mlynnea

I agree with ReeRee, the Hacienda is a bit dusty and dirty, but you can't tell in the photos. (Though I would definitly recommend you wear shoes). The building is really amazing and most of my favorite wedding photos were taken there. I would recommend all future brides at least check it out before your wedding day to see if you want to use it for pictures.

Also - another note to that.. Unfortunately you can't decide the night of that you want to extend your reception, we had to decide 2 days prior so she could make sure there was sufficient staffing, so that definitely played a part in my decision as well.

 I asked Cecilia about extending our reception time, and she gave me the following quote: "...the package include 3 hrs service, in this case from 6:00 to 9 :00 pm, in case you want to add additional time the cost is $10 usd +11% tax +15% service per person per hr. We can do outside events until 11:00 pm."  We were also using the sound system (for Ipod), which she said would be an additional $180/hr +tax.  We decided not to increase the time of our reception, and I'm actually really glad we didn't. My groom and I were so exhausted by 900pm, that we went to the lobby for one more drink with all of our guests, and then retired to our room. You always have the option of using the other bars or the disco to extend your party with your guests, or whoever wants to stay out. My groom and I went to bed, as did the parents, but some of our guests stayed out at the disco all night long. The final decision was just that the price it would cost us for an additional hour wasn't worth it to me. Just didn't make sense when the other bars were available for free. Â

 She is really really nice, and speaks English perfectly, so it was easy to feel comfortable. She told me during the photos, that if anything she asked me to do felt uncomfortable, not to do it, because you'd be able to tell in the pictures. She had a lot of direction on posing and places to take photos. Which was really good for me, because I don't have an eye for that. I only had one location that I really wanted to do photos (At the abandoned mansion down the beach), but other than that, everything else was her suggestion. She had been to Secrets Maroma before, so she knew her way around. Good Luck with everything! You'll love her! Â

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback! With all of the people on here that helped me, I had to make sure I did my own review to help future brides. Good Luck with your planning!

 Hi ReeRee, They do not have ANY music for your ceremony. Depending on the package you chose, you have the option of chosing a musician, and I'm sure they have some typical songs they could suggest. I ended up renting the sound equipment and brought an Ipod for our ceremony music. I picked 5 songs to play while people were sitting/waiting for the ceremony to start (background music). One song for the processional and one for the recessional. I did a legal ceremony, so there was a period of time in the middle of the ceremony where 4 witnesses and me and my groom had to each sign 5 pieces of paper....so if I would've known that, I would've had music for that as well. (That takes about 3-5 minutes).  I didn't have a religious ceremony, so we had a judge. She stuck to the script (which can be provided to you by Cecilia). She spoke English fairly well, but had a strong accent. I would make sure that you clarify with Cecilia that it is important that the minister/judge speak English, or that you at least have a translator.  Here is my full review if you want details/pictures: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/59235/secrets-maroma-beach-resort-lynnea-s-wedding-review-feb-26-2010 Good Luck! ~Lynnea

ReeRee. My mom bought our bags either at Michaels or JoAnn Fabrics (which are local craft stores), They were like $8.00 for 3. They were canvas solid colored bags, and were about 4"X16"X12". I'll see if I can find/take a pic for an example. We gave one bag per couple, and had different colors for each one ( so they didn't match our wedding colors), so that people wouldn't get confused about which one was theirs. I actually customized the bag myself. I found a cool graphic of a large hibiscus flower, and created my own stencil, and painted it on the bags with fabric paint. I also had stencil lettering and added my groom's and my initials and our wedding year to the bag. I didn't want to make it too detailed about our wedding, because I wanted people to use them again. I thought that if it had our full names and wedding date on it, or something corny, that no one would want to use it ever again. So most of the bag was an image of a large hibiscus flower, and then under neath I did "LK * 2010". Most people thought I had purchased them and were surprised that I did it myself. It kinda looked like a screenprinted T-shirt would. The wedding schedule I did myself also. Just printed it on nice paper and put it on the top of the welcome bag to be sure that every saw it. The cost of the bag, decorating the bags, and the stuff in side was probably $150-200 total (we did 8 bags for 16 people). I know there are plenty of options out there for ordering them custom, but I kinda enjoyed knowing that it was my own handiwork.

Quote: Originally Posted by ReeRee I need your opinion ladies. I have a friend who is a photographer and I asked him to be my photographer for our wedding. Now do I need to pay for his hotel and flight plus for his service?? If that is the case, I think I want to use Cecilia Dumas instead. I think a couple people from this thread used her and I like her style as far as I've seen on her website. Even if I bring my friend to shoot our wedding, I am also thinking about meeting with Cecilia Dumas the next day in Isla Mujeres where all the colorful buildings are and take photos there as well. I'm just brainstorming right now, but I was just wondering if I have to pay for the room/flight, then it will be just cheaper to get a local photographer... If you were hiring a photog that had to travel that wasn't your friend, you would be expected to pay for the travel and lodging as well as the photography package, which understandably can be very expensive. If you were going to invite your friend to attend the wedding anyways (or even if you weren't), discuss with them what they think would be fair. Maybe you pay for a portion of your travel. Or if they're a good friend. Maybe they wouldn't even consider asking you to pay for travel and lodging. As for Cecilia Dumas - Someone mentioned to be careful about having to pay for her travel and lodging. I used her and can confirm that all we had to pay (besides the photography package) was for her day pass to the resort, no travel and expenses for her. ~Lynnea

Quote: Originally Posted by knitgirl13 I got the questionnaire today and it's confusing me!! How am I supposed to know the number of guests and where they'd be staying before we secure a place to send out invitations?? Is it okay to send it back without that part filled in yet? Also has anyone had a small wedding here? We'll have under 20 guests so we can't do the beach reception. Where is a good option for a smaller party? Does anyone have pictures of the different reception locations? We definitely want our ceremony to be on the beach. I only had 13 people at my wedding and reception. It was a bit chilly the evenings we were there, so we had our ceremony & cocktail hour on the beach, and dinner and dancing in the marble room next to the ballroom. It was plenty big, and was really well done. If you want an outdoor option that is away from the action (besides the gazebo), there is a terrace outside the ballroom that is very nice. For either of the locations I mentioned, you'd need to make sure there isn't another event in the ballroom, otherwise they will disturb your party. And don't worry about finalizing the numbers of people right now. Just estimate. Pricing isn't really final on your contract until the day of the wedding, or at least it wasn't for me. I have pics of my reception site on my review if you want to see them: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...-2010-a-59235/

Quote: Originally Posted by JamieLynn2011 This review has been so helpful, I am just getting started with my planning at Secrets Silversands. Nothing is for sure yet, but it is looking good. My question for you is that did you feel there were a lot of hidden fees after you got the wedding package?? I am afraid that the $2700 is going to keep getting higher and I am just talking the resort itself not extra photos and such. Also, did all of your guests stay at the hotel? I am curious to see how strict there are on the day passes and how much extra it is per person to have the dinner that is included in the package. Thanks in advance! Jamie There weren't any hidden fees for me. Everything was listed out in the itemized contract. If I made any changes to it, or asked to add or substitute anything, I made sure she told me how much it would cost, or how much the substitution was worth. All of my guests stayed at the resort so I didn't have to deal with guest passes, but in my opinion, u shouldn't be charged any extra for it wedding package if u have outside guests, because they're already being charged the guest fee of $100. If u are having a legal ceremony, there is about $400 in extra charges on top of the package price, so make sure u get that itemized by the resort's planner so u know exactly what u will be charged.

Quote: Originally Posted by knitgirl13 I can't find the SMB thread that had the attached documents of bouquet options, etc. Anyone know? We've just decided that we'd like to try to book this location for our wedding/honeymoon. Yay!! I don't know where that thread is, but you can always email Cecilia and ask for the file. It's in a PowerPoint format.

My dress is by Robert bullock of Birnbaum and Bullock. Thanks!!

My mom wrote her check to: "Hotels del Caribe Holdings Inc.", and then in the memo section she put my name, my hubby's name and our wedding date. The address on the envelope was: Ms Cecily Diaz-Arauzo Laredo National Bank 5085 Westheimer Ste 4700 Houston TX 77056 It's weird to me that the address and "Attn" are the same as the address you posted, but the bank name is different...?? For reference, our deposit was paid July 2009 for our Feb 2010 wedding.

Quote: Originally Posted by jaccat15 I have a question about the "Honeymoon package" included in the Ultimate package - does anyone know what this consists of? We are thinking of staying for a few days more after the weddign so I'm thinking we would take advantage of that. any info is helpful! Here is what comes with the honeymoon package. It's straight from the SMB website. If you purchase a wedding package, this is included: Champagne on arrival Fresh flowers and exotic fruit platter in room upon arrival Champagne breakfast in bed the first morning after arrival Tension Release Massage for two in our couple massage suite (25 minutes) Choice of either a European Facial or a Salt Glow Scrub body treatment for two (25 minutes) Private beachfront dinner one evening- upon return from dinner you will find a romantic candlelit bath. (includes a bottle of wine and dinner for two) Private petit fours each evening at turn down service Earn Free Nights towards a first anniversary return stay I don't know if this has changed, or if you have to talk to someone to set this up once you're there, but we didn't get all of the stuff listed above when we were there.

Sound System - For the ceremony it was $180 plus tax, I don't remember exactly what it was for the reception, but it was an hourly charge, and I know it was over $100/hr. It was definitely worth it both for the ceremony and reception. It was quite windy on the day of our ceremony, so I don't think our guests would've been able to hear us without it. We didn't hire a DJ for our reception, we just had an Ipod, so we had to rent the speakers to play our music then as well. Photo locations - (Boo) We didn't use anything else for our photos besides the hacienda down the beach and the resort. I really liked the colorful buildings on Isla Mujeres as well, but it just wasn't going to work out with timing and money. There are actually quite a few different locations within the resort that can be nice backgrounds. We used the hammocks, the stairs to the lobby, the coffee cafe, the lobby - we made the rounds ;-) Videographer microphone - Our videographer did have a separate microphone that he used to capture the sound from the ceremony. He actually taped it to the sound system microphone. If you're not going to use the sound system, he'll probably either clip it to someone's shirt, or just have you guys hold it.