The Now Riviera Cancun

[sherribritt]

Lisa,

I sent you an email..Appreciate any info you can send!

 

Thanks,

Sherri

[lisadias]

Hi Sherri

 

I will send it when i get home tonight.

 

Thanks

Lisa

[GozaFunk]

So I am new to the forum...but noticed that the most recent posts are all about the Now Jade resort...anyone getting married at the Sapphire?! I am getting married on February 19, 2011 at the Now Sapphire resort. Sandra is the planner that my planner (yes, I hired one here to deal with it!) is corresponding with...and I can already tell that emails are either answered within 24 hours or a week or two later! 

 

Looks like there have been a lot of recent posts about flowers and extra costs and I agree that an extra $95 or whatever for a centerpiece is freakin ridiculous! I guess I never really thought about bringing in my own flowers or getting them from another florist around the area.

 

Are most people doing the legal ceremony in Mexico? Or just doing the wedding there?

 

Lots of random thoughts! Sorry!

 

~Laura

[lisadias]

Hey Laura

 

Welcome! a few of us on here are getting married before hand to avoid the time rules, blood tests and translation nightmares! When i was dealing directly with Sandra she was great until they pulled her away from the now jade to go work at the now saphire and her emails got lost in wedding neverland! Now I am back to Pilar which is who i started out with in the beginning but she is getting better at responding to my lenghty emails lol

 

Still looking for a local florist or trying to decide on bringing my own I am just not that creative!

 

Good luck with the wedding planning.

 

Lisa

[Tracysab]

Hi girls-sorry I haven't had a chance to post in awhile. 

 

Reading the stuff I've missed-I'm starting to realize that pricing and negotiating are all over the place. 

 

It sounds to me like Pilar is getting much more strict on what she will allow.

 

This is what I have been able to work out so far-hope this helps some of you when talking (arguing) with her:

 

- I am getting centerpieces for for all tables included in the devine package.  The original packages she sent me said "centerpieces" like the one you guys have.  On the first quote she sent-she charged me for all but one-but I reminded her of what the package said and emailed her my copy and she changed it to include 3

 

- I exchanged the photography for the caribbean trio to play at the cocktail hour

 

- I asked to have the champange pre poured so I did not have to pay for the extra 25 guest (I have about 50 total)

 

- I cut the extra 25 guest hor deorve charge down to 10 extra because I figured at least 15 of us will be taking pictures

 

- She let me exchange my bride hair styling for an extra centerpiece at no charge (My hairdresser is a good friend of ours that will be attending the wedding)

 

- I'm bringing my own table runners and chair sashes - she is charging me $1 each for ironing.  At first I was going to talk her out of that one but the truth is-those things will most likely need to be ironed anyway (and I don't want to be up the night before my wedding doing it myself)

 

- One thing that is bizarre-she charged me for the less expensive dinner package for my additional guests - I reminded her several times that I had the devine package and that never changed.  So I didn't push it-I'm not going to argue it since it's cheaper than what I'm getting.  Plus-we have opted now to have a buffet dinner instead of sit down since we will have slightly more than 50 people.  She doesn't charge anything extra for that and the buffet food selections are really nice (and tons of options)

 

The only other thing I might still ask her about is the additional DJ hours.  We are extending the reception 2 hours ( and no - she doesn't charge for extra hours of alcohol per person).  Anyway-the package says the DJ cost $1000 for 4 hours.  Since 2 hours are already included in the devine package-I think it's a little excessive to charge $350 for each additional hour.  But aside from that-I'm relatively ok with what she has let me do so far. 

 

Maybe she's a little more flexible the closer you get to your date-my wedding is less than 2 months away so she seems to be ok with most of my changes and trades these days. 

 

Who knows-it sounds to me like she gives different answers to us depending on her mood...lol.  Good luck to everyone else!

[Tracysab]

One more thing I think I've posted before.  Pilar has been really flexible with the flowers.  Not necessarily on the pricing-but she will work with you if you want something not shown in that book.  I found pictures of different arrangements I found online and emailed them to her to tell her that I wanted something similar.  She was able to take that back to the florist and recreate it and she's not charging anything more than what the devine centerpieces and bridesmaid bouquets cost.

[primavera]

Tracysab, do you have the buffet menu options? If so, could you please send it to me? Thanks!

[lisadias]

thanks alot Tracy for posting this. It seems like we are getting the same sort of deals except you lucked on the lower pricing for food! I brough up the issue of centerpieces as well cause the one i received said the same thing with sandra and she told me it was a misprint, i am fighting that now so i will let everyone know how it goes.

[T&A]

Thanks for sharing Tracy. I haven't started negotiating my package yet. I am waiting for my final counts on guests list first before we negotiate the wedding package. I did put a deposit down for the Devine package.

[SKing24]

Hey Lisa, I like that we're only two weeks apart and can plan together   What colors are you doing for the wedding?  And what days will you be at the Jade?  Are you staying after your wedding for your honeymoon?  We're having the reception in the bamboo room too.  One thing my mother-in-law mentioned when i showed her pics of the room is that it would look pretty with white lights strung through the bamboo.  Lights are a cheap and pretty way to decorate.  So I might ask Pilar if we can do that. 

My latest quote was a little over $8k for 70 people, but it doesnt include the extras I want for photography, so it'll probably go up to $9k.

My email is [email protected] so anyone feel free to email me with questions about the quote.

 

Originally Posted by lisadias 

Hi Erin

 

What is your email? It is easier to send it that way for me. My first quote was like $11000 and I now have it down to about $5600 for 50people. I am taking all the flowers in the package but I am using the two corsages for my grandmother and the mother of the groom so I need to buy two additional boutonnieres for the dads which are in the quote at $20 a piece and two bridesmaid bouquets which they want to charge 65$ a piece so I think i am going to have those flowers made real touch or make my own. I am also bringing my own chair bows, additional fabric for the pergola, my centerpieces, frames and a few decorations.My quote is very bare. We are also using our ipod for music at the ceremony and the cocktail hour as well as for dinner music and only using the DJ for the speech/dancing part of the night! Our reception is in the Bamboo room and for now ends at 11pm. If you are having an outdoor reception I was told that they have to end at 11pm no matter what. About a month ago I was emailing quite a bit, in the last month nothing and they in the last week twice. I have been put in contact with the videographer and the minister also. My wedding is not until April 26th but I would rather get all the details dealt with now and then not have to deal with anything until about a month before the wedding when i send in the instruction form and final count numbers. It was just in the beginning that i was anxious for replies to get the date booked and now i don't mind that it takes about 3-4days to get a response cause like you said they also have to deal with brides in house.

 

Lisa