Yycbride2016 Grand Sirenis Planning Thread February 2016

[bride2016]

Love love love your review!!!

 

I am totally a makeup snob now too so I 100% get it. I became a VIB Rouge again at Sephora before the wedding.. that's how I knew I bought enough wedding makeup haha. Definitely agree with all of the makeup tips. I use smashbox photo finish primer and I love it. My fave makeup setting spray is definitely Mist & Fix by Makeup forever, but I also have the urban decay one. Laura Mercier translucent powder is an absolute MUST! I even put it on Chester in between the ceremony and Reception so that he wasn't shiney for the photos hahaha.

 

I'm really glad that everything went well. From what I can see it looks like it was an amazing day!!  

I'm also really happy that Lancelotti worked out for you. We had a great experience with him and just overall I found him very genuine and very generous. He stayed for at least an additional hour for us.. it may have even been a bit longer. I had to tell him to leave because I felt like I was taking advantage of him.

 

I can't wait to see your professionals and your video!!

[vancouverpetunia]

@@yycbride2016 Thank you so much for your review and sharing your experience with us. I'm so glad you had such a wonderful wedding and stay at your resort. And you looked so beautiful and happy 

 

Thanks for the tips with Transat. We are flying with them in less than 3 weeks. Do you know what the difference is between the Option Plus and the Cloud Nine packages? I'm not sure which one we have...

 

I had to laugh at the iguana stealing your appetizers. I've never seen one move off the hot cement before! I bet your "lemurs" are coatis. They are so cute (although I don't want to get too close!). This guy?

 

 

Did you find that the shellac pedicure lasted better than a regular pedicure? I can usually get a regular pedicure to last up to 5 weeks (not on the beach, though), so I was just planning to get a regular one and a shellac manicure. Your make-up process is so detailed and I'm sure will be appreciated by many brides. However, I'm not a DIY make-up kinda gal, so I will definitely be having mine done at the resort spa. With that in mind, do you have any suggestions of extras that I should bring for them to use on me? It sounds like primers & setting powders/sprays might be a good idea. I never use these normally and know nothing about them. Would love any suggestions you have! BTW your make-up was amazing. I'm so glad you did it yourself 

 

 

 

[deecol]

@@yycbride2016 I had to come back 3 times to read through and make sure I didn't miss anything.  I'm so happy your day was as perfect as it looked.  Although I'm not getting married at your resort, you definitely gave me some good tips!  (Especially the makeup, I'm getting @ to take me! lol)

 

I was going to the do the same for nails as @@vancouverpetunia but now I may rethink because of your review.

 

Thanks so much for sharing and giving a such a detailed review.  Congrats on becoming Mr & Mrs!!!

Edited March 15, 2016 by deecol

[calgarybride2015]

@@vancouverpetunia

 

As a girl who won't live a day without a pedicure, my opinion would be get a shellac pedicure. The sand and such will eat regular polish right off. First trip to Mexico I was flabbergasted and ever since get shellac for trips!

 

 

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[krystalball]

@yycbride2016 Thank you so much for your detailed review. So happy that your stay at the resort and wedding went so well for you - it's making me so excited for my wedding!!!

 

One thing to note for other Air Transat brides: the 1 hour of free wifi and free safe at the resort doesn't apply if you're travelling with Nolitours (which is Air Transat's "budget" travel vendor). As far as I understand, everything else is the same - you just don't get those perks. Huge bummer for us as we didn't clue in to the fact that it would be different at all when we did the group booking.

 

I'm so excited that you and Kim had Aranza and loved her because she is my WC too! Can't wait to meet her in person and will have no stresses based on how well she executed the weddings for you two   

 

So for the spa, did the woman who did your hair speak much english? I want a curly up-do but my hair is naturally curly so I will come in with it curly and they just need to pin it in place. Most hair people usually want to straighten it, then curl it and I need to be able to explain what to do (or bring my MIL who speaks decent spanish to translate for me).

 

For the makeup, I was planning to have them do mine at the spa as well. Can you pinpoint what it was about the makeup they were doing that turned you off? I'm going to bring down my stash to Mexico so I can always fine-tune their work if need be, but if I can steer them away from doing it wrong / differently then that will save me some hassle (i.e. was the makeup too heavy, or too dark, etc).

 

Oh, and recommendation for your favourite eyeliner and waterproof mascara? @ ? I'm not in love with mine and they are starting to run out so might as well upgrade while shopping 

 

So glad to hear that you weren't overly hot in your dress, because you looked fabulous in it and didn't have to take it off. I'm bringing a reception dress just in case, but hoping not to use it. Your jewellery looked so good with the dress too!

 

I loved your setup for the ceremony, simple yet beautiful. And all the flowers were gorgeous too. I was wondering how well they could make changes to the bouquets shown in the packages so great to hear they are flexible since your end result looked perfect.

 

What a funny story with the iguana at your cocktail hour - he wanted to join in on the fun too! Did you rent any furniture for that portion of the day? I know Kim has said it would be needed for people to have a place to rest while waiting and we will have 45 ppl (including 8 kids) so I'm thinking we will do that.

 

Glad to hear the DJ did a great job! Did you give him a large list of songs to play or just some favourites and he filled in the rest with his own picks and guest requests? Hoping the latter as I haven't even picked out any of our dance / ceremony songs yet, let alone other music, lol.

 

Seriously, everything about your stay at the resort and the wedding day looks like it went reasonably smooth, very few hiccups and the whole thing was beautiful. Looking forward to seeing the professional shots once they come in, but even with just the guest pictures my mind is completely at ease 

[yycbride2016]

@@calgarybride2015 thanks! Aranza really is great, I agree! I'm glad I wasn't the only one that had an issue with the golf cart. I never used it after that haha. I have no idea who the girl was but she was the only girl working in a Tuesday.

We had champagne I believe for our cocktail hour. Not sure if anyone got any other drinks as we were focused on photos haha.

So funny someone else had the iguana issue haha.

 

@ashtayy thanks! After reading Kim's review it convinced us to book this resort so I wanted to be able to do the same for future brides. And yes it is still really weird to call Kyle my husband now. In my mind he's still just my fiancé haha.

 

@@WPGBride17 I'm so glad you were able to take something away from my thread. Everyone loved all my decorations so it was a good feeling knowing all those hours put into them were worth it.

 

@ thanks girl! Haha yeah it's funny how we get like that with makeup! Agreed Juan Carlos is such a genuine person. He was so kind and generous. He kept telling my mum that I was so photogenic haha. But I'm sure all brides are!

 

@@vancouverpetunia it really was an amazing day. Glad you enjoyed the read For Transat I think it's just not exclusive to wedding couples any more. There is no on board announcement or guaranteed spot for the dress so make sure you board with priority boarding. And yes that was one of the animals. There is another one that looks like an overgrown Guinea pig haha. The shellac pedicure is the way to go. As Kim said, the sand can wear away the regular polish but my toes are still lookin good weeks later! As for makeup, I would suggest bringing primers and setting sprays and powders. Also, eye primer is a must in my opinion. I brought them to the spa and she used them on my mum and sister no problem.

 

@@deecol yeah, sorry it became a mini novel hahaha.

 

@@krystalball I'm so glad you found the review helpful. You should be so excited for your wedding. It will really be an amazing day! I'm glad you got Aranza, she will do an amazing job for you!

 

As for the spa, she understood what I wanted for sure. She was very quiet and didn't say much. I brought photos and she went off of that. If you MIL speaks Spanish though that might be a huge help. There wasn't anything wrong with the makeup they did it just wasn't the way I do it. They didn't contour which has been a huge thing for me that I can't live without. I'm sure if you asked they would do it though. I would definitely bring primers (face and eye),setting powder and setting spray with you! Also for me I have expensive silk and milk lashes and they were putting mascara on the lashes on my mum so I didn't want that either because it would ruin them. As for waterproof I used Maybeline gel liner and collosal pumped up mascara both waterproof and had no issues. I'm sure there are nicer out there tho, but my false lashes give me the desired look I wanted.

 

We didn't rent furniture. We were only 23 people and most people were up taking photos of the photo session haha. Also the chairs from the ceremony were there for most of the cocktail hour. So people sat there. No one complained. More people and kids might require furniture though.

 

The dj: the resort will send you a sheet that is a playlist sheet. You will need to fill it out with as many songs as really the page allows. We just sat on Spotify looking through our favorites and added them. It took maybe an hour or so with both of us making the playlist. He added in extra songs and took requests too.

 

 

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[deecol]

@@yycbride2016 Don't apologize!  I loved your review!  So detailed and informative 

[bride2016]

haha yes! I found him very complimentary as well. He would always make comments like that and it was nice and comforting.

[yycbride2016]

Our professional photos are in and they are amazing! We couldn't be happier with them. I highly recommend Lancelotti for anyone still searching for their photographers, he's truly amazing!

 

 

 

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I will post some more of the table set ups later and decor that he caught on camera. I will also find a way to post our video to you guys!

 

 

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[WPGBride17]

Absolutely beautiful!

 

 

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