OFFICIAL NOW Jade Wedding Thread

[kbride2014]

Yeah, I would def extend the reception rather than go to the bar. It's a wedding after all!

[ironman]

Does anyone have a timeline for their hair/make up, ceremony, cocktail hr, and reception activities? I'm trying to book a photographer and he wants to know what time to show up. I want time for getting ready and first look photos before the ceremony. Not sure if I should extend my reception either. Is 3 hrs enough time or is it better to go to the sports bar after?

 

Our ceremony was at 3 PM, and I went for my hair at 10:00 AM. I wish I went even earlier so there was more time for getting ready/before the ceremony photos and lunch.

 

Definitely extend the reception. We paid $700 and something for 39 adults, but it was 100% worth it.

[kbride2014]

 

Hello!

 

My name is Umi and I am getting married at the Now Jade resort on June 1, 2012….only two months away! I found this website towards the beginning of my planning last july 2011 and am so glad I did! Although I have not been posting much I have found so much helpful insight in how to plan my wedding and I feel like it is my turn to give back! Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and I will try my best to answer them. I will try to post a review upon my return!

 

Location: Now Jade Resort

Arriving: May 29 – June 3

Wedding Meeting: May 30

Wedding Coordinator: Used to be Ana Maria now I believe it is Pilar

Wedding Package: Divine

Wedding Date: June 1, 2012

Wedding colors: Aqua and coral

Wedding Guests: 45

Ceremony Time/Location: 4:00pm at the Pergola

Cocktail Hour: 5:00- 6:00pm at the Blue Beach Bar

Reception: 6:00-10:00pm at the Bamboo Room

 

Booking

 

The most stressful point for us was deciding on a travel agent and picking the resort.  Although I have always booked ALL of my trips on my own I knew from the beginning that I wanted to go through a travel agent to book our wedding.  Although I love our family and friends I did not want to be the one they all came to to help book their trips!

 

We went to a local travel agent and I was not happy with the experience so I decided to do more research online. That is where I came across this website! I found good reviews about the travel agents on this website and figured I would shoot them an e-mail. I got a quick response from Wendy Hicks.  We talked over the phone she was so friendly and so informative! I was a little worried at first knowing she was all the way on the west coast! But once we spoke over the phone it was smooth sailing from then on! And seeing as all of our guests were from all over and would be booking either through e-mail or by phone anyways the location didn’t really matter.

 

Wendy helped me decide on my wedding location and honeymoon location. She explained the differences between group rates and individual bookings.  We decided to go with her and she set up a contract for us.  My guests have had nothing but pleasant experiences with her since the beginning of our booking! She literally gets back to your e-mail within the hour if not sooner! She also set up our transportation to and from the resort for all of our guests! One less thing to worry about!

 

Travel

 

Since the centerpieces I liked were over $250 per piece I decided to go and make them myself! I have made my own centerpieces with tall clear cylinder vases with dark branches and floating orchids in water.  Surrounding the tall vase we will have mini cylinder vases with floating orchids and floating candles. Very simple but elegant! I will post pictures bellow.  If anyone would like me to keep them there we can negotiate a price so you can have them for your wedding!

 

We are going to be bringing these all the way there and am crossing my fingers everything gets past customs!!! We are bringing may things! We have our centerpieces, all of our OOT bags with many things in them, props for our photo booth, messages in a bottle for our guests seating, Menu cards, programs, our wedding attire…..and the list goes on! I told all of my family members to pack light because half of their suitcase is mine

 

OOT Bags

 

I purchased blank tote bags from Cheaptotes.com and the designed a Riviera Maya, Mexico image to iron on our bags. I didn’t want to put our names or date on it because I wanted this to be a souvenir that people can use after the wedding.

 

In the OOT Bags are:

-mini sun block from target

-mini aloe after the sun lotion from Harmon

-hand sanitizer from Dollar Tree

-Drink/ coffee mugs from Dollar Tree

-coil wrist bands with clear pouch to hold key

-rescue kit with toothbrush, tooth paste, tide cleaner, sewing kit, q-tips, advil, tums...

-beach ball

-welcome brochure

-description card of restaurant/bars on the resort

-we survived the wedding! magnet

-flip flop playing cards and notepad

 

Bridal Party Gifts

 

Groomsman:

We ordered each groomsman a personalized Yankees jersey with their last name on it and my fiancé is taking them to a game.

 

Bridesmaids:

-I got them each a tote bag in their favorite color.

-necklaces made on etsy with their initial and a starfish with an aqua and coral bead.

-sun screen

-bathing suit

-Turkish towel wrap

-beach hat

-beach cover ups

 

 Rehearsal Dinner

 

We have not finalized this yet but we are looking to have a rehearsal cocktail hour in one of the lounge areas instead of a private sit down dinner just to save some money. $15 per person appose to $22 per person  (not too big of a difference but everything adds up!).

 

Wedding Ceremony

 

Our ceremony is at 4:00 and here are our plans for the day:

 

11:30-1:10 Hair/Makeup appointment (they said it should take about an 1 hour and 40 min.)

1:15-2:15 Pictures of bride getting ready with bridesmaids

2:15-3:00 Pictures of groom with groomsman

3:00-3:30 First glance pictures

3:30-4:00 Guests are being seated

4:00-4:30 Ceremony at the Pergola

4:30-5:00 Group pictures

5:00-6:00 Cocktail hour at the Blue Beach Bar

6:00-10:00 Reception at the Bamboo room

10:00- after party at the club!

 

Since the divine package includes a bouquet for the bride and 2 boutonnieres for the groomsman and 2 corsages I will be using that as my bouquet and giving the other flowers to our parents. I made my own bouquets and boutonnieres for the bridal party.

 

I did not like the generic look of the white covers on the chairs so we are getting the white tiffany chairs. We will be using an ipod for the music during the ceremony.

 

Wedding Cocktail Hour

 

For the cocktail hour we are using the Caribbean trio as part of our divine package. I designed a picture book for guests to sign instead of a plain guest book.

 

We chose these four hor de ouvres:

1.Beef Brochettes

2.Chicken and cheese turnovers

3.Spinach quiche

4.mini vol au vent with seafood

 

 

Wedding Reception

 

I hired one of my friends who is a wedding photographer to do our wedding.  He did our engagement pictures and he is awesome! He does destination weddings if you would like more info let me know!

 

I am a graphic designer so I pretty much designed everything for our wedding I made the save the dates, invitations, and programs for the wedding.  We are doing message in a bottles for the seating. Each table is a destination we have been to together as a couple. On each table I have a big cylinder vase with floating orchids and branches (very whimsical but elegant!) surrounding the big vase I have 5 small vases with floating orchids and a floating candle. We are using aqua table clothes. As party favors, I designed a picture frame that says our name, date and destination.  I also got a Polaroid camera with many props for guests to take pictures at our photo booth! We wanted to have fun at our wedding with lots of dancing without having to worry about making the announcements or trying to get an ipod to play so we are going with the resort dj for 4 hours.

 

Menu:

Salad: Royal Mixed Salad with Bluefin Tuna Sashimi

Soup: Lobster Bisque

Entrée: Beef Fillet and Shrimp or Yellow Tail Tuna Steak or

Penne pasta en salsa de tomate y albahaca con vegetales

Desert: CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE WITH BAILYS SAUCE and wedding cake

 

We are spending 5 days at the Now Jade and then we are going to Maroma Beach for another 5 days for our honeymoon.

 

I am so excited and can’t wait for it to get hear already! Let me know if you have any questions!

 

Umi

 

Thanks for the timeline!

[Moments That Matter]

That's a great reveiw, Umi - pls share some photos of your Wonderful Wedding if you get the chance.....you know the old saying about a picture being worth a thousand words.....hehe   like these magical wedding "moments that matter" Linc caught at the NOW Jade showing what an amazing backdrop it makes for a wedding venue....with more at the album link here: NOW Jade Wedding

 

 

 

 

 

 

wishing everyone a very Happy New Year - Cheers!!! team MTM

[MayFlowers2014]

Hi Ladies...

 

Where did you purchase your paper lanterns??

 

[A7Xtrish]

Is anyone else freaking out about all the recent negative reviews on tripadvisor.com?! Our wedding is in 2015, and now I'm wondering if I need to start considering other resorts. :/

Ok, some people are a little over dramatic on tripadvisor! My fiancé and I stayed at the Jade last September and it was amazing. We're getting married there 9/23/2014 and I know it will be perfect. I worry about not having complete control of everything the day of but these people do this for a living, so we have to trust them. And as for trip advisor, no place is perfect, and much of trip advisor consists of people that travel often and may be comparing their experience at the jade to a place that might have been a little more nicer or pricier.. & then there's the people who just like to complain about everything and are NEVER happy.. but everyone is going to have their opinions. I wouldn't stress over it too much, like I said we've stayed there and were impressed enough to have our wedding there, it cannot be all that bad. Not to mention all of the positive Jade brides on BDW. (:

Hi Ladies...

 

Where did you purchase your paper lanterns??

 

 

I've yet to purchase mine because I've been slacking on this whole wedding planning thing, but after 2 months of shopping around for the best price, it looks to me that www.justartifacts.net is winning and I also came across this site, www.save-on-crafts.com which has a lot of useful wedding stuff!

[UMassRN007]

Hi Ladies...

 

Where did you purchase your paper lanterns??

 

 

I ordered mine on amazon...they were the only place that had peach lanterns in stock and who can resist free 2 day shipping!?

[amarie4713]

justartifacts.net is the cheapest i have found also, and they have a wide variety of colors 

[amarie4713]

I know this was asked not to long ago, but have any recent brides had any luck switching things out of their package for something else? I know it was pretty common place a couple years ago, but I haven't heard of recent brides having much luck. I haven't talked to Pilar, but I know there will be things we will not need from our wedding package, and that has be considering going with the Eternity package instead of the Divine. 

Also, something else I was thinking about, we are only going to do a symbolic ceremony, but I don't want anyone to know that.  Will they make it all look legal if I ask, signature of the marriage license and everything? Does anyone have any experience with this?

[A7Xtrish]

I know this was asked not to long ago, but have any recent brides had any luck switching things out of their package for something else? I know it was pretty common place a couple years ago, but I haven't heard of recent brides having much luck. I haven't talked to Pilar, but I know there will be things we will not need from our wedding package, and that has be considering going with the Eternity package instead of the Divine. 

Also, something else I was thinking about, we are only going to do a symbolic ceremony, but I don't want anyone to know that.  Will they make it all look legal if I ask, signature of the marriage license and everything? Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

I'm wondering about how pilar is going to respond to swapping things out with our pacakage also. I've heard she's pretty flexible but then there's those few reviews where she's not. I've yet to contact her about anything bc I figure if I just send one huge email when I have it all figured out, itd be best.