Secrets Maroma Brides

[Adfaircloth06]

Hey dreamchaser! I'm getting married November 6th! We're super excited although I have been particularly lazy with the planning recently.

[dreamchaser]

Thanks! My bday is November 7! We are getting married on the 18th. What type of ceremony are you doing?

[bellajovie]

Hey Knitgirl, not sure if anyone responded.  I was looking at the video packages, and you're right, if you are purchasing the package separately the prices are a little high.  You may want to reach out to Cecilia to see if she can recommend a vendor who has other packages available.  I am considering web cam, in addition to the video with our package, for my grandmother who most likely will not attend.  The only drawback to a web cam without a video package...you won't have the video to keep.

 

I do have another question for anyone, I read trip advisor off and on just to see what others are saying about Secrets.  For the most part, great reviews, but here lately people are mentioning huge corporate groups on the property.  Does anyone know if that's a serious issue??
 

Originally Posted by knitgirl13 

Is anyone using a videographer? Have recs? I only want the ceremony filmed since it'll just be the 2 of us, so the pricing from Secrets Directly seems a little high.  I was hoping for maybe $500-600 tops since it will be under 30 minutes and shouldn't be much to edit.  Or maybe I should do their new webcast option?  It's a little cheaper and might appease our family members who aren't attending.

 

[maromabride]

Hi ladies,

 

How many hours before the ceremony did you OR are you getting your hair done? My ceremony is at 4:30pm. The manager at the salon recommended that I schedule my appointment at 1:30pm because of the humidity. She said if I get my hair done too early it will not look good at the ceremony. I am more than likely going to have an updo hairstyle.

 

T

[NEMMERZ]

 

 

Originally Posted by bellajovie 

 

Hey Knitgirl, not sure if anyone responded.  I was looking at the video packages, and you're right, if you are purchasing the package separately the prices are a little high.  You may want to reach out to Cecilia to see if she can recommend a vendor who has other packages available.  I am considering web cam, in addition to the video with our package, for my grandmother who most likely will not attend.  The only drawback to a web cam without a video package...you won't have the video to keep.

 

I do have another question for anyone, I read trip advisor off and on just to see what others are saying about Secrets.  For the most part, great reviews, but here lately people are mentioning huge corporate groups on the property.  Does anyone know if that's a serious issue??

 

 

 

 

Bella, you and i must be reading the same reviews, I too am concerned about that as well. the week i am going, May 1st, hotel is pretty much sold out........yikes hope its not a corporate thing....but then again,nothing i can really do about it tho........but YES its a concern too

[bellajovie]

NEMMERZ, I did reach out to Cecilia to see if she knew of groups who were booked at the same time as our wedding (just so I can have a little pre-warning).  I still have nine months to go, but that may be something you want to consider so you'll know what to expect.  My hope is that the corporate groups (especially the disruptive ones in the reviews) are a rare occurrence!
 

Originally Posted by NEMMERZ 

Bella, you and i must be reading the same reviews, I too am concerned about that as well. the week i am going, May 1st, hotel is pretty much sold out........yikes hope its not a corporate thing....but then again,nothing i can really do about it tho........but YES its a concern too

 

[Adfaircloth06]

Super cool!  We're going to be legally married at home and then just a ceremonial wedding at the resort. We're doing the ultimate wedding package and have maybe 20 - 25 guests. Other than that we're going to wait until June or so to iron out the rest of the details with Cecelia.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamchaser 

Thanks! My bday is November 7! We are getting married on the 18th. What type of ceremony are you doing?

 

[cole379]

We are thisclose to booking secrets for 2012 but as an avid reader of trip advisor as well, I am worried about the corporate groups. I asked the coordiantor at the resort and they just said not to worry about it, corporate groups don't ruin anything so I guess they are not reading trip advisor themselves She said that the corporate groups can book anywhere from a year to a month in advance so it is hard to try and book around them, but they do book more on weekends so during the week is a lesser chance they will be there. Still worries me as I don't want everyone to pay all this money and then have to deal with a bunch of loud drunks all day!

 

On another note, we are thinking of booking in April. Does anyone know if this is a bad time for sea lice (the thimble jellyfish)? I heard that is when they can be bad (and I know I am allergic). Does Secrets get a lot of these little suckers? March and February seem to just be so much more expensive in price then April!

 

Thanks!

[bellajovie]

Ladies, I did receive an email from Secrets regarding the disruptive groups...

 

 

 

"Thank you for sharing these comments with us. Secrets Maroma Beach occasionally hosts some Corporate Groups, however we typically focus on medium size Groups that allow us to maintain a good balance with our individual clients. Most of the Groups are incentive Groups wherein the company pays for the employees that have earned the top positions in sales and achievement, however we are unable to control who is traveling. 

We did have some complaints of some participants from a specific Group that stayed with us a few weeks ago, however I can assure you this was an isolated event which we immediately addressed  with the Group coordinator while they were on property. Our goal is to provide the highest quality and standards including the romantic atmosphere that Secrets Maroma Beach is well known for.

 

Thank you again and we look forward to welcoming you at Secrets Maroma Beach!"

 

We'll just chalk it up as one bad group but that's not usually the case.  I'm still looking forward to my experience there and I'm hoping/praying that there are no corporate groups there the same week! LOL

 

 

[Adfaircloth06]

So can anyone who has already been married here comment on the food quality, especially for the reception? I hadn't really given a thought to what the reception food may taste like. The cake in the pictures doesn't look very appetizing, but I don't really care a lot about that. But I want to make sure I'm not expecting too much from the food, after all this is an all-inclusive. Also can anyone comment on alcohol service during the cocktail hour and reception. We booked the gold dinner plan I think. Is there a full bar available throughout both, or is the dinner wine only??

 

It also looks like the menu options have changed since we originally confirmed our wedding dates last year. We're not getting married until November of this year so I guess I shouldn't try to decide anything in case the menu changes again?? Thoughts?

 

I'm meeting with our travel agent again tomorrow and want to make sure I firm up any other Cecelia questions I may have.

 

For those who were married at the gazebo, was the ceremony private enough for you or were there lots of onlookers? What was the atmosphere. Thus ends my barrage of questions for the week.