Good Wedding Planner in Playa del Carmen

tphunny · 04-04-2008, 10:21 AM

Hi Everyone!

I have been troving through all the threads to see what I can find on Wedding planners in Playa Del Carmen. I've found two wedding planner sites;
Ajua weddings (Destination Weddings and Wedding Planning Services in Playa del Carmen) and Weddings in Playa (Weddings in Playa Has Experienced Wedding Planners to Coordinate Destination Weddings, Receptions and Mayan Ceremonies in Playa del Carmen Mexico) but I'm not sure which to go with.

It's really hard to choose a planner and send them money having never met them. We would like to get married on the beach, we do have a specific site in mind because we saw someone setting up a wedding while we were there on vacation. Has anyone used either of these planners or know of anyone who married on the beach in Playa (non resort). I saw 1 posting about Ajua which gave them a really great review.
Also, can anyone recommend a good place for a girls spa day in Playa or Cancun?

Thanks in advance!

Tiffany

MsSunshine · 04-04-2008, 11:30 AM

There was a recent post "Non resort Wedding" in Riviera Maya. She gave a great review about Ajua Wedding. I saw her wedding pics and was stunned. Hope this helps

tphunny · 04-10-2008, 10:45 AM

Thanks very much for your reply. I think we may visit in the next few months so I will definitely keep you posted as we may be able to meet in person!

Kind Regards,

Tiffany

Bostonian · 05-29-2008, 02:30 PM

hey tphunny,

Let me know what you're finding because I'm in the same position! I contacted both of them and here is what i got:

Ajua weddings wanted $775 just to talk about possible locations! I wasnt about to hand over that amount of money on faith!

Weddings in Playa sent me a rather strange response. They wanted me to pick my ceremony (like the actually wording). Seems like a tiny detail for an intial email! The email was very disorganized without any real helpful info. So I'm not sure about them either.

Im looking for a villa or other non-resort wedding but not on the beach. Puerto Vallarta was actually my first choice, but the flights are too expensive!!

Good luck with the search. Definitely let me know what your experience has been.

PlayaWeddings · 05-29-2008, 03:26 PM

Contact Federica or Jenny at Micas de Miralls
Micas de Miralls weddings in Playa del Carmen and Riviera Maya

They did our wedding in Tulum and it went really well. They know everything that everybody else knows. Nobody here has any special information or exclusive sites. You just need somebody that will talk to you in a frank and open way. Give them a try.

adias.angel · 05-29-2008, 05:50 PM

tphunny,
Let us know how it goes and who you choose. We have yet to even start the WC search. Carla

pdcbride09 · 06-16-2008, 11:18 AM

Hello! Just wanted to let you know that we are using Ajua Maya Wedding coordinator and so far have been very pleased. The $775 price I don't know where that was from to be honest. I had a TON of correspondence back and forth w/ the wedding coordinator before I even paid a dime. They do ask $300 for a "pre-coordination" fee to get all the details down as far as date, location, flowers and all that. What is cool is that you have your very own personal website that you use w/ the coordinator to communicate and send pics/payment links. They are very professional and very thorough. At least so far. Also, they send you an excel spreadsheet breaking down every thing which is nice to see it in that detail so you know exactly what you are getting charged for. They do ask for an additional $750 coordination fee to coordinate the whole wedding which I do believe is pretty steep for the total cost to coordinate. But I guess it's worth it when you don't really have to do too much.

I have seen reviews on their website and seems that many people are happy. I also was in contact w/ Caribbean Blue Weddings, but their overall communication I didn't care for. Very short with their responses, information,and not very negotiable. That's why we chose Ajua because I must have sent 15 emails asking tons of questions and they were very thorough before even asking for a penny.

They can be a little slow w/ responding which I don't quite care for. One thing is that the main coordinator I was dealing w/ unfortunately has left Playa. So now we are dealing w/ someone else..just hope it goes as smoothly as it did w/ Maarje(the one that left). They seem to be willing to work everything out w/ you which is great.

I know it's been a while since you posted, but I hope you find a great coordinator.

Bostonian · 06-19-2008, 07:46 AM

Thanks for your story pdc! Yeah i dont know what was going on with them - i wonder if i got some new person or even if they've changed their policies. i had a lot of questions myself!

Going through this whole process I've realized that my #1 priority is clicking with the wedding planner. That's what will make me feel the most comfortable and hopefully allow the wedding to go off without a hitch. So, ive been talking to other planners in other areas. Im about 90% sure we're actually going to go to Puerto Vallarta and use Dazzling Details! Theyve been great.

So thanks again for the info! I think ill be posting in the PV forums more often now :)

tphunny · 06-20-2008, 07:00 AM

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I'm a bit late to reply to this. I also had a lot of back and forth with Ajua weddings before they asked for any money. My fiancé and I finally decided to take out vacation in Playa this summer so that we could meet them in person and take a look at some sites. They were happy to set up a meeting at their restaurant and show us some photos but in order for our planner to do any site visits they required a $300 deposit.
In the end we decided to go with a different location other than Playa because after our second visit we felt the main beach areas were too busy for what we had envisioned for our ceremony. That said, they may have some parts of the beach they use for ceremonies that have less foot traffic (and boats anchored for snorkeling trips). We saw one ceremony being set up out side the Blue Parrot on the beach. The location looked very pretty but again there was a lot of foot traffic.
I'm not sure who coordinate that though as we didn't ask. Stephanie Morton was the planner at Ajua that I had been emailing with and she was always very responsive and helpful with my questions.

I hope that helps!

pdcbride09 · 06-23-2008, 09:32 AM

Yeah, it seems like a lot of the planners are doing that w/ the deposit. But to be honest w/ you, I seriously received a lot of information before I put down the deposit. I had a good feeling when I was in contact w/ Ajua as they seemed to be resonable and very informative. I feel that they are the ones we should go w/ as they have had some good reviews and I seen their pics on their website. As far as the secluded beach..she stated that there is a very secluded beach that we could have our ceremony on, but we would need to rent some vans to take our guests to. I don't think I would want that as it is kind of pricey to rent the vans. PLUS I want to have the mariachi parade and feel that it would flow better to have the ceremony close to where the mariachi's are versus having to drive back..get out..then have the mariachi's start. I don't know if that makes any sense. But I'm hoping our experience w/ Ajua will be worry free. A little nervous w/ some of the postings on here regarding their services.

I also tried to contact the Blue Parrot to see how their services compare to Ajua for wedding planning. They never replied to my emails so I just forgot about them.

Good luck w/ your planning and keep us informed on the area where you decide to marry!