FireyNurse

Check out the other Barcelo Palace thread if you haven't ready...you can find a ton of information on it (over 3000 posts). We used Juan Navarro as our photographer and I can't say enough about his work! Here is the link to his blog of our wedding http://www.juanphotos.com/blog/weddings/barcelo-maya-deluxe-destination-wedding-chasity-brian-riviera-maya-q-roo/ And our trash the dress: http://www.juanphotos.com/blog/weddings/tulum-cenote-trash-the-dress-chasity-brian-tulum-riviera-maya-q-roo-mexico/ Happy planning

There is a thread on here about costs and I did a full break down of what cost us what on there, I have pasted it below for you to see. For the wedding package, we had the strawberry package and 20 people total. The extras we had to pay for on top of the package price was 5 extra people, 3 hours of extra reception time, two bridal party bouquets and flower girl petals. The cost for that stuff was approx $4400. Here is the break down: $4100 travel (this was 2 weeks all inclusive of hotel/flights/drinks/food and this included a free upgrade to first class both ways and an ocean view suite - 1 week wedding and 1 week honeymoon) $4400 wedding package - meals/drinks/decor/flowers/ipod and speaker hook ups and extra reception hours $2790 wedding photography and TTD $2500 wedding videography $600 for outside vendor rooms $1350 dress and alterations $250 for bridal extras $450 grooms outfit $260 girls dresses $250 mens pants $100 gifts for party $50 favors $100 centerpeices $1000 wedding bands for a total of $18,200 Those were our major costs, I didn't account for the extras like all the paper and such that I had to purchase for the DIY invites, menu cards, guest book and little things like that, I could probably throw in another $200-$400 to cover those little things. I also did not include my engagement ring as it was a purchase made individually by my husband and I do not know what it cost or anything.

Another question for you babysand...what package are you going with? I haven't heard of the table setting fee...although we had to pay $66 per person over the 15 included in the strawberry package, is this perhaps the same thing? If so and it is the same but for a different package, like mint or blueberry or something the charge is for the actual meal for each person.

We didn't do any private events aside from our wedding. But at the wedding yes there were charges of per person per hour to drink (over the people and hours included in the package) my suggestion, to avoid these charges is to maybe do things less private and exclusive to avoid having to pay out the nose for everything...because the reality is, it is an all inclusive but if you want private events you have to pay for the space and staff to run them for you, basically. We did a rehearsal (before wedding dinner) in town in Playa Del Carmen at our favourite little italian place, yes we had to pay to eat but it was quite private and fabulous service! Otherwise we did our gatherings as impromptu events where we all just met at a certain bar or lobby to drink together, they can't make you pay then. Our group was also only 20 people, though, so this was easier for us to manage.

The $500 is for photography outside vendors, that's all, guests need day passes. For our wedding in november day passes were $95. then as was already said its the $27 or $66 per person (which is basically the cost for them to eat, they can attend all parts of the wedding). I paid the per person charge as it is calculated and put on to be paid with your wedding package. I informed my guests about the day passes to let them know that if they chose to stay elsewhere and attend they'd need to pay to be on the resort. this wasn't something I was offering to pay for them as it was their choice of where to stay and I didn't think that was unreasonable.

I am also from calgary, was married Nov 28, 2012 and we also wanted our guests to have to pay less than $1500. We chose the Barcelo Maya resort, there were different levels of pricing so it was perfect. The Palace (best resort of the property) was $1728 per person, the next level was $1483, there was a lower resort as well but we didn't get pricing for that one. Perhaps a large resort that has some options would be worth checking out.

As gilmana said, that is correct. We had a dinner one night at the Palace Brazilian restaurant and they never inquired about our bracelets and two of our people were from the Colonial, we weren't asked to pay the $15 fee per person...so we left the waiter a big tip! We had no issues being at the Palace and most of our guests being at the Colonial...still saw them lots and were able to hang out with them all the time, the colonial/tropical isn't that far if you are able-bodied and ok with walking. the beach/caribe is a fair distance away and has less options to eat/drink at. My recommendation would also be to have guests stay at the tropical/colonial and/or palace.

No worries and Thanks very much! I love to help brides out on here as I had a lot of help here as well! We gave out the little soft plastic photo albums that we made into welcome booklets, in there we had created a small timeline, it said 3-3:30 was the Ceremony and then 3:30 to 4:00 Group and Bridal Party Pictures and then 4:00-5:30 I put free time, drink or refresh yourself for the reception and then 5:30 Reception. We held a little meet and greet get together (no cost to us because we did it in the lobby bar at the Colonial where many guests were staying) on the day everyone arrived and we handed out and went through the booklet with everyone, including the timeline. We were a group of 20 so if anyone wasn't sure where to go I am guessing they just asked someone else nearby. No one had any issues with hanging out and doing their own thing (I think they all just drank, lol) and then our planner, Victoria, just let them know when it was time to head over to the beach for the reception. You can book for any nights, I asked each company I hired what they preferred and one wanted to stay the night before and of the wedding and the other preferred to stay the night of and the next night. I know that Juan stayed for sure for the night of the wedding as we did a TTD the next day and he was checking out prior to it, as for the videographer, I know he stayed at least the night before the wedding as that is what I heard from him in our conversation. I booked both photographer and videographer at the Beach/Caribe (and our wedding was at the Palace) they are the cheapest on the property and yes if they stay there they can still go wherever you and your wedding are, just the same as any guest at your wedding can stay anywhere and still access you and your wedding group on the day of the wedding. My suggestion if your photographer says she won't be using the room is to potentially use it for the Groom if he needs a room to stay for the night. My groom and i didn't stay together but he stayed with his best man that night, if he wasn't able to do that I think we would have just let him use the photographer room and not had them stay there that night.

Our guests were totally happy and wanted to be outside so they hung out at the Coco pool bar and had drinks, they knew they were eating a 4 course dinner once the reception started so my guess is that is why we didn't hear any complaints...they all probably had lunch prior to the ceremony too!

We arrived in Mexico on sunday afternoon, around 4pm or so and our wedding was Wednesday. I don't think it's super strict like a legal ceremony is but more-so that they need some time to prepare with you.

I can't think of a theme for you but we didn't have a theme per-se either, I don't really think. I think if you incorporate your colours in all you do it will create a beautiful theme all on its own!

I had Victoria and she was SO fantastic! When we got to the later steps in planning contact slowed down because there wasn't much left to plan. If I had questions she still answered in a decent timely manner. I had the strawberry package and checked my emails and I had step 6 as photographer, step 7 was spa appointments and step 8 was guest list. After I booked my appt for the spa with Victoria I found out they had changed the process to msg the spa and so I also msgd them to confirm. Otherwise it was just the guest list.

I am not 100% sure of the height of the gazebo but looking at our pictures of us in it and against the pillars I'd say the pillar height is probably about 12 feet high so you would need that amount of material plus lots more to string between the pillars as it shows in the pictures. Material can be very heavy (depending on what you are purchasing) so keep that in mind when you are figuring out pricing and the difference between you having to buy it and bring it down with you or having them do it. Plus, from the picture it seems that the flowers that are hanging may be covering something that is hanging the fabric as well, so you would have to have something to put in that place if you didn't want to purchase flowers from the resort.

CONGRATS!!!! I am so happy and excited for you! I cannot wait to see your review and pics from Juan!

We didn't have a strict budget, or any budget for that matter, for the wedding but knew we wanted to DIY some things (invites and centrepieces, etc) and then splurge on other parts (photography and extending our reception) my mom was kind enough to help us out and pay for the photographer and she also paid for some of my dress. Otherwise this was all us and I am proud to say we had not a cent of debt when it was all over and done! What we started with budget wise was just wanting prices for our guests to be under $1500 per person and we went from there.... $4100 travel (this was 2 weeks all inclusive of hotel/flights/drinks/food and this included a free upgrade to first class both ways and an ocean view suite - 1 week wedding and 1 week honeymoon) $4400 wedding package - meals/drinks/decor/flowers/ipod and speaker hook ups and extra reception hours $2790 wedding photography and TTD $2500 wedding videography $600 for outside vendor rooms $1350 dress and alterations $250 for bridal extras $450 grooms outfit $260 girls dresses $250 mens pants $100 gifts for party $50 favors $100 centerpeices $1000 wedding bands for a total of $18,200 Those were our major costs, I didn't account for the extras like all the paper and such that I had to purchase for the DIY invites, menu cards, guest book and little things like that, I could probably throw in another $200-$400 to cover those little things. I also did not include my engagement ring as it was a purchase made individually by my husband and I do not know what it cost or anything. We felt like under $20,000 was a fantastic price for the wedding of our dreams which also included a week of fun with our loved ones and then another week of relaxation for us! Doing it at home would have been a one day deal and people still would have had to pay for travel to the wedding, this way everyone really got their money's worth for traveling!

It was beautiful! That was our back up in case of rain as well.

Sorry, in case its hard to see the MyBarcelo thing, if you go to Barcelo.com then at the top right hand side there's a small little "My Barcelo" area to click and you can sign up there.

I just looked and without the signing up for myBarcelo it is $406 to stay Nov 10-12 2013 and with signing up for it the price is $334 for two nights right now as Happy Days are on (which is their big sales)

I j I just checked on mybarcelo.com and ran the date of Nov 16th through for a two night stay and it came to $395usd and that is without any big sale being on. My theory was any money I could save was better in my pocket than in Smile Markets pocket.

I What is your wedding date? I was married nov 28 and we were able to book 2 rooms for 2 nights. Try to book on the Barcelo website, that's where we booked and the two rooms for two nights was under $600. We signed up for mybarcelo and waited til a deal was on and we booked it that way and it ended up being much cheaper than two $500 fees for outside vendors. Also, even though we stayed at the palace we booked out photographer and videographer at the Beach, saved us a lot of $ and they were able to still come to all parts of our wedding.

I purchased my own tank tops and did the iron on transfer myself, I bought the transfers from etsy seller bridalblingshoppe and they worked out fantastic.

Haha I meant to buy the stuff and it was on my list but I totally ran out of time and didn't end up getting any to try. No one in my party or even in our group had big sweat marks or anything from sweating in their clothes, it was hot but perhaps our bodies adjusted to the constant heat, we arrived Sunday and got married Wednesday.

For the dress in an overhead bin...From what I've looked up many companies don't have a place to hang it and you must put t in a bin. What we did was pre-board (even if I wasn't first class I would have asked to) and then put our luggage in the overhead compartment and then laid my dress on top of it. As it was full we closed it and no one else could use it. I would have been furious if someone tried to put their bag ON my dress. My dress wasn't huge but it was large enough with ruffles kn the bottom plus we had my husbands suit also hanging with it and i had no issues getting all of it to lay flat on top of our carry on luggage.

If you haven't already you should check out the Barcelo threads on here, even the palace ones. There is one huge Barcelo Thread with a ton of info and a couple smaller ones as well. I was married Nov 28 2012 at the Barcelo Palace, most of our guests stayed at the Colonial. I have nothing bad to say about the resort, it was such an amazing experience. air Transat on the other hand was a different story, I was fighting to get out tickets from them 7 days before we left, the ridiculous amount of complications were terrible but in the end when I demanded they do something about everything that had gone wrong we got upgraded. Consider both the AT packages and the resorts because the options are all very different and the prices appear cheaper but once you add upgrades and extra people ect it can be similar prices.

You can always use the Barcelo packages no matter who you book with, I am from Calgary as well, went Air Transat and didn't even bother looking at their packages because I wasn't interested in them at all, the Barcelo one had everything we wanted.