Finest 2015/2016 Brides

[mcjfam3]

Congrats @@k4te!!! You looked beautiful. Your reception looks amazing. Can't wait to see your videos. Quick question, did you have a DJ or did you rent speakers? We are expecting approximately 40 guests, so wondering if a dj is worth it. Also, at the Grand Palapa, did you have to rent the drapes and chandelier or is it included? I am trying to decide how much decoration is needed for the ceremony and reception.

 

thanks

[k4te]

Congrats @@k4te!!! You looked beautiful. Your reception looks amazing. Can't wait to see your videos. Quick question, did you have a DJ or did you rent speakers? We are expecting approximately 40 guests, so wondering if a dj is worth it. Also, at the Grand Palapa, did you have to rent the drapes and chandelier or is it included? I am trying to decide how much decoration is needed for the ceremony and reception.

 

thanks

 

Thank you!

 

We went for Mega Boom Speakers which sync'd together as we had 30 guests for the reception dancing so didnt need anything crazy, i found the four hours went really fast so if you do get a DJ I would also extend at least another hour.

 

We took lights with us that we had attached to the setup so we had the feel of a DJ, the speakers were fine, but i think hiring a PA system would be better if you didnt want to spend on a DJ.

 

All the dressing is additional, we went for chandaliers x2, 6 pillars dressed to the ceiling and also a gazebo with chandalier for our dance floor. We used Alqumia who were wonderful and did a fantastic job. We spent the most money on the dressing, and it was worth it, we were so happy with how it looked.

[nyarcher1215]

Just a heads up ladies. I've been working with Finest for 9 months now (my wedding is in 9 weeks) and I just got an email from my new wedding coordinator. This is my third one in 9 months! Not sure what's going on at the resort. I'm getting really tired of the switches. The first person I had (Yanin) was terrible so I'm glad she left but my second WC Nadia was better and she only stuck around for 3.5 months. I've now been assigned Alejandra. I was so upset over my first incompetent WC, and was just starting to trust in WC #2, then I get a 3rd? I have to start from scratch again. Just wanted to give a word of warning to the future Finest brides. Makes me wonder what is going on there that they go through so many WCs.

[scrudele6]

A few questions for past brides:

 

- Did any of you have signature "bride/groom cocktails" at the cocktail hour or reception? What kind of options does the hotel offer?

- Does anyone know if you can bring outside liquor to the hotel and what the best way to get it from the states is?  My fiance is from Kentucky so we are looking to have a bourbon bar at the reception but the hotel only carries Jim Bean.

- Did anyone use the bouquets, groom's boutonniere, and boutonniere/corsages from the gold package? Were they nice, do you have pics to see?

 

@@nyarcher1215 I also got switched from Alejandra and I am SO SO happy so far.  I never had to work with Yanin, but Nadia barely responded to emails, and when she did her responses were "I will get back to you". Our travel agent went down to the resort to meet with the wedding group and said Alejandra has lots of experience and knows what she is doing... fingers crossed!  

[Maurindy2016]

@Scrudele6:

 

1. I did cocktail drink for the cocktail hour.  It's free, part of the package.  Per my wedding coordinator, it was up to me to have one. So I chose a mojito.  They have a really good chili habanero drink at one of the Legend's bar at the resort, I would recommend that (if you like things a little spicy),  I would recommend looking at the menus and seeing if you like any of theirs, and request that.

 

2.  If you bring outside stuff, I would be careful with customs as they will charge you a tax on it if it exceeds a certain amount ($200 I think).

 

3.  I used boutineers from the gold packaged (my flowers were white, with greenery).  See photo for the grooms flower.  I thought they did a good job with the guys flowers.  I brought my own for the bride and bridesmaids flowers (faux flowers)

 

 

 

[nyarcher1215]

@@scrudele6 - I'm glad Alejandra is working well with you. I can't say the same myself. I got her initial email that she was my new WC 13 days ago. I replied with the laundry list of things already promised to me, what was agreed upon and what was outstanding from Nadia just to confirm it was all set. It has been two weeks and I still have not received a response to my email with any answers. I was told by Barbara (the woman in charge of all wedding coordinators) back in June when I was switched to Nadia that correspondence lag would be no longer than two days. Completely a joke. It takes them 7 days or more before they respond and that's with an email prompt from me. Alejandra claims that she is on top of everything for my wedding but if that is the case, why is it taking two weeks to confirm everything!?!? I have so much anger and anxiety about all of this. My wedding is in 7 weeks and I really hope they prove me wrong since I don't trust them right now. 

 

For those people who have Viviana, you are the lucky ones. I have heard nothing but great things about her. Unfortunately the other wedding happening on the same night as mine got her as their WC. 

 

 

@@nyarcher1215 I also got switched from Alejandra and I am SO SO happy so far.  I never had to work with Yanin, but Nadia barely responded to emails, and when she did her responses were "I will get back to you". Our travel agent went down to the resort to meet with the wedding group and said Alejandra has lots of experience and knows what she is doing... fingers crossed!  

[mcjfam3]

So bummed...Viviana was my WC.  I just emailed her some questions and got an email from Victor letting me know Viviana just received a promotion and that he is going to be my new WC.  Crossing my finger.

[robynm10]

@@mcjfam3 My new WC is Victor as well! I was definitely a little disappointed that I had to email Viviana to find out, rather than the resort reaching out to let us know of the change. He seems much slower than Viviana in replying to emails. We are actually heading down there on Friday for a site visit and have a meeting with him on Saturday, so I will provide some feedback once we are back! Fingers crossed!

[rreuss]

Hi girls!

I haven't posted on here but have read everything and found it very helpful. I actually got married at the Finest last week (10-22) so I wanted to share a few things that helped me.

 

First of all, the wedding was amazing! Nothing is perfect but the little things don't bother me and everyone had a great time and it was beautiful.

 

The thing that helped me the most was I actually hired an outside wedding coordinator that lives in Cancun. I was keeping her my secret but now that it's over I really think she could help a lot of you. The company is "weddings in riviera maya" , her name is Celeste, and I found her on wedding wire. The amount she saved me on just the photographer paid for her fee (btw the photographers were awesome and included 2 photographers and 2 videographers). I also used her vendor for the decorations which was ridiculously cheaper than aliqima (21 dollars for a tiki torch?! I paid $7 w Celeste). I did end up using the DJ at the resort and that was fine. Celeste also got me a violinist for the ceremony.

 

Another thing was the girls dresses needed steamed and the resort wanted to charge $144/dress. Celeste delivered us a portable steamer! The things she did for us were above and beyond and I am going to miss texting her on a daily basis (another reason I just loved her- we texted every day and she talked to the resort for me and visited it twice to take pictures and meet w Viviana ). Also, Viviana was promoted the week before my wedding so if I didn't have Celeste I probably would have freaked. Although Victor is completely amazing as well.

 

We had 80 people and had the ceremony on the boat beach(private) and the reception on the palapa which is awesome. It is totally secluded and huge. We also hired someone through Celeste to make the Mayan coffee that we love and had a cigar roller from the resort. The service at the reception was outstanding. It would be tough to get service like that in the US- the servers were taking people's empty drinks and replacing them while they were dancing- it was awesome!

 

I can go on and on but I just really wanted to let everyone know about Celeste and that my experience with the resort was really outstanding. We were sad to leave and when we got to our honeymoon we honestly thought about trying to go back to Finest because we missed it. Hope this was helpful to you all!

 

[email protected]

 

That is her e-mail if anyone wants to contact her. I also attached one pic of the reception from her instagram.

[rreuss]

 

 

Didn't get the pictures yet but I tried to find a few with the flowers. My bouquet is the one from the resort, the bridesmaids bouquets (babysbreath) I got from Celeste. That is the bar that the resort sets up and you can see my reception on the palapa. I got the lights, chairs, and table decor from Celeste. They used the same chairs for the reception which was helpful. We also used the gazebo included in the package but I got the greenery from Celeste as well.

 

One thing that did happen that was frustrating is the resort has giant inflatables on the stored on the Palapa (obstacle courses that go on the ocean). They moved these directly behind where our ceremony was. My husband saw it as soon as he got down to the ceremony and demanded the move it (it would have literally been in every picture directly behind us). They told him no, and he said they had to either move the inflatables or the ceremony. Sure enough, they dug up the gazebo and all of my guests had to physically move their chairs and the ceremony started 20 mins late (super embarrassing). Make sure if you have the ceremony on the beach they don't do this to you!