November 2013 Brides

[lastminbride]

FutureMrSingh,

 

Congrats on the Nov 1! You must be soooo excited!

Who was your wedding planner? And, who's been assigned as your onsite coordinator?

 

Thanks for all the great tips and general advice.  I NEEDED to hear that!

 

Wish I had read about mywedding before.  Wrapping up the weddingwire one now...have to get it out/published right away.

Yes, I will be patient with all the questions.  To top it off, I booked through a friend's membership and will have to field a to of questions about travel. Yikes! Patience, breathing, counting...

 

Because I'm less than 60 days out (57 to be exact), I never got a room block.  Moon Palace told me some dates with good availability and it's all based on availability but with the member rates and perks.  My guests will all have to all membership directly (no e-mail/internet booking), and will have to pay in full at booking time.  It takes me 5 calls a day to get ahold of the guy who has to do the bookings.  I hope my guests don't get desperate and just book online or with a TA.   I won't get their room night counts towards my benefits.  But, yes, I will put the deadline (for one of the membership perks) and to book right away.

 

What is your DJ doing for equipment?  I have acquaintances - one a DJ, one a photographer.  They are both invited (not because of their work), but I wonder how I can bring it up to them if they are interested.  Because there is friendship involved, it's a little messy to think about negotiating, etc..  Did you look at the photographers/DJs there, or did you decide to bring your own from the get go?

 

Good tip on the waxing.  Btw, can we make appts at the MP spa before we even arrive? (for my 7-night guests we get 2 free mani/Pedi's per room, and a big resort credit which can be used at the spa...we will be crowding the place!).

 

Thanks again for taking the time to write to me.  Good advice.

 

Excited for wedding dress shopping today....hope the salespeople don't freak out about the date.

 

All I hear is: "THIS year?? THIS year??? REally? This year??"

 

xox,

Hellen

[FutureMrsSingh]

Hi Hellen,

 

Thanks for the congrats. Yes, we are excited, but stressed too

 

Our wedding planner is Daniela. But I have also had contact with Renee and Alejandra. Daniela is fantastic! And the other two were really great to deal with also.

Our onsite coordinator will be Zaray. We met her during our site visit, and she is very familiar with Indian weddings so we specially requested her. 

 

Our DJ is going to use the equipment provided by the resort. It goes through one of the vendors - JSAV I believe. They have a few package options (for booths, speakers, mixers etc.). We also struggled with the question of "should we ask our friends or not" because we have a couple of professional DJ's amongst our guest list, but opted to instead keep them as guests and go with people that they recommended. We did look at local photographer options in Mexico, but not too hard because we knew from day one that we wanted the person that we ultimately booked. We might go with local, or the resort vendor, for videography though. 

 

Yes you can make spa appointments ahead of time at the resort. Talk to your wedding planner about it and she will put you in touch with the spa manager. A warning about resort credit - you can only use a certain amount towards spa services. Not sure what the member benefits are like, but of the $1500 credit, I think you can only use $300 for spa. 

 

Good luck with the room booking thing. We are using a travel agent and she has been an absolute dream, not to mention make-shift wedding co-ordinator. Honestly, if you can afford to hire a wedding planner for just this single aspect of things, and make that the point of contact for your guests to book through, that might save you a lot of personal time. Many wedding planners have "a la carte" services, and this could be the one thing that is worth throwing some money at. There are specific destination wedding planners that will probably offer that service. Despite having a great travel agent, we still got lots of calls, texts and emails from people with travel questions. It was really nice to always *gently* redirect them to our travel agent for the answers. It also puts a nice buffer between you and any complaints/issues people may have. People get VERY fussy about travel stuff, especially those that don't travel often. 

 

Get used to the whole "THIS YEAR??!?!?!" shock. Many people can't wrap their heads around the idea that a couple isn't going to spend at least one year obsessively revolving their lives around the wedding. Take solace in the knowledge that you chose the path less taken, and will only obsess for a couple of months! At the end of it, the wedding is nice, and a very important event, but it's the marriage that counts. That's where the real time and effort should go. 

 

Happy planning and good luck shopping!

[DinaQtobe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastminbride 
 

This is kind of funny, but I meant wedding bands=wedding rings.  Rings can take up to 8 weeks to order, so I would get on that as soon as you find your dress!!

[lastminbride]

FutureMrsSing - thanks for all the info.

[lastminbride]

Girls, shortly after my last post on Saturday, I got a much awaited e-mail from the membership wedding agent I've been dealing with with the list of all the benefits he had promised over the phone. The big ticket items were all missing and he reneged on having offered them! Also, since I'm less than 60 days in, I can't have a room block separated for me, but on a Monday he told me that Nov 23/24 rooms for my large group were available, and then THAT Wednesday (two days later) they were no longer available! Even without a room guarantee, only two days and they were no longer be available?! What if I would have confirmed and announced the date to my guests and they would call to book to only find that the rooms are not available (for members bc I could book many online)? Horrible. So we picked another date. He said 'no guarantees on room availability, but right now it looks good'. Can't trust that after what he said on the other date. My heart was set on Moon Palace, and I was so demoralized by all this. I was crying at my 3 dress shopping appts and totally out of it. Now I'm back to square one having to pick and book a resort. I already only had two months to plan, and two weeks were waisted by these people. What were your other resort finalists?

[DinaQtobe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastminbride 

Girls, shortly after my last post on Saturday, I got a much awaited e-mail from the membership wedding agent I've been dealing with with the list of all the benefits he had promised over the phone. The big ticket items were all missing and he reneged on having offered them! Also, since I'm less than 60 days in, I can't have a room block separated for me, but on a Monday he told me that Nov 23/24 rooms for my large group were available, and then THAT Wednesday (two days later) they were no longer available! Even without a room guarantee, only two days and they were no longer be available?! What if I would have confirmed and announced the date to my guests and they would call to book to only find that the rooms are not available (for members bc I could book many online)? Horrible. So we picked another date. He said 'no guarantees on room availability, but right now it looks good'. Can't trust that after what he said on the other date. My heart was set on Moon Palace, and I was so demoralized by all this. I was crying at my 3 dress shopping appts and totally out of it. Now I'm back to square one having to pick and book a resort. I already only had two months to plan, and two weeks were waisted by these people.

What were your other resort finalists?

I am so sorry to hear of the poor treatment MP gave you.  I am surprised that there is no availability - I would have thought that the end of November would not be a peak season especially with thanksgiving being around then....

 

I am getting married at the Now Sapphire, but the other top resort was the El Dorado Royale.  I have been there before and it is a beautiful resort with the most amazing food.  The staff works really hard and were so friendly.

 

I really hope you are able to be accommodated at the Moon Palace.  I know when your heart is set on something it can be hard to go another route.  Maybe you can find something else that is just as amazing!

[lastminbride]

Hi Dina, Thanks for your words. Yes, you got it about my heart being set on it. But the trust isn't there. And all my guests would have to go through that horrible membership booking office by phone to book. I can't imagine putting them through it. They'd probably just book through another channel and I wouldn't get my room benefits. I have nieces/nephews and friends with kids coming, so It has to be a family friendly resort. Thanks for the other recommendations though.

[DinaQtobe]

El Dorado is part of a larger chain of resorts called Karisma.  The Azul properties are Karisma and family friendly.  If they are anything like the El Dorado they should be fantastic!  There is also an El Dorado Generations that allows families.  The one that is open already is on maroma beach - one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen.  We are going to the El Dorado Maroma for our honeymoon week, and I cannot wait!

 

 

http://www.karismahotels.com/HotelsResorts/ForEveryone/GenerationsMaroma

[lastminbride]

Hi Dina,

 

Great to hear you are happy with the Karisma chain.   Azul Sensatori is a finalist.  I just really dislike their low-celiing, apartment-complex-party-room-look ballroom.  I'm having my reception indoors, for climate control and a bit more glamour.

 

lost and stuck with zero time to spare (

[DinaQtobe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastminbride 
 

Hi Dina,

 

Great to hear you are happy with the Karisma chain.   Azul Sensatori is a finalist.  I just really dislike their low-celiing, apartment-complex-party-room-look ballroom.  I'm having my reception indoors, for climate control and a bit more glamour.

 

lost and stuck with zero time to spare (

What are your other top choices?

In November it shouldn't be too warm, especially at night.

 

Now Jade has lots of great indoor options for receptions.  The bamboo room is beautiful!