Moon Palace 2008 & 2009 Brides - POST HERE!

Wow...i just went back to page one of this thread and spent the last few nights reading up to page 120 and then I got too anxious and skipped to page 175 and skimmed the rest. All I can say is now I am super pumped about our decision to get married at MP. There's been very little negative experiences which is a testament to how well the resort has the wedding process down.

 

6 months left to go! We booked back in Jan. and it's already May. I know time is going to fly. There are still so many decisions to make. I just need to get enough points on this thing to go back and open some of the attachments!!!

 

I picked up my dress and veil this weekend, picked out the bridesmaid dresses and bought jewelry. Our colors are turquoise and white with fuchia accent!

OMG...my wedding is 2 1/2 months away and I am starting to panic. I am having a hard time figuring out the timing of events. Any input would be wonderful. My wedding is scheduled for 3pm. So, I am thinking of either doing a cocktails afterwards or going to a bar until dinner. I have no idea where we are going to do the dinner. I am roughly at 50people, which means that we are going to have a private function. Ideally, I would like to have it on a terrace. Has anyone done this with a large group? Also, did you have a dance floor and dj? Please anyone, give me your opinon. I am confused.

We are having around 40 ppl for a 3pm ceremony too. I was thinking roughly 3-3:30 ceremony (although in all reality, the chances of it being late are greater than it being on time). 3:30-4, pictures with everyone. Cocktail hour(s) 4-6. Dinner from 6-10. We'll probably pay for the extra two hours of service (since only 2 hours are included in the private function). FI and I will take pictures from 4 to 5 and join for one hour of cocktail with the guests. We may even end up doing one hour of pictures with everyone (on the beach, near the gazebo, etc.) and therefore have 1.5 hours of cocktail reception. DJ and dancing on the terrace.

 

I remember reading somewhere that they won't put a dance floor outside for fear of spilling and wiping out but they will clear out an area on the terraces for dancing.

Hi kmac,

I'd definitely opt for the cocktail hour and/or private reception on one of the terraces. Your group size should qualify you for a free cocktail hour and ideally, you'd want to limit the amount of walking your guests have to do throughout the day. So, keeping the location for the cocktail hour and private reception near one another is key in my opinion.

There are several terraces on the property all ranging in size and they have allocated space on the lawns (for lack of better terms) for cocktail hours which they refer to as 'gardens'. The paths and the terraces on the property are stamped and dyed concrete. This is a great surface as it never really became slippery and we went injury free. I also know that MP will not put a dance floor down on the lawn due to liability issues (I had previously asked my WC this same question).

We went for the iPod package and I'm glad we did that rather than spending the money on a DJ. The lighting around the terrace is adequate and unless you really have your heart set on DJ lights. I contemplated the DJ lights because my concern with not having the lights was that there really wouldn't be a designated area for dancing and that wasn't the case. MP setup the terrace in a very functional way where it was clear that there was an area for eating, drinking, and dancing. Last thing... you can get (small upcharge with iPod package) the 'disco lights' with either music package you chose (DJ or iPod).

If you chose not to do a cocktail hour, then you could go to either of the lobby bars or possibly the rooftop bar on the Grand side (if open). I'd stay away from the pool bars; I wouldn't want to risk any of my guests wedding gear getting wet or ruined with drunk pool-goers.

Camie

Has anyone had a hard time working with the resort in regards to bringing your own photog??

Thank you so much for the info. Camie, I have another question for you. How exactly does the iPod package work? Did anyone do announcing for 1st dance, toasts, etc.?

We have a 2:00 wedding and are having the same problems deciding. We are just starting to work with the WC so we haven't gone over anything with them yet. We get one private function with the number of rooms we have and reservations at a restaurant with our wedding package we purchased. We were thinking that we would do a dinner / toast & roast shortly after the wedding then meet back up around 6:00 for a cocktail party/ first dance/toast/cake / party till about 10:00. If there is down time between the events, people can hang out at the pools or we will meet in one of the bars close to where we ate and will have the cocktail party. We are checking now to see if we can pay the photographer to take photos the first couple hours at the cocktail party dance.

Hello Everyone

We are officially booked for our wedding Feb.22, 2010 at 4:00pm, and as of right now we have 35 guests booked so Yay Wedding!

 

Question for any of the other Canadian Moon Palace brides out there - did you have any problems securing any of the group amenities such as the free cocktail party and/or private reception while doing your booking through a Canadian wholesaler?

Hmm...my wedding is at 1pm, so my schedule will probably be pretty different than yours kmac. I'm having an awful time deciding what I want to do for the schedule, since the wedding is so early. I've sent an email to my WC seeing if maybe there have been any cancellations and if there was a way we could move to a later time. We'll see.

 

Speaking of WCs - has anyone had Kalena? A few months back, I was assigned Kalena because I wanted to make sure I had a particular gazebo....so I emailed and emailed and emailed her for almost a month and a half with no response. Finally, I called the resort, only to find out she was on vacation for several months, so I was temporarily assigned Maribel - who was awesome and responded to everything right away. So, as we get closer to the wedding, I've emailed Maribel asking her if she's my permanent WC now, and she responded that my assigned WC is Kalena.

 

So....I emailed Kalena last Wednesday, but no reply. I'm really nervous about this and working with her...anyone have any experience with her? Or does anyone else have her too??

There wasn't an emcee for our dance or toasts, etc. I decided when it was time for the first dance and had the iPod guy switch to my 'dance' play list and went from there. It felt like the longest dance ever BTW. We fully intended to have the traditional toasts but time flew by and I decided that getting the dance party started was more important and we didn't end up having toasts.

I created 2 play lists: cocktail hour/dinner and dance. I had my bridesmaids take the iPod with them to the cocktail hour as we were going to do our bride/groom photo session. They worked with the iPod guy to get it started.

The iPod guy also has iTunes and can download anything you want him to play. In fact, he was on Lime Wire illegally downloading music during our dance. My dad asked him if he was afraid of getting caught and his response was: "I'm in Mexico." LOL.