Gran Bahia Principe Akumal/Tulum/Coba - POST HERE!

[Jemma]

Ok….my review!

Venue – Akumal beach hammocks, 17^th Jan 2012

I wasn’t sure about this location at first and really wanted to Tulum gazebo but as soon as we saw it, we fell in love and were so happy we had listened to Eugenia (our WC) who recommended it! I will try and upload pics, but we took 30metres of fabric to decorate (two shades of pink). Also took chair ties and a white wedding isle which we scattered petals on. We put a fan and an envelope of biodegradable confetti on each of the chairs for the guests. It was a nightmare taking everything from the Uk but it did really make the location magical for us; esp after seeing other weddings were it was left all plain. Guests were really grateful for the fans too!!

We had my new sister in law read out a poem in the ceremony and my cousin read out the sand ceremony verse. It was really lovely and made the ceremony much more personal to us. Otherwise, it would have been over quite quickly. My hubby gave the music guy our ipod with a play list of songs to play while guests were gathering and waiting. Then a second play list for the ceremony. Eugenia told us we only needed  4 songs (1 to walk down isle with, 1for signing reg, 1 for sand ceremony and 1 to finish off) the signing did go on beyond the song slightly but to be honest I didn’t even notice with all the excitement!!

We then had a Champaign toast on the beach while photo’s were going on. 

Wedding coordinator – As ive already said, we had Eugenia and we can never thank her enough. She did everything we asked for and more. They really are the experts! I went through phases of getting frustrated due to the lack of email contact but as the date was approaching I had emails from WC within 12-24hrs. We met with her to go through the details the day after arriving at the resort. The meeting was very quick but they do know what they are doing!!

Flowers – I had sent WC photo’s of bouquets I liked, and they basically replicated them!! We had calla lillies which were not included in the package so we ended up paying quite a bit but in the grand scheme of it all, it didn’t add up to that much more! We loved the bouquets and buttonholes. We also ordered additional flowers to decorate the cake (mainly because the pics I had seen of cakes were not great so thought the flowers would disguise it a bit!).  The flowers were delivered to our room approx. one hour before the wedding, and the buttonholes taken to the room where my hubby was staying.

Hair & Make up – we paid for day passes and had Sara Tamargo and her hairdresser / assistant to do my hair and 5 bridesmaids.  They did a fantastic job, I cant recommend them highly enough. Sara used Mac make up and it really stayed on all day, withstanding the heat! The hairdresser was amazing. She even replicated my hair trial photo using clip in hair extensions. They arrived at 8am and just about finished for the photographer arriving at 1.20pm. 

Restaurant – we had our meal at the Arlequin restaurant in akumal. It was really lovely. The only prob was we had one vegetarian and the staff didn’t quite understand and it took them a while to get a veggie meal. But it ended up ok. We did the speeches in the restaurant and cutting the cake.  I had taken table decorations,   and took small bottles of tequila with pink ribbon round them for the men’s favours and made Swarovski crystal bracelets in organza bags for the women. Its was sooo funny all the men doing their shot and all the women then wearing their bracelet for the rest of the holiday!  

The WC put out the candle lanterns centre pieces we brought along with place names, scatter crystals and personalised serviettes. It looked very romantic with low lighting and lots of candles. We put our bouquets on the cake table to add decoration with a few spare lanterns .

Cake – wasn’t as bad as I expected after seeing some pics! But it tasted amazing! Like I said before, we decorated it with additional flowers (orchids) and took a cake topper. 

Poolside party – This absolutely made our wedding day. It was the best money we spent and ended up extending it by an hour on the night. We used the resort DJ and he was fab! He used our ipod to play our first dance and had all the lights and mic for any announcements. There was 30 of us and we had an absolute ball….with some guests ending up in the pool at the end of the night! Eugenia had transferred the chairs from the ceremony with the pink chair ties and put a few around the pool side area. She had also put my candle bags down the path leading from the restaurant to the poolside party area! it all looked so magical.

Arrecife – This was the one thing I was most worried about as not all the reviews on here have been positive. We had martin and he was fantastic!! Very professional and took fantastic photos. We bought the package that included me getting ready, the groom, ceremony and trash the dress the next day. He knew exactly what looked good in pics and the best locations for different pics. He also did any photo we asked for and let us be creative too!

We did the TTD the next day ….and it was sooo much fun. You do get a lot of strange looks on the beach but it really is worth it. The reaction from people we’ve shown them too have been fantastic. Def worth while doing . I got a replica dress of ebay then literally put it in the bin after the photoshoot!

 

Overall: We had the most amazing magical day, that exceed our expectations by far! We would have changed a thing and would recommend this resort to anyone wanting to get married abroad!!

[crystalz]

Thanks Emily! I haven't received anything from you yet though!!

 

Jemma, your photos look great! We had Martin too for our 10 photos, he is really good. I was wondering how you got pink calla's ha ha then i saw you paid for them, only white callas are included in the package unfortunatly. Glad your day was awesome!

[AD2012]

Crystalz - your photos are amazing, thank you for sharing!

 

Jemma - great review & photos! The beach location looks amazing, we're scheduled to have our ceremony at the Gazebo but with everyone's photo's I'm kind of second guessing my decision!!

 

 

[Sunshine2680]

Great reviews!
Jemma! Would love to see more pics!!

[Emily2012]

WoW, sounds fab.

have you got pics of your table deco?

 Xx

[TATrisha]

Excellent review Jemma!  I put a link to it in the official thread.  I'm sure it'll be super useful to future brides! 

[fraggle42]

Hi Jemma, 

 

Congratulations.Your pics are gorgeous. I would love to see more.

 

what material did you use for the hammock decoration and did it weigh much? Also what material did you use for the chair covers and how much did you need. Did it cost much for the material? Also did you take artificial petals or buy real ones from the resort? Sorry for all of the questions but I am thinking about having this location and think it looks completely different with all of the extra decoration touches.

Originally Posted by Jemma 

Ok….my review!

Venue – Akumal beach hammocks, 17^th Jan 2012

I wasn’t sure about this location at first and really wanted to Tulum gazebo but as soon as we saw it, we fell in love and were so happy we had listened to Eugenia (our WC) who recommended it! I will try and upload pics, but we took 30metres of fabric to decorate (two shades of pink). Also took chair ties and a white wedding isle which we scattered petals on. We put a fan and an envelope of biodegradable confetti on each of the chairs for the guests. It was a nightmare taking everything from the Uk but it did really make the location magical for us; esp after seeing other weddings were it was left all plain. Guests were really grateful for the fans too!!

We had my new sister in law read out a poem in the ceremony and my cousin read out the sand ceremony verse. It was really lovely and made the ceremony much more personal to us. Otherwise, it would have been over quite quickly. My hubby gave the music guy our ipod with a play list of songs to play while guests were gathering and waiting. Then a second play list for the ceremony. Eugenia told us we only needed  4 songs (1 to walk down isle with, 1for signing reg, 1 for sand ceremony and 1 to finish off) the signing did go on beyond the song slightly but to be honest I didn’t even notice with all the excitement!!

We then had a Champaign toast on the beach while photo’s were going on. 

Wedding coordinator – As ive already said, we had Eugenia and we can never thank her enough. She did everything we asked for and more. They really are the experts! I went through phases of getting frustrated due to the lack of email contact but as the date was approaching I had emails from WC within 12-24hrs. We met with her to go through the details the day after arriving at the resort. The meeting was very quick but they do know what they are doing!!

Flowers – I had sent WC photo’s of bouquets I liked, and they basically replicated them!! We had calla lillies which were not included in the package so we ended up paying quite a bit but in the grand scheme of it all, it didn’t add up to that much more! We loved the bouquets and buttonholes. We also ordered additional flowers to decorate the cake (mainly because the pics I had seen of cakes were not great so thought the flowers would disguise it a bit!).  The flowers were delivered to our room approx. one hour before the wedding, and the buttonholes taken to the room where my hubby was staying.

Hair & Make up – we paid for day passes and had Sara Tamargo and her hairdresser / assistant to do my hair and 5 bridesmaids.  They did a fantastic job, I cant recommend them highly enough. Sara used Mac make up and it really stayed on all day, withstanding the heat! The hairdresser was amazing. She even replicated my hair trial photo using clip in hair extensions. They arrived at 8am and just about finished for the photographer arriving at 1.20pm. 

Restaurant – we had our meal at the Arlequin restaurant in akumal. It was really lovely. The only prob was we had one vegetarian and the staff didn’t quite understand and it took them a while to get a veggie meal. But it ended up ok. We did the speeches in the restaurant and cutting the cake.  I had taken table decorations,   and took small bottles of tequila with pink ribbon round them for the men’s favours and made Swarovski crystal bracelets in organza bags for the women. Its was sooo funny all the men doing their shot and all the women then wearing their bracelet for the rest of the holiday!  

The WC put out the candle lanterns centre pieces we brought along with place names, scatter crystals and personalised serviettes. It looked very romantic with low lighting and lots of candles. We put our bouquets on the cake table to add decoration with a few spare lanterns .

Cake – wasn’t as bad as I expected after seeing some pics! But it tasted amazing! Like I said before, we decorated it with additional flowers (orchids) and took a cake topper. 

Poolside party – This absolutely made our wedding day. It was the best money we spent and ended up extending it by an hour on the night. We used the resort DJ and he was fab! He used our ipod to play our first dance and had all the lights and mic for any announcements. There was 30 of us and we had an absolute ball….with some guests ending up in the pool at the end of the night! Eugenia had transferred the chairs from the ceremony with the pink chair ties and put a few around the pool side area. She had also put my candle bags down the path leading from the restaurant to the poolside party area! it all looked so magical.

Arrecife – This was the one thing I was most worried about as not all the reviews on here have been positive. We had martin and he was fantastic!! Very professional and took fantastic photos. We bought the package that included me getting ready, the groom, ceremony and trash the dress the next day. He knew exactly what looked good in pics and the best locations for different pics. He also did any photo we asked for and let us be creative too!

We did the TTD the next day ….and it was sooo much fun. You do get a lot of strange looks on the beach but it really is worth it. The reaction from people we’ve shown them too have been fantastic. Def worth while doing . I got a replica dress of ebay then literally put it in the bin after the photoshoot!

 

Overall: We had the most amazing magical day, that exceed our expectations by far! We would have changed a thing and would recommend this resort to anyone wanting to get married abroad!!

 

[fraggle42]

Congratulations. Fantastic pics. xx

Originally Posted by crystalz 

hey guys!!! The moment has finally come!!! I have posted my wedding photos We got 536 but I only posted 324 lol A lot of the ones I left out were doubles just slightly different or one black n white and one color etc. Anyways, here's the link to my photos and I hope you all enjoy I will be posting them on my review too

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150512597966050.367143.513216049&type=3&l=b750a4669c

 

 

 

[shellee]

AD2012: one thing i can tell you is I just recently got back from the gbp and loved both locations the only reall down fall to the beach location is that its REALLY windy and you have to walk in sand (could be a plus if you like that.. im wanting to wear heels )

[Cdunn514]

Thanks, I found it at

 

http://www.cinderellaspumpkin.com/cgi-bin/spgm?dpt=H&srch=27&item=b440pb
 

but I ended up buying it on ebay for under $20, I do not remember who the seller was, i am sorry

 

Originally Posted by fraggle42 

Where is your bracelet from? it is gorgeous.