Blue Parrot Wedding Review

[heathernandmike]

Hi all,

 

Sorry for the much delayed review, we've been so busy since we returned from our January wedding at the Blue Parrot in Playa del Carmen.

 

Overall, we had a great experience with Blue Parrot. Paula, for the most part, was very helpful and attentive. I did have some problems getting in touch with her the last month before my wedding, which was very stressful - and the funny part is that I was trying to figure out how to pay them! She said she was very busy with New Years planning...Paula has been with Blue Parrot for many years, so that is a good thing to know that she most likely wouldn't be leaving like so many coordinators do. But overall, planning the wedding mostly thru the internet and email was successful for us.

 

For a brief recap of our wedding, we arrived about a week before and stayed at the Playa Palms just a few steps from the Blue Parrot. We had a great experience at the Playa Palms, the rooms were great, the balconies all had great views, and it was right on the beach. The staff was very helpful and attentive.

 

We arrived the Sunday before our wedding. We spent a few days with close friends who decided to make a week out of the wedding, and then other friends and family started to arrive on Wednesday. On Wednesday night we took our friends and family who had arrived to dinner at Yaxche which was amazing. Ask to be seated in the courtyard if you go, and be sure to make reservations in advance. And, be sure to order the Mayan coffee, it's quite a show to watch them make it! I highly recommend Yaxche for a pre wedding dinner, and the courtyard would be amazing for a rehearsal dinner.

 

On Thursday night, we reserved the carribbean carnival booze cruise for all of our guests. The cruise involved a boat ride with lots of booze to an island, then dinner and an interactive show (we were pulled onstage because someone told them we were getting married) and more booze on the way back. It was fun! A little cheesy and the booze was of course very low quality hangover inducing, but it was a good time.

 

On Friday, the boys and the girls separately did ATV tours. This, besides getting married, was one of my favorite parts of our trip! I had never ridden an ATV before so I was a bit nervous at first, but I got used to it in no time and EVERYONE who did it had a total blast. We were covered in mud in the end but it was worth it. Our tour took us to a cenote where we went snorkeling, as well as thru the jungle.

 

On Friday evening we held a cocktail reception on the beach at our hotel. The reservations associate, Tatiana with Playa Palms, helped us set this up. She arranged for tables and a bartender, they set out chairs and candles on the beach, and we bought some beer and alcohol at the local Walmart and had a very cheap but fun cocktail reception. This was followed by dinner at Alux Cave. The atmosphere of this place was amazing - there are a series of caves that are lit with colored lights, cool furniture, a belly dancer, cool chandeliers...it was stunning. The food was pretty good, not the best, and to be honest the service was really slow and left a lot to be desired...but I think it was worth it for the experience of eating dinner in an awesome cave. I recommend it, just plan to spend several hours there.

 

After dinner on Friday we did a mezcal tasting at a cute, tiny bar on the main drag in town called La Botica. They have all sorts of flavored mezcals that you can try. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it! Mezcal is a more pure form of tequila and all of our friends who came along to the bar really loved it! We also bought the cutest little bottles of the flavored mezcal, added little tags, and put them in everyones room before they checked in with little custom shot glasses. They were a hit!

 

Our wedding on Saturday was more than I could have asked for. I wanted the look of our wedding to be very modern and clean, and it really turned out better than I could have expected. The florist that Blue Parrot uses is awesome, he can copy almost any arrangement you send photos of, so long as he can get those flowers. I sent over several arrangements that I liked during the planning stages and he let Paula know which options he could do, and the prices, and we decided from there. The arrangements we chose turned out even better than I even imagined. I guess I didn't have high expectations because of other floral arrangements I had seen from Mexico weddings, but he blew my expectations out of the water.

 

It started raining just a few minutes before the ceremony but it was only a brief shower and we were able to proceed with the ceremony on the beach. We had the florist also make the canopy for the ceremony which we loved.

 

We had cocktail hour right after the ceremony and I will say the drinks were pretty good. We had two signature drinks - the tamarind margarita which I highly recommend you try, and a signature martini which Blue parrot made from a recipe I gave to them.

 

For dinner we chose the flank steak and the chicken breast with poblano sauce. The food was decent - maybe not the most amazing meal ever but our guests were pretty happy. They were also a little drunk so I don't think it would have taken much to please them!

 

We had tres leches cake which wasn't as good as I assumed it would be given we were in Mexico (I've had better here in Texas) but it was decent.

 

The DJ was good - we basically picked all of our own music and he played it from our IPOD...that way we got to play a bunch of old fun 80's stuff and some fun dance music.

 

After the party ended we had a reserved area at Blue Parrot on the balcony upper area where those who wanted to could stay and lounge.

 

On Sunday, a small group of people who hadn't left yet and us went to Hidden Worlds Adventure Park. I highly recommend it for guests who are a little adventurous! We went rapeling into a cave, zip lining right into a cenote, cenote snorkeling, riding sky bikes thru the trees, etc. It was so much fun!

 

We honeymooned in Isla Mujeres which I highly recommend if you would like a very low key, laid back honeymoon! We stayed at Ixchel Beach condos which are right on the beach and very close to the main part of town, and they were cheap at just $99/night.

 

Now for photos of it all! I've posted photos some detail photos and fun photos here

 

And you can see the amazing photos from my official photographer Gia with Red Fly Photography, and from my amazing wedding photographer friends who were guests at the wedding here

 

I think that's all for now. If anyone has any specific questions feel free to email me, [email protected].

 

Best,

Heather Banks

[iberostar09]

Thanks for sharing! I have been to Alux, it was so cool inside!! Congrats again!

[KLC77]

Your photos are fantastic!

[beach2009]

Congrats Heather! Looks like you had a beautiful wedding.

[Erika J]

You guys looked like you had an amazing time and what FAB pics. I looked at them 3 times over

[iwantadreamswedding]

great pics!

[Ana]

Your pictures are amazing!!! CONGRATULATIONS

[jdrewett]

Thanks for the review. We are considering Playa Palms for our group accommodations. We are still deciding if we want to do a reception in front of Playa Palms or at Blue Parrot, so this post was very helpful. Let me know if you have any other feedback regarding either one.

[speedy130]

You look amazing! I am getting married in Playa del Carmen, so it is great to hear about all the places we need to go. I might be in contact with you about some of the group outings you did.

 

Congrats!!!!

[poohshek]

Love all your pictures!!! Your entourage got some serious camera equipment and it shows in the pictures!!! Congratulations!!!