Scoutley's Bahia Principe Tulum Jan 30 Legal Wedding Review!!!

[scoutley]

We're back, we're married, we're oh so happy we chose to go the destination wedding route!! I hope you enjoy and/or find this review helpful in some way!! We booked and were married at the Bahia Principe Tulum...

 

This is a photo of our OOT bag, with logo drawn by my talented husband. I think one of my favourite parts of the planning was coming up with different things to include in them. People really appreciated them!

 

Resort: Beautiful resort, excellent service for the mostpart. We decided to take an upgrade to Coba (jr. suite with jacuzzi tub). The room was pretty standard, just a little bigger than the Tulum ones. The jacuzzi tub was nice, but we really didn't use it. In hindsight, it would have been way better had we stayed at the same resort as our guests. We thought it might be nice to have a little privacy, but we spent a LOT of time commuting between the two resorts, at least twice a day (after breakfast for the day, then back to change for dinner, then back after evening activities - whew!). We found that although we would have liked to have had a little more time with just the two of us, our guests appreciated that we made an effort spend time with them!!

 

Wedding:

Jazmin: She did a great job. Very direct and organized and I appreciated the fact that she gives you her opinion when asked! I came to the resort still needing to make decisions on what I wanted (flowers, cake etc) and she really helped me decide. She is a very no-nonsense lady, and this helped me keep together emotionally on the big day. Also, when the clouds started rolling in, she was right on top of things, convincing us to move our private dinner inside. Which I didn't want, but we would have been rained out had we stayed with having the dinner outside.

 

Hair and Make-Up: Based on other people's reviews of the hair and make-up done at this resort, I made the decision to go it alone! My BMs helped me with both my hair and make-up, and I think they did a wonderful job. Plus it was FREE!!!

 

Photographer: We had Citlalli of Claudia Rodriguez. She was super nice and very professional. She came to my room while me, my bridesmaids and my Mom were getting ready and was completely non-intrusive. We only hired her for 3 hours, so she also got shots of the ceremony and we did about an hour's worth of photos after the ceremony. We've received the photos and I am so happy beyond words with them. Part of the reason I chose her is because she has a way of capturing emotions in her shots. I think I've thumbed through the album she made for us at least once a day since we got it!! I'm so so glad we paid the extra money for her. She is a very talented lady!!!

 

Flowers: As I said, I arrived without a clear picture of what I wanted. I described colours (bright, no white) to Jazmin and I ended up with the prettiest bouquet ever! I love it!! My bms had the same as me, but smaller. My man and his groomsman had pink (really more purple) orchids. I ordered white orchids for my hair (I ordered one branch, but got two, so lots of flowers to work with). For our parents we had boutennieres and corsages made of gerberas. All were absolutely beautiful!

 

 

Ceremony: I couldn't have asked for better weather!! It was sunny and so so beautiful. At the last minute they decided to change bride/groom sides, so things were opposite to what we'd rehearsed, but it wasn't really a big deal. I found out later that this was to facilitate better photos - because of the way the wind was blowing. I am so thankful for this because it was a little windy and it was nice to not have had to be pulling my hair out of my face. The ceremony length was perfect, we each got to say the vows we'd written to each other, the documents were signed and that was it!! It was over so fast. I 'm thankful I was able to stay in the moment for the ceremony, because I can see how easy it would be to miss it! We chose 4 songs. We played You've Got a Beautiful Nature by Finlay Quaye while the guests were being seated (the golf cart that picked me up was a little late, so I guess the guests were treated to that song over and over and over!!). We walked down the aisle to Sea of Love by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (I walked to the same song as everyone else), which was a perfect song for the setting. We played Somewhere Over the Rainbow, also by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole while we signed the documents. And for the recessional, we chose I'm Yours by Jason Mraz. Really, the ceremony was absolutely perfect in every way!! (We did the legal wedding, which entailed a lot of signing and some thumbprints. A couple of days before the wedding we had to go to the Hacienda to the Doctor where he took blood from each of us. The cost was $90 US and it was quick and easy and very sterile. Easy!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scoutley]

Dinner: It was nice!! The food was amazing. As I said before, while we were taking photos, the dark clouds started rolling in. Jazmin ended up convincing us to move our private poolside dinner inside and eventually we realized that this was the best option, as even if it wasn't raining, it was still quite cool out. So once I accepted this, it was ok. All the guests had reconvened in the lobby bar (or the Office, as it was called for the week!) so they all made their way over to the room for dinner. They did a really good job decorating it and it actually looked quite nice. A couple of the guests were really glad that it ended up being inside, as it was air conditioned! The dinner was fabulous. We chose to do the Taquiza with a couple of modifications. We had fish, chicken, beef and onion and al pastor (on the rotisserie - they were slicing the meat off for each person!!). I don't eat red meat, but apparently it was delicious! I can speak for the fish and chicken though and these were so good! We also had a lady there making fresh salbutes - frying the tortillas as you waited. They were so amazing!!! The dinner came with the warm tortillas, rice, beans, salsas, guacamole and salads. There was probably enough food there to feed about 50 people and if we ran out of anything, it was refilled immediately. The drinks were available all through dinner (beer, tequila, margaritas, pina coladas, and anything else you could make with the ingredients for those things). The service was great, and all in all I am so glad we paid the extra for the private dinner. The general consensus was that the food quality was better than what you get in the a la carte restaurants. DELICIOUS!!!!! Even though we didn't get to eat outside by the pool (one day I'll let it go... lol) it was totally and absolutely worth the extra money for the dinner. I would definitely recommend it. Then you get the privacy for speeches and first dances and the rest of the dances!

 

 

 

This is of us doing our first dance to "Better Together" by Jack Johnston, the salsa version. We found an amazing dance teacher here in Vancouver who choreographed a little routine for us in just four private lessons. Nina from Baila Vancouver is the best!!! Very patient and easy to learn from!

 

Cake: We chose the tres-leches. The cake itself was delicious, I'm just not all that crazy about fondant. I actually wish we had taken some with us because I wasn't able to eat enough because I was full from dinner! You can see it in the photo of us cutting it above!

 

Dance: We hired DJ Bob - I imagine that this is who the resort works with. Because we were inside, we got to use the bubble machine, which was fun! He was great to work with. He played the music we requested during dinner and he worked to get people on the dance floor after dinner. We had a lot of fun!!

 

After: When our time was up in the room, the older people went back to the "office" for a drink and us younger ones headed over to the Hacienda. There was a band playing outside so we danced and danced. DJ Bob turned up there and he even had the band play a song for my new husband and I to dance to! After the band was finished, we danced until 3 in the discotheque. It was so much fun!!!

[TATrisha]

It sounds SO wonderful!!! Congratulations! It makes me want to go back SO badly!!!

[Sunsierra]

Sounds like a beautiful wedding! I loved Citlalli too - such a sweet genuine lady.

 

Oh - post more pics!!!! (Love your bouquet and siggie pic)

[kgeen]

Wow! Thank your for posting. I'm glad to hear that there is a back up plan if the weather doesn't cooperate. Your Signature picture is beautifull I love it with the clouds rolling in on the side mixed with the beautifull blue sky.

[ACDCDCAC]

GREAT review more pics more pics!! so far they are lovely!!

 

ps i have 1 month and 1 week from today and i will be there on my honeymoon! yay!

[calchik]

congrats! you and your wedding were beautiful. i agree with abbie. lets see more pics! your signature pic is gorgeous

 

thanks for such a detailed review. just ups my confidence that our wedding will turn out just as great.

 

i have erick from claudia photography. how long did it take you to get your pics? i have my AHR a month after we get back from mexico so i'm hoping to have my professional pics by then to get them into our slideshow

[JCrosby]

Thanks for your review! It's one of the four resorts I'm looking into. We stayed there last March just on vacation. For all of you that have chosen the GBP, it's SUCH a great resort and the Hacienda is so much fun!

[amesharpe]

Can't wait to see more pics! Your dress is absloutely darling

[mrss2010]

Thanks for the review and your pictures are gorgeous!