Excellence Playa Mujeres Brides Post Here!

[lciz]

MsBliss...

 

Adrian had an assistant with him that took some photos as well (Hiram)... If photography is important to you I would say its worth it. Just an FYI Adrian takes a lot of artistic photos and thats what we were looking for, but with that said we had the resort photog (Oscar) take some photos as well and they were very traditional. We may actually pay extra to have extra photos from Oscar just because we want the mix of art (Adrian) and traditional (Oscar) now that we are here... Photos are priceless and even though we have maxed our budget, extra money to get the pictures you want is absolutely worth it! So I say go for it... All the Herreras are great, only Hiram speaks good English though, but even with the language barrier it all went smoothly and very fun!

 

We stayed in the Spa view Jr Suite (basic room) for the first night, then they upgraded us to room 2402 for the next 3 nights... It was AMAZING. we had 3 outside beds on our balcony and a personal pool. Unreal and for free!

After our wedding we upgraded to room 9456 for our honeymoon, we chose that room from hearing others talk about it. Its ridiculous (its the room they use for brochures and web marketing)... Its an ocean view, 2 story excellence club. There are a lot of benefits to Excellence club and for our honeymoon it was totally worth the extra money. BUT with that said, when we come back we will probably just ask for room 2402 again and not upgrade to excellence because its all just wonderful and the excellence is a great perk but not worth the money the second time around... Unless we win the mega millions, then we will always go for the excellence club! :-)

 

I wouldnt do the swim up only because there is absolutely no privacy in them, everyone can see you in your room and we have been enjoying clothing optional in our room and on our deck ;-) You dont have that option at swim up.

 

I am a die hard foodie and all the food here (with minor exceptions) has been amazing! The Toscana for lunch is to die for, we have been here 6 nights and still cant bring ourselves to eat lunch anywhere else. Breakfast is great there too! Although we have been ordering a lot of room service, for breakfast and for a nice 2am snack fest :-)

 

Thank you all for the kind words, we are really enjoying ourselves here! I just wish I could be here to meet you all!!

 

I have been spending computer time during my husbands napping ( I cant bring myself to nap in this beautiful place!) so keep the questions coming and I will answer when I can!!

 

(so weird that I have a husband now- so fun!!)

 

Also, all the people here are great, guests and workers a like. I hope to continue friendships from here even after we return to the states!!

 

Buenos Noches

 

[May12]

OMG Lciz...you look absolutely STUNNING! I'm so glad it all worked out for you! Thanks so much for the feedback, it's super helpful for those of us freaking out at home! Great info on the rooms! We just changed our reservation recently to the swim up Excellence Club room ONLY because we should get a free upgrade with our travel package to the rooftop suite...I'm REALLY hoping we do get upgraded because that privacy issue will be a big problem! What would they do? I somehow think they wouldn't downgrade us and give us $$ back. I've got to get on this with Nayeli...it's been over a week of waiting for me as well...

 

As for the menu- We did a FREE tasting when we were there last September and planned it out the month before we got there...maybe they only charge when you do it too close to the date?? Once we knew what we wanted, we included menu choices on our reply card with the invitations. We knew we were having filet and scallops, but were still waiting on seafood only options(we did not taste these) so we worded it as Beef and Seafood, Seafood, and Special Dietary Restrictions. We chose and confirmed the chilean seabass once we got the options from the chef. I have an excel spreadsheet with everyones names, days they are staying, meal options and noted the bridal party and other special guests. I sent it to Nayeli so she knows who's who, and what they're getting. Once we're there and meet with her, we'll give her our seating chart. On each Menu that we're having printed will be the guest's name at the top, and the menu will have the entree they chose. The waiters need to know who to give what dish to. Being that we will have Handpainted Margarita glasses and Maraccas as the favors at their seat (we're buying them there), we will be tying the favor cards to the glasses with colored ribbon in our wedding colors. If someone is having beef they will have a brown ribbon, if fish-an orange one, beef and no seafood(we have 1) a burgundy ribbon. Normally they will put a sticker on your seating card, but we didn't want to alter them so decided to do this.

 

For the invitations- We found Ginger, this AMAZING woman on Etsy who is doing all  of our stationary. What we love is that EVERYTHING is customizable....colors, wording, design(and she collaborates with you on this), size, what you want included in them, you name it! What's great, she's REALLY reasonable! Invitations we liked from other websites or at Papyrus were at least double and we couldn't change or tweak anything other that wording/fonts, etc...We felt limited. We've had a TON of complements on the invites and what's best, is that she really captured our style. Now we have her doing a ton of other things for the wedding....she's "branded" us without her even realizing it! Everything will be in the same style/design of our invitations. She's doing favor cards, the menus, name tags for the OOT bags, the Welcome letter, a timeline, a check in card (so people know when to meet us Thurs night for welcome cocktails-OOT bags do not get delivered until turn down service and we were worried they wouldn't have the information before they were out for the night) and a do not disturb sign! (and of course than you cards). Clearly, I can't say enough about her! She's based out of Saint Louis but we do everything via email and an occasional phone call for clarity. She has a TON of really cool designs and ideas including passports, boarding passes, postcards, traditional,etc.. If you want to check her out  her website is www.serendipitybeyonddesign.com or email [email protected]

Hope this info helps!!

 

       

 

[May12]

OH almost forgot about the sparklers!!

StefKva, We have to order the sparklers through Nayeli. They are $38 for 10 of them and additional sparlkers are $4. We also found out that if we make custom matches, they may be confiscated as they probably shouldn't go on a plane. Nayeli said they have matches there for the sparklers. I attached the Pyrotechnic catalog for you...

 

 

 

 

 

  

PYROTECHNIC CATALOG JPG-BODAS.PDF

[stefkva]

 

lciz, CONGRATS!!! You look amazing in the photo! Thank you so much for taking time while you're there to write to us. So glad to hear that the wedding turned out amazing. Helps reassure that everything will turn out great....I leave in 2 weeks and still have so much that hasn't been confirmed by N...

 

You mentioned in your earlier post that some of the guests didn't get the food they ordered at the reception because the kitchen ran out of those meals. Did the guests make their food choices at the reception or did the give the to you beforehand. I'm still not clear on how choosing the menu works and if N needs a head count for each meal choice before the reception or how that all works. Also, what cake flavor did you choose?

 

Did you do a rehearsal dinner? Would you recommend doing one?

 

From one April bride to another, thanks again for all your feedback!!!!!

 

[Jass7]

Iciz- Oh my you were one super gorgeous bride!!! Love your dress and your hair and make up! So beautiful!

 

Thank you for coming back and sharing your wedding day with us, and answering all the questions. You've put me at ease, even though I have been to that resort before, and loved it, glad to hear a wedding was beautiful, even with few kinks. I didn't know guests can choose beef, chicken, seafood. That's great! I've been worried about food selection since I am picky, and some of my guests too.

 

Did you have a DJ? I've been waiting to hear back from N for the past 8 days about menu and music options, hope to hear from her soon but I will be patient since a lot of weddings are happening right now.

 

We booked Excellence Club Ocean Front Jr Suite, and hoping to stay in either 8 or 9 closest to the ocean. We have stayed at EPM in 2010, in 8203 and LOVED that room, it was non club! If we didn't get first wedding package free with club, we would have done non club but then again It's also our wedding and little extra perks would be nice. But if we were to get upgraded to RTT now that would be even better!

 

Bummer about the wind. The day my fiance proposed it was super windy, one of the windiest days when we stayed there before. It sucks I really wanted to wear my hair down, or half up and half down, but we are planning on beach ceremony unless the wind is outrageous in September, then we might do the wedding gazebo. Decisions, decisions!

 

How exciting! congratulations again Mrs!!!!

 

 

[MsBlissMpls]

Kind of sad

 

We booked a swim up room for 10 nights (already miss our kitty, but he'll be in good hands with his full time kitty-sitter) .... Hopefully we can get a free upgrade. Or I guess we can just be okay with walking around naked regardless of anyone else at the resort ... but I'm pretty shy, so that probalby will not happen.  

 

Crossing my fingers for a little complimentary wedding upgrade.

[Jass7]

Don't be sad! We stayed at ERC last year and our room key access had so many problems, that they upgraded us to a swim up room the next day. We really liked it, and didn't feel like we didn't have privacy unless you leave the windows open all the way. We would do swim up again for sure!

 

The only thing is we had a critter in our room the first night, a little gecko. I was scared of it, and had maintenance guy come and get him. He said oh my it's a baby lol. Don't worry about swim up, we actually really liked it this last time.

Originally Posted by MsBlissMpls 

Kind of sad

 

We booked a swim up room for 10 nights (already miss our kitty, but he'll be in good hands with his full time kitty-sitter) .... Hopefully we can get a free upgrade. Or I guess we can just be okay with walking around naked regardless of anyone else at the resort ... but I'm pretty shy, so that probalby will not happen.  

 

Crossing my fingers for a little complimentary wedding upgrade.

 

[Jass7]

And I will miss my kitty too. We are going to be gone for 2 weeks, and most of our really close family and friends will come stay about a week, so she'll most likely be all alone for  a week if not more. I'm thinking about asking my neighbor to check on her during that time. Going to miss her a lot!!!!
 

Originally Posted by MsBlissMpls 

Kind of sad

 

We booked a swim up room for 10 nights (already miss our kitty, but he'll be in good hands with his full time kitty-sitter) .... Hopefully we can get a free upgrade. Or I guess we can just be okay with walking around naked regardless of anyone else at the resort ... but I'm pretty shy, so that probalby will not happen.  

 

Crossing my fingers for a little complimentary wedding upgrade.

 

[MsBlissMpls]

Thanks Jass7.

 

We booked the regular swim up room because we confirmed with N. that we have 35 rooms booked for our wedding party so we get the complimentary wedding package, and the next upgrade would be the RTT. Hearing that you like it makes me feel better. - We have someone staying at our house while we are gone (but not sure how much attention this person will give to our little guy vs. just watching TV) so we have also scheduled weekend & evening guests to come a play with Sampson (he likes to run around the house with us and play hide & seek).

 

Geckos, super cute unless you thing they may crawl into your bed, or you might step on one in the middle of the night. When I stayed in India (by myself) a few years ago I had TWO baby geckos in my room running around the walls. I was so freaked out, but the communicaiton was so bad with maintenance that I just sat there watching them as they cackled at me all night, asking them to get out of my room. They finally went out the crack by the door and I ran over & shoved my yoga matt under the door... problem solved. At least in Mexico I'll have my awesome fiance to help them out of the room.

 

I'm thinking we will stick with Adrian as a solo shooter, just because I look at the cost of upgrading and it's a little out of our comfort level for an additional cost (if anything we want to upgrade to llciz's "brochure" room !!

 

After reading llciz's comment on the INSANE wind to my fiance he finally said "well maybe we can use the gazebo". We were so set on the sand, but I know he loves my hair down, so I think we are moving the wedding location for my hair - that's funny to me.

 

[Jass7]

Haha that's so funny about moving wedding location for hair! Hey I might do that too, so tough since we have our heart set on sand! lol

My gecko was behind the bed frame, and my fiance at the time was not feeling well so he was sleeping, and I was making a bed by the couch, the heck I was gonna sleep in the same bed! LOL So finally I called the maintenance and the guy actually had to move the bed frame, to get him. I didn't realize it was a baby gecko. I was imagining a big lizard. =D

 

Wow 35 rooms booked? That's amazing! We are probably going to have 5-10 rooms booked, but I didn't want to chance it. We might downgrade or upgrade once we get there, we'll see. A complimentary upgrade would be amazing.

Oh and I might be looking for Iciz's "brochure" room too!

Originally Posted by MsBlissMpls 

Thanks Jass7.

 

We booked the regular swim up room because we confirmed with N. that we have 35 rooms booked for our wedding party so we get the complimentary wedding package, and the next upgrade would be the RTT. Hearing that you like it makes me feel better. - We have someone staying at our house while we are gone (but not sure how much attention this person will give to our little guy vs. just watching TV) so we have also scheduled weekend & evening guests to come a play with Sampson (he likes to run around the house with us and play hide & seek).

 

Geckos, super cute unless you thing they may crawl into your bed, or you might step on one in the middle of the night. When I stayed in India (by myself) a few years ago I had TWO baby geckos in my room running around the walls. I was so freaked out, but the communicaiton was so bad with maintenance that I just sat there watching them as they cackled at me all night, asking them to get out of my room. They finally went out the crack by the door and I ran over & shoved my yoga matt under the door... problem solved. At least in Mexico I'll have my awesome fiance to help them out of the room.

 

I'm thinking we will stick with Adrian as a solo shooter, just because I look at the cost of upgrading and it's a little out of our comfort level for an additional cost (if anything we want to upgrade to llciz's "brochure" room !!

 

After reading llciz's comment on the INSANE wind to my fiance he finally said "well maybe we can use the gazebo". We were so set on the sand, but I know he loves my hair down, so I think we are moving the wedding location for my hair - that's funny to me.