Barcelo Maya Palace Brides

[Angelina]

Hi Ladies,

 

Can't wait to get to know you all... We are getting married at the Barecelo Maya Tropical on November 18, 2010.

 

Wondering if anyone who has gotten married here or will be soon got a choice of what songs they played for their live music at the ceremony? I was thinking I might ask to have the live music at coctail hour and just bring my own music for the ceremony... What are you ladies doing?

 

Also, any ladies married recently bring an 'outside photographer' as a guest and get away with it? This no outside photographer thing is a real pain considering from what I have seen the resort photographer isn't fabulous.

 

Thoughts?

[TATrisha]

I was an outside photographer the last week in February. There was no issue. (we stayed at the resort for two nights)

[BethBride1]

Hey- question for any previous Catholic brides....I'm trying to figure out how the ceremony is going to go, so I can start my programs...did you pick your own readings, or did the priest pick them for you? Did you pick your music? Did you have any contact with the preist prior to the ceremony?? I'm starting to get really nervous that I'm going to make these programs & find out they are all wrong when I get down there!

[b2b2011]

Hi all, Me and my fiance are looking into the Barcelo chain of resorts in the mayan for our wedding in feb 2011. We like the idea of staying at one playing at 3 it gives our guests some options of where they would like to stay. But, our TA has just told us that 80% of your guests have to be staying at the resort you are getting married at in order to marry there and that if they were staying at any of the other Barcelos that they would still need to buy a day pass. Anyone heard of this before? or encountered this in their planning process?

[FutureMrsG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by b2b2011 Hi all, Me and my fiance are looking into the Barcelo chain of resorts in the mayan for our wedding in feb 2011. We like the idea of staying at one playing at 3 it gives our guests some options of where they would like to stay. But, our TA has just told us that 80% of your guests have to be staying at the resort you are getting married at in order to marry there and that if they were staying at any of the other Barcelos that they would still need to buy a day pass. Anyone heard of this before? or encountered this in their planning process?

I haven't heard of the 80% thing. I called Barcelo and asked the WC if my guests will need day passes to attend my wedding if they are staying at a different Barcelo hotel than the wedding is located at and she said no. According to the info I got over the phone, the only guests I would need to purchase day passes for would be the ones that are staying at a non-Barcelo resort.

[MrsC-to-Be]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FutureMrsG I haven't heard of the 80% thing. I called Barcelo and asked the WC if my guests will need day passes to attend my wedding if they are staying at a different Barcelo hotel than the wedding is located at and she said no. According to the info I got over the phone, the only guests I would need to purchase day passes for would be the ones that are staying at a non-Barcelo resort.

Hello! I asked my coordinator at the Barcelo the same question, and she 'suggested' that everyone stay at the same resort. The reason was that bascially, the Palace has top shelf drinks/etc and if there are some guests that are booked at the other resorts(maya beach, colonial, etc), they cant be served the 'top shelf' stuff.

From what I see, does anyone REALLY care about not having the top shelf stuff for one evening I'm still going to offer my guests the lower levels if its cheeper for them.

Also, my soon-to-be brother in law JUST got back from a vacation at the Colonial, and he walked all over the Palace and took pictures for me. you can get into the palace and stuff, but I think that if they notice that your wrist band is a different color and you try going to the bar, you just may be told you cannot order

[Barbo]

Hi Ladies,

 

My FI and I are getting married at the Colonial on July 5th, haven't heard from Gabriela in months! I know that's its normal, so I am being patient. It's sooo hard! I was wondering if anyone could help me with something. We are toying with the idea of live music, but not sure yet because of the cost. Did anyone do live music for the ceremony? What options are there other than the Mariachi band? Do you know the cost? We can easily do our own music and bring our Ipod... Did anyone do this? How does the sound system sound? Oh and did anyone get a wooden roll out runner? Does that exist at Barcelo??

 

Thank you!

Barbara

[FutureMrsG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsC-to-Be Hello! I asked my coordinator at the Barcelo the same question, and she 'suggested' that everyone stay at the same resort. The reason was that bascially, the Palace has top shelf drinks/etc and if there are some guests that are booked at the other resorts(maya beach, colonial, etc), they cant be served the 'top shelf' stuff. From what I see, does anyone REALLY care about not having the top shelf stuff for one evening I'm still going to offer my guests the lower levels if its cheeper for them. Also, my soon-to-be brother in law JUST got back from a vacation at the Colonial, and he walked all over the Palace and took pictures for me. you can get into the palace and stuff, but I think that if they notice that your wrist band is a different color and you try going to the bar, you just may be told you cannot order

So this is how I understand the open bar situation- once again discussed via telephone with one of the WC. I am doing the Strawberry Package which includes 3 hours open bar. If the guests are staying at the Palace that means Premium drinks and if they are staying at one of the other hotels it means National drinks. The difference in cost per hour between National and Premium drinks according to 2010 Wedding Packages is $3 per hour per guest. My fiance and I want Premium drinks (we are big on quality alcohol and think our guests will value this). So lets say we have 15 guests, 5 of which are staying at the Palace and 10 of which are staying at a different Barcelo hotel. We don't have to pay extra for premium drinks for the guests staying at the Palace but have to pay the difference in cost ($3 per hour per guest) for the remainder of the guests. Therefore in the example above we would pay $0 extra for the 3 hours of open bar in the Strawberry Package for the 5 guests staying at the Palace and $90 extra (10 guests x $3 per hour x 3 hours) for the 10 guests staying at a non-Palace Barcelo hotel. My fiance and I agreed that it would be more appropriate to just pay the difference for open bar if our guests choose to stay at one of the more economical Barcelo resorts instead of trying to make everyone stay at the Palace because it allows our guests more financial flexibility in attending our wedding. Our guests are already taking time off of work/school and flying to Mexico for our wedding. We don't want to force them into staying at the most expensive resort while they are there. On the other hand, we are not planning to have the guests hang out together the whole trip either. I understand that if you want your guests to hang out at the pool together during the trip you are probably better off just going with just one Barcelo resort as an option.

Regarding brides not hearing from WC for long periods of time and getting nervous- did you try calling? I have called twice with lists of questions on Saturday mornings and have had no trouble getting through to the WC to get them answered. It only costs a few bucks.

[Mrs.Smith]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelina Hi Ladies, Can't wait to get to know you all... We are getting married at the Barecelo Maya Tropical on November 18, 2010. Wondering if anyone who has gotten married here or will be soon got a choice of what songs they played for their live music at the ceremony? I was thinking I might ask to have the live music at coctail hour and just bring my own music for the ceremony... What are you ladies doing? Also, any ladies married recently bring an 'outside photographer' as a guest and get away with it? This no outside photographer thing is a real pain considering from what I have seen the resort photographer isn't fabulous. Thoughts?

hey there,
we are getting married on 8/5/10, we were told by Xhail the cost of live music was $250, which is for a 45min set. We are having the guitar and bass. She said, we need to pick out the music (what we want) and they will play it. She said at least 3 songs. I know that doesnt answer all your questions, but hope that helps.

[michelle2011]

Is anyone having a CD play for the ceremony? Or ipod? Is 3 songs enough? We are still deciding on what to have. Also do you use your own ipod/CD for the cocktail hour? Thanks