Las Caletas Couples ~ POST HERE!!! (**All LC Brides...PLEASE READ 1st post, red text)

[lesley_mexico_bride]

Lauren, I think your wedding looked gorgeous, we had the same colors, except my green was more lime (spring/summer wedding). I am jealous you got the purple calla lillies, they are beautiful! Looking back, I guess there were something things that did not go "perfect" with the wedding, but overall it was such an amazing time and place that I didn't even think about it. I never came back with the sand ceremony or our wedding certificate, but I was not paying attention at the end of the night. However, I did come back with my husband, so that was the most important thing!  Kelley told me my requested calla lillies that came in didn't look nice, so they improvised, I loved what they came up with. The DJ played most of my songs, but threw in a few of his own, which I appreciated, since I didn't put older people friendly swing songs in, and I have the best pictures now of my grandmother and uncle performing a swing dance because of it. He also played "Im on a boat mother-ff" on the way back, twice, but we just laughed it off. He pretty much stuck to the playlist though, and all of the important songs were there: ceremony, father/daughter, mother/son, first dance, etc. And he played Britney Spears "Till the World Ends" as the last song on the beach, as I requested, which was awesome!! Lots of fist pumping and jumping, just how I want to end my parties lol. I feel privileged to have had Kelley and Brad, they were amazing, but I am sure if Kelley trained the new folks, they should be good. I think that with ANY wedding, your day won't be "perfect", something will not run as planned, but I don't think, in most circumstances, it could overshadow the joy that is in the air that day. Also, considering you are doing a destination wedding, where you have to take a boat to get there, to have a ceremony outdoors, in a place you may have never visited before, you can't expect perfection. Even though some things may not have gone "right", I still consider our day "perfect", and everyone who came said it was the best wedding they have ever been to. I know I had the best wedding ever, stateside weddings are so boring to me now, no offense to anyone! Lol!!

 

lvietti, I had the videographer from Adventure, and I am glad we did it. It was nothing fancy by any means, I would have loved to have one of those amazing HD ones, but those were way out of budget. It should do for showing the grandparents. A lot of it was set to music, but for the vows and the speeches he recorded the entire thing so you could hear it. He also did a mini "interview" of myself and my husband, which was sweet. My friends enjoyed seeing their drunk selves on the boat on the way back too, lol.

 

 

[Future Bride]

Hi,

 

I'm not sure if I want to book a DJ for my wedding.  The music is one thing I am pretty particular about and it sounds like the DJs often don't play the songs from your list.  However, I am wondering if anyone knows who is responsible for playing the music during the ceremony if you don't hire a DJ, does the wedding coordinator do this or is it up to you to have one of your guests in charge?  Also, does the wedding coordinator act as sort of an MC throughout the day letting the guests know what is going on next or should you have your own MC?  I'm a little concerned about how all this is organized.  Can anyone offer any insight?

 

Thanks,

 

Kim

[lianne]

Hey ladies! 

I just got back from doing a site visit for both Las Caletas and Dreams PV.  After seeing everything we're gonna go ahead and book for 2013!!  I met with Annie and she was great and she's actually from Montreal!  

I found that Dreams PV is great for our guests for many reasons but a huge plus is that the food is AMAZING, the alcohol is premium and we're close to Downtown! From Dreams it is a 20-30 min cab ride to the maritime terminal marina (depending on time of day and construction) and costs 15$ US (cheaper if you pay in pesos).  From there it's a 45min to 1 hour boat ride to Las Caletas.  When meeting with Annie she said that if the groom and groomsmen want to head over to the island early they can take a 20min cab ride (from dreams) over to I think its called "Boca de Tomatlan" and get a boat ride with the workers for free!  as of right now the workers boat leaves at 2:40pm or 4:00pm.  And I think the boat ride to the island from there is 20mins.  Not bad.  

We are expecting about 70 ppl and and we got a quote of around 11000$ but we're not adding any extra decorations and because we're planning on having the wedding on a Sunday we have to pay for 80 people.  

Side note, something Annie pointed out....if you plan on having another transport service bring you from the Hotel to the Marina make sure they include the 2$/person port tax.  I think Las Caletas transportation as of right now went up from 12 to 13.5$/person (including port tax).  

 

Kim, you were wondering about the DJ...as of right now we're just gonna use our ipod.  I think for the ceremony part one of the workers can just press play.  As long as you have it clearly listed (ceremony playlist) it should be fine.  Although, Annie did mention that we will have to get one of our guests to be responsible for playing the music but I think that's just during the rest of the wedding.   Sorry Kim I should of taken more notes because I can't remember what she said about the MC part.  Maybe someone else can answer that one.  

The only thing I didn't really like about Las Caletas was that there are two small and dark bathrooms (one women and one men) only lit with candles. these are the main bathrooms there are two more further up but a bit of a climb for the elders. I have pics if anyone wants me to send them just PM me.  I'm thinking the men can just use the bush and the girls can use both washrooms lol.  Another down fall (but not deal breaker!) is that where the bride gets ready is very hot.  They do have a large fan you can use...but just standing there in my short and t-shirt I was hot.  Also you should remember that there is not much electricity there which means NO lighting...everything is lit with candles.  That's all I can think of right now, if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.  

 

Lianne

 

 

[samantha86]

Hi there!

I was wondering if you could send me pictures from you site visit. Im new to this forum , and you said you need a PM to get the photos, whats is that? lol sorry i hope you can help me out! I am booked at LC November 6th 2012.

[samantha86]

Disregard that post!! I was having a Blonde moment!! lol I got it now!

[weliaslo]

Well said Iveitti, I knew going into it that planning a destination weddings would have it's challenges and that's the first and only negative things I've read about LC. Please let us know how yours goes! And Lesley, thanks for your post that was comforting! 

 

 

[lvietti]

Anyone have the band play? I'm just wondering on the quality of that and the DJ?

 

Also, planning ahead- I know you have to bring your own power strip right? anyone remember specifics on that?

 

Thanks Leslie for your input on videographer- I think we are going to do it, just because the grandparents can't go....

 

2 months!!! Can't wait!

[Krs398]

For those of you that got married in May/June.. what was the weather like at night?  I'm debating on having Pashminas for everyone, but don't want to do it if it's going to still be warm.

[starchild]

I got married the night of June 2nd and it was way too warm for pashminas, even on the boat ride back.  You won't need them imo. 

[starchild]

 

 

Originally Posted by Future Bride 

 

Hi,

 

I'm not sure if I want to book a DJ for my wedding.  The music is one thing I am pretty particular about and it sounds like the DJs often don't play the songs from your list.  However, I am wondering if anyone knows who is responsible for playing the music during the ceremony if you don't hire a DJ, does the wedding coordinator do this or is it up to you to have one of your guests in charge?  Also, does the wedding coordinator act as sort of an MC throughout the day letting the guests know what is going on next or should you have your own MC?  I'm a little concerned about how all this is organized.  Can anyone offer any insight?

 

Thanks,

 

Kim

 

We brought our own music and skipped the DJ.  One of the staff at LC handled pressing play for the song I walked down the aisle to, the first dance, the cocktail hour selections, etc. and stopping for announcements that they made (like the fire dancers entrance).  There wasn't really a MC in the traditional sense other than the first dance and the fire dancer thing.  We just hung out on the beach/danced/etc. and our music played in the background.  If you want something more formal you may be able to arrange it.