aventura spa palace

[amberm390]

Chase, I initially wanted to do the Pandero for cocktail hour also because of the paper lanterns, but since there are no wooden slats on top anymore, the lanterns can't be hung from there. They have to hang them from the poles around the outside of the terrace. They were unable to hang the lanterns on the Cove Terrace because there was nothing to hang them from. I think Jess (jszy10) might have a picture of Pandero set up for her cocktail hour?? Or am I thinking of someone else Jess?

 

Try not to stress so much about the destination wedding...I know that's easier said than done though!! Everyone will still have so much fun! We went with the trio band instead of mariachi because it was cheaper. I think the mariachi band has more instruments in it maybe...and the trio band is only 3 people, but it was plenty.

 

I heard from my wedding coordinator maybe 2 months out or so...but communication was not always that great. The closer we got to our date, the better she was at responding. Honestly, you realize how busy they are when you get there and it's easy to understand why they don't respond right away. They are so busy with weddings all the time...sometimes several in the same day. Our wedding coordinator got everything perfect and we met with her 2 days before the wedding! So don't fret because they are soooo GOOD at pulling things together last minute.

 

Like Jess already said, if you have a musician playing, then you don't have to pick any songs for the ceremony, because they will play appropriate music. We did not have a musician play, so I brought an instrumental wedding CD that I bought at Joann Fabric...I just picked like 4 songs from there and they filled in the rest for me. It all worked out fine and sounded great! You don't HAVE to pick music for the ceremony...they offer 'romantic' music to be played if you don't bring your own music. But if you have your heart set on something in particular, you would need to bring that yourself.

 

We did purchase the Amber package because it just seemed easier to me, because I wanted alot of things included in the package. Alot of others just do complimentary packages and then add-on what they want. That seems to work out well for alot of people! I would suggest the horse-and-carriage...it was so awesome and beautiful. I felt like Cinderella!!!

 

Any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask:)

[jszy10]

Yep, Amber, that was me! Here is the pic of the Pandero from my cocktail party.  They didn't use all of my lanterns though...but I'm sure you can be more specific than I was about how many to put up!  You can't really tell from this pic, but the guy standing in the bottom left by the rock wall in the yellow tie was the bartender -- that is where the bar was set up.  You can sort of see the bottles behind him.

 

[chase414]

My mom just asked me this morning if they do a rehearsal the day before the ceremony.  I told her I didn't have a clue.  She would like for us to put together a rehearsal dinner if they do.  Did you do a rehearsal?  If so, what time did you do it?  

 

Thanks

[chase414]

My mom just asked me this morning if they do a rehearsal the day before the ceremony.  I told her I didn't have a clue.  She would like for us to put together a rehearsal dinner if they do.  Did you do a rehearsal?  If so, what time did you do it?  

 

Thanks

[jszy10]

They do not do a rehearsal.  They ask that the groomsmen be at the ceremony site 15 minutes before the ceremony, and they will come to your suite to pick up the bridesmaids and instruct them along the way.  Your WC will run through your whole ceremony with you at your planning meeting, and she will be there for every event you have (welcome party/ceremony/etc.) to make sure everything runs as planned.  They really are seamless!!

 

Originally Posted by chase414 

My mom just asked me this morning if they do a rehearsal the day before the ceremony.  I told her I didn't have a clue.  She would like for us to put together a rehearsal dinner if they do.  Did you do a rehearsal?  If so, what time did you do it?  

 

Thanks

 

[jszy10]

I didn't have a rehearsal dinner.  We had the welcome cocktail party on Thursday night and handed out our gifts there and let everyone know what to look forward to on Saturday.  We had a small group so we together A LOT.  We always just instinctively met at the pool bar whenever we all got up and went from there every day.  On the Friday before our wedding a group of us actually met and took the shuttle to Playacar for the day.

[SarahWitt]

Hi,

 

I am actually getting married on the cove side on May 26th, so just a few weeks after you!! I would love to hear how yours goes once you get back, along wtih the weather and what yours guests thought!!

 

I actually sent out save the dates in August, sent the actual invites out this January. We sent a total of 95 invites. I only have a few RSVP's, my guests deadline is to RSVP by March 9th and book their rooms by March 22nd, thats when my link goes inactive. However, we didnt do RSVP cards, I created a free website off google, and created an RSVP document within the website, so they go there to find out any information and to RSVP.  I know you can extend the book date dealing for your rooms, you just have to make sure Yesenia extends the group link and they should still be able to book after that cut off date. I am a little nervous as well, just I know a lof of people have said they are going or want to, but have yet to RSVP or book anything yet. They do have almost 2 months to still book, but I still get nervous that not as many will show up as I think. I am really wanting to get those room nights so I can get some of the benefits.  I  guess they still have some time. Its frustrating because you want to plan, and you cant do some things unless you have a head count, so most things will feel like last minute. But with everyones experiences and I have a friend who recently got married at the Vallarta Palace, and they all seem to be fabulous, with small hiccups if anything.

 

I have mostly been communicating with Yesenia in the Miami sales office. She generally responds within 24 hours. She said my wedding coordinator would reach out to me 90 days prior to start nailing stuff down! So I am just waiting on people to book and to be contacted at this point. I am doing lots of reading to figure out things that I possibly want to have. I chose the Sapphire package.

[chase414]

I hear ya! Thanks for the advice about extending the time on the group link.  I'll have to e-mail Yesenia.  I think she's great.  So far we only have 11 coming but so many we haven't heard from still.  I was really hoping that I would get more people coming but I'm trying not to be upset and just roll with it.  But I will admit that when I see pics of others weddings and they had such a great attendance, I do get a little envious.  

 

Just started with the OOT bags.  Picked up a few extras just in case.  I'm not a last minute person so it's just killing me!  

 

I have done some things though from looking at pics from Jess's cocktail party.  I noticed that they just put white table clothes over the tables at the cocktail reception so I ordered fuschia organza table runners off of e-bay for $15. free ship for 10 of them.  It looked like in the pics that they put up 5 tables.  Then I figured we could use the others somewhere during our activities.  

 

I've been diy-ing a lot too for our decorations and such.  Don't want to bore you with the details unless you're interested.  I would love to hear what you plan on doing for your decorations and such though.  Any ideas I can get the better.

 

I've been reading away too!  And I have gotten a lot of ideas.  We chose the Emerald Package and I'm only have my sister stand for me.  She's going to be wearing a rose petal pink colored dress.  I think we're going to try and get the Saxophone player if we can.  If not we'll go with the harp.  

 

The other thing that worries me a bit, is that I don't want to be stuck doing photos during my cocktail party.  I really want to be at my cocktail party!  I'm going to try and find out how much time they take doing photos after ceremony and plan my cocktail party accordingly.  I have sooo many questions.  I just wish the coordinator would touch base.

 

 

[chase414]

I hear ya! Thanks for the advice about extending the time on the group link.  I'll have to e-mail Yesenia.  I think she's great.  So far we only have 11 coming but so many we haven't heard from still.  I was really hoping that I would get more people coming but I'm trying not to be upset and just roll with it.  But I will admit that when I see pics of others weddings and they had such a great attendance, I do get a little envious.  

 

Just started with the OOT bags.  Picked up a few extras just in case.  I'm not a last minute person so it's just killing me!  

 

I have done some things though from looking at pics from Jess's cocktail party.  I noticed that they just put white table clothes over the tables at the cocktail reception so I ordered fuschia organza table runners off of e-bay for $15. free ship for 10 of them.  It looked like in the pics that they put up 5 tables.  Then I figured we could use the others somewhere during our activities.  

 

I've been diy-ing a lot too for our decorations and such.  Don't want to bore you with the details unless you're interested.  I would love to hear what you plan on doing for your decorations and such though.  Any ideas I can get the better.

 

I've been reading away too!  And I have gotten a lot of ideas.  We chose the Emerald Package and I'm only have my sister stand for me.  She's going to be wearing a rose petal pink colored dress.  I think we're going to try and get the Saxophone player if we can.  If not we'll go with the harp.  

 

The other thing that worries me a bit, is that I don't want to be stuck doing photos during my cocktail party.  I really want to be at my cocktail party!  I'm going to try and find out how much time they take doing photos after ceremony and plan my cocktail party accordingly.  I have sooo many questions.  I just wish the coordinator would touch base.

 

 

[amberm390]

Chase, they do use white linens at cocktail hour; however, my wedding coordinator asked what our wedding colors were and she used colored napkins as decorations on the tables to add that splash of color. I will attach a picture of it to give you an idea...

 

My husband and I felt the same way as you and we wanted to be at our cocktail party also!! I felt like if I was paying all that money for the Mexican Trio Band then I wanted to hear it! So we planned our times accordingly...our ceremony started at 3pm and cocktail hour started at 5pm...so in between our guests just had 'free time' to do whatever they pleased. Remember, you are at an all-inclusive resort so people can go to the bar and get a drink, back to their room to freshen up, etc. Our guests had no problem with this at all. So that gave us about an hour and a half to take pictures, which I think is pretty standard (this obviously depends on the photographer though). We did not feel overly rushed with this amount of time and we were able to take alot of pictures. We showed up at cocktail hour about 15 minutes after it started, but it was actually perfect because it gave our guests time to mingle and munch on some hour'dourves before we got there. We had the Trio band play from 5:15-6 (they do 45 minute time slots). This worked out perfectly because the Trio band began playing for our entrance which was just awesome because our guests didn't know we were having this!

 

Here is a picture of our tables at cocktail hour...don't mind the stains on the pink napkin, those are just water marks from people setting their drinks down...