Moon Dance Cliffs

[gs02dnj]

NevermInd I learned the accurate rate.  I also learned I need another TA.

[patpresh]

Hi everyone! This is my first post on BDW, and I'm so thankful for all of the incredibly helpful commments! I am especially excited to learn more about Moon Dance Cliffs from all of you who have had your wedding there. The resort looks and sounds like perfection.

 

That said, I have a few concerns that I'm hoping you all can help me address. We're expecting around 40-50 guests.

 

1. The average age of our guest list is around 28-30, and we expect our wedding to be a very fun party. Based on the reviews I have read to date though, it seems that this resort might "shut down" around 11pm. What do wedding parties do after this time to continue the celebration? We likely won't have the villas, so I'm curious to know more about the beverage and food situation after hours. Are there bars close to the resort?

 

2. For a wedding of our size, can anyone give me a ball-park for what we should expect to pay for the wedding? We'd love to have the live band option for our reception, and an amazing photographer - I plan on spending the most money on these two things, but could be wrong.

 

3. I'm a little concerned with keeping our guests occupied with activities on the days outside of our wedding. Are there activities on the resort? Is it an ordeal to get to/from the resort into a downtown shopping or excursion area?

 

Thank you so much in advance for all your help!!

[jjcc]

Thanks for all the posts!   They are very helpful!  I am getting married at MDC on July 3rd and am so pumped about it!  We are doing an AI buy out!  Jackie,  small world.... My family lives in New Braunfels but I recently moved to Charlotte for my FI's job!  I can not wait to hear about your wedding since it just happened!  I haven't started planning the details yet but have gotten the invitations out, purchased the dress, picked the brides maids dress, and most importantly booked the wedding at MDC!  I hope the details start coming together! 

[HMM 01282012]

Patpresh - Sorry none of us have gotten back to you. Are you doing all-inclusive??

 

To semi-answer your questions:

 

1.) We also have a lot of younger guests, and when I read about the "shut-down" at 11, it worried me a bit as well.  However, we have all the villas so we just figure we'll go hit up the bar in the villas.  So...usually the bride and groom are in a villa...not sure what your plans are for the evening, like if you're going to spend alone time with your hubby or hang out with the party crowd past 11...but you could always hand out a few bottles from your villa bar to the people you know will still be up and partying. 

 

2.)  Sorry for sounding cliche, but you're going to spend whatever you want to spend, and it all depends on how much fanfare you want.  I started to get a pretty good idea about the costs from reading this entire thread, but it really comes together in the last 3 months.  Do you have any specific cost questions?  The live band is $1000 for a 3-hour set, and you can expect a great photographer to be $400-600 per hour.  Have you considered flying down a photographer?  Paying for their stay in return for their services?  I tried that with a few local photographers I found and liked, not a lot of them jumped at the idea, but some were interested.  It's at least an option to consider.

 

Also, be prepared for the floral budget to be one of your biggest spends as well.  I was apparently clueless with my $1000 estimate.

 

3.)  We are planning a welcome party on the night before the wedding, which is the day the majority of the guests arrive.  Then on the wedding day, we have the ceremony and reception. The day after, we have a brunch and then arranged for a shuttle to come and give us a ride to the 7-mile beach, and after 3 hours at the beach, we'll get shuttled over to Rick's cafe for drinks and cliff-diving (shuttle = $8/person).  That's all we have planned, and the beach trip is totally optional.  While you may be concerned with making sure everyone isn't bored, also remember that this is a vacation for everyone.  You want to also consider giving them their own time to do whatever they like.  That said, you know your group of guests-I'm not trying to be rude or preachy-I felt the same way when I was first planning.  Just playing devil's advocate.

 

 

Everyone - I picked up my dress today and I could not be more excited!  We leave Wednesday, and I'll be back early Feb.  I will make sure to let you all know how it went!  <3  You all have helped me so much, I could NOT have planned this without you.  Seriously, all of your comments, ideas, price comparisons, etc have been VITAL to our day coming together.  And at this point, a week out, I can tell you that Kerry really hears every idea, every detail - don't worry when she takes a while to e-mail back, because when it's closer to your time, she's on top of it and responds very quickly.  I can't wait to meet her!

Wish me luck! <3 

[rivieramaya2013]

Hi, everyone! I'm new to the forums...I've chosen to get married at Moon Dance Cliffs in May 2013, and my dad is in the process of negotiating with them right now. I was wondering if anyone knew who I could talk to in order to actually get some discounts on the rooms? Right now, we're dealing Kim, and she's saying that they won't offer any discounts. But that doesn't seem right to me. We're renting out the whole place. Shouldn't they offer some sort of group discount?

 

Thanks so much in advance for any advice, friends!!!! I'm so excited this resource exists!!

[rivieramaya2013]

Oh--and I changed my wedding from Riviera Maya to Jamaica...and I can't figure out how to change my avatar name on this site. Any suggestions there, too?

[MALDJ1]

Hi Rivieramaya 2013,  We are getting married July 17, 2012 at Moon Dance.  I booked the resort thru destinationweddings.com.  We got $60 off a night. ($30 per person) This was a special they had published on their web site.  You could try emailing Lisa (Orma and Lisa). if you look thru this thread she is on here and you could send her a personal email.  She booked the entire resort and worked with the hotel.  I sent her a question and she was very helpful.  Good luck!

[LMC1]

We recently reserved the entire resort for a three night all-inclusive weekend in March, 2013 for our wedding and they really didn't negotiate, they just offered us the current 'special rate'. What are they currently offering you?

[rivieramaya2013]

Hi LMC,

 

Right now, they're not offering any discount at all. They're just going off their posted 2013 rates on their website. I feel like if we're renting the whole place out--during their low season, too--we should at least get the standard group rate of 10% off, but I can't seem to get Kim to budge. I feel like talking to Randy, the owner, would work...but I'm still searching for his email address or phone number...if anyone has it, that would be fantastic!

[LMC1]

Hi Rivieramaya 2013... the rate we booked it at is $204.00 per person/per night for the basic hotel room based on double occupancy. There is also a $15 per room, per night resort fee and 20% tax. I can provide you the rate for the suites and villas if you want them. However since we booked at a 'special rate' we had to put a 20% nonrefundable deposit down for all the rooms for three nights (to secure the rate). We booked while they were running a special rate on their website. I hope you're able to get some sort of discount, especially if you're doing the resort takeover. I am so excited to get married at Moon Dance Cliffs, but it is a little nerve racking trying to figure out how many guests we think will attend!