1st Anniversary Wishes!

This is a wonderful weekend and a milestone. We are sending out our sincerest Congratulations and Best Wishes to our 1st Anniversary couples that celebrated their weddings with us a year ago at Las Caletas.

We know it was an unusually wacky weather week due to Mother Nature not exactly cooperating, but in the end, everything went off without a hitch.  We hope that for the rest of your lives, that this was the only storm you will have ever have to weather together! Happy Anniversary!

•    Ilona & Mark celebrate their 1st anniversary on October 9th – they enjoyed a beautiful sail with their closest family and friends last year. Here are a few of their photos. Our favorite is this stunning photo of Ilona as she walks down the aisle – she looks so overjoyed!

Ilona & Mark’s Slideshow

•    Yari & Brian celebrate their 1st anniversary on the 10th of October – they had a larger wedding with all of their family and friends joining them in Puerto Vallarta. Although it was a stormy weekend and lots of hurdles had to be jumped, the event was beautiful and they all danced the night away under the stars. Their amazing photographer Michael Wachaniak captured the stormy setting perfectly. Yari & Brian are also new parents this anniversary!! Congratulations!

Yari and Brian’s Slideshow

•   Jessica & Mitch will be celebrating their 1st anniversary on October 11th. They had a very intimate group of only parents and close family friends. Originally they were planned for a sail around the Bay but circumstances changed, instead they headed out to Caletas  on our Scuba boat and arrived at Las Caletas in style! Later, they had a private ceremony on the beach terrace overlooking the stunning Bay.
Jessica and Mitch’s Slideshow
•    Amy & Quentin will also be celebrating their 1st anniversary on October 12th. They had a very challenging experience down here – in fact a hurricane arrived the morning of their wedding – Hurricane Ollie. Despite all of this, they worked closely with the Adventure Weddings team for Plan B and Plan C. In the end, their wedding took place on the beach they always planned on and their stunning photographer Elizabeth Lloyd captured the moments perfectly. Congratulations Amy & Quentin!!
Amy and Quentin’s Slideshow

Belated Celebration
Happy belated anniversary to Amanda & Matt! They celebrated their 1st anniversary on  October 6th. They also had a small group of 8 guests that joined them on the Rhythms of the Night tour – they had a seaside ceremony and a dance party afterwards. Their “first dance” on the boat ride home is one of our favorite photos.  We missed your big day but we were thinking about you guys – hope you are enjoying you fabulous lives together.

Amanda & Matt’s Slideshow

Again, congratulations and we wish you all many more anniversaries and a lifetime of happiness together!

Posted in Uncategorized : Anniversary beach wedding civil wedding Mexico destination wedding first wedding Las Caletas Mexico Puerto Vallarta rainy weather tropical wedding cake wedding coordinator wedding dress wedding planner | leave a comment

Featured Bride and Destination Wedding Specialist: Tammy Prost

Tammy Prost is one of our recent “Brides” at Las Caletas and she had an interesting story behind why she chose to renew her vows there. We thought it was pretty cool  and we wanted to share her story with you.

“As a destination wedding specialist, I was asked by our close friends to help plan their travel and destination wedding to Puerto Vallarta. Since this was my first time to Puerto Vallarta, I had to do some research myself to find out more information on the area and what tours and excursion we could do.” explained Tammy.

“I stumbled across the Vallarta Adventures website and found  that they offered every type of tour and excursion you could possibly imagine from Canopy tours, scuba diving to the super romantic Rhythms of the Nights. As I was perusing their website, I found Read more »

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Featured Couple: Nichole and Kevin

Kevin and Nichole (Norby) Richter
June 17th, 2008

Where/how did you meet?

We met in kindergarten. I was in love with Kevin at first sight!  I ended up moving away after second grade and we did not see each other until Christmas 2007… and the rest is history!

Tell us about the proposal…

We were sitting at home one night and after discussions (lots!) about getting married and wanting to take a trip, Kevin asked me!  After a few tears we started researching but I knew I wanted the beach and Mexico.

How did you discover Las Caletas and what made you chose it for your destination wedding?

After searching the internet for “destination weddings”, “Mexico” and my favorite spot; “Puerto Vallarta”, we found Adventure Weddings and started to talk to Kelley.

Who was your event coordinator?

Kelley Kahrhoff, and she was simply AMAZING! She handled everything, answered every question with details.

Was planning your destination wedding at Las Caletas stress-free?

ABSOLUTELY!!!!  Details from the boat to the flowers, music and pictures were all taken care of.  We were able to just enjoy the day and night and focus on each other!

Was there any requirements out of the ordinary you had to have to make your wedding day complete?

Sit back and relax!  (Enjoy a few beers and tequilas!)

What was the highlight of your wedding?

The scenery!  Our pictures say it all, but it was unbelievably breathtaking. Not having a million people around was a plus, so much easier to enjoy our day and each other.

How did you spend your time on Las Caletas before your event? Had a cocktail, roamed Las Caletas  to look around and we took a lot of pictures!

What was your guest’s reaction to your celebration?

We didn’t have any!  Just Kevin, I, Kelley and Brad.

Would you come back 25 years from now to Las Caletas and do it all over again?

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Any tips or pointers for future brides coming to Las Caletas for their destination wedding?  Don’t worry about a thing, your planner will take care of everything!  Well worth every penny!

Favorite meal in Puerto Vallarta?

Wedding night dinner at Las Caletas!  We enjoyed a variety of different foods and Kevin LOVED the Mahi-Mahi and has not stopped talking about it since.  He can’t find any nearly as good and our wedding was awesome, plus the fresh pineapple was amazing.

Favorite Tropical Drink?

I love the Banana Mama and Kevin’s favorite is Negro Modelo beer.

Posted in Uncategorized : beach wedding destination wedding Las Caletas Mexico Puerto Vallarta tropical wedding cake wedding coordinator wedding planner | 1 comment

Wedding Flowers in Mexico

“Let’s be flexible on the tulips” I said to a friend who was planning a wedding a few years ago in Cancun, Mexico. “They are not local, not available and if they are available, they will be the most expensive tulips you have ever seen, smelled or touched.”

I don’t think my friend believed me at first when I told her she should skip using tulips as her wedding flowers in Mexico. I know it broke her heart a bit as they have sentimental value to her but in the end, the price quote she received from the hotel’s wedding planner in Cancun shocked her out of sentimentality and into reality.

With that said, when having a destination wedding in the tropics, it is always best to go with what is locally grown, made or cultivated. This advice isn’t necessarily for financial reasons, although that could be a huge factor depending on the item, it has to do with freshness, availability and quality.

What is a normal and reasonably priced flower in the United States or in Canada may be a flower that has to be imported into Mexico thus raising the price of upwards 200-300%. Not to mention, they could be crushed during shipping or half dead before they arrive.

On the other hand, those outrageously expensive tropical orchids, Calla Lilies, Casa Blanca Lilies and Stargazers you rarely splurge on back home are a real bargain south of the border.

When planning a destination wedding on unfamiliar grounds, some great advice is to find out what are the local flowers and what is available during the time you will be married, as not all flowers bloom the entire year. Once you have a good list of flowers in hand and photo ideas, then you should decide on color, arrangement styles and what best fits your personality and budget.

In the end, be creative, be flexible and in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, the only tulips you should focus on are the two lips you will seal with a kiss on your wedding day.

The wedding coordinators at Adventure Weddings are flower aficionados and can guide you and offer sage advice about selecting the best blooms for your destination wedding in Puerto Vallarta. Contact them at events@adventureweddings.com for more information on planning your destination wedding.

Posted in Uncategorized : beach wedding civil wedding Mexico destination wedding Las Caletas Puerto Vallarta tropical wedding wedding coordinator wedding planner | 2 comments

Las Caletas: Destination Wedding Cakes

At Las Caletas, it is possible to have your destination wedding cake and eat it too.

Many brides (grooms too!) do not realize that we have a fantastic pastry chef on-site at Las Caletas and that we can provide many options of cakes for your special day.

While most couples choose a traditional tiered version of vanilla cake and butter cream frosting, adventurous couples ask for one of our regional specialty cakes of dulce de leche (a lushious caramelicious cake) or tres leches (which is cake moistened with three different milks).

For chocolate lovers, our chefs can create a chocolate or a muy (very) mocha cake complete with a chocolate ganache frosting.

If fruit is what you fancy, cakes can also be flavored with a natural fruit filling such as pineapple, strawberry, peach or blackberry, depending on the season and decorated with them as well.

Some cake combinations available are amaretto with pecan, chocolate with raspberry filling, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting or cappuccino cake with Nutella. If none of these strike your fancy or your sweet tooth, our dedicated and creative wedding coordinators will work with you on designing the perfect cake for your wedding and one that fits your budget.

Posted in Uncategorized : beach wedding civil wedding Mexico destination wedding dulce de leche cake Las Caletas pastel Puerto Vallarta tres leches cakes tropical wedding cake wedding coordinator | leave a comment

Great Bridal Expo Los Angeles

If you live in the Los Angeles area and are planning a wedding or honeymoon do not miss the Great Bridal Expo at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

The Expo starts at 12:00 Noon on Sunday, September 13th, and our expert coordinator, Nicole, will be on hand to offer advice and help you plan the most amazing destination wedding.  Stop by our booth, or better yet,  schedule a personal appointment with Nicole by sending her an email.

Normally the Great Bridal Expo ticket prices are $9.00 at the door and $7.00 in advance but if you follow this link or click on the Great Bridal Expo banner below, you will receive two free tickets!

There is no catch, simply fill out the info form and put AWFT in the promo code box and submit the form.

If you are not able to attend this event, Nicole and Kelley will be at the Great Bridal Expo in Denver, CO on the 19th of September.

Sheraton Hotel

Downtown Los Angeles
711 South Hope Street
Los Angeles, CA 90017

Posted in Uncategorized : beach wedding Bridal show Bride expo civil wedding Mexico Denver wedding destination wedding Great Bridal Expo Las Caletas Los Angeles wedding Puerto Vallarta wedding wedding coordinator wedding planner | leave a comment

Featured Wedding: Erin and Peter

Erin and Peter are celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary and we want to share their story with you.

Erin contacted Adventure Weddings last May regarding a small wedding to be held at Las Caletas. Erin and her fiancé Peter had been planning a large wedding back home that was to be held the following year. But things went awry. Simply put; they were fed up, stressed out and agreed to change plans.

 
They decided to book a Mexican Riviera cruise and wanted to get married in Las Caletas while they were in port in Puerto Vallarta.

 
“Originally we planned to have a big wedding at home but changed our minds last minute. A month before our wedding date, I called Adventure Weddings, booked and planned our entire wedding in about a half an hour.” explained Erin.

 
Their only challenge was that they were having a Jewish ceremony and there was not a rabbi available for them, so instead they decided to hire one on their own and fly him down to perform the ceremony. Unfortunately, this is where things started to get a little sticky.

 
On the morning of the wedding, Nicole, the wedding coordinator for Adventure Weddings, was scheduled to convene with Erin and Peter after their cruise ship docked at the pier and where the Vallarta Adventures boat would be departing to take them to Las Caletas.  Nicole was to meet the Rabbi there as well since he was staying at a nearby hotel after flying in the night before.

 
Erin and Peter disembarked off the cruise ship with their families, met up with Nicole and wedding staff, the wedding dresses were hung, the stylist was onboard and everyone was excited and ready to go, but no sign of the rabbi. So they waited. And waited. And waited. Everyone was a little worried to say the least and in the end they had to depart to Las Caletas, sans rabbi.

 
No one thought that the rabbi would miss the boat but he did and the perfect wedding was starting to be not so perfect.

Nicole, one not to crack under pressure, got on the phone and found a back up minister and put him on stand-by.  She made a few more phone calls and within an hour the rabbi showed up at Las Caletas in a private speedboat with the sales manager of Vallarta Adventures as his escort.

 
Three hours later, Erin walked down a cascading flight of stairs towards her all white wedding party and Peter, the man of her dreams. The ceremony was brilliant, emotional and filled with energy. Rabbi John was amazing and worth every effort to get him to the wedding on time.

 
The setting was ideal for their picture perfect wedding and the whole family joined Vincent and Ulisses, the Adventure Wedding photographers for a beach photo shoot afterwards. Later, they enjoyed a beachside lunch on the terrace, toasted their new life together with champagne, cut their beautiful wedding cake and danced on the sand.

 
And a year later, we welcome their baby, Samuel Myles.

Congratulations Erin and Peter on the birth of your son and your 1st wedding anniversary!

We are so happy to have been a part of your big day and the start of your beautiful life together.

Posted in Uncategorized : beach wedding destination wedding Las Caletas Puerto Vallarta wedding wedding coordinator wedding dress wedding planner | 1 comment

Best Beach Wedding Shoes

Change a life…

We love unique wedding ideas as well as anything that makes the world a better place, so when we heard of TOMS Shoes for the first time, we thought it was a fabulous company and a brilliant idea.

Blake Mycoskie launched TOMS Shoes in Venice, California in 2006. Their ONE for ONE concept is simple and simply amazing. For every pair of TOMS shoes purchased, another pair is given to a child in need. Since the company launched, in less than three years they have donated, free of charge, over 140,000 pairs of shoes to needy children around the world.

Recently we were looking (in truth…shopping!) at www.tomssshoes.com and found that they have a new category of shoes that are perfect for your destination wedding in Mexico. Not only will you have the perfect wedding shoes in a variety of colors and fabrics for your beach wedding but you will also be donating a pair of shoes to a child.

We think these shoes would be the ideal item to gift to your wedding party. Not only will they will look fantastic wearing these shoes at your wedding in Las Caletas, they feel ahhhhhmazing and they can dance the night away knowing somewhere in the world there is a child with very happy feet.

“Change a life with your next big step” ~TOMS Shoes

Posted in Uncategorized : beach wedding charity civil wedding Mexico destination wedding Las Caletas Puerto Vallarta renewal of vows toms shoes wedding wedding coordinator wedding planner wedding shoes | leave a comment

Best Kisses

A cute and whimsical website that is “Promoting the power of love one kiss at a time” just featured one of our kissing couples from a recent wedding at Las Caletas.

The website, Best Kisses is worth checking out every Monday morning. This is when they add new photos and it’s a great way to start the week off on a sweet note, right?

Posted in Uncategorized : beach wedding civil wedding Mexico destination wedding kissing Las Caletas Mexico Puerto Vallarta renewal of vows tropical wedding wedding coordinator wedding planner | leave a comment

Destination Wedding Dress Decisions

When Lisa first started planning her destination wedding in Puerto Vallarta, selecting her wedding dress wasn’t one of the first things on her plate. She wanted to get the location wrapped up first, plan the guest list and invitations, select accommodations and then get started on the details.

A month of planning passed and Lisa decided she better get going on picking out her dream gown since the wedding was less  Read more »

Posted in Uncategorized : beach wedding civil wedding Mexico destination wedding flip-flops kissing Las Caletas Mexico Puerto Vallarta renewal of vows tropical wedding wedding dress wedding planner | 2 comments