Moon Palace Cancun Mexico April 11, 2009 **PRO PICS added to 1st post 5/7/09**

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SUMMARY

 

Miami Coordinator: Elizabeth Stinson, Yudelka Kok, Michaella Rodriguez

Room Block: Nizuc Side

Mexico Wedding Coordinator: Rosy Lily Sanchez (and Maria del Pilar Capilla Ramos)

Rehearsal Dinner: April 10, 2009 at Arrecifes Restaurant (at Terrace) 6:00 p.m.

Wedding Date: April 11, 2009

Ceremony: Beach (near Tucan Gazebo) 5:00 p.m,

Minister: Jorge Pinto

Cocktail Hour: Tucan Garden 5:45 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

Reception: Tucan Terrace at 7:00-10 pm

Fireworks: 9:45 p.m. (Video posted here!)

 

Professional Photographer: Outside Vendors:

Matt Adcock and Sol Tomargo at Del Sol Photography

http://delsolphotography.com/blog/co...leries/?gal=93

 

Slideshow of non-professional photos: Ray and Rosa Wedding pictures by cutierosie77 - Photobucket

 

username: cutierosie77

password: wedding

 

Overall Experience: I had my fairy tale wedding at the Moon Palace. I never dreamed of having such a beautiful wedding, I wouldn’t have been able to have such a wonderful experience without the help of this forum, and past moon palace brides that have provided us with their experiences. Therefore, I provide this very long review in appreciation for the help I obtained from this forum. I wish all of you Moon Palace brides and all brides in this forum good luck in your planning. This review is not just for the resort, but it is all encompassing, to assist you in your planning if you need it as the resort is just one element of the wedding planning.

 

NOTE: pictures on this thread are non-professional photos.

 

P.S. Since this review is very long, I will be posting several posts at once, the last post of this review will have “End of Review.” So that you know my review is over and you can post comments or questions.

 

 

 

 

CATALOGUE 2009-1.ppt

RosaRay_MoonPalaceWedding Plan 3.23.09.doc

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Beginning of Review: Moon Palace Cancun April 11, 2009 Wedding Review

 

 

MIAMI COORDINATOR

 

One of the reasons I chose the Moon Palace was because they have coordinators that speak English and are in the United States. I first worked with Elizabeth Stinson, she helped us with choosing the right Palace Resort, going over the room block details, and the perks of obtaining a certain amount of rooms, as well as obtaining a wedding package. She left Palace Resorts and I then worked with Yudelka Kok, and ultimately with Michaelle Rodriguez. Overall, they were very friendly and attentive. Michaelle contacted me within a day or two. Yudelka helped me with getting a wedding manager to help me out with choosing my locations 6-5 months before the wedding. My contact said that I couldn’t get a coordinator until 90 days before the wedding, so Yudelka helped me obtain my wedding locations way in advance which was great as my first choice Tucan Terrace was taken at that time, somehow it became available 3 months before the wedding.

 

ROOM BLOCK:

 

We worked directly with Miami to obtain a price.

Room Prices: For April 8, 2009- April 13, 2009 were:

Single $398 (1 adult)

Double $422 (2 adults)

Triple $654 (3 adults)

Quad $840 (4 adults)

Children $51 per child, per night when sharing room with parents ages 4-17.

 

We blocked 25 rooms from April 8, 2009 to April 13, 2009. People could reserve as little or as much as they wanted within that time frame.

 

NOTE: several people complained about the price when we first announced the prices, but when you break it down it is not that expensive, it basically is 211 per person per night and includes all food, drinks, taxes and tip. In fact one person that initially complained about the price stayed at another resort and ended up paying more because her dinner at the hotel zone was about $100 per night and the drinks, lunch and breakfast, tip, taxes on top of that. Also, once people checked in to the room, everyone there said the price was not expensive and well worth it. All the rooms have a somewhat view of the ocean, so the rooms have a Jacuzzi, a view of the ocean, and mini fridge that is stocked every 24 hours, and free in room service, it is all well worth the price.

 

Deposit:

 

The contract asked for a 50% deposit, but we talked to our coordinator about whether we could just pay for one room for April 8-13, and she said that would be ok. However, that meant that we still had reserve our own room through our link. So technically we paid for the room twice, but they gave us a credit at check out for the deposit for the room block (which turned out to be a hassle, will explain later in the “Check Out” Section of the review).

 

Link:

 

Miami provided us with a link and I posted that link in our website for guests to rsvp their room directly. At that link people could book a double, triple, etc for as little or as many nights as they wanted. At that time, they had to pay their room upfront, but when the economy got bad, our wedding coordinator said, people could book by just paying for one night.

 

 

Contract Perks: With the room block, we had the following perks:

 

Palace Passport: gave guests who stayed 3 nights or more tours to mayan ruins (chichen Itza, dolphins etc), discount at golf and spa.

 

We had guests all in one section of the resort, we chose to have all people in the Nizuc side, this was very helpful for coordinating stuff as the wedding dept is in the Nizuc side, and the resort is huge so it allowed our guests to somewhat be close because the Moon Palace is HUGE, even within the Nizuc, you have about 7 different buildings, so having people across the entire hotel would have been a little difficult. It was nice to have people in one area, without having them be right next door to us. Also, this allowed people to check in and get rooms right next to each other if they wanted to. My sisters were able to get rooms right next to each other, that way they were able to coordinate and spend time together.

 

Private Events Promotion:

With a minimum of 10 paid rooms for 3 nights, the bride and groom will receive a complimentary cocktail party. (Should the group require additional functions there will be a surcharge based on the number of guests and type of event)

With a minimum of 20 paid rooms for 3 nights, the bride and groom will receive an upgraded private event instead of a cocktail party (i.e. private dinner) and 4 complimentary room nights. *** (Should the group require additional functions there will be a surcharge based on the number of guests and type of event)

With a minimum of 25 paid rooms for 3 nights the bride and groom will receive unlimited private functions and 7 complimentary room nights.

Some people used TA’s which provided lower rates and other terms. It has seemed to work well with others. We were able to get book 15 rooms, so we only received the free cocktail hour. It would have been nice to have a TA call people to help book rooms, that way we could have saved on our private reception and our room.

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FREE WEDDING PACKAGE V. SUPERIOR/DELUXE PACKAGE

 

 

 

 

When I initially decided to book with the Moon Palace, my fiancé wanted us to book the Deluxe Package because he wanted to know exactly how much we were going to spend (he was afraid that we would go way over budget otherwise) and so we bought the Deluxe Package.

 

However, I then realized that there are no substitutions, so if you want a bouquet that is not one of the bouquets available in the package, you actually have to buy the bouquet in its entirety (i.e. they don’t give you a credit), so you end up paying twice for that item. The thought of me being restricted in terms of what I wanted did not settle well with me, nor the idea of having to pay twice for what I wanted. Also, there were some items like corsages etc that I didn’t need. I also made a cost evaluation of the items we would need and going for the deluxe was cheaper by a very little margin.

 

Therefore, I decided to ask my wedding coordinator in Miami to change me from the Deluxe to the Free Wedding Package. We had paid for the Deluxe Package already, so they just issued us a refund and gave us an entire new wedding contract.

 

 

MEXICO WEDDING COORDINATOR 5-6 MONTHS BEFORE WEDDING: MARIA DEL PILAR CAPILLA RAMOS

 

As I mentioned previously, the contract provided for a wedding coordinator 90 days before the wedding, but I wanted to choose my private functions and locations much more in advance in light of the fact that I knew other brides that had their weddings later than mine had already booked their locations. I asked for a wedding coordinator 5-6 months before the wedding, so they gave me Maria Del Pilar Capilla Ramos, I believe she is a manager or something like that in Mexico. I speak Spanish, so she was able to help me with the reservation of my locations. I wanted to book The Tucan Terrace for my reception, but at that time that terrace was already booked, so she could only give me the Bugambilias Terrace or Terrace Venado or Lake Terrace. I chose the Terrace Venado because it was close to the water like the Tucan Terrace, however, the Terrace Venado is slightly smaller than the Tucan Terrace and much farther away from where they hold the beach weddings.

 

Maria, helped me book the rehearsal location at the Arrecifes Restaurant, I wanted the terrace portion of the restaurant, she said the terrace was not available at that time, but that she would try to make it happen.

 

She also sent me the DJ packet and the prices for Fireworks.

 

She helped me tremendously and at the end of the day, she gave me my first choice which was the Tucan Terrace, and the terrace at the Arrecifes Restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. She also gave me a wonderful permanent wedding coordinator Rosy Lily Sanchez.

 

MEXICO WEDDING COORDINATOR ROSY LILY SANCHEZ: 90 DAYS BEFORE WEDDING

 

90 days before the wedding, Rosy Lily Sanchez contacted me, she sent me a price list of items, a reservation form for Salon services.

 

We did 100% of our communication via e-mail, I created a word document that contained an outline of everything I wanted with pictures of what I wanted, basically it looked like a business plan with pictures. See attachment on first page of thread. I color coordinated her responses, so every response she gave me to the entire document contained a different color and a legend at the top of the document which stated the color that corresponded with what date. My responses to her answers were also color coordinated (with the word doc highlighter). The document began as 4 pages, by the time of the wedding the document was 11 pages, which contained everything from the petals at the ceremony to how many champagne bottles we wanted at the cocktail hour, to the favor that was going to be placed at the reception.

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LIMO TRANSPORTATION TO MOON PALACE

 

 

 

My fiancé wanted a limo to drive us to the hotel from the Airport. We hired Cancun Limo, they charged us 140.00 Usd just one way to the Hotel (it is $250 roundtrip). That price includes a free champagne bottle, but my fiancé wanted Dom Perignon, they charged us $150 for the 750 ML.

 

They arrived 15 minutes later than our scheduled arrival and we had arrived 15 earlier than our scheduled arrival, so we waited for 30 minutes. We called them and they had told us they were on their way.

 

A pregnant lady arrived with our sign, she had my last name wrong. Since she was preganant and all obviously I wasn’t going to make her carry our 6 pieces of luggage. We had a person from the airport help us out, they have these guys with little carts for FREE, so we piled up our luggage on the cart and tipped the guy.

 

We arrived to the limo, it was just like the picture, it was a white stretch escalade limo, inside, they had our Dom, a TV with video, and disco lights. The pregnant lady asked us what kind of music we wanted and we told her Pop, so we had cool videos playing, while we drank our champagne really fast. Essentially we only had 15 minutes to drink it since the Moon Palace Nizuc is 15 minutes away from the airport.

 

Overall, the service could have been better, they could have been there on time, they could have sent people that could carry our luggage, and they could have opened our champagne and served it to us. HOWEVER, it was a lot of fun, it was easy to book them online, they were able to get our Dom, and the price was not too crazy. I would definitely do it again.

 

If interested here’s their link:

 

https://www.cancuncd.com/order/index.php?tourname=LIMO

 

[email protected]

 

 

TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM AIRPORT

 

The Palace Resorts provides shuttle transportation from the airport to the Moon Palace. You can book this online, here’s the link,

 

https://www.palaceresorts.com/Transf...nsferIndex.asp

 

I posted this on my website and people used it to book their transportation. I heard it is about $20 something round trip, I don’t know exactly.

 

A cab to the airport from the Moon Palace is 230 pesos, which is 20 USD. They are very easy to get from the lobby.

 

If you are a big group, it makes more sense to rent a van: 7 people= $65 roundtrip

Order Transportation - Entertainment book

 

CHECK IN

 

Moon Palace check in time is 3:00 p.m., we arrived at 10:30 a..m. around, they greeted us with a carnation and a wet cold towel. It was a very nice touch. The bell hop got our bags and took us to a table where the check in took place.

 

Lily had sent over a welcome letter telling us about the time of our meeting. Our room was ready and we were allowed to check in early. Our room was located in the Nizuc Side, the building’s name was “Aguila.” It is the in same building where the lobby is, which was great because it was close to the pool, salon, wedding dept, and all the Nizuc restaurants. We were in the corner of Second floor overlooking the pool.

 

TIP: tell your wedding party that when they check in to put their wristbands kind of lose so they can take it off during wedding and put it back on, but to make sure not to lose it because it costs $75 to replace it. Our Wedding coordinator said that they could only cut the wristbands for the bride and groom and that was it, therefore, it is a good idea for wedding party to have semi lose wrist bands they can take off. My mom took off hers during the wedding by sliding it out.

 

OOT Bags: the charge to deliver the OOT bags is 2.50 USD, you can call the bell hop from your room and they come and pick them up, you have to pay cash when they pick up your bags (can’t charge it to the room, so have cash available, they take pesos). I made them in my room, so I called to have them pick them up. Then the OOT bags get delivered during check-in (or a little after their check in usually around 7-8 p.m.), I gave the bell hop a list of all the guests that had booked their room (you can obtain this list from your Miami Coordinator before you leave to Mexico). Since I had to make these in my room I hand delivered some to my family, and the rest I gave to the bell hop. At the end of this thread, I will post what my OOT bags had, it tells you the stuff the Moon Palace provides so that you don’t provide the same thing (See “Welcome Bag-OOT Bag” Section of this review).

 

 

Steam Dress/Suit: Make sure you submit your dress for ironing/drycleaning as soon as you check it in, as it may take up to 36 hours to get it back. Just drop this off at the Weddings Department.

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MEETING WITH WEDDING COORDINATOR LILY SANCHEZ IN MEXICO

 

 

 

When we met, everything went smoothly as we had discussed everything in our word document, so our meeting took just one hour. At our meeting, she asked us to choose from a breakfast menu for our wedding breakfast the day after the wedding and the time the breakfast should be delivered to our room.

 

At the meeting, we went over the details of the ceremony, i.e. who was the maid of honor, bridesmaids, groomsmen, so that she would know how timing of their entrance. She also let us know that although my wedding ceremony was set to begin at 5:00 p.m. I had to be out the door by 4:40 (time when she was going to give me and the bridesmaids our bouquets) and the guests should be seated down by 4:40. Therefore, we told our guests to be at the ceremony by 4:30.

 

She also let us know that we could start the cocktail hour at 5:45 instead of 6 which gave us 15 free extra minutes.

 

Since we were having a private reception at the terrace, the cost per table is 400 (and each table fits 10). But we were not having round tables, we were having rectangular tables, so the charge is the same, i.e. they still charge per per table of ten. We had 31 people coming to the wedding, so we were wondering if she was going to charge us for 4 tables or 3 tables. She only charged us for 3 tables, she basically put one person at the end of the table. We also discussed how many flower arrangements and candles should go on each table now that we had a final number of guests.

 

At the meeting, we took a large suitcase, with the following items for her to use:

 

1.Cake Knife Set

2.Champagne Glasses for the bride and groom

3.Petals (I bought about 200 cups of hot pink petals) (almost took entire suitcase)

4.Guest Book Picture Frame & Easel (SalinePictureFrame.com,

5.Wedding Favor

6.Place Cards (Bought at Staples)

7.Wedding Ceremony Program (I Made it)

8.Seating Chart ( I drew it)

9.Special Bottle of Champagne for Bride & Groom (Krug, bought at the Airport)

 

I talked to her about putting petals I brought at the side of the runner leading to the altar, and she mentioned it would be a good idea to save some petals to throw at the end of ceremony. I had no idea that they provided the basket and service for free, which was great, because at the ceremony, one of her assistants passed a basket full of petals for everyone to take and throw and the pictures turned out really cute.

 

WEDDING COORDINATOR DURING WEDDING:

 

Lily stayed at our wedding the entire time, she directed the ceremony, made sure everything was in order, she had an assistant with her that helped out with the petals and making sure I got out of the carriage ok. She made sure everything went without a problem. She did an excellent job.

 

 

GIFT TO WEDDING COORDINATOR:

 

I brought my wedding coordinator a welcome gift (Jewelry, and a wedding favor), and on my way out I gave her a card and $60 dollars and two wedding favors for her assistants, I am also going to send her pictures of the table set up that she wanted. I didn't know how much to tip, but it was the only money I had left on my way out, I feel guilty because I wanted to give her more.

 

 

DAY PASSES:

 

We had 31 guests total.

 

1 couple decided to stay at Cancun Palace, so they had no problem getting into the Moon Palace. 1 couple stayed at the Westin because they had some sort of points, so they bought a day pass, each day pass was $84 from 9 a.m-11 p.m. They spent the entire day at the resort, and changed/showered at the gym in the Nizuc side, and then they left their stuff at the bell hop to pick up after the wedding.

 

Make sure you tell your wedding coordinator at your meeting that you have someone coming with the day pass, so that your guests don’t have trouble getting inside the property, essentially they put them in a list at the entrance of the resort where the security guard is protecting the gate. They ask for your name in order to enter the resort.

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REHEARSAL DINNER:

 

 

Location: Arrecifes Restaurant

Day: Friday April 10, 2009

Food: Brazilian (Meat Sticks)

Time: 6:00 p.m.

 

At the Moon Palace reservations for the ala carte restaurants are not available. So, when my sisters arrived before me and tried to get themselves seated, according to my sister, they were not very nice to her.

 

I arrived at 6 p.m. and there was a line of people, I went straight to the attendant and told her we had a reservation at 6 and she said we don’t make reservations, are you here for a wedding? I said yes, as soon as I dropped the word “Wedding†I got treated a lot better.

 

I had asked for the tables for my dinner to be placed at the terrace, I wanted one long table for 30 people. I got my long table, and hurricane candle holder, the set up looked really pretty.

 

 

I highly suggest you choose the terrace, because you can see the sunset, you get the nice breeze, your view is of the pool, your group is the only one there so you essentially have your own private event without paying the price of a private event. We also had a trio come and sing songs for us (they are free), and we just tipped them to sign up beat songs, people loved it. The other good thing is that it is quiet there, at least before the Karoake starts outside.

 

 

 

We were served champagne to begin with. They told us to go to the salad bar first, then we were served meat and more meat on these sticks. The lamb was the best meat there. Compared to the other buffets, this was pretty good.

 

After the entre, they come with a big tray to show you the deserts, the best one was the chocolate dessert. They also serve coffee.

 

We were there until 9 p.m. After we went to the Karaoke just next to the pools at the Nizuc, and then we went to the Disco.

 

I was more than pleased with the set-up and the service. We tipped each server 50 pesos, we had about 4-5 servers that were very attentive.

 

I like the set up here and the fun factor of having someone serve you meat from a stick, but the food is better at the Mexican restaurant the Caporrales.

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TOUR SERVICES

 

This guy Gabriel e-mailed me telling me that reservations for the salon and tours were done through him. Initially I had a problem with him because he said I had to pay him for the tours in advance, and given my contract I wasn’t supposed to pay for those tours, so I e-mailed my wedding coordinator in Miami and they told him he wasn’t supposed to charge me, so then he said that he couldn’t reserve my tours, that I had to do it at Guest Services.

 

I didn’t book anything at guest services, since it always was busy. Our guests didn’t book any tours either because they enjoyed staying at the resort or going to the other Palace Resorts.

 

Also note that going to the Mayan Ruins is an all day excursion they pick you up at 8 a.m and drop you off like at 4. I saw lots of people go to Wet & Wild on my way to the Sun Palace. I highly advise you brides to go to the Sun Palace to take a break from the busy Nizuc and wedding guests.

 

SALON SERVICES

 

 

I had e-mailed the salon people a list of the services that were supposed to be done for my bridesmaids, my mom and myself. I had scheduled all of our services to begin at noon, given that that was the recommendation Lily had made given that I wanted my hair done, a mani and pedi done on the same day. Gabriel e-mailed me back and told me that the only time he had available was 1:30 and 8:30 a.m. So obviously I took the 1:30 a.m. He then again asked me to pay for everything in advance, including the services for my bridesmaids and mom, and I asked if I could pay once I checked out of the resort, and he was like well you have to leave a credit card on file and call me when you arrive.

 

I called once I arrived to the hotel and left him a message telling him he needed to charge the bridesmaids their services to their room and my services to my room. He never called me back but he didn’t charge me all the services to my room, thank god.

 

It was my impression that given that my wedding was going to be at 5, that my many and pedi were going to be done at the same time, apparently Gabriel didn’t do this. He booked my hair for 1:30, my mani for 3:00, my pedi for 3:30. I had no idea that they separated services like this. I asked if they could do my mani and pedi together and they said no, that I had to have requested things to be done together. I thought that by asking for my services to be done at 1:30 that that was supposed to mean that everything was going to be done at the same time, I guess not.

 

It really stressed me out because I had to be out the door by 4:40, so it was 4:00 and I was still having my manicure done and my photographers arrived to the salon looking for me and were like what should we do while you are here at the salon? I was like go take pictures of the groomsmen I will be out of here in 15 minutes. Matt the photographer tried to call me down by telling me they couldn’t have a ceremony without me, so that everything was going to be ok.

 

I was about to cry thinking I was going to be super late. Lily had told me and I signed a contract at our meeting saying that I understood the minister was an independent contractor and that if we didn’t start the wedding within 15 minutes of the allocated time, the minister would leave and I had to pay. So I was really stressed out. I walked out of the Salon at about 4:07, arrived to my room about 4:15 with my nails still getting dry. This was the ONLY time I felt REALLY stressed.

 

In any case, I HIGHLY advise you to make it clear to the person booking your salon services, if you want things to be done together so you don’t run against the clock.

 

My Hair Style

 

I searched the Knot.com for hairstyles and practiced doing some hairstyles at home to find the right one for me. I had printed a copy of the hairstyle I wanted but I left it in the room, so I explained it to my salon lady Doris using the magazines she had. She did a great job with my hair compared to what happened to my bridesmaids that had their hair done with the other hair stylists.

 

I chose an updo because of the wind (which is REALLY STRONG) and because of the humidity.

 

I HIGHLY rrecommend Doris, she was really caring, she even retouched my hair on my way out after my nails were completed.

 

TIP: Take your veil with you at the hairsalon, I was running late and forgot it and that was not good as my veil was not staying in place at the ceremony and had to be tucked in through the back and then finally I had to take it off.

 

I tipped my hair lady $50 pesos.

 

My Bridesmaids & Mom’s Hair Style

 

 

I let my bridesmaids and mom pick their own hairstyles. I had three bridesmaids, they all decided to get an updo as well given the wind conditions. Two of my bridesmaids arrived to my room at 4:15 with their hair all messed up because the wind and humidity had somehow messed it up. One of the bridesmaids ran to the salon to have it retouched and they happily did so. The other one decided to have her hair down, but that was a problem because the hair kept on going to her face during pictures.

 

My mom had her hair down, but had the front portion of her hair up, that way the hair did not go to her face.

 

TIP: get an updo of some sort and make sure that you get one that stays on for a long time.

 

My Nails:

 

I got a French tip madi and pedi from Estela, she was really sweet and made me feel as relaxed I could feel despite the stress of being really late. They give you this warm pillow for your neck and shoulders while they do your nails. It was awesome. I tipped my hair lady $50 pesos.

 

 

My Make Up:

 

I did my own make-up. I bought foundation from Prescriptives that is sweatproof and is good for photos, it worked REALLY Well. I also bought from prescriptives a base eye shadow which stays on all day. I used plum eyeshadow from Sephora. I wore mascara, bronzer, blush, plum eyeliner from prescriptives.

 

I used bronzer on my chest to cover the lines from my bikini top, this covered it up so it wouldn’t look tacky.

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MOMENTS BEFORE WEDDING CEREMONY

 

 

 

I had breakfast, then went to the salon at 1:30 left salon at 4:10. After our first meeting, I didn’t communicate with lily until the day of my wedding when she arrived to my room at 4:40 with my bouquet of flowers, she told me to go downstairs and the wedding carriage was going to pick me up by the Catholic Wedding Chapel.

 

 

THE CARRIAGE & CEREMONY ENTRANCE

 

 

The carriage fits two people, my mom and I rode the carriage, and it was surreal. I was holding on to my veil because of the wind and the movement. It was a fun moment, I looked at people’s faces when the carriage was coming and there was a smile on everyone’s faces, it was a very sweet moment to be there with my mom arriving.

 

BOUQUETS

 

My hot pink long stem (no foliage) was $140.00. The calla lilies for the bridesmaids were $85 each.

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CEREMONY:

 

Location: Ceremony was held at the beach near the Tucan Gazebo (that is where they hold the beach weddings.)

 

Entrance:

 

 

The carriage dropped me off at the top of the stairs near the Tucan garden, the stairs lead to the beach. So, the entrance of the bride is that much more special because you have the people look up as you get dropped off the carriage and walk down the stairs to the aisle.

 

Music:

 

We paid a Harpist, Clarinet and Guitar to play music during the ceremony. We provided Lily the songs via e-mail and she provided them to the artists. Here’s the list:

 

Prelude Music: “Eine kleine Nachtmusikâ€( Romance) Mozart (Harp only)

 

Link: http://www.harpworld.com/music06/romanzekleine64.mp3

 

 

Processional Music (Wedding Party) “Canon in D†Pachelbel (Harp & Flute)

 

http://www.harpworld.com/music06/pachelbelgroup64.mp3

 

Processional Music (Bride) "Here Comes the Bride" (Wagner's "Bridal Chorus")(Harp & Flute)

 

http://www.harpworld.com/music06/bridalgroup64.mp3

 

Recessional Music (end of ceremony)"Hornpipe" (from Water Music Suite)(George F. Handel) (Harp & Flute)

 

http://www.harpworld.com/music06/wat...callegro64.mp3

 

 

The music and the sound of the waves created a beautiful melody. We were supposed to have a Harpist and Flute, the charge for the Harpist was $500, and the charge for the Flute was $310, Lily had told us we should get the Guitar too, but that meant to pay $200 extra dollars (it would be flute and guitar as a duo for $500). We told her we didn’t want to spend more money for a guitar even though the guitar sounded really good (she sent me samples of the music). The day of the ceremony, Lily surprised us by getting the Clarinet and Guitar and the Harpist, while still charging us the $810, so technically we got the guitar for free. I was really pleased 

 

Beach Factor:

 

 

I had my concerns about the beach given the reviews, but the day I arrived I saw a beach wedding set up and was convinced that that was what I wanted.

 

Truth is that the beach at the Moon Palace has lots of weed, so it is not comfortable to swim in it at the shore. They have trucks that go by cleaning up the seaweed pretty often. During our wedding, they cleaned it up the seaweed, so you can barely see the seaweed in pictures or while you are there during the wedding.

 

Most people hang out by the pool anyway, so not too many people are concerned about the beach. Also, if you want to see the most beautiful beach go to the Sun Palace they have one of the best beaches if not the best in Cancun, you can go there for free by taking a shuttle (they leave the Moon Palace at noon and 2:00 p.m.)

 

Also, when I went to the hotel zone, most hotels over there don’t even have beaches because of the hurricane, so the Moon Palace has a beach, not the greatest beach for swimming, but the beach wedding set up is great.

 

I went to the Beach Palace, Sun Palace, and Cancun Palace during my stay, and The Sun Palace had the best beach, the Beach Palace has NO beach, the Cancun Palace has a tiny beach most of it destroyed by hurricane. I heard reviews from Isla Mujeres Palace and heard the beach there is worse than the one at the Moon.

 

I was pretty pleased with my beach wedding ceremony, it was better than I expected it to be. You will not regret it. Also, if you are like me and love gazebos, you can still take pictures outside of the gazebo after your ceremony, I did that, so I have pictures of the beach ceremony and pictures of my husband and I infront of the gazebo, so you get the best of all worlds I think.

 

Time: We choose 5:00 p.m. because weather wise, it was cool and breezy, and close to sunset, for amazing sunset pictures.

 

Weather: The weather was about 70 degrees with breeze, I didn’t even sweat, which was great. Since it was April, the weather is in the comfortable 70’s for most of the day. May and June gets really hot in the 80-90 and that is also the busiest time for weddings.

 

Date: Place close attention to the date you choose for your wedding. We choose our wedding during Easter, I didn’t realize it when I booked it, but we choose the date based on the weather in Cancun, we didn’t want it to be too hot, we also didn’t want to be there for spring break in late March, so we choose April 11, 2009 because of the weather conditions and because we didn't want to have our wedding during the high wedding season in Cancun (May, June).

[cutierosie]

Ceremony Set Up:

 

 

Huppa:

 

The day I arrived I saw a set up with a Huppa and flowers at the corners of the huppa. I didn’t really care for the flowers, nor the cost of them. The cost of the huppa alone like the one in my pictures is only $150.00 that is it. But if you add flowers to the corners, then it is $360. Then if you add flower pots in the aisle it gets up to $850.

 

I wanted a simple set up, so even if the huppa were to cost $850 we would have paid for it. Note that the picture Lily gave me of the Huppa had Ivy, I told her I didn’t want Ivy. So my set up was not in the pictures she sent me.

 

Chairs

We got the simple white chairs, no decoration, they came free.

 

Aisle Runner:

The aisle runner is a light brown, darker than the sand, initially I wanted to have it covered with rose petals, but each bag of petals at the Moon Palace for real flowers, was very expensive for such an endeavor, so I bought tons of Freeze Dried petals (you cannot have silk because it damages the environment, you must have biodegradeable petals). The problem is the wind was too strong, so we used the petals for the exit.

 

I got a very good deal for the petals here: Flyboy Naturals freeze dried real rose petals, roses, flowers, hydrangea, peony petals, wedding toss, eco-friendly petals

 

I wore 4 inch heels and was able to walk down the aisle without a problem. It is a very very sturdy runner, so you can walk in heels, even when you move to the beach portion, standing there is not a problem. My bridesmaids and mom also wore heels and nobody had a problem.

 

Ceremony Programs: initially I was going to have the wedding ceremony programs placed in each chair, but the wind was just VERY VERY STRONG, so much so that it was not feasible. I created my own ceremony fan programs and lily handed them out before the ceremony. I made sure that I matched the ribbon of the program to the dresses of my bridesmaids. I made this the week before the wedding once I obtained the name of the minister.

 

Minister & Ceremony Script

 

 

Moon Palace has a script that ministers follow, I was not too happy about the script because it was religious and my fiancé and I are not that religious. Also, I wanted the ceremony to be meaningful to us. So, we wrote our own script, the minister made the introduction in English and Spanish (my mom speaks only Spanish). The rest was in English.

 

My husband’s father read a reading “The Art of Marriage.†The Minister did the “Blessing of the Hands†reading. My husband and I did our own vows. I memorized mine, and he read his. My hands were too busy to have a piece of paper to read from, so I just memorized a short and sweet vow.

 

The Minister brought us this certificate to sign, our wedding was symbolic (not legal), so we just signed a certificate, I had no idea they were bringing this certificate LOL. Anyway, we got legally married in San Francisco before our actual wedding in Mexico and we only told one groomsman about this. We didn’t want to go through the whole blood work, multiple day stay in Mexico etc, so we had our civil wedding. Even though our wedding in Mexico was not legal, it was very meaningful, I cried a lot even though I thought I was not going to cry because I was already married he he

 

 

 

Exit:

 

 

Lily’s assistant provided the guests with petals and they tossed petals, since I had tons of petals that were supposed to cover the aisle, it made for a very fun and memorable moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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