Hello, everyone! My name is Kristi, and I am new to this board. I did an intro, but since then we have changed our date to ten days later- March 23, 2013. I am very excited to get to know you all! For those who haven't read my intro, I added a little one here, and then I have a question for those of you who have done a DW including kids. BTW: I posted this on the Destination Weddings board as well, but I felt like it might do me well to ask you all also!
My FI, Ahmed, and I have been together for a little over two years, and he is wonderful! This is my second marriage and his first. I have two little girls, 5 and 7 years old, and they just adore him. My ex just got remarried last month and we all love his new wife- so things are pretty good for our daughters, which is the most important thing. They definitely come first! FI and I met at the university where I work and go to school (I teach and I'm getting my Masters in Education) and where he is getting his Bachelors. After a long period of friendship, we started dating, and two years later...here we are! We have a tentative date set for March 23, 2013, and we are planning on doing a destination wedding to the Riviera Maya. Which brings me to my question!
While searching through this board and some others a while back, I saw that a lot of people really like Secrets Meroma Beach Resort. I think it looks great too, and I definitely want an AI, but I do have an issue. We are getting married on the Saturday at the end of Spring Break that year, as FI can't miss classes, so basically we've decided to do the honeymoon first and the wedding second, lol! And we definitely want my girls to be there for the wedding, but we want some alone time too, so we are planning on heading down there on the Friday/Saturday before (the 16th maybe?), and my parents are going to bring the girls down maybe mid-week the next week. I know that Secrets Maroma is adults-only, so obviously we can't have my girls there. So I have a couple of options:
1) Split the time between two different resorts- adults-only for the 16-20ish, and then a family AI for the rest of the time (where we would actually get married). The pros of this would be getting that alone time for a honeymoon, plus getting to have a nice family vacation. The cons would be that I've heard many resorts will give discounts for booking 7 nights, so it might not be worth it to split the time, and also the friends I'm inviting don't have kids and would probably enjoy staying at an adults-only place more.
2)Stay at a resort that is close to or side-by-side with a family resort. The pros of this would be to be able to spend the whole time at an adults-only resort (something my friends would appreciate also), and also being able to spend time with my family. The cons would be not actually being able to stay in the same room as my girls, and being limited to the resorts that I can choose from. Some of the ones that fit the bill might not be what we are looking for or have the most desirable amenities.
So, looking at the fact that obviously I'm trying to save as much money as possible, what would be your suggestions for this situation? Has anyone had any personal experience with this? I appreciate any ideas! Thanks!
Kristi