HereFishie

I'm another canadian bride! Edmonton and my FI is originally from Calgary. We're marrying at the Gran Bahia Principe in the Mayan in April!

I'm not in BC either but we're in the same situation. We were hoping for a quickie courthouse legal ceremony but we're in the same boat. We need to find a marriage commissioner asap (april is a busy wedding month!) and get our appt to get legal so that we are legally married before our wedding!

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike&Wendy Hi ladies, Just a quick review before I go into a detailed one later this week! Had our wedding at Bahia Principe Akumal, brought in photographers from Studio 67 in Canada and there was no problems...everything I found was "no problem, don't worry" and it's exactly what we didn't have to do...we had no worries...Eugenia who is only 24 years old but years beyond professional compared to Yuritzia was fabulous...we got free pics from the resort package anyways....the photographer was Jose and wow his pictures were so beautiful! THe ceremony was perfect, short and sweet and the dinner at Arlequin made our guests ooh and ahhhh...after dinner we headed to Tulum lobby bar for some dancing with our guests to the live band and then to the disco..it was perfect and I wouldn't recommend a private poolside reception unless there are a lot of guests because there is so many other places to go for free! It was a dream come true....I have soooo many positive things to say and Eugenia is a dream coordinator! More things to come! Trying to paste a pic on here but can't seem to figure it out Congratulations!! We just left the Coba on the 6th! Was your group's men wearing the funky hats? If so, we got drunk beside them a couple times How many guests did you have?? We have 40+ coming and met with Eugenia on the 4th, she is so professional! She made us feel completely at ease and we can't wait for everything in April!

Quote: Originally Posted by Julie2011 Hi ladies, Was wondering where everybody is doing the ceremony and reception(dinner) ?? We have tons of planning time but I really like to get an idea of what were doing. Since we have our second baby due in May, want to get the details worked out before Im to busy to think about it. When we were there the Tulum Gazebo looked great, but where are the other options? Were you given a list? What about pool side reception vs. picking a restaurant? Any thoughts on which way to go? If we choose a restaurant can you bring in a DJ or do you share the space with other resort guests? Also, when choosing Tulum, Akumal or Coba side (which we havent done yet) how did you make your choice? Is one better than the other? Thanks for any input =) We're having our dinner at the Dolce Vita and a poolside reception at the Akumal pool right outside it. From what I've read its a heck of alot more cost to have the dinner at the poolside because its not included at all. Whereas the way we're doing it, the dinner is included as one of your guests a la cartes and then you just pay per head/hr for the reception poolside with just drinks. With the restaurant, you're likely sharing it with other guests but I think it depends on which one you choose and at what time. We have the restaurant to ourselves for the first hour before they open it up to the rest of the guests so that's pretty cool. We were told no DJ in the restaurant. For the most part, you have to book your wedding and dinner at the resort you're staying at. Unless you're at the Coba like we are because there's no beach. So we're staying at the Coba but our wedding location and dinner are at the Akumal. Our wedding is at the hammocks location on the Akumal beach. Once you have the location chosen, they give you 2 choices usually for your dinner location. The reason that we chose the Coba is twofold. It was the best price for our guests and the rooms are ALL Jr Suites. So you have a separate sitting area living room type thing which is nice to have especially if you have ppl in your room for the wedding to get ready!

Thanks! Cozumel is the buffet restaurant at the Premier Lobby, the Daiquiri bar is attached to it. oh... FYI... the whole concern about you can't eat at the other a la cartes? NOT True at all. The resort doesn't care at all where you eat.

Thanks! Cozumel is the buffet restaurant at the Premier Lobby, the Daiquiri bar is attached to it. oh... FYI... the whole concern about you can't eat at the other a la cartes? NOT True at all. The resort doesn't care at all where you eat.

Hi ladies! We're back and settled back in so I thought I'd post and let you all know what a great site inspection this was! What a beautiful resort! We know how happy everyone will be with this place. Well worth it!! First night there we found "OUR bar" and visited it several times after. If you find yourself near the Premier Lobby, check out the Cozumel for dinner. LOTS quieter than the lobby restaurants and a really chill atmosphere. Attached to it is the Daiquiri bar and it was great for hanging out with a drink and listening to live music every night. It was by far our favourite spot and where we're doing our welcome dinner/meet & greet. By day 2 we had the resort figured out and realized that the Coba and Akumal are not nearly as far apart as they look on the maps at all. Before long we were walking everywhere within and between these 2. The Hacienda and the Tulum are both further away but the trams are really running all the time and will bring you anywhere. We tried the Collectivos. No problem. They're white vans just outside the Hacienda that will take you wherever for $3US/pp. We took it to Xel-Ha. Only minus is that they drop you on the highway so you have a little bit of a walk to get to the main gates... not even 10 minutes at a leisurely pace. Coming back we got a cab and the rate was fixed at Xel-Ha. You actually pay at the cashiers at the windows for Xel-Ha and they give you a ticket to bring to the driver. So no bartering there which makes it easier. You know for sure you're not going to get screwed over for the ride back. Xel-Ha was... meh... ok. I don't think it was worth the $80/pp we paid IMO. Its fresh and salt water layers so the snorkeling wasn't the greatest because the water is pretty murky so you can't see all the way down. They make you wear a life jacket to do the River so don't bother arguing with them like my darling FI tried to. You'll appreciate the jacket when you get tired... its a long swim to the end. About 45 min! We checked out the cenotes there as well... now I know what they are. I expected caves or something. They're just freshwater lagoons... very similar to what we in Alberta would call camping spots. LOL They were a little bit disappointing. All in all though.. the resort is beautiful. Eugenia is wonderful. Her English is perfect so there was no problem talking over what we were looking for. We're very happy with her and now even MORE excited for April to get here! Raykel - I was able to get only 1 extra map for you because they give them out in the welcome packages you get. Had to score the extras from the lobby desk and they were a little sticky to give that many away so we'll get together soon and I'll get it to you!

Update for those with inquiring minds since we just got back last night! They use plastic cups for if you get one "to go" or near the pool, glass in the lobby bars and restaurants and cans of Dos Equis in your mini bar

Do they put beer in the plastic cups?

If you're Royal Golden/Premier Club, do you still have to pay for it ??

Thank you! Yes we're super excited! With the recent terrorist stuff in the news though we're going to have to be at the airport 4 hours early instead of 3... oy! Happy New Year everyone! 2010 will be fantastic!

Does anyone know if they serve Corona at the resort or is it just Dos X??

My darling future hubby is asking me the tough important questions for our trip. Today's is: Do they serve beer in cans, cups or bottles down there? He wants to know if he should bring his beer cozie

I'm ordering my dress off of Ebay as well. Likely my bridesmaids will as well. I've had good luck with Ebay overseas custom wedding dresses so I'm not worried in the slightest. I was almost married about 5 yrs ago and ordered it online then as well. It came in and was absolutely as pictured and fit me perfectly! After that wedding never happened, I sold the dress on Ebay as well and another bride in Canada got to enjoy it instead

We had ours when we booked because we did have a couple different flight times depending on departure location so people booked based on when they wanted to fly. Maybe that was because our TA blocked off the seats for our group though...?

They provide the white chair covering apparently. We're not planning anything special for decorations at this point. We may bring fabric in our colour to put around the chairs just for a contrasting colour against the white. We're going there for NYE for a site visit/vacation so we'll know alot more after we get there and see what they do to decorate on their own. From what I understand from reading alot of the reviews, they'll put up anything that you ask them to pretty much.

Quote: Originally Posted by chevy14 We could have had every 21st passenger free but our TA offered us a rate $200 less expensive for all our guests if we gave up the free passenger. We wanted to make it as affordable as possible for our guests so we took the deal. We really not getting any perks, except extra weight allowance on luggage, a champagne toast on the plane and a room upgrade - if available. I would have pushed for more if I could do it all over again! $200 less for each guest!? Wow! I would have taken that over 1 free guest any day!

Congratulations! Have fun!!! Don't forget to tell us all about it when you get back!!

Thanks for the tip!

I"m so sorry to hear someone was so rude and unfeeling. I had something similar happen but I know who it was (and it was family)... not knowing for sure makes it worse. No matter how you try and logic it, it still hurt.

Hi Lisa, I replied to you in the other thread but I wanted to welcome you again here! Check out this link! http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...post-here-786/

I'm getting married at the GBP Akumal (staying at the Coba)! check out this thread... there's lots of us GBP brides! http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...post-here-786/ Congratulations!

Here is my list; Done: - resort booked and guests almost all booked - wedding date and time confirmed - Photographer chosen - Wedding website up and running - Registry - iPod playlist started - dinner location and menu chosen - poolside reception booked - marimba band decided *still to be confirmed as booked by WC* To Do: - WEDDING DRESS!!!! *decided, but have to order on Ebay * - OOT bags - Wedding band for FI chose but still to be bought - Grooms attire still to be decided - decide on hair/make-up/accessories - get "legal'd" at home - Wedding attendant gifts - resort/welcome brochure - choose flowers - choose wedding cake

We're using ewedding as well. We pay $10 US a month for the extras package that we wanted

What is the standard cost per bag you all are spending on your OOT bags? We see so many good ideas and I could see us easily spending alot more than we "should"... we really have to get going on getting these!