aventura spa palace

[skadow]

Emailing you now! Thanks so much...

 

 

Originally Posted by nicdeb928 

okay ladies I have more pics....i have 6 different albums on snapfish...email me your email address at [email protected] and I will send you the link to see my pictures from the rehearsal dinner, welcome dinner, ziplining, and wedding...im still working on the planning thread and review...ttys...nicole

[Alyssa0918]

sooooooo beautiful!  Congrats!  We are leaving on the 23rd....I can't wait! Bachelorette party is tonight!
 

Originally Posted by nicdeb928 

Hi Ladies! Im back! I have so much to tell everyone, and its all good...Im at work and still sick (i got really sick the day we left and im still trying to get better) I think it was all the stress and running around from the last few weeks...but I will write up a planning thread and a review of ASP for all of you within the next few days...here is the link to my pictures to give you a little something for now (i know all of you are dying to see recent pics of weddings at ASP) my photographer, Juan Navarra was absolutley amazing...ill ttys...Nicole

 

http://www.juanphotos.com/blog/?p=4241
 

[adales]

Have so much fun at your bachelorette party!
 

Originally Posted by Alyssa0918 

sooooooo beautiful!  Congrats!  We are leaving on the 23rd....I can't wait! Bachelorette party is tonight!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicdeb928 

Hi Ladies! Im back! I have so much to tell everyone, and its all good...Im at work and still sick (i got really sick the day we left and im still trying to get better) I think it was all the stress and running around from the last few weeks...but I will write up a planning thread and a review of ASP for all of you within the next few days...here is the link to my pictures to give you a little something for now (i know all of you are dying to see recent pics of weddings at ASP) my photographer, Juan Navarra was absolutley amazing...ill ttys...Nicole

 

http://www.juanphotos.com/blog/?p=4241
   

 

[nicdeb928]

Hope you had fun at your bachelorette party Alyssa!!!!

 

I sent everyone who emailed me a link to all my albums on snapfish, hope you enjoyed..sorry there's so many of them...im known by my friends to be the paparazzi

also, my photographer, Juan Navarro has a bunch of my wedding pics on his facebook page, you dont have to be his friend to see them...

[jszy10]

Nicole, thank you so much for sharing your pictures!  I look forward to reading your review!!  How did you give out your OOT bags?  I'm trying to decide whether to do it at the welcome cocktail party or have them delivered to the rooms.

[nicdeb928]

Hi Ladies! so this planning thread and wedding review writing requires a lil more time than I thought, and for some reason I seem to be just as busy now as I was before the wedding?!?! so I decided to break it up so I wont feel stressed to get it all perfect for you guys...Im going to start with the most import day....the Wedding Day! Here is my review of my wedding day at ASP:
 

My fiance (at that time) decided to spend the night apart before our big day, so he slept in the room with his dad and I stayed by myself in our room.  This was a decision that I recommend to all of you.  It was such an amazing feeling to wake up in our room by myself, and know that I wasnt going to see him until I was walking down the aisle....I was so tired from the days before the wedding but that morning I woke up at 7am, with no alarm, and I just had this wonderful feeling of excitement.  I called and placed an order for room service for myself for breakfast, turned on some music and started packing up my bag of what I needed for the day.  My breakfast came, I ate, and finished gathering everything I needed.  I left on the bed for him a pair of black socks that said groom on them and a lil note that said "To My Future Husband, In Case You Get Cold Feet" and his wedding gift (a boudoir album that I knew was going to blow his mind . 

 

I got to the spa at 8:30 and met up with my bridesmaids in the hydrotherapy room...all the girls had made appts for 9:30 for different treatments so we met an hour before to hang and relax together in the hydrotherapy room (again I highly recommend this), I was so happy, excited and stress free...At 9:30 I had an acupressure appt which was amazing, I then showered in the spa area and walked over to the salon (right across the hall) with my hair wet....I had an 11:00 hair appt and 12:30 makeup appt with Hugolina, who was absolutely amazing!!!! she did not speak any English and I forgot to bring a picture so she showed me some books and I picked what I wanted, there are girls in the salon who can speak English though, and all 5 of my bridesmaids were very happy with their hair and makeup, so it seems that they are all wonderful...While I was being worked on, one of my bridesmaids ran my ring down to the jewelry store in the lobby to get it cleaned and another bridesmaid ran out to the pool bar and brought me back a cheeseburger and french fries (which I appreciated it so much and once again recommend!) I got a quick polish change on my toenails and ran out the door. 

 

I had previously asked Yazmin if it was possible for me to have access to one of the suites to get ready in b/c I had 5 bridesmaids and my mom plus me and photographers wouldve been a tight squeeze in my room...and to my surprise, the resort said yes that I could use one from noon to 3 the day of the wedding...so while I was in the salon my bridesmaids got the key from the front desk, brought all their stuff there and my wedding gown and ordered room service for all of us to be delivered there (did I mention I have the best bridesmaids in the world!) so once I was done at the salon, I went out the front lobby and asked if one of the guys could drive me on the golf cart to my new room ( I didnt want to risk running into my groom to be) I got dropped off at the room around 1:45 and there was my photographers waiting for me (Juan Navarra and his assistant Daniel-AMAZING photographers, will review them more later) if you saw the pics on his blog, there is one of them catching me running up to them...I was excited, nervous and a lil scared we were running late, but they were instantly awesome, calmed me down and began doing there thing...all my bridesmaids were dressed at this point with their hair and makeup done...I was in my white zip up Bride hoodie and only needed to put my dress on....the room service came and brought us champagne and quesedillas and burgers, we all devoured them...my mom got there and put her dress on and then everyone was ready to dress me

 

Yazmin (who turned out to be absolutely wonderful, I will write more about her later) delivered my flowers and they were amazing! I had chosen the R-5 bouquet with white roses and Calla lilies and they were beautiful. I ordered 5 bridesmaids bouquets and they were R-9 with yellow roses, orange Calla lilies and hot pink (dont know how to say that one).  I was really very pleasantly surprised with the flowers, I hadnt brought any pics of what I wanted and just ordered them once I got there.  My flowers were free and I paid $65 each for the girls flowers...the grooms was free and we didnt get the guys or mothers any, didnt feel it was needed and after seeing the pics I still feel the same....

 

Around 2:45 Yazmin told my girls it was time for them to go and then about 5 minutes later she came for me and my brother....the horse and carriage were waiting outside for us....the moment I saw the horse, it all hit me, the time had come and I just felt so happy...I took a deep breath and slowed down b/c I didnt want to rush anything, I knew that the next few hours of my life were very special and I wanted to appreciate and remember every moment...I got married in the Coba gazebo so the carriage dropped us off at the top of the stairs, dont worry about not being seen, I had one of my gf, who was not in the wedding, keep an eye out for me and the second she saw me she told everyone to stand, which they did and everyone saw me....Its a nice long walk down to the gazebo and it gives you a few minutes to take it all in.  I remember hearing the harpist play and just feeling like everything was perfect.  (everyone raved about the horse & carriage and the harpist so I definitely recommend both) The harpist played Ava Maria, & Over the Rainbow while the guests were arriving, Canon in D while my bridesmaids were walking down and the Bridal March when I came in....he played the Wedding March when we left the gazebo.

 

I had given Yazmin previously my sand ceremony set, bubbles, fans and ceremony programs to set out and I assigned another girlfriend responsible to get down there before the guests and make sure everything looked good, which it all did...Yazmin did a great job taking care of everything...I didnt order a wedding package and Im glad I didnt,I loved the simple look of the gazebo...the only thing I got extra was up by the table I paid for an arrangement of Calla lilies in a glass jar for either end of the ceremony table...My taste/thoughts are that the bride and ceremony are supposed to be elegant looking, which to me is simple, white and subtle...now when I look at my pictures Im very happy with the choices I made b/c it suits my taste...everyone is different though...I loved the bright color of my girls dresses and their flowers but loved the simplicity of mine and the look of the gazebo during our ceremony...

 

The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes, then we had a champagne toast, then my photographer asked everyone to get together for a group shot (which came out amazing) and then all our guests except parents and the bridal party were instructed to head to cocktail hour which was at the Cove Terrace from 4:30 to 5:30.  We did a bunch of pics with our photographer and then joined everyone for the last 15 minutes at the cocktail hour...We had the Mexican Trio playing and our guests loved that touch too! It turned out that there were a lot of bugs for some reason during the time of our cocktail hour out on the terrace so Yazmin made the decision to move it inside, which was fine by me...she handled it wonderfully and all our guests were happy...we had the Mexican hors d overs as the appetizers and everyone said it was delicious...the spot we had move to was in the Cove lobby, upstairs, right inside from the Cove Terrace, right outside of the arcade and across from the disco...our guests had a great time, the food was good, the music was great and everyone was in/out of the arcade playing games if you saw my pics thats where the ones were taken of me and my sis on the dance video game and me on the motorcycle...it wound up making for some great pics...

 

It was now time for our reception which was on the Maracas Terrace from 6pm to 10pm...We had 6 tables of 10 plus the bride/groom table, the food was the Italian Buffet and I cant even explain how delicious everything was...we were a lil nervous b/c were all from New Jersey and to be honest we have some damn good Italian food here, but the resort did a great job and everyone was raving about the food...for the centerpieces I chose #3 from the Diamond Collection, but I asked Yazmin to do the same arrangement as my girls bouquets (again, i did not decide anything to do with flowers, cake or centerpieces until I was in Mexico and met with Yazmin) the centerpieces were gorgeous and everyone was commenting how pretty they were (I paid $65 per table and feel it was worth it); I bought maracas for centerpieces from the gift shop at the resort, we bought about 55 of them and I want to say it cost around $75, i think it was 4 for $5, something like that...the Maracas Terrace was set up great and it wound up being an awesome spot to have our reception...it was outside, yet private b/c its surrounded by palm trees and rocks, so theres not people walking past or through your party...its on concrete, a few steps up from the beach also on the Cove side...the cake I chose was C-1 from the Upgraded cake lists (this cost $220)...the top layer was cheesecake, the middle was carrot cake and the bottom was vanilla with fruit...again, everyone raved how good it was...I personally tried the cheesecake part and it was delicious, different than we make it here at home, but still very good....

 

I hired J&S for my DJ and lighting and they did a very good job...He played DJ Got Us Falling in Love while he introduced my bridal party and us and then Sade-By Your Side as our first dance...I then danced with my mom to Celine Dion-Because you loved me and husband danced with his mom to Rascal Flatts-My Wish...our cake cutting song was Grow Old With You from the Wedding Singer Soundtrack...besides the DJ and audio system, I also purchased a lighting package from J&S, I bought about 18 extra LED lights, which were placed under each table and all around us and under the palm trees, if you can afford to I would definitely recommend this, it adds a beautiful, romantic, fun ambiance to the night...the lights were an extra $25 each, and to me, worth it....

 

Yazmin had laid out our place cards at the entrance with everyones name and table # (bought these on vistaprint), our cake topper & knife & cake server and the maracas with a card that said to shake that to see us kiss (also purchased through vistaprint).  My cousin brought my flip-flops for me and I put them on right after my mother and I danced, I was so happy to have them and danced all night long (white sequin ones from VS with a wedge). We also brought glow in the dark necklaces and glasses from Oriental trading and these were a huge hit with our guests, as you can see from pics   As soon as the mother dances were over, we told everyone to eat, so by around 7:30 everyone had ate and we spent the next 2.5 hours non-stop dancing...At 10pm when the wedding was over we all walked up to the disco together to continue the fun....

 

Well, thats my wedding day review...hope you enjoyed it, I actually got a little teary eyed writing it b/c I felt I was reliving the day.  I cant explain to you guys how much you are going to love your wedding day.  ASP does an amazing job with weddings...If I could go back and re-do anything it would be to not stress about the little stuff I stressed about...Planning is definitely important but there are other things that you definitely do NOT need to worry about, im going to include in my full review a Would Do and Would Not Do Again list b/c I think it will help you ladies...okay Im off to bed...more to follow...nicole

[sgray]

Thanks Nicole...for sharing your pictures and for writing your review.  I am so glad to hear that everything went well for you. I am just a couple of weeks away and glad to see a recent review. I am really excited to hear that they will "loan" a suite to the bride to get ready for the wedding.  My locations for ceremony and reception are the same as yours. I am so excited!

[sxcT]

Thank you for such a great wedding day review.  I got chills and a little teary eyed myself while I was reading it.  I am so glad you had an amazing time and that everything worked out wonderfully.  Thank you for taking the time to write this up.  I have a few questions but I will wait to read the whole review first. 

 

And again I must say you were a beautiful bride!!!!

[Alyssa0918]

Thanks!  It was a blast.....we leave one week from tomorrow
 

Originally Posted by adales 

Have so much fun at your bachelorette party!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alyssa0918 

sooooooo beautiful!  Congrats!  We are leaving on the 23rd....I can't wait! Bachelorette party is tonight!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicdeb928 

Hi Ladies! Im back! I have so much to tell everyone, and its all good...Im at work and still sick (i got really sick the day we left and im still trying to get better) I think it was all the stress and running around from the last few weeks...but I will write up a planning thread and a review of ASP for all of you within the next few days...here is the link to my pictures to give you a little something for now (i know all of you are dying to see recent pics of weddings at ASP) my photographer, Juan Navarra was absolutley amazing...ill ttys...Nicole

 

http://www.juanphotos.com/blog/?p=4241
 

 

 

[MRR16]

Wow! What a great review. Thanks for sharing. Debating between Moon Palace and Aventure for June 2012 wedding. Thanks for the great info and your pics are amazing.