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Hi Cassie, We booked the majority of our rooms through a destination travel agent group booking; we had about 4 rooms book on their own, but it was still through some type of package and not directly with the hotel. We got the chinese lanterns in the above pic as an extra through the DJ (we just went with the resort recommended DJ and they were awesome!). We got 2 strands of them and they really made the ambiance of the evening so great! The wedding coordinator can give you the price for them if you ask. Good luck with you planning!

Hey All! just got back from our amazing week at the Marina el Cid and our wedding was everything I could have hoped for and more! it was a perfect day and everyone had so much fun! I would highly recommend the Marina el Cid for a DW. Let me know if you have any questions about the resort or wedding...

@racht33 Thanks! Yes, I found this thread helpful: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/66702-hotel-marina-el-cid-brides/page-10 I poured over all the pages and even a lot of the older posts seemed to have correct information as I gained it from the WC. I had one bride respond to me once or twice, but seems like after the weddings are over, posters just lose interest in replying. Oh well! Anyway, we loved the Jetty for the ceremony its long and has more privacy that the beach. We are having our reception on the beach as well. We saw them set up a wedding for approx 70 people and its very similar to what we are going with. The jetty while it may look skinny had plenty of room for the 2 chairs per side and a large aisle down the middle. The Jetty is also steps from the spa (if you get ready there) and very close to the rooms as well. We have decided to go with external vendors for hair & makeup (Styling Trio) and photographer (Dean Sanderson - check out his website, he has tones of advice for DW http://deansandersonweddings.com/wedding-photographer-advice-2/). I believe its $300 USD for each external vendor. We are using the DJ recommended by the resort and we met them and they seemed great. They asked us for ideas of a playlist (and a do not play list) about 2 weeks before hand. We are going with the light up dance floor because lots of previous brides said while it was pricey it was such a blast and when we saw it there, we knew it was the only time we'd ever get to do anything like that... We are also going with the resort for flowers and Melina (the WC) gave me the lists with pictures but basically told me if I want something different, send a photo and she'll find out if they can get that type of flower and if it ends up being more than the included price, we just pay the extra fee. We picked Dean for photography as I fell in love with his photos and I liked that he was a professional photographer trained in North america (he is actually from a town not far from where I live) and his style is comparable to the photos you'd see at a traditional wedding here (in Canada anyway) and the pics were so important to us that we didn't want to end up with someting mediocre. When we met him, he asked about hair/makeup and I was originally going to go with the resort, but he highly recommended not using the resort as the type of makeup is not quite up to par with north american standards. He said he had worked with styling Trio a lot and would recommend them, so after I looked into them I decided, might as well just book it and not worry over it. We are going with the Elite wedding package and among our group we have 4 rooms booked in platinum for 7 nights so we are getting the reception included. I was told there is no limit to the number of guests that can attend the dinner/reception. We are having a symbolic ceremony, with my future sister in law as the officiant as it was easier to get legally married here than in Mexico (and I feel like it'll be more personal too). The resort itself is actually really compact but never felt crowded. We always found spots on the beach or by the pool. I liked that we could easily walk from our room to the lobby in 5 mins or less and the lobby to the pool & beach are also 5 mins. Our room was almost on the beach it was so close! I've been to mega resorts and it was so nice to be at a resort that wasn't a 10 mins hike everywhere. There are some great spots for small children right at the main pool (a wading pool that looks like a mini beach), the kids club is right there as well and for older kids (and kids at heart) there is the cliff jumping and water slide (look out its super slippery & fast)! Anyway, I have a lot more information and lots of pics from when were there in Nov (including some of the weddings we saw), so if you want to send me a private message, it might be better to exchange emails & I can attach stuff. -Erin

Hey there! We are leaving for our wedding at the Marina el Cid in 29 days! We went there in November to check out the resort and it was fabulous! We met the WC, the DJ, (our photographer, but we're going external), we tried out the wedding menu and got to watch 2 wedding ceremonies held on the jetty and we are so excited for our wedding to be there and I am so confident that its going to be awesome! The resort itself had a beautiful beach, great food, strong drinks, awesome pool & nice rooms. We also really liked the close proximity to Cancun (its only 25 mins from the airport) and playa del Carmen (35 mins), and its a smaller resort, so it feels a bit more intimate that a mega resort. Anyway, I know how hard it is picking a resort and trying to stay within a budget your guests will be ok with (honestly that was the hardest part of this whole process). I will try to post a review of our wedding shortly after we get back. Good luck!

Hey all! making a bit of progress with our wedding, we decided to go ahead and book the resort DJ (thanks to advise from previous BDW bride) and are going with a set up on the beach similar to the attached (which Melina sent me). Also, some exciting new! My fiance decided to surprise me with a quick trip down to Mexico to check out the resort before the wedding (he got a good deal on bookit.com)! So we are going to meet with Melina, the DJ and our photographer while we are there. Melina told me there are 3 weddings scheduled while we are there so we can look at the different set-up of each. I am also hoping to try some of the menu items while we're there.

Just a quick update, we've decided to go with an external photographer for our wedding and have found this local Playa del Carmen photographer whose style I just fell in love with http://deansandersonweddings.com/2013/02/wedding-timelines/. While the resort photographer's photos seem nice (http://positive.com.mx/en/), the prices are failry similar between the two but we just don't want to end up with mediocre photos because we are having a destination wedding. Also, our photographer has a blog that includes some extremely helpful tips/suggestions for destination weddings.

Hi Mel24 I haven't really done any wedding planning for a while, but we finally signed the contract with the el cid and decided to go with the elite package as we have enough guests upgrading to platinum to cover the cost of the banquet. We have 23 rooms in our group booked so far with probably another 10 or so to go. Deyanira just confirmed she got our deposit and also introduced me to her assistant, Melina, who I guess will be taking over the day to day planning with me. I probably won't make any major decisions until after the summer as I still have over 9 months to go, but I'm going to ask her for price lists and decor options.

We have lots of kids under 14 coming too, but I read that there is a kids menu option and we are going to have enough people staying in the platinum suites to get the complimentary dinner for all of our guests. I just love the photos I've seen of the tables set up on the beach so figured its the one time I can do something like this. That being said, my fiance went to destination wedding where it was more casual and they just had a section roped off in the buffet, he said it was awesome. That was a the sunset princess.

Great to hear from you! I will definitely share as I plan! How many people are you expecting and have you decided on a wedding package yet? We are expecting 50-75 people and have decided to have the ceremony on the jetty with dinner/reception on the beach, but I can't decide on whether to go with the elite or the premium wedding package.

Hey all! we are booked for our wedding at the Marina el Cid on April 25, 2015 and I'm wondering what wedding package to go with? We are doing a symbolic ceremony (civil in Canada before we leave) and leaning towards ceremony on the jetty, with dinner & reception on the beach. We will probably meet the platinum room requirements for the complimentary dinner. But I just can seem to see what the major differences. Also for any recent brides, do you have any good/bad advice to share? thanks!

I've just booked the Hotel Marina el Cid for our wedding that is going to take place April 25th, 2015. We've just sent out the travel info to our guests and are starting to collect deposits. Its so hard to narrow down the resorts, but I'm excited to start planning the actual wedding!