Excellence Playa Mujeres Brides Post Here!

[danak71]

Hey Monica, I don't know the answers to all your questions but I'll answer the ones I do know based upon my communications with Nayeli. 1. There's a $100 fee to hang lanterns without lights and $150 to hang lanterns with lights. The resort will provide the lights. 2. We have the gold package as well. She said you have the option of having a soloist (saxophonist, guitarist, cellist, violinist, etc) or the trio as part of your package with no extra charge. You can choose to have them at the ceremony instead of the cocktail reception if you'd like. If you're wanting to hire them for both ceremony and reception, there's a $500 charge. 3. We're doing the legal ceremony and she said our blood would be drawn at the resort the day after we arrive. 4 Yes you receive 4 corsages and 4 boutonnières. Hope this helps! Lynn

[May12]

Originally Posted by Amanda Gardner 

 

May12

You said you had welcome cocktails at xlounge was it private and did you have to pay extra for it?

 

The X-Lounge was not private but there was no extra cost. What we realized in our prior trip to EPM, was that NO ONE is really there at night. They have quiet music and 1 waiter bringing drinks for you from the Sol Bar which is right up the path. When asking Nayeli (and our other wedding coordinators before her) about having welcome cocktails there, it was not a problem, and we could bring the docking station from the room...worked out great! There were a few people who came by, but it wasn't a big deal that they were there, and left soon after. We also liked the idea of doing cocktails vs. forcing everyone to do dinner somewhere, especially when we had gust who arrived later that night. It was also a good starting/meeting point where we had the place to ourselves, and then went up to the Martini bar later...with those who were still in party mode! 

[May12]

Hi Monica!

We don't have a Cigar smoking crowd, so never asked about the roller, BUT there is a full on Cigar Bar that some of your guests may love!

 

The Menu cards we had were made by our stationer who did our save the dates, invitations and everything else"paper" wise for the wedding. We LOVED working with her! Absolutely everything was customizable....from wording to colors to design...just chatted/emailed with her about it and she sent proofs. (She is based in St. Louis and we are in NJ, so it was all done via email, mail and phone calls...Still worth it! She is also WAY less expensive than most places I looked at. She is doing our friends wedding right now and their invites came out awesome...totally different from ours and very much their style. She has a knack of understanding the client and making it work in their style! Her info is as follows, if you want to check her out/give her a call: Ginger O'Hara. Serendipitybeyonddesign.com  Email: [email protected]  ph: 314-514-5774

 

The Ceremony is a half hour, especially if it is a legal ceremony. We had our blood taken the Tuesday before the wedding on Sat. at the resort in the room behind the reception desk in the lobby-super easy. ($200 USD cash to the Dr when he draws the blood) Also, your 4 witnesses need to be there by Wednesday afternoon at the latest for a Sat wedding. Nayeli will get their info and has to get everything together to send to the judge by then. IMPORTANT!! make sure the people you choose as your witnesses are aware that they need to sign AT the ceremony, as well as you and your hubby. You will need music (your guitarist would play if you go that route) You may also want to coordinate the color they wear-there will be pics. We were unaware of this "signing at the ceremony" until the rehearsal the night before! Luckily, the people who were our witnesses were my Man of Honor and a Groomsman, and their fiance's. The girls had our colors in their dresses so it all worked! 

 

Here are pics of the ladies signing....we also had to sign as well as the 2 guys but I'll skip those pics...

 

 

 

 

No kidding.....you stick your thumb in ink and leave your print 4 times on each copy! (you also sign 4 copies)

 

 

 

Something else to know about the musicians is that you pay for an hour but they are part of a Union, so to speak, where they get a 15 minute break every hour....so you really only have them for 45 minutes. And the soloist we were quoted was $550 IF we did it in addition to the mariachis...you do get one or the other as part of the gold package.  

 

So, not sure if they'll deduct the cost of the pics for you, but you may be able to negotiate it into something else. The on-site photographer will deduct it from his price if anyone is going with VIP. 

 

An extra hour of the reception for us was: $160 for the DJ and $16 per person....for each hour over, and they MUST know 1 hour and 15 minutes before the end of the reception unless you set it up ahead of time. We wanted to play it by ear, just in case, but didn't get the heads up early enough. As long as you have someone on that during the reception, you can decide then.

 

Flowers....now there's something that can add up FAST! For us, 4 of our boutonnieres were free and we paid for the Groom's upgraded one to an orange cala lily which was $15. The bridesmaid's bouquets that are free are the "gold" ones. Everything above that amount will be an up-charge.... We originally were quoted $45 per bridesmaid bouquet for orange calla lily's(1.5 years before the wedding) The vendor changed and they became $230!!!! No joke! We negotiated, I compromised, changed the flowers and we ended up paying $50 per bouquet. My bouquet was an additional $60 because of what I chose. NOTE: flowers that are grown in Mexico are WAY less expensive. If you're thinking of a colored calla lily, it's imported and VERY expensive. White Calla Lilies (the large ones) are all over the place and less expensive.  

 

Private dinners can add up, especially with a large group. We decided to do a "meet up" at Cafe Kafe after the rehearsal. What they did was reserve tables for us at the Mexican Fiesta on Friday night for free. We told guests (and our wedding party) to either meet us at Cafe Kafe at our reserved tables for the group, or eat where they wanted so they could partake in all the resort has to offer, and then meet us there afterward. It worked our great! a little over half the group was with us for dinner, but the rest came a bit later. The other issue with the private dinner (other than cost) is you have a pre-set menu that they order from, not the full menu. they cannot guarantee all will be seated if you don't set it up ahead of time...it's just too many people. 

 

We didn't do lanterns, but they do have the curtains and flags down the path for free with the gold package if you want them. We opted for tiki torches down the path as well.

 

Hope this helps answer some questions!

 

 

 

Originally Posted by Momoarc83 

Hi Ladies!

I have a couple of more questions:

 

Did any of you use paper lanterns at your reception?  I am thinking of buying some to bring to hang at the reception at the CECO Terrace.  Is there a charge for the resort to hang these?

 

Did any of you use the cigar roller?  We went to a wedding at the El Dorado Resort in Mexico and they had one, it was a hit!

 

Does the resort make the menu cards for you?  Does this cost $?

 

Did any of you use a guitar soloist for you ceremony?  If so, how much did it cost? I'm assuming the ceremony lasted roughly 15-20 min...?

And if so, didyou use him for cocktail hour?  Or, did you use a romantic trio?  I have the Gold Package, but I'm really wanting a guitar soloist... Just curious how much this will cost..

 

Since I am bringing my friend to take pictures/video, will the resort deduct the cost of the photographer/cost of photos from the Gold Package?

 

We are expecting about 70 people at our wedding... I'm thinking we need to add an extra hour onto our reception.  Does anyone know how much this will cost,?

 

We are planning on having a rehearsal dinner for 40 guests.  I think it is crazy how they want to charg $22per/person.  We do not have to have a private dinner. Does anyone know if they make any exceptions for this? 

 

For those who have done a civil/legal ceremony. When do they take your blood?  I know we have to be in the country at least 3 days prior to our wedding date.  Just curious, if they do this on site or if we leave the resort to do this.

 

In the Gold Package, 4 boutenniers/corsages are included.  This may be a dumb question but does this mean you get 4 of each?

 

Sorry for all of the questions, any help is greatly appreciated!!!!!!

 

-Monica

[Kristen5469]

I found this today 

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/vacationplanner/climatology/daily/MXQR0138?climoMonth=4&from=vac_monavg

it gives the average weather.

[Momoarc83]

Thank y'all SO much for the replies.  I really appreciate it!!

[Amanda Gardner]

Thank you for all the information and pictures. So helpful!!!

[kshannon]

Hi everyone!!! I cant believe how fast time is flying!! For the brides who have provided pictures, THANK YOU!!!!! And thanks for all the info! So helpful!

 

I do have a question: I am planning to give my bridesmaids Visa gift cards to use however they see fit in Mexico. They will have the option to use at the spa or for excursions, or whatever. Does anyone know if the spa, or anywhere on property, takes payment by form of Visa gift cards? I have emailed the spa back and forth but I dont think they understand what I mean by Visa gift card! Visa gift cards work exactly the same as a Visa credit card, though, right? I am hoping it wont be a problem... Please help if you can clarify!! Thanks

[May12]

Hi there!

If you have a lot of spa appointments that you are booking for them, you need to pay the spa directly in advance-about a week before. If you give them visa GC's and they decide  to have a spa treatment, they can charge it to their room and pay for it at check out, with any other purchases they made. They are also able to pay at the spa if they wish. As long as they see a visa logo, it should go through. You might want to check with the provider of the card though because sometimes they charge a fee to use it out of the country, or it can't convert to pesos from USD. The spa does provide gift certificates, and I'm pretty sure you can have a "resort credit" for them. You may need to talk with Lleny to see if she can work w/the front desk to deduct a certain amount from their "bill" and add it on to yours. (They pay the in house photographer, DJ and florist this way)

If you call the spa, ask for Miguel. He was awesome in helping set everything up for our group and on the day of the wedding, was even running to the bar for us to get cocktails! LOVE him! The spa mgr is Nayeli---different Nayeli than the WC and she was wonderful as well! Sometimes calling them is just easier.

We did a spa day with the wedding party the day before the wedding where everyone did the marine hydrotherapy circuit and then the guys got mani/pedis, and we had a choice for the girls to get either mani/pedis or hair or make-up on the wedding day. It ended up that everyone got their hair done and most got mani/pedis. Including Frank getting his hair cut and my Mom and one of our other guests getting their hair done...It was a full house!

Also, I highly recommend doing a trial hair and make up a few days before if you can. The make-up on my trial, although it looked good, was just way too much and didn't look like me, and my hair was way over sprayed for it being down. We changed it up and it worked out perfectly the day of.

 

Here are some pics of our spa day...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kshannon 

Hi everyone!!! I cant believe how fast time is flying!! For the brides who have provided pictures, THANK YOU!!!!! And thanks for all the info! So helpful!

 

I do have a question: I am planning to give my bridesmaids Visa gift cards to use however they see fit in Mexico. They will have the option to use at the spa or for excursions, or whatever. Does anyone know if the spa, or anywhere on property, takes payment by form of Visa gift cards? I have emailed the spa back and forth but I dont think they understand what I mean by Visa gift card! Visa gift cards work exactly the same as a Visa credit card, though, right? I am hoping it wont be a problem... Please help if you can clarify!! Thanks

[May12]

Hi again!

I've had some requests for CECO Terrace pics and the bar there I hope these help... these are clearly NOT the edited pics, and some from our guests, but it should give you an idea of the space...

 

In the background is the veranda that is used as the dance floor

 

 

at the bar inside. In the back left of the pic is where the DJ was set up. The MC was outside with a mic. Something important to note. It was POURING the day of our wedding so everything was set up inside, and our cocktail hour was going to be under the veranda. (The ceremony was almost NOT at the gazebo but in the covered area of the resort!) Well, it stopped raining a couple of hours before the wedding, they squeegied the sidewalk and hustled to get the gazebo set up. At the last minute, they moved our cocktail hour BACK to the X-Lounge and while we were there moved our reception back outside!! Talk about working their butts off!! It was a surprise for us...I still thought it would have to be inside-they have to make that decision by 3pm. SO with all of the movement, the DJ still had to stay put inside because they were already set up. It worked out well with them and the bar inside. 

 

behind them are the doors (open) that lead to the veranda/dance floor 

 

FULL bar...

 

To the right of the pic and around the corner are the bathrooms....bar was conveniently located on the way!

 

Where they do the cake cutting. Behind us is our sweetheart table, and the lights above are the entrance to the resort. the CECO Terrace sits below. You can't see it from the entrance unless you look over the side...and know it's there. 

 

 

 

 

 

Guests walking in...

 

 

Wedding party announcements/entrance...

 

 

With the DJ, they provide lighting, and there should have been these cool pillar lights right at the beginning of the Terrace area, after the path in, but because of the wind/rain situation, they couldn't be set up for us. Ask about them if you have DJ Mannia.

 

 

to the right of the veranda were tables set up to hold the sign in book, postcards, maracas, sparklers and pics of some past loved ones who were there in spirit! Notice to the back of the table (and to the right in the pic above) there is more space for tables if you have a larger crowd

 

The pics of our family who had passed had to lay down because the wind was blowing them over...NOT EXACTLY, what my vision was...

 

You can see the table in the back.

 

 

 

 

 

The DJ will bring props of all kinds if you want them. I said ok to the balloons and everyone had fun with them. BTW, my Man of Honor won the "Moves like Jagger" dance we had going on...

 

Sparklers were a must! Still surprised no one caught on fire!

 

We did a traditional dance the do at weddings where the groom holds the bride's veil and everyone dances through you...there were chairs to stand on, but we ended up sitting down and turning it into a conga line...

 

leaving the reception at the last song...

 

The CECO Terrace during the day looking down from the main entrance

 

 

the path in...

[May12]

From the other side of the veranda. behind us is where the tables were set up

 

Our sweetheart table

 

We had 31 people, 5 tables and a sweetheart table-6 people per table and they were comfortable....I wouldn't seat over 8 per table, they're not that big.

 

Still plenty of room for more tables. To the left of this pic is where they usually set up the bar. Again, ours was insides because of the rain earlier, and it would have taken too much time to move it last minute. I liked having it inside, so it all worked. Let your WC know your preferences. You'll talk about the set up beforehand, but will do a seating chart within the month before your wedding. 

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