Excellence Playa Mujeres Brides Post Here!

[MsHarryWinston]

Ha ha ha I work for a major high end hotel chain and it's slow season for us as well. I am most definitely hijacking her email at this time of year on purpose! Hahaha.

[Amanda Gardner]

Lenny is my coordinator and she has been great! We also booked our wedding approx a year in advance. 64 days to go!!!

[MsHarryWinston]

Ok so Llenny got back to me this morning appologising about the mistype. She meant as of Dec 20 you can book for 2015, so yaaaaay! I have all the information I need to know it's just a waiting/save money game

[ExcellenceBride]

Originally Posted by Amanda Gardner 

 

Lenny is my coordinator and she has been great! We also booked our wedding approx a year in advance.

64 days to go!!!

 

Right behind ya...I'm getting married March 28th! I feel like it's creeping up. Where are you having your wedding/reception? I'm being optomistic about the weather, nothing else we can do but be hopeful

[May12]

Hey MsHarryWinston!

First, welcome to the forum.....it was such a great info tool for me while planning the tail end of our wedding, and these Ladies are amazing!

There is no bonfire at Excellence, but there is at The Beloved, their sister property right next door. I wanted a bonfire BAD as an after party for the wedding but in hindsight, hardly anyone would have been there. We ended the reception at 11:30 and most people were beat and went to bed, the other few went with us to the Disco. You can also extend your reception and keep the party going!

The other "bonfire" idea was to have it for the welcome cocktails, but we ended up doing it for free at the X-Lounge, which was really perfect!

As for how many guests come....We were engaged a little over 2 years before the wedding, threw a Mexican themed engagement party that summer and told everyone to start saving. Well......if everyone who said they were coming really did, we'd have had 80 people there. In actuality, we had 31...a great crowd with our closest friends and some family. What we realized, is a lot can happen over the course of 2 years-lost jobs, babies, pregnancies, break ups, and other life or financial changing events that happen...not to mention that MANY people procrastinate and will not be saving money from 2 years out. The group that comes will have a blast, and you can't worry about everyone else.

Excellence PM is AMAZING, and everyone that went said the bar was raised for types of vacations they should take, and it was the best wedding they'd been to. The resort is ALL about pleasing you and your guests, and the wedding coordinators will do almost anything you ask and are there to make your wedding perfect! We worked with Nayeli primarily during the planning (and I LOVE her!!), but Lleny was also there for the meeting when we got there that week and also throughout the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception, who is also fantastic!

Where you have your wedding should reflect you and your husband to be, and if it's the right place, it will just click! Those who travel to be there with you, will do it for you wherever you happen to have it, and price won't be a make or break situation.

What we did was tell our guests on the invitations and our website that all accommodations should be booked at Excellence and had them contact our travel agent for arrangements. Laura Sangster was (and still is) our travel agent and she's fantastic. The former wedding coordinator at EPM referred her to us, so she is very familiar with the resort. We ended up getting a block of rooms for 3 days (you need to make sure you'll have at least 10 rooms booked). Of course, guests could extend that time at the same rate. 8 people did chose to stay there longer, but others stayed in another hotel (Marriott Casa Magna-which is not all inclusive) in the Cancun hotel zone, prior to coming to EPM. This way they could save a bit of money, but still extend their trip. (but most people spent just as much if not more than EPM when all was tallied up) We had all of our guests checked in at EPM by Thursday for our Welcome cocktails and the other activities we planned from Thursday to Sunday.  Hence, no day pass charges for any of the guests!

You will pay for your room up front before you leave,and all of the wedding "stuff" will be itemized for you and you pay at check out. If you go with the in house photographer, DJ, and florist, it will all be on that bill. Additional photos or things you may want to do with the photographer that you decide on last minute you pay to him directly....and he will negotiate!

Remember, things will add up FAST so make sure to get a price quote on EVERYTHING and do your own math. We were pleasantly surprised when our bill was a bit less than we planned, and with the exchange rate, we saved about $1000!!

If you choose EPM, you'll love it! We already have our reservations and flights booked for our 1 year anniversary there in May...can't wait!

 

Good luck and happy planning!!

Sheryl

  

Originally Posted by MsHarryWinston 

Just found out from Lleny that they don't allow private bonfires on the beach!?!?
This was going to be my "THING"! My "thanks for coming out, night after the wedding" thing.
It all seemed so perfect until I found this out...
I really wanted a private bonfire.

[May12]

Hi Amanda!

Customs can be a bit tricky, depending what you're bringing. They did ask us for receipts, but we didn't have any and it didn't matter. They really just want to make sure you are not reselling anything down there. What we did was take everything out of their boxes and containers, and set it up how we would be putting the items into their OOT bags. It made it clear that we were not reselling. We had raffia fans with flowers and ribbon already made up-they didn't care about them, the bottle openers, mints, 5 hour energy, sun "packs", and hangover "packs", we had packed into some of the totes-the didn't really care. We had 8 nice totes for the bridal party and some family members-they poked around a bit more at those. We had 5 Swiss Army backpacks for the groomsmen-we had a bit of a problem with them because they were obviously more expensive. That's where they asked for receipts. Most of the items we split up in different bags so it didn't look like things were in bulk. We were super nice and accommodating, smiling a lot and telling them they were all gifts for our wedding. The other totes for the rest of the guests, and other OOT bag and favor items we purchased while we were down there. Made it way easier.

Just be prepared...if you have a lot of bags, which you probably will, they will go through them all....We had 9 bags total and it took about 15-20 minutes.

 

For the record, this was the ONLY time we were ever stopped at customs with 6 times to Mexico...they didn't even let us hit the "lottery" button to pass through. They saw our bags and ushered us over to a table. Your guests will probably not have any issues getting through.

Originally Posted by Amanda Gardner 

Did anyone have any trouble at the airport going through customs? With your OOT Bags and Items?

[April2013JM]

First of all, I just want to tell everyone 'thank you' for sharing all of your information here, it has been very helpful!  My fiance and I are getting married at EPM on 4.20.13...just 98 days left to go!  We are doing a very small intimate ceremony - my fiance and I (obviously) and both sets of parents.  We will be doing a big party/reception with friends and family once we get back to the states.  

 

One of my first questions is - did or are any of you ship your wedding dress to EPM?  If so - who did you ship it through, cost, any complaints or advice?

 

For the brides that got married or are getting married on the beach - are you wearing your hair up or down?  I am assuming it will probably be windy, so maybe an up-do would work best?  Is anyone getting their hair and/or make up done at the spa/salon at EPM?  I am definitely getting my hair done there, but am going back and forth on whether I should have my make up done there as well or do it myself.

 

Does anyone know what the 'night-life' at the resort is like?  I am expecting it to be fairly quiet - but is there entertainment...people dancing, music etc?  Has anyone ventured into Cancun one night to go out?

 

Thank you so much in advance for your advice.  : )

 

xoxo

Soon to be Mrs. M!  

[MsHarryWinston]

Am I the only one that wishes they could have their ceremony at the E Cancun JUST for that sexy looking beach gazebo, then do everything else at EPM? May12 - I loved the idea of X-Lounge for welcome drinks but that's also where I want to have my cocktail hour because it just looks so chic. So I need to find a different place. I was thinking maybe the Martini Bar? (free). Private cocktail and appy event on property ($800ish), or Sunset Catamaran cruise with appys and open bar ($1400ish). Though with the catameran I worry that it will be better with a full dinner because of the time of day, but wow pricey.

[April2013JM]

Hi Momoarc83!  My fiance and I are getting married at EPM on 4/20/13 as well!  Have you finalized all of your selections etc yet?  Just 96 more days to go!

[Momoarc83]

Hey!! I'm getting married on 4-20-13 too! 5pm on the beach!  We have 80 people coming! I'm wearing my hair half up.  Most brides on here say to wear your hair up because of the wind, but I will chance it because I never wear my hair up...and I would much rather it down. I've heard that the makeup artist there is great and they use good makeup (MAC).  I wil lbe using them for my hair/makeup.  The nightlife is good there.  There are nightly shows at the outdoor theater that usually last until 11:30ish.. The nightly shows are cool-one night there was a Michael Jackson impersonator who was great!  The next night was a fire show with dancing. And the next night, they had a guy playing guitar and singing-he was AMAZING!  Then there is a discotech (bar with dancing) nearby that stays lively until 2am.  When we visited last March, we ended up at the discotech every night almost until 2.  It is small, but not too small. And, it's a lot of fun.  We never left the resort to go to Cancun because the resort is just so amazing.  But, the year before we ventured off to Cancun one night-but regretted it.  It was way too crowded and was silly to spend money when you already have everything incuded at your resort.

 

*Hope to meet you when I'm down there!  What time is your wedding and how many people do you have coming?

Originally Posted by April2013JM 

First of all, I just want to tell everyone 'thank you' for sharing all of your information here, it has been very helpful!  My fiance and I are getting married at EPM on 4.20.13...just 98 days left to go!  We are doing a very small intimate ceremony - my fiance and I (obviously) and both sets of parents.  We will be doing a big party/reception with friends and family once we get back to the states.  

 

One of my first questions is - did or are any of you ship your wedding dress to EPM?  If so - who did you ship it through, cost, any complaints or advice?

 

For the brides that got married or are getting married on the beach - are you wearing your hair up or down?  I am assuming it will probably be windy, so maybe an up-do would work best?  Is anyone getting their hair and/or make up done at the spa/salon at EPM?  I am definitely getting my hair done there, but am going back and forth on whether I should have my make up done there as well or do it myself.

 

Does anyone know what the 'night-life' at the resort is like?  I am expecting it to be fairly quiet - but is there entertainment...people dancing, music etc?  Has anyone ventured into Cancun one night to go out?

 

Thank you so much in advance for your advice.  : )

 

xoxo

Soon to be Mrs. M!