Nicolew412

Ocean Photo Studio is the vendor the Beach Palace uses and that you don't have to pay an outside vendor fee for. As far as I know, this is the only one BP uses. I used Ocean Photo because my Pearl Shimmer Package came with Photography Package A. I upgraded though, so I spent a total of $1,300 for photography and video. That included- "getting ready" photoshoot, ceremony pictures, ceremony video, photos on the beach after the ceremony (as well as a video), and 2 hours of cocktail hour/reception photos. I thought that was a great price! - Nicole

1) No, no surprises. I paid everything toward the wedding before I left as well. However, I still had a fairly big bill at the end of my stay, about $600.00...but that included $400.00 for the whale shark tours (wasn't included in the resort credits), $33.00 for my planner delivering our OOT bags, and a $120 charge for a couple's massage upgrade for my hubby and I. There was something else on there that I can't remember now...but no surprises. I knew exactly what to expect. :-) 2) Ocean Photo arrives in the boys room at 4:30 and stays till 5:00. Then the photographer will come to your room and stay from 5:00 to 5:30. A half an hour each. That's if you're doing a 6:00 p.m. ceremony. 3) I loved the Italian restaurant! We ate there twice. But all of them are amazing really. The snack bars have good food too! We went off property once, in downtown Cancun to an authentic Mexican restaurant. We wanted some good Mexican food! But other than that, we ate at BP the entire time. Good luck!!! Can't wait to hear about your trip and see pictures!

You're welcome! let me know if you have any other questions

No, I had used my full $1,500 resort credits toward my Pearl Shimmer Wedding Package! So I didn't have any resort credits left. I had to pay the $240 cash. Or they charge it to your room and you pay at the end of your visit. Just a tip though- you can use other people's credits for yourself, if there's a family member or friend who doesn't think they'll use all of theirs. My grandma was able to book me a facial at the spa and a golfing trip for my hubby at Moon Palace using her credits, so I didn't have to pay. :-)

Ok so I finally have some time to write a full review of my wedding week at Beach Palace. We arrived in Cancun on July 9th and left July 16th. We were married Friday- July 12th. Hotel Check-In: We had booked our trip through an outside agency and when we arrived at BP they tried to tell us that the agency had booked us a 2 double bed room and due to full occupancy there was no way they could give us a room with a king bed. I complained and said we brought 25 people to the hotel and it was our wedding/honeymoon week and there was no way we'd be ok with 2 double beds. They then offered us a king bed room but on concierge level for a total upgrade cost of $240.00. Normally concierge level room can be $50.00+ more per night, so for $240.00 total for the full week I thought it was worth it. We had one of the most amazing ocean view rooms plus concierge level has a bunch of upgrades. We had a keurig coffee machine in our room, a pillow upgrade menu, 2 free 25 minute massages in the spa, aromatherapy, IPOD dock, and a bunch of other small upgrades. It was definitely worth the $240 so we were pleased after-all. It was just a small bump in the road but it worked in our favor. Meeting with wedding planner- We met with Suzette, our wedding planner, at 10 a.m. on Wednesday- July 10th (2 days before the wedding). She has an office in their 2nd building across the driveway (where the ballroom is). She went over all the details with us and had me map out the seating arrangements for the reception tables and list the order of how all the groomsmen and bridesmaids would walk during the ceremony. I gave her all of my OOT bags and she made sure they were delivered to ALL my guests rooms ($3.00 charge per room for this). She also took my guestbook, CD's, and some of the extra reception decor and offered to set that all up for my free of charge. There's normally a $100.00 charge for this but because I had a small wedding (only 25 guests) she offered to do this for free. I thought that was very nice of her! Rehearsal/Welcome Dinner- I had my private rehearsal dinner at the Tequila restaurant (on the outside terrace) on Thursday night (July 11th). Margarita (my original wedding coordinator) had given me a menu of Mexican food to choose from for this dinner prior to leaving for Cancun, so the food choices were already picked out. It was a beautiful evening and the waiters were amazing. Suzette came by to check on me as well and met some of my family. There was no actual rehearsal though, which I was a bit disappointed about. I would recommend doing a rehearsal with your wedding party the night before (f they allow it), because it was a bit chaotic the day of. Wedding Day- My makeup artist (Tania Tagle) arrived around 11:00 a.m. on Friday- July 12th. She began makeup for my bridesmaids while my other bridesmaid started hair (I was lucky enough to have a hairdresser in my bridal party who is amazing so she did all my bridesmaids hair + mine for free). I played music, ordered a few bottles of champagne, and we just got ready all day. The photographer from Ocean Photo Studio arrived around 5:00 to 5:30 to take "getting ready" photos and introduce herself. She was in the boys room from 4:30 to 5:00 taking getting ready photos of them. Unfortunately, we began running really late so she didn't get the best photos of the girls since we were all running around trying to finish stuff. I was actually 20 minutes late to my ceremony LOL! It was supposed to start at 6:00 and I probably didn't walk down the aisle until 6:20 or 6:30. Not sure how this happened, but it was really chaotic there for a minute. One of my bridesmaids forgot her bouquet in my room and I realized I didn't have a key to my room, so my planner ran down to front desk to get a key, grabbed her bouquet, and deodorant and perfume for me (because I had forgotten to put it in during the chaos lol). She was amazing! As I was waiting to walk down the aisle, the bartenders on the sky terrace brought me a shot of tequila to calm my nerves! lol I was really nervous. It was also difficult walking up the stairs to the sky deck location (where my ceremony took place) in my wedding dress. I kept tripping over it. But once I got to the top, everything went very smooth. The minister was fabulous! We did traditional vows and had a symbolic ceremony. The music was all on key and the saxophone player was amazing! Because we were running late, the photographer did bridal party shots on the sky terrace instead of the beach. Around 7:30 my husband and I headed down to the beach for our photo shoot. I think normally they take the whole bridal party down for those photos, but since we were running late and the sun was going down, I think they decided to do those shots on the terrace instead. We were able to enjoy our cocktail party for about a half hour. It was 7:30 to 8:30. The food was amazing! But most of our guests were at the bar the entire time anyway lol. But everyone did rave about the food. JSAV also messed up and only had one speaker set up, when I had ordered two. But as soon as I pointed it out, they fixed it. A second speaker was set up right away. I just did the IPOD setup, no DJ and it went great. I definitely recommend getting a 2nd speaker, it made a huge difference! My dad acted as MC and announced the transition over to the reception tables for dinner. We had the BBQ buffet. AMAZING! Everyone thought the wedding food was the best food they had all week. We did first dance before dinner, and then had our dinner. We had a marble cake with chantilly cover. SOOO good! Everyone raved about the cake as well. And I was shocked how big it was! The cake was HUGE!!! I'll post pics of it at a later time. Our planner stuck around till about 9:30 p.m. which I thought was nice of her. The reception went until 10:30. Everyone danced and had a great time. Some of the groomsmen got pushed in the pool at the end of the night- got some great photos of this. As for decor- we did floating candles, purple lights until reception tables, and zuniga did the reception table decor. Everything was perfect and romantic! We heard such great things from out guests. They thought everything was beautiful! After the wedding, a few of us went out to one of the bars on the strip called Conga to continue the party :-) They also decorated our room with rose petals for our honeymoon and put some of our wedding cake out and had a different chocolate desert as well & had a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for us. It was beautiful and romantic. The jacuzzi is a lot of fun ;-) One thing I'd like to point out is my matron of honor lost her wedding ring at the hotel somewhere. She got her nails done at the hotel salon the morning of the wedding and took her ring off and placed it in her purse. The lady doing her nails watched her put her ring in her purse. When she was moving to another seat within the salon, the nail lady brought her purse to where she was sitting. She thinks between this time maybe the lady took her ring! It was worth $7,000 and I hate to blame a staff member of Beach Palace, but you never know who you can trust. I would recommend keeping all your valuable belongings in your safe. When my friend told the hotel they were very nice about it. They took metal detectors and searched the whole beach, but it never showed up. Restaurants- All the restaurants were amazing, except the morning buffet. The food was kinda gross, except the fresh made omelets and waffles. Those were good!! We went to Bocceli (the italian restaurant) twice. You have to dress nice for this restaurant. Very romantic! I recommend the filet mignon- one of my guests said it was the best steak they've ever had. Wok (the asian) place was really good too! Sometimes the food comes out cold, which was my only complaint. But if you ask them to warm it up, it's no biggie. The snack bars serve really yummy food too! And the steakhouse was great as well. I loved sitting outside here. We ordered a lot of room service too. the pizza was awesome! The staff was so amazing the whole trip. They bend over backwards for you and are so polite. We gave really good tips the whole time because we were blown away with the service. We did swimming with the whale sharks one day. So fun! Amazing adventure. It was $200 per person but so worth it. A couple of our guests did the dolphin swim and zip lining. They all loved it! We also went to Moon Palace (boys golfed, girls swam) one day. Moon palace was nice to visit, but definitely recommend BP over MP any day. The beach was so beautiful at BP. We did boogie boarding, and they have jet skis you can rent. It was such an amazing trip overall! I can't wait to go back. Let me know if you have any other questions. - nicole

Yay! Soo excited for you! Jealous too...I want to do it all over again ;-) Gooood luck! You're going to have the time of your life

Quote:Originally Posted by Matt Adcock Hello Beach Palace lovers! We've just published our latest Beach Palace Wedding celebrating the love of Breanna and Rish, thought I would share some inspiration photos with you! The ceremony was on the Sky Deck and the reception on the Palenque Terrace. Lovely pale aqua, pinks and whites in her theme, beautiful! Beautiful!

I had a symbolic ceremony. We will legalize it here at home. Cheaper and easier that way. Our minister was wonderful. They already have something prepared to say and then they give you the choice to write your own vows or do the traditional ones. We did traditional. I loved what he said. He made it entertaining yet romantic and meaningful too. :-)

Thank you! No, Tania is not a BP employee, she is an outside vendor. I had to pay a $98 day pass for her, but totally worth it

Thank you :-)

Quote:Originally Posted by newlyengaged13 Can anyone explain to me the difference between Sky Bar North and Sky Bar South? They're both the rooftop pools/bars. Identical really, however they only do private functions on the south bar sky terrace- so if you're considering your reception location on the sky terrace it will have to be on the south side. The north side remains open to the hotel guests. - Nicole

Quote:Originally Posted by Brandi Robinson Nicole, Your makeup looked beautiful! Thanks for the review! Did any of your bridesmaids have their hair done by Tania's team or did you guys do it yourself? Thank you No, no one had their hair done by Tania, only makeup. My friend is a hairdresser so she did my hair and all my bridesmaids for free. I was very grateful! It saved me a bit of money. But I've seen pictures of hair that Tania has done and she does amazing work on hair too! So I would feel totally confident booking her for hair if I were you.

Weather was a bit rainy and overcast the first couple days, with periods of sunshine. Friday- my wedding day, was sunny and perfect! No rain at all and it had the most beautiful sunset that day. I swear, someone was watching over me that day! The following day it was pouring rain!! And cloudy the rest of the trip. But I liked it because it wasn't overly hot. And the periods of sunshine we did get were perfect. Plus, the tropical rain can be nice as well! And we saw some BEAUTIFUL lightening at night on the beach. I was just so grateful that it didn't rain on my wedding day. It was def the best day weather wise during our whole trip! - Nicole

Hi Brandi, I just used Tania Tagle for my makeup for my wedding on July 12th, 2013. I only used her for makeup though, not hair. Here's a picture of my makeup... I did airbrush makeup with MAC eyelashes. I think it was $125 total + tip. I was IN LOVE with my makeup and Tania is sooo sweet. I cried so much and it was hot and humid, and my makeup stayed all night. I was so pleased. I'd definitely recommend her.

^^^My hubby took these pictures of me while the photographer was taking professional pictures of me alone. They turned out pretty good! I can't wait to get our professional, photos back. ^^^The fireworks were the perfect touch! I definitely recommend them! ^^^Table decor by Zuniga. Silver tiffany chairs, charger plates, fresh flowers and candles centerpiece, and purple lights under table. ^^^Make by Tania Tagle in Cancun. She was AMAZING! Totally recommend her for anyone needing a makeup artist in Cancun. ^^^Bridal party :-) ^^^Table decor at reception I will do a full review later but thought I'd share a few pictures in the meantime. We had the MOST amazing wedding. I am SOOO happy we chose the Beach Palace. I actually visited the Moon Palace for the day, and didn't like it. It stunk like fish outside, and there's no ocean or barely any beach. The Beach Palace had the most beautiful beach, best service, and perfect sky terrace wedding location. The views from the sky terrace are phenomenal...the pictures don't do it justice. I am so happy with my choice and I know my guests were too :-)

Hey guys, I leave for the airport at 2:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, my flight leaves at 6 a.m. I'm soo excited! I'm all packed already :-) Fiance just needs to pick up his tux tomorrow and we're ready. I'm sure you guys heard about the plane crash at San Francisco International airport. So terrible! And that's the airport I'm flying out of :/ So far my flight is still on schedule, so please pray for me that it doesn't get cancelled or delayed! We had friends/guests leave for Cancun from SFO this morning. Their flight was delayed 2 1/2 hours but I'm just thankful it wasn't cancelled. They should be at the hotel by now :-) I can't wait to tell you guys all about it. - Nicole

Thank you! That made me feel better! How was the site visit? Was BP beautiful??

I asked my planner, they said it's not included. They said other brides might be receiving this service through their travel agent. Do you have a travel agent?

I leave for Cancun in 8 days. I'm starting to check weather. Thunderstorms and rain this week...and then some forecasts show rain for my wedding day, while others show cloudy with light rain, and another one shows mostly sunny with some light rain. Oh my God...I'm praying for a sunny day on my wedding day! It will absolutely ruin my day if it's raining! Please pray for me guys! - Nicole

Hi Yazmin, Thank you for your response! Yes, I'm sure you're right. It definitely feels good that everything is paid for already and I don't have to stress about that.

Soooo....did any brides pay their whole purchase order before they left? I decided to pay ahead of time (it's now paid off- photography, zuniga decor, ceremony, everything!) so I wouldn't have to worry or stress about it while on vacation. But now I'm regretting my decision. I guess I should have though about the "service" business a little more. I'm worried that now that they have their money, I won't be provided the best customer service. You know? I know that may be silly of me, and I;m sure they'll still treat us very well and my day will be perfect, but it would've probably been smarter of me to make the deposit, and pay the rest AFTER the wedding, knowing everything was how I expected. ugh...regretting this now.

Were you at Beach Palace? That would be awesome if that's the case! It's only a 20 minute ride, but it would be nice not having to worry about booking shuttle service to hotel. I emailed my planner to see if that's possible for us! Thanks for your input!!

I will def post pictures!!! Thank you :-)

I am having my ceremony on the sky terrace! There's no official gazebo up there, I don't think. They just create that cover above you with the diamonds hanging down. It will be beautiful! I leave for Cancun in 11 days. I'll be sure to post pictures when I return :-)

Yea, I debated because the price was pretty steep. But after applying the $1500 resort credit, and getting enough room nights for a free reception + cocktail hour, I figured $2,000 wasn't that bad! And I didn't want to have to worry about bringing decor for ceremony, when I already have favors, guestbook, and all that extra stuff to bring. But brides bring their own ceremony decor all the time, and it always looks gorgeous! It def would've been nice to apply that 2000 to a DJ or extra reception decor etc...oh well! :-)