Maggietron

@@Andie If you don't mind, what roughly were the rates for the extra time with the resort photographer? I can't get a quote from them until I send back a form with the details of when and where the various parts of my wedding will be, and they aren't set yet.

@@peachykeen159 Nothing is posted online yet, it's too far out. It was three hundred dollars cheaper than the quotes from Air Canada, though, so I figured that was a good sign.

Well, we ended up putting down two deposits, the FSIL texted my FH and said that they were going to cover the deposits because they didn't want us to have more to worry about. They didn't know if they'd bring their daughter if they went anyways, so we didn't put a deposit down for her. So as long as they come, or we find two people to take their place, we're good to go.

Tomorrow is our deposit deadline, we need 20 deposits in order to get the booking going. We have 32 invited, so we figured we were good, since they're all immediate family. We had to deduct four of those because they're coming from the states, so they don't count on the numbers. Then my father, and sister decided not to bring anyone and room together instead. Then my two bridesmaids decided not to bring their SO's and room together as well. Then my FSIL sends us a message saying the three of them were planning to come, but they're trying to get pregnant, so they can't put down deposits until later. Now we're down to 19. Then my sister decides that she doesn't want to book with us because the flight times are inconvenient. (that's why I gave you two different options to fly out of!). Now we're down to 17 and at risk of having our booking cancelled. First step was calling my mother and telling her that if my sister doesn't book with us TODAY, I'm cancelling the wedding. She called my sister and she's going to book tonight. So now I'm back to 19. Still need one more, though. So now we're considering putting down the deposits for the three of them regardless, and if they can't come, we need to find people to take the spots. Waiting to hear from LaurieLee whether or not we can put down deposits without names on them. Any words of wisdom from someone who's been through this?

My package includes live music. We don't want it for the ceremony, and we can't use it for the dinner because it's semi private, and we aren't doing a cocktail hour, so what do I do? Would the resort let me use them at one of the bars for pre-dinner drinks after photos? Or I could be crazy and have them during the photos. Maybe take photos with them too lol.

Good News! LaurieLee contacted the resort again and they agreed to let me have my ceremony at the Hammocks site! I just have to have my dinner and reception at Coba, which is all I wanted in the first place. Does anyone know where you could find a list of restaurants listed by which resort they are in?

@@nicolesal I'm sure they can accommodate you at the gazebo if you ask.

Thanks, @@calgarybride2015. I'm totally ok with my sister in law not being able to come if she's pregnant or has a newborn. It's understandable.

Thanks, @@Dreamteam17. I'm a little worried about that awning causing weird shadows for the pictures, so please update us after your ceremony.

Can someone please ask the resort for pictures of the new tulum beach location? I don't want to weaken my position by expressing an interest in a different location.

My sister is really upsetting me. My family lives in a border town, his does not. I have my family the option of a flight from a airport two hours away or the bigger one four hours away to fly out of. My sister had decided that she doesn't like the flight times for the closer one, and she doesn't want to travel to the further one, so she wants till cross the border and book entirely on their own. My sister in law just told us she probably can't come because they're hoping to get pregnant. Then my dad and two of my siblings aren't planning to bring a plus one, so we just lost 6 people on our booking. Our booking was quoted at 20 ppl and we need 16 to get one free to split between our younger guests who are less financially secure. With all the dropouts we are now in the position of counting on people to bring a plus one to make our numbers. I'm too upset to even talk to her right now. She actually said that she should be able to go outside the booking because our guests from another country who CAN'T fly Westjet are allowed to book separately. I told her that we had a quota to make in order to get a discount for our younger sibling and she said she should be able to give our brother $200 and book separately.

$1570 is the price for the legal Sunshine wedding package which includes 20 people, payable at the resort. Each additional guest is $25. This charge would be for the extra setup and any additional costs of having a larger group. Judge fees are not included, I think you pay the judge or minister directly. Everything I have seen says that all wedding charges are put on your bill at the resort and payable there. I have no idea why your travel agent would have collected the fees for the wedding, that doesn't make sense to me, unless they are acting as some sort of a wedding planner as well and collecting everything and forwarding it to the resort? Have you been communicating directly with the resort at all or are you somehow doing everything through your TA?

@@DonnaandDaz The wedding cost gets added to your room charge at the resort (or so it would appear) so the resort probably hasn't received anything from the TA. Also, the Sunshine package includes 20 people, so you must have 36 booked? If you look at the 2015 packages that I posted a few pages back in this thread, the prices per person are listed.

I know I've asked this a couple times, but does anyone know anything about this "new tulum beach location" for ceremonies? I'm waiting to hear from the resort about whether they will honour their earlier statements that I'd be allowed to get married at Akumal, and I want to know if it's a viable alternative in case they say no after we've already put down deposits. The ceremony location is the only thing that I am really unwilling to compromise on. I do not want to get my wedding photos back and have a big guy in a speedo watching in the background like a creep, as happened to my FH's cousin.

November is the tail end of hurricane season. I'm not too worried about it, but I am going to get insurance just in case.

I think that's a question for your TA or the resort specifically, there's no way we would know what the hotel rates are going to be for your wedding week, sorry!

And if I search this thread for Portofino, everything says that it's next to the Jacuzzi pool in Coba. Unless they moved it.

@@nicolesal I can't for the life of me find a listing of which restaurants are at which resorts, but I found a map online that showed Portofino was in Coba, so that's what I've been going off of.

We're booked at Coba, I've requested Portofino and jacuzzi pool reception, but I haven't heard back yet and they didn't send the menu options at Portofino, so I'm not sure what that means. Laurielee works for Tier One Travel, a lot of Canadian brides use her. You can find her info on google. If you're looking at the prices for this year, keep in mind that the prices online now are going to be last minute deals, you will end up paying more for next year. We're just going to go the same dates as our guests. We'll probably have a "honeymoon" and go to Jasper or Lake Louise or something in the spring.

@ do you have pictures of the new tulum location?

I booked with LaurieLee in Calgary, even though I'm in SK. She got quotes from Westjet and Air Canada for me, then she made the initial request to the resort for ceremony availability for the dates I had chosen. With Air Canada the bride and groom put down deposits to hold a certain number of seats, but with Westjet you don't have a reserved seat until you put down your deposit, so my rate is locked in until November 19. My guests have until then to send their deposits to my travel agent, at which point she will make the reservations. So I'm a little worried right now. I chose this resort specifically for the Akumal Hammocks site. Its the site that they show on the Coba website when you click on weddings. When I found out that Akumal was going luxury only, I was worried, so I emailed the resort. They emailed me back and said it would still be available for weddings, so I got quotes from travel agents and we just started collecting deposits. I got my confirmation from the resort and it said I was down for the Gazebo, so I emailed them back and requested the Akumal site, and they told me that it is no longer open to brides from Coba and Tulum and I couldn't get married there. I forwarded them the email they had sent me before I booked and asked them if they would honour what I was told before I decided to book and they said they would have to get back to me on that. I'm going to be heartbroken if they won't allow it, I chose the resort based on that site because it was on a seawall and wouldn't have people in speedos in the background. I can't go back to my guests now and tell them they have to pay more to stay at Akumal, and I will be crushed if we get forced into one of the other sites, I don't like any of them! Does anyone have photos of this "new tulum beach location"? I've only seen the one pic that is super close so you can't tell where it is or what the ceremony would actually look like.

@@nicolesal I'm in Canada, Westjet has just released their rates for next November. I've been trying since August to get quotes and they just came out last week.

I'm booked! November 11, 2015! I'm going through the package and now I have more questions! Included music - If I'm not having a cocktail hour, am I allowed to use the live music in, say, the lobby bar for cocktails before dinner? Is Akumal beach the same as Akumal Hammocks?

@@Msmimi not at all! We're going to the Bahia Principe Coba in November 2015.

Here are the updated packages and extras for 2015 - Wedding Celebrations.pdf Wedding Packages 2015 ok.pdf