I can't believe that of the thousands of reviews on this website, I'm the first to write a wedding review of Live Aqua Cancun. It was an incredible experience all around. Even our photographer said that destination weddings are never planned as smoothly as ours was. So since there aren't any other reviews on this website (or on the web in general), I feel compelled to write one...

For starters, we had stayed at the hotel prior to booking it for our wedding. We had a one week stay the year before and loved it so much that it was the obvious choice when we decided on a destination wedding. I won't review the hotel itself (Trip Advisor has literally 5,000), so I'll just keep to the wedding aspect.

Planning:

The info packet I was sent had most of the info we needed. The hotel offers three basic packages and then you can add on a-la-carte items, the prices of which the hotel is very upfront about. When in the info stage of the planning (before booking), I worked with two different women. My emails were responded to in probably 3-5 days on average, which seemed a bit long. But once we booked, I only worked with one woman, Lucia, and she got back to me really quickly. Her emails were always very pleasant and no question went unanswered. Really pleasant experience.

Lucia went over the wedding details with me SEVERAL times and in different formats to make sure nothing was missed... there was the spreadsheet she asked me to fill out, the phone call she arranged two weeks prior to the wedding, and then the in-person meeting two days before the wedding. Whenever I asked her about an add-on item, she always mentioned the cost. I didn't feel like she was hidding the fine print or was going to screw me over. For example, when it came to deciding how many bags of flower petals to buy, I felt comfortable letting Lucia decide... I had no perspective of how long the aisle runner would be/how large one bag was/etc, but I trusted her to know what would look good but not be expensive and excessive (btw, what she suggested DID look great!).

One thing that's nice about Live Aqua is that they're not over-run with weddings like some of the other hotels on the strip. They don't host too many, so Lucia can really dedicate her time to your particular event. I didn't feel forgotten... in the planning process or on the day of. (As a related side note: only one wedding is planned per day.)

Pre-ceremony:

We had an Aqua Suite, which is where all the girls got ready. It was definitely worth the price. Even our hair/makeup stylists said it was one of the biggest suites they'd been to. Plenty of room for all the girls plus the hair/makeup team plus the photographer.

Hotel staff picked up my dress, my husband's suit, and a couple of the groomsmen's shirts the day before the wedding to be steamed. At 10am the morning of (the ceremony was at 4), they brought back everything. The clothing looked great. Lucia brought up the flowers about an hour before the ceremony start time and then left to oversee the ceremony site set-up.

Ceremony:

The ceremony took place on the beach, right in front of the infinity pool. I initially wasn't too excited about this, but it turned out fine. About 100 people had gathered in the pool, on the stairs leading down to the beach, and on the beach itself to watch the ceremony. This originally horrified me, considering one of the reasons for the destination wedding was to keep it small. But it was actually kind of fun having a bunch of strangers cheer us on. Everyone was really respectful.

Lucia set-up the chuppah to look just like the pictures I sent her. The sound system that was set up was convenient since it was so windy. Our guests could actually hear us. I didn't know until the day before, but a sand ceremony was part of the ceremony. A nice touch. After the ceremony, waiters presented us and our guests with champagne. Our guests then hung out at the pool bar while my husband and I took couples photos. We had the option of adding on a private cocktail hour on the beach, but using the pool bar worked out just fine. The hotel guests saw us in our suits and dresses and knew we were part of the wedding, so they gave up their seats.

Reception:

We had the option of having a semi-private reception in one of the restaurants for no additional cost, but we decided to pay a little extra and eat at the one specialty restaurant (In'laa kech). So worth it! Lucia purposefully blocked out all reservations for the first hour so we'd have the place to ourselves. The table was set up beautifully, and Lucia converted the flower bouquets that were handing on the chuppah to beautiful centerpieces. The wait staff was amazing, the food was exquisite. And Lucia stood in the corner of the restaurant the ENTIRE meal just in case we needed her. 

Vendors:

We hired an outside photographer, since I wasn't impressed with the hotel's. We also used an outside hair/makeup team. The stylist the hotel has a contract with is really into dark makeup, which I can't pull off. And my hair was one of my biggest concerns, so I was willing to pay a little extra. For both the photographer and hair/makeup team we had to pay a $300 outside vendor fee. I wasn't too happy about this, but every hotel as one (some for as much $700).

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Live Aqua Cancun to anyone planning a destination wedding. Planning over email was unbelievably easy. Lucia was a doll to work with. And they day-of went perfectly smoothly. I honestly wouldn't have changed a thing. PM me if you have any questions!