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

[mexicanbride]

HI, I have been looking into having someone outside come in and do hair and makeup for my wedding party!  I was just wondering what the procedure for bringing in an outside guest for the day and what information I need to give ahead of time if any!  Thanks
 

[MJTK]

Wow beautiful! What location is this that you Had the ceremony? quote name="Angie1017" url="/t/786/gran-bahia-principe-akumal-tulum-coba-post-here/3540#post_1511043"]I'm back!  All I have to say to future brides and grooms is do not worry!  They are absolutely amazing there and take care of everything.  I know it's hard when your WC won't email you back for a few days, but once you get there they absolutely take care of everything and they run so smoothly!  We were married on December 16, 2010 at 4:00 pm at the Tulum beach palapas.  Here is a little review: Departure: We were picked up at 5:30 am in a 20 person limo bus arranged by my dad. It was awesome to be with a bunch of our family and wedding party, pop some champagne, and be relaxed heading to the airport. Because we had such a large booking, we were all given VIP lounge passes for YVR, so we all had breakfast, coffee and for some - beer, while waiting to board our plane. The flight was great (West Jet), although you have to pay for your meals (you get non-alcoholic drinks and either Bits and Bites or a cookie), they did however pay for a round of drinks for my husband and I. It was cute, they announced that there were two couples going to Mexico to get married, and they passed around napkins to everyone and had them write down their worst wedding advice, and then we got them at the end of the flight. We had so much fun reading them before we landed. Arrival: We arrived in Mexico and boarded a bus to take us to our resort. It was good since there was so many of us, that there was only one other couple on the bus, so we only had to stop at one other resort before ours. The driver allowed us to stop and pick up beers and water for the hour and a half drive to our resort. We stayed in Tulum, in the Diamond Club area.  Our room was 4021.  Check in went smoothly, although some of the rooms had one king size bed, and there were a couple guys sharing a room. So we had to get them to bring in extra beds. But other than that, everyone was pleased with their rooms. We had the top floor (3rd floor) corner suite, with a king size bed, and ocean view.  The bed was super comfy, although my husband prefers a harder bed.  Most of our guests were in the Diamond Club area. The days leading up to the wedding were so much fun! Our friends and families meshed well, and everyone had a ton of fun together. We had our welcome dinner the night after we arrived in the main buffet in Tulum, that is when we handed out our welcome bags. My MOH had a mariachi band come and they played for a bit and my husband and I danced We went on a group excursion to Tulum and swam in the ocean there. It is so gorgeous there, it reminded me of beaches in Thailand. Wedding: Our wedding was mid-week, on the Thursday. My MOH spent the night with me the night before, and we had a Grey Goose and vodka before bed and I wrote my cards to my parents. Woke up and had breakfast with my wedding party and my mom, lounged by the pool for a bit and then went to my room to shower. Went and had my hair done at the spa with my mom. I can't remember the name of the woman who did my hair, but it turned out fabulous!  I had extensions in, and she knew how to work with them.  My mom's hair also turned out really nice.  During getting my hair done, one of my husband's groomsmen came in with a flower and a card from him, it was really sweet. Then, later, another groomsmen came in with a card that said "Something Old". My husband had said he would be taking care of my something old, so I was super curious! In it was a charm that his grandpa had given to his grandma on their wedding day, it was a little wedding bell. So cute! Throughout the day, different groomsmen would come and drop off cards and gifts from him that said Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue. My something new was a new watch, something borrowed was a hotel pen to sign our license, lol, and my something blue was a Tiffany's necklace. So thoughtful, and such a fun idea! After the spa I came back to my room and got my make up done by a friend.  I felt bad because she still had to get ready, and once she was done she only had about half an hour to get ready. But she did an awesome job, and exactly what I wanted. We were picked up in a club car, like a little golf cart at 3:55 pm and taken down to the beach. I heard my husband's song that he walked down the aisle to "Kiss - I was made for loving you" start up, and he danced and high fived down the aisle. He he. When it was me and my dad's turn to go I was so freaking excited! I thought I would be bawling, but I was sooooo happy and excited, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face! My husband was the one emotional throughout the whole ceremony and I was the strong one! LOL The ceremony was perfect, I really liked the minister. It was about 20 minutes long. Afterwards we took some family shots, and then went off with our photographer to do group shots. Dinner was at 6 to 8 at Gran Tortuga, and really yummy!  Don't fill up on the salad buffet before the main courses, because you get so full!  Afterwards we had a private poolside party from 8 - 11 where we did first dances and speeches. We had DJ Bijan come, and he was awesome!  He and his wife were there, they set everything up, and took everything down.  He played music that suited everyone!  Everyone's speech was so sweet, especially my dad's. He came up with the idea a few days before our wedding to hand over the torch to my husband. So he had someone in Mexico hand carve a torch! While he was saying his speech, about how he was handing me over to my husband, in essence, handing him the torch, the Survivor theme song started playing, and then my MOH and the Best Man walked up carrying a lit torch! My dad took it and handed it to my husband, my husband then got on his knee and accepted it! It was so funny, and awesome all in one! After the poolside party we went to the Hacidenda, were the disco is, and sat around at these outdoor tables and danced, drank and partied. When we finally got back to our room very late, it was decorated with rose petals, champagne, choclate covered strawberries, little gifts, and books. My mom had set it all up, it was so sweet. A few days after we did a TTD session.  We started at this unfinished condo to the left of the Tulum beach, where there is this gazebo that is unfinished on this point.  It was gorgeous.  We then went down to the beach and then finished with us jumping in the private pool by the Tequila restaurant.  It was so much fun, and I highly suggest doing a TTD session! The rest of the week with everyone was awesome! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face, we are so lucky to have such amazing friends and family. We had a week honeymoon just the two of us once everyone left, it was so nice to unwind, relax and recharge. We had the chance to go to the a la carte restaurants that week, and ate and drank ourselves silly! All in all, it was like a dream, and the best 2 weeks of my life. Here are some non-pro pictures, I will be sure to post the professional ones once we get them.  If you would like to see more there are a ton I am tagged in in Facebook, PM me and I'll give you my name and email address to search me and add me

[TATrisha]

The makeup pros were hair and makeup. Typically they just arrive at the resort and come to your room. They'll have to pay the day pass. It's super easy and great results.

[shellee]

question for all of you past a future brides.......... did you or didnt you do out of town bags for all of your guests?? we have over 50 people going and i just dont think our budget will accomidate it is it wrong if we dont do them???

[TATrisha]

We did them.  But not for every guest.  We did for every room.  I thought it was a really nice touch, but I'd do them differently now.

I'd do the cheap drawstring bags from here.  Although the canvas ones were cheaper, they ARE cheaper, so people didn't use them.  Plus, they don't keep sand out.  So a drawstring bag I think people would actually use.

Then I'd get a customized mug again, because EVERYONE used that and it was cool to see everyone have it at the pool.

Then I'd get sample immodium and tylenol (from Office Max) and the small sunscreen from Walmart and sunscreen lip balm.

That's it.  Nothing else.  Those are the only things my group used.  The sunscreen and lip balm were really the big ones, since most people ran out of sunscreen and completely forgot to protect their lips.

[stylishmeNC]

I concur with Trish. We had 47 guests but we just did one for every room. We went with plain white gift bags we picked up from Michael's (with a coupon) and then printed our wedding logo on sticker paper (purchased on Amazon) and stuck those on there. It made it really easy to transport since they didn't take up much space all folded up. Once we got there we just opened them up and threw things in. We had mini tubes of sunscreen (huge hit), lip balm, pain killer (we did BCs dissolvable power), Emergen-C (great for the hangovers), and a little photo scavenger hunt card that had our photo share website information on it. People really liked them and  we enjoyed making them.

 

Originally Posted by shellee 

question for all of you past a future brides.......... did you or didnt you do out of town bags for all of your guests?? we have over 50 people going and i just dont think our budget will accomidate it is it wrong if we dont do them???

[kluanecat]

Where did you order the mugs from? Were they insulated? We've been thinking of doing the same thing, but want to keep it on a budget but not too tacky. Thanks!
 

[TATrisha]

We used discountmugs.com.  They were insulated and had a handle.  I'd probably go the route with no handle if I had it to do over again, simply because it'd be easier to transport!

But the quality was great and I still see people using them 4 1/2 years later, which is a good sign!

[andrea2006]

We didn't do out of town bags, so I obviously think it is OK if you don't do it.  For us it was not really in the budget plus it takes up a lot of space.  We brought down a few decorations and I just did not want to try and bring more down (our luggage was over weight as it was!) 

 

Honestly in my opinion their is nothing you HAVE to do for your wedding, so don't feel like is it wrong to not do something other people may have done.   

Originally Posted by shellee 

question for all of you past a future brides.......... did you or didnt you do out of town bags for all of your guests?? we have over 50 people going and i just dont think our budget will accomidate it is it wrong if we dont do them???

[TATrisha]

Yup!  Very true Andrea!  Plus, I got married in 2008 when you got 2 pieces of luggage for free!  That makes a big difference!