Hello Wedding Planners!

There were several reviews that helped me plan my wedding at Barcelo Maya Palace Deluxe on this website – I promised myself that I need to return the favor and write a detailed and helpful review for all the Barcelo Maya Palace Deluxe (BMPD) brides!  I know how nerve racking it can be to plan a wedding at a venue you’ve never been to; so I am going to be as thorough as possible to put your mind at ease. If there is anything you take away from my review I hope that its “don’t worry – you are in good hands with BMPD!” because it’s true. I was a little nervous/anxious but when I stepped out of the shuttle at the resort I knew absolutely nothing could go wrong because the place is PARADISE! So, with that being said let me go ahead with the review : 

Travel : Wendy Hicks Wendy Hicks [email protected] with Wright travel was our travel agent. She is awesome: took care of every last detail, got our guests an awesome deal, set up shuttle times and transfers and really just made everything go so smoothly. The shuttle was on time at the Cancun airport and the dudes in the orange shirt were holding a huge heart that said “Davis Wedding!” so precious. Some of our guests were on our flight, so we took the shuttle together and got some beers for the 45 minute ride. It was a great idea!

Check in: All our guests (60 of them!) had no complaints about the check in. Again, thanks to Wendy Hicks for being a rock star. All guests were checked in right away, and got a cocktail as soon as they checked in. The hotel staffs spoke English perfectly and were willing to answer all questions and give extra tips and maps of the area to everyone. When my fiancé & I checked in, they escorted us to a special check in area that was super fancy – gave us welcome cocktails & treated us like royalty. I was in heaven.

Rooms:  Wendy hooked our guests up with Junior Suites – which everyone said were beautiful. Our room on the other hand was INSANE! It had 2 bathrooms, a huge kitchen, living room area, balcony with Jacuzzi, and a gigantic closet! I knew we were getting an upgrade, but hellooo that room was a dream! I truly felt like a princess!

Hotel Restaurants: Amazing! You always hear hotel food is “meh” – but it is awesome here. The buffets were heaven, and the restaurants were you need reservations for (but are still included!) were just awesome. And the service is out of this world. The waiters will get you whatever you need – and if they don’t have something you want, they’ll get it for you in just minutes. Your guests will be so spoiled. I wish I could’ve eaten more than I did (I wanted to be able to fit in my wedding dress!) – but you can’t have it all!

Pools/Beach: Just beautiful – everything! I can’t say it enough. We were all there Thursday, December 13 – Sunday, December 16. This time is right before peak season so we basically had the pool and the beach all to ourselves! Some guests went on kayaks on the ocean, while others were playing volleyball, and others were laying out at the adult pool. And there are palapa bars/swim up bars every where you go. I don’t think there was one point of our time there were I didn’t have a drink in my hand. Like I said – paradise!

Jaguar Disco:  So cheesy, but so so so fun! All the “kids” went to this disco one night together and it was a blast. Again, we basically had the entire place to ourselves and danced the night away. It was great – and all the drinks were included, so some of us partied a little too hard – but nothing a morning in the sun couldn’t fix! Don’t expect this place to be super swanky, but it is a golf cart or shuttle ride away from Barcelo Deluxe, its free – and just so much fun!

Spa: This is the only negative thing about BMPD. The spa was absolutely horrible. We got a couples massage the first morning we were there & it was mediocre. The next day I got a mani/pedi & it was just horrendous I couldn’t help but laugh! The girl who started out doing my nails was pregnant, & I think she had pregnant brain – I did not know what she was thinking. She had no idea what she was doing and it took her more than an hour to do just my nails! When she started getting ready to do my toes, I said no thanks & left (thank goodness I got a good pedi in the states before I left for Mexico). I just couldn’t stand to watch her struggle & goof up my toes. Well, the next morning I went for my chocolate wrap that came with our package & guess who did my wrap? You guessed it… pregnant lady. Ha! Again, I couldn’t help but laugh (there are worse things in the world). But it was a HORRIBLE experience. The water was freezing; she (again) had no idea what she was doing. I don’t even think she knew how to give massages, she just kinda mushed chocolate stuff on my skin. At one point she sprayed water all over my face & I asked her (in a nice way) if we could just stop. She was so cute. Laughed & apologized.. but still it was just horrible. Anyways, after I left the body wrap appointment I was patting myself on my back for booking an actual hair/makeup artist instead of going with the spa. So, my advice to you is see if you can get something else in exchange for the massages or mani/pedis. You can switch those out for a facial with your mom & mother in law or even a tanning bed session? Try & wiggle something out of the package deal because the massages just aren’t great AT ALL! And Ladies – TRUST ME – when I say do NOT get your hair/nails/makeup anything done at that spa! While they are so sweet there & really aim to please it’s just not up to par. J

OK – on to the wedding portion of the review….

Wedding Coordinator:  Lillian Vargas is wonderful! One of my hesitations with having a destination package was that it wouldn’t be very personal, & offer typical flowers, food, décor, etc.. instead of offer individualized items that really made my wedding unique to me & my fiancé. But Lillian definitely made our wedding unique to us! When she sent flower options that I wasn’t a fan of, I sent her a pinterest board I had made & asked if any other those options were doable. And she made it happen! Same with wedding décor, lighting, food, cake, flowers, almost anything she worked with me so those things would be more personal and not as “cookie cutter.” Also, I brought several DIY items (a suite case and several mailed boxes full of DIY things!) that she offered to take off my hands. We went through each DIY thing, I explained the vision I had & she knew exactly what I was talking about. At no point did she say I was asking too much – she really went above and beyond. At one point she told me she had already done 7 weddings that week – 7! I was so surprised not only because of her cheerful personality, but her attention to detail. She made me feel like I was her only wedding for that month. She remembered every email conversation we had, every request I had, every concern – everything! She also managed the guests very well, & answered all their questions. It was so nice to have a Wedding Coordinator; she lifted a huge burden off my shoulders & took care of all my worries. She was awesome!

Wedding Package: Chocolate Sensation : this package was the most expensive, but at the same time, catered to our needs the most. We had a large wedding and this package was definitely the one we went with. It included the most meals, largest cake, a lot of massages (who can say no to that!) and other perks we felt were necessary. However, if your wedding party is no bigger than 25 people I definitely suggest you pick a lower priced package – those are just as amazing and perfect for a smaller wedding.

Hair/Makeup: I hired Adrian Guerra & his team (Styling Trio) [email protected] for my hair & makeup. I picked him because of the great reviews everyone has given him, his bio, his prices, his English abilities – he’s  basically the best out there! He also comes to Barcelo a lot, so there wasn’t any trouble getting him in the resort and the wedding coordinator already knew who he was. Adrian did my makeup and his employee, Alex did my hair. I had them do a trial (girls – you should spend the extra money for a trial session, it makes everything so much more calm on your wedding day!) the first day I got there. They were both so much fun, so attentive, so down to earth & complementary! They made me feel so pretty - & made me look beautiful! I want to have that hair and makeup everyday – if only J The day of the wedding they were on time, ready to get down to business. Alex did my mom & mother in law’s hair (it was part of our gift to them) & they both LOVED his work! Adrian is a Mac makeup professional and uses their airbrush techniques, which gives a beachy, natural look – I loved it. Adrian and his Styling Trio are the way to go!

Photographer: I hired Lori Lemieux with Sweet Fire Photography http://www.sweetfirephotography.com/ pretty much for the same reasons as I hired Adrian : great reviews, English speaking, amazing portfolio, lovely website – etc.. She came with her business partner, Tanya – they were both just amazing. Professional, talented, personable, I could go on & on. Check out her reviews on Best Destination Wedding, I wrote a pretty detailed review there & so did several other brides. Lori is fabulous!

Saxophone:  He did a great job, although he didn’t play the song I wanted the bridal party to walk into, he chose another classical song that almost sounded the same (to our guests!). But he was very talented and definitely someone I would recommend.

Minister: We chose to have a non denominational & bilingual minister, Santiago Carranza, officiate our wedding. He did so great – such a good mix of Mexican wedding cultures and American (my fiancé is from Mexico CitY). He also did a great job of mixing Spanish with English (half our guests were Mexican). Santiago was so great at responding to email – he even had a skype appointment with us one night to get to know us & ask us questions about our relationship. Because he did this, the ceremony was very personable & just lovely. Everyone said it was one of the best wedding ceremonies they’d ever been to.

DJ: I sent the DJ a LONG list of all the songs we wanted & he definitely deviated from this list. I kept going over to him & asking him to stick to the list - & he was very nice & said he would – but then a song came on that was super random. However, everyone was dancing like crazy! No one seemed to notice & everyone was having a blast. The DJ was good & talented, but definitely had a mind of his own. After the second time of approaching him, I decided I needed to let it go & just enjoy! I couldn’t control everything.. J However, the key songs (first dance, mother/son, father/daughter, cake cutting, bouquet toss, garter toss) were all the correct ones I asked him to play. So, I guess he did a good job J

Schedule/Details:

Wednesday, December 12 : Most of our guests arrived. This was basically a meet & greet of all the guests, introducing them to one another, reuniting with family & friends I hadn’t seen in forever!

Thursday, December 13: Guests did whatever they wanted that day. Like I said before, some took a tour bus to Tulum pyramids, some took horse back rides on the beach, others just hung out in the swim up bars, some went snorkeling, kayaking, wind surfing. I hung out with everyone, met with Lillian, had my hair/make up trial & made sure everything was good to go. That evening we had our private dinner (just the two of us) on the beach. It was amazing – we had a full wait staff all to ourselves, they had a bottle of Moet Chandon, incredible food, romantic music, etc.. it was amazing! Then we went back to our suite where my bridesmaids & other girls had a surprise bachelorette party! It was such a blast - & after we all went to Jaguar disco (met up with the boys) & danced the night away.

Friday, December 14: Again, guests did whatever they wanted this day. At night the bridal party had a small rehearsal (Lillian met us for this) for about 15 minutes. She just ran through where everyone would stand, & we practiced walking down the aisle & back up again. It was perfect, & necessary! After the short rehearsal we walked over to Coco’s beach where we threw our guests a Welcome Party (we opted to do this instead of a sit down rehearsal dinner).  This was from 5pm – 7pm (we didn’t want to take up too much of our guests time – it was their  vacation too & we wanted them to enjoy the resort as much as possible).  There was a full buffet of appetizers (which ended up being so much food – we chose for the Mexican option on the cocktail hour menu), full bar with bartenders, large speakers that my friend hooked her iPod up to and plenty of tables, high boys for the guests. My sister ( MOH) had a game planned & gave a lovely speech, and everyone signed our guest book at the Welcome Party. It was so much fun! Then after the party we ended up reserving most of the Brazilian Steak House restaurant, which is right in the Barcelo Maya Palace Deluxe portion of the resort. It was so much fun – the food was awesome & everyone had a blast!).

Saturday, December 15 – Wedding Day!

Everyone pretty much had the day to themselves except for the girls (we gotta get pretty!). But even so, I was in the ocean holding a rum filled coconut up until 1:00PM! It was such a relaxing day – I couldn’t believe how chill I was on my wedding day! You always see brides running around, waking up at 5:00am & their bridesmaids getting their hair done as early as 9:00am… but not our wedding! We were all chilling in the ocean enjoying the sun & cocktails. It was heaven!  Here was our wedding day schedule:

·         1:00pm : Adrian & Alex from Styling Trio Riviera Maya come to hair/makeup

·         2:00pm: Bridesmaids bring their makeup/dresses to get ready in our suite. This was such a fun bonding experience – I had room service and drinks delivered for everyone, we just chilled, listened to music & they helped each other out with hair & makeup. So fun!

·         4:00pm: Lori with Sweet Fire Photography arrives. Her business partner, Tanya went to the boys room to take some getting ready shots of them.

·         4:25: Bridal party and parents gather in the Michoacan court yard for posed pictures. We have a separate “first look” photo shoot – which I highly recommend! So much better for nerves on your wedding day!

·         4:50: Bridal party & parents line up in the hallway outside of the gazebo. My dad & I are taken by golf cart to the ceremony site, wait behind bridal party to walk down the aisle!

·         5:00 – ceremony starts!

·         5:30 – ceremony ends at sunset (gorgeous!)

·         5:30-6:00 – posed pictures with family & wedding party guests

·         6:00-7:00 – cocktail hour on the pool patio near the Coral Grill (about 3 minute walk from the gazebo). It was at night, so no one was there! It was like we had the entire patio to ourselves. Father in Law toast – so beautiful. Mariachi played & got the party started! We had the Caribbean Cocktail hour menu – delicious.

·         7:00-11:00 – reception at Coco’s beach. We walked in & did our first dance, then father/daughter, then mother/son. Then my dad gave a speech, gave a blessing & everyone ate. We chose ceviche for appetizer (amazing), asparagus soup (soo good!!!), surf & turf (the lobster was to die for) & crème brulee (need I say more – awesome!). We danced the night  away, cut the cake, did the garter & bouquet toss – the whole shebang. I was a little nervous that 11:00pm was too early to end the wedding, but it was the right decision to make. Everyone had been in the sun for the past 3 days, drinking, playing, running around - & all the guests left early Sunday morning. So, by the time 11:00 rolled around, everyone was ready to go. I’m so happy we made the right decision with that! Some of the younger folks wanted to stay up longer, so we went to the Canary Bar (in the lobby) and sat outside on the big couches talking, drinking & laughing. Still, we went to bed a little bit later…. It was an awesome reception & a magical wedding!

Sunday, December 16

We had breakfast delivered to us on our balcony in our suite – it was delicious! We packed up and hung out in the lobby saying goodbye to all our guests. Everyone had nothing to say but amazing things about their time at BMPD – even the nay sayers who were a little iffy on going to Mexico couldn’t stop talking about their next visit. Everyone was saying this was the best time they’ve ever had at a wedding, let alone a vacation! Everything was perfect, we were in a perfect place with perfect service & perfect people. I want to go back! Here are some pictures of our wedding – if you have any further questions please message me & I’ll try to answer as best as I can! Good luck future destination wedding-ers! You’re never going to regret choosing Barcelo Maya Palace Deluxe – its heaven!!!!