OFFICIAL Gran Bahia Principe Riviera Maya Thread

[Andie]

Not sure if anyone can help. I've been previously married and I still use my married name and my passport is still in married name. I emailed hotel to see what documents I need translating and this is what they sent me back

IF YOU VALID PASSPORT HAS BEEN CHANGED WITH THE LAST NAME OF YOUR EXHUSBAND AND YOU WANT TO GET MARRIED WITH YOUR SINGLE NAME..... YOU NEED TO BRING THE DECREE ABSOLUTLY AND THE BIRTH CERTIFICATED TRADUCE AND APOSTILLE.

 

Hey!  I was in the same situation.  I was using my ex's last name which was also on my passport.  In our symbolic ceremony, we didn't use last names, only first names.  And on the certificate that you sign during the ceremony, the wedding coordinator can make it say anything (I actually had her type in my new married name).  I'm not sure how it would be for a legal ceremony though.

Just posting a quick review of my wedding at the Akumal beach on 11/8/14!

 

My wedding coordinator was Gina and her assistant was named Gabriela.  Both were awesome!  I met with Gina two days before the ceremony and went over all the details with her.  I brought 17 yards of teal fabric with me for the hammock site and "kissing balls".  I also brought teal ribbon for wrapping the flowers and corsages/boutonnieres, a thumbprint wedding guest book, and a cake topper.  I had already sent Gina a picture of the style of flowers I wanted, so she knew exactly what to order.  We were also allowed to use some orange chair sashes that they had on hand to add a pop of color. The ceremony site was decorated perfectly, the flowers were gorgeous, and everything went smoothly.  Gabriela made sure my guest book was set up on a table at the dinner reception and gave the restaurant the topper for our cake.  

 

We had our dinner at Dolce Vita and it was amazing.  Great service and wonderful food.  Our cake was tasty too!  Gabriela informed me toward the end of the dinner that the mariachi band was running late and asked if they could play for us in the snack bar.  So, upon exiting the restaurant, the band followed us into the snack bar where they played for 45 minutes.  I honestly had forgotten they were included in my wedding package!

 

We met with Gabriela two days after our ceremony to get our wedding certificate back.  She had my ribbon, guest book, cake topper, and "kissing balls" ready for us.  She didn't have the teal fabric, but we told her to keep it and let other couples use it.  Hopefully, they won't charge for this and we asked them to provide it for free.

 

We used Tropic One Photography and Martin was our photographer.  We were very happy with the photos.  We upgraded to a basic package which was 2 hours of photography (we did the ceremony, us on the beach, us with family on the beach, and a quick trip to the hacienda).  They did try to sell us more photos after the presentation, but I declined and stuck with my package of 45 + the 15 from the Unforgettable package.

 

We had a great time!

 

[Maggietron]

@@Andie If you don't mind, what roughly were the rates for the extra time with the resort photographer? I can't get a quote from them until I send back a form with the details of when and where the various parts of my wedding will be, and they aren't set yet.

[Andie]

@@Maggietron,

 

The packages for photography ranged from $350 to $1,000+. The basic package was $700 and included 45 edited photos.

[DonnaandDaz]

@@Andie

This is what I messaged them:

My surname is ( B...) which is my married name and the name on my passport. My maiden name is ( A..) which I haven't used for 18 years. If I get married as Donna B.. do I still need to get birth certificate and decree absolute translated and apostilled?

This is what they replied back with:

 

This is not obligatory. you have 2 options:

 

1. Only valid passport- if you do not mind to get married with the name of Donna B

(WHICH IS MY MARRIED NAME)

2. Birth certificated and Decree absolutely traduce and apostille if you want to get married with the A... lastname

(WHICH IS MY MAIDEN NAME )

 

I hope this clarify your doubt

 

So my thinking is if I want to get married with my married name I just need my passport. Anyone agree with me??? Just want to get this right. Don't want to get there and then they say I've messed up and can't marry me!! I've telephoned a Spanish translation company in the UK and they have told me to take a copy of the email for my own back up and also take my birth certificate and decree absolute just in case. Anyone lease been in this situation?

[nicolesal]

@@Andie do you mind giving me Gina's email? I have been waiting a week for a vital answer from Linda. I am arriving on a Thursday evening and my symbolic ceremony is on the Monday. This means I am there less than the two business days required in her date confirmation email she sent me. I just really need to know if this is ok.

[Andie]

@nicolesal:

 

The email address is [email protected], which I'm sure you already have.  I always just put Attn: GINA.  They take their time responding to emails.  I didn't start hearing from Gina until 2 months prior to our wedding.

[nicolesal]

@@Andie

 

What kind of fabric is that blue that you used on the beach gazebo? I'd like to use a light pink one. Did they have any you could rent there? Also did you only have one main course option at the a la carte for all of your guests? Thanks!

[jfarrowable]

Hi everyone!

 

Just wanted to provide a review on our wedding, which was November 18^th.  We stayed at Akumal, got married at the Tulum gazebo, had dinner at La Gran Tortuga (Brazilian) and had a poolside reception.  Our WC was Gina.  We got the Unforgettable package.

 

Pre-Arrival Communication:  Bad.  I didn’t have my dinner/reception confirmed until a month prior to our wedding.  I was not getting any responses to my emails at all.  When it seemed she was ready, about a month prior, Gina emailed me with details.  After that point she was fairly quick to respond, and answered all of my questions, usually within 2-3 days.

 

Our Stay @ Akumal:  From the moment we arrived, we were definitely made to feel like VIPs – from my experience, I think the resort does a great job of catering to wedding couples.  Room was great, lots of nice little surprises throughout the week, and all staff was very accommodating.  I can’t say enough good things about the service we received.  The only glitch was that we had sent a file of room requests (people who needed to stay on ground floor, king/double bed preferences, etc), and it seems this was not shared with the front desk staff prior to our arrival.  For the most part, anyone who did not get their requests granted upon arrival were accommodated within the first day or two with a room switch.  

 

Spa: I had a trial hair appointment a couple of days before the wedding and it was not good.  I had brought photos and what I got done was clearly not anything like the photo.  They could tell I was upset and changed my stylist to someone else for the day of the wedding.  My hair was done much better on the day of the wedding, but I definitely recommend bringing photos and being very clear with your likes/dislikes as they are working away on it.  It’s your day, make sure you are getting exactly what you want! 

 

Photography: We brought down a photographer… we didn’t say anything to them about it and they didn’t say anything to us.  He and the resort photographer ‘battled it out’ throughout our ceremony, but both got some great shots.  In the end we were happy with the pictures provided by the resort photographer, but packages could get quite pricy if you wanted to book them for the whole day and buy a bunch of photos.  We were glad we brought our photographer down because he was with us the entire day, plus did a re-do photo shoot a couple of days later when the weather was better.

 

Wedding/WC: The organization on the day of the wedding was excellent.  The staff all communicated very well with each other and with us.  We had met with Gina and Gabriella a couple of days prior, and provided them with music, fans and a large poster that we had printed for our guests to sign.  Everything was laid out exactly as requested, and they even brought the leftover fans to the dinner and reception for some added decoration.  Unfortunately we had a pretty rainy day for the wedding, but we still managed to have the ceremony at the gazebo in between showers.  They actually postponed the wedding by about 15 minutes so they could change out the chair cushions that had been set up and gotten wet, I thought this was really great.  The ceremony was great – the officiant was very heartfelt and sincere.  Dinner was at the Brazillian restaurant where we had the Rodizio – everyone loved this and said it was the best meal they had all week (I agreed).  Although we had planned to do a semi-private dinner in the restaurant, they actually had a tented space outside the restaurant that we had all to ourselves.  Service was great.  Everyone was so stuffed after dinner that we really didn’t eat any of the cake (except for a small piece we had cut)… they actually ended up brining the cake to the reception.  Another small thing that no one asked them to do, but we thought was very nice that they did.  We had planned the poolside reception, but due to rain we were moved under shelter to a tented area next to the snack bar.  I was worried it would not be very private, but we had a great time and the service was really great.  I never even noticed if/when there were other people at the snack bar. They also asked us if we wanted them to add some chair ties to the chairs at the reception to decorate it a bit more, which they did at no additional cost & it looked great.  We booked a DJ for 3 hours and he started off playing some pretty cheesy music, but my husband quickly got him on a better track of what was more our style, and from there on he was much better.

 

Overall I thought this was a great place to get married – the resort was beautiful, we were made to feel very special all week, the wedding day was wonderful (despite the weather) and all of our guests had a great time. 

 

I really appreciated all of the help provided on this forum during my planning stages, so if anyone has questions I’m happy to try and help answer them!

 

[TATrisha]

Congratulations to all the brides that have gotten married the past couple weeks!!  So many of you and the reviews and pictures you've posted are wonderful!  Best wishes!!

[Dreamteam17]

Does anyone know a good bar location at the coba section? I am trying to plan welcome cocktails and need a name of a bar that we can all meet at.

 

Thank you