Snswedding2016 Planning Thread - Jan 9 2016 (Azul Fives)

[acw271011]

Looks great! Glad it's working out so well! Can't wait to hear about it!

[snswedding2016]

So I'm very behind on updating my thread. I went from not having much to update to have tons to say after going to the Brides Dress Rehearsal at Azul Fives. 

 

BDR Update

 

To recap the rest of our visit...it was amazing!! It put my mind at ease knowing that our guests will be so happy at this beautiful resort. The food was amazing, I had a feeling it would be good from everyone's reviews but it really exceeding all of our expectations. We really love good food and Sean's brother is the head of the culinary institute and I'm confident he will be happy with the food, which is such a relief! The resort was very quiet, it wasn't full by any means but there were definitely still people there. That just meant it was easy to get into any restaurant you wanted on any night. 

 

Our favourite restaurant: Koh Thai - the food was so so good and we had the best dessert here too (Tapioca - we didn't have high expectations but it was outstanding)

 

 

Our favourite bar: 1910 Mexican Cantina - ask for Danni, he's the best! We loved the vibe in here and the tequila and mescal cocktails were awesome! It's just too bad they close early (11pm). In my opinion they should switch the hours of the Gin Bar and the Cantina. The Gin Bar was always pretty empty and the Cantina was always full. 

 

 

Room service was great as well. It was very fast because there were so few people at the resort. It is definitely a nice option not to have to leave the room if you want some food and I've been to a couple of resorts where this is extra so it's a nice perk. 

 

 

We were upgraded to the 1 bedroom sky suite, which was gorgeous. We had more space than we knew what to do with. The rooftop deck is huge, with a bathroom, an eating area, a sitting area, a bed and a jacuzzi. We want to host something up there for the wedding but it's just a matter of getting drinks up there. We might consider running into playa to pick up some booze. The thing with room service is that you can order them by individual drinks but as soon as you start ordering bottles, they charge you extra. We were in Villa 8 and I really liked it because it felt pretty much in the middle between the front of the resort (with a lot of restaurants, bars and the lobby) and the beach/infinity pool area. 

 

The grounds were beautiful and filled with spider monkeys in the trees and iguanas roaming the grass! Sean almost stepped on one by accident! lol! 

 

 

Despite the resort being pretty empty, Sean and I still had a great time dancing at the bar/lounge. This is how we started our relationship so we love going dancing when we can!

 

 

 

The brides dress rehearsal event was also really good. We did a site visit of Azul Fives the day before to see all the venues and all the rooms but the event the next day was what was really helpful. We were able to talk to people from Lomas (the only vendor for AF), do some food and cake tasting and see the table settings and all of the options.

 

 

 

I brought some of my centrepiece decor with me (just enough for one table) and I was able to sneak it on the basic table set up there to see if it all works. 

 

 

 

 

We decided we're going to add a little height to it and get some small pedestals for the medium size candles. I also forgot to bring the scrabble tile holder from our hotel room so that's missing in the photo as well. We now have two floral arrangements for the ceremony and I think I might break them up and split them up amongst our 6 tables. 

 

We also requested a menu tasting and everything was delicious except for the dessert. The chocolate mousse wasn't bad but it just didn't blow us away like some of the other desserts we've had. We're probably going to substitute it for the creme brûlée only as we were supposed to have both options initially. We also decided on a signature cocktail - Tequila Party (I'm pretty sure the head of food and beverage just made that name up on the spot - lol! Whatever we like it!). It's basically an amaretto sour with tequila, very tasty. We wanted something that had a bit of local connection. 

 

Beef Carpaccio with Parmesan foam

 

 

Pork Rib Eye with sweet potato puree and cactus 

 

Chocolate Mousse

 

Overall I'm so happy we decided to do the BDR it was the best $400 we've spent! It was great to get questions answered and also to have a little getaway. I'm also happy we decided to do it late in the planning process. Initially I was disappointed we weren't able to go earlier but waiting this long helped me feel better prepared for all the info. I felt like we were just adjusting our choices instead of feeling like we had to make all of them on the spot.

Planning Updates: 

 

I went to the new Michaels that just opened downtown on Saturday and spent 3 hours wandering up and down the aisles. They had some dark blue chalkboards 60% off!! I picked up a bunch including two little hanging ones that I will use for the Mr. & Mrs. signs (or whatever we decide on writing. We're still undecided right now.)

 

 

I also found the same stamps that @@Meandhim has and also used them on my Welcome bag tags (I hope you don't mind - yours look way nicer than mine though! I'm more about the ideas than the actual execution of it - haha!) I was stuck downtown after shopping as we had an event to go to that night so I went to starbucks and set up shop. I wish I had a photo of me surrounded by all of my stamps and tags!!  Like I said, I'm not so crafty but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out and very happy to have one more thing off the list. I found some nice light blue tags but they didn't go with my bags so I just went with white and dark blue ink. 

 

 

 

I got some additional decor - light blue doilies for simple coasters and a light blue canvas banner to hang in front of our sweetheart table. 

 

 

I really liked these letters I found, especially because they are free standing. I wanted to make sure Sean liked them before I bought them. He does! I'm going to go get them sometime this week. I think I'm going to cover them with book pages to continue with our love story theme. 

 

By far my biggest accomplishment this weekend was working on a scale drawing of our reception location. Sean's been using Google Sketch Up for years for his renovations. It is a 3D sketch program that allows you to design in detail. His main task in Mexico was to get accurate measurements of the garden location so that I could put this together. He worked on the ground plan of the garden and I added in all the tables, trees and lights. I almost put in chairs for every table but Sean stopped me and told me I was crazy...lol! He was right...because the drawing as it is took me all night but I'm very happy with the results. It's so nice to be able to see how it will work spatially. All the measurements are pretty much exact including the height of the gazebo and trees (Sean brought his laser measurer to Mexico). I'm still playing around with it but this will be the basic set up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2015 by snswedding2016

[maybeoneday]

You two look so cute together! I am so glad your BDR went well. Everything you have done looks great. You guys are so talented with the 3d model....wow! Everything looks amazing! X

 

Maybeoneday

14 /10/2015 - R R C, Mexico

[calgarybride2015]

I'm glad you had a great time and could firm up your decisions and tweak some things. Sounds and looks like a gorgeous place

 

Love all your little finds. The tags look great! At one point I considered making my own banner and never found something like that at michaels so score!!! Awesome job.

 

I love the idea of the letters in the newspaper. Will carry the theme as you said but will also just look fantastic. Great idea.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Wafflesmom]

I'm so glad to hear your BDR was a success and that you and Sean had a great time. Like @ I'm sitting here at my desk drooling from your food pics. They look so delicious. And that's great that you were able to test out how your centerpieces will look on the tables.

[snswedding2016]

Thanks ladies! I wish we were still there right now...at least we only have 3 months left to go! It's super exciting and so terrifying at the same time. The time crunch is on! 

 

@ I'm going to PM you soon about the chalkboard stuff . I'm waiting on one of our menu changes to be confirmed but maybe I'll email you with what I have now. Also you should totally make a trip to the downtown Michaels - it is HUGE (3 floors!!). It's a little dangerous that it's a short streetcar ride away from my office. 

 

@@maybeoneday thanks!! The 3D drawing took a while but its giving me a lot of peace of mind to see how it is going to look. I realized today I forgot to add a table for the DJ area and our vendor table. (Your day is right around the corner!!! You must be so excited!!)

 

This is what it looks like now...

 

 

@@calgarybride2015 I know what you mean, I was on the fence about a banner. Until the weekend I hadn't found one that I liked, but this one was nice and simple made with nice fabric and in our colour! 

 

I also forgot in my update that at the BDR I tested out doing a video chat through the hotel's wifi and it worked really well!! I wasn't at the actual ceremony venue as there was a cocktail party happening that day but I was further out on the beach and the connection was really good. The Sky Deck includes a streaming video with the cost of using that venue but the Sky Terrace where we're getting married doesn't. We have a bunch of guests that can't make it that I would love for them to be able to at least see the wedding. I'm not sure if any of you ladies are familiar with Zoom. It is a great app that allows you to chat like Skype or FaceTime but you can have multiple people on one call. You can also share your computer screen so it's great for things like big business presentations etc. I think you can have something like up to 100 people on one call so this will work perfectly. It's also nice because our guests will be able to see the wedding but also they will be able to see everyone else's reactions. All they have to do is download the app (for free) and I will send out a link the week before we leave and they'll just have to click on the link the day of at the time of ceremony. I'm super excited about this! I was worried the wifi wouldn't be strong enough. Azul Fives offers basic and premium wifi (the premium costs extra) but we were on the basic one and it worked really well. I "zoomed" with my friend while I was laying on the beach...she was pretty jealous! 

Edited October 6, 2015 by snswedding2016

[Meandhim]

@@snswedding2016

 

You guys are so cute! I love the tags!...I don't mind one little bit! I've stolen so many ideas now it's hard to keep up! I might steal your coaster idea too!lol!

 

I love the Sketch up Design! Good Job! I work with Sketch Up all the time at work....loves it! I wish I could of done a site visit like that! I have just a little over six weeks and I'm starting to freak out...I think a visit would of calmed my nerves!

 

I saw those Chalkboards on Friday when I was there...for 2 hours! Love that new Dt Micheals!! The most selection of any of the Micheals I've been to!

[snswedding2016]

@@Meandhim Seeing the resort definitely helped calm my nerves but you are so close to being there. Everything you've done looks amazing and it will all fall into place!! You are going to have a great day and week!!

 

That's so cool you use Sketch Up at work....Sean had to give me a crash course because he's usually the one working with it. He did the floorplan of the garden and I added in all the details. He had to deal with me constantly asking "umm...now how do you import trees?" or "ok but how do I make this line that's supposed to be our string lights floating in the trees?" haha he was pretty patient with me.

[Meandhim]

@@snswedding2016

 

I LOVE Sketchup!! I'm using it right now! I make models for clients that have a hard time picturing plans....its like a 3D doll house with furniture and everything!!

[snswedding2016]

@@Meandhim That's awesome!! I had this moment when I finished where I thought my drafting professor in University would have been so proud of me.