AI Resort Advice Needed

Hi,

My FI and I are getting married in Feb 2011 in Riviera Maya we're thinking we'll have about 75-80 guests.. We want to have everyone stay in a AI resort to make things easy and were looking for one thats somewhat south of PDC but not as far as Tulum. We're thinking we'll do the ceremony and reception offsite in Tulum to get away from the resort. But that being said we also don't want to be in the middle of PDC with all of the other resorts. So Playacar area maybe? Other ideas?

We're going to have a few small children among our guests (max age 5) but the large majority of our guests will be young adults (age 30 ish). So we're looking for something that allows kids but isn't kid crazy (heard Dreams Cancun Riv is). So something that can accomodate kids but isn't child focused.

We really want a nice beach (important) where we can swim and body board etc... and then a hotel with nice accomodations and a good swim up bar.

Does anyone have suggestions? We've been looking on all the various search engines and forums (tripadvisor) and are struggling a little since we've never been down there. We've not seen an a map of all the current beachfront resorts along the coast does anyone have one?. We're just having a tough time because some places seem nice but then there are some reviews contradicting the good points. And we don't want a resort thats insanely massive.. As we'll want to be able to meet up with our guests easily. We're doing a site visit in the beginning of May so we're also looking for a place to stay then and were hoping to checkout other resorts while we're there.

Anyone have suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Andrea and Dave

This is the hardest part of the planning process, IMO. You just have to immerse yourself in the search process and keep whittling down based on your checklist of "must haves" or you will drive yourself crazy. In my case, hotel size was a major factor so I started reducing hotels based on that and kept going from there.

There's a useful sticky thread in this section w/ various maps of the resorts in the area. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...era-maya-2278/

As for your site preference, I do think the Playacar area is a good alternative. You may also want to consider hotels in Puerto Aventuras and Akumal which are also a little farther down from PDC. Dreams Puerto Aventuras might be a good AI option for you since it's kid friendly and smaller than many of the mega-AI resorts in the region.

Hello Andrea and Dave...first of all ...CONGRATULATION!!!!!

We are Federica and Arianna (Micas de Miralls - The Wedding Planner) , we are indipendent wedding planners in the Riviera Maya, indipendent because we dont like too much organize weddings inside AI , we think a wedding is so special for every person than "another all the same wedding" is not our style at all.... So basically we select personally different private places according to your taste and budget, usually most of our clients do like you , stay in a AI for the vacation and then they get out for the wedding, so feel free to contact us If you need any extra tips or informations!!! ;-)))

About AI resort where you can stay , let's see....If you dont mind to stay beetwen Playa del Carmen and Tulum , the Barcelo at XPu ha has a great beach...actually XPu ha has one of the most beautiful beach....If you want to stay in Tulum , Blue Tulum and Dreams Tulum has great beaches too.....Hope this can help you!!! ;-)))) Federica & Arianna

I was considering Barcelo Maya before deciding on Jamaica. I've heard great things about it. YOu will find tons of reviews on resorts on the forum!

Hi Andrea and Dave ,

I feel your pain! I have been researching wedding venue options and hotels for 4 months now! A few weeks ago I became very stressed and fed up of researching online for hours only to find contradicting info- so we booked a flight to Cancun--and leave next week!! I am so excited! I am pretty sure we want a small hotel , but constantly second guess myself and think that maybe a bigger hotel is a better option (cheaper for guests, more to do) and then have a wedding offsite. The only downfall is that you have to pay for transportation.

We are expecting about 100 guests, so we thought it woudl be fun to have our wedding at a small hotel and have all the guests stay there too (sort of take over an entire hotel). When we are donw there, we are going to look at Ceiba Del Mar, Azul Beach, Mahakal, Le Reve. I do want to check out at least one larger hotel, but haven't decided which ones yet.

One option you might want to look at is Milamores---its close to Tulum and I heard it is a great option for weddings. Also, Al Cielo (there are some really great post-wedding reviews on that place).

Good Luck!

Hi Tracy,

I just wanted to give you a heads up that Azul Beach won't do weddings for more than 50 people. I know because that was actually our first choice, but we are expecting 70-80 guests. I talked with their WC directly and she said they cannot accommodate more than 50 people for a ceremony OR a reception. However, if you are planning to do your wedding off-site, then it may be an option for you!

We ended up choosing Ceiba del Mar... I'm excited to hear how your site visit goes. Take lots of pictures!

Thanks MexBride! It is so strange...because I keep hearing conflicting information. I am working with a TA who specializes in the El Dorado and Azul properties and she said they can host 100 people if we got married on the beach?

I am going to take a TON of pics and promise to post them!

Tracy

Tracy - your TA isn't destinationweddings.com is it? Because they told me I could, and then I contacted Karisma and they told me I couldn't! But this was back in January as well, so things may have changed. Regardless, you'll get to meet them in person, so you'll get all the info straight from them! I'm very jealous of that:) We're hoping to do a site visit to Ceiba del Mar in the fall.