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

[Krysti]

I still have to write my review but I need to put out 2 pieces of planning advice that I consider urgent to any brides that are having their weddings soon!

 

#1  Don't spend your money on the DJ.  Rent their equipment, bring a laptop or ipod, and have a friend work the music and act as MC.  We had a DJ and I brought my ipod with all of the music on it for the reception so that I could have the exact music that I wanted.  I assumed the DJ would copy the music from my ipod onto his laptop and use it in the DJ program on the computer to fade the songs in and out, etc.  I wrote out a schedule for the DJ, also assuming he would be like an MC and do the announcing for garter toss, etc while putting on the corresponding song (like DJs do here).  They didn't say a single word (not exaggerating) and my MOH or I had to keep walking up to them to tell them what to do and we had to do the announcing ourselves.  It made the transitions between songs choppy (1 song ended, pause, then a new song would start) and felt like a waste of money ($420 USD for 2 hours).  That was my biggest regret...

#2  Use Diego from Arrecife Photography at the resort.  Our friend is a hobby photographer and offered to do our photos for free.  Since Diego was included, we had him do the photos for the ceremony only and our friend do the rest.  When we had our meeting to see Diego's photos a few days later, we ended up buying them all....spectacular!!  Our friend's photos are still quite good but it is clear that they are not the same quality and I did not have the same direction and ideas for poses etc. that I would have received from Diego.  I wish Diego had done all of our photos, but we did save a lot of money having him only do the ceremony (53 photos on a CD for $700 USD approx...I can only imagine how much photos of everything would have cost!)

 

I hope these tips help!

 

Krysti

 

 

[cheeky26]

Thanks Kysti! Your profile pic is so pretty do you know how much it would be to rent the resort's equipment for the dance?

 

[fraggle42]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know how long the aisle walk is for the Tulum Beach location?  We wanted the akumel beach location but it is not available on either of the 2 dates requested so i think we need to have a rethink so looking at either the tulum gazebo or tulum beach. I do love the gazebo but sort had my heart set on getting married on the beach. I liked the long walk to the hammocks too and from the pics i have seen it is much shorter at Tulum. Is Tulum private? How long is the aisle walk to the gazebo too. 

 

Thanks for your help. Panicking a bit.

 

XXX

[Emily2012]

ThAnks kristi, we was going to have the dj but will take your advice and save some money by taking our iPod, do you now how much it was to hire the equipment? Just need to have a friend do the mc now. Xxx

[Krysti]

Thanks! I'm not sure what the cost is but I know it can be done from what other brides have said. If you email your WC she should know

Thanks Kysti! Your profile pic is so pretty do you know how much it would be to rent the resort's equipment for the dance?

[nikki17]

Jazmin told me that it would be $110 per speaker to rent for the poolside reception.

[Rachael]

Hi Girls Just want to say a HUGE thank you to u all as I find so much information on this site :smile123: I am stressing out as some of you will know, we recently changed hotels for our wedding/hol. I have E mailed the wc...not getting any response and this was over 2 weeks ago Can anyone help? I am wanting prices and locations and menu choices for a private event. We were not going to have a private event but our wedding time is 1pm...the only time we can get Has anyone else been married at 1pm? ....what did you do and did the day seem really long? Thank you girls x

[KRama]

I really enjoyed the DJ for our wedding (although we're coming up on 2 years now so maybe it's not the same DJ!). We didn't have our reception as scripted though. We had a friend act as MC, did speaches by the pool and we didn't bother with a garter or bouquet toss since we had very few singles. We found the DJ had an excellent selection of songs we liked and took all of our guests requests as well. If he didn't have a song he'd play it off someone's ipod and I never noticed any pauses between songs.

I do recommend having your speaches at the dinner, like another bride said, because you'll want to dedicate your whole reception to dancing! It goes so fast! We had our dinner at 6:30 and no one else was in the restaurant until 8 pm.

Originally Posted by Krysti 

I still have to write my review but I need to put out 2 pieces of planning advice that I consider urgent to any brides that are having their weddings soon!

 

#1  Don't spend your money on the DJ.  Rent their equipment, bring a laptop or ipod, and have a friend work the music and act as MC.  We had a DJ and I brought my ipod with all of the music on it for the reception so that I could have the exact music that I wanted.  I assumed the DJ would copy the music from my ipod onto his laptop and use it in the DJ program on the computer to fade the songs in and out, etc.  I wrote out a schedule for the DJ, also assuming he would be like an MC and do the announcing for garter toss, etc while putting on the corresponding song (like DJs do here).  They didn't say a single word (not exaggerating) and my MOH or I had to keep walking up to them to tell them what to do and we had to do the announcing ourselves.  It made the transitions between songs choppy (1 song ended, pause, then a new song would start) and felt like a waste of money ($420 USD for 2 hours).  That was my biggest regret...

#2  Use Diego from Arrecife Photography at the resort.  Our friend is a hobby photographer and offered to do our photos for free.  Since Diego was included, we had him do the photos for the ceremony only and our friend do the rest.  When we had our meeting to see Diego's photos a few days later, we ended up buying them all....spectacular!!  Our friend's photos are still quite good but it is clear that they are not the same quality and I did not have the same direction and ideas for poses etc. that I would have received from Diego.  I wish Diego had done all of our photos, but we did save a lot of money having him only do the ceremony (53 photos on a CD for $700 USD approx...I can only imagine how much photos of everything would have cost!)

 

I hope these tips help!

 

Krysti

 

 

 

[Rachael]

Krama How many went with you, we only have 16 coming and I dont know how big the location is round the pool for a private event and dont want it to look silly because there is not that many of us Thanks

[sun surf sand]

Hi Rachael,

 

Not sure if it will make you feel better or not but I am having a really hard time getting a response from the WC as well.  I also sent an email over 2 weeks ago asking similar questions so if i get a response anytime soon I'll let you know.  

Originally Posted by Rachael 

Hi Girls
Just want to say a HUGE thank you to u all as I find so much information on this site I am stressing out as some of you will know, we recently changed hotels for our wedding/hol. I have E mailed the wc...not getting any response and this was over 2 weeks ago
Can anyone help? I am wanting prices and locations and menu choices for a private event. We were not going to have a private event but our wedding time is 1pm...the only time we can get Has anyone else been married at 1pm? ....what did you do and did the day seem really long?
Thank you girls x