saric83

Ugh! This sucks. I would just move the ceremony time back! If you want to get sunset pictures, they're better down on the beach anyway.

We had a guitar player for everyone else walking in, and then we provided a CD for the song for me to walk into and then the song for us to walk back down to. The person on the cd-player hit the button a little too early when my parents walked down, but they re-started it before I got up there. For some reason our web cam link is still working, so if you're interested, you can check it out with the sound. FYI - There's a lot of waiting around in the beginning, and I don't think it gets going until the 10 minute mark or so. Around the 13-minute mark is when you can hear the cd playing and then again at 28-minutes. http://vimeo.com/33929239 Hope it's helpful!

We had the fireworks after the ceremony (at the kiss actually), and I loved them. But they did burn us! We were standing behind the table, and maybe we were supposed to be in front of it, but there was a gust of wind and sparks were flying. All of my bridesmaids has umbrellas to shield them, but I had little burn marks all down my veil and dress. It made for a good story and was entertaining for our guests watching from home as they could see us squirming. So it was worth it but just be aware to ask if you should be in front of the table when they go off.

We used a TA, and I'm SO glad we did since it just made it all easier on us and our guests. Any guests that book through your TA count towards the credits, but if you have anyone who books elsewhere, it doesn't count. I think it saved a lot of stress of people not contacting me about things, and I had a lot of delays in communication while working directly with BP that were a minor hassle for me, but if all of my guests went through that per my suggestion to book through them, I would have felt really bad. We had some guests with some room issues when they first arrived that were all taken care of by our TA. We also had four different guests who had their flights get canceled on the way home, so since they had a TA, she took care of getting them on new flights and everything, so they didn't have to worry about it. And not to mention when I was having a difficult time getting answers prior to signing the contract and getting everything confirmed, our TA bugged BP, and we got answers immediately! It's good to have someone outside of the hotel on your side.

I would go with regular size since most of the glasses were a bit taller. Here's a smaller martini-like glass that they served some of our drinks in on the beach during our welcome cocktail hour, and the photo below it are the glasses that they served pretty much everything else in.

Definitely! We just paid a bit more to have an extra hour added to the reception, so we still had three full hours. We (correctly) assumed that our friends and family would run to their fav bars in the place while we were wrapping up photos. They were all also taking pictures of themselves on the beach and the rooftop, so I'm glad we didn't specifically have a set-up in another location for a formal cocktail hour before dinner since very few of them would have been there to enjoy it.

We had a lot of friends who just flew in for 2-3 nights; one couple who stayed at another resort, and a few who booked at the resort through their timeshare, so I'm sure you won't have an issue! Our wedding was in the beginning of December, and it was only about 40% occupancy, so it was no problem at all!

Hi Nicole! We had about 40 people, and we didn't qualify for the free functions. We did qualify for a cocktail hour, but we used that as a welcome cocktail hour the night before the wedding. Honestly, I can't remember the exact amount of what we paid, but I think it was something like $400 for the overall rental fee for four tables of 10 + an additional $15 per person for the sky terrace location + an additional $200 to add a third hour. For Zuniga, the only things that we rented from them were 15 tiki torches to add more lighting up there and two sets of lounge furniture sets with each set including a two-seater, two one-seaters and a coffee table. We wanted to have more of a casual vibe, so I wanted to have additional seating set up. They were really easy to work with, and I would totally recommend them! Please let me know if there's anything else I can help. Good luck with the planning. : )

We used Zuniga, and I think we got in contact with them about a month or two before the wedding and got everything finalized and locked up a few weeks before. It would definitely be difficult to decide what to use depending on where you're having the reception. But I didn't have any problem getting more of some of the bigger pieces of furniture, and I changed my mind on things just a few weeks before due to more peopel confirming that they were coming. They were VERY helpful when I was emailing back and forth with them, so I'm sure they could easily let you know now if it would be a potential issue for the things you want to be booked out.

We didn't use the wedding website or honeymoon gift registry, so I'm no help there. When you reserved the date and time, did you pay anything? We paid the fee towards our wedding package and signed the contract, which was the only way to save the date, and we did that within a week or so of contact with the resort. I'm not sure if it will be a nightmare, but if it were me, there's no way I would do that. We booked our stuff through our TA and let our guests know with no pressure, so some of them booked through her and others did it themselves through online sites or whatever. But I didn't want to be responsible for making sure everyone else's stuff was right. I'm SO glad I had the extra advocate of my TA since when I wasn't hearing back from the WC, she bugged them and magically got immediate responses. When we had two guests whose flights on the way home were canceled and changed, she took care of it and fixed it all before anyone even knew anything was wrong. So it just depends on how much time you want to dedicate to that stuff, but for me, I knew that once I got to the resort, I didn't want to think about a single thing, and we had people arriving all the way up until the day before the wedding, and when they had issues, I didn't want them coming to me.

I guess I would look at it as a rental fee of the space and waitstaff fees. If you were to have a wedding back home in a banquet, you would be paying for a rental hall fee on top of the food, alcohol, etc. We didn't qualify for the unlimited events (not all of our guests booked through our TA), but I still think having the private rental is worth every penny. You have your own dedicated waitstaff, event decorations, privacy, ability to play music and have a sound system. And we were over the total of people to even be able to have it for free in one of the restaurants (it was either 25 or 35 max), but even if we could have, I would have still wanted more of a reception-feel.

We had our wedding last December, and for absolutely everything from hotel (seven nights - eight days), airfare, travel insurance, ceremony, my dress and accessories, my husband's suit and accessories, wedding bands, reception decorations, favors, wedding party and parent gifts, photos, videographer & web cam, invitations, guitar soloist, fireworks, hair and make-up, private function reception for 40, mariachi band, welcome bags, furniture rental, etc., we were at $12,000. I would say the only place we saved money was not having a DJ. We opted for a more chill and relaxed event, so we brought our Bose system and had a playlist on our iPod. I've been invited to five destination weddings, and the bride and groom has never paid for anything outside of the reception (and we didn't pay for anything for our friends and family.) Knowing that it's a large expense, you just have to be okay with the fact that some people simply won't be able to make it. We booked 10 months ahead of time, but I'm sure you can do it now.

We had our wedding at BP last December, and we used our cocktail hour in lieu of a rehearsal dinner, so we re-purposed it as a welcome cocktail hour. Our ceremony was on the rooftop sky terrace, and our reception was on the south terrace, so we wanted to do something different beforehand. So we did the welcome cocktail hour on the beach, and they actually set it up with some little tables and chairs, which was completely included in the price. I included a picture below, so you can kind of see the set-up. To the far right of the picture, they brought in a bar for just our group, but they had a waitstaff that brought the drinks right down to us. It's hard to see, but I think there were four shorter tables with four chairs each, and then there were three or four taller cocktail tables too, and in the center of all of it was a large table with the cocktail food. I hope that helps!

Hey ladies! I completely understand your frustrations, but I promise it will all work out!!! We were married at BP in December, and everything was great. : ) A few things... - We were NOT able to book the Sky Terrace (nor reception location) ahead of time, which made me very very nervous, but it was no problem to book it out once we hit the 90 days. Plus, there were no other weddings while we were there, and when we first booked, they said there would usually only be two per day anyway, so since you booked the time, there's no one else who will have the same time as you! I was more nervous about getting the reception site we wanted, but that was also no problem. - We booked through a travel agent and having her act as my rep with the resort was so helpful! If you haven't booked yet, I would strongly suggest doing it through a TA. We used Beach Bum Vacations since they specialize in destinations weddings (and were free), and we would definitely recommend them. - We checked on shipping a few items, but a 10lb box was $150+ to ship, but it only cost an extra $30 to bring another piece of luggage with us instead, so maybe check that out instead. - An important thing to remember with the decor is the location itself is stunning! So even if everything were completely screwed up with all of your decor, it's still way more beautiful than any lovely decorated ballroom back home. : ) Good luck!!

We thought it was perfect for us. We had kind of a formal entrance (not intentionally done on our part) since we came in right after the mariachi band played, so we turned on the Bose after that, and it was great to just have some casual and fun background music. We danced to a few of the slower songs, but mainly it was just our overall background sound.

I don't think they would need to stay the night. I would just get a day pass for them. We used the resort for our hair (all of my bridesmaids looked great, but mine was terrible and fell out within an hour!), and we did our own make-up.

That was what we were told, and it listed it online in some credit options. So we went with a package instead of doing complimentary since it would have been more expensive for us to pay for each individual item we wanted to add.

That is fantastic! We didn't have enough people to get that many rooms, but that is such a great added benefit!

I've never heard of anyone having free unlimited private functions, so I'm not sure exactly what that entails, but I've definitely heard of a lot of brides getting free cocktail hours or even free dinners based on the number of rooms booked. We earned a free cocktail hour, but we used it as a welcome cocktail hour the night before the wedding. Prices may have changed for 2012 (we just got married in December), but the private function for dinner and drinks was $400 per table of 10, which I thought was for two hours, but they actually said three once we got there. If you want an additional hour, it was $200 per table of 10. We did the buffet option, and I don't remember all of the different ones, but I think we had eight or nine different ones to choose from including a Yucatan menu, Mexican menu, International menu, and I think there was an Italian one too, etc.... We went with a classic Mexican one, and it was awesome!

We did assigned tables (people could choose whatever seat they wanted at that table) with a buffet, and I'm SO glad we did!! We had a few friends who didn't really know anyone else, so it was nice to be able to make sure they were at a table with other people they would have fun with. Also, we had four sets of parents, and while they all get along fine, we thought it would be more enjoyable for them to each have their own table. The tables could fit 10, so we just assigned eight people per table, and then we saved two spots at each table for us. Then we got a chance to actually sit with everyone throughout the night, and none of the parents could complain about being at a worse table than the other. It went a long way to preserve my sanity. : )

Smart! I'm not sure where you are having the reception, but we had ours on the South Sky Terrace, and the area alone doesn't require much decoration at all, but we did bring some things, not necessarily to save money but just so we could have it be what we wanted. We just used the free ivory table cloths provided by the resort, and then we brought larger squares of burlap to go on top of the table cloth. We rented glass vases from the decor company through the resort, and we asked them to fill them up with sand. We made and brought table numbers, mustaches and lips on sticks, so they put those in the sand-filled vases. The only other thing we had that provided a big pop of color was we brought larger wooden maracas that we used as seating cards. So whether you bring something or have a florist bring it in, I wouldn't worry about it at all! It'll look great!

He was great!! I didn't get a chance to talk with him before the ceremony, but H did, and he really liked him. He had a really smoothing and loud voice, so it was absolutely perfect. We didn't do a sand ceremony or anything, but he did as H if he wanted to add a Mayan prayer/blessing, which we both loved.

I think it was about 30 seconds. Enough for when he announced us husband and wife, told H to kiss me, the kiss, and then a hug and then we walked around the table to the front.