I tried to just stick with A.B.C ratings but for Critsey (our photographer) we had to break the rule because she and Thomas (her husband) were so amazing!  All photos included are by Critsey Rowe (www.critseyrowe.com)

 

Wedding details:

Package: Ultimate

Guests: 17

Extras: through resort: Harpist, Wine, Lobster, Hair/Make up trial, Mom’s hair/make up, 2 tall tables for cocktail hour

Extras: Florist, Photographer

 

Travel

Travel agent:  Dina from Sunkissed Vacations: A

Dina was extremely helpful and arranged air and accommodation for us and our guests (19 in total from 4 different cities).  There were a few flight changes which she kept me aware of and were able to re-schedule flights and accommodation as appropriate.

JetBlue: B

We had a direct flight from Boston which was great.  The flight and service were all pleasant.  The reason for the B rating is that JetBlue does not have any closet to store wedding attire and so I decided to check my dress instead of squishing it in the overhead bin.  The thought of losing our luggage kept crossing my mind but I felt a little better that it was a direct flight.  Thankfully - we had no issues retrieving our luggage.

 

Customs:

We had a lot of trouble with our luggage that contained the colored sand and our glass coasters.  It was flagged for a thorough security check.  They opened our packed suitcase and went through almost every item.  The experience was ok – it just took some time.

 

Transfers: USA Transfers: B

Timely and courteous.  Their prices were the most reasonable.  We booked them for all of our guests and everyone commented that they were able to locate them without a problem and did not have to wait.  The vans were quite comfortable; however, my husband and I had ordered a 4-7 person van for our arrival and departure but only a sedan came to pick us up for the ride to the airport which is the reason for the B rating.

 

Resort

Arrival and Check in: B

We were the first to arrive and were upgraded to a Honeymoon suite that was on the first floor in front of the activity pool so we politely declined the offer.  The reception desk seemed a little flustered when we declined and requested our original room - we had booked a Preferred Club Oceanfront.  The entire process took quite a while and we had – the annoying lady….

 

Rooms:  B

We had requested the top floor but none were available so we were on the second floor facing the Barefoot Grill.  Honestly, we could not really see the ocean at all just trees, pool and grill - this is why I’m giving the B rating.  Everything else though was great, the building we were in was centrally located and close to all the restaurants and pools.   All of our guests were happy with their rooms. 

 

Welcome Dinner:

Welcome Dinner Rosalee- A:  I had a trial with Rosalee for our welcome dinner.  She was really nice and sweet but we did have a communication barrier which we worked out.  I asked for soft curls but ended up getting really tight curls (think Shirley Temple) so I ended up pulling it up half way with a clip which ended up looking great– towards the end of the day – my curls were still curly.

 

Wine Cellar: A

This was a last minute decision which we were glad to have made.  At first, we wanted to have it at Hmitsu since it had a few larger tables.  We wanted to check out the Wine Cellar since that was our Reception Dinner location and met Fernando, the sommelier.  He suggested that we use the Wine Cellar for the Welcome dinner.  At first, I wanted something different since I wanted our Reception Dinner to be a new experience for everyone.  We ended up loving Fernando’s idea so much that we decided to have our Welcome dinner there anyway.  The cost to have a private function there is a bottle of wine per pair of adults.  Fernando prepared a menu and wine pairing which did not break the bank.

 

-Champagne to start

-Pan seared Tuna – paired with a Mexican white wine

-Seafood consommé

-Paella – paired with a Mexican red wine

-Crème Brule

 

Fernando did a great job with the wine and food introductions.  The only unfortunate thing was that there was a paella cooking class that afternoon so our entree lost the ‘tah-dah’ moment we were hoping for but all in all everything turned out great!

The décor was gorgeous and romantic.

 

Resort Photographer – Teo: C

It's tough to give this rating because he was great when he shot us during our site visit - maybe he was just off this day...

Teo ended up being late and he originally asked for everyone to arrive ahead of time so that he can have a few pictures of folks before they were seated.  My husband had to leave at the beginning of the dinner to make sure he was still coming so the beginning was a little choppy.  He made us do a few cheesy poses which we reluctantly did.  All I can say is  – of the 100+ pictures, we really struggled to pick 50 pictures which were included in the package.

 

Wedding

Spa – Makeup/Hair: B

Wedding Day Rosalee – A:  Much curlier than I expected – they ended lasting well into the next day.  If you want curls – Rosalee is passionate about them.  It was really difficult to breath at times with all the hairspray and curling iron but I know she just wanted to do a good job.  She spent 2.5 hours on my hair alone.  Make up was much faster – I ended up wiping off the lipstick she applied and went with my own – everything else was great.

 

My Mom's hair- C – Can’t remember who it was (oops) – My mom also got her hair and makeup done.  She has shorter hair but the person working on my mom was done in 20 minutes.   Her makeup was ok but her hair was not at all what she wanted and did not look like the picture she had shown.

 

Wedding Coordinator: Natalia - A

I did not have any communication with Natalia before we arrived at the resort.  Most of communication was with Aurora who was very helpful and responsive – it usually took 2 days for a response so I typically list all my questions to her in one email.  We had an intro meeting with Natalia a few days before the wedding.  They are truly experts at coordinating weddings – she guided us through all the details.  Since we hired Julieta for flowers – Natalia offered to provide extra bags of rose petals since I wouldn’t need the chapel pews included in our wedding package.  I asked for the “centerpiece” flowers included in the wedding package to be delivered for our Welcome Dinner.  I’m so glad that we had hired Julieta for our centerpieces – the resort centerpieces were sooooo small and I know I would have been upset.

 

Natalia walked us through the details and was great!  There was another wedding on the same day but I did not see or run into the other wedding party at all.  I had asked Natalia if they could clean/trim the trees in the chapel since some of the leaves were wilted and there was paint on the leaves.  She said she will try so I really didn’t know if it would be done.  Luckily – Natalia was able to have the folks clean the leaves and remove the wilted leaves.

 

Resort Flowers: B

The centerpiece arrangements were very small.  They were appropriate for our welcome dinner but I would have been really disappointed if I saw those at our reception – luckily we have Julieta (our florist – review in the vendor section).  My bouquet was smaller than I expected as well – oh well – at least it wasn’t heavy to carry around and the flowers lasted well into the day after.

 

Ceremony:  Chapel - A

Everything turned out great!  The readings were quite religious as other brides have commented but we were married in the chapel so it seemed appropriate.  Hubby’s mom is quite religious so she was thrilled so all in all – everyone was happy.  We hired the harpist for our ceremony instead of a sound system which ended up turning out wonderful!  I had worked out the song list with Aurora ahead of time and re-confirmed it with Natalia during our initial meeting.  Flower arrangements provided Julieta were gorgeous (more in the vendor section) and really made the chapel look so romantic.

 

outside, sugar reef next to it

 

 

Chapel setup with Julieta's arrangements

 

Cocktail Hour: Chapel Terrace - B

We ordered 2 additional high tables and white chairs were set up around the terrace which were all fine.  We used the Mariachi trio (we actually had 4) during our cocktail hour which was included in our Ultimate package.  The hor de ouvres we ordered were: Proscuitto and Melon, Smoked Salmon on melba bread and mushroom stuffed with cream cheese with black truffle.  This is the main reason for the B rating.  Most of them were the size of a US nickel.  They were much smaller than expected.  Taste was ok – nothing exceptional.

 

Reception:  Wine Cellar: A

We had an imperial table set up to seat 19 of us.  The centerpieces really made the décor perfect.  We asked Fernando to pair bottles of wine for us again since we had just a good experience at our welcome dinner – we stumped him a little with the asparagus salad but he did a great job selecting a clean white pairing.  We surprised all our guests with an additional lobster tail for their entrée. 

 

 

Food – We ordered:

Appetizer – Brushetta with prosciutto, tomato and fresh basil

 

 

Salad – Fresh Green Asparagus salad with a Dijon mustard dressing

 

Entrée – Surf & Turf, Mignon and shrimps with a gravy sauce and malted butter (+ lobster)

 

Dessert – Tiramisu

 

The only complaint from my hubby  was the cake.  We ordered a round 3 tiered tres leche cake but it was really really small and the tiers were not quite circle – he thought it looked like a Explorer’s Club project.  The look didn’t really bother me since I would rather the cake taste good – which it did.

 

Vendors

Photographer: Critsey Rowe:  A+++

Critsey and Thomas are such a sweet couple!  We are so lucky to have found them!  You just can’t help but adore them!  They are super talented.  Most importantly, they made everyone feel so comfortable.  My camera shy hubby had a great time with all the poses and photo session.  Critsey and Thomas also shot our after session.  We started off around the resort and then we headed to the Tulum ruins – suffice to say – I do not recommend this –they had security follow us the entire time and then they made Critsey and Thomas delete all the photos that were taken there before letting us leave.  Critsey and Thomas were such good sports for enduring that with us.  Our last location was much much better at the Cenote.  Critsey and Thomas were so great and true troopers during the entire process, if I could give higher ratings, I would.

 

Some of our faves:

 

 

 

There are so much more!  Critsey and Thomas are both sooo amazing and sweet!

 

Florist: Julieta - A

I made a last minute decision (about a month before our wedding) to hire an external florist after seeing the sample pictures of the pews provided by Dreams.  I had a certain look in mind for my wedding day.  I found Julieta on this very forum.  What was provided:

Flowers for the wedding ceremony /Chapel: 10 pews for the chapel benches, 2 mini trees, flower petals for the aisle.

Cocktail hour: Tall cylinder vases – pews were transferred to the vases – for continuity and $ saving…

 

 

 

 

Reception:

Centerpieces were perfect!  They were not too tall and the perfect height for our table set up.  The seashells brought the perfect theme of our wedding – and they were exactly the ones I asked for.  The dangling crystals and candles added the romantic, soft touch I wanted.  Julieta also helped me pick out the perfect runner!  I think she actually bought the fabric and made a long runner especially for our wedding!  She also transferred one of the mini-trees to our reception area as well.

Communication with Julieta was great and she really helped me with ideas to achieve what  I wanted while staying within my budget (including a few freebies! )

 

Reception at Wine Cellar - with Tree in the background

 

Different view, closer look at runner

 

Close up of centerpieces

 

 

Lessons learned:  If I knew what I know now -

 

1. Wedding Package: I would have go with the Love in Paradise (cheapest) package - since we really didn’t use everything that was included in the Ultimate package (i.e. the flowers, the massages, etc.) and paid for the add-ons that were not available with any package (harpist, lobster, better wine, etc.)
2. Florist  - gone external from the beginning  - it was cheaper to go this way and didn’t have to deal with the resort’s set up fees.  I would not have gotten day passes ($90/per person) for Julieta and her 2 assistants.  Should have only gotten just one for Julieta and saved $180 since her assistants were not there the entire time. 
3. Reception Dinner - went with Fernando for the Wine Cellar for our reception dinner - we would have had more flexibility with the menu!!  Especially since we ended up ordering wine anyway.  I would definitely suggest this route instead – you’ll end up saving the $200 private function fee and possibly the extra person charge – you’ll just need to order wine per pair of adults.  I can not say enough how happy we were with picking the Wine Cellar for our reception dinner since it was quite chilly at night while we were there and an outside reception dinner would have froze me to death (maybe something to consider).  Fernando did mention that we could have had some light music playing in the background – you’re just not allowed to dance and have a DJ there – wish we were prepared. 

 

Hope you find this helpful.