Now Sapphire Weddings Formerly Paradisus Riviera

[sunnymylene]

Originally Posted by KelsDavidson62 

 

Thanks for the response. We actually selected our foods options this weekend. Google was great help with the apps since the descriptions for some items are not helpful. I actually met with Anel back in January and she informed me you don't need a seating chart just a key for the servers to know what guest is getting what type of food just like a wedding back here in the states. For example, she just needs to know if you put a purple sticker on their name card to represent a beef option. Also, if you want to cut cost and still do the divine package you can select food options from the eternity menu and just get charged extra for the eternity menu if you are over 25 people. I think it is $94 (eternity) vs $99(divine) plus tax and service charge. Not a big difference but every penny counts when you are planning a wedding. We are still debating if we need all the extras in the divine package though since we decided on food options from the eternity menu and the $600 extra to upgrade to the divine package could help with paying for the extra food for the 44 guest that we have coming. I know if the wedding booklet under the divine package it gives a description for the wedding set up with white chair covers, etc. Dose anyone know is that set up the same for the eternity package?     

Hi KelsDavidson62

My understanding about the eternity set up is that the decor is not included, and that is why I went with the divine package.

[melnryluvco]

Hiya Ladies,

So I'm in part of the May 2013 Brides thread and one of the girls in this thread actually moved from Canada to Playa del Carmen. I could literally kiss the ground she walks on for all her personal insight and helpfullness. MrsHK is a true godsend. Anyways, I thought I would share with you all some of her posts about florist there. Playa is 15/20 min cab ride away so it's easily accessible and for the money you can save on flowers you'll want to kiss MrsHK as well! Don't be shy to PM her or kiss the ground she walks on

 

 

Originally Posted by MrsHK

Okay, here's the flower info! There are quite a few little flower shops in town, or "florerias" as they are called down here. One is on 30th Av between Constitueyntes and 20th St and its a little shop painted green. I'll keep an eye out for other ones and will let you guys know the cross streets if I see one. Another place I've consistently seen flowers available is Walmart. I took a picture of what the roses cost and as of last week it was 47 pesos for 6 roses ($4) and 85 pesos for 12 roses ($7).

 

At both places, the florerias and Walmart, I've only seen roses, carnations, lilies, orchids, china mums and maybe a few others that I'm forgetting. The selections are not as big as you'd see at home but between Walmart and maybe one floreria you would be able to find enough for your bouquets and tables, depending on which flowers you want. The roses come in various colours too although I'm not sure exactly which colours aside from the usual red and pink. The quality here can vary, meaning that the displays could have have a combination of flowers in good condition and some not so much, but there will be enough in good condition for you to choose from.

 

Another thing to consider is if you'll have a fridge to keep your bouquets in. It is very hot and humid down here and your bouquets might wilt if you leave them out for a day or two even if they're in water. I'd recommend keeping them in a fridge in a bucket of water if you can.

 

We're getting married in Tulum which is a small town south of Playa Del Carmen by about an hour, for those who don't know. I have yet to find a flower shop down there, so I'm using Vanessa Jaimes for my flowers. http://www.vanessajaimes.com/

 

I want peonies and ranunculus for my bouquets which she said they'd have to import from Holland for a very high price. No thanks! She suggested that I buy silk peonies and ranunculus and she will mix them with roses, freesias and lisianthus for my bouquet and centrepieces. She's had brides do that in the past and she said they looked good. I'm going to order the silk flowers from afloral.com and save-on-crafts.com to Canada and bring them down here before the wedding. That's another option if you are particular about the types of flowers, although its probably more expensive than just grabbing them in town. I wish I knew where she gets the freesias and lisianthus from, I would just buy them myself! I'll keep looking over the next few weeks though before I give her a deposit.

[melnryluvco]

And here's MrsHK's detailed post about flower prices. Gosh I just love her! She is an angel

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsHK

As far as I know there's not really seasonal flowers down here as the temperature doesn't vary a huge amount year round. The only season we have a rainy season, hurricane season, mosquito season and holy moly it is really hot and humid season.

 

The ones she suggested for me are roses, freesias and lisianthus. I haven't been able to find the last two in the flower shops though, only roses. She suggested silk flowers for the ones that I want that would require her to import them from Holland. She also has all kind of tropical flowers such as lilies, cala lilies, gerber daisies, orchids, snapdragons, birds of paradise and a few others. Her prices are of course higher than the flower shops but she will arrange them for you, deliver them and you are guaranteed good quality.

 

If you pick tropical flowers you'll have a better chance of finding them at a reasonable price since we are in the topics, either on your own or from a wedding florist. Most of the tropical ones I listed are availble at the flower shops in town.

 

I went to a flower shop last night and their prices were a bit higher than Walmart although the quality is probably higher too. You can also pre-order with them via email with the shop I went into. It is called Floreria Sac-Nah and it is on the corner of 30th Ave and Calle 16, right across the street from the Walmart. Their email address is [email protected]. They don't speak English so I reccomend using Google translate if you want to email them to pre order your flowers. I would say you're having a gathering of friends and don't need them arranged, and don't mention they are for a wedding!! I wouldn't do it too far in advance either since "gatherings of friends" aren't usually planned months ahead of time.

 

I took a photo of their price list (all in Spanish and pesos but I translated it) and here it is:

 

Carnation (Clavel): 12 for 60 pesos or $4.70

Daisy (Margarita): 12 for 80 pesos or $6.30

Pom Pom: 12 for 80 pesos or $6.30

Gladiola: 12 for 80 pesos or $6.30

Spider (Spaider): 12 for 80 pesos or $6.30

Alstroemeria: 12 for 150 pesos or $11.76

Roses: 12 for 220 pesos or $17.24

Gerber Daisy: 12 for 220 pesos or $17.24

Cala Lilies (Alcatraz): 12 for 220 pesos or $17.24

Hibiscus (Hawaianas): 12 for 220 pesos or $17.24

Birds of Paradise (Aves de Parasio): 12 for 220 pesos or $17.24

Heliconia (similar to BoP): 12 for 220 pesos or $17.24

 

Iris: 1 for 25 pesos ($2), price for 12 was blocked by a shelf... why they put a shelf in front of their price list, I don't know... the rest of the prices will be per 1 stem since that's the only price I could see

They had a bunch listed that all seem to be coming up in Google as lilies...

Lily (Lili): 1 for 25 pesos ($2)

Tiger Lily (Acapulco): 1 for 45 pesos ($3.53)

White Lily (Casa Blancas): 1 for 45 pesos ($3.53)

Lily (Azucenas): 1 for 45 pesos ($3.53)

Tulipanes (Tulips): 1 for 45 pesos ($3.53)

 

Hope that helps for those of you doing DIY bouquets! Again, I think the prices at Walmart are better than the florerias but you're risking not being able to pre-order and having a limited selection. I'm going to Walmart today so I'll have a look at what the other prices are.

[Mya062813]

Can anyone tell me the cost of the round paper lanterns? Did the resort provide them? If not what did they charge to hang them & where did you get them from?

[melnryluvco]

Originally Posted by Mya062813 

 

Can anyone tell me the cost of the round paper lanterns? Did the resort provide them? If not what did they charge to hang them & where did you get them from?

I would go to Oriental Trading. They have all sort of fun stuff. It's also not too expensive so if you leave it/trash it you won't feel too guilty. They have all sorts of colors. The resort may charge a few bucks per latern but from what I've heard sometimes they'll just put them up for you.

 

http://www.orientaltrading.com/bright-party-lanterns-a2-3_8941.fltr?prodCatId=550543&tabId=2

[shannonmarie]

Originally Posted by Mya062813 

 

Can anyone tell me the cost of the round paper lanterns? Did the resort provide them? If not what did they charge to hang them & where did you get them from?

Also check out http://www.justartifacts.net/roblpala.html They have a huge selection of paper lanterns!

[sunnymylene]

Originally Posted by Noxx 

 

Ramon has told me that i had to have a set menu for my guests maybe i should ask Anel instead lol. My invites have already been sent out but it would have been nice to have an option. 

As for the discriptions, They are horrible. I am a chef and i had no idea what some of the apps were. i google imaged a few. You can also mix and match from the divine and eternity if you choose the divine package. Also i was able to cut out the soup and add another Hor o'deourve in the cocktail hour

Originally Posted by KelsDavidson62 

 

Can anyone give advice about how to choose dinner selections and appetizers? Anel, told me I could give my guest two choices, so I want to make sure I am picking the best options. Also, the appetizers do not have any descriptions. Previous brides what did you choose and what do you recommend or not recommend?

 

Hi Ladies,

Have you decided on the the food ?

The way we chose was quite simple. We had 2 guests who don't eat pork, and 1 who doesn't like cheese, and 1 who doesn't like seafood. We went with classics, that also where appealing to US. Remember, you can't please everyone. We chose everything from the Divine menu. I didn't know we could choose from the eternity menu to save a few $ per extra person (we had 6 extra). And really, we could have saved what...a big whole 24$ ?! And having more choice to choose from to make it more difficult ?!   (I was studying full-time the semester before the wedding, I literally had to make a date with my fiance to choose all this !!)

 

These are the cocktail hour appys we chose. To be honest, we didn't taste any as we were leaving on photo duties... I think I tasted the salmon and dill on the go !

 

A.      Salmon and dill cream cheese

B.      Goat cheese mousse and sundried tomato

C.     Roast beef roll

D.     Prosciutto ham bruchetta

 

This was our menu for the dinner. We love wine, cheeses, cold cuts and terrine, so this appy was obvious it was the one to be. As for the soup, we love lobster... As you can see, we knew what our guests liked and didn't, and we choose accordingly. If they don't like the soup, they could eat the appy and the dinner... For the main, we went for a classic. The only thing left to surprise was the level of cooking. We like a beef rare to med-rare. I know a few peops in our group like it done. I was very pleased with the med-rare cooking. And I think the well-doners might now convert to med-rare ! Everything was very delicious. As for the dessert, the creamy white chocolate was very small and tasty too. But could potentially just be replaced by a 5th appy in the cocktail hour. Simply because, people were getting full, and the piece the resistance, the wedding cake, was almost too much, and only really for the tradition...

 

Appetizer or Salad: vegetable confit terrine, fresh lettuce and basil pesto, sundried tomato vinaigrette

Soup: creamy Lobster soup, brandy scented

Entrée: Surf & Turn Beef fillet and shrimp, wild mushroom sauce, mild sweet pepper sauce

Desert: creamy white chocolate and mint

 

Cake: Tres Leche

 

I'm picky about my cakes, I simply just usually skip it, or take a finger-wide slice to taste. Tres Leche was very moist and delicious. For 31 adults, we had a 3-tiers cake. We could have gone for 2-tiers (plus a fake third at the base for the looks I guess), there was a lot of cake left, the whole bottom tiers.

 

 

We had a romantic dinner on the beach the night before the wedding. We almost skipped it simply because it was taking time away from our guests. So we sat, we ate, and we left. We were done in under an hour ! But it was literally a surf and turf. A good dry run on tasting our wedding main. I think it was coming from the French Restaurant Par Amour, which we didn't have the chance to go to. We were very pleased with this meal.

 

Before that romantic dinner, we had our included couples massage. It's one hour. It's So So So worth it. Do it. It's all I have to say.

 

You can look at my pictures for the onsite photographer, ceremony set-up, and dinner set-up.

 

Cheers !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sunnymylene]

Originally Posted by melnryluvco 

 

Hiya Ladies,

So I'm in part of the May 2013 Brides thread and one of the girls in this thread actually moved from Canada to Playa del Carmen. I could literally kiss the ground she walks on for all her personal insight and helpfullness. MrsHK is a true godsend. Anyways, I thought I would share with you all some of her posts about florist there. Playa is 15/20 min cab ride away so it's easily accessible and for the money you can save on flowers you'll want to kiss MrsHK as well! Don't be shy to PM her or kiss the ground she walks on

 

 

Hi Ladies,

I would just like to mention to you that a cab ride to Playa Del Carmen from Puerto Morelos is 45$, one way, by the highway, only about 20 minutes... People say as a joke that in Mexico the first most expensive thing is electricity, second is taxi... Taxi is a huge business in that area, they know that people want the comfort of their own private taxi, and that they won't want to go through the hassle of renting a car. Just be aware of this cost.

 

I wanted flowers for my bridesmaids and the groomsladies. To get them through Now Sapphire, it would have been 65$ each. I ordered silk flowers from afloral.com and was very pleased. it was 16$ each. I was able to personalise them myself. See in my pictures for the final look...

[DinaQtobe]

Originally Posted by sunnymylene 

 

Hi Ladies,

I would just like to mention to you that a cab ride to Playa Del Carmen from Puerto Morelos is 45$, one way, by the highway, only about 20 minutes... People say as a joke that in Mexico the first most expensive thing is electricity, second is taxi... Taxi is a huge business in that area, they know that people want the comfort of their own private taxi, and that they won't want to go through the hassle of renting a car. Just be aware of this cost.

 

I wanted flowers for my bridesmaids and the groomsladies. To get them through Now Sapphire, it would have been 65$ each. I ordered silk flowers from afloral.com and was very pleased. it was 16$ each. I was able to personalise them myself. See in my pictures for the final look...

 

Hi Mylene,

 

Do you happen to know how much a taxi was to Puerto Morelos?

 

Thanks!

Dina

[sunnymylene]

Originally Posted by DinaQtobe 

 

 

Hi Mylene,

 

Do you happen to know how much a taxi was to Puerto Morelos?

 

Thanks!

Dina

Hi Dina,

yeah it is also 45$. Similar prices to and from the airport.

Cheers,