alanak

Hi Lynz, That $12 per person fee seems new - never heard of that before. But yes - I did pay $60 an hour per table. They say that fee is for the staff that attends to the wedding all night, which is kinda legit. There were 2 bartenders and a bunch of waiters for the reception. I don't get why they would charge $12 per person on top of that though? I knew about the $60 charge in advance so I had it worked into our budget beforehand.. definitely sucks if you didn't know about it!

Hey, If you pick it up there won't be a fee, I actually used an outside florist because their flowers prices were so high at the resort. I forced them to let my florist in with no fee to set everything up. I did buy a lot of other decor through Zuniga and had 50 guests staying at the resort, so I used that as my bargaining tactic to let me use the florist at no charge. I used an outside DJ and paid a $300 "electrical fee", but it still made the DJ $600 cheaper even with that fee than what the resort DJ was charging.

Hi, I used resort credits for the spa - we got a couples massage for $28 total! You can only use up to a maximum amount at the spa - we had $1500 credits per couple, and you could use up to $300 at the spa. You pay tax in cash on any credits you use (and tip if you want) and thats it. You cannot use credits to golf at the course next door - you can only use the credits at Moon Palace to golf. You can take transportation there, it is about 50 mins away, a few of our guests did that. We also used credits on a trip to tulum and to upgrade wine at dinner.

Mrs. HK you looked great! I hope all the decor worked out If I can figure how to upload pics on here I can share a few of mine haha! Fareda, I used DJ Doremixx, I had to pay a $250 fee for electricity, but I was not charged an outside vendor fee. You just have to push them about those fees. Ivan (Doremixx) himself was already booked so it was another DJ I had through the company, he did a great job. I made a big playlist in a word doc and gave it to them a few weeks in advance, and he only played music from my list so me and all the guests were very happy. I also used Styling Trio for my make-up (and all my bridesmaids) and they were amazing. Adrian has a condo nearby that you can get it done at to avoid the fees, but I told the resort that I already gave him a deposit and I didn't want to worry about having to leave the resort, and said he would come in do my make-up then leave right after, and they allowed it with no fee. I also used an outside florist (Laura from Premium Flores) and again told them I already gave her a deposit, so they let her come to set up no problem. I did buy a lot of decor through their company Zuniga, so maybe that helped me to swing no outside vendor fees. I figured out how to add the photos lol! I brought my photographer with me from Toronto, but if I had to choose one in Mexico it would have been Elizabeth Medina (she is sooo expensive tho).. Del Sol looks really good too.

Hi ladies, I got married there at the end of April. I used DJ Doremixx (although Ivan/Doremixx himself was booked, so it was another DJ from within his company), I paid the $250 electricity fee and I was still able to save $ by using Doremixx. He also includes lighting, balloons, etc. so you get some extra's with him that the resort DJ doesn't provide. I couldn't find ANY info on the resort DJ so I was too nervous to use them. I made a big playlist in a word doc and sent it to the DJ a few weeks before the wedding - they played only songs that were on my playlist (they have a TON of music) so we were really happy with the DJ. I used Styling Trio for my make-up and Adrian did a great job, I was really happy with it, and he is SO nice too, and speaks perfect English (I have heard the spa/salon does a good job, but they do not speak English well at all so sometimes it is hard to communicate what you want). If you are using the resort salon/spa I would recommend bringing pictures of exactly what you want. Adrian has a condo around the corner from the resort which is an option to not pay a vendor fee, but I just told Dulce (my 3 month out WC) that I had already put a deposit down with him and it was very important for me time-wise to not have to leave the resort, and I did not have to pay a fee. I also used an outside florist and did not have to pay a fee (Laura from Premium Flores). Get it in writing if they agree to not charge an outside vendor fee. Dulce is very nice, keep in mind they have multiple weddings a day there so sometimes she is a little slow to respond, sometimes she was quick sometimes slow, and just ask nicely for what you want. I got my wedding to go very late, used an outside florist and make-up artists and didn't pay a fee.. might have also helped we had 50 guests and I spent a lot of $ on decor through the resort's vendor (Zuniga).. but hey can't hurt to ask.. those fees are such BS but every resort does it now! Good luck!

Hi ladies, I got married there at the end of April. I used DJ Doremixx (although Ivan/Doremixx himself was booked, so it was another DJ from within his company), I paid the $250 electricity fee and I was still able to save $ by using Doremixx. He also includes lighting, balloons, etc. so you get some extra's with him that the resort DJ doesn't provide. I couldn't find ANY info on the resort DJ so I was too nervous to use them. I made a big playlist in a word doc and sent it to the DJ a few weeks before the wedding - they played only songs that were on my playlist (they have a TON of music) so we were really happy with the DJ. I used Styling Trio for my make-up and Adrian did a great job, I was really happy with it, and he is SO nice too, and speaks perfect English (I have heard the spa/salon does a good job, but they do not speak English well at all so sometimes it is hard to communicate what you want). If you are using the resort salon/spa I would recommend bringing pictures of exactly what you want. Adrian has a condo around the corner from the resort which is an option to not pay a vendor fee, but I just told Dulce (my 3 month out WC) that I had already put a deposit down with him and it was very important for me time-wise to not have to leave the resort, and I did not have to pay a fee. I also used an outside florist and did not have to pay a fee (Laura from Premium Flores). Get it in writing if they agree to not charge an outside vendor fee. Good luck!

Hi Ladies, I got married at PP April 27/13. They built a brand new spa which is right in the resort now - it is really really nice!! Definitely recommend using resort credits to get a massage - we got a couples massage and it cost $28 total! A lot of my guests used the spa to get their hair done the day of the wedding and they were very happy with the results. To answer Fernandy's question - weddings that are outside on the resort (south solarium, momo terrace, etc.) have to end at 11pm, so there is no issue with hearing music in rooms, unless you are going to bed at 9 LOL. Even still you couldn't really hear it that much. I had my wedding on the beach, and got them to let me go till 1:30am. They actually sent a letter to every room the day of my wedding saying ear plugs were available at the front desk haha!!! I don't think the music bothered anyone too much though since we were on the beach which is further away. Good luck everyone!

Forgot to say thanks for the congrats too

Hi, I actually did deal with Wilma a bit through emails (she was amazing) and I wanted her as my WC, but when it came time to finally be assigned one, Wilma had been promoted, and is no longer a WC. Bad for me (and future brides/grooms) but good for her lol! I had read you could stay on the beach till 2am (everywhere else outside is 11pm), and then they tried to get me to end the wedding at 12am, and I pushed and got 1:30am. But the same night as my wedding there was another wedding on the other side of the beach until 2am!

Hi Jessi, I actually sold a lot of my decor to a girl living in Playa del Carmen who was getting married in May. Most of what I have left is listed on ebay - I have a white wedding hanger that says 'bride' in the wire with a flower on it, I have a gold sequin tablecloth that I used for the cake table (96" round), I am selling my veil too! If any of that interests you, let me know Doremixx was just much cheaper than the resort DJ (and included things like the balloons which were a fun extra), and I couldn't find any reviews or info. on the resort DJ, so I felt comfortable going with Doremixx and it saved quite a bit of money. I meant to check out the ballroom and never did! I was definitely a sweaty bride haha.. at 12:30am I changed into a white bikini and partied the rest of the night like that!

Hi everyone, I got married at Playacar Palace on April 27, 2013. We were there from Wed April 24 to Wed May 1. We had 48 guests total. I need to write a full review still, I have been so busy since I've been back! Let me start by saying I am from Toronto, I am a wedding & event planner, and I am a perfectionist type A personality. I have been to numerous AI's, traveled all over the US & Europe & Caribbean, so I can compare this resort to quite a few others. I have nothing bad to say about the resort or the experience - overall I was SO happy, we had the day/week of our dreams. Only thing I will mention is.. this is not a vacation for the bride and groom (especially considering we had 50 guests!) It was so much fun but even with 8 days I really had zero time to relax lol! To answer someone's question - there is really no nightlife at the resort. There is a bar next to the lobby open till 1am, and one night they had a DJ in there, but usually it was just a quiet bar. We had over 30 friends join us, and one brought his own DJ equipment down with him, so we had a lot of room parties and they even let us set up in the bar and play music till 4am one night! The resort is literally next to downtown Playa del Carmen, and no joke NEXT to Senior Frogs, so if you're good with going off the property, there is a lot of clubs/bars nearby. I found everything very safe, we went into town a bunch of times and all was good. I will write a more thorough review soon, but here is some info/tips. We had a 2 tier cake, 1 was vanilla 1 was chocolate, people actually LOVED the wedding cake and said it was amazing. It got totally sweaty though, but luckily the photographers can photoshop that! We had a few private dinners, we chose the Roman, BBQ and Cajun buffets. BBQ was by far the best, I wish I chose it for the wedding (I was scared it would be messy to eat but it wasn't), Roman was pretty good and Cajun was our least fav but still pretty good. We had a welcome dinner at the South Solarium, rehearsal dinner at MoMo Terrace, and the wedding ceremony was on the beach at 6pm, cocktail hour at South Solarium, and reception on the beach. It's so funny - once you actually see the resort you see how close together everything is - there really isn't much of a difference between South Solarium and MoMo Terrace. 6pm was perfect for a beach wedding because starting around 5ish the sun sets and goes behind the resort - so we were not in direct sunlight at all. We had the reception on the beach because we wanted to stay late - we ended at 1:30am and then had an after party in someones room! I used Premium Flores (Flowers) as our florist (the resort prices were insane for flowers), DJ Doremixx (we didn't have Ivan/Doremixx himself, we had a different DJ and he was great - they included the lighting and balloons which were super fun), and Styling Trio for make-up (my hairdresser was a guest at the resort!). The resort tells you strict policy no outside vendors, then they say fine but $400 fee per vendor. I just PUSHED and FORCED it for free - I would make like I was already speaking to the florist for months, or say you gave a deposit already, etc. and get it in writing that you are allowed to use them with no extra charge. Only fee I paid was $250 for the DJ - but I still saved over $600 by using Doremixx vs. the resort DJ, even with that fee! Laura from Premium Flores was amazing, she is really nice and great to work with, and her prices are wayyy more reasonable than the resort. Adrian from Styling Trio is the nicest guy, and did a great job! Love that they use airbrushing - stays on really well in the heat! He had a team so other people did my bridesmaids make-up, and were great. My contact from Zuniga (the resort decor company) was Lily, she is so sweet and answered my million questions. I used a lot of decor from the resort (lounge furniture, bamboo structures with lanterns, chuppah with chandelier in it, dance floor, tiffany chairs, custom wedding sign, tiki torches, etc) everything was set-up great, they did a really good job. I did not choose a package - being a wedding planner I personally would not be okay having a wedding that looked like a ton of other people's (no offense to anyone choosing a package, just for me personally I would not like that), so I custom made my entire wedding from scratch and it all worked out great. To be honest, I saw up to 5 weddings a day there, and one day there were 2 beach ceremony's going on at the same time, and both were the complimentary package, so at either end of the beach you had the EXACT same looking wedding happening. I loved that mine was totally MINE and looked completely different than the other ton of weddings going on during the week we were there. I saw the pearl shimmer collection, the purple one, and the complimentary - they look exactly like they do in the PDF, so you don't have to worry, they look nice in person. My WC was Carolina, she is really sweet and nice and did a great job. I gave her a 12 page document with exactly how I wanted everything set-up (I brought a lot of decor down with me, signs, starfish seating cards, etc) - I had 2 suitcases and 5 carry-on suitcases full of decor! As for the resort itself, it is lovely, perfect size - you could always find your guests, we are so happy we chose a smaller resort for the wedding. What you read about the staff is true - they are SOOO nice, always looking to help you, the service we received was like nothing I have ever experienced at an all-inclusive. The food was very good for an AI - Italian resto is really quite good, the buffet was always good, Asian resto was good (sushi was pretty decent considering you are in Mexico!), the teppanyaki was not so great, although 2 nights before I went a bunch of our guests did it and said it was amazing, they had a different cook than us though. 24 hour room service was used A LOT - after the wedding I think we ordered 12 cheeseburgers, 12 club sandwiches, 12 pizzas, fries, etc. and it came really quickly! The drinks were great, they make amazing mojitos! Whoever writes that they water down the drinks - I don't know where they get that from, I drank a few double mojitos one night and got really drunk lol! There is a liquor dispenser in every room - stocked with bottles of vodka, tequila, rum and whiskey. Along with mini fridge full of water, pop, beer and juice. Each room has a hairdryer AND a FLAT IRON which was amazing - no need to bring your iron with. They give you CHI bath products - the shampoo, conditioner and body lotion were great - no need to bring that either. We used l'escape (a Canadian destination wedding planner/travel agent) to book all the travel and through them it was WestJet Vacations - for the person on here who asked, we had enough people to get the free private events, so you don't have to book directly through the resort. We had other guests book on expedia, etc. who couldn't come for the full 8 days. The free private events is so worth it - like I mentioned we had the welcome dinner, rehearsal dinner, cocktail hour and wedding dinner all for free. I think it's ridiculous that all these resort want you to pay for it anyways when it's an AI! The resort credits were great - we got a couples massage and it cost us $28 (the new spa is SOOO nice), we did the Tulum excursion and it cost $7.60 per person, you could even buy wine at the Italian resto to bring home with credits (we upgraded wine with credits too, the house wine wasn't very good). I have more to say but this is already really long, if anyone has ANY questions please feel free to private message me, I can give you my email addy it's quicker and easier for me to respond I will try to come on here as much as I can to answer questions and help out. Good luck! I think this is a great resort to have a wedding at, all our guests loved the resort too.

Hi everyone, I got married at Playacar Palace on April 27, 2013. We were there from Wed April 24 to Wed May 1. We had 48 guests total. I need to write a full review still, I have been so busy since I've been back! Let me start by saying I am from Toronto, I am a wedding & event planner, and I am a perfectionist type A personality. I have been to numerous AI's, traveled all over the US & Europe & Caribbean, so I can compare this resort to quite a few others. I have nothing bad to say about the resort or the experience - overall I was SO happy, we had the day/week of our dreams. Only thing I will mention is.. this is not a vacation for the bride and groom (especially considering we had 50 guests!) It was so much fun but even with 8 days I really had zero time to relax lol! To answer someone's question - there is really no nightlife at the resort. There is a bar next to the lobby open till 1am, and one night they had a DJ in there, but usually it was just a quiet bar. We had over 30 friends join us, and one brought his own DJ equipment down with him, so we had a lot of room parties and they even let us set up in the bar and play music till 4am one night! The resort is literally next to downtown Playa del Carmen, and no joke NEXT to Senior Frogs, so if you're good with going off the property, there is a lot of clubs/bars nearby. I found everything very safe, we went into town a bunch of times and all was good. I will write a more thorough review soon, but here is some info/tips. We had a 2 tier cake, 1 was vanilla 1 was chocolate, people actually LOVED the wedding cake and said it was amazing. It got totally sweaty though, but luckily the photographers can photoshop that! We had a few private dinners, we chose the Roman, BBQ and Cajun buffets. BBQ was by far the best, I wish I chose it for the wedding (I was scared it would be messy to eat but it wasn't), Roman was pretty good and Cajun was our least fav but still pretty good. We had a welcome dinner at the South Solarium, rehearsal dinner at MoMo Terrace, and the wedding ceremony was on the beach at 6pm, cocktail hour at South Solarium, and reception on the beach. It's so funny - once you actually see the resort you see how close together everything is - there really isn't much of a difference between South Solarium and MoMo Terrace. 6pm was perfect for a beach wedding because starting around 5ish the sun sets and goes behind the resort - so we were not in direct sunlight at all. We had the reception on the beach because we wanted to stay late - we ended at 1:30am and then had an after party in someones room! I used Premium Flores (Flowers) as our florist (the resort prices were insane for flowers), DJ Doremixx (we didn't have Ivan/Doremixx himself, we had a different DJ and he was great - they included the lighting and balloons which were super fun), and Styling Trio for make-up (my hairdresser was a guest at the resort!). The resort tells you strict policy no outside vendors, then they say fine but $400 fee per vendor. I just PUSHED and FORCED it for free - I would make like I was already speaking to the florist for months, or say you gave a deposit already, etc. and get it in writing that you are allowed to use them with no extra charge. Only fee I paid was $250 for the DJ - but I still saved over $600 by using Doremixx vs. the resort DJ, even with that fee! Laura from Premium Flores was amazing, she is really nice and great to work with, and her prices are wayyy more reasonable than the resort. Adrian from Styling Trio is the nicest guy, and did a great job! Love that they use airbrushing - stays on really well in the heat! He had a team so other people did my bridesmaids make-up, and were great. My contact from Zuniga (the resort decor company) was Lily, she is so sweet and answered my million questions. I used a lot of decor from the resort (lounge furniture, bamboo structures with lanterns, chuppah with chandelier in it, dance floor, tiffany chairs, custom wedding sign, tiki torches, etc) everything was set-up great, they did a really good job. I did not choose a package - being a wedding planner I personally would not be okay having a wedding that looked like a ton of other people's (no offense to anyone choosing a package, just for me personally I would not like that), so I custom made my entire wedding from scratch and it all worked out great. To be honest, I saw up to 5 weddings a day there, and one day there were 2 beach ceremony's going on at the same time, and both were the complimentary package, so at either end of the beach you had the EXACT same looking wedding happening. I loved that mine was totally MINE and looked completely different than the other ton of weddings going on during the week we were there. I saw the pearl shimmer collection, the purple one, and the complimentary - they look exactly like they do in the PDF, so you don't have to worry, they look nice in person. My WC was Carolina, she is really sweet and nice and did a great job. I gave her a 12 page document with exactly how I wanted everything set-up (I brought a lot of decor down with me, signs, starfish seating cards, etc) - I had 2 suitcases and 5 carry-on suitcases full of decor! As for the resort itself, it is lovely, perfect size - you could always find your guests, we are so happy we chose a smaller resort for the wedding. What you read about the staff is true - they are SOOO nice, always looking to help you, the service we received was like nothing I have ever experienced at an all-inclusive. The food was very good for an AI - Italian resto is really quite good, the buffet was always good, Asian resto was good (sushi was pretty decent considering you are in Mexico!), the teppanyaki was not so great, although 2 nights before I went a bunch of our guests did it and said it was amazing, they had a different cook than us though. 24 hour room service was used A LOT - after the wedding I think we ordered 12 cheeseburgers, 12 club sandwiches, 12 pizzas, fries, etc. and it came really quickly! The drinks were great, they make amazing mojitos! Whoever writes that they water down the drinks - I don't know where they get that from, I drank a few double mojitos one night and got really drunk lol! There is a liquor dispenser in every room - stocked with bottles of vodka, tequila, rum and whiskey. Along with mini fridge full of water, pop, beer and juice. Each room has a hairdryer AND a FLAT IRON which was amazing - no need to bring your iron with. They give you CHI bath products - the shampoo, conditioner and body lotion were great - no need to bring that either. We used l'escape (a Canadian destination wedding planner/travel agent) to book all the travel and through them it was WestJet Vacations - for the person on here who asked, we had enough people to get the free private events, so you don't have to book directly through the resort. We had other guests book on expedia, etc. who couldn't come for the full 8 days. The free private events is so worth it - like I mentioned we had the welcome dinner, rehearsal dinner, cocktail hour and wedding dinner all for free. I think it's ridiculous that all these resort want you to pay for it anyways when it's an AI! The resort credits were great - we got a couples massage and it cost us $28 (the new spa is SOOO nice), we did the Tulum excursion and it cost $7.60 per person, you could even buy wine at the Italian resto to bring home with credits (we upgraded wine with credits too, the house wine wasn't very good). I have more to say but this is already really long, if anyone has ANY questions please feel free to private message me, I can give you my email addy it's quicker and easier for me to respond I will try to come on here as much as I can to answer questions and help out. Good luck! I think this is a great resort to have a wedding at, all our guests loved the resort too.

Also, for those who were already married - what flavor cake did you have, and was it good? For those who had the buffet - which did you choose and how was it? Thanks!!

Hi! We are having the ceremony at 6pm on the beach, then cocktails on Cielo Terrace and the reception on the beach. We are expecting close to 50 ppl. What about you?? What days are you staying (we are Apr 24 to May 1). We will have to find each other!