sarah1108

Hi Joanna -- I got married on the Akumal Beach, not the palapas, but I am guessing our situations are similar I got some platform flip-flops from MyGlassSlipper.com and wore those for the ceremony. I had regular wedding shoes as well that I wore for the reception. I would suggest getting some form of flip-flops, because you'll be roaming the entire resort taking pictures and the stilettos are not easy to get around in on different terrains! Sarah

scoutley -- I don't know where that information came from about restrictions to eating only in "your section". I checked with my travel agent before we chose this hotel, and she assured me that guests can move freely between the resorts and use facilities/restaurants at all of them. we didn't run into any issues with that. Everyone in our group was "resort-hopping" the whole time

HI Guys -- I got married in Akumal this past Saturday. Overall, I do have some negative feedback, but the wedding, the location, the happiness of the day were immeasurable and I would do it all over again if I could. We loved our wedding and we couldn't imagine doing it any other way. Ok so the things to watch out for -- 1) We ordered flowers for the mothers and fathers (corsages and boutonniers). Yuritzia wrote down the names of who they were supposed to go to. Then she gave them to the wrong people. I told her it was wrong, and she just kind of shrugged it off and said that there was nothing she could do about it now. My husband wasn't watching her, because we had over 40 guests and he was mingling with them. I would suggest having your fiance double-check things. 2) She had laundry pick up my dress on Thursday (Saturday wedding) to have it steamed. It was supposed to be returned Friday, but never was. Again, I had to track her down Friday night so she could have the dress returned. My only advice here is to double-check things. 3) She promised to leave a day pass for our photographer but never did. I checked at the front desk at 11am Saturday for our 2pm wedding and no day pass. I had to have the front desk people call her and get the day pass. Again, double-check things. 4) Our toasting flutes were lost. We asked immediately after our dance for our toasting flutes back and never received them. Yuritzia first offered us a refund for our flutes and then backed out of it. I don't know what to tell you here. We are just going to order new ones, we consider it "the price we pay for having our wedding in mexico", lol. 5) The salon/spa does use a flat-iron for curling your hair. This might work well for people with thicker hair, but I have thin, blonde hair and my hair was not curled when I left the spa. Basically they "curled" it and it fell right out. The flat-iron didn't work on it at all. Luckily my awesome maid of honor (sister) brought a curling iron with her and she fixed it up all pretty. Just be aware of this. If you want some curls, I would suggest bringing a curling iron "just in case" and to do any touch-ups. The good -- 1) The wedding location is awesome, and gorgeous. 2) The weather was looking a little bit unsure during the afternoon after the wedding, so Yuritzia gave us the option of moving our dance indoors. We decided to do so. I will say --- the dance was awesome. I was a little worried it would be a dingy meeting room, but it had the marble floors and was very pretty. They put tables with candles on them, balloon columns, etc. We loved it, and our guests loved it, it was air conditioned and bug-free. 3) The tres leches cake is awesome. 4) We asked about the DJ, because we had brought an Ipod with our music on it. She told us she'd set up speakers (basically a DJ booth) for us and let us play our own music with no DJ. We did this, and our guests also liked it because there were a few single guys there so they had fun playing DJ. Also, some of our other guests had ipods and they mixed in a song or two of their own. It was totally fun. From my point of view -- either way (with or without DJ) would work fine and be very fun. 5) The Akumal beach location is gorgeous. We loved it, and our guests loved it. Yuritzia kept everyone in the snack bar until just before wedding time so they wouldn't all roast in the sun, and walked them down to the wedding site just before the bridal party arrived. 6) We had a candle and photograph of my husband's grandparents for our table, Yuritzia handled that well. 7) All of our guests LOVED the resort. We stayed in Akumal, and our guests were spread out between all 3 resorts. Everyone had a fabulous time and thanked us for choosing this location. While we were there, the Coba buffet was better for service (the wait staff was much more lively and entertaining), and everyone in our group liked the lobby bar and outside bar at Coba the best. It seemed the most accessible and there was always something going on, very lively! (Of course this is personal preference). 9) If you have seen one of the resort maps, it is not to scale. It took us 10-15 min to walk from our room in Akumal (building 4 to the Coba lobby. A lot of people in our group enjoyed walking and would walk almost anywhere. 10) We had a "welcome dinner/rehearsal dinner" at La Buena Vida restaurant in Akumal, and our guests RAVED about it. The place is awesome. Of course, it's not part of the resort, it's totally separate, so you'd have to pay for it separately, etc. For 45 people we paid somewhere around $1700, including having an open bar available to everyone. The manager/owner Jorge provided bug spray to everyone too so that was a big help. I can't think of anything else to write right now. I only wrote the negatives to help you in planning your wedding and help you have the best wedding possible -- my husband and I both LOVED the wedding and would definitely do it all over again. If you have any questions, just ask! Sarah

Hi Girls, I am getting married in November too! November 8th! I have a couple more questions.. What are the ceremony site options for couples staying at the Akumal resort? Are we allowed to get married at the gazebo if we're staying in Akumal? Also, I am confused as to whether they book 2 weddings per day for the entire resort complex, or 2 weddings per day, per section of the resort? Thx!!

oohh you are pregnant! Congratulations, that is very exciting I think they initially tell you that there is only one wedding per day. Since you are the first wedding, you'll get first pick of what time you want to get married at and what restaurant you want to eat at. (I know this b/c we are the second wedding on our day). I have never been to this particular resort before, but at the one I went to last spring the bottled water was fine, and so was the water they serve you in the restaurants (they have purifiers). My travel agents said that all of the resorts have purifiers.

Sunsierra -- do you know whether this Bahia Principe charges a "per person" fee for setting up chairs for the wedding? Other resorts I got info from told me that if we have over 15 people, it's $10 or $15 per person extra. I haven't seen anything like that on GBP's wedding info.

Martha: My fiance and I are the second wedding of the day on November 8th (ie, we are the second couple to book), so the wedding planner told us that we'd get second choice of the restaurants. We aren't allowed to "reserve" the restaurant until after the other couple, and also not until 2.5 mos before the wedding. So, I don't know whether they will let you choose now or not

Tlseege: What are the prices for the poolside reception? Do you get to pick what kind of food you want for that reception? My fiance and I were thinking of doing an offsite reception because they told us we can't have a Mexican dinner, since we're staying at the Akumal section, and the Akumal section doesn't have the Mexican restaurant...

ohhh congrats, your pictures look great, and I LOVE the palapas beach wedding location

Hey Martha, what is Jazmin's email address? I am with you girls about Yuritzia. We have about 50 people for our wedding so far, and I can't wait to figure out the menu in the last month unless I decide to call each guest individually and ask them what they want to eat. I emailed Irma, the main coordinator, and she told me that "Yuritzia will be contacting you within 2.5 months of your wedding."..... great....

i agree, your newsletter is great! i love alltournative's descriptions and schedules of the tours there is also lomas travel, if your guests want to do something more "adventurous". They have ATVs, wave-runners, parasailing, etc. Tours, Transfers and Hotels in Cancun by Lomas Travel - Online Reservations and Travel Vacations.

I am using this guy named Eduardo Machuca: "eMac" Eduardo Machuca-Torres Eduardo Machuca - Fotografia|Photography -My general photography Eduardo Machuca - Wedding Photography | Fotografia de Bodas -My wedding photography | Eduardo Machuca | Photography -My photography blog (That's the signature he uses for his email). We thought his prices were really reasonable, and he doesn't force you to buy a package, you just pay for photography hourly, and then pick which specific prints you want. Anyways, I really liked the editing style of Sol Tamargo, but if we used her we'd only be able to have her there for the ceremony, and with Eduardo we can have him there all day. That's what made us go this way.

oh.. let me post one more... did you guys all receive that "Conrado" photographer's info? I think he is the internal photographer. Anyways, I thought it was ridiculous that he charges $540 for 36 photos, and you don't even get the negatives. Most of the other photographers that I talked to/got prices from offer a CD with the pictures on them.

Hey Gals, What I've heard is that every "outside" photographer is charged for the day pass. Our photographer has definitely done weddings at GBP before (he has some albums online), and he said we'd have to pay for the day pass. Sarah

I think that the Gran Tortuga has round tables, and Le Gourmet has long rectangular ones. But I also have the idea that if you have a larger wedding party, they will set up long rectangular tables for you. I have a picture of a Gran Tortuga dinner, and I know where some are of the Le Gourmet. If you want the picutres, PM me and I'll send them to you. How big is your wedding party (including guests)? Have you chosen a photographer yet? If they have been to the resort before, they seem to be knowledgeable.