2011 & 2012 PLAYACAR PALACE BRIDES!!!!!!

[perry1217]

Thanks for all the tips girls!!!!  It's true - Wilma is a dream to work with, especially compared to the other WCs!  This is kind of a weird question, but how long did the "walk" take.  I'm trying to figure out our processional music.  Thanks!!!  Also, for our welcome cocktail hour - Cielo Terrace or Solarium?  And if Solarium, do they provide chairs?  For a cocktail?  Thanks!!

[pjmendoza]

Thank you Novbride for all this information. My biggest concern is photography right now. I was worried because Wilma informed me that outside vendors are not allowed however you stated that as long as a day's pass is purchased or they stay there they will be allowed. Is that correct? A day's pass is worth paying for to have a professional photographer of my preference take our pictures. After looking at the resorts photographer's portfolio, I wasnt too excited about.  Your pictures are beautifu! As for you chair sashes, are the chair sashes in your pictures for the ceremony were those the ones you purchased or from the resort? I love the way they looked.

Thank you

[Reesespieces]

Thank you so much for sharing the pictures, hstutz2002!  For every day I get frustrated with the resort people for lack of response, I see pics like yours and get excited again. It looked like you went with the complimentary package, but your bouquet was more colorful (what I'm looking for). Was that an upgrade? If so, how much did they charge?

 

Novbride.

I'm curious about the reception logistics with the iPod setup ... For those that don't know yet, the iPod speaker setup is $220 for 2 hours and $385 for 4 hours ... What did you do for announcements like first dance, father-daughter dance, BM/MOH speeches?

[hstutz2002]

No problem!  We did go with the complimentary package and it was perfect for our small group.  My bouquet wasn't an upgrade, I just told Wilma what I was looking for and they said no problem. 

 

 

Originally Posted by Reesespieces 

Thank you so much for sharing the pictures, hstutz2002!  For every day I get frustrated with the resort people for lack of response, I see pics like yours and get excited again. It looked like you went with the complimentary package, but your bouquet was more colorful (what I'm looking for). Was that an upgrade? If so, how much did they charge?

 

Novbride.

I'm curious about the reception logistics with the iPod setup ... For those that don't know yet, the iPod speaker setup is $220 for 2 hours and $385 for 4 hours ... What did you do for announcements like first dance, father-daughter dance, BM/MOH speeches?

 

[hstutz2002]

We did the complementary package and it was perfect for our small group.  My bouquet was not an upgrade, I just told Wilma what I wanted and she took care of it.  It was fantastic, and I'm soo happy that we decided to go to Playacar.  I think you will be too!

 

Thank you so much for sharing the pictures, hstutz2002!  For every day I get frustrated with the resort people for lack of response, I see pics like yours and get excited again. It looked like you went with the complimentary package, but your bouquet was more colorful (what I'm looking for). Was that an upgrade? If so, how much did they charge?

 

[wisa2178]

Hi Ladies

 

Anyone are there any July 2012 PP brides out there?  I just signed the contract for July 2012...so excited.

[novbride]

Thank you!  The chair sashes are from www.tableclothfactory.com.  I think they were $1.79 each if I remember right.  Much cheaper than the hotel charge.  I steamed them at home and packed them flat and they were fine.  They aren't super high quality, but I'm only using them twice, so I didn't care.  I ordered one each of two colors and three fabrics as samples, before I placed the big order.  (I ordered enough table runners for the at home reception, too.)  You can sell them on craigslist after your wedding and/or reception and get some of your money back.

 

Even after I told the Palace Photographer several times via email that I would not need her services, she still tried to sell me her services during the planning meeting at the hotel.  I just stuck to my guns and said we are doing our own photography.  She also wanted to sell video services.  I told her we just bought a brand new camera and tripod and would be doing our own photography. I felt bad, but I had already told her no via email.  It wasn't high pressure by any means, just a little awkward.  (This was not Wilma, it was someone else.)

 

If you are doing your own video - go to Best Buy and buy the Dynex all purpose Tripod that extends to 60".  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dynex%26%23153%3B+-+60%22+Universal+Tripod/8241048.p?id=1168044601803&skuId=8241048&st=dynex%20tripod&cp=1&lp=1  Totally worth the $40.  The video is perfect with no shaky hands.  (Learned this from my sister also.  Her video is so shaky you can't even watch it.)

 

Are you bringing a photographer from home or trying to hire one in Mexico.  If you haven't already - call your local photographers and ask if they are interested.  I was amazed how many photogs in my area were dying for a vacation.  Mine gave a huge discount!  You have the same advantage I did - your is towards the end of wedding season, so they are ready for a break!  My photographer stayed at the hotel with us.  Her assistant stayed at a different resort and bought the day pass.  She actually bought 2 day passes.  One for the night of the rehearsal and one for the day of the wedding. 

 

I should have my pics this week, so I'll post some more that have good views of the reception areas.

 

Originally Posted by pjmendoza 

Thank you Novbride for all this information. My biggest concern is photography right now. I was worried because Wilma informed me that outside vendors are not allowed however you stated that as long as a day's pass is purchased or they stay there they will be allowed. Is that correct? A day's pass is worth paying for to have a professional photographer of my preference take our pictures. After looking at the resorts photographer's portfolio, I wasnt too excited about.  Your pictures are beautifu! As for you chair sashes, are the chair sashes in your pictures for the ceremony were those the ones you purchased or from the resort? I love the way they looked.

Thank you

 

[novbride]

I have a Bose ipod dock that I won a few years ago.  We just used that and didn't pay a set up fee.  If you are having your events on the beach, you'll need to buy one that is battery operated.  We did this, but returned it when we moved our reception from the beach to La Villa.

 

For the speeches, we didn't use mics.  We didn't do dances in Mexico, we are saving these for the reception.  

 

Make sure you make play lists ahead of time.  We screwed up on this one.  Luckily, we had a playlist from my bach party that everyone liked.  Make a playlist for during dinner, too.  Thankfully, my amazing photographer saved us on this one.  She has wedding playlists on her iphone - apparently we aren't the only couple that forgot this!  She popped her phone on our ipod dock and saved the day!

 

In the wedding terrace, the hotel played music for the guests while they waited.  It was kind of cheesy, but I loved it  I didn't know about it until I watched our video.  They played the titanic song, kenny g and some other random stuff.  It was cute.
 

Originally Posted by Reesespieces 

I'm curious about the reception logistics with the iPod setup ... For those that don't know yet, the iPod speaker setup is $220 for 2 hours and $385 for 4 hours ... What did you do for announcements like first dance, father-daughter dance, BM/MOH speeches?

 

[novbride]

 

 

Originally Posted by perry1217 

 

This is kind of a weird question, but how long did the "walk" take.  I'm trying to figure out our processional music.  Thanks!!!  Also, for our welcome cocktail hour - Cielo Terrace or Solarium?  And if Solarium, do they provide chairs?  For a cocktail?  Thanks!!

 

In the wedding terrace, the walk was very short - I'd guess 15-20 seconds?  I came in to Canon in D and they let it play a little while before I walked in. They are really good about fading the music in and out.  They had to do it several times.  My flowergirl had a meltdown before the wedding, so they faded the music out and back in to start the ceremony.

 

We did the Cielo Terrace for our cocktail hour and loved it.  I should have my pics back this week and I'll post some of the cocktail hour so you can see the location.  (All of the locations are beautiful - you can't go wrong!) 

 

 

 

[smspringer13]

Wow, so much has been going on since I last looked! Thank you girls for all of your pics, tips & advice! Everything looked beautiful. NovBride, we are planning on getting married on the Wedding Terrace, too, so I am glad you had a good experience! We are also planning on doing the cocktail hour either in the Cielo Terrace and then moving to the North Solarium for the reception, or just doing cocktail hour and reception in the Solarium (Only because our DJ will set up in one place... so we thought it might be better just to do it all in one place!).

 

Thanks for the compliment on the website! For any of you that are interested, my sister-in-law does great graphic design work. Her website is ekyllingstad.com. She did an awesome job on our website and we worked together to piece it all together. (Stephandjeff.com). I think it came out great!