Wedding Review May 2010

[marteeca]

We just got back from getting married! I wanted to share my experience with others and provide information on all of the awesome vendors we worked with. I will preface this review by saying that with the exception of the church and the Villa, everything I organized was via email and I never picked up the phone once. (I had bad luck with my original WC so I ended up doing it all myself..I won't go into that here.)

 

We got married at Iglesia de Guadalupe. They were very easy and pleasant to work with, but a prior meeting with the priest would have helped... some elements of a traditional Mexican ceremony were left out, like the lazo...we are not sure what happened. At any rate, it was memorable and we'll never forget it and I wouldn't change a thing about it!

 

For music, we used Ensemble Maestoso. they were BEAUTIFUL and I found him (Alejando) on the fiancee.com.mx website. He also has a website if you google it. We booked the music just 2 weeks before the wedding.. It was worth every penny-I should mention they are not included in the church fee-you must book them separately.)

 

We made our own flower arrangements by ordering flowers from Floreria Frissia. We ordered over 400 roses, 100 calas, 100 gerberas, 10 bunches of daisies and oasis. I went there with photos of what I was planning to make and they helped me pick out the quantities. They are in the Mercado Palmar de Aramara behind Sam's Club (they do not have a website). Our flowers cost less than $400!

 

We got our cake from Charme Reposteria. Our cake was BEAUTIFUL and VERY affordable. We had a fondant cake, simply decorated with two alternating flavors (chocolate and vanilla). We went there on Monday and paid for it. They delivered the cake for us on Friday, the day of the wedding. Everyone loved it! (they moved locations, they are not downtown anymore so beware if you can't find them they are closer to the airport)

 

We stayed at Quinta Laura (Casa Carol Ann) and had our reception there as well. Quinta Laura is amazing and you cannot go wrong if you have your reception there (we had 55 adults and 3 kids at our wedding but they accommodate up to 125 I believe). Quinta Laura is expansive and beautiful, and the staff there are wonderful-it is in lower Conchas Chinas overlooking the ocean. We worked with Casa Bay Villas to rent Quinta Laura and everything was organized effortlessly. They were very attentive to our needs, very responsive, and we highly recommend working with them.

 

For catering and table rentals, we worked with Vallarta Catering/Liana's Sazon. They are very reponsive and flexible, and yummy! We had a gourmet latin buffet with 3 main dishes...shrimp, chicken, and steak. The food was WONDERFUL and very tasty, everything was presented stylishly. We also had hand-passed appetizers prior to our meal. On top of the wonderful service that they provide, they also provided many personal touches like helping to order a cake to be delivered to the villa the day before the wedding (not the wedding cake), providing extra salsas and bread at the buffet, and even baking us some yummy cinnamon rolls. They sent decorators to do the decorating, which was very helpful and also provided recommendations for the flowers and other things prior to our arrival, and arranged for the table rentals (I had gotten a quote from Eventos del Pacifico and they were able to work with the same vendor for the rentals.)

 

Vallarta Catering also arranged for a TACO CART for our reception! It was from Pepe's Tacos, which we specifically requested. The taco cart came at midnight at it was a hit with everyone. It stayed for several hours. If you are looking for a unique idea, this one got lots of raves and was a big hit.

 

Lastly, we had a beach party at Epoca restaurant on Los Muertos beach the night before our wedding. This was also organized solely via email, and everything turned out perfect. They had everything set up with a Mexican theme right on the beach. We ordered a selection of appetizers and they were all amazing. The service and attention of the staff was great and made us feel so welcome.

 

This was WAY longer than I meant, but I wanted everyone to know how wonderful all of the people we worked with were to help make our day so special.

 

Please feel free to send me a PM with any questions!

[AishaB]

Thanks for the review. Congratulations

[Girasole]

Congrats & welcome back Mrs!

[ldeavila]

Congratulations and welcome back! Sounds like everyone had a great time!

[wnmrtn8]

Hi Martha,

 

Congratulations, I found your review. Great review. Thank you so much.

 

Wendy

[LissaSB]

Thanks for all the info. I'm planning my wedding just north of PV and the hotel is killing me with the cost of centerpieces (like $70 each... and we're looking at 8-10 tables). So I'm interested in how you managed your flowers yourself... Was that totally stressful? How far in advance did you do them (day before, couple of days)? Where did you keep them? Did you buy vases?

Sorry for all the questions!

[marteeca]

LisaSB: Hi! Our wedding was on a Friday, and we ordered the flowers on Tuesday morning. They also had supplies, like oasis and trays. I brought down my own centerpiece holders since I found some I loved, but if you want just regular vases I think they sell them too. So the flowers actually arrived on Wed. PM, but we just had them delivered on Thursday AM. My husband's aunts used to be florists and we had about 3 more people helping out with the arrangements and bouquets. I wanted mine very formal so it took longer (4 hours for 6 centerpieces, 5 bouquets, and 14 corsages/boutonnieres)...if you wanted just informal arrangements I bet it would go faster. We had a lot of fun doing them but for me it was semi-stressful, only because it was the day before the wedding and too many things had gone wrong by that point so I ended up having to focus on some of those things. But, otherwise it was kind of relaxing. Depending on how you do your flowers don't forget you need something to cut them with! Luckily my husband's aunts brought their floral scissors and tape with. If you want to see some photos of our arrangements, you can go here:

 

Martha Frisch Hernandez's Photos - The decore | Facebook

 

Good luck!

[marteeca]

Forgot to mention that we stored them in a very cold air conditioned room at the Villa we stayed at. We just placed them where ever they fit in this room; also, they lasted for quite awhile after we put them out...we were there 4 more days and they still looked nice after being in the heat both inside and out! I also brought back my bouquet and my family brought back several centerpieces; everyone will tell you that you can't bring back flowers from Mexico (including the airline, they told me this), but it's not true. As long as they are not planted and don't have roots it is okay.

[pilotchica]

 

 

Originally Posted by marteeca 

 

LisaSB: Hi! Our wedding was on a Friday, and we ordered the flowers on Tuesday morning. They also had supplies, like oasis and trays. I brought down my own centerpiece holders since I found some I loved, but if you want just regular vases I think they sell them too. So the flowers actually arrived on Wed. PM, but we just had them delivered on Thursday AM. My husband's aunts used to be florists and we had about 3 more people helping out with the arrangements and bouquets. I wanted mine very formal so it took longer (4 hours for 6 centerpieces, 5 bouquets, and 14 corsages/boutonnieres)...if you wanted just informal arrangements I bet it would go faster. We had a lot of fun doing them but for me it was semi-stressful, only because it was the day before the wedding and too many things had gone wrong by that point so I ended up having to focus on some of those things. But, otherwise it was kind of relaxing. Depending on how you do your flowers don't forget you need something to cut them with! Luckily my husband's aunts brought their floral scissors and tape with. If you want to see some photos of our arrangements, you can go here:

 

Martha Frisch Hernandez's Photos - The decore | Facebook

 

Good luck!

 

 

Your flowers were gorgeous!!!

[arobarpics]

I totally want to do the taco cart!! I had suggested this to my fiance but he thought it was too over the top. How did you go about arranging it..how big was your wedding party and if you don`t mind me asking how much did it cost....thank you for ll your help in advance!

 

Alisha