chrisandcassie

@@tygrrlily. Cassie asked me to answer this one... When we arrived at the resort, we were planning to just use a playlist on our computer for both the cocktail hour and reception. We happened to see/hear the band when we attended the Chef's Dinner on Wednesday night and Cassie immediately knew she wanted them for our reception. I inquired with our on-site coordinator the next morning and she gave us further details. The group is "Basic Band" (such a horrible name for a band) and included 5 members. They have a huge playlist of popular songs (we saw their ~200 song playlist during the karaoke night on Thursday) It was ~$900USD/hour, which included 45 minutes of playing time and a 15 minute break. That said, I don't know if they took a break or not, since we were down taking pictures for most of the cocktail hour. We hadn't budgeted for a band at all, so it was quite a game-time splurge on our part. When we walked into the cocktail hour and they happened to be playing "Stand By Me" - one of Cassie's favorite childhood songs - we knew we made the right choice (plus, a lot of our guests commented on how great it was). It would have been amazing to have them for the entire reception...but at $4500 for the night, I would have had to get a 2nd job when we returned to the states! Hope this helps. Chris

Hi @@NicoleLV! Yes, that is the sweetheart table (and we really liked it!). Our reception was fairly small - we had 37 people total - so we only had 5 other tables. They all surrounded us, and were easily within earshot if we raised our voices. Yes, that was the lounge seating for 20 from Zuniga. I don't know who was sitting in the lounge furniture when they counted, but it was closer to sitting 8 comfortably. Though to be honest - even though it looked great - nobody ever really sat in them. Once the dancing started, we ended up moving them from their location in the pictures, to the side near the reception tables and finally got some butts in the seats. Our on-site coordinator was Maria Rebeca (she went by Rebeca). She was absolutely fantastic after the frustrations of working with our off-site coordinator. Our experience matched much of what is echoed on these boards: The on-site coordinators generally have their stuff together. It went from 48-hours with no response (with our off-site coordinator), to Rebeca shooting off three emails in a row to nail down specifics.

Hi @@NJBride2014! The bridal and bridesmaid's bouquets were through the resort (we paid for one extra bridesmaid's bouquet to add to our complimentary one). https://picasaweb.google.com/111685510399941930123/BeachPalaceDecor?authkey=Gv1sRgCJWG7qWf073JQA#6013354699830096050 The centerpieces were ordered through Zuniga.

@@tygrrlily (and anyone else who is interested), Here is an album with some decor/setup pictures my dad took. We went pretty minimal with decor since it would keep the cost down (and the lagoon/ocean really should be the star). The overhead lanterns, and the lanterns in the pool really made for an elegant reception. https://picasaweb.google.com/111685510399941930123/BeachPalaceDecor?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJWG7qWf073JQA&feat=directlink

@@tygrrlily All of our decor was through the resort and Zuniga. We used PSAV for the 2 Speaker iPod set up and booked the "Basic Band" for cocktail hour (they were a hit!). Although it turned out okay, we were a bit disappointed with the candy bar. We lugged down about 20 lbs of candy, separated them into bags, and let our wedding coordinator know how we wanted them mixed. They ended up just doing their own thing. :/ It was actually really neat to see the difference between our reception, and the one that took place two nights prior. With the different decor, it looked like an entirely different venue!

@@tygrrlily We were asked if we wanted extra sashes on the altar, we specifically said no. To the best of our knowledge, that was the complimentary decor! We'll have to round up some pictures, but here are a couple that can help visualize our decor: Reception: https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/10171006_10152339741750340_7641951408094586345_n.jpg Candy Bar (with buffet tables in the background): https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/10247441_10152339741340340_5547321343554859649_n.jpg *The chocolate candy got a little soft. However, the humidity made for the absolutely softest, chewiest Swedish Fish ever! View of the Reception area from the terrace: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-GGG8H7IcDek/U3KLXHICWfI/AAAAAAAACxQ/bL6gkdj2uXw/s800/2014-05-13%252014.10.48.jpg @misbosox: We went with the Mexican buffet (since we were in Mexico) and all of our guests seemed to absolutely love it! The chicken mole was my favorite.

@@tygrrlily - Is this the draping you like? https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/10156123_10152339577205340_2269267378069183596_n.jpg We used the complimentary decor during our wedding last weekend, and that is what the altar looked like.

@shmanderz: If you have big wine drinkers in your group, I'd recommend booking the wine tasting with resort credits (it happens on Tuesday evenings in the Wok restaurant). It is limited to 10 individuals, though when we checked in for our wedding, all 10 spots were open. We used our resort credits to book all 10 spots (and got them to okay a couple extra spots since everyone was from one group), then just had them transfer it to the respective room when people checked in. We basically had a private wine tasting for a group of 11. It was a great time!

I just heard back from Beach Palace regarding this, and they said it was good for a future stay at the resort - and couldn't be used toward wedding stay/costs. Has anyone been able to use complimentary nights (whether from hitting the 75 night room stays, or their onsite visit) for costs associated with the wedding? I'm wondering if we could use it to subsidize the stay of one of our guests during the wedding.