Moon Palace Cancun Mexico April 11, 2009 **PRO PICS added to 1st post 5/7/09**

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COCKTAIL HOUR:

 

 

Location: Tucan Garden

 

Price: Because we booked more than 10 rooms for three nights, we received the cocktail hour for free.

 

Also, since we had the free wedding package that includes free champagne at ceremony, I just asked her to provide it at the cocktail hour. The Tucan Garden is right next to the stairs where I got dropped off for the ceremony, so it worked out.

 

Time: The cocktail hour was supposed to start at 6:00 p.m. but since we expected the ceremony to end early at 5:30, Lily opened up the bar at 5:45.

 

Décor: since my cocktail hour started later, we didn’t need umbrellas (cost of umbrellas $25.00)

 

Food: We choose the MEXICAN HORS D'OEUVRES

 

bolitas de queso con chipotle / cheese truffles flavored with chipotle chile

sombrero salami / salami sombrero

sopecitos mexicanos / mexican sopecitos

quesadillas de queso y champiñones / cheese and mushroom turnover

sincronizadas de jamon y queso/ ham and cheese sincronizadas

tacos de pollo / chicken tacos

 

 

We added guacamole con totopos / guacamole with tortilla chips and Lily didn’t charge us extra.

 

People really enjoyed the sopes. I didn’t try any of the food because I was busy taking pictures with people.

 

Music: DJ Packet (Number AUX1= 4 hours), 1 hour for Cocktail hour, 3 hours for the reception. We brought CD’s for DJ to play our music. We paid $1265usd for the 4 hours hours of music and the addition of lights (Highly recommend the extra lighting).

 

The Music was great because the garden and the terrace are right next to each other, so there was no break in music, it was seamless.

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RECEPTION

 

 

Location: Tucan Terrace (Private Function)

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Entrance: We had the DJ tell the guests to sign our guest book Picture Frame that was located in a cocktail table at the entrance before the start of the dinner. The people left the cocktail party and all entered the reception at the same time.

Food: We choose the Mayan Buffet. We added the following items to the menu:

 

Caesar Salad, Frijoles Charros (beans), Guacamole and chips, cheese quesadillas (for vegetarian guest), Coffee/Tea.

 

Again, we were not charged for the extra items. She said the chef had said they could provide extra items so long as they were in the wedding menus, so combining stuff, as we did. Apparently the manager was the one that made the decision not to charge us for the extra food items.

 

I liked the Guacamole and rice a lot. I didn’t eat much, so can’t really say how the food was LOL

 

Bar: Open Bar, and they serve you champagne and any drink you want during dinner. We had about 4 servers. We tipped every server 100 pesos.

 

Decoration:

 

 

 

Tables: I wanted rectangular tables. Before our meeting with lily, I went over to the area and analyzed the set-up. I decided that I was going to put the tables in such a way that people were facing the ocean, or where the ocean was the backdrop.

 

The tables were set up in an L shape. The long table was for 20 people and that included the wedding party and parents. The other table was 11 people, it included the rest of the guests and photographers.

 

As I mentioned before, they charge per table of ten for private functions, so we had 31 people, but were only charged for 3 tables, each table at 400. I was very thankful for this.

 

 

Table Linen:

During my meeting with Lily I provided her with ribbon for the cake, which matched the color of the dress for my bridesmaids, she said she was going to try to obtain table linen that matched the ribbon, and she did I was soooooooooooooooooo very happy.

The cost of the linens were 36-40 each. I think we had about 4 linens.

 

 

Centerpieces:

 

 

I wanted short stem Hot Pink Roses (color like my bouquet) to be placed in a square vase. They ended up also putting rocks at the bottom of the vase which was a nice touch because it gave it a beach feeling to them. The rose centerpieces were $66 each. We had four in the big table and 3 in the small table. In retrospect I should have had more roses 

 

They hired Zuniga to decorate the tables, so they added greenery to the center pieces, the total cost of the greenery was about 100-200 dollars.

 

We had tea lights in square hurricane holders, each holder was $11 dollars.

 

 

Wedding Favor

 

 

We provided the Something Blue Candle, which went well with my blue theme. I told Lily to place it in every plate, on top of the napkin which was to be wrapped around the plate.

 

We obtained the wedding favor from: Wedding Favors

 

I personalized them by placing a label at the bottom of the box. Bought the labels (in Aruba color) at My Own Labels | Custom Labels, Personalized Favor Tags, Coasters, Bookplates, Note Cards, Place Cards

 

Place Cards:

 

I made my own place cards, I bought the template at Staples and printed them out (cheaper than Moon and not too heavy for transport). They were placed inside the napkin because it was too windy, so if you are getting place cards get something really sturdy, or get place cards that can be placed inside the napkin like mine.

 

Chairs: Plain white chairs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SETTINGS2.ppt

Private Events and Dinning Information.xls

DJ Package.xls

Fireworks price list.doc

Music and Entertainment.DOC

[Soon To Be Mrs. Gomez]

Thanks for sharing. Your dress bustle is gorgeous. Congrats!!!!!

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Cake:

 

 

My only regret from wedding involved the cake. I was just embarrassed by the way the cake came out. I gave the coordinator a picture of what I wanted, and they followed what I told them, but their execution was just bad, they placed the ribbon on the cake crooked. The cake was watery, it looked really ugly. TO make matters worse, it was placed on top of foil paper, oh my god I was sooooooo embarrassed. Granted I was afraid of this, so one day I went searching for cake stands, went to downtown Cancun, walmart etc, NO cake stands, so please please bring your own cake stand.

 

Also, if I had to do it again, I would have just gone with the blue cake on the menu, I guess they have experience doing those cakes so they would turn out better.

 

The cake also didn’t take very good and didn’t have the strawberries. I can say this was my only let down of the wedding, but it was very miniscule problem.

 

Anyhow, the cake was $210 dollars plus 65 dollars for the hot pink roses on top.

 

Music: they played our songs, although sometimes they wanted to play their own, but I made it very clear that my husband was going to have a fit if that happened, so they played all my songs. They also announced the bouquet toss, bride and groom dance etc. We tipped each DJ 100 pesos.

 

Fireworks: In our welcome letter, we said that there was going to be a surprise at 9:45 p.m. at the ceremony, this was fun because it was a topic of conversation and excitement throughout the vacation leading to the wedding. At 9:45 the DJ asked people to look at the moon to see the surprise we had for them. The DJ started to play Rocky music and the fireworks began, people really loved them!!!

 

We got the package of 12 Multicolor roundshells for $1,1193.50 usd.

 

Video Here:

 

Ray and Rosa Wedding :: MOV01735.flv video by cutierosie77 - Photobucket

 

 

MENU BODAS2008.doc

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PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER:

 

 

 

We used Del Sol Photography, they are outside photographers based out of the Riviera Maya. Their pictures are absolutely gorgeous and they were just voted top 10 photographers in the world!!! They were excellent to work with, they arrived early (both of them Sol and Matt). Sol took pictures of me while I was changing etc and pictures of my dress, shoes, bridesmaids getting ready. Matt took pictures of the groom and groomsmen getting ready. They worked really well together, they are very friendly, and their work speaks for itself. Check them out here: del Sol Photography

 

I know that the Moon has a no vendor policy, but if they are your guests, i.e. they either purchase a day pass (9 am to 11pm) for 100 bucks around per person, or they stay there for a night, they will not have a problem. I actually got them a room because two photographers were coming and I wanted to make sure that they didn't encounter a problem. If you are getting a pass for your photographers just make sure you give your WC in mexico their name so they don't have a problem getting into the resort etc. My photographers were not harassed and had a good time enjoying the room. We treated them as our guests and had place seatings for them etc.

 

I didn't want to go with the resort photographer because while their pictures were nice, I liked Del Sol's pictures better, and unlimited pictures, and a slideshow, and 6 hours of coverage in order to cover the getting dressed portion of the wedding.

 

Anyway, I highly recommend del sol, in fact, I found them in this forum and they have a link here of all of their work at different resorts in the Riviera Maya. Sol Tamargo & Matt Adcock's slideshows of Resorts in the Riviera Maya 8000+ photos

 

I honestly can't recommend them enough, they were great, Sol even helped me try to put on my eyelashes LOL

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THE HOTEL:

 

 

Grand Moon: I spent most of my time in the pool at the Grand Moon, there are chairs available all the time, they have cabanas, the pool is an infinity pool and it is much quieter than the Nizuc. Most of our guests hung out here as there was enough space for everyone at the pool to sit next to each other. They also have a restaurant next to the pool, if I wasn’t getting married, I would stay in this side of the resort.

 

Sunrise: The Sunrise side is where the kids playground/pool is and LOTS of action.

 

Nizuc is where I had all my rooms blocked. It was convenient for the wedding as it was close to the wedding events, wedding dept, salon, my rehearsal place. They had the Mexican a la carte place (called Los Caporrales) which had better food than most places, and had Mexican mariachi hats to try on and take pictures with. They have Karaoke by the pool at night, and other events depending on the day of the week.

 

Shuttle Service: I got a shuttle from the Nizuc lobby to the Sun Palace. The shuttle picks you up at Noon or 2 p.m., make sure you are there early because they get filled fast.They pick you up at 4 and 6 p.m., so if you leave at noon you must be back by 4 p.m. It is very convenient, and since it is free there is no complaints. Actually the shuttle is not a shuttle per se, it is a charter air conditioned bus, with comfy chairs.

 

 

OTHER PALACE RESORTS IN CANCUN:

 

Sun Palace: I spent a day at the Sun Palace as that hotel is more like the type of hotel I would book as it is adults only, quiet, the beach is amazing, not as nice for weddings as it doesn’t really have palm trees and areas for wedding receptions.

 

Beach Palace: very modern place, but they have NO beach. They have a view of the ocean, but you can’t hang out by the beach because it is in a cliff with high riptides crashing against the rocks.

 

Cancun Palace: smaller than the Moon Palace, their beach is now gone because of the hurricane.

 

For weddings, the Moon Palace is the best hands down, there is no competition whatsoever.

 

CHECK OUT OF HOTEL:

 

You need to call the bell hop to come and get your bags, you reserve them for a specific time, just call the bell hop extension.

 

Check out of the hotel was a MAJOR HASSLE our check out was about 20-30 minutes long. We asked for the bill 2 hours before check out to review it, when we noticed that we were not given a credit for the deposit of the room block. So, we e-mailed our coordinator in Miami, since she was not the one that did the room block apparently she didn’t know about the deposit we had made, and therefore had not issued us a credit to our check out bill or our credit card. Thankfully check out was Monday and we checked out on time to coordinate with the Miami office, the coordinator then e-mailed us and said she had fixed it. We go and check out hoping that we have a credit posted to our bill, and they look and look and can’t find it. So the manager calls Miami and they don’t know what is going on. The manager was claiming that there was a credit in the bill already, but I told her we were supposed to have two credits, one credit for the actual room we paid, and one credit for the room block deposit. At the moon palace, your bill starts with a credit, whatever you paid for your room, and from there they deduct your costs, and the daily charge of the room.

 

Basically, turns out that the person in Miami had given the credit to our wedding account number, but Moon Palace charges all the wedding stuff in one bill in the room account number. So they had to transfer the credit from the wedding master account to the room account number. I asked if instead of this nonsense, they would just credit it to the credit card, but it was not possible as they had already issued the credit. I had no idea that there were two accounts, one wedding and one room.

 

To make matters worse, since we had left a credit card at check in, they were charging everything on a daily basis. I told the guy at check out that we had already paid for everything and he said no you have not. The FREAKING IDIOT decided not to listen to me, and charged my credit card the entire bill TWICE. The card declined as he was charging us our wedding costs twice, so he said your card declined and I was like yeah you F*********** Moron cuz you already charged us once, so the manager said let me see here, so he said “OHHHH I didn’t know you had given a card at check in.†I told him “I told you, you had already charged our credit card, and you decided to do it again.â€

 

Even now, our credit card cannot be used because one of the charges is listed as pending, while the other cleared out.

 

TIP: if you gave a deposit for the room block make sure they credit it to your credit card immediately or to the PROPER account, which is the room account not the wedding account.

 

Anyway, they fixed the accounting issue, so we got our credit, and everything else was smooth, they even allow you to use the facilities after you check out even without your bracelet. So you can enjoy the facilities after noon (check out time).

 

After check out, we got a cab back to the airport, they have cabs lined up so the wait was like a minute wait, pretty smooth.

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Welcome Bags (OOT Bags):

 

 

People absolutely loved the OOT bags. My idea was to provide items that the Moon Palace didn’t provide in their rooms, so here’s a list of what the Moon Palace provides:

•Toothpaste

•Bubble Bath

•Toothbrushes

•Lotion

•Shampoo & Conditioner

•Razors

•Vanity Kit: q tips and cotton balls

 

These were the contents of my welcome bags/OOT bags:

 

 

oBeach Bag: Everyone loved this bag because it is big enough to be a carry on bag as well, it has a zipper, outside bags, a little bag inside for money, the inside has a plastic cover to protect the bag and easy clean up. I thought about a personalized bag, but didn’t like most of them and the ones I like cost too much. This one cost only $5.00. To personalize these bags, I made tags, with people’s names on them, it said “Welcome X To Cancun!†and the bottom of the tag it had our names and wedding date. I tied them to the bag with ribbon and this was very helpful for the bell hop in his delivery of the bags. I bought them at:

Super-Size Microfiber Tote Bag with Large Front Pockets #LT227-Dark Blue Stripe

 

oWater Bottles Personalized with our motif bought at discountmugs.com

 

 

oLunch Bags/Cooler (insulated lunch bags) Personalized with our motif bought at 99 cent stores, each was 99 cents, I ironed on them the motif with iron-on stuff bought at staples. I thought this would be good if people wanted to go on excursions were food was not provided.

oT-shirts with our motif, bought t shirts for $2.00, and ironed our motif, each shirt said Cancun, 4.11.09

oSunglasses: I got a lot on ebay of 40 sunglasses for 35 dollars, it included really pretty aviator and light pink glasses.

oToiletry Bag: I put the medicine kit in an aqua organza bag that contained Sunscreen SPF 30 1.89, insect repellent and Advil. I bought these at Minimus - For All Your Travel Size Item Needs

oCandy: An organza bag filled with chocolates and gum: Since it was easer weekend, it had chocolate easter eggs, easter bunnie confetti in aqua and silver. I bought the candy and organza bags at Dollar Tree, and the confetti at the 99 cent store)

oLight Blue Towels tied with a double faced satin ribbon. I wanted a stuffer since the bags were pretty big, so I added these towels even though the Moon Palace had these already.

oWelcome Letter: I made a welcome letter detailing the events, and contact information, the letter itself had our motif and was printed in cream resume paper. This was placed inside an aqua envelope with a map of the resort, and a map of cancun. The envelope was sealed with a label that had our names. I bought the label at My Own Labels | Custom Labels, Personalized Favor Tags, Coasters, Bookplates, Note Cards, Place Cards

 

 

From all the items, people didn’t really use the water bottle, or the mosquito repellent or the towels, but I saw people using everything else. I wish I had added aloe vera sunburn lotion because many people bought this or needed it.

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BRIDAL ACCESSORIES:

 

Bridal Dress:

 

 

 

Custom Made. I picked out parts of the dresses I liked and put them together into my dress. I went to several stores, tried stuff on, and then realized I had to make my perfect dress that nobody else would have. I drew the dress I wanted, I told the dress maker the material to use, showed pictures of things I liked, and the dress maker did it. It is a risky move as the dress may not turn out the way you want it, in fact, my dress came back not looking exactly what I wanted and took it to two different tailors to finally get what I wanted. At the end, I paid less than at most department stores and got a dress that was one of the kind that I can call MY wedding dress. To minimize the risk, I had a back up dress just in case, it was a very inexpensive dress, I didn’t have to use it because my dress turned out to be my dream wedding gown. Even with my back up dress, I paid less than 2k for the whole ordeal (dress maker and tailor). The dress took two months to make, although you can pay a rush fee to have it shipped faster.

 

 

Veil: VeilUbridal.com (very nice and inexpensive)

 

Bridal shoes:

 

 

I bought the shoes (without the broche) Bellissima Bridal Shoes: The Source for Designer Wedding Shoes, they are satin touch-ups, dyable. Tip: Use them before the wedding to break them in, because they hurt the first time you wear them.

 

 

 

Bridal Handbag:

 

I bought it at David’s bridal, added the broche to match shoes.

 

Broches:

 

 

I bought 5 broches made of swarovski crystal on e-bay, I used these to put it on my shoes, handbag, and one as a gift to my wedding coordinator.

 

 

Earrings: Bought them at Macy’s.

 

 

Bracelet: Bought them at Macy’s.

 

 

Engagement Ring: Cushion cut, on crown setting, pave band. Custom made in San Francisco, at Dublin & Company.

 

 

Wedding Band: Custom made in San Francisco, at Dublin & Company.

 

 

Bridal Wear: I bought a shirt that said Mrs. Gallenberg, yoga pants that said Bride09 at this place

BridalPartyTees- Bridal, Wedding, Shower, Party: T-shirts (recommend the shirts, the yoga pants not so much because the writing was not great)

 

Lingerie: Yandy.com (very fast shipment, good deals)

 

GROOM ACCESSORIES:

 

 

Suit: Paul Smith

Shirt: Paul Smith

Cufflinks: Ted Baker

Sandals: Kenneth Cole

Wedding Band: Scott Kay

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BRIDESMAIDS ACCESSORIES:

 

 

Dresses: Bought them through lightinthebox.com it takes about 4-6 weeks to get them back. They are inexpensive (but the shipping is expensive since it comes from China), you just need measurements. I chose the blue color on the palette, they don’t make custom colors. I had them tell me what kind of dress they wanted and I paid for them as a gift.

 

Jewelry: I wanted a Breakfast at Tiffanny’s feel, so I bought them pearl sets of earrings, necklace, and bracelet, each set for about $25.00 at this place Endless Occasions

 

Gift: We paid for one night of their stay at the resort. We did it through Miami days before we left to Cancun, so it would be a surprise. We notified them of this gift, in a thank you note that we put in our OTT bags.

 

 

GROOMSMAN ACCESSORIES:

 

 

 

They chose their own clothing. The Groomsman in the middle of this picture had the following items: Shirt by 7 Diamonds, Pants Tommy Bahama, shoes Banana Republic

 

 

FLOWER GIRL ACCESSORIES:

 

 

Halo: Wedding Favors - Wedding Party Favors - Favor Ideas and Decoratons

 

Basket: I made it.

 

 

RING BEARER ACCESSORIES:

 

 

Sea Shell for rings: Very pretty, it took about 3 weeks to receive it apparently because it is hand made. beachweddingwhimsy.com

 

MOTHER OF THE BRIDE ACCESSORIES:

 

 

Dress: Macys

Shoes: David’s Bridal (her shoe size is 4 ½, so only children sized shoes fit her, so David Bridal has nice wedding shoes for flower girls that fit my mom). The shoes were very inexpensive at about $30.00

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OTHER DECORATIONS FROM USA TO MEXICO:

 

 

Cake Knife & Champagne Glasses Set

 

 

 

(bought in downtown Los Angeles, you can buy similar at Walmart, I made the ribbon from double faced satin)

 

I highly advise you take a cake stand!!! The one the Moon Palace provides is NOT really a cake stand but some plate covered with foil paper.

 

 

Guest Book Picture Frame & Easel (Frame: SalinePictureFrame.com, Easel: Easels - Display Easel - Decorative Easels - Artist Easels - Office Easel)

 

 

 

 

Wedding Ceremony Program Fans (I Made it): I bought thick paper from Blick, Ribbon from the Ribbon Store, and the popsicle sticks that had stars at the top (my motif) at the Blick art store.

 

 

WEDDING WEBSITE:

 

I used weddingwindow.com

 

They give you a free trial period, it was very easy to use, it looked professional, it provided an RSVP section, it gave you alerts when people RSVP’d, you could put music, album etc, I also put polls and people loved the polls, specially one where we provided them a poll as to where we should go for our honeymoon, people were competing to have the most votes for the place they wanted us to go for our honeymoon. It was actually quite funny that people took the polls very seriously, and religiously voted for certain polls. Obviously this was good as people came back to our website, which was the goal of the polls, I updated them every so often so that people would continue to come.

 

I think for a destination wedding, a website is so important, and people really enjoy it.

 

It was about 10 dollars a month (for 6 months) and it was worth every penny!

 

STATIONARY

 

Save the Date: I used a magnet, from magnetstreet.com, people LOVED IT, they put it on their fridge and constantly reminded them of our wedding. The color also matched my wedding colors and we placed our picture in the center.

 

Here’s the magnet we used:

Save The Date Magnets - Surrounded by Love

 

Invitations: we didn’t send any and some people got confused because they didn’t know they had to RSVP on our website, apparently they were waiting for the invitation. So, we sent a reminder, with our wedding motif which was the sea star, it looked like an invitation. The reminder asked people to RSVP and book their room by a deadline. This was less costly, and served as a reminder.

 

In restropect, instead of just putting our website underneath our save the date magnet, we should have put RSVP at blahblah.com to avoid any RSVP confusion and then sent the reminder. I highly recommend the reminder with a deadline because people booked much faster.

 

Ceremony Program: I made my own ceremony program fans.