Barcelo Maya Palace Brides

[Dncngirl26]

Ok ladies, finally getting around to posting my experience at the Barcelo Maya Palace Resort...first of all, if you can stay at the Palace, stay at the Palace! You have access to the other resorts on the property, it's a lot nicer, the lobby bar is air conditioned...which if you're getting arrived in June is a must!!

 

My husband and I got married in June and we chose the Mint Breeze Package. When we arrived we were escorted to the Club Premium suite to check in (which we did not pay for). Our room was upgraded to club premium, it overlooked the pool. The easiest check in ever! It just so happened to be where everyone parked themselves during the day...it was too hot to be anywhere else.

We met with Aurea on the 2nd day. She was so nice and accommodating. I brought "kissing balls", table numbers, name plates, flowers for decorating, etc. I explained how I wanted everything, showed her a few pix...and it all turned out exactly as I wanted. I met with her once more before the wedding to drop off my name plates (sand dollars I personalized). My correspondence with Barcelo started with Aurea then went to Tania then back to Aurea. Yes it was extremely frustrating being in California, communicating via email, waiting weeks at a time for a response, just to ask another question and wait a few more weeks...be patient, they get it right. This is what they do for a living. We were lucky enough to have a professional photographer in the family, so that saved us. I used Best Moments for my hair and makeup. Airbrushed makeup is the best!!!!! Especially for that humidity in June. Best money I spent.

Mint Package: we had 32 guests. I chose to have the reception in the banquet hall due to the "older guests" that attended, they appreciated the a/c.

Ceremony: held at Coral Beach, semi private bluff overlooking the beach. We opted for the huppa, glad we did, the pictures are great. They even gave us a specialized cocktail after the ceremony to toast. It matched the bridesmaid dresses.

Food: it was really good. We chose the goat cheese and tomato salad, French onion soup, beef tenderloin and creme brûlée. I only had a few bites of each and wished later in the evening I'd had more. We also chose the vanilla cake. The only miss was the cake, I wanted the square cake with the heart shape decorations and got the heart shape...tacky!!

Flowers: my bouquet, the boutonnière and the head table centerpiece were all included. We had 5 bridesmaids and 5 groomsmen, paid extra for their flowers, the MOB and MOG flowers and a few bags of rose petals for the flower girl. I took a turquoise metal sand pail and embellished it with burlap/lace and flowers.

Couple of things to note:

tipping is not necessary but very helpful for a better experience. We would tip any where from $5-$20 and were treated like royalty. Tables were cleared for us, reservations ended up being not necessary for a few of the restaurants (we tipped the managers). The servers even brought drinks out to our wedding guests before the ceremony...loved it!

To save some money on an "excursion" Take some bananas from the buffet and feed the sea turtles in the water at the resort. The fish and turtles will visit for sure.

If staying at the palace, you have access to all the restaurants on the property, but Reservations are required and book up fast. As soon as you get there make those resos.

Good luck ladies!!

[Stephanie2015]

I just got back from my Wedding/ Honeymoon! I got married on January 7th, cannot believe how fast time has gone by. I absolutely loved Barcelo, as it was my 4th time visting the resort. Just a brief overview, I arrived on Friday January 2nd. I met with Andrea, the wedding coordinator on Monday the 5th, just to go over the details and the timeline for the day. She spoke english really well and did not have a hard time understanding her at all. She was so nice, and things couldnt of gone better. I went with the Strawberry package. Everything on the wedding day went perfect, have no fear it will be the same for you!   We got married at 3 in the afternoon, I did nails at 9am, which seemed to take a while but so relaxing. I got around to my make-up at 11am the spa did an amazing job with my make-up no need to hire out a specialist for this.. save your $. I can't speak about hair, as I had a friend from the states do mine along with my bridesmaids. The morning seemed to go by really fast, and before I knew it I was getting picked up on the golf cart by Andrea for the ceremony. I had my ceremony at Playa Azul, which I highly recommend as it was a bit more private without that many people around, even though I did have random people in their swim suits watching and taking pictures on me.. (akward lol) There were a few life guards on both sides making sure these random onlookers didnt get in the way. I had the saxaphonist play, and to be honest I didnt pay much attention to him as I was more focused on walking down the isle. We had our reception at Palamaras beach, which was perfect. Side note, it costs $5 per palm tree if you want them lit up. The dinner they served, surf and terf was AMAZING  I couldnt of asked for more, I was so full by the end of the meal. They also had 5 waitstaff for 24 of us, they took care of us needless to say. I had a family friend come down from the states to take pictures.  

Lastly, I wouldnt stress out so much about the little things. Dont worry about hiring outsiders for make-up and hair, the salon does a wonderful job, and plus you dont have to pay any vendor fees. Relax take a deep breath and just be in the moment, it will go by fast. Any questions I would be happy to answer. Happy Planning Barcelo Brides! P.S Ask for the room upgrade, we were put in the most amazing suite while we were there, it had 2 bathrooms, 2 showers and three patios/ with an amazing hamock outside! I stayed at the Tropical and Carlos the manager at the front desk was so easy to work with. I just cant speak highly enough of Barcelo, and the staff there!

Ok ladies, finally getting around to posting my experience at the Barcelo Maya Palace Resort...first of all, if you can stay at the Palace, stay at the Palace! You have access to the other resorts on the property, it's a lot nicer, the lobby bar is air conditioned...which if you're getting arrived in June is a must!!

My husband and I got married in June and we chose the Mint Breeze Package. When we arrived we were escorted to the Club Premium suite to check in (which we did not pay for). Our room was upgraded to club premium, it overlooked the pool. The easiest check in ever! It just so happened to be where everyone parked themselves during the day...it was too hot to be anywhere else.
We met with Aurea on the 2nd day. She was so nice and accommodating. I brought "kissing balls", table numbers, name plates, flowers for decorating, etc. I explained how I wanted everything, showed her a few pix...and it all turned out exactly as I wanted. I met with her once more before the wedding to drop off my name plates (sand dollars I personalized). My correspondence with Barcelo started with Aurea then went to Tania then back to Aurea. Yes it was extremely frustrating being in California, communicating via email, waiting weeks at a time for a response, just to ask another question and wait a few more weeks...be patient, they get it right. This is what they do for a living. We were lucky enough to have a professional photographer in the family, so that saved us. I used Best Moments for my hair and makeup. Airbrushed makeup is the best!!!!! Especially for that humidity in June. Best money I spent.
Mint Package: we had 32 guests. I chose to have the reception in the banquet hall due to the "older guests" that attended, they appreciated the a/c.
Ceremony: held at Coral Beach, semi private bluff overlooking the beach. We opted for the huppa, glad we did, the pictures are great. They even gave us a specialized cocktail after the ceremony to toast. It matched the bridesmaid dresses.
Food: it was really good. We chose the goat cheese and tomato salad, French onion soup, beef tenderloin and creme brûlée. I only had a few bites of each and wished later in the evening I'd had more. We also chose the vanilla cake. The only miss was the cake, I wanted the square cake with the heart shape decorations and got the heart shape...tacky!!
Flowers: my bouquet, the boutonnière and the head table centerpiece were all included. We had 5 bridesmaids and 5 groomsmen, paid extra for their flowers, the MOB and MOG flowers and a few bags of rose petals for the flower girl. I took a turquoise metal sand pail and embellished it with burlap/lace and flowers.
Couple of things to note:
tipping is not necessary but very helpful for a better experience. We would tip any where from $5-$20 and were treated like royalty. Tables were cleared for us, reservations ended up being not necessary for a few of the restaurants (we tipped the managers). The servers even brought drinks out to our wedding guests before the ceremony...loved it!
To save some money on an "excursion" Take some bananas from the buffet and feed the sea turtles in the water at the resort. The fish and turtles will visit for sure.
If staying at the palace, you have access to all the restaurants on the property, but Reservations are required and book up fast. As soon as you get there make those resos.
Good luck ladies!!

I just got back and I loved feeding banana's to the turtles, lol they said it was a Mexican manicure!

[starbx123]

@@NurseNurse0101 Thanks for your wonderful review!

 

I have had some poor communication with the WC (it keeps changing?) and not hearing back from anyone for a week at a time. This close to leaving (SUNDAY!!) I'm getting nervous...we are just figuring out the final details.

Our group size is about the same size as yours..we have 37 people total. Most of us are staying at the Palace, with a few staying at the Tropical/Colonial. Right now I have a FEW questions I'd greatly appreciate your insight on having just been there:

 

Where is the best place to have everyone gather during the day? We were thinking at the Palarmas Pool Bar/Grill around lunch time and then people can come and go from there, and Tequila Bar/Veranda for cocktail hour. We just want a few meeting points to help people with getting together once or twice a day. I asked for a list of activities from Barcelo, thinking there might be some kind of Olympics or fun games to participate in during the day... any that you would recommend? I see there is "crazy game" most days at noon at the pool, what kind of crazy games were there?

Also- what is the best stretch of beach for having a large group meet? I'm assuming most would prefer proximity to the rooms (between palace and tropical), but not rocky.

 

How did you handle payment and tipping? Did they give you one big final bill after the wedding, or upon checkout? We plan to bring one CC that has no foreign transaction fees...I'm just wondering what additional charges we could expect beyond out selections that we are aware of. Was there a service charge for the wedding coordinator? Thanks for mentioning the $300 cash for the officiant! I have a feeling we will be going through customs with lots of cash on hand..

 

I have looked at multiple forums and am hearing differing opinions regarding tipping. I am paying for the styling trio to come out, and I plan to tip them either per stylist or each on top of the services for my bridesmaids. I wasn't sure about the WC and DJ, since we are paying for them in the package. I have heard that tipping the bartenders and waiters is much appreciated, so we'd like to do that. Of course the maids and other staff for exceptional service.. I'm just not sure who and how much.. My fiance wants to just not worry about tipping, but it's a big concern for me regarding having the right amount of cash and having it all ready to distribute without counting out bills etc.

 

For the DJ- we will be using the one through the resort too. We haven't given much thought to songs we want played beyond the ceremony and presentation, etc. Was he good enough to just let him take the reins? I honestly don't want to have to worry about it at all. I'm assuming we can just bring our selected songs on our phone and they can hook up to speaker?

 

Our reception is pool side, weather permitting. I'm glad you said not to worry about the light up dance floor.. I really wanted it but my fiance thought it would be a huge waste of money. We are doing paper luminaries around the tables, votive candles all over the tables (one per person), and a centerpiece we are bringing from home with a hurricane filled with shells and backlit with waterproof candles. The bridesmaids bouquets will sit inside. Speaking of bridesmaid bouquets..are the ones you get for $35 very small? How much do they charge for extra fullness/more flowers? I think it will look very romantic and am excited about them..but not excited about lugging all this stuff to Mexico. On this point- is anyone getting married on Nov 22 that would like to use our centerpieces? We will be there until Nov 23. We have 4 or 5 depending on your party size.

 

Thanks so much for listening to me go on and on...its getting down to the wire and nerves are kicking in!

 

@@bluecastr1

 

We didn't have "official" meeting places, we hung out a lot near the palmeras grill on the tropical side where the pool was and the pool bar was. You are correct there are activities there. There is a big chart in the tropical lobby about the days activities. We did water aerobics and the guys got into water polo and volleyball on the beach. We also had a spot on the beach usually everyone went to every day,... actually, directly across from our pool spot, but on the beach

 

The palace beach is rocky. We hung out on the tropical beach, it was perfect and the water there is nice, its central

 

We used the tropical lobby bar for meet ups. like I said, we never had official meet up times because some people wanted to be with everyone, and some people just sometimes wanted to be by themselves at times. The tropical lobby bar is a good place though.

 

A lot of people on here are talking about welcome dinners and welcome bags etc. We didn't do any of that. Honestly, people spending the money going to Mexico want a vacation too... so we didn't want to take up anyones week. Some people did excursions together, some people hung out at the beach together, and people booked dinners together. The only big dinner we did was our bridal party dinner at the steak house (8 people) the night before the wedding. we noticed as the week went on after the wedding everyone kind of went their separate ways with their significant others to have their relaxing/private part of their vacation

 

We arrived at Barceló Tropical Oct 26... we had our WC meeting Oct 27 at 9:30am. She picked us up from our lobby. Check your phone messages too, we had one from her. If you need to confirm your meeting times, the wedding office is located at the palace, in the main lobby but bottom floor. you can also look on the map that says "Bodas" or you can look at the info book and get the extension from the wedding office and call there. Call laundry the day before to set up your dress steaming, they will do it in the room for you. They also did all of the guys outfits for us too

 

At the meeting, you go over EVERY detail from head to toe. She takes you on a golf cart to the available locations for your day. There are literally sometimes 3 functions going on per night, we saw a total of 10 functions the week we stayed. ours was the only one that night. I had pre requested the coral beach cliff for ceremony and the palmeras grill for reception (OR palmeras beach). Palmeras grill is HUGE.. and I mean HUGE!!!! They told us for 50 people or more, so we didn't have that option, they told us our choices would be mariachi beach or mariachi grill (right next to the beach). We wanted the beach, however that day was threatening to rain, so we made the decision to move into the grill just before the ceremony, It didn't rain until like 10pm that night Never the less, I am so happy we had it in there, it was perfect, there was a breeze, the floor for dancing was awesome. and, I had heard from a bride the night before who had her wedding on the beach the sand was getting blown into their eyes, their food... the mariachi grill is the same as palmeras with huge chandeliers etc, but just a smaller version. there is good light in there too.

 

Like I was saying, you go through every detail... and then, she writes up the bill. My parents paid in credit card. they take all major credit cards. there

 

In total it was like 6,000 Canadian (5,400 US). We had 5 hours, DJ, a couple extra charges for extra lights and stuff, 34 people (so the 66 per person over 15 people (I believe their new prices is now 77), and extra $ for extra hours of bar as well for the extra time),

 

I brought my own centerpiece stuff, my own decorations, and my own chair sashes and runners. We had fans made up with details of the wedding on them (people LOVED these), and then we had luggage tags for our favors. OH and our on topper and thumb print palm tree guest book thingy, and we did a cute message in a bottle. All of this fit in ONE carry on for luggage, it wasn't a ton to bring down, but it brought the WHOLE wedding reception space to life... along with the extra lights they put up!

 

Tipping: As a present to us, a couple friends tipped all the servers and bartenders, I think they gave them each 40$ US,.. there was about 10 servers and bartenders total all personally for us, I believed they tipped the DJ too . they were amazing and they partied with us all night long! My parents left Estrella a 100$ tip, and my husband and I gave her 50$ extra at the end of the night just because I literally handed my stuff to her and she made it all happen. She even got them to close the mariachi grill down early (snack area) so that we could have our reception in there starting at 6:30pm. We tipped in US Cash.

 

 

The officiant collects 300$ US cash from you before the ceremony starts. Make sure you your husband tells her what you want and whats happening as you will NOT see her before. You will be picked up privately from your room. My husband told her we had our own vows, sand ceremony, and we are non-religious. She did perfectly

 

The DJ:

He was amazing. I had certain songs that I wanted for dinner, and dancing, first dances, isle walk, entrance to reception etc.

 

I basically made playlists on my ipod:

-Ceremony Music

-Yay we are married Music (post ceremony)

-Reception Entrance

-Dinner Music

-First Dance

-Dance/Party Music

 

He mixed it with his own as well.. he basically had everything I had, but we like some Country too (he had none), he was good at mixing our songs with his, and it was cool because the lights kinda danced and strobed with the music too. Iliterally handed my ipod to Estrella the day of our meeting and when I was walking with my dad down the isle and up the ceremony space, the correct song was playing... and that continued all day and night long

 

If you don't feel like having all your dinner music and dance music picked out, I would say that the DJ is great and he can handle that. I would have play lists for your specific stuff like first dance etc.

 

I have a picture on my facebook of the flowers ---> Sarah Bristow (Douglas)

 

My bouquet was huge and amazing, and my bridesmaids flowers were perfect. They were not small in my opinion and worth the 35$ (which is on par with flower prices here at home for that size). I wouldn't bother adding anything, they were gorgeous. We got my dad, my brother (who was a bridesman), and all the groomsmen and the groom the flower pin (boutonniere?) they were good size too.

 

 

 

Don't be nervous... and that's easy to say for me now, I was very stressed. But it was an AMAZING day and literally NOTHING went wrong. It was perfect.

 

AND GIRLS: DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THE SPA FOR HAIR... maybe there is different staff now? but man those girls can do hair... they put in all of our extensions, looked at our pictures and gave us exactly what we asked for!!! Its part of your package, USE IT!!!!

 

hope this helps, and go check out my pictures, it makes it all more clear

Hi there!  I was just wondering if the resort charged your parents' credit card in US dollars?  I'm just wondering as I'm trying to figure out what kind of credit card I should bring.

[starbx123]

Hi future and past Barceló Maya brides.

 

My coordinator emailed me the following with respect to payment of our wedding fees:

 

 You can pay in Mexican pesos cash, any amount.

 

If you pay with American Dollars you are allow to spend a maximum of $1500 usd per person per stay.

 

Does anybody know what this means?  If I am paying with American dollars and my wedding is say, $4500, will I need three people to pay?

[shadow26]

Wow, this was a wonderful blog to find just a few days before leaving for Mexico (wedding is 2/2).  I've been working with Tania at Barceló Maya and our group is staying at the Tropical.  We've got 25 guests coming down with us.

 

To answer the US dollars/pesos inquiry:  I believe this is if you are NOT putting the fees on a credit card.  There are a few items I was requested to have cash ($300 for Officiant).   If you are putting a fees on your room tab, and at check-out want to pay cash, you can only use for $1,500 per person, otherwise pesos or cc.

 

Where other hotel guests respectful of the ceremony, dinners on the beach, etc??

[starbx123]

Wow, this was a wonderful blog to find just a few days before leaving for Mexico (wedding is 2/2).  I've been working with Tania at Barceló Maya and our group is staying at the Tropical.  We've got 25 guests coming down with us.

 

To answer the US dollars/pesos inquiry:  I believe this is if you are NOT putting the fees on a credit card.  There are a few items I was requested to have cash ($300 for Officiant).   If you are putting a fees on your room tab, and at check-out want to pay cash, you can only use for $1,500 per person, otherwise pesos or cc.

 

Where other hotel guests respectful of the ceremony, dinners on the beach, etc??

Thanks Denise! Congratulations and I hope you have a wonderful wedding!

[ckv4cpc]

Hello Ladies !

 

      For all those Brides that just came back from their weddings Congratulations.   Also if you could please send me any pictures of the  reception areas that you picked out  I would greatly appreciate it.. My email in [email protected]

[MissMeg]

Hi ladies, 

 

Just wanted to make sure you were all aware that the state of Quintana Roo has officially switched from Central Standard Time to Eastern Time in order to enjoy an extra hour of sunshine! If you are wanting your ceremony at a specific time in relation to sunset, make sure to check-in with your wedding coordinator!! Here is the article I found on this site regarding the change: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/wedding-tips/c/locations/a-part-of-mexico-just-got-a-little-brighter-r2237 

 

Happy planning ladies! 

[shadow26]

Hi Brides,
My wedding was on Feb 2, 2015 at the Barcelo Maya resort on the beach near the Colonial hotels; all of my guests stayed in the Tropical building. Get club premium, you get much closer to the pool/ocean. I had the perfect two room suite on the 3rd (top) floor. No one gets an ocean view (a few Palace suites do) due to palm trees blocking.

Yes the time change to now East Coast time happened in the middle of my trip. An added undo stress to let all 25 guests know to change their watches and hotel clocks while there. But it worked out and everyone was on time. All my guests had a wonderful time while there and would all go back.

The Wedding ceremony was on the beach at 4:00pmET, cocktail hour next to the site from 4:30-5:30 (with apps) and dinner began at 5:30 just steps away at the newly remodeled Captain Morgan grill. It is all outside, but the grill has a great open platform area with light palm trees ($5 a tree fee) and a nearby restroom. It was not dark until we were finishing dessert and cutting the cake. The food was much better than in any of the al a carte restaurants, it was worth the price.

Tania D was my wedding coordinator and she was FANTASTIC, I can’t say enough about how everything went super smooth and was perfect due to her attention to details. At first you may be nervous when you get email replies weeks later, but once there you are #1. Each coordinator has only one wedding assigned a day (typically 8-10 a month). I literary gave her a suit case full of table décor the afternoon of, for the dinner table (one gigantic rectangle for all of us) with fast directions, she did it all – include making sure a bottle of wine I brought for myself was chilled and given directly to me at dinner.

The SPA is another treasured asset. I did the Strawberry package which included hair and make-up; I was anticipating the worst (pony tail with curls and blue eye shadow) and received the best hair up-do ever, and a magazine ready make up application (with all MAC products). As a 42 yr-old bride, it takes a lot to wow me, I’ve learned good service is a blessing.

My photographer was a family friend and they turned out gorgeous since all around the resort is colorful foliage for great backgrounds, not to mention the blue Caribbean water! We took pictures from 12:30-2 to get the best light; and not to leave our party for pics.
I’m working on a YouTube video of the still pictures and ceremony video ++, I’ll share the link here once complete.

[calgarybride2015]

Gorgeous pictures - love your dress!