Sunnyee's Bahia Principe Coba Wedding Review

[sunnyee]

Here is my review of our wedding at the Bahia Principe Coba:

 

 

Airline: We booked with Air Transat. Flew out of Toronto. Usual tight seating and only 44 pounds baggage allowance. Spread things around so we did okay going down. Coming back though, we were overweight (darn sand from the sand ceremony!) and were charged $12 per kilo. No biggie, whatever!

 

 

Arrival into Cancun: Cancun airport is Cancun airport. Busy on a Saturday but having done this many times before, we knew what to expect and just went with it. I got the red light and had my bag searched. Easy peasy, no questions asked.

 

Ride to the Bahia: It takes an hour and a half to get to the Bahia from the airport. Our group took the whole bus which was great…no extra stops! Our host served Coronas and water while we celebrated our arrival. That was the fastest bus ride I have ever had…we were having so much fun that the time just flew!

 

Coba Golden Lobby Checkin: A bit chaotic but heck we were a group of 40!! And our rooms were ready which was a bonus. Our room was beautiful as usual with champagne and fruit and flowers waiting for us. The letter informing us of our meeting with Karla the WC was in our check in package.

 

Wedding Coordinator Meeting: I had met Karla back in November when I vacationed with 5 girlfriends. She was delightful then and didn’t disappoint us at our meeting. She is very sweet and knows her job well. We went over the details of our wedding day. I had photos of how I wanted my bouquet to look and photos of how I wanted the table décor for dinner set up. I showed her all of the decorations and she wrote everything down. I was very organized (thanks to this forum!) and the meeting was quick and painless. I had every faith that she would look after all of the details we discussed.

 

Hotel: We had been there 6 times so we had high expectations. Everything was as we have experienced in the past. It is a sprawling beautiful property. Very clean and well kept. Impressive lobbies with huge statues. Friendly people and good food. We enjoy exploring all three resorts and the size for us is not a deterrent. We love to walk and seldom use the tram services. This helps keep all that food and drink from landing on my thighs! We stayed in the Club Golden section of Coba as we enjoy the extra amenities for this section.

 

Our wedding day: I got ready in my MOH’s room and let the hubby look after himself and our three boys. My bouquet arrived and the florist did an incredible job replicating the photo I had provided to Karla. They were beautiful! A close friend of mine did my hair for me. I was pampered and surrounded by my lovely ladies! All of the guests and the Groom met in the Main Coba Lobby and were transported to the wedding location which was the Akumal Beach Hammock site. They sent private transportation for me and my two MOH’s. We arrived at the site and we were greeted by Karla and my flower girl and my three boys. We were hidden from the sight of our guests. Karla lined us all up and reconfirmed our music choices for each section of the ceremony. Then she gave the signal for my two youngest boys to start walking the path to the site, followed by my two MOH’s and then my flower girl. I waited patiently while my eldest son held me together…I didn’t want to cry but I could feel it coming on! It was our turn next and when I rounded the bushes and saw the people it was amazing. Then I saw my hubby to be…he was crying…enjoy every moment ladies, everything seemed a bit of a blur. We had no idea what the ceremony would be like but it was perfect. The Minister was so sweet and he spoke English pretty well…a little broken at times but that only added to his sweetness. The only glitch that I quickly had to avoid was, the Minister was going to perform the Sand Ceremony and I had to quickly substitute one of our Best Men because I wanted him to do it – I had written the ceremony out for him and it was special for us to have him read it…the Minister was okay and crisis was averted!

Everything was awesome…everything we had hoped for! The weather, the execution of the plans, having our friends and families there…simply amazing! We had champagne after the ceremony right there on the beach.

 

Photographer: Our wedding package included 10 free photos. Jose was excellent! He took 88 photos of our ceremony and we purchased all of them on a CD.

 

Dinner: We opted and were given special permission to have our wedding dinner in the Yucatan Tulum Buffet. In keeping with our “casual†approach we felt this was a good choice for our group. We were treated like royalty by the manager, maitre d and the wait staff. They gave us a private cordoned off area of the buffet and it was decorated as I had asked Karla to do at our meeting. We were very pleased! Our dinner was leisurely and informal with no speeches, just food, beverage and mingling. Our cake was small for 38 people, but it was just fine.

 

Mexican Fiesta at the Hacienda don Isabel: We opted not to have a reception and instead treated our guests to the Mexican Fiesta (Thursdays only). There is entertainment like Mexican games and a mechanical bull going on before the show starts. They prearranged seating for our group in the first two rows. The show was good and ended in fireworks. It was a little cool that night and we boosted the shops at the Hacienda with blanket and poncho sales! The disco opened after the show and some of us poured in there and danced until the wee hours.

 

Honeymoon: Everyone left us on the Saturday after the wedding for our honeymoon. This was the very best idea in the whole world! We had a glorious week, just the two of us…I would highly recommend taking an extra week for your honeymoon!

 

Overall experience: Fantastic…excellent…amazing! So glad we went the destination wedding route. It was a special way to celebrate our big day in an interesting and unique way.

 

Thank you to all who have shared their thoughts and ideas to this forum. It was an invaluable tool and a major reason our wedding was so awesome.

 

Cheers,

Sunnyee

[Sax Lady]

sounds like you had a great time. congrats on becoming a mrs.

[KRama]

Yay! I GBP Coba review!! So glad you had an amazing time Sunnyee. I haven't been there myself but I've heard nothing but good things so I'm completely confident that everything will work out wonderfully.

 

Congrats!!

[TATrisha]

Great review Sunnyee!! I'm sure this will help a ton of future brides!

[HereFishie]

Thank you for this great review! We're so excited for our wedding at the Akumal Beach! If you have pictures, I'd love to see them!!!

[Jen_S]

Congrats!! Great review!!

[msamanda]

Great review! I appreciate it as I am considering this my #1 choice for my destination wedding in Feb 2011. I am a bit concerned about the photographer....your review put me a bit more at ease. Thankyou!

[ChristinaG]

Hey Sunnyee,

 

I'm planning to get married in the Mayan Riviera next year (end of April). My fiance and I are heading down next month to check out the Bahia Principe; it seems to be the front-runner in terms of where we plan to get married.

 

Any tips for when we visit next month? Should I make appointments with anyone at the resort such as a wedding coordinator, photographer, etc.?

 

I also noticed you said you loved your photographer? Getting nice photographs is probably one of the only things that is important to me for the wedding, but apparently the Bahia won't allow outside photographers on the premise.... what was the photographer you were given like? Did he get good pics?

 

Also, what about a DJ? We're thinking of hiring a DJ... any tips?

 

Thanks!

ChristinaG

[veralin]

yay~~~

[Josie Fiorda]

congrats! great review