Local Parties

We've got the invitations out, and I thought this would be a good time to let visitors know that we'll be having a few open house type receptions (read: casual, laid back) in our hometowns when we return from Mexico. We're still working out the specifics on when those will be, and we'll send out save the date cards as soon as we have it pinned down.

We know that with a destination wedding, not everybody will be able to attend. We still want to celebrate with those friends and family members who won't be able to make it for the actual wedding. So, if you're reading this and are worried about not being able to celebrate with us, don't worry!

Invitations Going Out

As previously posted, we received the invitations late last week. They look great. Last night, we put them together while watching Heroes, and got them pretty much done. I have to hunt down another address or two, but the remainder are going in the mail today! Hopefully we get lots of replies fairly quickly!

More Stuff to Do Near Barcelo Maya

In an earlier post I started listing out other activities that visitors to the Barcelo Maya resort can partake in. This another post with more ideas, if you want to get away from the resort for the day.

Another tourist attraction are the ancient Mayan ruins that are practically littered across the Yucatan peninsula. Only 20-30 minutes away are the ruins of Tulum or if you are feeling a little more adventurous you can check out the major ancient city of Chichen Itza.

Tulum

Chichen Itza

Both are uncovered lost cities built by the Mayans thousands of years ago and are a site to see. Chichen Itza is quite a bit further away from the resort and will take most of the day to travel to and from and explore, but my parents have been there and thought it was awesome. So if you are a history buff like me it may be worth seeing. Otherwise, if you are just mildly curious but don't want to burn a whole day doing it then Tulum may be more your style. The resort has charter buses that travel to both locations.

As always you can swing by the activities desk a the Barcelo hotel lobby to book one of these things to do or you can always check with your travel booking group and book ahead of time. I would recommend waiting to get down there to decide what day you want to sign up for so you can see what the weather will be like.

Invitations are Here!

We'll try to get them out in the next week or so. Things are quite busy, but all we really have to do is address them. We found a designer through etsy.com and she did a lovely job. She was very communicative and flexible. She did the work quickly and beautifully and we'd certainly recommend her highly!

Her website is here: www.thestylishscribe.blogspot.com
Her etsy site is here: chprfan.etsy.com

Tips For Booking Your Travel

We're awaiting the invitations, which will hopefully go out sometime next week. (Fast, I know!) Heath and I have our trip booked, and some family members have started looking into the process as well.

Booking travel these days is very often a DIY venture. When Heath and I travel, we typically go online and find the best deal ourselves. For the destination wedding, we opted to get in touch with a real-live travel agent to help manage the process for us and our guests. The deals she presented to us were better than anything we could find online at the time, so we decided to go ahead and book through her.

That being said, prices change and there are countless websites that allow you to search for and put together travel packages on your own. At times, the prices will be lower than the prices we put out there through our agent, Suzanne. A couple of thoughts on this. Most of it is common sense, but we want our guests to have a good experience and be aware of some of these things.

• Be mindful of whether you are seeing a direct flight or a flight with connections. When we traveled to Mexico last year, we had a connection between different airlines in Mexico City. While this was manageable, it was confusing and stressful. We ended up burning pretty much an entire day in the airports, and didn't arrive to the resort until dark.
• Also, ensure that the prices you are being quoted include taxes, fees, and transfers. Those things can add up in a hurry, so you want to be sure that you are looking at an actual price before making your decision.
• If you do find a seemingly better deal, feel free to email it over to our travel agent to see if she can match it. If she can, you may have the option of avoiding paying in full up front. Additionally, if she is able to work her connections to get a group upgrade in rooms, you would get to be in on that as well.
• Please make sure make sure make sure that it is the right resort and the right dates!

That being said, only you know what things are high priority to you. If it is worth spending more time in the airport and dealing with a transfer to save X amount of dollars, that is totally fine. We just want our guests to have a great time and have a lot of fun down there with us - the details of how you want to get there are up to you.

You certainly don't have to book through our travel agent, but if possible, as a courtesy, it would be nice to give her the opportunity to match the prices you find online. She has given us a lot of her time and help already, so I'd like to keep her in mind. If she cannot match the price, then I certainly can't begrudge you for booking on your own.

Thanks!

Note: This post will be accessible via a link in the Travel Information Section

Wedding Attire

I'm doing some preliminary dress shopping this weekend, so we'll see how that goes. I also updated the wedding details page with some thoughts on attire, which are also posted here:

Attire is beach dressy (a term I made up). We want people to be cool and comfortable, but not totally beach bummy. Ladies, a cute sundress or something like that is fine with sandals or flipflops (the bride and groom may both be barefoot). Guys, we'd like some form of sleeves (short is fine), so a polo or button down with khakis would probably be your best bet.

Learn the Language

If you have some spare time and are interested in picking up a little Spanish, the BBC offers some free online lessons. Pretty much everybody speaks English at the resort, but it might be fun to learn a bit or brush up on some rusty skills.

BBC - Languages - Spanish