natalia555

Hi - we are planning on getting married there in 2017 and I just have a few questions I can't seem to find up-to-date answers on: 1) Can we fly in our own photographer? Will we have to pay an additional cost if they stay with us for the entire week as one of our wedding guests? If we hire a photographer from Riviera Maya, not part of the resort, what will be the cost associated? 2) I see a lot of people talking about BeSo Brides for makeup and hair - does anyone have reviews on this vs. onsite hair and makeup and pricing? How much will we have to pay to have them come on the resort? Has anyone left the resort to get their hair and makeup done from them? 3) I have stayed at the Sian Ka'an for 2 weeks last April which gave us a lot of time to try out the restaurants. I really am only interested in having our meal at either Le Gourmet or Don Pablo. I don't see anyone talking about these - is it even an option? Has anyone done this before? We are planning on staying at the Akumal, maybe the Coba. I went to the Italian at the Coba, which I thought I would like, but the meal was a complete DISASTER (they "ran out" of everything we wanted to eat - and we had early reservations at 6pm! We also don't like seafood so what else are our options?) 4) Is there any reason we should stay at the Coba other than the Akumal except for cost? It's approx 150$ more per person to stay at the Akumal for the Coba but i spent most of my time at the Akumal beach and pool and loved it. Even if you can answer only a few out of these questions - any response would be appreciated! Thank you for your time

This was super helpful thank you! I started planning our destination wedding two years ago (.. i know.. i know.. we bought a house then a car and I just kept pushing it back b/c we have been together for 10 years lol). Finally pulling the trigger now for Nov 2017 (hopefully!) at the Akumal (we stayed at the Sian Ka'an in April and I fell in love with the Akumal area). Thanks for all this wonderful info!

Hi I am also planning now and have gotten quotes anywhere from $1600 - $2200 depending on departure dates. We are going from Edmonton. Our 'best value' quote that we found so far has been Dec 3 - 10 approx.$1660 / person based on double occupancy to Gran Bahia Principe Coba in Riviera Maya. We don't want to spend more than $1800/pp and would like direct flights only. We are also going to have a small group maybe max 30'ish. Quotes we got were cheapest in December (which was surprising for me anyway), approx $200 more in Nov, $400 more in Feb, and about 100-200 more in March/April.

Welcome! I am also new to the DW world and after doing some research, I think we have narrowed it down to either the Gran Bahia Principe Coba or the IBEROSTAR Paraiso Lindo There is tons of the info on the Gran Bahia Principe Coba here: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/63282-official-gran-bahia-principe-riviera-maya-thread/ I would recommend doing research on Trip Advisor and seeing what you like and then going to a travel agent to get quotes and recommendations from them based on your wants and travel group size etc! We found the Gran Bahia Principe Coba to be very reasonable compared to some other quotes we got for Edmonton departures

Wow thanks everyone! So much support and guidance on this forum - love it! The TA we spoke to specializes in DW's, she has done so many I am was just probably hard to work with since I had NO knowledge of DW's going in lol. I've done a bunch of research and am also sort of liking the Iberostar Paraiso in Riviera Maya as well (either the Lindo or Maya)... but having much more trouble finding info on that pertaining to weddings vs. the GBC. - Does anyone have any feedback on the Iberostar, especially vs. the GBP? We are going to see another TA tomorrow to sort of shop around and see if the quote's differ by a lot or a little and go from there. Honestly one of the biggest stressors so far for me is knowing I will have a good photographer during my DW *WITHOUT* breaking the bank! I love some of the photographers I have seen online but at the same time am also saving up for a down payment for a house so it's hard to balance my want for an excellent photographer vs. my want to move out of an apartment with loud neighbors... lol. Especially since some resorts charge fee's to have other photographers come in. -Does anyone have any photographers they can recommend? Thanks again everyone! Congratulations!!! Looking forward to hear all about it when you get back!

Hi, My name is Natalia, I am a 25 year old from Edmonton, AB looking to plan a destination wedding! I met with a travel agent a few days ago and am feeling overwhelmed with all the options and prices! She suggested Grand Bahia Principe Coba in Riviera Maya for Dec 2015 for best pricing and value for the location and packages. I found tons of info on it here already and looking forward to spending time here and absorbing all the info! Will definitely be looking at other places as well from here. Any suggestions would definitely be appreciated! Thank you, Natalia

Hi I am new to this forum and stumbled upon this thread! it is great, so much more info then I could even hope for! I got recently engaged and am planning a destination wedding - our travel agent recommended this resort and we are thinking of Dec 2015! With so many resorts to choose from it is SO overwhelming, but knowing that a lot of people have had successful weddings here should make my decision easier (hopefully). Going to have a lot of fun reading through this... thanks everyone for all the info! And congrats to all the newlyweds that just arrived back!