Linds1204

We didn't include anything in our invitation. We did send out pre-travel communication for all of our guests who were attending. There was a section called : "What not to pack" And we wrote: "Gifts! Your presence is our present"

Hi @@dwbride2014 I hope your final process is going well! We paid the outside vendor fee of $800 for each outside vendor. To my knowledge that is their 2014 fee and they are pretty strict about it…. I know brides in the past were able to just buy the day pass, but that was for all weddings prior to 2014... Good luck! Lindsey

Hi @@FutureMrsNelson Congrats! We got our groomsmen attire from Tommy Bahama The groom and groomsmen are wearing the Sonoma Pants in warm sand Groom has on the matching sonoma blazer in warm sand Groomsmen and groom wore the Monte Carlo shirt in chalk pink ( I got the chalk pink a few months ago though, think they got new colors in for the spring) Good luck! Lindsey

@travelgal78 Yes! That was our wedding!!!! As long as you are talking about March 8th Congrats! That is so awesome! You should have listened to the bridal party and come down! Are you going to have a destination wedding as well? Have you decided on anything yet?

@mzlisa27 Congrats! So sorry to hear about your son We had a lot of grandparents who had passed away that we wanted to honor. We made a photo table/display that had a photo of all of our grandparents and our parents on their wedding day (it was a mix of those who were still living and those who had passed away). One frame had a sign in it that I made that said "We know that you would be here today if heaven wasn't so far away". It was a sweet way to honor them as well as show our family's generations without making anyone feel uncomfortable. I have also been to weddings where a chair was left empty in the first row at the aisle and it had a lit candle sitting in it. The minister/justice of the peace said in the beginning of the ceremony that the empty chair was the seat for those who had passed, and the light/candle showed that they were with us today, or something like that. Keep looking! There are lots of great ways that you can honor your loved ones

@danielleandryan2015 Congrats!!! I would think about contrast with your background when choosing your colors…for example turquoise or blue dresses will blend in with the ocean and sky for your photos, while another color will be contrasting so will pop! Yellow dresses with blue flowers would create great contrast! I tend to really like guys in gray with a yellow and blue color scheme. Just a few things for you to think about as this is how I selected my colors. Look at a photographers website and look at pics of lots of different weddings and see what colors you are drawn to. Also notice what colors you don't like with the setting. 2 great photographers sites to check out: www.elizabethmedina.com/blog www.delsolphotography.com Good luck! Lindsey

@HoyaBeth I used Planner1 for my wedding and they were amazing! They would be able to help you coordinate everything, just let them know what your budget is and they will come up with options. I worked with Arianna and she was amazing! [email protected] Good luck!

Hi @misbosox To my knowledge the only area at beach palace that requires an extra fee for setup for cocktail or dinner/reception is the beach. I will look into this for you though. Weddings on the beach are right in front of the resort, set either a little to the left or a little to the right (so not dead center in front of the hotel). Beach Palace is in the hotel zone, so there are hotels on both sides of it, so there isn't a really private beach location like some of the hotels in the riviera maya have.

@BellRios Congrats!!! So exciting There is an additional fee to have a cocktail or dinner on the beach, it's per person....either $8 or $12, I can't remember off the top of my head. I would ask your WC. It's for the additional work to set up all the tables etc out there. There also isn't really any light, so you would have to rent some lighting for sure. If you qualified for free events, I would recommend just having a private event on one of the terraces (they are all beautiful!). The menu's are the same as they are for the wedding, and if you qualified for free, there is no charge, and they even set up some décor for free! The restaurants are not very big and do not take reservations. We got an exception made one night as we had a group of 10 (and my onsite WC is the one who got the exception for us), but I am uncertain if they will give you a reservation for 45 people as that would literally fill almost the entire restaurant. You are probably better off, again having a private event (if you qualified for the free ones). We had 3 private events (our group was 77 people, so it was really big). And all the private events were fantastic! They did a great job with food and service, and we just brought a jawbone speaker and streamed music from our ipod, and it worked great! Our rehearsal dinner was "Fiesta!" Themed and we had the Mexican buffet- it was delicious! Especially the shrimp ceviche, everyone raved about it. Good luck!

Hi @ShellLen Congrats!!! So a couple of things- first, take a deep breath! The planning process for a destination wedding is difficult. I am SUPER TYPE A, so it was really hard for me to have trust during the planning process. But- that is what this forum is for! The creator of Best Destination Wedding was a destination bride in cabo. She was having the same problems we all are/were having, so she created this forum for other brides to connect and help each other! From my experience- planning with any other resort is going to be pretty much an identical experience, maybe worse. I know this because I planned my wedding TWICE, with 2 different resort chains. My first TA- destinationweddings.com (not to be confused with this forum!) had us booked at a Karisma resort and my wedding coordinator was American and based out of Miami and her response time was actually worse then my Palace coordinator! Long story short, they nearly ruined my wedding. I had to fire them and move my entire wedding 5 months out!! Second- it is in your best interest to have a GREAT destination wedding TA. My new TA that helped my clean up my mess and move my wedding to Beach Palace, was able to get great rates for us, and a TON of perks! Also- anytime I didn't get a response in a couple of days from my wedding coordinator, I just let her know, and I would have a reply by the end of the day! So- I think it would be a great idea for you to talk to someone. You can't get any of the wedding perks and freebies unless all your guests are booked through a single source. Also- it's great to have someone deal with, book and handle all your guests bookings. Trust me, that is the last thing you need to be doing or worrying about. I will PM you to see if you would like to talk to my TA- Wright Travel. They are free and amazing! Doesn't hurt to have a little chat and get some information and clarity Third- special announcement! Ladies I am the new Palace Resorts ambassador! What this means is I will be creating an "Official" forum for each resort which easily organizes ALL the Palace Wedding info and extras into one spot! I will also be available to help you all through the process as you have questions along the way I am working on compiling everything now, and will have the official threads up soon! Hopefully in the next week! In the meantime, I have ALL the info, so let me know what you need and I can send it to you! Fourth- I did have some wedding and planning anxiety until I arrived at the resort and met with my onsite Wedding Coordinator, Marco. He was awesome! And our wedding was PERFECT! I would not change any thing and would have my wedding at beach palace again in a heartbeat! They knocked it out of the park!!! I actually wish I could have my wedding again, it was that great!!! So, deep breaths, your wedding is going to amazing!!!! I will PM you in a sec! Lindsey

@@jackielemman We sent our formal invitations out October 15th for a March 8th wedding. Our deadline for RSVP's was 12/1 since you are supposed to have your final rooming list into the resort and group paid in full 60 days prior to travel. We figured this would give us a 30 day window for stragglers, but by our rsvp deadline we had only gotten 30% of RSVP's! I recommend reading your contract from your resort/travel agent to see when your final group payment is due, then base your sending and rsvp date around that with some "fluff" time for stragglers.

@@kay2015 Oh no! Same thing happened to me… Are you working with a travel agent yet? If not- I recommend reaching out to wright travel (owners of this forum) for help! They can check the resort availability in addition to making recommendations to resorts that are great quality, family friendly and specialize in weddings. Don't worry- their help doesn't cost you anything! They actually will save you money by getting you great group rates for your guests and helping get your free wedding perks! Here's their reviews http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/reviews/p/21494-wright-travel-agency-destination-wedding-and-honeymoon-specialists/ and here is their link to make request to get someone to help you! tell them Lindsey sent you! They just finished helping me with my wedding…last week! http://www.wrighttravelagency.com Good luck! Lindsey

@@LissaSou I would def go with longer! Myself and the girls were running behind getting ready, so even though our photographer arrived at 2 and our ceremony was at 4, we barely got any bridal party or bridal portrait pics before the wedding. Once you select your photographer, I am sure they can work with you to do a shorter package duration to work within your budget. They may be able to put together a 4 1/2 or 5 hour package that would suit your needs. Good luck!

@@RachelHolmes21 Hi Rachel! Thank you! We used an outside vendor for both flowers and rentals. I brought a lot of decor from home but our florist and rental company bought all of it! So it is available to you through them Florist- Vanessa Jaimes- she was incredible! Rental Company- Planner1- worked with Arianna- amazing!! I can not say enough great things about both ladies & companies. There were both so great and perfectly executed our vision! Arianna and Vanessa had worked together on several weddings before, and worked together beautifully! Please let me know if you would like either of their contact info! Lindsey

Hi @mrandmrsboniito2016 Thank you! We got married at Beach Palace in Cancun Check out our sneak peek gallery and let me know if you have any questions! Do you have your wedding resort selected yet? http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/gallery/album/17603-wedding-sneak-peek/

We selected silk chiffon for my girls. It was light and flawy. Although after our epic dance party, everyone was sweating, it didn't matter what fabric you were in! *flowy

I am interested! Would love to submit once I get my pics back from Elizabeth Medina!

Hi @@anvb82 Congrats!! They do have flowers at Wal-Mart, I know that may not be what you are looking for though....I didn't look at them really, but I did see roses You may want to contact my florist and see if she will sell you some loose flowers that you could go pick up from her shop. I know that most flowers are flown in from mexico city, there isn't a "market" where she can go select her flowers, as I had some specific flower requests, and she wasn't sure how some of the flowers would look until they arrived since she doesn't get to hand pick them herself. Her name is Vanessa Jaimes and she is based in cancun. Here is a link to my sneak peek pics, so you can see the quality of flowers she can get http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/gallery/album/17603-wedding-sneak-peek/ As with most in Mexico, she may take a few days to respond, but she is amazing! I would wait until you are onsite with your wedding coordinator, and let them know that your aunt is making your bouquets for you. I am sure you will be fine and will not have to pay the fee, especially since she is staying at the resort. If you say anything to your pre-planner, they are mostly just rule followers and will probably tell you that you need to pay the $800 outside vendor fee. Good Luck!

Hi LeBlanc Brides! I just got back from my wedding at Beach Palace! Most of the wedding information is the same across all palace resorts (spa services & prices, private function menus etc), so please let me know if you have any questions! Sneak peek to my photo gallery! Enjoy! http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/gallery/album/17603-wedding-sneak-peek/ Lindsey

Hi Playacar Palace Brides! I just got back from my wedding at Beach Palace! Most of the wedding information is the same across all palace resorts (spa services & prices, private function menus etc), so please let me know if you have any questions! Sneak peek to my photo gallery! Enjoy! http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/gallery/album/17603-wedding-sneak-peek/ Lindsey

Hi Moon Palace Brides! I just got back from my wedding at Beach Palace! Most of the wedding information is the same across all palace resorts (spa services & prices, private function menus etc), so please let me know if you have any questions! My onsite wedding coordinator also is a WC for MP. Sneak peek to my photo gallery! Enjoy! http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/gallery/album/17603-wedding-sneak-peek/ Lindsey

@@somerskl Oh so fun! I hope you are having a great visit! The weather was just AMAZING when we were there. I wish I was still there! I got the maracas from Etsy https://www.etsy.com/listing/157119353/talavera-tile-wedding-maracas?ref=shop_home_active_2 Cladia has a bunch of different designs. I picked the one I liked best, then let her know what colors I wanted. My recommendation would be to order these EARLY. I ordered December 1st for my march 8th wedding and they seriously came 2 days before we left, and I was like, stalking her, b/c they were promised to me by Feb 1st. I also needed 77, so I understand that was a lot. In hind site I probably could have bought plain maracas and painted them myself, but I was doing so many other things myself, I just bought them. I would recommend getting a few extra as 2 got chipped when she shipped them to me, and I had only bought the exact # I needed. None got damaged transporting them to Mexico, but I did a really good job of bubble wrapping them, which was time consuming. I also packed them all up in a trunk that we checked so they were well protected. The design I got was $5 a maraca, but she does make some less complicated designs that are less expensive. This might seem expensive, however, when I got to Mexico, I noticed maracas down there were $5-6 and they weren't even custom! That made me feel better. We used the maracas as our place cards & they were also the guests favors. They were a HUGE hit! I will be sure to include all the links to everything- trunk included- when I finally get around to my planning thread! Planner1 is NOT a palace vendor. However their prices were pretty much the same as Zuniga, and the quality and selection of their rental items was a lot better. They worked with me and gave me a 10% discount to help offset the outside vendor fee. I was a little anxious about using Zuniga after reading reviews from other brides. I decided if I was going to spend money on rentals, everything better be perfect and exactly as I wanted it. Had I spent the money and it not been what I wanted, or lights were out, quality poor etc. I would have been really upset. I bit the bullet at the last minute and hired Planner1 and it was an EXCELLENT decision. They were WONDERFUL to work with and executed everything perfectly! They also do flowers, so you could use them flowers and may only have to pay 1 vendor fee. You can see some weddings they have done by going on my photographers website. http://elizabethmedina.com/?s=planner1&submit=Search Planner1 is also on facebook and you can see a lot of their events there. I originally went to them for the café lighting, as they were the only company in the area that seemed to have done those lights before, and I desperately wanted them! I ended up getting my tables, chairs, chargers, lights and lounge furniture from them. My contact is Arianna. She was amazing and adorable! If we lived in the same place, we would be friends for sure She fell down the steps and broke her ankle 3 days before our wedding, and she was still there on her crutches making everything perfect on our wedding day. She was such a doll! aiturralde@@Planner1Events.com Tell her Lindsey sent you! I know my WC enjoyed working with them and was going to pass their info along to his boss, so maybe they will become an approved Palace Vendor! When is your wedding? sorry her email is [email protected]

thank you!!! @@Naturalbeauti30 & @@newlyengaged13 sparklers I got from the resort, the tags I got from etsy. https://www.etsy.com/listing/164216004/sparkler-tags-let-love-sparkle-wedding?ref=shop_home_active_7 I tried to buy sparklers and bring them with me, but apparently you can not fly with them! I couldn't find sparklers at the walmart in cancun and could not locate the party store I've heard past brides speak of (maybe it closed?) so I just bought them from the resort for $5 each I brought this awesome tin bucket from homegoods and filled it with sand and stuck the sparklers in it We used them for our intro & first dance The chargers were rented from Planner1. I saw them on Style Me Pretty and had to have them! Planner1 had them, Zuniga did not. All the guests loved the chargers, I got a lot of compliments on them! Let me know if anyone wants my girls info at Planner1, she was amazing. I am probably not going to get to my reviews this week, as I am throwing my sister in laws bachelorette party this weekend, busy busy! But send me questions and I will do my best to answer until I can get to my reviews! What I can tell everyone is don't get overly stressed if your WC is slow to respond. Once you get on site, your onsite wedding coordinator and the BP staff are amazing! They will take such good care of you!