lisa_k

Quote: Originally Posted by AKH2011 Hello everyone! I'm also a recently engaged bride and hoping to have my wedding reception in Tulum next February 2011. I think we are expecting about 75 or so guests, but we are likely going to have everyone stay at an AI , and then have the ceremony and reception off-site. My fiance and I have done some research, and have come up with some of these conclusions about possible venues: Xcaret (though in PDC)- very pretty and different. We don't want to necessarily have our actual wedding ceremony on the sand on the beach, so we thought the options that they have here were ideal for us. As far as a reception goes, their cenote and palapa restaurant options are very pretty, but better suited for much larger parties (even with 75 or so guests, we would likely be dwarfed by these options). However you can have your reception set-up outside by the water, and the pictures do look pretty (though very windy in some pics!). Milamores - Gorgeous pictures of weddings at this venue. And it appears as though they are very open to outside vendors and easy to work with. The dinner area is in their restaurant inside - which defines chic elegance. From a personal perspective, I think I lean more towards having a more airy dinner location (like a palapa), but the set up from pictures still seem remarkable. I am unclear if you have to have your guests stay there however - and since we would not be (aside from perhaps one or two rooms) I don't know if this is a nonstarter. Al Cielo - the pictures done for receptions under the palapa look absolutely amazing. I have contacted the onsite wc and have not heard back. I'm not sure if they will work with off-site wcs? I am worried that I may need help with events that wedding week in addition to Saturday's events, thus I lean towards hiring an independent wc, but also don't want to duplicate costs. Or if they charge you premium if youwork with outside vendors? It also appears that if you have more than 60 guests, then your dance floor has to be on the beach. The weddings held there look gorgeous, but I'm also unsure on costs. Aki'in Beach CLub - Similar to Al Cielo in that it is a beach club and the reception is under a palapa. I have seen a few pictures of weddings here and they look fantastic, but there appears to be less available information about this venue. It seems like it could be more cost effective, but you would need someone local to coordinate as their website is all in spanish. Ana Y Jose - I love the weddings that have been done here. Beautiful beach set up under the trees for cocktail hours and a very pretty palapa restaurant for the reception. One thing that is different is that their restaurant has a sand floor. I'm not sure how I feel about this during dinner - almost appears to give a much more casual feel. They also have an onsite wc, but she has not gotten back to me. Not sure on costs here, etc. La Zebra - I don't know much about this venue (appears on the smaller side?) but I have loved the pictures I have seen. I am hoping to do a site visit in the next few weeks to check out all of the above (and potentially some private villas if anyone has any recommendations?) I am unsure if I should engage someone ahead of time to show me around, or try and set up appts on my own. Recognizing that I have 75 or more guests, I am hoping that I can negotiate on fees because the wedding reception itself will be bringing in a lot of people. If anyone has any guidance on their site visits or post-wedding reviews for those of you that have gotten married at any of these venues - I welcome the feedback! Thanks! Hi! We just got married at Ana y Jose and loved it. I will post a review with pics once I get them from the photographer. I do think that the dinner under the palapa in the sand does make the wedding a bit more casual, but that is what we were going for. Most guests complimented our wedding as being the most fun wedding that they have ever been to and I think that can be attributed to the casualness of it. They said that they just felt very comfortable and relaxed the entire night. We asked for lots of candlelight, which I think softened the look and made it more romantic. I've attached some pics (not very good ones, sorry!) but will post more in my review. My favorite part of our wedding was the dance floor that was installed on the beach, outside of the palapa. So we were dancing under the stars and full moon. It was amazing. We used the WC at Ana y Jose and didn't feel like we needed another one. But we have vacationed in Tulum quite a bit, so were familiar with the area already. Palapa & Aisle at night.doc

We did personalized matches for our wedding and had no problems with TSA. We checked them in. I don't know if we were just lucky, but we had about 200 match books & match boxes and we got them all to Mexico without a problem. We also had no problems with customs in Mexico. We did have receipts for peace of mind, but we really didn't need them. I think when they see a bride coming through with a dress in hand, they are pretty comfortable with all of the OOT bags, decorations, etc. I'm sure they see it all the time!

We ended up using blackboards, instead of dry erase boards, which were really cute. Everyone loved them and thought that they were such a fun idea. Just one issue - we put out disposable cameras to use and the pictures came out pretty bad. Very grainy and unclear. I have no idea why because we bought Kodak cameras with flashes, but I guess once you get used to the great pics on digital HD cameras, then disposables just don't cut it anymore! I tried to attach a pic. Hope it works! Blackboard Photo.doc

We are getting married at Ana y Jose in Tulum. We are happy with it, but not all of our guests are staying in one hotel, which it sounds like you are looking for. Our guests are split up between Ana y Jose Hotel and 2 other hotels. If you want more info, just let me know. I went to a wedding in Costa Rica at the Hotel Punta Islita and it was AMAZING. A little difficult to get to, but it was worth it. They have villas all over the property and the couple helped to group guests together into various villas. It was honestly one of the prettiest and most amazing weddings that I have ever been to.

krista - we are doing a symbolic ceremony. the legal ceremony in Mexico seemed like too much of a headache. we are getting hitched at city hall right before heading down to Tulum. what are you doing?

btruebner - we met with Jackie at Ana y Jose during our site visit and thought she was great. She has also been great throughout this whole process...very responsive and reliable. I have no complaints so far. We used all of Jackie's suggested vendors. - Nora Grey for hair, she has a salon in Tulum. I had a hair trial done with her and loved it. - Vanessa Jaimes for flowers. I am clueless with flower choices and she has really guided me along. - Zaida at Dolcet for our wedding cake. We actually chose cupcakes and Zaida came to Tulum so that we could do a tasting and choose the 3 flavors that we wanted. The hotels were a little more difficult because we too were thinking 150 guests (we ended up with 130). We have guests split between Playa Azul, Ana y Jose, and Los Lirios. Some people booked after our room blocks were filled and so they are scattered at various hotels in Tulum. The hotels were probably the more difficult part of planning for us, as they are small and are not willing to block off the entire hotel without full payment up front. We used Laura Trueba at Tulum Resorts to handle our hotel bookings and she has been great. Let me know if you want any more info! And let me know what you think of Ana y Jose after your site visit!

Is there anyone who made these LED lights and carried them on the plane with them? TSA regulations say all batteries have to go in the carry on. There are some rules around that, like they should be in their original packaging. I was just wondering if anyone put their lights together and then carried them on an airplane? Or did you wait until you got to your destination to put them together? thanks!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by AllyCatta Hi! Weddings at AyJ are gorgeous. I remember passing by one last year and thinking how beautiful it was. I'm sure your wedding will be wonderful! Congratulations! My best advice to you is to relax once you get down there. Things won't go "perfectly" but they'll be perfect anyway. You really can't go wrong in Tulum, which is, as you know, one of the most beautiful, special places on earth. If you're having a welcome party, hiring the salsa teachers from La Zebra is, as I said, my strongest recommendation. It was the best ice-breaker ever and everybody had such a great time. Other suggestions ... let me think ... Well, foodwise, one of the best, most reasonably-priced restaurants on the beach is at Dos Ceibas. Food in Tulum is expensive, so that's a really good tip for your guests. All meals are tasty there, including breakfast. I'd also really recommend that you have someone at your wedding ceremony and reception (it could easily be a guest) who is designated to keep things flowing smoothly and help make the transitions from one part of the event to the next. We didn't really have a person like that, so some of our transitions were a little disorganized-feeling. Some other thoughts: If you're down for an adventure, I recommend having a Mayan wedding ceremony, which was spiritual and different, fun and interactive, and totally beautiful. I had a salsa band at my wedding, which I probably wouldn't do again. We had more fun with the iPod (although there's something very special about live music). A mariachi band during the cocktail hour might have been a better choice for us. Hope some of this is helpful! Have a wonderful time in Tulum! Thanks so much for all of the wonderful advice and suggestions! It's really so helpful. I have heard from a few people that a designated person to keep things flowing smoothly is smart...I think we are going to tap the best man (my fiance's brother) for that job. We did get a mariachi band for cocktail hour. So I'm hoping that's fun. I love the idea of the salsa teachers from La Zebra. I will have to run that one by the fiance -- he's not much of a dancer! And I have never heard of Dos Ceibas but I'm totally going to look it up . Thanks again!

Hi AllyCatta, Thanks so much for your post. I'm getting married in Tulum in a month (at Ana y Jose) and this site was so helpful to me in my planning. BUT there is not alot about Tulum weddings, other than Dreams, so I found it very helpful when people shared their reviews afterward. Anything you would change or have done differently? And any last minute advice for me? Thanks!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by jjvan Hi Everyone! I'm new to this forum and getting married in Tulum on June 12, 2010. After a lot of on-line research my fiance and I found most of the resort packages to be too expensive or too crowded for us. We decided to rent a secluded beach house near the bioshpere and have the ceremony on the beach right outside with the reception in Hechizo, a fabulous restaurant a short distance away. Now I have to find a florist, a photographer and someone who rents sound equipment, chairs for the beach, and decorations. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks for any help you can give!! -Johna Hi Johna, I am getting married at Ana y Jose in Tulum, so I have gotten all of my recommendations from them and used this site to read reviews and to help with the decision. We are using Vanessa Jaimes for our florist and Claudia Rodriguez for our photographer. They both have had some great reviews on this site. As for the equipment, chairs, etc., we are renting that right through Ana y Jose so I can't help with recommendations there. Best of luck to you. Tulum is gorgeous :-) Lisa

Hi all! My FI and I live in Manhattan. We decided to do a destination wedding because it's soooo expensive here and because we want to have a vacation with all of our family and friends. We are getting married in Tulum, so everyone flies into Cancun. It's such an easy flight and reasonably cheap from NYC, so most people are excited for it. And you don't have to twist too many arms to get people to leave New York in February to hit the beach ! :-)

We aren't spending any more on our honeymoon than we would on a regular vacation. After our wedding in Mexico, we are going to Argentina because neither of us have ever been there. We are staying at hotels that are within our normal travel budget. We didn't upgrade rooms or anything. We did splurge on first class airfare, but my FI travels alot for work so we used miles for most of it. And we'll probably go out to nice dinners and spend extra money on activities that we normally wouldn't have, so that we can make the trip memorable. I'll be happy to just be in warm weather and not working for 2 weeks!! YAY!

Quote: Originally Posted by FutureMsMoulton Lisa- I love that idea-- so cute and easy! Where have you been hiding lately? You haven't been on here stressing out and laughing at all of the crazy feb bride stories!! Raykel- Sorry I had to go to bed too... hated to leave you hanging! TeNeil- maybe you should go and be Timberly's witness!! That would be soo cool-- i wanted to go and do it, but I have family xmas since i wasn't suppose to be home for it this year. Yes, it's pretty easy. I thought the jeweler would think I was weird by asking for pesos to be put on the bracelet but he said they actually have frames that go around the peso and attach to the bracelet...so seems easy enough! Sorry, work has been super busy so I haven't had alot of time to be on the site. I can't keep up! I hope everyone's wedding planning is going smoothly!! I seriously can't believe our wedding dates are coming up. It'll be here before we know it!

How long is your wedding ceremony going to be? If it's going to be pretty short (like 20 minutes or less) then I think it's ok to have the guests stand. I also think it's a little odd that he advises against chairs in the sand. Sine it seems like a big deal (and somewhat of an expense) to bring chairs in, I think it will be fine if ceremony is quick...

I am going to be barefoot for the ceremony and then I bought ballet flats from J.Crew in ivory. I think the flats will be more comfortable only because I find it annoying to walk in sand in flip flops. Good luck!