Avens

We had Carribbean, our guests LOVED it. We were half an hour late because of photos, and the buffet was almost empty, and there was a fair amount of food. It was nice, we had it on the palace balcony as the sun was going down, beautiful sunset, and was a nice time to mingle and such ( a little easier than sitting down at dinner). For us it was worth it. I know other brides just had a meeting point, and that worked well to (like the lobby bar etc.), it was nice having a spot just for us, our own bar, and music etc. Here are some of the Pro and family shots from up there. Just a friendly reminder to all the new brides looking - try giving the thread a search - I know it's long, but I know I've posted these pictures at least 3 times now. Most of the other questions (locations, flowers etc.) have been asked a million times, and there is a wealth of information on here!

I think only the coloured Calla Lillies and Orchids cost more. I had white Calla Lillies in my bouquet, and I didn't even ask for them.

Here is mine with flowers. My husband was actually the one that had a preference - I thought they both looked nice! The nice thing is though - you can reuse the flowers (we put one on the head table and one on the cake table) so it saves you some money there (or at least helps alleviate the extra cost). We also kept the flowers in our room for the last few days - then passed them on to a guest that was staying later, so they got some use One thing I just noticed - looking through photos, from the side/back and inside it looks almost like a plain one, to give some perspective.

Centrepieces at the resort were quite reasonable. I was quoted $42 for mine (and got one free). The salt and pepper shakes are in front, but there were limes in the vase. I sent my coordinator a picture beforehand , and said I want something like this. She sent me the price and I picked the actual flowers when I had my meeting. Seems worth it, you may save some money bringing your own vases, and trying to go to Costco and buying flowers - but totally not worth the time and effort in my opinion. If you didn't want flowers - it might be different. Quote: Originally Posted by Fi reyNurse We are trying to decide on centrepieces and are struggling between paying for them at the resort or bringing our own down....can anyone give some advice on what they did? We will have less than 25 people likely, nothing big and not too many tables, and were hoping for a vase with flowers and water and crystals in the bottom or something along those lines. I know the planner sent me some options they have but they are not exactly cheap, I am just not sure if the price is worth it instead of the hassle of taking them down with us. thanks!!

Yep, you do. That's what we did the day of the wedding while everyone was getting ready.

I booked the photographer through the website and he had no problems. One of our guests did to, also no problems! We had coconut and strawberry - they were both delicious!! Strawberry had chunks of strawberries, so yummy. The coconut was so creamy and yummy. Both were great. We also used the violin and she was great.

Thanks girls! I think if you book the Palmerus, you get your choice (we had to pick between the grill and the beach at least 4 hours a head of time), once you pick it - they're both yours though! That was another awesome part of Palmerus - if you booked the beach, the grill was the back up. Mariachi Grill I think looks very similar to the Palmerus - it's further down by the Playa Azul. Maybe you could see about having the ceremony there? I honestly didn't really check it out. I think they make the grills look pretty nice though, whichever one you get. The only one you normally can't get, is the Coral Grill. For one its HUGE, you would need a big wedding to make it look decent. It's also the Japanese restaurant most nights. Quote: Originally Posted by nicole80 Your planning thread is awesome, what a beautiful wedding Avens! Does anyone know about the Mariachi Grill? also one of our ceremony options but just wondering about the beach in that area. We would like to have the ceremony on the beach if possible...as with Avens' at the Palmeras beach...thanks!

Our wedding (pictures are on my planning thread) we did the ceremony at Playa Azul, and reception at Playa Palmeras. In my opinion - it was perfect. Playa Azul is really pretty, its at the end of the beach so there are far less people, there was a bit of a breeze because it was more open (for a late afternoon wedding). It also gave us some time for pictures etc, while everyone bussed back to the Palace. We were initially going to have the reception there to - but it is quite a trek from the Palace, and I'm glad we didn't have it there - as I forgot a ton of stuff in our room (guest book, pashmina etc.). I have also heard that it can get more windy there in the evenings, and sad in food etc. has been an issue. Playa Palmeras was a perfect reception ship, its located right in the no mans land between the Tropical and Palace - so it was literally 5 minutes back to our rooms in the palace (which was very handy for running back to get forgotten items). A few of our older guests retired a bit early, and they were able to just walk back quickly. The beach and walk ways really slow down at night, so you rarely saw anyone walking past. It is more sheltered, so we didn't really have an issue with wind. I wouldn't want to have my ceremony there, as in the daytime - its right in the middle of the action. The Palmeras buffet is open during the day, so people are always going to get food, there are loungers all around you (and in that exact spot during the day normally) and people swimming in the ocean in front of you, pool behind you - just a lot of activity. If you were having a later wedding (5 or 6, Palmeras would probably be okay). That is my opinion!

We bought cake decorations...but they wilted in the fridge. If there are specific instructions - make sure they are clear! The chef was so choked. I feel like we were piggies, we had a two tier cake with 33 of us, and we ate at least half! (and some more the next day ) Everyone loved the cake, it was so yummy!!

I did my nails and toes both a shimmery silvery light colour, my nails don't do well with the gels, so I opted to skip them. My jewellery was silver, so it worked! I bet Silver shoes would work too, I had green shoes, so I don't know about ivory- however I found mine on ninashoes.com - they had a lot of colours!

We did the same (and a calendar for my mom, she loves personalized calendars), we also made corsages/bouts for our parents (we had real touch flowers). I also made arrangements with one of my bridesmaids who wasn't able to take her bouquet,and I gave it to my mom so she had a keepsake. We also sent them all handwritten notes just saying how much we appreciated them. Until this website, I've never really heard of giving parents official gifts!

When we invited singles, it was kind of assumed that they had a plus one, because the trip was MUCH more expensive for a single. I know I wouldn't want to come to Mexico for a week, hang out with people all week, then have to be by myself all day while my roomate/friend etc.and everyone else was doing wedding stuff. So if someone brought a friend along, we included them in the festivities, however someone asked if their brother and girlfriend could come, and I said they were welcome to come and use the group rate- however there wouldn't be room for them at the reception (most likely). It worked well - we were also ruthless with inviting though, and anticipated every invitation was a potential 2 people.

My story is the same! We booked in October 2010 (with out 10 person deposit), and we got married in January 2012. We sent out our Save the Dates around Christmas 2011 to give everyone lots of notice, then sent invitation a couple months later (so people could book ahead of time once we had all the proper info).

What Dan said - if you have something specific you want, send them a picture and get the price. I picked my centrepieces before, but picked the actual flowers in them, and bouquet at the meeting. Our cake was amazing!! If you read my review, you'll see that the humidity and refridgerator killed my butterflies, but the cake itself was delicious. We were only 30 people, and we ate at least half of the two tier cake. We had Coconut and Strawberry, both were really good! Our icing was buttercream, not fondant, and it held up well. Maybe that is something to request?

Thanks! There was no charge for the set up or chairs for the reception/ceremony. The only extra charges were available on the flower/menu. For example - we got the Huppa with Flowers, and that was $300 (I think), but they use those flowers as centerpieces afterwards if you want. We had it on the head table and the cake table. I heard some brides talk about a $5 per string of light charge for the reception, we were never charged it though. Cocktail hour is extra, there is a per person charge for everyone (30 x $15 = $450ish). Do you have a copy of the menu yet? The cake was an extra cost per tier (a one layer cake was free). We had 30 people, and for the reception, it is the extra money for every person over 15. If you want to PM me your email, I can send you any of that information (although it may have changed since I planned things). Or ask your wedding coordinator, its getting to the lower time - so their replies seemed to get a little faster now.

Yay!! I'm glad it worked good for you Our Photog got a few great action shots. So fun!

If you check out the Barcelo Maya Palace thread, there is a ton of information on there! You definitely can rack up extra things, but if you decide what you really want (i.e. we didn't think we needed to spend 100's of dollars on a dance floor and a DJ, dancing was great on the sand). I got married at the Barcelo Palace in January - it was amazing! You can see pics in my planning thread if it helps at all.

I think it depends how full they are, how many other wedding couples checked in and may have taken the upgrade etc.. You get upgraded to the "premium services" - free wifi, free room service, free access to the fancy room. We could "see" the ocean from our room, but it wasn't the big oceanfront suites. We were in the closest part of the hotel to the beach though. The rooms were still huge though. Regardless.

If you have tried it on in a store, and know what to expect - I'd order them online! As long as it looks like a reputable site. I used netbride to order a wedding dress. I hadn't tried it on, and ended up hating it. The ordering online process was great though.

Ack, for some reason this site stopped sending me updates. I've missed out on this thread It would probably be good to plan some of this out ahead of time - everything was such a rush that I have no idea what we tipped. I know the father in law did some, and my dad did some. We were running short on cash, and with the hubby getting SEVERE food poisoning/flu that morning - everything was so rushed! I have no idea if we tipped the violin player or the minister to be honest! We had one. It may not have been necessary, but it really was a lot of fun. The food was AMAZING. We had ours up on the palace, so it was nice to have a place to ourself. You get your own bar and music and it was a really fun atmosphere, and a casual place to finally mingle with everyone. A few photos I have a few of mine. If you look through this thread, there are pictures all through it. I just did a quick search and found one from a month ago. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/21746/barcelo-maya-palace-brides-post-here-d/2680 here is the Mango Scallop Ceviche - awesome. Really really good. Chicken Lemon Soup from Merida (So good! People still talk about the soup) Surf and Turf - ours was cooked perfect. I was worried it would be overdone, but it was a perfect medium. I didn't get a pro picture of dessert. Here is one from my friend (or whats left). The Molten chocolate Lava cake. Also awesome We had one layer coconut and one strawberry for the wedding cake. We ate about half of it (out of two tiers). All that food plus cocktail hour - it must have been great cake!

Thanks I want to plan another one, it was so fun!

I'll message you!

White Calla Lillies were included in my flowers for free - I didn't ask for them, they were just there.

I that the free stay depends on who you book with. We had one free trip through Air Canada vacations with every 26 people booked. Ours was the same as Brenners and Joanne. We were also surprised by the "say something" thing. The husband is pretty shy, and was really caught off guard. He said "I love you...that pretty much sums it up". It was special, the best man used that as the opener to his speech that night.

I had mine in my carry on suitcase - and I packed my bridesmaids in with my OOT bags. I kind of built out a little space for them - and the only got smushed a little. Luckily they went right back into shape!