I’m finally getting around to writing a review – I hope it’s helpful. If you have specific questions, please let me know and I’d be happy to answer them!

We stayed at the Tulum resort from October 20-27, 2012. We travelled with WestJet Vacations. There were 45 people in our group from Canada, including 1 infant and 1 5-year old child.

Resort:  In terms of the resort, we were impressed, particularly by the food at the buffets. There was a huge variety of types of food, and good variety over the 10 days we were there. The Mexican food (which is my favourite) was great – not always the case at resorts! The beach was narrow, but nice and we never had a problem finding chairs. The pools were busy, and the main pool at Tulum is quite noisy. Overall, the service at the resort was excellent. If anyone in our group had an issue (broken A/C, needed extra supplies, etc), the staff were quick to fix the problem. They were particularly good with my 85-year old grandmother who needed extra assistance. Any one of the staff at the resort were willing to help make her more comfortable. The drinks were pretty standard – a bit disappointing that there was only 1 type of beer available, but many of our guests bought bottles of whiskey/wine/rum at duty free on the way into Mexico for our “after hours” parties.

Wedding coordinator:  We stayed at Tulum, but our coordinator was Maria (from Coba). She and her assistant Estaphania were excellent, if a little bit too busy! We met with them the first day we arrived, and settled all the details that we had not dealt with previously (table configuration, flowers, etc), and confirmed the rest of the plans.

We got married on October 24, 2012. Our ceremony was at 2pm at the Tulum gazebo.

Getting ready:  My bridesmaids and I got our hair done at the resort spa – it turned out differently than planned, but still nice…and they definitely know how to use hairspray to their advantage in the humidity (I don’t think my hair moved for 12 hours!). I also got my makeup done at the spa – I brought my own false eyelashes and some suggestions for a ‘natural look’, and they did a great job! We had drinks in my room while we were getting ready, and the staff were great about bringing up extra glasses, etc. We were supposed to be picked up at my room at 1:45pm. Just after 2pm, we were starting to wonder if we should call to check in, but the cart arrived at 2:10pm. It turns out that there was a flash rain storm right at 1:45pm and Maria got all the guests at the gazebo under cover and waited until it passed to come get me.

Ceremony: The ceremony was quick and lovely. The officiant was great – we requested that there not be much religious content, and they obliged. We had sent our own wording for the vows/rings to Maria and the officiant did a good job. We had a short reading by one of our guests, and a little tartan exchange in honour of our Scottish heritage. Everything turned out well. We were a bit suspicious of the photographer (we used Arrecife, and got the Basic 40 pkg), as we barely met him, and he seemed to be in a huge rush for everything. We took some pictures with family just after the ceremony, and then some of the wedding party on the beach. To our surprise, quite a few of them turned out.

Dinner:  We expected the ceremony and pictures to take a bit longer, but we ended up with 2 hours of down time in the afternoon between 4-6pm. We headed to the lobby bar with some of the wedding group and had a relaxing afternoon drinking margaritas. At 6pm we all met in the lobby and Maria put us in golf carts to take us to Tequila Restaurant. The dinner was perhaps the only slightly disappointing part of the day. They are quite fussy about making sure you are only in the restaurant for 2 hours exactly, so we felt quite rushed the whole time. We decided to do a few speeches at the beginning of the meal while the appies were being served…the acoustics weren’t great, but it worked OK. The food was good (not exceptional – the Mexican food at the buffet was better!), but the service staff were very nice. There was a mix up with the cake, which kind of took away from that part of the event. Maria was rushing to get us out of the restaurant (even though it was ¾ empty and there was no one waiting)…to the point where she was pouring people’s coffees into plastic cups to take with them! A bit strange…

Reception:  We had our reception poolside near the Tequila restaurant – this is a great location if you have an option, because it is very private! We had a mariachi band for the first 45 min (they were awesome!), and then had our own playlist on an ipod, and rented speakers from Maria. We opted for the cheapest bar. When we arrived, we just gave the bartender $100US and asked him if he could provide the other bar options to the group – he was happy to help us out! The reception was great – they had a few decorations (lights, etc), some high tables, and chairs set out. Everyone danced, and most people ended up in the pool at the end of the night.

Overall, it was a great experience and everyone in our group was impressed with the resort and the wedding day.