Hello!
I just got married at the Gazebo in Tulum at 2PM and stayed at the Akumal in April.
We booked out the entire Frutos Del Mar seafood restaurant on the Akumal side for the reception (right next to the beach) and I couldn’t have been happier. (There wasn't any air conditioning, which I wish there would have been, they had the windows open and the fans on, so it's was okay) We had it from 5:30-10:30. The dinner was delicious, the staff were amazing. I brought some of my own decorations and they made the place look great! In total it was $2500 USD. That included the entire restaurant, the plated dinner and all the drinks. For 54 people. I also had the DJ from 5 hours, that was $1050. He was excellent. We had such a good party in there. After 10 30, we had a music player, walked next door to the snack bar and continued to party. No one cared that we were there, lots of drinks and music. Just put a few tables together outside the snack bar and your good to go. I didn’t go to the disco because there was no air conditioning and my dress was hot hot!
Because we booked out an entire restaurant I took down a lot of my own supplies which was not a necessity but it’s a personal choice. I had my own chair sashes, table runners, napkins, feathers which were added to the flower centerpieces that I ordered from the hotel. I also brought all bouquets and boutonnieres for the men(fake flowers)….had them made from a lady on Etsy and they were absolutely beautiful. I got a couple wrist corsages from the resort and they didn’t turn out that great. I had them provide the cake, it was two tier and they added my own decorations to it, it was $200 USD. I brought my own CD’s for the DJ, he added them to the mix, no issues. I had plastic cups for the favors with our names on them, everyone used them at the reception. If they wanted us to kiss they had to do a shot of tequila, everyone had fun with this…maybe a little too fun haha.
The resort photographer took pictures of the ceremony. Just because so many pictures were include in my wedding package. I did have my own photographer there, and they stayed out of each other’s way. I found the resort photographer, very nice and polite, I never had any issue with them with regards to having my own photographer. They didn’t seem to mind at all. The only downfall of having our own photographer was getting around to take pictures, I couldn’t arrange private transportation, so we just had to take the trolley like everyone else. Wasn’t a huge deal.
All 7 of us used the resort salon for hair and make-up. I didn’t care for them at all, neither did any of my girls. I also didn’t think to ask about what was going to be said during the ceremony. And it was quite religious. We didn’t care to much for that, I should have asked prior too but I totally didn’t even think of this.
If anyone has any questions just ask!