Sandos Playacar Brides!

[adj]

Amberrayne,

 

Well hopefully she will respond soon. When is your big day?

[Bride-chill-a]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vande12 I am getting married at the Sandos Resort in 13 days! Wondering if people have any advice on hair stylists at the resort and if they had any problems with how it was done or held up. For those of you waiting for a response from Paola, she is very slow in responding to emails but she has gotten everything in order just fine. Sounds like that is very typical as i'm sure she gets a ton of emails and coordinates weddings every day. Hopefully I will have great news and information to share with everyone in a few weeks.

Congrats...you must be so excited! I can't wait to hear all about it! My date is 3.5 months away and I'm sure it will be here before I know it!
I heard from a bride on here that she used the hair salon and was happy with the way it turned out. I'm a bit nervous about it too, as I don't know what to expect. What style are you going for? Please let us know how it turned out!

Good luck!!!

[amberrayne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by adj Amberrayne, Well hopefully she will respond soon. When is your big day?

Hopefully sometime in June or July. After looking around on this forum, it seems June is pretty full so probably July . What about you?
Have you set a date yet?

[adj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amberrayne Hopefully sometime in June or July. After looking around on this forum, it seems June is pretty full so probably July . What about you? Have you set a date yet?

Yes, we decided on December 18, 2010. But we haven't confirmed with the Resort yet. We are waiting till January to see what the new hotel rates will be. As of right now the group sales lady quoted me

From December 12th to 23th, 2010:
SANDOS PLAYACAR BEACH RESORT & SPA
Standar room SGL DBL 3rd PAX 1st CHILD 2nd CHILD
ROH Standar $ 168.75 $ 112.50 $ 95.63 Free $ 56.25
Hacienda Jr Suite $ 201.75 $ 134.50 $ 114.33 Free $ 67.25

From 24th, 2010:
SANDOS PLAYACAR BEACH RESORT & SPA
Standar room SGL DBL 3rd PAX 1st CHILD 2nd CHILD
ROH Standar $ 319.95 $ 213.30 $ 181.31 Free $ 106.65
Hacienda Jr Suite $ 352.95 $ 235.30 $ 200.01 Free $ 117.65
Prices per person per night, all inclusive.

But on-line it is so much cheaper per person per night....

[Bride-chill-a]

Hey Everyone!

 

For anyone who has been to the resort or to PDC before...can you make any recommendations for nightclubs nearby? We are looking for some spots to have a girls night/boys night out as well as possibly for our wedding night!

[Tifuhhknee]

I have heard a lot about the beach as far as erosion, there is a nice one if you just walk south, etc. But does anyone know if there is decent snorkeling actually on the resort? Thanks!

[adj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bride-chill-a Hey Everyone! For anyone who has been to the resort or to PDC before...can you make any recommendations for nightclubs nearby? We are looking for some spots to have a girls night/boys night out as well as possibly for our wedding night!

Honestly I have never been but, I did find these:

playa del carmen nightlife | bars, dancing, music :: iloveplaya.com
Playa Del Carmen Nightlife: Nightclub Reviews by 10Best
Playa del Carmen Nightlife and Entertainment - IgoUgo

Thought it might help...

[bryonandkiuana]

Hi Everyone!

My wedding at Sandos was a real dream come true. Not because of Sandos, but because of my husband. Sandos just added to the wonderful day. There is nothing much to worry about unless you are a fussy bride. We had a total of 64 guests & everyone loved the resort. I've honestly been to better resorts but Sandos was great for the most part. I probably wouldn't visit again due to a couple of concerns but overall it was the right place for us due to the costs to our guests and the amenities offered. My concerns were the timeshare folks are out of control--they call your room, they are very slick & its a real turn off; the service could've been better--room service took forever; the golf carts around the resort were old & need of repair & didn't run as frequently as they say--more like every 20 minutes; the food was great but do not order room service...for some reason, room service food was awful!; and with restaurant reservations was a real challenge but then once you get to the restaurant, they're half empty (although they said they were booked for the night).

I'd say go for your wedding if you are budget-minded & not trying to waste money on silly stuff.

Paola was great to work with...I could tell that she wasn't used to handling such a huge party and was stressed the day of the wedding. Our wedding was held indoors due to Hurricane Ida. While it didn't hit Riviera Maya, it brought in spurts of heavy rainful followed by beautiful sunshine. The ceremony was still beautiful and I can't wait to get the video. We used Paul from this forum. we brought our own photographer. the professional pictures are not ready yet (of course) but you can check out candid photos of us on our website

http://bryonandkiuana.shutterfly.com

the password is bryonandkiuana

here are a few pointers:

1. bring as much US cash as you can; Paola will negotiate with you on pricing if you have cash; take advantage of this negotation!
2. its likely that your total cost estimate will be higher than the actual final costs; we did a welcome reception (eve of the wedding); wedding day followed by italian buffet followed by disco; also negotiated for free upgrades to the golden bracelets and good prices for our guests as well. it's your day--ask & you may receive!
3. go cheap--everything is nice & its not worth it for the extra upgrades--we didn't upgrade our cake ($3 extra pp) and it was plenty for all 64 guests. we did upgrade the champage for the ceremony but shouldn't have--most guests didn't even have champagne--it wasn't worth it;
4. bring pictures of everything you want--if you're not fluent in English, it will kill you trying to explain what you want--i'm so glad that i was prepared;
5. don't worry about communication with Paola--get the basics before you go and be prepared to finalize everything at the resort--I communicated with her so much and none of that mattered--she didn't have anything that I sent to her & we had to end up going over everything which I'd already sent to her--don't waste your time; she's super-fantastic with the weddings & she will make your dreams come true--you should be specific, have pictures & write/print everything. i brought a usb flash with all my communications with her; she simply took it, uploaded to her computer & we were good to do.
6. we ate in the Italian Buffet--the food was awesome a menu card wouldn't do you any justice--its simply a buffet but all the food was really good
7. afterwards, we rented the disco for 3 hours. this is most cost-effective and was a lot of fun--one things that I regret--do not trust the DJ to have the hits! make sure you create you own playlist & download all the songs to your ipod or to a CD. the DJ sucked! he didn't speak much English, I provided him with a playlist the day we arrived on tuesday--we got married friday and they had not downloaded my requested songs therefore we couldn't play them at the disco. that pissed me off! I should've had a playlist ready to go but Paola said, 'no worries...they will take care of it'. Well they didn't! if the afterparty is very important to you, hire an outside DJ. if you're prepared you will be fine..for example, we had a DVD & three songs: dvd was our love story (about 15 min long) & it was played before introductions. then one song for wedding party, one for us & our first dance song. of course we brought all of these along they were executed perfectly. as far the party...well, I should've been prepared
8. as far as the spa--i wouldn't recommend the services to anyone. my hair stylist traveled with us so i was ok but my mom had her hair done at the spa and they it was ok not fantastic...i think she could've done a better job herself. now I'm Black so of course my hair texture is different than White women. they simply may not have been familiar with handling this hair texture. if you go with them, just have a backup-plan...just in case.
9. they also did not do good manicures or pedicures or makeup. the facial was ok. I'd recommend you go offsite for these services. i was suppose to go to MAC on 5th ave for makeup but forgot one of my friends did makeup so I bought all the MAC at home, packed it up & she did it for me.
10. the spa was good for the day of the wedding---we used all the facilities at the spa to get ready (hair & makeup). they have all the professional sinks, hair dryers, curling irons, etc. they charged $25 to use it & it was well worth it. I'd highly recommend you do this if you are a DIY bride. the hair dryers in the rooms suck!

okay, let me know if you have any questions...net, net. I'd don't regret picking Sandos, the wedding packages are reasonable (we went with the free package & just added everything a la carte (it came out a lot cheaper), you get alot for the money at the resort, Paola will negotatie prices with you if you have cash, the wedding was perfect, the food was great (except room service). If you are not fussy, have back-up plans & bring pictures & everything else with you on a memory stick, you will be just fine. happy wedding planning & let me know if you have any specific questions!

 

[bryonandkiuana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bride-chill-a Hey Everyone! For anyone who has been to the resort or to PDC before...can you make any recommendations for nightclubs nearby? We are looking for some spots to have a girls night/boys night out as well as possibly for our wedding night!

we had girls night out at Sandos. we had a welcome reception on wedding eve, followed by girls night out @ Sandos (my maid of honor had worked this out with Paola). Paola let them have a conference room & all the ladies got together to have some friendly fun! Afterward, we let the resort to go ride a mechanical bull. that was a blast. but at the club in PDC, the only patrons were us...me & my 20 girlfriends. so I wouldn't recommend that place unless your only mission is to ride a mechanical bull.

[Jennybell1]

So what pictures exactly are you talking about? I would have no idea as to what to show her for my wedding....I thought you picked everything when you were there??