC went to work for TWE and a friend of a friend said she was great. 

Pros to using an outside WC- they created a website for my guests to book their rooms and any requests, transportation from airport, meal options, and if they would be attending the BBQ and Brunch.  This certainly made it easier on me HOWEVER...

 

Con: there were many issues with the website so in the end I was constantly on top of everything double checking, fixing mistakes, etc.  At one point, Denise our WC basically lost touch with us and replied to us in emails with "I will get to it as humanly possible".  And let me state I was FAR from the bridzilla.  There was no set fee for the services so I always felt like I was getting scammed.  I will write a review and give more details for this company.

 

Show System - DJ Omar Bautista Figueroa ([email protected])

He did a great job of keeping the party going.  We had sent him a few songs to give him an idea for our style of music.  We didn't want anyone yelling into the mic so his style suited us perfectly.  His English is not great but 50% of my guests were Spanish speaking.  He provided nice lighting for the dance area.  He also provided the sound system for our ceremony since it was on the pier.

 

Mariachi's Aguila de Mexico

They were fabulous.  They met us at the end of the pier after the ceremony and played music walking to the cocktail hour.  So many guests raved about how great they were and it gave a great Mexican touch to our wedding.

 

Eventos Euforia - ([email protected])

We used Eventos for the lounge seating and bonfire at the BBQ the night before our wedding.  They did exactly as we asked and it looked great.  It is hard to visual the space with how much you need...tiki torches, seating ,etc but they were very easy to work with.  We used them for all of the wedding decor (ceremony, cocktail, and reception).  Angel and I met with my WC and Eventos works to explain how we wanted the tables arranged at the reception...luckily my hubby stopped by the terrace area before he went to shower and had them fix it b/c it wasn't set up correctly.  Only other negative the bouquet for my mom and mother in law were white callilies and the tips were brown.  I ask my WC to see if they could get new ones and they did.  We went back and forth with them a lot on what we wanted our centerpiece to look like.  I was nervous b/c the sample pics were terrible but I LOVED my centerpieces.  We rented 4 wooden cocktail tables with floating candle and orchid, square tables, bamboo chairs with cushions, 80 hanging candles, and yute overlay on cream table cloth.

 

[lshaef]

Thomas Sanderson Photography - ([email protected])

A previous Ceiba bride had used Tom for her wedding (my friend of a friend connection to Ceiba).  After looking a long time and really wanted Del Sol we ended up using Tom.  He is from VA and paid for his own room and flight.  Yes, I would have loved to have Del Sol but Tom shot many pictures over a few days so it was nice to have not just wedding pictures.  He is VERY mellow so I think if you choose to use him, be more assertive then me.  Some of you got your pictures back very quickly so in comparison he was a bit slower.  Overall, very happy with my pictures.  I received all of the pictures on CDs and I need to select the pictures for our album. 

 

MVP - hair and make-up

This is the only review I did so far so please check it out.  Melissa was AMAZING!

 

Violinist - My husband surprised me with this for the ceremony so I have no information on him.  It was very sweet of my hubby and I loved it.

 

I have a "logistics" document with a bunch of the time, location, and all that good stuff so when I find it, I will post it.

 

Laura 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Matt Adcock]

 

new photo motivation.. .  Anyway here is a recent one from Sol Tamargo + Ceiba del Mar... wowzer.

 

 

I love these because they each represent different weddings and Ceiba del Mar gets featured 2 times in the "Venue Category" for the International Society for Professional Wedding Photographers... pretty big statement.  The post is all about the elevating the "PIER available factor at Ceiba del Mar...