Barcelo Maya Palace Brides

[chasingjaime]

Great tip about the Unofficial Barcelo website @brenners, thank you so much! We wanted to make a bar menu sign, so we'd like to get the drinks sorted out before we land.

 

From your planning thread, it looks like I’m having a very similar wedding to yours - ceremony at Coral Beach (3:45pm), reception at Playa Palmerus (6-11pm). How did you like those locations? Any suggestions/recommendations based on your experience? How was the wind factor, both during the day and at night? And was the lighting situation okay for the reception, or did you have to order more? I was a bit concerned that noise and party crashers/gawkers could be a problem with the reception being so close to the Palace, but I suppose every location has it's positive and negative points.

 

I'm not planning a cocktail hour but we want to instruct our guests to places they can go for a drink. Everyone talks about the Carey Bar...how about the Coco Bar? Is that a good place to go for a snack and a drink, or do you think there’s better options?

 

Also, did you get the Club Premium upgrade? If you did, was it worth it? We're really torn about this upgrade - especially since most of our guests probably won't get it.

 

Sorry for all of the questions!

[chasingjaime]

This is a thread for Barcelo brides, not for the Xcaret. Now all of your pictures have been posted in the Barcelo gallery which is VERY confusing and misleading to the Barcelo brides in this forum. I think that you should remove these pictures please.
 

[JWheezyOB]

Hi ladies!!

 

I am a newly engaged and newly signed-up for this site. I look forward to hearing from others and getting feedback to help plan our wedding.

 

We really love the Barcelo Maya Palace. I have been to the Barcelo in Cabo and had a wonderful time, so going with another Barcelo was an easy choice. I just e-mailed the hotel for information regarding weddings and their packages.

 

Can anyone give me (if you don't mind) a general price you paid for your reception? I don't mean to come off as rude, I am trying to get an idea of what to expect. We are not anticipating a lot of guests, maybe just 10-15, including myself, my fiance and our son.

 

I am looking forward to reading everyone's experiences!

 

Thank you

Jessica

[Brenners]

chasingjaime, no need to apologize for the questions.  That is why this forum was created! 

 

Our ceremony was at Coral Beach (4:00 pm) and our reception was at Playa Azul (6:30 pm).  We LOVED them both!  Coral Beach is at the north end of the beach and it is pretty solid and rocky in some areas.  This is great because no one sunbathes there so you do not have half-naked gawkers staring while you get married.  This is also a great location because the reservation restaurants are located on this end and they do not open until 5:30 pm so you do not have people passing by on their way to eat.  Playa Azul was perfect for our reception because by the time we had our reception, it was dark and all beach-goers had left the area.  There are also no restaurants near the beach there so you have no traffic going by or interrupting what should be a private party.  I am not sure where Playa Palmerus is located, however, once the sun started setting, the beaches started to become deserted so I would not worry that there will be people there for your reception.  What I can tell you is that the beaches further north of Playa Azul do have passersby, but I think that people are very respectful when walking by and it seemed that the wedding party had no idea of what was going on around them as they were having too much fun.

 

As for the wind, there was a little wind for our wedding but nothing too bad.  It actually made for a sweet moment during our ceremony as the wind blew some of my hair in my face (I wore my hair down) and my husband swept it back.  We have that on our wedding video and I love it!  There was a light wind during our reception as well but really nothing too bad. 

 

I was worried about the lighting at Playa Azul and we asked for some additional lights (we requested 10 extra lights) and the lighting wound up perfect.  I have to admit that I do not remember if I posted pictures from the reception so let me know and I can send to you so you can see the lighting.

 

Carey bar is the best option since it is right next to Coral Beach.  Coco Bar closes early - like around 4:00 or so - so you cannot rely that it will be open after your wedding ceremony.  Also, the Carey Bar has a beautiful balcony overlooking the ocean and beach so your guests can sit outside, have a drink and there are also snacks available there.

 

We had the Strawberry Passion package so my husband and I were upgraded as part of the package automatically.  It was nice as we went there to make restaurant reservations, they were always less busy than the Front Desk for any questions or concerns and they also had drinks, snacks, and computers available there for use.  None of our guests got the upgrade but they really did not care.  Only one guest had an issue and I was able to resolve it for her at the Front Desk but would have gone to the Premium Club if the Front Desk hadn't been able to assist.  We used the Premium Club for lots of things but the concierge service was used by our guests and they thought that worked well for them.

 

Good luck planning!

 

There

Originally Posted by chasingjaime 

Great tip about the Unofficial Barcelo website @brenners, thank you so much! We wanted to make a bar menu sign, so we'd like to get the drinks sorted out before we land.

 

From your planning thread, it looks like I’m having a very similar wedding to yours - ceremony at Coral Beach (3:45pm), reception at Playa Palmerus (6-11pm). How did you like those locations? Any suggestions/recommendations based on your experience? How was the wind factor, both during the day and at night? And was the lighting situation okay for the reception, or did you have to order more? I was a bit concerned that noise and party crashers/gawkers could be a problem with the reception being so close to the Palace, but I suppose every location has it's positive and negative points.

 

I'm not planning a cocktail hour but we want to instruct our guests to places they can go for a drink. Everyone talks about the Carey Bar...how about the Coco Bar? Is that a good place to go for a snack and a drink, or do you think there’s better options?

 

Also, did you get the Club Premium upgrade? If you did, was it worth it? We're really torn about this upgrade - especially since most of our guests probably won't get it.

 

Sorry for all of the questions!

[missfreckles]

I am so overwhelmed on which Beach to choose. They all look so beautiful and really look the same when you haven't been to the resort.

Can someone please help me, We want to get married on the beach...our date is April 29th 2013 at 5pm. We have 60 guests already booked.

I am not sure of the sizes of the locations etc.

As for the reception we want that on the beach as well.

[crystalg12]

Hey ladies! I am getting married June 14,2013 and am having trouble finding a good dj.. and a difficult time decided if having the reception outdoor (strawberry package) or inside (mint package) we have about 75 people attending and would like to save on money doing it inside just don't know if it is nicely decorated. Do you bring your own table decorations and what's everyones take on having or not having seating arrangements?? 

[JordannaMarie]

I am so overwhelmed on which Beach to choose. They all look so beautiful and really look the same when you haven't been to the resort. Can someone please help me, We want to get married on the beach...our date is April 29th 2013 at 5pm. We have 60 guests already booked. I am not sure of the sizes of the locations etc. As for the reception we want that on the beach as well.

I would request Playa Azulejo for both ceremony and reception! We had ours there and it was the most private location. Instead of doing a cocktail hour everyone just went to the bar located at this beach while we did the rest of our pictures. Whatever you do, try and get at least one extra hour for the reception!! It went by so fast and we did four hours!

[JordannaMarie]

If anyone is looking for a videographer, we had our wedding November 10th and hired Ken from Visual Media Productions and he was GREAT!!! I cannot say enough good things about him. And he was way more affordable than all of the videographers that I looked into!! He is a good ol' Canadian boy now living in the Mayan Riviera!! Check out his site: http://www.visualmediaproductions.info/ PS: Our wedding was amazing!!!! The Barcelo Maya Palace can't be beat... Everyone was in awe of the resort and the wedding day went exactly as planned!!! We had 64 guests and it was the party of a lifetime!!! The staff was incredible and the wedding coordinator (Lillian) was the nicest, most organized person ever! Good choice if you have chosen this resort!!! Best decision ever!

[JordannaMarie]

I would request Playa Azulejo for both ceremony and reception! We had ours there and it was the most private location. Instead of doing a cocktail hour everyone just went to the bar located at this beach while we did the rest of our pictures. Whatever you do, try and get at least one extra hour for the reception!! It went by so fast and we did four hours!

***playa azul** not azulejo (auto correct)

[mrsnova]

Originally Posted by crystalg12 

 

Hey ladies! I am getting married June 14,2013 and am having trouble finding a good dj.. and a difficult time decided if having the reception outdoor (strawberry package) or inside (mint package) we have about 75 people attending and would like to save on money doing it inside just don't know if it is nicely decorated. Do you bring your own table decorations and what's everyones take on having or not having seating arrangements?? 

You're wedding date is my birthday:). 

 

I too had a really hard time deciding between the strawberry and mint package. In the end we decided on the mint package simply because the price difference was quite ridiculous, especially for only 3 hours of your wedding day! I guess you have to decide if having a outdoor reception is very important to you or not. Having 75 guests the price per person for the strawberry package will really add up!

 

I have seen pictures online of other brides using the banquet rooms and they do not look bad at all, just like a banquet room. Probably need some extra decorations if you want it to look different. I am going very simple but bringing my own candles (plain white), renting vases from the resort and putting sand in the vase with the candle, then putting skinny starfish on the table. One flower table arrangement is included in the mint package and I am also renting vases to put our bouquets in as decorations for the head table. 

 

I am not doing seating arrangements as I am really laid back and want things simple. However I do love ill the cute name cards/table number DIYs that I have seen!

 

Good luck to you!

 

(here is a picture of my inspiration of a table setting and someones wedding in the banquet room that I found online, but note they added a dance floor and different chairs)