Moon Palace 2008 & 2009 Brides - POST HERE!

[Dianna]

congrats to everyone getting married at Moon Palace. It really is a beautiful place and the weddings there are fabulous!

[Maura]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJ Hunnie Thanks for the picture Maura, I didnt realize how much seaweed, My wedding is at 4 pm. I hope they clean it up some.

keep in mind those photos are from the day after hurricane ida passed through... i asked some of the staff and they said there is usually seaweed, but nowhere near what it looks like in the photos i posted that were taken on monday, after the hurricane had passed.

they spent much of the day yesterday combing the beach removing seaweed.
i'll try to get some photos today.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vgirl17 Thanks Maura but I don't think that will be a problem in April. In November the sunset is known to be earlier (5PM) but in April it's not until (7PM). That's the time of year we usually go to Cancun and it's not dark at 5PM yet. Thanks for the insight though! It will be very helpful for those having their wedding around these months

it has nothing to do with the time the sun sets; the inside of the gazebos are shaded, therefore in order to get decent exposure inside the gazebo and to not wash out the outside which is brighter due to sunlight, photographers need to use flash so the inside of the gazebo doesnt look dark. i asked the resort photographer yesterday if he always uses flash in there and he said yes.

[vgirl17]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maura it has nothing to do with the time the sun sets; the inside of the gazebos are shaded, therefore in order to get decent exposure inside the gazebo and to not wash out the outside which is brighter due to sunlight, photographers need to use flash so the inside of the gazebo doesnt look dark. i asked the resort photographer yesterday if he always uses flash in there and he said yes.

Oh, I see what you're saying. Thanks Maura Luckily for me my photographer has shot a wedding at the Chapel Gazebo before (Laura's wedding) so if I do get married there she'll already know what she's up against Thanks for all of the valuable information!!!

[mrseddy]

I know I haven't been on here that much lately but it's been super busy getting final details ready plus work was also busy.

 

BUT, the day has finally arrived. We leave tomorrow morning to the MP for our wedding on the 27th. i am SOOOOOOO excited!! I've reread reviews from past brides and I cannot wait. We're having our local ceremony today because we are doing the Symbolic one there.

 

I checked the weather and it says there's a chance of rain for most of the latter half of the week but I'm thinking Cancun weather is more tropical where storms pass versus the Midwest where when it says rain, you're not seeing any sun that day.

 

I will be sure to post a review when I get back because I know how important those were when I was planning. This forum has been a lifesaver. I don't think I would've gone through with a destination wedding site-unseen without it.

 

Wish us luck!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

[doblauvelt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrseddy I know I haven't been on here that much lately but it's been super busy getting final details ready plus work was also busy. BUT, the day has finally arrived. We leave tomorrow morning to the MP for our wedding on the 27th. i am SOOOOOOO excited!! I've reread reviews from past brides and I cannot wait. We're having our local ceremony today because we are doing the Symbolic one there. I checked the weather and it says there's a chance of rain for most of the latter half of the week but I'm thinking Cancun weather is more tropical where storms pass versus the Midwest where when it says rain, you're not seeing any sun that day. I will be sure to post a review when I get back because I know how important those were when I was planning. This forum has been a lifesaver. I don't think I would've gone through with a destination wedding site-unseen without it. Wish us luck!!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Congrats! I wish you lots of happiness, let us know how everything went when you return!!

[evtalbot]

Hi ladies! I got married on the beach on 11-12-09 and it was wonderful! I am *almost* finished with my review.... the day I got there was the day Maura posted the pictures on the beach. Hurricane Ida had passed us and there was a TON of seaweed on the beach.... luckily, they were pretty quick to clean it up. I'd say that by 11-10-09 when our guests arrived, 90% of the seaweed was gone. On the wedding day my beach looked like this:

 

 

I think that the resort does a great job keeping things clean.... I do have to say though, that maybe having a wedding later in the day is preferable if you want your wedding on the beach. They clean the beach daily, so the later your wedding is, the better your beach will be. We saw the tractors raking the sand as late as 2pm one day (thank goodness they turned around before they got close to the wedding that was taking place!)

[evtalbot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrseddy For the ceremony, does the WC break it down to the wedding party just before gametime? Does she come to the room where we're getting ready to give us the plan? When do all the details get disseminated to the wedding party??

I was worried about this too, since there was no rehearsal....at the meeting with the WC she will tell you what time she picks you up in your room (usually 15 minutes before the ceremony starts). Either you get a golf cart or your horse and carraige.

I sent the wedding party to the ceremony location 20 minutes before the ceremony. As soon as my WC had me and my dad loaded into the horse and carraige she went down to the ceremony location and got the wedding party lined up and told them what to do. She cued them when to walk and which way to line up and it worked fine.

When me and my dad got out she said, "Ok Dad, you'll walk down the aisle, give the groom a handshake, give the bride a kiss and sit on the left with your family."

They really do a fantastic job! There is always a WC and an assistant there to make sure things run smoothly, so don't worry!

[TonyandTricia]

Congrats evtalbot!!! I'm glad to hear that you had a wonderful time! Can't wait for your review!

[JSimMCP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Camie78 Hi Ladies, I am going to preface this review in stating that I believe our wedding and experience at Moon Palace is vastly different than any other bride has experienced previously. The reason for this is that the Swine Flu (H1N1) hoax/media blowout was announced 3 days prior to our departure date and nearly a week before our wedding date. One could say that I am very bitter about the way the situation has been and continues to be handled by the media. I stressed out the entire time wondering if my guests were going to cancel, if flights would be canceled, and if we would be able to get to back to the US. This made the trip less than enjoyable for me but that’s neither here nor there at this point. Due to this Swine Flu BS, travel to Mexico came to a screeching halt and occupancy at the resort hovered around 35% when we arrived and around 25% by the time we left. They said that they had less than 1,000 guests at the resort and they usually hover around 5,000. It was not uncommon for us to look around and see a 1:1 ratio of staff to guests in any of the restaurants, bars, or pool areas. We had several guests who flew down on planes with less than 20 other passengers (these planes have a max capacity of 250 passengers). Our flight to Mexico contained 50 passengers and was roughly 50 on the way back as well. So here goes… Wedding Package: Classic Catholic Wedding Coordinator: Pilar Capilla (preliminary) and Lily Sanchez (permanent) Wedding Site: Chapel Gazebo @ Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort (Cancun) Wedding Date/Time: 05/02/2009, 6pm CST Number of Guests: 24 including Pete and I – 3 guests cancelled their trip the night of our departure Air Traffic Noise On average we heard maybe 2 plans per day while we were at the pool. Monday was by far the busiest day when we heard maybe 6 planes. Overall, I would say that plane noise is a non-issue. Size of the Resort My first impression when we walked into the Nizuc lobby was “this isn’t as grandiose as I thought it would be.†The property overall is very large, however, not as large as I thought it would be. You can walk from the far end of the Sunrise pool to the beginning of the Grand side in about 10 minutes. It’ll take you 15 if you stop for a drink refill in-between Sunrise and Nizuc:) We did venture to the Moon Spa/Golf Course one night for dinner and that is when I really realized how large the resort it. First you get on the lobby-to-lobby bus which will take you about half-way to a bar that is located in the middle of nowhere. From there you have a drink and wait for the golf carts to come and pick you up and take you on the rest of your journey. It seemed like the restaurants on the golf course were super far away from everything. If the resort had been busy, the size would have been an issue for us when trying to find guests. Since there were so few people at the resort we had no issues finding anyone; this has its draw backs though because there were times when we just wanted to be alone but someone would always find us. I spent a couple hours one day walking around the resort taking pictures of the property for you guys. You can access the photos by clicking the link below. I named each picture with what it was and added comments to some of the photos. Enjoy! Kodakgallery.com: Slideshow OOT Bags Canvas tote bag filled with a beach towel for each guest, a card with the itinerary of planned events, and travel size toiletries including: sun screen, hand sanitizer, lotion, Shout wipes, lint roller, J&J first aid kit, Rolaids, and ibuprofen. In addition to those items we included a snack size bag of candy of both of our favorites: sour patch kids and peanut M&Ms. Bugs/Mosquitoes I didn’t see a single bug or mosquito in the 7 days we were there. Cleanliness of the Resort The resort is exceptionally clean aside from the stupid pigeons and birds that feed off all the food that people leave out at the pool. Often there was bird poop on the chairs because the birds hear the food come out and they are like hawks – they even know how to open the Styrofoam containers. There is also a black cat that seemed to live on the property that we saw meandering around several times. Tipping I recommend bringing thank you cards (pre-written out because you’ll forget to do this on your big day) and having a set amount of what you think is acceptable to tip prior to arriving at the resort. Below are the tips that we gave throughout out time at the resort - no idea if this is what we should have done but I feel it was within reason. WC #1 Pilar = $20 WC #2 Lily = $60 David (photographer) = $80 Maid service = $2-3/day Room service = $2-3/per room service order iPod DJ = $0 Servers at cocktail hour and private reception = $50 Father Benedict = $40 Wedding Coordinators We started our process working with Pilar who is the manager of the wedding coordinators. She was really great to work with and recently had a baby so is out on maternity leave. Our permanent wedding coordinator was Lily Sanchez and I can’t say enough good things about her. She is absolutely adorable – she’s like 4’10†(I’m 5’10†so I felt like a giant next to her) and so quiet and patient. We met with Lily 2 days before the wedding and she had everything all laid out in our folder and had all of my emails organized into an Outlook folder with our wedding confirmation number. We went through every decision and she made notes on the paperwork, drew pictures, etc. The wedding office is very organized. I work in software development so I was impressed to see that they have their own internal application to schedule, create invoices, and organize all the little details of your wedding electronically. I recommend you take notes during your meeting because a couple days and several cocktails later (coupled with nerves) you may forget some of the details that she told you at the meeting. For example, I couldn’t remember if she said they were going to deliver the flowers to the room or at the chapel so I was stressing about if we should stay in the room or go to the chapel. Take notes, I wish I had as I didn’t realize I would go to brain dead on my wedding day. Lily was with us from about 5:40 – 8:30. She pretty much owned me and ran the show. She had to tell us when to eat, cut the cake, etc. She’s the only one that kept the show on track as we were sidetracked with our guests and drinks. “Ms Camie, please walk down the aisle now.†“Ms Camie, you should eat now.†“Ms Camie, you should cut the cake now.†Never once did she tell me that I should drink. Apparently I had that action item under control. LOL. Beauty Salon My overall impression is that they were for the most part unorganized. We opted to only have manicures (I felt their hair dos were like 80’s prom hair. Seriously.) and we had no issues getting appointments but I have no patience for un-organized people so I was annoyed. Restaurants In our opinion, the best restaurants are: Los Caporales (Nizuc, Mexican) and Palapa Barracuda (Sunrise, steakhouse). I would recommend you have your welcome or wedding dinner at the steakhouse if at all possible. Other restaurants we ate at were: El Manglar, Arrecifes, and La Trattoria. Overall the food at the resort is much better than any other all inclusive resorts I have been to (RIU, Radisson, Barcelo). Room Service Hamburguesa anyone? The fries taste like McDonald fries (not kidding). Order them at the pool bar fresh and you’ll see what I mean. Other excellent items on the room service menu are: mixed fajitas, chicken nuggets, hamburger, and fries. Love the room service idea except that I think I gained 10 pounds from it. Dress Pressing $50.40 and it shows up in your room magically the day before your wedding. It was fabulous and I would never recommend getting your dress pressed at home because its going to get wrinkled. It was so hard to carry the dress through the airport with all our luggage. I wish I would have just packed it to begin with. Photography We requested David Pena and he is who we got. There was a communicate issue where either Lily did not tell David that we wanted the family photo session prior to the ceremony or he just didn’t understand but he showed up at my room at 4:50 expecting to take pictures of me getting ready which I was already in my dress and ready to go as we had the family photo session at 5. He did a really fantastic job when it was his time but then kind of lost his place at the cocktail hour. I saw him standing around and then ran over to him and said that I love candid shots and then he started taking lots of them. We had photo package E which included a family photo session, the ceremony, bride/groom session, and 1 hour of cocktail hour. The total was $950 + $65 because they need 72 hours to touch-up/print and we had left the resort before the minimum 72 hour time limit. Currently waiting to receive the photos and will post as soon as I have them. Flowers I had a bunch of calla lilies and then the bridesmaid had smaller bouquets of a similar flower. We also purchased two bags of flower petals – highly recommended and then got calla lilies for the altar (not necessary). The flowers did not show up until about 20 minutes prior to the ceremony so all my photos with the wedding party and family will not have any flowers. Not the end of the world but I was wondering where they were the whole time and if they were going to show up. Gazebos The chapel gazebo is the best gazebo. Not because this is where we were married but because I truly think it is the most elegant and gazebo. Note: if you see pictures of the pews with pew covers, know that those are the protective covers that they put on the pews when the chapel is not in use to prevent them from being destroyed by bird poop, cleaning solution, and salt water. We had the red carpet removed and I am glad that we did – just tell your wedding coordinator when you meet with her and it’s no problem. Priest/Ceremony I’m not Catholic, or religious at all for that matter so I really have no idea how things go during the ceremony. This part was all Pete. The one thing that surprised me/upset me was that the priest threw water on my head/in my face when we entered the chapel. There was so much water on my face that I had I spent the next 2 minutes wiping it off on my hand. The priest struggled with English and went on with a bunch of nonsense. He became the running joke for the rest of the trip. I’d recommend bringing your own priest. Horse Carriage Over the top and not worth the $130. Cocktail Hour Lots of food with high top tables, some folding chairs, a couple servers, and a bar. Ours was held at Venado Garden which overlooked the beach and is kind of in front of the Grand side. Private Reception Well worth the money – we had ours at Venado Terrace which overlooked the ocean. I would not spend any money of custom decor - the scenery does all it needs to do. The food was excellent (Cajun buffet) and the service was tip top. Since we had planned to go to the disco after the reception (and it was closed), I asked Lily if she could hook us up with a ballroom or if we could stay on the terrace longer. She allowed us to stay on the terrace until 11 when we were originally to leave at 10. At 11 we had golf carts waiting for us to take us to the Sunrise lobby bar. Music – iPod Package (4 hours) I spent MANY hours picking out music for the cocktail hour, dinner, and private reception. I was surprised to see that there actually is someone manning the iPod station with his own iTunes. I had to lay down the law with him twice because I had one super drunk guest who requested two different songs in the middle of my dance playlist and the iPod DJ played them! Overall it went well but there was no tip for iPod DJ. They provide the cord for the system and the music played for the cocktail hour, dinner, and dance. Liquor Selection Excellent liquor selection. Absolut Vodka, Stoli, Crown, Jack Daniels, Bacardi. The problem for our crew was that all the flavored vodkas are located at the lobby bar at Sunrise. We didn’t find this out until we had been there for two days which was sad. From then on we ‘imported’ flavored vodka to the Nizuc side via water bottles that the bartenders filled up for us. This act was somewhat trashy but well worth it. Helpful Hints 1. If you chose to do your own hair or have someone do it for you, I recommend bringing a power strip because outlets are sparse in the rooms. Also consider bringing an extra hair dryer if you think you will need to have people using the mirrors and drying hair at the same time. The area by the bathroom sink is very cramped. 2.Use room service. It was so nice to come back to the room after being at the pool all day and order room service to tide us over until dinner. 3.Bring lots of $1’s to tip. I have been to many all inclusive resorts and I have never tipped as much as I did in the first two days at the resort. There were tons of things at the resort that I was not expecting to have to tip for including: room service, when they bring the bottle of champagne to your room, when they bring the rose to your room, when they bring the other bottle of champagne on your wedding day, when they deliver your after-wedding breakfast, when they deliver your wedding cake the day after, bartenders, bellmen, tour operators, etc. 4.With the passport promotion, each room gets a $25 credit to the casino. All you have to do is go to the front desk at Sunrise, get your gaming card and then head over the casino. If you feel like having the cash instead of gambling, play a game and then cash in your gaming card. 5.If you plan on going on the zip line tour, bring a pair of tennis shoes and clothes that you do not care if they get ruined and lots of bug spray. While we did not take this tour, we inquired and were told that our shoes and clothes would be ruined after the trip and that we would be eaten alive. 6.Bring your dress and ceremony CD to your appointment with your WC. 7.Bring a list of photos that you want to get with designated people to keep the family photo session running smoothly and efficiently. This saved us. 8.Prepare notes to be given to your guests as they arrive prior to getting to the resort or right after you find a good meeting spot at the resort. Its not worth the stress of trying to run to the lobby to find people when you “think†they are going to arrive. Have them meet you. 9.Bring a drink mixing book and insulated mugs. 10.Bring a waterproof watch with you to the pool or wherever you are at as there are no clocks ANYWHERE! 11.Bring an iPod dock station where you can play music when you and your bridesmaids are getting ready. My SIL brought hers and the first night we used it when we had ‘modified discotech’ in room 6310 because the disco was closed but we also used it during getting ready time. 12.Rent the bikes and take a ride around the property one day. 13.Be sure to visit Moon Grand – it’s fabulous. We spent most of our time there, mostly because its happy hour every day, even when you don’t need two drinks at a time 14.A 15†laptop will fit in the safe in the room. I’d question a 17†laptop. Bring yours if you have one or you can use the public terminals located in ‘Sweet & Coffee’ in the lobby. 15.Reconsider getting flowers for the altar. At the end of the day I thought they were a waste of $180. 16.Consider getting the bags of flower petals for your guests to toss when you walk out of the gazebo. $35/bag and we had 2 bags for about 25 guests. 17.Put sunscreen on the tops of your ears, hairline part, hands, and tops of your feet. Not sure how I forgot these areas but I did. 18.All the pool bars serve food. Ask for a menu if you want something because it’s not really apparent where to order or what they offer. 19.Ask your wedding coordinator for special alcohol for your private reception (for example, flavored vodka) 20.If you do decide to get your dress steamed at home, consider putting it in a space bag to prevent it from re-wrinkling.

THanks for posting this! Very helpful!!!

[indy_chic]

Thank you for taking the time Very helpful