tvt's Las Caletas Wedding Review... with pics

[tvt]

Las Caletas – A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Words cannot begin to describe our wedding at LC. A year and half in the making there was some serious anticipation built up around our LC wedding, and it did not disappoint!

 

This is going to be long, so bear with me, but I want to make sure I include everything. Highlighting some words so things are easier to spot if you don't want to read the entire thing!

 

The Friday Prior

Kelley came to Dreams to meet with my parents and Joe and I. We went over everything step by step. It was nice to just walk through the day so everyone was on the same page. At this time Kelley also took a lot of our stuff – starfish place cards, table numbers, sand ceremony vases and CDs. The only thing she didn’t take was my dress and our M&Ms. At this time we also paid for the things that needed to be paid in cash.

 

It was so great to finally meet Kelley – especially after emailing back and forth for a year and half!

 

The Morning Of

My girls and I met Kelley and Brad at the marina at 10am on Sunday morning. The sun was shining, the water was calm – it was beautiful. We boarded the boat for our journey to LC. Originally we were taking the fast route, aka not scenic, but because we were early and making good time we headed towards shore around Los Arcos and Kelly and Brad gave us some cool local info. We saw where the road ends and the fishing villages begin. It was so cool to see all of it. Not to mention that we saw a ton of sea turtles. Pulling into LC was like having a dream turn into reality. Seeing all the previous LC brides pictures I knew it was beautiful, but it’s more beautiful in person – which I would have never thought possible.

 

What we brought over to LC: My dress, Joe’s suit, hair dryer, curling iron, hair products, make up, and 1 set of shower stuff for us all to use, beach towels, what the girls were going to wear.

 

What we wore over to LC: swim suits, sunscreen (hour boat ride in the direct sun!) and cover-ups.

 

The staff helped us get our stuff off the boat and up to the bridal casita – which is a hike up the hill! We quickly organized our stuff and completed our “to do’s” (tying on name tags to the starfish place cards and making the bouquets) so we could head back down to the beach and swim. We set up camp on the beach and just enjoyed the day! Kelley and Brad continued to check on us and bring us any drinks myself or the girls asked for. We had some beers and relaxed on the beach, took a few dips in the ocean and really enjoyed our relaxing girl time. It was a perfect way to start a wedding day!

 

At 1pm lunch was served. YUM!!!! Up until the day of the wedding I really wasn’t that hungry, but once I started eating the LC food my appetite quickly kicked in. It was so amazingly good! Crab salad, grilled chicken, salad, potatoes, rice. So good! And a really cute and sweet Siamese cat that lives around LC joined us for lunch.

 

After lunch we all headed back to the bridal casita to shower. We were short a few towels but Kelley quickly brought up some more. One thing I was not aware of was the double shower! I got to know my MOH on a whole new level as we showered face to face in the double shower! No worries though, just another fun twist to the wedding!

Fernando, the hair guy, came to start my hair around 2:30pm. My hair took about 2.5 hours, but that was because he started my up do, and realized I have a lot more hair than meets the eye, so he took it all out and went a different route. I was totally impressed by this. Because he could have continued with what he had and half assed finished my hair, but he didn’t. He really takes pride in his work and wanted my hair to be just like the picture I printed for him. Sitting for 2.5 hours was so worth it. My hair was amazing. I have never had an up do that I actually liked. I LOVED my wedding hair. And it lasted the entire night. Even through my dancing on the front of the boat – which made everyone elses hair crazy. Mine? Nope, still perfect! Hiring the hair person was spendy but so worth it. I had many compliments on my hair.

 

The bridal casita was so perfect for getting ready with the girls, it was cozy but not cramped and was so fun to have that time together.

 

While my hair was in the process of becoming beautiful Kelley came up to give us an update as to where the guests were. We had 7 people that did not stay at dreams and thus did not ride the bus. Johnny the DJ met these guests at door 9 at the marina and everything went perfectly.

 

As the boat arrived with our guests I was just putting on my make up and getting dressed. Not a single person got sick on the boat and I heard everyone had a great time with the music and drinks. They actually didn’t want to get off the boat they were having so much fun! At that time Joe headed up to the spa next to the bridal casita to get dressed and we quickly saw each other before the wedding.

 

Kelley got our guests down to the ceremony site and got everyone situated as we made our way down from the bridal casita. Walking around the corner and seeing everyone there, on the beach, for our wedding was crazy amazing. For those of you that worry about the stairs, don’t! It’s not bad at all! And for those that worry about being the center of attention – it’s actually pretty awesome. Being the bride has some serious perks, and I wasn’t nervous about all the people staring at me at all. I meet up with my dad at the turn and we walked down the isle. I heard later that there was a little confusion on which side they wanted him to stand on. Kelley said the right side and Brad said the left. In the end my dad went with what Kelley said – my dad standing on the right hand side so I was on his left. Which was how I thought it always happened.

 

Brad, the minister, is really great. I’m not sure there was a dry eye in the house during the ceremony. After the ceremony I made sure to take a moment to look around and take everything in. Amazing, and exactly as Kelley and I had discussed – from the chuppa, to the chair ties, to the table décor, to my starfish place cards, to my Dos XX beers and hyper colored cups, Kelley and her staff did not miss one single detail.

 

Dinner was amazing. People were piling their plates full of the awesome food! Some of the best guacamole I’ve ever had. So good that a friend got sick because he ate way too much food, but he said “I knew I was eating too much but I just couldn’t stop it was sooo good!” He sat out the first few dances but was then back to his normal self.

 

Our hypercolored cups were a hit, and prompted a big game of flip cup after dinner. So fun!

 

The cake…. We changed it to chocolate/chocolate at the last minute and it was good. I’m not a big cake eater but it was pretty darn tasty!

 

The DJ, Johnny, is amazing. I created this HUGE playlist and I totally did not need to do that at all. He played all the right music at all the right times. Including starting our recessional at a specific point in the song that I had requested. Get the DJ, he’s awesome. Our dance floor was full the entire night. Even on the boat ride back home he had people dancing the whole way home.

 

About half way through the dancing the fire dancers snuck out onto the beach (as we had requested. No one knew about the firedancers and we wanted them to just show up and people to be amazed!) Kelley gave me a heads up that they were coming so I could tell the photog. She asked us to walk away from the dancing area so that we could be in the front. None of our guests knew about the fire dancers so when they saw these guys all painted up they were a little curious what was going on, and then the flames began and the entire group was standing around the 2 fire dancers completely amazed and entranced. They were SOO good and so worth the money. They worked the crowd and got close to some of our guests – which they loved – and at the very end they came up to Joe and I and swung the fire around us and they guy looks at me and Joe and smiles and says congratulations. So nice. They actually danced for a lot longer than I thought they would. Probably 20 minutes or so. They were another incredible piece to an already perfect wedding.

 

The night does go fast and I’m so glad we added the extra hour on the front end. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the boat. Kelley and Brad and their staff do such a great job of getting everyone’s thing together and making sure my girls and I had all of our stuff. They also make sure we don’t leave any guests behind!! Being an event planner I was all about doing a head count, but Kelley shushed me and said it was taken care of!

 

The boat ride back was fun and we actually had a stow away - a 2 foot long snake! Brad was carrying him around and a lot of our guests were holding the snake. The drinks and dancing definitely continued on the boat ride back to the marina. I actually had to grab the microphone and tell our guests to get off the boat! Thy wanted to stay and dance some more!!

 

Once back at the marina our bus was waiting for us. Very nice bus, and it was great having that available to us. Our guests did not have to worry about a thing! By the time we got back to Dreams it was about midnight.

 

If I could redo our wedding every November 2nd I would. It was beyond amazing! Our guests loved it too. They could not stop talking about how great it was. During the wedding a lot of them came up to me and said “how the heck did you do this?” then I’d introduce them to Kelley! Oh, and another sign of how much Kelley will do for you – my MOH’s batteries died in her camera right before the wedding. She asked Kelley if they had any and somehow Kelley pulled through and found new batteries for her. She will really do everything in her power to make anything happen. I thanked her a billion times throughout the night, but it does not even cover how much everything she did meant to both myself and Joe.

 

Kelley, I know you’re reading THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. You are amazing, so nice, friendly, super cute, and the perfect wedding coordinator. Don’t be surprised if I keep emailing you just to see what’s new!

 

Oh, and our guests are already requesting a 1 year anniversary vow renewal so they can experience the whole wedding over again too.

 

Pics to come...

[tvt]

Some pics – by EyeSpy Photography

 

Our set up:

 

Our ceremony:

 

The Chuppa:

 

Dinner Location all set up during the day:

 

The cake:

 

Awesome firedancers:

 

 

I wish I had the picture of Kelley and I to post, but it's not on my camera

[KHarrod]

Great review and pics, thanks for sharing.

[starchild]

Woohoo! So glad Las Caletas exceeded expectations. Sounds like a terrific day and the pics are great. It makes an old LC bride like me a little teary-eyed

 

The fire dancers are a great treat, glad you kept it a surprise. And how funny that you had a stowaway snake lol Good times!

[LadyCheese]

excellent review, sounds like you all had an amazing time! Congrats!!

[ACDCDCAC]

tara, fantastic review! every time i read a new one i sooooo wish doug and i had just skipped our whole BFW and cabo weddings and just went with LC.

 

congrats, and cant wait to see more pics!

[sally]

It sounds fantastics I am soooo jealous

[Andi]

Tara, what a great review! Reading about your day brought tears to my eyes! It sounded like everything went so well! Congrats!

 

Ok, so you seemed really calm about the snake on the boat ride back! I think I would have had a mini panic attack and demanded that we get the snake off the boat asap! I HATE SNAKES...

 

I have some questions...just a few

 

Joe got dressed at the spa...did he just change or was there a shower for him there too?

 

I think you are the first one that I have heard of who added the extra hour to the beginning of the wedding. I didn't know this was an option (although I never thought of it or asked either!) Is this something that they were able to do for you pretty easily?

 

Thanks!

[mpajkos]

What a great review! It really makes you want to cancel plans and have your wedding at LC. Your pics are great too. The ceremony looked beautiful!

[rodent]

glad everything was perfect!!!