juliboley

We got married at Playa Azul and had our cocktail hour there on the beach at the cabana thing. It was really nice and a great place for everyone to hang out while we were taking pictures with the wedding party.

They all did fine. The buffet is massive and there are a lot of choices everywhere, and I think if you tell them about food allergies at the restaurants, they'll come up with other options for them. I think the WC's are busy doing 2 weddings a day and responding to all of the people that are trying to plan their weddings and since they know that everything can actually be done 2 days before sometimes they just don't sweat the small stuff that they know they can handle. Unfortunately, when you are planning from afar, everything feels like a giant hurdle. If I could do anything differently, I would stress less before hand. I ended up choosing a lot of things differently when I got there even though I had obsessed for months prior that they had to be another way...lol. They are really nice and will take great care of you. I was totally amazed at how professional and perfect everything was.

I had a gluten free, a shellfish allergy, and a vegan at my wedding and my WC did the same thing, so I was nervous too. Don't be. They took care of all of them without any issue.

Here is a link to what was ours: http://www.juliannedaniel.ourwedding.com

If your bags are chosen to be searched, you'll need to prove the total value of the items you are bringing for the wedding or they can tax you on what they believe they are worth.

Carry your dress on for sure. It gets a lot of attention and makes airline staff a little nicer to you. We traveled with all of our stuff (OOT bags, favors, decorations, etc) and just had it all spread out in our checked luggage. Just make sure you carry receipts for everything.

When we were there in October, Claudia told us that the resort does not plan on replacing the Palapa. Apparently it was removed because it was rotting and because it is so windy on that beach, it was a safety hazard. We were initially concerned about it not being there, but the beach is still beautiful and is more secluded than some of the others.

We used an ipod and it sounded great. We asked for the violin (which was then not available the day of the wedding) and instead got a flute to just play while people were milling around waiting for the bridal party to show up. Then we used the ipod for our processional, recessional, cocktail hour, and reception.

Here is a link the the online wedding album I put together of our wedding at Barcelo Maya in October 2012 in case anyone is interested: http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/interests/wedding-album-8844940?vk=qXDa8vUQMk If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to help.

I highly recommend Wendy Hicks with Wright Travel. She was fantastic. Her email is [email protected]

We had a symbolic ceremony on a Saturday and we arrived at the resort on the Wednesday prior to that. By the time we got the resort it was close to 2pm, so we didn't really get to do a lot that day other than check in and unpack. We met with our WC first thing Thursday morning. I think you'll probably want to get to the resort on Tuesday.

I have over 50 "Tears of Joy" stickers and 17 glassine envelopes that fit the tissues. If you're interested, you can have them and pay for postage only. I would bet postage is maybe $1. I would probably want to put a few stamps on the envelope to make sure they make it.

We hand delivered all of ours as our guests checked in. It was a nice way for us to welcome them all to the resort personally, but we did end up spending most of a day in the lobby greeting people.