heathernandmike

Hi all, Sorry for the much delayed review, we've been so busy since we returned from our January wedding at the Blue Parrot in Playa del Carmen. Overall, we had a great experience with Blue Parrot. Paula, for the most part, was very helpful and attentive. I did have some problems getting in touch with her the last month before my wedding, which was very stressful - and the funny part is that I was trying to figure out how to pay them! She said she was very busy with New Years planning...Paula has been with Blue Parrot for many years, so that is a good thing to know that she most likely wouldn't be leaving like so many coordinators do. But overall, planning the wedding mostly thru the internet and email was successful for us. For a brief recap of our wedding, we arrived about a week before and stayed at the Playa Palms just a few steps from the Blue Parrot. We had a great experience at the Playa Palms, the rooms were great, the balconies all had great views, and it was right on the beach. The staff was very helpful and attentive. We arrived the Sunday before our wedding. We spent a few days with close friends who decided to make a week out of the wedding, and then other friends and family started to arrive on Wednesday. On Wednesday night we took our friends and family who had arrived to dinner at Yaxche which was amazing. Ask to be seated in the courtyard if you go, and be sure to make reservations in advance. And, be sure to order the Mayan coffee, it's quite a show to watch them make it! I highly recommend Yaxche for a pre wedding dinner, and the courtyard would be amazing for a rehearsal dinner. On Thursday night, we reserved the carribbean carnival booze cruise for all of our guests. The cruise involved a boat ride with lots of booze to an island, then dinner and an interactive show (we were pulled onstage because someone told them we were getting married) and more booze on the way back. It was fun! A little cheesy and the booze was of course very low quality hangover inducing, but it was a good time. On Friday, the boys and the girls separately did ATV tours. This, besides getting married, was one of my favorite parts of our trip! I had never ridden an ATV before so I was a bit nervous at first, but I got used to it in no time and EVERYONE who did it had a total blast. We were covered in mud in the end but it was worth it. Our tour took us to a cenote where we went snorkeling, as well as thru the jungle. On Friday evening we held a cocktail reception on the beach at our hotel. The reservations associate, Tatiana with Playa Palms, helped us set this up. She arranged for tables and a bartender, they set out chairs and candles on the beach, and we bought some beer and alcohol at the local Walmart and had a very cheap but fun cocktail reception. This was followed by dinner at Alux Cave. The atmosphere of this place was amazing - there are a series of caves that are lit with colored lights, cool furniture, a belly dancer, cool chandeliers...it was stunning. The food was pretty good, not the best, and to be honest the service was really slow and left a lot to be desired...but I think it was worth it for the experience of eating dinner in an awesome cave. I recommend it, just plan to spend several hours there. After dinner on Friday we did a mezcal tasting at a cute, tiny bar on the main drag in town called La Botica. They have all sorts of flavored mezcals that you can try. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it! Mezcal is a more pure form of tequila and all of our friends who came along to the bar really loved it! We also bought the cutest little bottles of the flavored mezcal, added little tags, and put them in everyones room before they checked in with little custom shot glasses. They were a hit! Our wedding on Saturday was more than I could have asked for. I wanted the look of our wedding to be very modern and clean, and it really turned out better than I could have expected. The florist that Blue Parrot uses is awesome, he can copy almost any arrangement you send photos of, so long as he can get those flowers. I sent over several arrangements that I liked during the planning stages and he let Paula know which options he could do, and the prices, and we decided from there. The arrangements we chose turned out even better than I even imagined. I guess I didn't have high expectations because of other floral arrangements I had seen from Mexico weddings, but he blew my expectations out of the water. It started raining just a few minutes before the ceremony but it was only a brief shower and we were able to proceed with the ceremony on the beach. We had the florist also make the canopy for the ceremony which we loved. We had cocktail hour right after the ceremony and I will say the drinks were pretty good. We had two signature drinks - the tamarind margarita which I highly recommend you try, and a signature martini which Blue parrot made from a recipe I gave to them. For dinner we chose the flank steak and the chicken breast with poblano sauce. The food was decent - maybe not the most amazing meal ever but our guests were pretty happy. They were also a little drunk so I don't think it would have taken much to please them! We had tres leches cake which wasn't as good as I assumed it would be given we were in Mexico (I've had better here in Texas) but it was decent. The DJ was good - we basically picked all of our own music and he played it from our IPOD...that way we got to play a bunch of old fun 80's stuff and some fun dance music. After the party ended we had a reserved area at Blue Parrot on the balcony upper area where those who wanted to could stay and lounge. On Sunday, a small group of people who hadn't left yet and us went to Hidden Worlds Adventure Park. I highly recommend it for guests who are a little adventurous! We went rapeling into a cave, zip lining right into a cenote, cenote snorkeling, riding sky bikes thru the trees, etc. It was so much fun! We honeymooned in Isla Mujeres which I highly recommend if you would like a very low key, laid back honeymoon! We stayed at Ixchel Beach condos which are right on the beach and very close to the main part of town, and they were cheap at just $99/night. Now for photos of it all! I've posted photos some detail photos and fun photos here And you can see the amazing photos from my official photographer Gia with Red Fly Photography, and from my amazing wedding photographer friends who were guests at the wedding here I think that's all for now. If anyone has any specific questions feel free to email me, [email protected]. Best, Heather Banks

One more thing - I had a couple people ask me about costs for Blue Parrot. It really depends on how many guests you have, how much they drink and how customized you get with your wedding decor and flowers...but just to give an idea we had 30 guests and paid for the wedding ourselves so tried to stretch the budget as much as possible. We spent about 2k for set up fees (location and table and chair rentals and DJ), $3000 for appetizers and dinner for 30 guests, $800 on flowers, and about $2500 for drinks. So our total actual wedding costs came to about 9k not including our travel, hotel, dress, shoes, and all that stuff...

Hi all, Sorry for the much delayed review, we've been so busy since we returned from our January wedding at the Blue Parrot in Playa del Carmen. Overall, we had a great experience with Blue Parrot. Paula, for the most part, was very helpful and attentive. I did have some problems getting in touch with her the last month before my wedding, which was very stressful - and the funny part is that I was trying to figure out how to pay them! She said she was very busy with New Years planning...Paula has been with Blue Parrot for many years, so that is a good thing to know that she most likely wouldn't be leaving like so many coordinators do. But overall, planning the wedding mostly thru the internet and email was successful for us. For a brief recap of our wedding, we arrived about a week before and stayed at the Playa Palms just a few steps from the Blue Parrot. We had a great experience at the Playa Palms, the rooms were great, the balconies all had great views, and it was right on the beach. The staff was very helpful and attentive. We arrived the Sunday before our wedding. We spent a few days with close friends who decided to make a week out of the wedding, and then other friends and family started to arrive on Wednesday. On Wednesday night we took our friends and family who had arrived to dinner at Yaxche which was amazing. Ask to be seated in the courtyard if you go, and be sure to make reservations in advance. And, be sure to order the Mayan coffee, it's quite a show to watch them make it! I highly recommend Yaxche for a pre wedding dinner, and the courtyard would be amazing for a rehearsal dinner. On Thursday night, we reserved the carribbean carnival booze cruise for all of our guests. The cruise involved a boat ride with lots of booze to an island, then dinner and an interactive show (we were pulled onstage because someone told them we were getting married) and more booze on the way back. It was fun! A little cheesy and the booze was of course very low quality hangover inducing, but it was a good time. On Friday, the boys and the girls separately did ATV tours. This, besides getting married, was one of my favorite parts of our trip! I had never ridden an ATV before so I was a bit nervous at first, but I got used to it in no time and EVERYONE who did it had a total blast. We were covered in mud in the end but it was worth it. Our tour took us to a cenote where we went snorkeling, as well as thru the jungle. On Friday evening we held a cocktail reception on the beach at our hotel. The reservations associate, Tatiana with Playa Palms, helped us set this up. She arranged for tables and a bartender, they set out chairs and candles on the beach, and we bought some beer and alcohol at the local Walmart and had a very cheap but fun cocktail reception. This was followed by dinner at Alux Cave. The atmosphere of this place was amazing - there are a series of caves that are lit with colored lights, cool furniture, a belly dancer, cool chandeliers...it was stunning. The food was pretty good, not the best, and to be honest the service was really slow and left a lot to be desired...but I think it was worth it for the experience of eating dinner in an awesome cave. I recommend it, just plan to spend several hours there. After dinner on Friday we did a mezcal tasting at a cute, tiny bar on the main drag in town called La Botica. They have all sorts of flavored mezcals that you can try. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it! Mezcal is a more pure form of tequila and all of our friends who came along to the bar really loved it! We also bought the cutest little bottles of the flavored mezcal, added little tags, and put them in everyones room before they checked in with little custom shot glasses. They were a hit! Our wedding on Saturday was more than I could have asked for. I wanted the look of our wedding to be very modern and clean, and it really turned out better than I could have expected. The florist that Blue Parrot uses is awesome, he can copy almost any arrangement you send photos of, so long as he can get those flowers. I sent over several arrangements that I liked during the planning stages and he let Paula know which options he could do, and the prices, and we decided from there. The arrangements we chose turned out even better than I even imagined. I guess I didn't have high expectations because of other floral arrangements I had seen from Mexico weddings, but he blew my expectations out of the water. It started raining just a few minutes before the ceremony but it was only a brief shower and we were able to proceed with the ceremony on the beach. We had the florist also make the canopy for the ceremony which we loved. We had cocktail hour right after the ceremony and I will say the drinks were pretty good. We had two signature drinks - the tamarind margarita which I highly recommend you try, and a signature martini which Blue parrot made from a recipe I gave to them. For dinner we chose the flank steak and the chicken breast with poblano sauce. The food was decent - maybe not the most amazing meal ever but our guests were pretty happy. They were also a little drunk so I don't think it would have taken much to please them! We had tres leches cake which wasn't as good as I assumed it would be given we were in Mexico (I've had better here in Texas) but it was decent. The DJ was good - we basically picked all of our own music and he played it from our IPOD...that way we got to play a bunch of old fun 80's stuff and some fun dance music. After the party ended we had a reserved area at Blue Parrot on the balcony upper area where those who wanted to could stay and lounge. On Sunday, a small group of people who hadn't left yet and us went to Hidden Worlds Adventure Park. I highly recommend it for guests who are a little adventurous! We went rapeling into a cave, zip lining right into a cenote, cenote snorkeling, riding sky bikes thru the trees, etc. It was so much fun! We honeymooned in Isla Mujeres which I highly recommend if you would like a very low key, laid back honeymoon! We stayed at Ixchel Beach condos which are right on the beach and very close to the main part of town, and they were cheap at just $99/night. Now for photos of it all! I've posted photos some detail photos and fun photos And you can see the amazing photos from my official photographer Gia with Red Fly Photography, and from my amazing wedding photographer friends who were guests at the wedding here I think that's all for now. If anyone has any specific questions feel free to email me, [email protected]. Best, Heather Banks

Hi all, The wedding plans are coming along! We've got most of the details finalized. It has been a process but Paula has been great to work with. We're doing very different, modern floral arrangements for Mexico, but the florist is able to copy almost anything we show him as long as they have the flowers available. We have done all of the planning long distance over email, so just so you know it can be done. We wanted to make a trip to do some planning, but budget didn't allow it. We'll be having about 35 guests. We'll be arriving in Playa the Monday before the wedding so we can finalize everything, and we'll be going to Isla Mujeres for a week after the wedding for our honeymoon. Blue Parrot has been great as far as letting us customize our wedding - we're having signature drinks (tamarind margaritas and a special martini), a tres leches wedding cake (we'll add our own cake topper and ribbon instead of the standard tropical flowers decor or seashells), really cool modern flowers, and we've paid a little extra to rent tiffany style chairs for the reception. Our colors are teal, dark yellow, and grey. I'm wearing a turquoise 50's style dress with a peacock feather accent in my hair. I'll be sure to post lots of pics (or a link to them) after the wedding. I'm a photographer, so apart from my official photographer I'll have like 6 photographer friends there shooting the wedding! You can see my invitations here: We are also planning a special schedule for our wedding weekend, you can see it on our wedding website here: wedding website Feel free to email me with questions.

Here you go! [email protected] Good luck!

Hey mexicanbride - I wouldn't say the beach ceremony is very private - there will definitely be other people on the beach though Paula did say that they will clear the immediate area for the ceremony and make people walk around rather than walking in front of us, during the ceremony.

Thanks everyone! PDCbride, I've tried to answer your questions below... Do you think you can give some info on this? As far as what they are charging for the set-up/dinner/flowers etc. What photographer are you using? They have a pretty extensive a la carte rate list for pretty much everything you might need. Email me ([email protected]) and I'll send it over to you. But basically, the ceremony set up fee is around $200 which includes the aisle runner, chairs, and chair covers and ties, the palapa rental is around $350 as is the VIP lounge, they have DJ service for around $700 and floral services as well. Table/chair rentals are pretty reasonable as well...Dinners range from $22 up to I think $30+ per person, plus drinks and appetizers. We're bringing in our own photographer from here in Austin, she is my past assistant so that part was easy for me since I shoot weddings for a living Where are you and your guests staying? Also, how many guests will you have? We most likely will only have 15-20 guests, I wonder if that is too small to be help at the Blue Parrot?? We are going to stay at a hotel called Playa Palms that is just 50 feet down the street. It is very cute, quaint, and clean, and is right on the beach and near everything in downtown Playa. Most of our guests will stay there too, rooms start around $150 per night and all have little kitchenettes. We're getting a group discount of 10% off for a min 10 room booking. I'm not sure the minimum number of guests for Blue Parrot, but I bet they can work with you. Any info you can give will be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Hope this was helpful. Email me if you have any more questions!

We've had a lot of drama with our wedding location...way back in March I thought I had booked Mosquito Beach for our wedding. I received an email that they had the date reserved for me at that time. After numerous attempts to contact them to set up a meeting on my trip there last week, I finally got a reply and they informed me that they had no record of my wedding date and now they had a minimum 15 room booking (new policy). I let them know that I had reserved the date months ago and that there was no such policy at the time...but they had the nerve to tell me that I cancelled my wedding and that I should look back at my emails. I think I would know if I cancelled my own wedding So, considering their poor service when just trying to book the date, we decided to find a new location (after already sending out save the dates for Mosquito Beach, oops!) We narrowed it down to La Tortuga, Playa Palms, Blue Parrot, and Azul Sensorati as an all inclusive option. La Tortuga wasn't on the beach so we nixed that option...Playa Palms is gorgeous but there isn't anything there so we would have to bring everything in...and the reception would have to be at a different location. Azul was already booked on our date...then we went on a site visit to Blue Parrot and it was perfect for what we were looking for! Paula, the coordinator, was so sweet and easy to talk with, and the property was beautiful. We'll have the ceremony beachfront, the cocktails in the beachfront palapa, and the dinner/dancing in the VIP rooftop lounge overlooking the ocean. We're so excited! They make it very easy to arrange, as they have already priced out rentals, ceremony setup, dj, etc, which means less work for us. And they are letting us bring in some outside vendors which I already had booked (officiant, photographer, and videographer) So, if you're looking for a small intimate venue in PDC area email me as I have looked into LOTS of places! the ceremony setup the VIP lounge the VIP lounge the ceremony location the palapa for cocktail hour

Thanks! Have you researched any other intimate, non all inclusive locations that you would recommend? I'm leaving tomorrow (hopefully!) for a trip there and may look into a few more places in PDC or Tulum...

Just thought I'd share some photos from an Azul Beach wedding in case anyone is getting married there. Azul Beach Wedding Also, does anyone have any photos from a Mosquito Beach wedding? I'm getting married there in January. If so, I'd love to see. I check out Sol and Matt's links but I don't see any on there. Thanks, Heather

I'm looking for a florist for my wedding and the one I wanted is already booked, Vanessa Jaimes with Diseño Floral Contemporáneo. Does anyone recommend any other florists who serve the Playa del Carmen area? Preferably someone who does pretty modern, contemporary work... Thanks! Heather

Hi lm3682, Can you let me know what email address you used to contact them? I've tried several from their website, and the emails bounced back to me... Thanks so much for that list! Heather

I haven't priced it out yet, but if I remember correctly entrees were in the $10-15 range? I may be wrong... The courtyard area is pretty secluded, away from the street. I wish I had taken photos. I am going to be in Playa next weekend for some wedding planning of my own and to photograph a wedding in Tulum - I'll try to make it there and take some pics. Also, a couple weeks ago I photographed a wedding at Azul Beach. I'll post a link to my blog once I get those up, maybe be helpful for anyone getting married there. Heather BluDomain, BluDomainhosting, photography websites

We're planning our (small) ceremony and reception to be held at Mosquito Beach Hotel on the beach near downtown Playa del Carmen. I'm wondering if anyone else is having or has had their wedding there? It is a small, modern boutique resort. I stayed there last year when I was in town for business (I'm a wedding photographer who shoots destinations) and I fell in love with it. Would love to hear from some other brides...having some trouble getting in touch with the restaurant/wedding coordinator. Thanks! Heather Mabry

I think we're gonna have ours at Yaxche in downtown Playa del Carmen. We went there twice on our last trip to Playa and loved it. It is very intimate, with a cool Mayan feel and beautiful outdoor eating area. Yaxche Restaurant