I just had my wedding at Secrets earlier this month. Our ceremony was at Barracuda Beach and the St. James ballroom. Originally we wanted to have the cocktail hour and reception at Barracuda beach but changed it the beach front casita area and ultimately decided on the ballroom. I thought it would be a great idea to have everything on the beach, but after realizing that there would be no real separation of the space between the ceremony and reception I changed it to the beach front casita area. Also, they would have everything set up already at the beach and I didn't want people to walk into the ceremony and see the reception area already. Therefore, I decided on the beach front casita area. After arriving there on the first day and getting a tour I changed my mind once again. The beach front casita area (with the big gazebo) is not really a private area and its near a major path where guests will be walking around. There is no way that guests can avoid walking in that area. Plus, we ultimately decided on the ballroom since it was 105 degrees and super humid when we were there. There was no way our guests will be dancing in that kind of weather outdoors. 

Overall, the wedding was great. In hindsight I would have over communicated with the coordinators. Even though you may mention things in emails, they will not remember everything that you told them. For example, I've emailed them asking if I can make a small change to my bouquet. I wanted less carnations and to add baby's breath to it. They said they would forward that information along to the florist - I have no clue whether they actually did this. When I met them in person to go over the entire package - I asked them again and they said it can be done and they will send it along to the florist. On my wedding I got my bouquet and was disappointed that they did not make my request. I got the bouquet 15 minutes before the ceremony started so I had no time to really make a change if I wanted to.  

Besides that the resort and wedding were beautiful. But I would definitely stress over communicating and making sure you are on the same page with the coordinators.