gilmana

@@bluecastr1 My parents-in-law bought them in Mexico City and brought them to the Barcelo. I understand that you wouldn't be able to take them on the plane but maybe packed in your luggage? I would double check.

One thing - just not to confuse people... the guest pass for the Palace is $95. So if your ceremony and/or reception is at the Palace, guest passes are $95.

No fee, but you may have to have your DJ bring a generator, depending on where your reception in.

They put candles on the tables and we had petals on ours - not sure if they always do that. It was kind of strange because my WC came with a bag of rose petals. Chair covers are bows - you pick the color when you arrive and I'm not sure about runners for the reception. I had floral arrangements and the table names on each table - along with the menu. Flying lanterns/Chinese wishing lanterns are not allowed. We did sparklers and had no issues.

The Surf and Turf does NOT cost extra for the strawberry package. It is one of the dinner options included. I don't remember exactly how much each hour extra costs - but I think its like $14/person. That just basically covers the alcohol and bar service. We did it and made sure that they did not charge us for the kids.

It was not there when I was there in January 2013 and I had been there in January 2012 so I knew where it was but now it didn't look like it had ever been there.

no, we didn't pay any extra for our food changes.

I got the violin... she was good! Although I hardly remember her playing - at the moment it's the farthest thing from your mind!

We had the strawberry package but we asked for special requests. I don't know what our guests had for the cocktail hour but we ordered the Mexican appetizers. We had a caesar salad that was huge... Tortilla soup... surf and turf... and the dark chocolate fondant. ALL of our guests said it was the best meal they had. I agree - it was amazing. I thought the lobster tail may be poor quality but it was delicious. So much so that our guests went to the caribe restaurant the next night to get more lobster. For the kids they gave fish sticks or chicken nugget and fries. After dinner everyone said they were stuffed but a few hours later we had a taco guy come and serve traditional street tacos - some couldn't even try them because they were still stuffed. oh an no one really ate cake - we had 2 tiers and we would have been fine with 1 tier.

Tell your guests to keep checking... we had some guests book at the Tropical because the Palace was full and a few weeks later the Palace was available and then the Tropical was full so they were able to move over to the Palace. Also, a majority of our guests staying at the tropical/colonial were upgraded (for free) to the palace when they arrived. Just keep checking!

Yes, I agree... all banks are different so future brides should check with their banks. The exchange rates are great - just be aware of the fees. We called our banks before and still had issues when we got there. We did, however, use a capitol one which apparently does not have any foreign transaction fees - but double check just to make sure. We also used our delta card to max out on miles. It was our debit cards that seemed to charge the most fees - if I remember right and both were wells fargo visa cards.

We were not able to pay anything before. The good thing is, you can pay your vendors before you leave so the major cost when you there is just to the Barcelo. We had our parents carry some of the cash and I would suggest you just spread it out among people. Do NOT take $10,000 in cash - just you or you and your fiance. You could get into trouble in Cancun with immigration. But if you have the money spread out - shouldn't be an issue.

The prices are in Dollars. I think the officiant has to be paid in cash... but the rest of our wedding we paid with debit & credit cards. We got slammed with conversion fees. If we had known then, what we know now, we would have tried to pay it all in cash or traveler's checks to avoid $100s in foreign transaction fees.

We just told our WC what we wanted and she called the restaurant and told them how many people. We told our WC when we were in Mexico - so a day or 2 before we actually had our rehearsal dinner... but our invitations already said the date, time and place. Sometimes you just have to go with it.

1. Yes, we were able to negotiate prices/deals with our cocktail hour and we also got them to not charge for children for food or drinks... and something else that I can't remember right now. Remind them that you are bringing all these people for 8-10 days. And we were even negotiating right up until we paid. 2. Yes, it's $15/person/hour for alcohol... after your first 3 hours (I think). 3. Our WC told us to tell the Barcelo Photography (the one you have to pay the vendor fee to) that the Photographer and videographer were together so we paid one fee - $500 and not $1000. Had they known they were separate, I believe we would have had to pay $1000. So, just say that they are one team. 4. I can't answer that 5. Your reception will FLY by.... we had our dinner at 6:00 and the whole thing ended at midnight and it went by like the blink of an eye. I do know that some of our guests went to the disco afterwards. We were so exhausted that we didn't join them. We also had mariachis come from 11-midnight and we had a taquero come to serve traditional street tacos so those two things took up some of our 6 hours of party. 6. We did NOT pay for our rehearsal dinner. We had like 45 people for our rehearsal dinner and because it was such a large group we had to have it at a buffet AND we had to do it right when the buffet opened. They sectioned off 3 very long tables for us and it worked out great.