Hello fellow brides!

 

I am hoping this review will help with you planning at the Cancun Palace.  I had a wonderful experience there that I will truly cherish but I want to give you ladies some helpful tips to save some time and money and make your experience fabulous as well!

 

Pre-planning: B

 

My coordinator Paola was assigned to me 3 months before my wedding.  I am a huge planner so this was difficult for me to give up the control!  I did have to ask them when my coordinator was going to be assigned and communication early on was hard over the holidays, I would send out an email and get a response back but it would take a few days. I would also get answers in the form of more questions, so after a while I just decided to use this website for tips and plan everything else when I get down there.  I would highly recommend not stressing about the little details until you get down there, you will have a meeting with your coordinator upon arrival and a one hour meeting will put you at ease and you can pick out everything else then.  My coordinator worked very hard for us and did a fantasatic job while we there.

 

Location-A+

The Cancun Palace is beautiful.  I have been to both the Moon Palace and Aventura and we wanted the Cancun Palace for a couple of reasons.  One it is super close to the airport making it easy for travelers. Two, it is large enough that there is a lot of activites and things to do, but small enough that you can run into your group at breakfast and at the pool.  Some of the best parts of the trip was getting to meet up with friends and family easily.  We went with 45 people and feel this hotel accomodated our needs very well.  The rooms were beautiful and all of them had the jacuzzi and fully stocked bar and everyone loved them.

 

Check-In: B

 

We were checked in promptly, rooms were ready for us right away.  We also received champagne and a cool cloth at check in.  The only problems we encoutered is that some of the room requests were not honored as far as king or 2 beds.  The other problem was that a lot of our guests wanted to use their dollars to upgrade their rooms to oceanview but were not able to because the resort was full (presidents day weekend).  I would highly suggest that if you have people who are picky about their views they should pay for the oceanview room up front and not wait to upgrade.  Our entire group ended up on the lagoon side which isnt bad (looks like a lake) and most of my guests spent very little time in their rooms they were mainly at the pool or beach.

 

Value/Resort Dollars:B+

 

A lof my guests enjoyed using dollars on activities like golf and dolphin swim,etc.  We also took a limo ride to the Moon Palace for dinner one night and you can also use the dollars on photo packages so use them up when you are there!  If you are booking a spa appointment, I would suggest emailing the spa coordinator with reservations before you go...the times do book up fast there. 

 

Staff: A/F

 

I 99% of the time enjoyed the staff at the Cancun Palace, they were polite and eager to please and we tipped everywhere we went..even breakfast and lunch.  The only bad news is that I had a very expensive pair of diamond earrings stolen from me (my wedding gift from my husband) while I was staying there.  I didnt want to let it overshadow my wedding, but I definately want to mention it since nothing else was taken from any of my guests, I think it was just one bad apple there. And it was my own fault because I opened the box in my sisters room and didnt think to lock them in her safe.  So I take full responsibilty for it...I just to throw it out there to help future guests realize that the safes are there for a reason and to definately use them.  Even the best of people have a tough time with temptations.

 

Resturants: A

 

Even though the food is different than the US, I enjoyed the food there at the resort.  My favorites were the Japanese Teppanyaki grills.  The brownie desert at The Steak restaurant.  The eggrolls at the Japanese restaurant were great too.  My best meal there was the surf and turf at the Italian restaurant...I had it twice while I was there!  I also liked the fresh omlettes at the breakfast buffet...wish I had that every day!

 

Meeting with Coordinator: A

 

It went very well. Paola is super nice and explained everything much better in person :-)  I chose the complimentary package and brought down a bunch of stuff with me for decorations and added on what I needed.  We had over 99+ rooms booked so we had our 7 nights stay comped and used that money for our add ons.  The grooms and bridal boquet were free and amazing. 

We added:

Trio Band (to play during cocktail hour)--I heard they were great!

5 bridesmaid boquets

Upgraded cake for 45 guests

Wedding Video and extra hour of filming

2 floral arrangements for ceremony (love them)

 

 

I am very happy with the upgrades I chose and definately would do them all again...the only upgrade that was a little disappointing was my cake.  Their cakes are very heavy and it didnt look like picture at all even though it was one of the cakes they are supposed to know how to make..here is the cake. 

 

 

Paola also took us around the resort and showed us all of the rehearsal dinner spots and reception spots to confirm that we liked our locations.  We chose the infinity terrace (between the pool and the ocean) for the rehearsal dinner and I absolutely loved it!  We also chose the breeze terrace on the 3rd floor for the reception and liked that spot as well.  Our wedding ceremony was on the beach and I definately would do it again but make sure that you do not mind an audience.  They try hard to have people stay out of the way but you will have people watching you and you will have people walking behind you in the ocean.  Here is a picture of my wedding site:

 

The resort included the chairs, mat and table, and overhang..I brough the sashes and bought the centerpieces which were lovely and sturdy.  Another note:  It was VERY windy the day of my wedding.  My veil flew off during the ceremony and we were not able to light type of candle...so thankfully we had a sand ceremony.  We also had candles at the reception which could not be lighted.

 

Reheasal Dinner:  A

 

We chose the BBQ style food and it was awesome!! Everyone loved it and they even had a seperate dessert table which was yummy.  I also had a signature cocktail they served and I think it was called a blue lagoon.  We had pink one for my wedding reception.

 

 

Day of Wedding: A

 

I started my day early and was at the salon by 8:15 am.  I had hair extensions and the lady who did my hair has worked with them before and did a great job.  Be prepared to have an updo with a lot of hairspray though..due to the wind that day it was the only way to go.

 

I was happy with my hairstyle and it did stay all day! I did my own makeup because the day before I went to the spa for a fantastic massage and overhead a different wedding party complain about their makeup and I actually like doing my own.  They also have 2 different picture books of hairstyles you can look through.  My only regret was not pinning my veil to my head...even though it was tough to put on with all of the hairspray it did fly off my head during my walk down the isle.

 

We then went up to the rooms to get ready, all the girls in one all the guys in another.  I am glad I spent some time getting ready and getting some lunch before our photo shoots began.  Due to the strong sun down there we went to the front of the resort near the bandshell to take advantage of the shade and gardens so we got better photographs and did our beach photos after the ceremony.

 

 

We did our family photos here and bridal party photos too, they turned out nice with no weird shadows.

 

We then had our ceremony on the beach at 4pm.  We met the guy who was marrying us about 5 minutes before he ceremony but he did a wonderful job.  He must have memorized the whole ceremony and was very pleasant to listen too.  He did disappear though right after the ceremony so I didnt even get a chance to thank him.

 

After the ceremony we spent some time taking photos with guests on the beach and with the bridal party and then just me and the groom.

 

 

There were some cute places on the beach for photos, this was taken at the beach bar.  We also brought down parasols for the ladies.  To see the rest of the gifts/extras check out my planning thread.

 

While we were finishing our photos our guests were enjoying the cocktail hour.

 

Reception: A+

 

We had our reception on the breeze terrace and it was perfect.  We hired DJ Mannia to play at our wedding and hired him to play for 4 hours.  He did an amazing job and I highly recommend using them.  He played everyone on our list and brought fun ballons too.  Our guests were dancing for 4 hours straight and everyone that saw our reception said that our group was the most fun they had seen there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tip:  We bought maraccas when were down there at one of mexican markets and bought 50 of them from one vendor and they were pretty cheap and we didnt have to transport them.  The guests LOVED the maraccas to dance with and were definately worth the money.

 

 

We ended our night at 10pm and went down to the lobby bar for some karoke before bed.  We were all tired and we shooting our TTD shoot in the morning so the timing was perfect.

 

When we went back to the room it was decorated in honeymoon style with swan towels on the bed, a fully drawn bath and rose petals everywhere, it was beautiful!

 

TTD Session: A

 

We had Crystal Rose Photography for our photographer, she is a local photographer here in Minnesota with us and we flew her down to photograph our wedding.  She did a great job and took almost 4000 photos for our wedding.  www.crystalrosephotography.com to check out her work and see our wedding blog photos.

 

 

 

Overall Experience: A

 

It was a fantastic wedding and the resort staff goes out of their way to make your time enjoyable.  We were some of the only people on the resort to tip the staff and they appreciate the tips and do work extra hard.  I would definately choose the Cancun Palace again for my wedding and have no regrets!  If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me.

 

Quick Do's and Don'ts

 

1.  DO leave the wedding planning little details until the very end..it will drive you crazy early on and will all get figured out when you are there.

2.  DO get the complimentary package and add on if you want to save some money!

3.  DO tell your guests to pay to upgrade their rooms to oceanview if its important to them.

4.  DO get maraccas in Mexico to save some dough.

5.  DO get REAL flowers in Mexico, they are worth the money and I loved them!!!

4.  DO relax and have the time of your life!

 

Don'ts

1.  Don't leave stuff outside of your safe that are valuable (I did have earrings stolen from me).

2.  Don't be rude to the staff, and leave tips for them if they exceed your expectations (they will)

 

I hope this review has helped you plan your day!!!

 

xoxo

Meghan