Secrets Maroma Brides

[mellyrobert]

thanks courtshan! we are moving forward with the 1st week of december which looks like it is around the same price. this whole thing has been such a headache! I can't wait unitl the contract is signed and i can start sending out the STD's. Good luck and let me know any other info you get along the way!

[CourtShan]

No worries. Good Luck with your STD's. We sent ours out a few months back, a little bit aggressive I know but I wanted to make sure everyone had enough time to plan. One thing too, we provided individual pricing for our guests, we didnt go with the group rate as we would have to put down deposits for up to 50 guests, however secrets is running a promotion if you book with a group ( book 5 rooms get the 6th free). I'm a little bit ticked about this seeing that we are essentially booking up to 25 rooms and getting nothing in return. I'm going to email my TA to see if there is anything she can do here.

[mlynnea]

Pricing: I was there for my wedding on February 26th. My parents stayed from Feb 21-Feb 28th, and the cost was $1650 per person, which included airfare from Minneapolis. $5000 per couple seems outrageous to me. I did notice that when we were booking the prices if we were to book directly through the secrets website were twice as much as the prices on Orbitz and Expedia. We didn't use a TA, and booked through Orbitz as that was the cheapest site at the time. We booked in July for our February wedding. For those of you planning way ahead of time, I'm not sure how that works.

 

Timeline: For those wondering about the timeline for the wedding day. You can set it up to be whatever you want. If you want a break between the wedding and the cocktail hour for pictures, no worries. They're flexible. You'll have a meeting with Cecilia either the day after you arrive at the resort, or a few days before the ceremony to go over things like that. I provided her with a schedule that I put together and it was accomodated beautifully. So here's what I did

1:45pm Cecilia Dumas (outside photographer) arrives for pictures of bride getting ready.

2:30pm Photos of the Bride, Groom, Best Man and Maid of Honor on beach at abandoned Hacienda down the beach.

3:30pm Groom returns to ceremony site to greet guests (we did the ceremony on the beach). Bride returns to room to "freshen up".

4:00pm Ceremony starts (lasted about 30 minutes. We brought our own music on an Ipod and added a sand ceremony and a reading). Sunset was at 5:30pm on Feb 26th.

4:30pm Group photos with family and guests (30 min)

5:00pm Bride and Groom photos around the resort (I had a 60 minute window between the end of the ceremony and the cocktail hour because I didn't want to have to miss the Caribbean Trio. We only needed 30 minutes for group photos and since the lighting was so good, the photographer wanted to take pics around the resort. Our guests went to the bar until cocktail hour started at 5:30pm).

5:30pm Cocktail Hour starts (We had this on the beach. It was quite windy, so they were unable to light the tiki torches, but had votives on the table, and other lighting available).

6:30pm Reception starts - we walked up to the main building and had our reception in the marble room next to the ballroom - not actually in the ballroom ( we had 13 people total). Cecilia Dumas left during the cocktail hour, and we had the package photographer arrive at 6pm. We did the first dances and cake cutting before dinner service so that he would capture those moments on film. FYI - the package photog is only there for 1.5 hours. We had Cecilia Dumas for 4 hours.

 

The timing for us with the sunset ceremony an 1.5 hours before the actual sunset worked out perfectly. The lighting was amazing when we started the group photos at 5pm.

[saza175]

Hey Boo-- I meant to ask you... what time are you doing your ceremony and reception?

[mellyrobert]

mlynea thanks for the info! very helpful. we are having the wedding at 4pm at the gazebo and then the reception at the gazebo terrace. they said that they need an hour in between to set up. do you think that the beach is a good location for the cocktail hour eventhough it was windy?

[Boo]

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[groom'smom]

Does anyone have suggestions for which building to request for our rooms? The wedding will take place on the beach so wouldn't it be a good idea to request a building that is close to the area where the wedding will happen? Don't want a building that has "noise" issues (near club areas with loud music a constant problem) Anyone with ideas?

[groom'smom]

Any suggestions for rehearsal dinner? Seems awful to have to pay per person for dinner for guests since they have already paid for all inclusive meals. Anyone doing anything creative to have welcome time for guests, but not pay for meals that have already been paid for?

[mlynnea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mellyrobert mlynea thanks for the info! very helpful. we are having the wedding at 4pm at the gazebo and then the reception at the gazebo terrace. they said that they need an hour in between to set up. do you think that the beach is a good location for the cocktail hour eventhough it was windy?

mellyrobert, You kinda have to take a chance with the weather....but that's the case for anything you do outdoors. We were there for 12 days, and our wedding day was definitly the most windy day of the trip. I think I would take the chance on the weather and keep it on the beach. It was quite windy for us, but it didn't spoil anyone's fun. Everyone was still having a great time, and even though it was windy, it wasn't cold.

[mlynnea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by groom'smom Does anyone have suggestions for which building to request for our rooms? The wedding will take place on the beach so wouldn't it be a good idea to request a building that is close to the area where the wedding will happen? Don't want a building that has "noise" issues (near club areas with loud music a constant problem) Anyone with ideas?

Groom's mom, I had heard on this forum where the location of the beach ceremony took place (South side of the property), so when we arrived I requested a room on that side of the resort. With the free upgrade within your category included in the wedding package, they upgraded us to Preferred Club in building 26. Building 27 is the closest to the beach and houses all of the honeymoon suites, so we were one building behind that. It worked out great, and there is a "secret" path that runs next to building 27, so all of the hotel guests don't see the bride waiting for the ceremony to start. I would stick with anything on the South side of the resort and you'll be good to go.