Secrets Capri - "Official Thread"

[DallasAshli]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arhoyaltres YES IT IS!! I am so excited. I'm trying to work on my planning thread and get all of the last minute things done since we head out bright and early Thursday.

Can't wait to see it and pics when you get back! Let me know if I can help with anything!!

[jackris]

Do you suggest any particular restaurant for rehersal dinner? We will have about 40 people?

[DallasAshli]

I don't know if any restaurant can accomodate that many people in a private setting. You can always sit at different tables, but all eat at the same time. The Italian restaurant has a private room, but it looked like it could hold 20, maybe 30. I would ask Alejandra. She probably has some possibilities, I just dont know.

 

We are just meeting up after everyone eats on their own. That way they can go where they want and sit in smaller groups so the service wont be as slow. Not that service is slow, but when you have a large group it takes longer to eat, ya know?

[arhoyaltres]

I would agree with DallasAshli. The Italian restaurant is the only one with a private room but can only hold about 13 ppl comfortably, which will not be a good fit for you. There was a bigger rehearsal dinner going on the same night as ours, but I'm not sure how much it cost to hold since it was in a special area right off of the Portofino. Check with Alejandra for more details on that.

[DallasAshli]

I did see a bonfire, which has food and drink service. I think it was $600 for the bonfire and $20 per person for the food/drink service. That is an option for a kinda private setting - but its not a sit down meal. It was pretty neat, but I didnt want to spend another $1000 on it.

[futuremrsjevne]

We are thinking of having our DW at Secrets Capri in October/November 2009. We received info from the WC today and really like this resort. It's one of our top two resort choices (Dreams Puerto Aventuras and Secrets Capri). I'm wondering if anyone else looked at both of these resorts and what cinched their decision

[DallasAshli]

I did not consider Dreams Puerto Aventuras because it is not adults only. We dont have any children guests, so we definitely wanted adults only.

 

Also, I belive DPA is a bit south of Playa del Carmen, but not quite to Tulum. One thing you should consider is the travel time from the airport to DPA. Its about 25-35 minutes from the airport to Secrets. It would be about 45 mins to an hour (Im guessing) to DPA. That is another reason we choose Secrets - its a quick trip from the airport.

 

Let us know if you have any other questions at all!!

[mrseddy]

I like how small and intimate Secrets is and I've heard nothing but great things about the service, rooms and food. However, I've heard some bad stories about the wedding coordinator, which makes me very nervous. The other negative is that the gazebo is located feet from the pool which doesn't make for a private ceremony. The other option is the beach but I want to ensure that we can section of a good amount of the area so that we don't have people sunbathing next to us. The other great thing is that the resort holds 1 wedding a day which we like. Once we found out this resort had availabiity on our day I thought it would be an easy yes, but I'm hesitiating.

 

Does anyone have information on how the beach ceremony is? Do they rope off a section or is it generally less crowded at certain times of the day?

 

Also, any recent feedback regarding the WC Alejandra?

 

Thank you!!

[mrseddy]

A couple more questions ...is the resort flexible with sectioning off areas for a group dinner at their restaurants during the rest of the week? For the reception, they list the Pool Terrace and the Capri Terrace. Does anyone have pictures or know anything about the Capri Terrace? Is the seaside grill an option to rent out and is it viable?

 

Also, what do you think about setting up the grass area behind the gazebo and before the beach area for the ceremony?

[DallasAshli]

Hi. I will answer as many of your questions as I can. We are getting married at Secrets in 25 days (!).

 

I would agree with the reviews that say the resort is great. We had a great time, everyone was nice, food was good, etc.

 

Gazebo - yes, it is right by the pool. But...if you have a wedding at 5pm or later, there are very, very few people still at the pool and by that time, they have all migrated towards the pool bar (which isnt like right next to the gazebo). The thing that bothered me about the gazebo (Im not sure if this is every gazebo or just Secrets) is that your guests sit outside the gazebo, which is 3 or 4 steps down from where you are. We only have 15 people in our guest chairs (2 BMs, 2 GMs, us 2, and our own officiant standing at the front leaves only 15 guests in chairs) so it didnt seem very intimate. They are outside in the sun, and you are in this large gazebo.

 

Beach - they dont section off part of the beach for the wedding, but the site is way off to the side. Its near the hammocks, which they take down if there is a wedding. There aren't any chairs over there, so I dont think sunbathers would be an issue. See post #6 for a map of where that is - bottom left on the map. I saw a wedding on the beach during my site visit and there werent many on-lookers.

 

The other option - the grassy area. Actually, there are 2 grassy areas - one between the north wing and the taco bar, and one between the gazebo and the south wing (look at the map in post 6).

 

 

I dont have pics of the grassy area set-up by the gazebo, but that is where we are getting married so I will have some pics in a month!

 

Unless the "only 1 wedding a day" is a new policy, I dont think that is accurate. RaShunda just got married there about 2 months ago and posted her review, which you should read! They had 2 weddings that day and it was a bit of a mess (although everything turned out beautifuly, it was a hassle for her). Maybe after that, they made the policy 1 wedding a day.

 

Oh - this might be helpful - the pace of the resort is similar to this: wake up, have breakfast, by the pool or ocean mid-morning, eat lunch, lounge some more, go in about 4pm. It seemed like by 4pm, 90% of the guests had gone inside to nap or shower or get ready for the evening. So if your wedding is after 5, I dont think you will have tons of random people watching you.

 

Group Dinner - the Italian place has a private room for 20-ish. At other resaurants, we saw a few tables that were pulled together for groups of 12 or so. I think the general policy is that they dont have the space to accomodate larger groups than that, but I never looked into it so you should ask.

 

I've never heard of the "Capri Terrace" but I know they just made some name changes (the names of the rooms just changed company wide I think). Maybe it's the deck area? Do you have any other info about it?

 

The WC - yes, she has some bad reviews. Yes, Ive had some issues with her. I think it comes down to your personality. If you are a control freak, I think you would be less stressed if you had your wedding somewhere that has a top-notch WC. If you are more laid-back, fine with Mexico time and Mexico ways, you will be fine.

 

My main issues with her: I will email 3 questions, and she will respond with 2 answers so I have to re-email her; the time it takes her to respond varies greatly from 1 hour to 1 week; a little bit of a language barrier, but really not too bad; she doesnt keep great notes, so she will ask you several times what cake you want or something.

 

Things I really like about her: she was great in person, she has a "yes, we can make it work" attitude, she is flexible.

 

Ok, I hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions!!