Secrets Maroma Brides

Thanks ladies for the feedback on the pergola's for the beach ceremony. Looks like it'd probably be best to use the smaller one, and ask that some chairs be moved away prior to the ceremony. I'm assuming we'll have some spectators, which will be unavoidable, but I'm sure people will be respectful.

I second Simistar's review of the cake. We also got vanilla and had some of the same flowers from my bouquet put on the cake. It was small which was fine because we only had 20 people including our two photogs. The cake was mushy, tasteless, and boring! If cake is a top priority go with an outside vendor.

I wish I would have b/c I love cake so much! haha

I was married at SMB this past April and we had so much wind the sand was blowing EVERYWHERE. It felt like we were being sandblasted so it was a little bit uncomfortable on the beach. We had to switch our reception to be in the World Cafe red room like NewYork's. In our case they were not able to close all of World Cafe because it was a last minute switch (about 4 hours before the reception started).

In April we did not experience many mosquitoes, except in the woods in the cenote we went to for our TTD. They were HORRENDOUS in the woods but not at the resort.

Unfortunately we had some people who were NOT very respectful of our ceremony. We constantly had people edging ever closer and taking pictures like mad!! One lady even started taking pictures from all sides!! Cecilia tried her best to chase people away. We had our ceremony at a set-up even further to the south than the regular one. I'm not sure of the extra cost because we were able to piggy back on another ceremony that another bride paid to have.

If Cecilia doesn't move the chairs further away maybe some of your guests would be willing to move them away 30 minutes before the ceremony starts?

Are you serious?? What is WRONG with people??!
We actually didn't have any problems with this... People were looking for sure, but no one came into our "area"...

We did have LOTS of people the next day ask if we were the couple that got married, that they watched and thought it looked lovely, etc :-)

I think Kits has the right idea...get some guests to move the chairs away 20-30 mins before the ceremony and stand guard so people don't move them back:-)
Cecilia does try...but again, she's just one person and forgets things, so if this is important to you, appoint some friends to be "gatekeepers", lol:-)

Yes, we did have some intruders but I didn't pay much attention to them. I will say that I was somewhat prepared to have people in the background of our pics but not as prepared as I should have been! lol There were definitely some people who took liberties they should not have with their beach attire...and they're in our pictures! There's a really awesome picture of us during the ceremony and right between us in the background is an old fat guy wearing a speedo!

Maybe future brides should appoint some friends to be gatekeepers for proper beach attire during the ceremony! lol

I know I want my reception indoors because it will be hot in July, but I don't know which restaurant. I didn't like the pics of the ballroom but maybe it looks better in person

 

I see a lot of the girls used the World Cafe and it looks beautiful. We are having 50+ people so I guess we will need the whole restaurant if we use that one...is the rest as pretty as the red room?

 

What would be the 2nd best indoor spot?

So after all your comments about all the people around in their not so flattering attire, I'm thinking about maybe bringing some kind of stakes and tie some ribbon to them....making an implied "fence" around the ceremony area..? Do you think that would be too much? If Cecilia would let me do it, it might help make it more obvious that people need to not pass the ribbon. Obviously they could just walk around it if they were really nosy, but it might at least send the beach go-ers the message that it's a "private" space. Thoughts?

Sorry, I never actually checked out the ballroom...
Just my opinion, but I figured if we went all the way to Mexico, I didn't want to be in a ballroom that looks like it could be anywhere, lol:-)
Again, though, just the way we felt about it...

As for another indoor option, perhaps you could ask about using the Oceana restaurant (seafood restaurant) or Seaside Grill (steak restaurant)...?
Both of these restaurants are kind of open-air, right next to each other under a large palapa right beside the pool... and b/c they're under the palapas they're kind of air-conditioned and cooler....
These restaurants look gorgeous at night right beside the pool, so you guys would have a great view as well...

I'll try to find some pics and post them:-)


I don't see why Cecilia would say no to this, as long as you guys take care of it yourselves and don't "fence off" too large of an area (so people won't complain)...
In fact, maybe don't even ASK, just let Cecilia know that's what you plan on doing:-)

Oaky, uploaded some pics to photobucket:-)

 

Here are some shots during the day (sorry, don't have any of it at night) of Oceana, the seafood restaurant...

 

Close-up:

 

Further away:

 

BTW, Oceana and the steak restaurant (Seaside Grill) are right next to each other and I'm sure share the same kitchen, so if you don't like seafood (or conversely, don't like steak) I'm sure you can order either at each restaurant...

(in the above picture, Seaside Grill is in the palapa on the right-hand side)

 

I'm sorry I don't have front-on pics of Seaside Grill, but here's a shot from the side...(just when it's starting to get dark...you can kind of see how nice the lights will look...) Again, it's right next to Oceana...

 

It faces the pool, and then on one side is this grassy area...

 

Another shot, a bit darker...unfortunately, still from same angle:

 

Hope these help?:-)

Forgot this one!

It just shows inside the restaurants... there are fans and air conditioning on so you don't get too hot:-)

 

Mandiland - In my opinion and after being married there in JULY I would have my reception inside a closed in restaurant. Aside from the heat, I would not want to chance the mosquitos. Our cocktail hr was outside and just as we were moving in for the reception the bugs came out. We all would have been so uncomfortable if we were staying outside for the reception as well. Maybe the bugs would not be a problem and maybe they would. I'm just the type of person that wouldn't take that chance. Also, maybe the bugs wouldn't be that bad down towards the water more where there is more of a breeze, but we ate at those restaurants and we had a slight bug problem there at night.

 

I agree that those restaurants are beautiful and would be nice for a reception, but I'm just not one to take chances.

 

I felt the same way about the ballroom and why travel all the way to Mexico to be in a ballroom, but I will say that the pics Cecilia sent me of the ballroom was not the only "ballroom" option. I too disliked the pics of the ballroom that was sent to me, but upon arriving at the resort and looking for myself I found that the large foyer area before going into the actual ballroom was lovely. Not sure of how many people could fit, but it was fairly large and you could use the balcony for cocktail hr and it's location is great for privacy. If you did end up there I would definitely check to make sure there is no corporate dinner or anything going on in the actual ballroom that night because that could be a problem on many levels. I almost had my ceremony in there b/c of the weather and I would not have been happy due to the noise of them setting up next door for a dinner. (Luckily the weather turned out perfect!)

 

I have to run out now but I will post the pics I have of the ballroom when I get back