MexicoHereICome

Hi I can't remember how big my cake topper was but I bought it from Micheals.....Here is a link to it: http://www.michaels.com/Monogram-Cake-Topper/wd0624,default,pd.html?start=7&cgid=products-wedding-cakeaccessoriesandtoppers I didn't even worry about it not fitting. The cake was a good size and far too much for 53 people. I would suggest to two tiers just because it looks more like a wedding cake... We kinda had a signature drink....I didn't try them however because we sort of used them as our escort cards...Attached is a picture of the idea I found. The resort bartenders made the drink pink to match the color theme. Everyone said they were very good. But more or less they have everything you could want drink wise and if ask for something special they will make it!! But the bar is full and prepared to make anything!

Hi Ladies, We just got back a few weeks ago from our BEAUTIFUL wedding at the Barcelo Maya Palace. Everything was perfect! For all of you that are worried because you haven't heard anything from your WC or have trouble getting them to email you back....DON'T BE!!! I was a little worried but semi-reassured that everything would be okay after talking to some Brides and they were right! You will meet with your WC and every single detail will be covered. You can change almost every detail if you wanted to at that meeting! Upon checking-in we were up-graded to an Ocean view room and VIP status( my parents were too). Everything went smoothly and our views were GREAT from our room. My Parents room smelled of Mildew but mine was fine. October 6 Wedding......53 Guests Our Second day we met with our WC Xhail who almost immediately passed us onto another WC Jacqueline who was wonderful. She had all of our information including printed out pictures of what I had previously discussed with Xhail and made sure we were completely happy with all of our decsisons. We changed our menu while we met to different things and they accommodated all of our food allergies. This is when I picked flowers, centerpieces, cake,Salon appointments and I even changed from the violin to the sax for our live ceremony music. In a nutshell we planned the whole wedding in our 1.5 hour meeting. We brought lots of little things for her to decorate and handout and she took great notes and made sure she knew exactly how I wanted everything to be. Rehearsal: Jacqueline met us the evening before the wedding and gave us a quick rundown of how everything was going to go down. Immediately following we went to the Brazilian steakhouse for our rehearsal dinner where they put us all together in the same area and was quit wonderful. WEDDING DAY! We got married at 6 pm so we got to enjoy hanging out with our Friends and Family for the morning and good part of the afternoon. SALON: Starting at 2 pm My Girls and I (8 in total) all got our hair and make-up done at the salon. I loved all of our hair and there was 1 bad make-up job out of the bunch! All in all I would give them an A-. Take pictures though....They didn't speak much English ( I managed to explain what I wanted and she did a GREAT job but for a moment I was worried just because of our language barrier.) The Salon drove us all by golf cart back to our rooms so we didn't have to walk back to the palace. Where we all met back in my room to finish getting ready! PHOTOGRAPHER: Ivan Luckie A++++++. Ivan came and met me at the Salon and was a dream to work with. He was pretty quite and you never really knew he was there. I cannot wait to see my pictures! He was great with communicating via email and even dealt well with some of my drunk girlfriends trying to tell him what to do. He was sweet, and very easy to work with. I am confident he got some great shots (all of his work is excellent on his website and comes highly recommended via this website) We got him a room at the resort for 2 days verse paying the outside vendor fee (which was cheaper) and gave him some extra time to scout some good places to shoot pictures! CEREMONY: A++++ The WC came and picked us up at 5:50 and drove us to the Gazebo. Once we arrived everything started very quickly. I could hear the sax playing as everyone was waiting for me to walk down the aisle (Originally I picked the violin but the WC talked me out of it b/c the wind sometimes drowns out the sound of the violin. The Sax player was WONDERFUL.) The officiant made my Husband have his back to me till I got almost all the way down the aisle so there was an element of surprise for him. He preformed a beautiful ceremony. (I guess while he was waiting for me to come down the aisle he asked my Husband a slew of questions and he put some great personal touches on the ceremony) Our ceremony lasted about 20 minutes and was just perfect! After the ceremony we all had a toast right inside the gazebo lobby area, It was perfect. COCKTAIL HOUR: B+. We had this on a rooftop balcony of the Palace. I didn't get to go to this but everyone told me how wonderful it was. We purchased the Mariachi band. (People are still talking about how much they loved them) We made a make shift photo booth and had people take photo booth style pictures with props. Everyone LOVED it! I made a sign that read "Destination style photo booth.....grab a friend, take a prop, snap a pic or 2 and we will send them to you" The reason why I rate this part of the experience a B+ is because of the food. LOTS of people told me that the food was horrible here (We chose the Mexican package) My Mother actually said she was terrified our dinner was gonna be bad too (it wasn't) All, in all I'm glad we spent the money on it to have everyone together (not everyone was staying at the Palace and I wanted everyone to be able to drink) but I'm disappointed that the food was so bad. I think it must of been pretty bad since people actually told me it was. Most people wouldn't say anything but from what my Mother says it was boarder line embarssing how bad it was. RECEPTION: A. This was located by the Palace Pool. It looked beautiful when I arrived. I had the trees wrapped in lights and it was set up perfect. The D.J. had the party started before we arrived and everyone was enjoying themselves. During the Mother/Son dance it started to sprinkle........Everyone jumped into action. There was an activities hut (tiki hut) located directly next to the reception area. The waiters moved everything out in just a few minutes and moved us under. It really worked out perfect because everyone was closer and there was more light. It stopped raining quickly but better safe than sorry. We then danced right outside of the hut after dinner and the rain stopped. It made it memorable and it's something we can look back at and giggle about! It was the best evening ever. I just wish we added the extra hour. It went all by too fast! All of the younger people went on to the Disco after so it wasn't a big deal! Biggest complaint was the heat! It was HOT and HUMID....And I'm a Floridian I can usually deal with heat! Dinner choices: Thai Beef with cucumber salad. EXCELLENT Onion Soup: EXCELLENT Surf and Turf: GOOD Half Baked Chocolate cake: I didn't try but I heard it was EXCELLENT Wedding Cake: Vanilla and Strawberry with whip cream frosting...In my opinion was the BEST part of the entire meal D.J: A+ Discomovil. He played all the things we wanted and kept the crowd going. He rented us a generator (which you couldn't hear instead of paying the electricity fee from the resort for not choosing their D.J) the cost of this was $200 extra and well worth it! They were great to communicate with. Always responded quickly to emails and spoke great English to do make announcements! We had a few special request songs and he found them all and played each one! Loved them!! The most important thing of the whole trip was that we were surrounded by our loved ones. We made so many memories that will last a lifetime and have endless stories to tell. You spend a year planning this very special day and even just weeks after you forget about what may not of been perfect or what someone forgot to bring. Those things happened to me but all I really remember is all the great times we shared with our Friends and Family. I actually sat here and struggled to remember some of the details. Sure I remember the rain, but I couldn't tell you what my flowers looked like! Everyone told me they thought our wedding was great, the resort was beautiful and the staff was wonderful! I would recommend to anyone to get married here! We are all planning on a return trip together next year! Happy Planning Everyone! Here are a few pic's. Professional ones to follow..... feel free to contact me with any questions

Don't be too frustrated......I leave in 6 days...Wedding is in 10 and I still haven't had any confirmation on flowers, spa appointments, cake, timeline for the day, and if she wants a list of people who are coming. I need to contact the D.J and photographer with different pieces of information and I can't get a response either. I just send her information and hope she recieves it. I know they do this all the time so I'm trying to use the "blind faith" method of thinking....But still I have no idea where I am as far as costs etc... I am equally frustrated!!

Does anyone know if there is a menu at the Rodizzio (meats) restaurant or if it roaming gauchos with skewers of meat? I am trying to plan our rehearsal dinner and I don't know if the Brazilian restaurant is the same as it is in the states.

They have $80 worth of printing for $20 today on the Tampa Groupon!

The menu is different for the Strawberry package...Chose one from each catogoey. SALADS Tomato Salad with Goat Cheese Pesto Dressing Sea Scallop and Mango Ceviche, Key Lime Essence Thai Roast Beef and Cucumber Salad, Onion ringd Curried Marinated Chicken and Tomato Salad Shrimp Cocktail with Avocado Slices and Cilantro Proscciuto Ham in Crispy Grissini SOUPS Genovese Minestrone Soup with Garlic Croutons Asparagus Soup Chicken and Lemon Soup from Merida Onion Soup, with Gruyere Cheese Crostini Lobster Bisquet MAIN DISH Grilled Portobellos and Chicken Breast Pan Seared Fish Medallion, Parmesan Cheese Risotto, Asparagus and Red Bell Pepper Coulis Terriyaki Beef Tips and Vegetables, Chorizo and Potatoes Sofrito Beef tenderloin Wellington Surf & Turf ( Beef tenderloin with Lobster tail) Grilled Lamb Chops, soft Polenta, Red Onion marmalade, Balsamic Vinager Sauce DESSERTS Sweat Creme Brulee Caramelized Apple Fruit Cocktail Luke Warm Half Baked Dark Chocolate Fondant Three Chocolate Mousse Strawberry Cheese Cake White Chocolate and Raspberry Tiramisu

I was just on the Barcelo site...and they let me book for 2 nights maybe it's just the time of year you are booking for. I'm getting hitched this October and its low season. I

CRAZY!! It's gotta be the time of year your going!! Sorry.

I booked straight from the Barcelo website. We joined the My Barcelo club and received an additional discount. We booked our entire stay through that website. I had NO issue only booking 2 nights. Barcelo.com

How many tags do you get for $15?

Our D.J. website is: http://www.discomovilcancun.com The price $600 for up to 4 hours of service....$100 for any hour past that. If you want a light up dance floor its $600 (the resort is like $1300 for the same floor) Once you sign a contract with him he has a huge music database and you can pick everything you want to hear on his site. He was only $100 deposit....You can add things like cold fireworks for $25 a piece and you can add props to give out to the guest to play with. Past brides have used him and they gave him a good review.... The photographer I had originally hired Belen Luckie she was 1/2 the price of Ivan and works underneath him I thought she had a good profolio.....I signed a contract with her and for whatever reason she now can't make it. So Ivan is taking her spot (and they have yet to tell me I have to pay more....I signed a contract so I can't imagine them charging me more). I dealt with Ivan the entire time through my process of choosing my photographer and he has been great! I'm actually really excited that Belen can't make it! Ivan and his wife will be staying at the resort (I booked the Beach for them, no need to pay the Palace prices) The resort requires you to use there photographers or pay a $500 outside vendor fee....UNLESS your photographer is a guest of the resort! I found the info here on the website and I have found that since they raised their outside vendor prices to $500 most Brides so it this way. I have used this site SEVERAL times when I ask my WC about things.....I will tell her I saw online that you did this in the past could you still do this? Also save all your emails print them out and bring them with you if for whatever reason they change their mind once you arrive you will have proof that they had agreed to it before. They change prices sometimes when they change their policies and you want to be able to prove their quoted price.

Did any past brides have a little bachlorette party while you were there? If so I am looking for ideas....

We are paying about the same (for more time... 6 hours) The resort has gotten less then good reviews. I'm 78 days away from my wedding if you have any questions along the way feel free to ask. I will post a review when we get back and hopefully get some pictures up as well. Happy Planning

I totally feel your pain with the wedding planners!!! However, the closer you get the better they are at responding. I heard they do close to 100 weddings a month, keep in mind that when you get there everything will be perfect! This isn't their first rodeo. My WC is horrible with response time (I have Xhail) but I started planning in December (wedding this October) and everything is just about planned out (but we aren't done yet). It may not happen as fast as I had wanted it to go, but I feel like I am on track. You have a ways to go so don't worry yet. I have read about Brides getting there and changing everything once they were there and everything was perfect. I know it sucks to have to upgrade the package (I had to do the same) but that's how they "get you"...more people want to have a reception outside and it is more of a pain to get the food out to the pool/beach. You can offer one "dish" however, they will accommodate vegetarians and food allergies....So if you want fish and someone is allergic then you can give them chicken. Now I don't think you can go overboard with this but they will do something for them. So, you can have a little wiggle room. Keep in mind that most weddings have a set menu and guest normally don't tell you they don't like veggies. Plus you are at an all inclusive they can hit a buffet if they are unhappy with your choice after. But it's you day do what makes you happy you can't make everyone happy. I went with an outside photgrapher (you have to pay either an outside vendor fee of $500 or get them a room for 2 nights which is cheaper) I hired Ivan Luckie and he has been a pleasure to deal with and has GREAT reviews!! DJ I hired outside as well (cheaper then the resort...have to pay an outside vendor fee of $100 an hour for electricity or some DJ's will rent you a generator..mine charges $200 and then you don't have to pay the vendor fee) I haven't decided on make-up (you get your hair and make-up with the strawberry package) so I may just take the leap of faith and save some $$.

THE SALE ENDS TODAY LADIES!! HURRY IF YOU WANT SOMETHING!!! GREAT DEALS WITH THE COUPON CODE!!