review of my PV wedding

[guerita]

Hi everyone!

I know I haven't been all that active on the BDW forum, but I thought it might be helpful to post a review of my wedding, which was just 3 weeks ago at the Mayan Palace in PV. I'll try to list things to keep it organized:

 

(1) Our wedding planner: First of all, I need to make sure I mention that Priscilla from Prisar Vallarta was INCREDIBLE! We were so happy we followed her suggestions (like serving dinner before dancing, the ice pops after the ceremony, etc), because every single one of them worked out so well. It was so clear to us that she had worked extremely hard to make sure our wedding went smoothly, and she was even still there at the Mayan at 4am cleaning things up! She went above and beyond! Her 20,000 peso fee (which ended up being about $1, 600 US) was worth every single penny. I would recommend her to anyone...you won't regret it!

 

(2) Happy hour at Los Chilaquiles: On the Friday before our wedding, we had a 2-hr open bar happy hour at Los Chilaquiles restaurant, which is close to the arches on the malecon. The restaurant was very nice, and the view from the patio is incredible (the restaurant's on the 4th floor). Everything was great except...the people we had communicated with in the months leading up to the event had not made it clear that we would have to pay for the number of people we estimated would come, whether or not that many people came. Unfortunately, my husband thought every single member of his huge extended family would be there, so we told them 150 people would come...only 68 were there. I understand that they would have to charge us for the food, since they made enough food for that many people, but it was ridiculous that they charged us for the alcohol, even though they could obviously use those bottles of beer and wine for the customers coming to eat at the restaurant. So we probably wasted $1000 because we were so off on our estimate...so I regret that decision for sure.

 

(3) Maria Reina de la Paz: Our ceremony at the church in the Marina (Maria Reina de la Paz) went well. We met with the priest (Padre Gonzalo) 2 days before and he helped us plan out the ceremony. He had no problem with our request to skip communion, and he was able to do some parts of the ceremony in English for us (although his English was a little difficult to understand...but it was fine). The church is beautiful...the last time we had seen it was Feb '08, when the outside was not yet completed, so we were very pleased with how it turned out. The ceremony was short and sweet (maybe about 30 min), which is exactly how we wanted it.

 

(4) Mayan Palace: Our reception at the Mayan Palace in PV was incredible! We started with a cocktail hour at the Sunset Bar, which is impressive in it's own right, where we were entertained by a fabulous mariachi band. We were nervous that my husband's Mexican relatives would be upset that there was mariachi in the beginning, when they traditionally play at the wee hours of the morning, but no one blinked an eye, and some people actually said they thought it was a good idea to do it that way instead. The dance floor, tables, and food stations were beautifully set up. The water is literally steps away, and the cool breeze off the ocean made it very comfortable. We did have an incident with wedding crashers (it was actually 2 older American couples in shorts and T-shirts...if you're going to crash a wedding, at least look the part!!) who walked off the beach and onto the dance floor, but I dealt with it (I actually told the waiters to alert security, but ended up going up to them myself and explaining that the hotel does head counts, and if they did a random head count and counted them as part of my group, it was going to cost me a lot of money, so they would have to leave...NOW!). The food was incredible-- we did stations, with one station serving grilled shrimp and chicken skewers, and ceviches at another, then crepes for dessert...YUM! All in all, I would HIGHLY recommend the Mayan Palace as a place to have your wedding reception...it was amazing!!

 

I think that's all for now. I can't really give a review of our photographer or our videographer at this time because I haven't seen the finished products, but I can post something once I do. Anyway, hope that helps. Thanks, everyone, for all the great tips I've picked up through this site! It's been a huge help reading through this forum!

[Helen_S81]

Thanks for your review and I'd love to see some photo's when you get them. Congratulations on your wedding!

[Dana_C]

Congrats- I'm glad you had such a great time! Can't wait to see some pics!

[MaryS]

I am getting married at the Mayan too. I am glad to here you had a great experiance.

[edna]

Lisa,

thank you for your wonderful review, we are getting married in the same church and venue as you did and using prisar as well!!! Congrats again and thank you for sharing... don't forget the pics!! LOL

[jmiranda]

Thanks for the review. I would definately love to see pics. Please post.