Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya Brides??

[FtMacBride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oilersbride 


Hi June

The booze won't start flowing until after ceremony. We opted for open national bar starting at 230 for our cocktail hour(s). We had people take pics with us from 230-300ish and then a Mexican trio came and played to keep guests entertained. We had the DJ play music after this. We had reception start at 6. We had the wedding coordinator arrange to have extra Tiffany chairs at no cost so people could sit. I think having that much time between ceremony and reception probably sucked for the guests since we didn't want to shuttle them back and forth before the reception. We got extra appetizers for the cocktail hour and I think open bar is better then paying for extra wine / champagne since not everyone drinks that. Also you get the golf cart for 8 hours / if you don't pay for the extra one that they offer for 1000 pesos for 5 hours. Ours was available from 1-9 leaving people stranded (only because it was raining buckets that night) at the palapa till the disco shuttle ran. Because you will have a shorter time between ceremony and reception I don't think you need to worry about open bar until start of reception itself. Do you know when sunset is while you are there? We spent from 315ish till prob 530 when we lost the light. Depends what kind of pics and how far you want to go away from ceremony site.

Oh and I highly recommend people go check out the ceremony site. The wedding coordinator does not take you there (at least ours didn't) and we walked there fairly easily during the day... It's right behind the disco and there is a path from building 24 (I think it was 24) that you can follow. This is where the private beach ceremony is and not the public one.


And you might get talked about how awesome the ruins are to take pics on but I didn't find it very easy to get up to it just walking around let alone in a dress!

Sorry I rambled!!!!!

Thanks for all the info. I believe sunset while I'm there is around 7:15 so I think I should have some light for photos.  I just booked Photos In Cancun as my photographer and I am so happy that I am not using the resort photographer.  I think I may pay for 1 hour of open bar between ceremony and reception so all my guest can stay in the one area and they don't have to leave and return back to the resort.  There is only an hour and a half between both so I think, open bar is a good idea.  I am thinking that within the hour I will also have the Mexican Trio play for the 45 minutes. 

 

Thanks again for all the info  

[AmandaRyan2014]

Thanks for the feedback, I think we are going to go with Dean Sanderson or Blue Caribe Lens.  I think we are leaning towards Blue Lens Caribe right now but we're not sure.  Has anyone got any deals for videographer and photographer together?

[AmandaRyan2014]

Hey Jenny,

I was looking through your wedding photos!  So pretty!!!  It looked like an amazing day!

I was just wondering how you made the foot jewellry?  How much was it?  Was the beach soft enough to not hurt the girls feet walking around in them?  I was going to give something like that as a gift but I'm wondering if I should also purchase shoes for them to wear in the palapa.  Any advice?   Thanks

Amanda

[Oilersbride]

Hey Jenny, I was looking through your wedding photos!  So pretty!!!  It looked like an amazing day! I was just wondering how you made the foot jewellry?  How much was it?  Was the beach soft enough to not hurt the girls feet walking around in them?  I was going to give something like that as a gift but I'm wondering if I should also purchase shoes for them to wear in the palapa.  Any advice?   Thanks Amanda

From what I can remember of the sand I think it was firm where the ceremony is - probably from being packed down from the ceremonies they hold there all the time - it's got a permanent wooden structure that they put cloth on so it's not like the move it around. I would say flip flops for palapa - it's a wooden floor and would think risking a splinter wouldn't be worth it.

[MrsHK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmandaRyan2014 
 

Hi Everyone,

 

It's been awhile since I have been on here but the big day is getting closer and closer so we are finalizing some details!!  Love this forum you other brides are so helpful!!

 

I was just wondering if anyone has used the resort photographer?  We have a name Jorge Contreras but I can't find anything online about him or any photographs showing his work.  Yikes!!  Are most of you other brides hiring someone off the resort?  Have you mananged to get a decent rate? 

 

Any help would be great! Talk soon!

Amanda

 

Hey Amanda,

 

A friend of mine is a photographer down here in Playa Del Carmen and her rates are very reasonable, even when you factor in the external vendor fee. Some photos I've seen taken by the resort photographers look like they were taken with a point and shoot camera, or as if a guest took the photos. Resort photographers are usually paid a very low fee, and the resort keeps the rest, so that's why the quality is usually quite low. Hiring someone that works for themselves gets you a much higher quality for the similar price. (Under $2000) You also get many more photos to choose from and a lot more coverage on the day, at least 8 hours. 

 

My friend is named Susana Hidalgo and her company is My Adorable Bridal - http://www.myadorablebridal.com and she also has a Tumblr - http://myadorablebridal.tumblr.com/

 

Her style is very artistic and photojournalistic rather than posed stiff photos. She also does TTD sessions or day before photo shoots if you're interested in doing one. Susana was one of our wedding guests so she wasn't our primary photographer. We wanted her to be able to enjoy the day along with the rest of the guests and not have to work. She took some photos at our cocktail hour and during the reception but didn't have the pressure of covering the entire day from beginning to end for us. She took such beautiful photos, even though it was very casual and she wasn't really working!

 

I hope this helps you with your photography decision, and happy planning!

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

[JHo2013]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmandaRyan2014 
 

Hey Jenny,

I was looking through your wedding photos!  So pretty!!!  It looked like an amazing day!

I was just wondering how you made the foot jewellry?  How much was it?  Was the beach soft enough to not hurt the girls feet walking around in them?  I was going to give something like that as a gift but I'm wondering if I should also purchase shoes for them to wear in the palapa.  Any advice?   Thanks

Amanda

Hi Amanda - The foot jewelery was lots of fun to make. Probably cost me under way under $20 for all of them (I made like 12 pairs) - mine I added some light blue swarovski crystals to it but still have enough beads to probably make at least another 20 pairs. I bought all the beads at Michael's when they had a sale and didn't really use any template, I just started off by stringing enough beads to tie around my second toe in the middle of the string, tied a knot so it makes a loop for your toe and then continued stringing from there

 

The ground was not soft. The patch of 'sand' your photographer will want to take you to is probably gonna be super rocky! We all brough flip flops so we can move from location to location. But the sand at the ceremony space was decent - all the girls walked out in their barefoot sandals for that portion.

[JHo2013]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmandaRyan2014 
 

Does anyone know if the $300 US Resort fee for hiring an outside photographer is per person or just a single charge?  Example if you have two photographers is it $300 each?

i think that's a one time charge. But you have to pay for the day pass/meal cost for your photographers per person. Our photographer was a guest, so they didn't charge us for her day pass but our videographer we had to pay for his pass and his meal.

[Janelle0308]

Hey ladies,

Did you send back your info package with what you want a certain time ahead of the wedding? or did you just decide on everything at a meeting when you get there? I figured if I have to send it back I will do it over Christmas which would be about the 3 month mark from the wedding anyways

[Oilersbride]

Hey ladies, Did you send back your info package with what you want a certain time ahead of the wedding? or did you just decide on everything at a meeting when you get there? I figured if I have to send it back I will do it over Christmas which would be about the 3 month mark from the wedding anyways

We sent most of the stuff to the coordinator before hand - Some of the info was staggered - one of the songs we didn't confirm until we were there. We sent the flower choices and info about the cake before - it was all re confirmed when we went there - they made us pick a second option on kind of flowers - we started sending info from spreadsheet around 3 month mark but they can't confirm a lot of things like spa appointments until a week before (rehearsal dinner etc). I think it's so you have more of an idea of some things. I think as long as you know for sure you want the palapa or your restaurant choice for your wedding itself helps you get those items confirmed ahead of time. I am assuming you are doing the presidential package - the ten people you are taking to the spa - names don't need to be confirmed. My grooms mom couldn't fly last minute so our names completely changed from when we originally sent the request to the day of the spa services for the water treatment. Our coordinator told us they usually meet for 45 min to an hour while you are there but our meeting was 4 hours... I don't think we really had to choose a lot of stuff there (it was a blur really) but the coordinator kept having to answer her radio and the phone in the office. This may have been Because November is their busiest wedding month. I would definitely add If you could skype with someone to get any major questions out of the way.

[Jo52may]

Hi everyone, just would like to say I am so grateful for all your comments/pictures. It has certainly made my mind up for this resort and be looking to book in April ready for next may2015.

 

I was originally going to book the platinum package with Thomson as states private dinner on beach! But after seeing some comments I was thinking to book gold package with Thomson and upgrade via the hotel!

 

Can this upgarde be done via the wedding coordinator? When liasing back and fore regarding what extras/flowers etc u want for your wedding? Does anyone know wedding package prices as would like to upgrade to presidential because as papala looks amazing! As not sure if this was included in the Thomson platinum package.

 

Thanks