Tinkersofi's Planning Thread - Azul Fives August 13, 2015

[calgarybride2015]

I'm off to my honeymoon today but soooo excited to hear all about it when I get back. Congrats!

 

 

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[deecol]

@@snswedding2016 @ I saw it!! I watched it!! I saw Sofi get married!!!! Woohoo!!!!! OMG She's gorgeous!!!

 

Ahhh that's amazing you could see that!

[yycbride2016]

I just watched your video on Ustream! You look absolutely amazing and the whole ceremony was breathtaking. Congratulations again! 

[maybeoneday]

Wow...I even managed to get ustream in the UK. I felt like I was there with you (maybe as a wedding crasher!) you looked absolutely stunning! Both of you look so happy xx Congratulations xx

 

Maybeoneday

14 /10/2015 - R R C, Mexico

[TinkerSofi]

thank you everyone, I don't want to make you wait anymore to hear something from me haha, so even though this is might not be a full review yet, I'll try to hit some of the points. This might be a little long for most of you who just want to read about the wedding, but I wanted to give other AF brides some more info of how things went down. 

 

In a few words, our week was amazing!! Our guests had so much fun, we had so much fun, everything turned out the way we planned (or better) and even things that I had no control over fell into place and things were just perfect. I have to say I couldn't have done it without our guests, who quickly formed one huge group, they all became friends and were inseparable during the whole week, yes, all 30 of them haha. We all went to eat together, met at the beach or at the pool, and even if we got separated due to different plans, we soon formed the tradition of meeting up at the sky bar every night where we danced and drank until they kicked us out haha. We were one rowdy crowd, a bunch of party animals really, and I loved it haha. 

 

A special shout out to the resort staff as well, I am beyond amazed at how they make everything seem to seamless and perfect. They were on top of things, they were super nice, etc. I'll get into it all later. Ladies, those of you getting married at AF, you absolutely have nothing to worry or stress out about, words just can't describe how awesome these people are at their job. 

 

Arrival and check in: 

Our arrival to the airport was a bit of a gong show. We had a lot of suitcases, plus the dress and suit to take care of. On the flight, they didn't give us the green custom form, and of course when you're dealing with so many people, so many suitcases, it just makes everything a lot harder when you have to fill it out once you get to the airport. I had Juan's passport, but because we don't live together, we had to go through customs separately and fill a separate form. I got separated from my family (which should have been one form), so we made customs really clumsy haha, the guys there were not impressed with us . Of course, both Juan and I got the dumb red button so all our suitcases had to be opened and inspected. They just asked why we were bringing so much stuff and I told them that because I was getting married, I think the dress might have given it away haha. Also, I brought some cookies for favours, there were 35 of them, sealed and packaged, but they asked what they were and they opened the boxes. I thought they'd confiscate them but luckily they didn't . I think the fact that they were sealed made it easier for them to accept them coming in. Then we were off to the resort

 

I know a lot of brides have said that check in was cumbersome, but I had the opposite experience. I had warned my guests to expect delays, but most of us were out of there in about 30 min. Just make sure everyone has their passport and confirmation for their trips with them. This makes things a lot easier for them to check you in, Only two couples didn't get the room they had paid for, and had to wait from 5 until 8 to get their room but they were happy that the hotel accommodated them. You can also leave your luggage with them and hit the gin bar (which is connected to the lobby) until your room is available. 

 

The room:

When Juan and I arrived to our room we were wowed. This is definitely the nicest hotel we had ever been at. We got upgraded to a one bedroom sky suite, with a private terrace, and everything was just beautiful. We were in villa 1, the closest one to the lobby, gin bar, gym, and some of the restaurants. Also the furthest one from the beach. The walk to the beach was 5 minutes, if that, so definitely not that far. I was very concerned about the rooms being far away from the beach but luckily it wasn't an issue, it's quite close. I had read some reviews of people complaining that no one picked them up with a golf cart to come back from the beach. All I can say is b*** please hahah, it's really not that far. Golf carts are also always available in case you have someone with mobility issues. We even got one one day at 1:30am after they kicked us out of the sky bar because they were closing. 

 

Some of the older rooms seem to be a little more dated. For ours, everything was working and aside from a few minor details it looked in pristine condition. Juan's parents' room had their couch a little more used, it just looked older, but it was still very nice. My parents and brother stayed at the essence section. Their rooms were just lovely. My parents had a one bedroom sky suite as well and it was beautiful. Some of our guests got upgraded for free and I think this made their week . 

 

The beach: 

This was also another concern for me, as some people have said the beach was a bit rocky, plus of course, the seaweed problem. There's two sides to the beach, if you go to the right, it is more rocky, and we didn't really swim there all that much. To the left, there's no rocks.

 

The seaweed was pretty bad on day 1 but got progressively better through our stay and there was pretty much nothing by the time we left. Even when it was bad, it was swimmable, especially on the left, less rocky side of the beach. To give you an idea of the amount of seaweed left on the beach on the worst day, you could step over it with just one step . Then we played at chucking seaweed at each other, it was fun haha. I thought it would be the slimy disgusting kind but it was the rough plant kind, which is not too bad. Also, there's some huge sandbags on both sides of the ocean to help with the current. These were fun because they're so hard to get on but then you can slide or dive off of them. The fishes also eat the seaweed that grows on them, so it was a nice and natural way of luring them in for some great snorkelling. 

 

The food: 

Well, let's just say that it will be very hard to return to any other all inclusive that is not a gourmet inclusive hotel haha. The food was great, even on the two buffets that they have for breakfast or lunch. There's enough selection of different restaurants for you not to get bored in one week. We didn't even have time to eat at all of them. We tried both of the ones that needed reservations, the Thai and Italian and I loved both, some of our guests liked the Thai more, some the Italian, and some neither haha. There's really something for everyone

 

The restaurants were so accommodating of our large group. If we showed up and asked them for 20 tables, they did their best to try and fit as many of us in one table as possible, or adjacent tables. It was easier to get bigger groups together at the restaurants that needed reservations, but even the other ones tried to sit at least 8-10 of us together haha . 

 

The Spa - Hair and makeup trial

On Monday, before our welcome dinner, I went to go get my hair and makeup trial. I got really sick and even though I thought I was doing better by the afternoon, it came back full force as I was getting my hair done so I had to postpone my makeup to the next day. The trial went really well despite the fact that I was so out of it haha. I worked with Andrea and she was so nice. After being done, she took a few pictures and then I told her the kind of changes I wanted to do. 

 

For the makeup, again I gave Andrea an idea of what I wanted and she went ahead and recreated it . I thought she had used too much bronzer when I first saw my face so I asked her if we could use more of a pink blush for the wedding, since that's what I usually wear. At the end of the night the makeup from the trial looked great and even loved the bronzer, but I still decided to go more with a pink blush for the wedding. It was funny, I got to my room and was getting ready to shower, when Juan and his best man walk in, and they both go "wow Sofia! You look like a model!" hahah. At that point I was like, goal achieved . I decided to keep the makeup on for the rest of the night. By the way, I got airbrush makeup. and if you have the chance, get it. This thing lasts through the night, and it doesn't look or feel like it's caked on. 

 

The welcome dinner: 

We had our welcome dinner at Flavours on Monday. I was feeling kind of sick but even though I felt like i would have to excuse myself after about 20 minutes, I was able to pull through and stay the whole night. We chose the meal with the beef medallions and OMG, that food was delicious. Everyone loved it.

 

Just as quickly as my sickness came, it left. I felt much better after dinner, and a couple of Imodium haha, and we made it to the sky bar to once again party until we dropped, and they kicked us out again hahah. 

 

It's kind of late, so I'll leave the main event for tomorrow. But I'll leave you with a few pictures from our adventures:

 

[snswedding2016]

@@TinkerSofi this mini review makes me so so happy!! It sounds like you had an amazing week!!! I'm sorry to hear that you got sick but it sounds like it didn't put a damper on your week one bit. Everything looks amazing and I cannot wait until the BDR next month and the wedding of course in Jan!!! 

 

Your hair and make up look amazing!!! Was the airbrush make up included as part of the GIWC perk or did you have to pay extra for it?

 

Congrats on being a MRS!!

[maybeoneday]

Aww I love your review! Everything sounds soo amazing. Your hair and makeup was beautiful xx Congratulations again xx

 

Maybeoneday

14 /10/2015 - R R C, Mexico

[acw271011]

Eeeeee welcome back Mrs!! And congrats!!!! Love the review so far! Sorry to hear you were sick - that always ruins a holiday but thankfully it didn't last long and didn't ruin your wedding. Good news! You looked absolutely gorgeous!!!! It looks like all went well. Thanks for the photos. It really looks like everyone was having a great time!! Can't wait to read more and waiting for wedding pics!!!

[diadiamond]

@@TinkerSofi Welcome back!!! Congrats hun!!! Your no longer a bride, you're a wife and that's exciting!!!  Thank you for taking the time out to do that post!  You're such a sweetheart.  I'm sorry that you got sick while you were there.  I'm glad that you felt better quickly though.  I LOVE you hair from the hair trial and your make up looked amazing too.  You have such pretty eyes.  Your pictures all look amazing and it sounds like you had a blast!

 

I can't wait to hear and see more of the wedding day.

 

I saw your video on Ustream and you looked absolutely stunning.  The look on Juan's face when he saw you walk down the aisle made me cry.  Everything looked perfect.

[Wafflesmom]

Congratulations and welcome back! I'm so glad to hear everything turned out well and better than expected. You all look like you had a great time. The resort did a fabulous job on your hair and makeup, you did look like a model

 

Can't wait to see more photos, especially of your wedding day!