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we'll be staying at the mayakoba in the mayan riviera for 6 more nights- after the wedding - it's a beautiful new rosewood resort - Mexico Luxury Resorts in Riviera Maya | Rosewood Mayakoba | Riviera Maya Mexico Resorts

Quote: Originally Posted by SalnSteve Hi Guys, I need some honeymoon help please I am currently looking at staying at the Tides at PDC for 3 nights and then EDSS for 4 nights. Has anyone been to either of these places I would like to have an amazing honeymoon. I am worried about the beach at both places as we will want to swim and snorkel, and what the resorts themselves are like. Any information you have will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Salena hi salena- i stayed at the tides (while it was just changing over to tides from ikal del mar) it was amazing! - i honestly couldn't say enough about it- its romantic and secluded and probably one of the best vacations i've ever had- i think it would be an amazing place to honeymoon- they also do a beautiful mayan love ceremony on the beach that could be a nice thing to do (even after your wedding) the beach was beautiful - you can definitely swim and snorkel away there i highly recommend it- let me know if you have any specific questions... km

Quote: Originally Posted by debbie421 Hi ladies! I lurk a ton, but rarely post. I'm hoping you'll forgive me and help anyway! I'm considering a Riviera Maya wedding. I really want to get married in Tulum, but my family pointed out that my guests may prefer an all-inclusive vacation. We picked Tulum because it's one of the only towns in Riviera Maya where all inclusives barely exist; everything seems local, independent, all the things we love. I get my family's point though, scouting out amazing local restaurant's may not be my guests idea of a relaxing vacation. Unfortunately, I can't really picture us at an all inclusive. I'm really not a chain person, for food or hotel. And I'm not into touristy attractions either. A mega all inclusive resort with jet ski rental and a Senor Frog's would be the opposite of us. (Please don't misunderstand, I'm not calling these things bad, just saying it's not really us.) Can anyone think of an all-inclusive in the area that's more us? Ideally it would be small, incredible food, beautiful beach. The cherry on the sundae would be budget option for our less fortunate guests nearby (doesn't have to be a hotel, can be condos, etc). Does this place exist? hi, i was in a similar predicament...i wanted a small intimate resort that felt charming & boutiquey - we ended up booking esencia which is a 29 room resort in xpu ha we're really excited about it, did a site visit and its gorgeous its not exactly in tulum, its actually between playa and tulum...but it has a similar toned down vibe and a gorgeous beach- the rooms are on the pricey side but booking off-season gave us a little room for negotiation the hotel next door to esencia is al cielo and it is really beautiful as well, much more rustic and charming- i've seen other brides post more details about that one but it might be interesting to look at hope this helps- & good luck

Hi Guys! this was a great post, very helpful points. I would definitely second the notion that you should ask to see several full weddings, also more and more popular is the assistant turned photographer overnight (!). Feel free to ask your photographer how many weddings they've shot, how long they've been shooting and what their educational background is. It's even ok to ask to speak with a past client as a reference, which may be helpful. And last but not least I tell my clients that the most important thing to feel is comfortable and content with your photographer. They will be with you on your most intimate day - so choose someone that you trust and feel good about. hope this helps

Quote: Originally Posted by adias.angel Because we along with most of our guests will be coming in by ship (week long celebration on board this way ). So there is no way we would ever fill the hotel to meet the 100% requirement you talked about. yes, i understand have you looked at xcaret? or ana y jose beach club?

sure carla- what are your other options?how does the cruise ship restrict you?

hi carla- i stayed at the tides (ikal) right when it switched over to "tides" in march of 2007 and it is amazing- the grounds are gorgeous and romantic and perfect for an intimate wedding. we actually inquired about having our wedding there but had a difficult time getting information for weddings. When we did get responses from them, there werent any set price sheets and they required 100% occupancy of the resort which was unrealistic for us. but staying at ikal was one of our favorite experiences in the area- and i highly recommend it, might be an amazing place to honeymoon...?

hi blondie- still a hotel, but a little smaller and more intimate is hotel esencia- that's what we chose, but started on a similar track, looking for off the beaten track venues. also look at maroma, xcaret which does weddings for villas- here's a pretty good resource too...Riviera Maya Villas Vacation Rentals, Akumal Villa Rentals | Villas Caribe hope this helps

hi everyone- thanks for the responses! mexico09 & kelcrooks- here are more details we were hesitant about committing because of the room night requirement, but i think there is room to negotiate with them depending on your date and # of people. we chose oct 26th as our date, which is still considered low season but is close to the cusp- and i think that helped us negotiate a little bit, we are also having a smaller wedding of about 60 people. We were concerned about the requirement and basically got it down to a 50% requirement and had them convert it to room nights in total. So since we will be staying longer and so will some of our guests, we were able to reach that # quicker. we also sent out emails to our closest friends before we booked it and asked if they'd be able to stay here with us. The room rates we received were a discounted group rate, i believe the standard room is 350 after the discount, which helped make it a little more reasonable. The tricky part is that there are only 8 rooms at that rate, and then it went up from there, 10 more rooms at 420 & so on. the woman we spoke to in sales was sandra- and she was very helpful and accomodating- here's her email address: Sandra Beltran/ Groups & Weddings: [email protected]. I'll try attaching the rate sheet they sent me - hope this works.... let me know if you have any other questions Karen Mordechai Proposal -5.pdf

HI everyone ! thanks for all these responses !!! somehow i missed them all, please forgive I am new at this matt & sol & elizabeth- thanks for the photos, they are great - such nice work you guys do! ive def been looking at your photos throughout this process and they are beautiful! We ended up booking hotel esencia instead, ultimately it was difficult to guarentee the # of rooms they required from our guests. thanks mexico09 bride, that was exactly the problem But we are VERY excited about esencia. Thanks again for all the responses-

Quote: Originally Posted by nylalany Ah Esencia is right next to Al Cielo! It is beautiful! oooh ! you just got married at al cielo, how fun. we had no idea how amazing al cielo was until we got there, we walked over and took a little tour of the rooms. were actually going to have a few a few of our guests stay there....im going to read all of your reviews right now...thanks for responding!

Wanted to thank everyone for all the helpful information on this forum. We finally booked our wedding date Oct 26, 2008 at hotel esencia. For those of you who don't know about this hotel here's the website Esencia - Small Luxury Hotel and Spa - Riviera Maya It is a small resort 30 rooms, really beautiful grounds, on a gorgeous piece of beach (xpu ha beach) between playa del carmen and tulum. Is anyone else getting married at esencia? I introduced myself a little bit ago, but fell off the forum for a little bit... Just to give you guys some background- I'm a wedding photographer, specializing in destination weddings, so finding a unique spot was pretty key- I feel so lucky to have found esencia- and so excited to have our wedding there. Oh, and here's our wedding website in case anyone's interested....www.kennyandkaren.net here are a few pics of esencia too- Attachment 2007 Attachment 2008

Hi girls & hi leigh, thanks for posting the photos of mayakoba- they're beautiful! Actually, I inquired with the mayakoba for our wedding- and just wanted to add a few details in case anyone was interested. The place looks absolutely gorgeous, but unfortunately didn't seem too organized on the wedding front. There was no full pricelist for all wedding items and we were told that wed be given a list of vendors to contact only after we sign the contract. The dinner menu looked great with different options ranging from $70 pp- $130. we were also a bit disappointed to find out that the we were obligated to have all of our guests stay at mayakoba and the rates were around 500/night. But the place looks gorgeous, and I do hope that they will make weddings more accessible. Perhaps they are just not ready yet... In any case, we decided to honeymoon there instead for a few nights after the wedding. looks like the perfect place to hide & unwind. hope this helps- and let me know if anyone has any questions.

Has anyone gotten married here? Or planning a wedding at Maroma? Would love to see pictures or hear feedback- Thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by Nancy Welcome! You will find valuable information in this forum. Good luck on the planning. Don't wait to long to book your hotel if your wedding is in October. I am getting married October 20th in Cabo San Lucas and it was very hard to get the resort I wanted. I had to go with a Monday wedding in order to get Dreams Los Cabos. Nancy thanks nancy- yes...it has been hard but luckily they are holding our date at both places-