lilbuddha

Yes I think coordinators are so important. Tmy fiancé and I went down there last July for a site visit and fell in love with Yazmin. Then she left palace resorts so disappointing. It seems like their bridal department has a high level of turnover. In the end Wilma dissappearing could have ruined the event if we had let it get to us. But oddly enough the majority of the week had gone so well, everyone was so happy and We had so many amazing memories we were not going to let her dissappearing act ruin the night. We had great friends who stepped in to help and our head waiter Ernesto deserves so much credit for stepping in when Wilma wasn't there. My biggest advice is....things are going to go wrong. Sometimes tiny little things sometimes big things. Try to remember though that we have been planning this event for months so we know how it is suppose to look and how we wanted it to go. But your guests don't know. Try to enjoy it all as much as possible.

Our DJ was awesome. We hired him through the resort PSAV his name was Christian Carabello. He was great to work with from start to finish. My fiancé handled all the correspondence with him and he was very quick in getting back to us. He did a wonderful job. Everyone danced all night to the point where all of our feet were hurting the next day. It was by far one if our most expensive items but I have no regrets at all it was worth every penny. Also, just a little aside on music.... I went to QVC and purchased a iPod dock that is solar powered so it dies not need to be plugged in. It was so worth the 100 bucks and we used it at every event except the reception. It saved us a tin of money and allowed us to have great sound at every event (also water resistant) it more then paid for itself and was loud enough.

Hi Ladies!!! We just got back last night from our honeymoon!! It was fabulous!! The staff was great and did a fabulous jib! We had a checkin with almost 60 people and it was so smooth! They had a private checkin and people could eat and drink while checking and that they had all of our guests bags delivered to their rooms. Our welcome dinner was beautiful and simple. I bought paper flowers on easy to be tied around eat napkin and it really added some pop to the all white set up. Our tshirts and volleyball tournament sparked a ton of conversation and the volleyball tournament really broke the ice. Wilma even surprised us with a real referee and water station so it was vey official. The trash talking between our friends and family started at the eel come dinner with Paul and I kicking it off. After that everyone even my 81 year old grandmother got into it!! The tequila and cigar party was amazing. We had it at the spa gazebo and the set up was incredible. They even served blue (highly dangerous) tequila drinks that matched the blue table sashes and match books. The cigar roller was a huge hit!!! All we asked was for a few snack and dessert tray since it started at 8 and most people would have already gone to dinner. But the spread was amazing!! Our ceremony was perfect. We asked back in July during our site visit if we could get married on the inlet instead of a gazebo and they made it happen. It was stunning. The horse drawn carriage and fireworks surprised so many people. Even the "big men were crying". There are pics (guest pics and video of vows etc on Facebook) just friend request Mia Roberts on Facebook w a message saying you are from the blog and you can take a look. We kept the included photo package that came with our amethyst package and added extra video. We got the video and palace pics before the end of our honeymoon which was nice...we spent an evening in just watching the video and looking at the photos. Juan Navarro is amazing!!! He was sweet, professional and worked really really hard. Our families loved him and he was just fun to work with. I can't say enough about him and his assistant Daniel. As soon as we get his photos I will let you know. The only problem we had the whole trip from check in to check out was our reception. Wilma just disappeared for most of it. My groomzilla actually handled it since I was too busy trying to not sweat the small stuff We brought 3 extra suitcases for the wedding. The bulk of it being welcome bag stuff but we did take an entire suitcase to our meeting with Wilma. In the end most of it was not used. I brought over 100 candles in various forms with glass holders since the resort prices were so high. None of them were lit and our head waiter was running around trying to fix the set up. The "memories from Mexico cards that www hard made instead of a typical guest book were not laid out and most guests did not even receive one. The entrance with the D J was a bit of a mess since Wilma was not around to help coordinate the DJ introduction. She literally just disappeared. When she showed up again Paul took her aside and asked her where she kept disappearing to. He asked her to stay close because we did not know when we should do "wedding actinides" such as cut the cake, dance, speeches etc. We paid for an extra hour of videography and Paul had to ask him to stay longer because the speeches weren't done etc. We had two guests who were wedding coordinators and they ended up helping my husband (so weird to write ) coordinate all the activities. She showed up about an hour and a half into the reception and told me she was leaving. That was it. In the end our reception was he most stressful event. We still had a great time but it was thanks in part to our head waiter Ernesto and our friends for pitching in. My husband was more annoyed about the reception then I was but my annoyance was over the lack of videographer and photography, Juan Navarro showed up three hours before the wedding to look at locations for shots etc. When he got there he couldn't find us and Wilma even told the groom that she had seen Juan almost an hour before but she never told him where we were. In the end, I was disappointed because there are so many photography spots on the resort and we were unable to take advantage of them despite having Juan arrive 2 hours before the start of the ceremony. Final guest count with bride and groom was 77. (We had three surpass guests that we didn't know about until they arrived . I would doit all again just be sure to have a member of your wedding party check on your decor. I hoping all of your receptions go more smoothly. But like I said all of our events were great!!!

Thanks so much! Getting excited!

Hi Ladies, Ok so I am a couple days out from leaving. I was wondering if any past brides had any opinions on the buffets that they offered. There are so many and I know the food was amazing during our site visit but there are too many options!! Any guidance would be appreciated. Also, does anyone still have the 2010 price list they could email me? [email protected] Wanted to also give you guys a heads up that I received a power point presentation from Wilma that had each event and the little details associated with it. she even included a picture of each venue. I would be more then happy to share it with you just shoot me a pm with your email. I found it super comforting to see a recap and it gave me time to ask questions and tweak things a little. Hope you ladies are doing well!

I am just preparing for for the worst. After the flower fiasco last week I can tell that they are just trying to get as much money out of us as possible. I had an email and a picture and they still would not honor it. They just kept saying that it was a misunderstanding. I am not even sure that an email will keep them to their word. It just makes me sad that we were all enjoying planning our destinatnnweddings at this beautiful place and now we are all stressing about things we believed were set. Between all of us we are giving Palace a ridiculous amount of money. I just can't get over this lack of customer service.

Bank Nelson, Would you be willing to PM with a mini review....scary or not we leave in two weeks and we are already hitting problems with the resort. I would rather be prepared and know what to expect then to find out when I get there. I am so sorry that it was bumpy. . -Mia

You probably want to check in with Christina. My contact point was [email protected] she was fabulous but I haven't been in contact with her recently since we scheduled the cigar party over 6 months ago.

The resort will provide the different types of tequila (but you can bring your own as well). They are supplying a bartender who can tell guests about the differences in how they are made and how to "taste" them. The cigar guy is actually through their decor vendor deco cancun. So you don't have to buy them a day pass. The hand roller was about $300.00 and that comes with 30 cigars. Your guests can purchase more from him while he is there if they choose to.

Hi Ladies! So I am two weeks from leaving.... Here is our lineup Sunday: Fly out with 61 guests lol. Our travel agent has the majority of guests with the exception of about 13 flying out together on the same flight. So in theory the party should start around 6 am at the airport. That night at 7:00 pm we are having a Welcome Dinner on Maracas Terrace. Monday: We are having a Vollyball Tournament at 4 pm. We had T-shirts made for all the guest with their nick name printed on the back and their number...(Bride side vs. Groom side) Tuesday: We are having a Tequila and Cigar party at the Spa Terrace at 8:30 pm. Back when we met Yazmin last July we had mentioned the idea to her. She happen to know a vendor who provides people who come and hand roll cigars. So we are doing that with a tequila "lesson" and desserts Wed: The men are going zip lining and jet skiing the women are heading to Playa for the Day. Thursday is the wedding. Girls meet at the Spa at 10 am and having a mini spa day. Wedding starts at 6:00 pm Friday: Majority of guests leave. Saturday: Hubby and I are heading to Moon Palace for our honeymoon for a week. The last 2 weeks has been super stressful in wedding planning and I am doing everything not to become a bridezilla. Back in November Yazmin gave me a quote for the centerpieces. Two weeks ago Wilma quoted me a price that was over a thousand dollars higher. I explained that we relied on the price that Yazmin gave us. She told me that it was impossible to do the centerpiece at that price. Today the director of the bridal department called me. He stated that they would not honor the price that Yazmin gave us. I am of course really stressing out now. I emphasized that when working through email I am relying on the prices given to me. I also told him if he will not honor this price then how do I know he will honor any of the other quotes I have received???? He stated that they will just not this one. I honestly don't know what to do. We went down for a site visit specifically to meet the people there and make sure this wouldn't happen. It doesn't matter. Other than that everything is pretty much done with the exception of my dress...which is still having issues. I swear this wedding has become a comedy of errors. I am sure that once I see all my friends and family it won't seem as bad. I am just so bummed because even above the dress, the flowers were important to me. I love to garden and well....they just make me happy. I am sure that sounds really stupid but last July Yazmin seemed to get it and I was so excited to find someone who understood. I just can't believe the resort is not willing to work with me when this is their error. Just be sure to go through your emails and reconfirm as much as possible if you have switched coordinators. On the up side....welcome bags are done just need to be assembled when we get there, programs are on their way, grooms ring will be ready for pick up on Monday and I have finally figured out place cards that won't blow away in the wind lol.

Well I am 5 ft tall so must dresses were crazy long on me anyway. I however decided on an all lace gown that has a scalloped hem. Since the hem is a major part of the dress I had to pay extra to have the designer custom cut the dress. To ensure the hem was ok. However, the dress was not custom cut when it came in. The bridal salon has been great though and they assure me that they can fix it. (keeping fingers crossed) it was too close to the wedding to sent the dress back to the designer and wait for it to come back. I am going on Wednesday to see the first round of alterations. Hopefully all is well with the dress it is just that be Use it is all lace it makes it really tricky to take it in anywhere much less shorten in since it is all one piece of fabric. Like I said no use worrying about it. One of those things that I can't control. I am more worried about my guests having a great time then I am the dress lol. name="sxcT" url="/forum/thread/24314/aventura-spa-palace/1770#post_1562765"] Love the t-shirt w/ nicknames idea...so cute. The volleyball tournament sounds fun too. We just might have to plan something like that.  What happened to your dress? Is that in another thread?  Â

I bought beer steins from factory 21 with our name and wedding info on them. They were super cheap per cup but you have to buy in lots of 100. Since we are having a bunch of guests it ended up being with it. We are having a volleyball tournament so we are getting everyone a "team" shirt with their nicknames on the back and their number. In ended up being really fun to get everyones nicknames from their loved ones....and they have no clue why we need them. I also put disposable razors Tylenol anti bacterial and bandaids in everyones bag. My fiancé also made cd's for each bag with our favorite songs that remind us of one another the cd's ended up being super cheap and we ordered custom labels. I still want to add bottles of hot sauce to everyones bag but I a little concern about how to get all that glass down there. I am now feeling better About the OTT bags....now to tackle the programs! Oh and I am still hoping they can fix my dress but no use stressing about it!

Hi Ladies my wedding is exactly 2 months from tomorrow and I realized that I have so much to do. The biggest thing on my list right now are the OTT bags and I am having a hard time figuring out what to put it them. Do you all have any suggestions of what to put in them and where to find stuff that won't break the bank? I am definitely putting mugs in all of them...but do you have any ideas? Trying not to panic with the growing list of things that still need to be done. :confused: Crazy how fast the time has gone!! I feel like I just got engaged yesterday!

Your right!! I haven't seen her on here since before the holidays. She was super excited. Wishing you best of luck Sara!!

Congrats!!!