Someone - Anyone - PLEASE HELP!

[jenniferdecan]

Hi everyone! I recently got engaged! Yay!

I have always known that I would get married on a beach And now that I finally got the fiance I don't know how to get the ball rolling!

I heard great things about the Royal Hideaway Playacar on Mexico's Riviera Maya. Has anyone heard of it or been there?

Do we pay for our guests to come? Do we give gifts? I'm so lost! Can anyone help me?

Please, either reply here, or even email me at jenniferlynnmaria@hotmail.com

[BillysBride]

Wow..its too bad this forum isn't more active. I know I LOVE to talk about our wedding plans and get questions out there, but no one seems to check in daily. I will though.

Hmm. Haven't heard anything specifically about weddings at the Royal Hideaway. I've heard of the resort though since I've been doing research for my stuff. The best resource out there is Tripadvisore as far as I'm concerned. You can read the reviews, even check out reviews from other couples who may have had their ceremony there. This way, you aren't getting the hotel jargon and spin. You're getting honest opinions from people who have been there and paid their hard earned money for it.

Other than that, Ive found that just plain old doing a web search on like "weddings at Royal Hideaway" or something. You'll be suprised what pops up.

Good luck!

[janeen78]

You should go to topweddingquestions.com. This is a really good site to get information. Destination etiquette says you are supposed to pay for lodging for attendants. As far as gifts, I am doing a welcome bag. I went to the dollar store and got sun block, lip balm, beach ball, aloe and a float. I found these totes for .79 each. You can also do a donation instead of a gift and just have a sign stating so. If you have guests spending money to be there you will want to say thank you somehow. Hope this helps.

[bajanbride]

When my friends were married in Cuba three years ago, the bride gave all her female friends a little necklace with a unique pendant (one got a turtle, I got a whale, someone else got a dolphin). The groom bought each of his friends a nice Cuban cigar.

I've been planning on doing something similar for our wedding in February, even though we have twice as many people coming.

The thing to remember is - you are not having a traditional wedding, so traditional "rules" don't have to apply. You have fewer people attending than you would for a traditional church wedding, so you can make your gifts more personalized to the individuals.

You are also not required to pay for anyone's trip!! A destination wedding is an opportunity for people to have a vacation - one that they might normally take anyway. The bonus this time is that they can also be at your wedding. When you decide to have a destination wedding you are basically eloping and inviting people along. You have to be prepared for some people to not come because they can't afford the trip, might not be able to get the time off work, or because they might just not want to go.

I would give your friends and family as much notice as possible about your wedding - you don't need to tell them where it will be yet, or how much it will cost - so they have lots of time to think about joining you and start saving up for the trip. My friends gave people three weeks' notice to put down a deposit and we went away 4 months later. They had 13 people go with them and the bride's parents didn't come. We told everyone almost two years ago and have over 30 people coming with us. You can share details as they happen, but giving your family and friends lots of warning is the best way to go. We even ball-parked the amount for them and said we wouldn't go over $2000 for the week, so people had an idea of how much to save.

Good luck with your planning, and if you have any questions, let me know!
Nikki

[happy2b]

I'm replying to the posting about Where to plan your destination wedding. AT first we were just going to go to one of the advertised places but my fiance is suggesting we do it like the rebels we really are. It makes it harder and we will probably take a premliminary trip. WE just don't want to get stuck at a stuffy hotel and be in a wedding line after the couple before us.
We have a yeaer and are still all over the place with our ideas.
Curacao...venezuela...cuba.....
Our wedding photographer, Sherrlyn Borkgren is willing to go to just about anyplace since we already put our retainer down Hopefully our guests will be willing to travel to someplace weird too. WE have guests wanting to attend from all over the globe. My finace has friends from London coming!!!!!!
so excited!!!!!!

[jillyabbott]

Hi Jennifer,
I don't know anything about the weddings at the Royal Hideaway, but my sister-in-law honeymooned there in April and absolutely LOVED it. She has raved about the service, the upgrades (because they were on their honeymoon) and the beauty of the place. It sounds awesome-- she can't say enough good things about it. I would consider it for my own DW, but I think I remember reading that it's adults only, and I have a lot of kids that would be coming.