The Mexico Dilemma

Although most of our planning energy is still directed at planning the Engagement party, occasionally our thoughts wonder to the wedding. We are still largely undecided about how we will proceed with this and thought it might be a good time to share our dilemma with you. Perhaps someone out there has some insight into our problem. Generally when Luc and I travel, we want to get a real sense of the place we are visiting- an idea of what it the city is all about. We like to eat in local restaurants and travel off the tourist path. Not to say that we don't indulge in the "trip to the top of the Eiffel tower" but that we don't like resorts. We are not looking to recreate the comfortable life we have at home in another place. Now we are planning a party in Mexico. If we were traveling to Mexico we would likely stay in many different places rather than a week in a single location. Variety is the spice of life! But we know that this is not practical for a group-nor would it be enjoyable.

So, we are looking at our options. And there are a ton of all-inclusive resorts in Mexico that would make traveling very easy for those that never have. But there resorts are BIG- I mean massive. It would be possible for the entire wedding party to stay in the resort and never see eachother if we didn't have a time and place for the actual ceremony. We are not entirely certain that this would make us happy. Another really cool option is this little boutique hotel- that is occupied only by the wedding party. It looks fabulous, but could be a bit on the expensive side. So we are trying to determine how to make everyone happy. Never an easy job!

And we have even been considering something closer to what we normally do when we travel, but would be much harder to organize. Mexico is a country of extremes- and there are some really big houses there to rent. We were thinking of renting one of these larger villas for the wedding. It would be peaceful, quiet, but would be more work for everyone. The fun kinda work- like cooking meals together and making margaritas. But it would also mean that everyone wouldn't be able to stay at the same location, but we would have a fun party central.

Obviously the easiest for everyone would be an all-inclusive resort, drinks and meals included in the price of the hotel. Many of the ones in Mexico are 600+ rooms. And the ones that I have found that are SMALL resorts are about 200 rooms. A couple of cute ones, but the biggest complaint is certainly the quality of the food since there are fewer restaurants to choose from (sometimes only one!).

Drop us a line if you have any suggestions for us. I am sure that others are less put-off by these resorts than we are. They are certainly convenient in that everything is provided for you- hungry? there are 3-4 options. thirsty? get a drink. Some (most...) even have child care programs-like a mini-camp for the kids. Or pools with water slides and whatnot....

Party planning in progress....

Luc just left after our longest visit yet- 10 days. It was great. We sweated out the Georgia nights and finally found a use for all this heat. Dosas! When we traveled in Southern India we ate Masala Dosas nearly every day. They are so good. We bought an excellent cookbook for Southern Indian cuisine when we returned. In Cape Cod, we never tried to make dosas since it was just not HOT enough. The batter is made of fermented rice and lentils. It has to “rise” for 16 hours in 90 degree heat. They were perfect!

If you never saw our pictures from India, check this page.

And back to the wedding plans. We made a lot of progress on planning our engagement party. After careful calculations on the capacity of Bertrand’s deck, we are fairly certain it can withstand the weight of party! We are hoping to send invitations by the end of the week. Since we need to have some idea of how many people will attend before Luc leaves for his next cruise. He is returning to the Arctic for the month of August. If you didn’t see his pictures from the first trip- take a peek here-