Azul Beach Hotel - Riviera Maya Mexico

[pamcakes]

We were married on Sunday, August 17, 2008 at noon. The wedding was beautiful, the resort is amazing, and we were so happy to have our wedding at Azul. The resort itself has been reviewed in much detail on tripadvisor so I will focus on the wedding related aspects of our trip.

Resort - (A) The resort only has 94 rooms and they are split up into small buildings with only 2 levels. The resort never felt full or crowded and it was so nice to be able to see our 25 guests without going far. Our guests were very impressed with the resort and our wedding.

The major negative of the resort is that while the food is fabulous (sushi, lobster, tenderloin galore) is often took over 2 hours for a simple meal. The smaller restaurants were better but the main restaurant (Blue) has the worst service. One evening several of us did not even get the food we ordered and after waiting hours they told us the kitchen was closed, very frustrating.

On-line wedding coordinator - Nancy: (D) Nancy tooks weeks to respond to our e-mails. If we needed an answer quickly, we had to call her directly and it was still quite difficult to receive a complete answer. Once we arrived we realized how bad Nancy was. We found that she gave us quite a bit of inaccurante information (like that we had no control over our civil ceremony vows) or had completely failed to give us information (like that we could buy 3 bottles of wine to reserve a private event). She was pretty much useless.

On-site wedding coordinator - Carolina: (A) Carolina was great, she was truly excited about our wedding and very helpful. We had a meeting the next morning after our arrival and she went over every single detail with much attention. She really wanted everything to be perfect. My only complaint would be that she never instructed me where to walk and I ended up going the wrong way. She also was snippy with me after the ceremony because we were still taking pictures 30 minutes after lunch was to be served. However, the judge was late and she also never instructed my guests that they could be seated so they remaind at the bar. Had she instructed them where to go, they could have started dinner without us.

Flowers - Provided by resort: (B) While the flowers were beautiful they were not as described and were missing one of the flowers listed. They also started drooping right after the ceremony

Cake - Very pretty, moist, no complaints.

We originally did not think we would be having a private reception. They are very expensive and we opted to help pay for our guests' vacation rather then a reception. However, Carolina gave us the option to buy 3 bottles of wine (about $170) so that we could have our reception in the Wave Lounge. This was a perfect option for us and I'm so glad we were able to do that as it made our wedding feel very special. I wish Nancy would have informed us of this option - I would have brought some sort of centerpiece for the tables had I known.

They did do a lovely sea blue table runner with matching bows on chairs that made a huge difference.

Salon - (D-) The "salon" at Azul is just a small hotel room. I needed to have the polish on my manicure changed. I wanted a french. The woman who did my nails was horrible. I'm not a picky person but I had to ask her to re-do 3 nails because they were that bad. The only reason she's not getting an F is because I couldn't have done better.

One of my close friends is a photographer so she did our wedding photographs. The hotel did not charge us the $500 vendor fee that has been mentioned on this site. I contacted Nancy when all the drama was occuring and she cleared us. When we got to the hotel Carolina asked if we would be purchasing a photo package and we explained that our friend and wedding guest was taking photos. They never pushed the issue and it was not a problem.

Notes about the civil ceremony - Nancy sent me an outline of what was supposedly the civil ceremony and told me that there were no other options. We were informed by Carolina that they cannot guarantee who shows up to perform your civil ceremony. They often do receive the same female judge (we got her) who speaks English. 5 minutes (maybe less) before the ceremony she arrives (or she's late). At that time the groom can see the ceremony and can choose what you say (option 1 was to just say I will, option 2 was to repeat vows) OR you can choose to say your own vows. I honestly can't remember everything she said but I do remember that it was lovely. I was SO nervous about not having any clue what I would be saying (Neil quietly mouthed "repeating" to me) but in the end it turned out okay.

I'll post pictures when we get them.

~Pam

[DJsbride]

Your review is so helpful. I'm getting married there in 3 months and I'm very anxious. Fabio was my online wedding coordinator but we had so many disagreements that they took him off my account and assigned Nancy, who after a month hasn't still contact me. Can't wait to see your pictures, and I'm glad everything went fine

[JHarwood2Be]

Thanks for your review! It sounds like there were somethings that could have been better, but overall you were happy you went there.
I don't see how Nancy still has a job! She was my contact prior to booking the wedding. She is very frustrating. I'm working with Fabio now. I feel like he knows what he is doing. I really enjoyed meeting Carolina at our site visit. That meeting made me feel so much better about booking at Azul.
Congratulations on your marriage!

[can't wait!]

Glad you are happy about your wedding! Congrats!
And yes, I too, can't believe Nancy still has a job. She is the reason my FH and I decided to go with another resort. She was just plain rude to me over the phone and had no idea about anything. Then, when I went down for a site visit, Carolina told me I had to deal exclusively with Nancy until I arrived at the hotel. Carolina even acknowledged Nancy had never been to Azul and wasn't on the up and up about the resort. That was enough for me to say no! I am now getting married at another resort.

[weddingchick]

Thanks for your review. I'm sorry that you had challanges. Can't wait to see your pics.

Congrtulations!

[Jenn3878]

Congrats!! Thanks for posting your review! :)

[mexicanbridewithquestions]

Thanks so much for your review. It's completely helpful to read them.

[pepper55]

Thanks for the post, and congrats on your wedding! Agree with the sentiments about Nancy, although I have to say she actually answered 2 emails of mine within 24 hours!! Knock on wood I get real "answers" soon - but maybe she's getting better... Can't wait to book my site visit so I'll feel better.

Looking forward to seeing your pics!

[pamcakes]

Originally Posted by pepper55

Thanks for the post, and congrats on your wedding! Agree with the sentiments about Nancy, although I have to say she actually answered 2 emails of mine within 24 hours!! Knock on wood I get real "answers" soon - but maybe she's getting better... Can't wait to book my site visit so I'll feel better.

Looking forward to seeing your pics!

Ha, yes once replied to me quickly when our payment was due! :) I hope she is getting better. The only reason she didn't get an F is because she okayed our photographer.

Anyhoo, I posted the link in the Mexico forum but just didn't include a review.

Lynn Michelle Photography - A+++++
Lynn is a local Dallas photographer and a friend. She never ceases to amaze me with her attention to detail and her own unique twist on photography. Her work is pure art. She didn't miss a moment at our wedding and I can honestly say that I cried when I looked at our pictures. She also got them back to us within 2 weeks!

Pam & Neil

She put some highlights on her blog in several seperate posts: lynnmichelleblog.com

[AprilandPatrick]

Congratulations on your wedding - but the review made me frustrated that you received the treament from some of the individuals - very insightful and helpful for future brides that will be married there or are thinking of marrying there.