Iberostar Paraiso Wedding Roll Call

[MommyBride14]

not*** Sorry for the typing error
 

[Jlmarfa]

Hello Mommybride14, 

 

Pretty much all of our wedding detail are complete! Thank goodness. 

 

I am making my own centerpieces. I bought tin buckets at IKEA and got children's book cut outs of the letters that spell out our name for table numbers. In the buckets there will be our favorite candy and childhood games ( go fish, old maid, hearts, crazy 8's and apples to apples cards) next to the buckets there will be IKEA picture frames that are double sided with a picture of us when we were kids. No one ever remembers centerpieces so I wanted to make it fun. I know that there will be people who don't want to dance, so they will have something to entertain themselves. Plus I come from a big board game family, so it is special.

 

We have 82 guests so its fairly large. 

 

We chose the beach wedding and are doing the champagne toast on the beach and taking off to do pictures. We were very certain that we did not want to do the pictures ahead of time, because we want the first time we see each other to be when I walk down the aisle. 

 

 We are having our reception at the open air restaurant on the beach. El Faro is what it is called ( I think...). We will be serving Grouper and Tenderloin

 

We picked the Japanese restaurant for the rehersal dinner.

 

We are going with the hotel DJ for 340$ for 4 hours. They do not MC, all they really do is set up and make sure everything is working.  We are going to have each member of the wedding party listen out for cue songs for each event we have planned at the wedding. The other option was to hire a dj for 500$ more. We are pinching pennies so we opted out. 

 

The wedding is in less than a month! I am so excited. 

 

I went through beach bum vacations for all the bookings. Steve is wonderful. He kept me in the loop with everything that was changing. Luciana is my WC and she is wonderful also. 

 

If you have any questions, I will do my best to help. 

 

Jessica 

[anniebee02]

Hello Iberostar Brides!!!

 

Well my husband and I just got back from our amazing adventure in Mexico and we couldn't be happier. Let me just tell you that you will NOT be disappointed in choosing Iberostar for your resort on this very important day. Of course there were a few hiccups with the complete adventure, but that is expected from such a big event and a few of them were all up to mother nature so we couldn't do much about them.

 

Our wedding was held at the Iberostar Grand, which is adults only, and we choose the Dream Package. Jessica Aguilar was our wedding coordinator and she is one of the sweetest, most attentive individuals I've ever met. Throughout the beginning she showed a complete interest in our wedding and made it possible for us to add a few special personal touches. She truly gets 5 Gold Stars in my book and she is one of the main reasons this resort is categorized as the 4th best in all of the Riviera Maya resorts!!! It's a bummer that Jessica is no longer going to be a wedding coordinator at the Grand. She has accepted the hardest position in the world, but also the most rewarding, she is now going to be a stay at home mama! When chatting with her I asked if she knew who the new WC would be, but she was uncertain, but whomever they are... THEY HAVE BIG SHOES TO FILL!!! One thing I do want to elaborate on the personal touches, don't go too crazy trying to take things with you down there. Make your wedding parties flowers simple and easy to manage, the rest will definitely fall into place. Plus the resort is just gorgeous that even if you didn't have any extra decorations, it will all look 5 star to your guests.

 

The best part of this package was that we really wanted to have a private reception with the DJ and all the fun festivities that came along with it, plus you have to have a private reception if you want children to attend the party. I will allow a paragraph to the DJ as he was FANTASTIC, give me just a second. My family stayed at the Maya throughout their vacation, because of the children, two others stayed at the Lindo and the rest of us stayed at the Grand. If you are traveling without children, hands down the Grand is the way to go. We had external guests as well that stayed in Playa that were allowed to join us on the resort the day of the wedding. Any external guests are $150 per individual and the guests staying at the other resorts are $50 per individual, and they are allowed onto the grounds of the Grand at 12pm the day of the wedding. The children cannot come onto the grounds until 30 minutes before the wedding, but that is really enough time to get some photos with them and then get everything going. Also, please keep in mind that the additional costs will be charged to your room. So if you do have people staying off the resort or at another one of the locations, please know that you will have to pay the costs for them coming on. If you choose to collect that money from your guests or not, is totally up to you; just an FYI!

 

This package also comes with spa services, which at first I didn't care too much about, but after the fact was thrilled with. Couples massage was really necessary after all our guests had left the resort and it was just my hubby and I. Along with this, there is a facial, and you should really get this done the days before your wedding, not the day of because you don't know how your skin is going to react to the products. Unfortunately my facial had been scheduled for the day of the wedding so when I arrived I was informed of this and it kind of caused a cluster of events, and going back and forth as they didn't have room for me to start my hair/pedi/mani early. I had to leave and then come back about an hour later, for a lady that is already stressed out on this day, it really is important to know when you should arrive and what you will get done, this way it all runs smoothly. With this package you also get a trial hair and the hair style the day of the wedding. My girl was amazing, her name was Celene aka "Cele and she was sweet and paid close attention to what I wanted. The other services were great as well and definitely nice to have once you could stop and relax. My recommendations, get your hair & mani done on the day of your wedding (of course you would've already done your hair trial the day before or a few before). Your facial, pedi and massages should all be done after... Reason being is that those are all relaxing items and you really will enjoy them once you know everything is out of the way, just saying!

 

Our wedding was supposed to start at 5pm, but when the wedding adventures started we heard thunder, and right around 5:15 it  started raining. The Iberostar friends know this could happen and they were prepared to bring in all our items and get us set up inside. The inside is right through the doors of your accommodations and it's absolutely beautiful, so if this happens to you, don't freak out... It'll be ok! We could've possibly had the wedding right on time, but the minister was not there on time which caused us to hold off on getting it started. I would definitely suggest that you request a meeting with the minister the day you are meeting with your WC and DJ, which is usually a day or two before. If they cannot attend, then request that the minister be there 15-20 minutes before the wedding so you can let them know about the special touches you want. We wanted to say our own vows and weren't able to because she arrived late, it had started raining so we were a little chaotic and we didn't even know who she was; at first I thought she was a lady coming to congratulate us, not the minister; this was a little frustrating. I chatted with Jessica about this after the wedding and she agreed, this is something she has began to work on and hopefully for your wedding will get figured out with the new wedding coordinator. It was sad that we weren't able to say our vows in front of all our guests, but we decided to say them during our private romantic dinner on the beach, which is another add on in the Dream Package... Ladies, you only get married once and WOW this was definitely a bonus to the event. We had the romantic dinner on the Wednesday after the wedding, the day before we came back home, and it was a great way to end our honeymoon... It did sprinkle a little on us, but we were able to shrug that off and then it was an amazing night!

 

Now, let's chat about the DJ www.doremixx.com his name was Ivan Gomez, and YUP they ROCK!!! Not only did he play ALL the music we wanted, he met up with us two days before the wedding at the Grand and chatted through everything with us. They had this thing on lock, had everything set up, had fun props for all our dancing queens and just made the night. We ended up renting the light up dance floor, and once again I say "You only get married once, live it up to the fullest!" The dance floor was crazy amazing and if anyone needed me, they could find me busting a move on it! I can't recommend Ivan and his team enough, I really wish there could've been a way to just go party with them on one of the other nights, I know all our guests really wanted to, haha! The DJ does have to get set up through the WC, but trust me, this is the DJ you need for your wedding, no and, ifs, or buts, you will love them! We are in our 30's and so were most of our wedding travelers, but we did have our parents, aunts and uncles with us. Even they loved the music and had a great time with their services. They really do cater to any age group and will make sure to have you on the dance floor.

 

We should have tons of photos from our photographer in the upcoming month or so, once we get those, we will post them for all to see. Hope all this info helps! But most importantly, sit back and enjoy your day... There is no other word for this adventure but AMAZING!

[Scarma]

Thank you Jessica!! I cant wait now!! You are right about centerpieces i just get caught up in the wow but we are on a budget. Are you bringing any decor from home with you? When did the WC get a hold of you?

[MindyandDax]

I'm planning on taking ceremony decorations and reception decorations. Have any fellow brides received info on shipping items down there? As of right now I'm planning on getting extra suitcases and checking them on the plan. 

[MindyandDax]

Originally Posted by MindyandDax 

 

I'm planning on taking ceremony decorations and reception decorations. Have any fellow brides received info on shipping items down there? As of right now I'm planning on getting extra suitcases and checking them on the plan. 

*plane

[Jlmarfa]

Yes, I am bringing my centerpieces and a few decorations I found around town. Im trying to keep it minimal. I also have to pack all of my welcome bags. I was going to ship items, but it was too expensive. It will be great to do the suit case thing because I will have extra space after I get rid of all the stuff for the honeymoon!!!

[anniebee02]

My husband and I thought about purchasing a dingy suitcase that we would leave in Mexico, but ended up fitting everything into our check in bag; it was a huge bag. We were over about 5 lbs, but I was able to use my bride charm and have them waive the over weight fee, I suggest you milk it all you can. But I definitely suggest you just take as minimal as possible and make it fit in your bag, trust me when I say that even if you don't have much, your reception will look amazing... Plus everyone will be too worried about the booze, food and dancing that they won't care about your decorations. Did I tell you guys about the awesome DJ we had doremixx.com Ivan Gomez, they are amazing... Just saying... Oh and the light up dance floor! My suggestions are to skim out on the centerpieces and extra costs, but definitely get the dance floor... I'm getting my photos together so you can believe me when I say the dance floor and the DJ is definitely what's important.

[MindyandDax]

Originally Posted by anniebee02 

 

My husband and I thought about purchasing a dingy suitcase that we would leave in Mexico, but ended up fitting everything into our check in bag; it was a huge bag. We were over about 5 lbs, but I was able to use my bride charm and have them waive the over weight fee, I suggest you milk it all you can. But I definitely suggest you just take as minimal as possible and make it fit in your bag, trust me when I say that even if you don't have much, your reception will look amazing... Plus everyone will be too worried about the booze, food and dancing that they won't care about your decorations. Did I tell you guys about the awesome DJ we had doremixx.com Ivan Gomez, they are amazing... Just saying... Oh and the light up dance floor! My suggestions are to skim out on the centerpieces and extra costs, but definitely get the dance floor... I'm getting my photos together so you can believe me when I say the dance floor and the DJ is definitely what's important.

How much was the light up dance floor?! That sounds like so much fun! I've heard about doremixx is this the DJ that Iberostar provides or is it an outside vendor?

[anniebee02]

The light up dance floor is $1,000, but worth every penny of it... Yes, it is an outside vendor but they work with Iberostar so you would pay Iberostar and get it set up through your WC. I think there might be another DJ they work with, which I've heard is really good as well, but I can speak from experience, Ivan Gomez and his team are the best!