Once we decided we wanted to get married in Playa del Carmen, it was time to book a venue.  We met with various wedding planners, visited numerous locations, and none of them could give us exactly what we wanted. When we finally decided on the perfect wedding planner (Erica Bressan of Weddings in Playa) she told us the only way we could get have everything we wanted at our wedding was to rent a villa (as opposed to a hotel/restaurant/resort) and hire in all of the work.

She took us to visit the only 3 villas she knew of in Playacar Phase 1 that could hold our estimated 50 guests.

When we saw Casa Chaac we fell in love. It was a torturous 2 weeks before we knew for sure that we'd secured the villa but other than that, it was a wonderful experience.

All of our friends and family rented villas within Playacar and they were all beautiful.  Most were much more recently updated than Casa Chaac, with granite counters and marble floors. But none of them had the charm. Everyone fell head over heals in love with our villa. The pool itself was worth the price of admission!  Huge! And with a shelf that sat about a foot deep for those who wanted to get in the pool without getting totally wet.

The garden fit my 50 guests with plenty of room for another 50.  We had a dance floor, a few sets of couches, 3 banquet tables, 6 bar tables, buffet tables, 3 street vendor carts (yes, we had street food at the wedding! Steak, Pastor, Chicken, and Fish Tacos, Ceviche, Guac, and Churros for dessert - all made to order), and still plenty of open space.

And considering some locations were $3000 just to have the wedding there, for pretty much the same price we also got to stay for a week with 8 of our family members! Casa Chaac sleeps 10 people, has a great large kitchen, a beautiful patio, and did I mention the pool?!?!

I can't imagine spending our wedding week anywhere else and we cannot wait to make it a yearly trip down with our friends to celebrate our anniversary in the home where we married.

Read more about my wedding vacation here: http://jencaputo.typepad.com/jen_caputo/wedding/

Or see my slideshow of wedding photos by Del Sol here: http://delsolphotography.com/blog/content/galleries/?gal=363