Beach Palace Cancun Brides

[zoeknight20]

@@stephygirl thanks for your kind wishes! Not long till yours now!! Yep, all ceremony songs on a separate playlist (also good to have some songs to play before the bridal party arrives). For the evening, we used another playlist off our ipod for eating and then had one of our ushers / groomsmen change the music to our first dance and then our friends did individual 'dj sets' with their own playlists. In the ceremony, someone moves the songs on for you but for the reception, unless you have a dj then I believe you would need to that yourselves. If it is just a quick playlist change after dinner then your wedding co-ordinator might agree to do that for you. Who do you have? I had Zaray and she was amazing!! x

[StephanieGoetz]

I'm getting married at Beach Palace on October 10, 2015! I'm incredibly excited, but still feel like I have so much to do before that date! WE have the locations locked down... ceremony on the rooftop terrace, cocktail hour and reception at the Rooftop pool area. Very, very excited as the picture should be phenomenal as I've seen other brides photos with similar decorations and they are stunning. Besides the locations and some minor decorations, the only other thing I've booked is my photographer. I've found communication with the wedding staff at Palace to be less than fantastic for the most part. I typically have to wait several days for a response and then sometimes on get part of my questions answered. It has made planning this more frustrating that I imagined.

 

For photography, we booked Octavio Montes Photography... my fiancé's boss used him for a prior wedding in Cancun and couldn't say enough good stuff about him. I've seen some of the photos Octavio took for our friend and they are absolutely stunning!! Beautiful water, incredible colors, and most, besides the standard posed shots with the wedding party, are completely natural -- which is the type of photography that appeals to me. I want to be captured in a normal, natural embrace rather than to be posed and awkward. I actually chose to have a destination wedding almost solely for the beautiful photos. He has been amazing to work with so far... incredibly responsive, eager to know our wishes and to help us figure out a way to capture all the photos we really desires. Honestly, Octavio as our photographer is what I am most excited about at this point! 

 

So now that y'all know where I am and what I have done thus far... what else do I need to do/focus on? Did I mention I'm not a bride at all?!? I'm sure this post makes that clear... I'm clueless when it comes to weddings or bridal anything

[stephygirl]

@@zoeknight20 - Thanks so much!  We had Zaray and she was AMAZING as you said!  The whole ipod playlist went great as well.  It was a total blast!  

 

@@Danielle1 - I think you had asked about who runs the music and I said I'd update you on that once I was back, so here goes: during the ceremony, your WC will coordinate and play the music for you.  I had 3 songs (processional, bridal processional, recessional) on one playlist and everything was played to perfection.  For the reception, I had a dinner playlist, a bride & groom first dance playlist, a bride & father playlist, a groom & mom playlist, and a reception dancing playlist. There is an ipod technician that sits at the table the whole night in case of any problems.  He was the one that started the dinner playlist.  When you are ready for the first dances, your WC will play those playlists for you...and she asked that someone in our wedding party "announce" the dances.  Worked out fine!  Then, our WC started our reception dancing playlist.  If there was ever a song I wanted to skip then I had full access to go to the ipod and make any changes! One small thing to note - I used my iphone 5 as my "ipod" and you have to make sure to 1. change the settings on your itunes so that all songs play at the same volume, and 2. if you have a password on your iphone, take it off for the day, or change it to something easy like "0000" and tape a piece of paper to the back of your iphone with what the code is. 

 

I think I also was supposed to report to you on lighting!  Our ceremony was at 4, and ended around 4:25 or 4:30.  It was hot as HECK on the sky deck, but everyone survived.  Cocktail hour was on the sky bar south from 5 to 6 and we didn't need any lighting whatsoever.  The sun didn't start setting until about 7ish.  Since you're getting married in February maybe check to see what time the sun typically sets, because you definitely don't need lighting until after that time!  Our reception was on the Palenque from 6-10.  We had the Zuniga 4 column string lanterns, 2 votive LED gold candles at each table, and under the table lighting and it was PERFECT.  The Zuniga 4 column lighting was perfectly bright.  At some point (around 9ish) the resort lights on the terrace kick in and make it even more bright.  I can send you some pictures of what it looked like when I get the pictures more organized!

 

@@mj12102016 - Reporting back to you on the wind!  We had our reception on the Palenque terrace and it wasn't that windy overall...but I think it had the 2nd most wind out of any place.  We had some table numbers on light cardstock that tipped over a few times, but it was more of a NICE light breeze than anything.  I never thought to myself "wow, it's windy out here!".  I think the windiest spot at the hotel is probably at the beach.  If you want tall centerpieces, I'm sure you could do it - just try to weight them down with sand at the bottom or something like that.  As long as they're heavy, you'll be good to go!  Also, we spent almost every night at the Sky Bar, and that wasn't very windy as well.  Not sure if the wind weather changes during different times of year though.  If possible, I'd recommend the Palenque Terrace for your wedding.  It's extremely private and beautiful.  The receptions at the Sky Bar South seem a little less private, because the other side of it is open to the general public (although there is a good distance separating the two).  The only problem is, the women's bathroom is on the side in which they hold private events.  So you'll have women from the general public side sneaking over to your event to use the bathroom.

 

Last place I forgot to mention was the Infinity Terrace, where we held our rehearsal dinner at 7pm.  Again, I didn't notice the wind all that much, but there was some.  I don't love the Infinity Terrace since it's right up against the pool.  I made the resort take down the pool volleyball net and basketball net because otherwise balls would have been flying into our tables.  This is also where they have the showers where you rinse off - so you'll get some people coming up from the beach rinsing off nearby.  Overall it was fine, but not my most favorite place.  We probably would have chosen the Sky Bar South for this instead, but it was booked for another event that night.

 

LET ME KNOW IF ANYONE HAS ANY ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS!!!  

[Danielle1]

@@stephygirl Thanks so much for the info! Did you rent lighting and ipod player for your rehearsal dinner too? I'm definitely having plenty of lighting for my reception, but I'm wondering how much I need for the Welcome Dinner and Rehearsal Dinner.  Also, did you bring the votive candles or rent from Zuniga? If you brought them, did you WC set them up for you? Thank you SO much for the info!!  I can't wait to hear more! Congrats!

[stephygirl]

@@Danielle1 - You're welcome!  We did not rent anything (lighting/ipod) for our rehearsal dinner.  We didn't have music - and we were at the Infinity Terrace (not my favorite spot) which was relatively lit up by the hotel and pool area.  Dinner music at the rehearsal dinner would have been nice, we just wanted people to talk and get to know each other better instead!  

 

The votive candles were LED votives, so not actual candles...but they still looked pretty! We rented them from Zuniga.  Any decorations you bring will be set up by your WC.  For example - we had favors to go at each table setting, table numbers and table number holders, a wedding sign, a guest book, place cards, and flip flop favors - all of which our WC set up.  We just dropped everything off at her office a day before the wedding and sent an email with clear instructions on how we want things set up...and it turned out exactly how we wanted!

[mj12102016]

@@stephygirl - Congrats! I'm glad you had a wonderful time. Thank you for answering my question regarding the wind. Relief !! I like a nice breeze. I hope it is the same during the Winter. I'm sure I will have a few more questions. I see you rented some of your decor from Zuniga. Were you happy with their services? 

[stephygirl]

@@mj12102016 I'm sure it will be great!  The Zuniga stuff we rented was perfect.  No issues with that vendor whatsoever!  We only ordered a few things though (votive LED candles, under the table white lights, and 4 column with 2 sets of string lanterns).

[acw271011]

@stephygirl  Congrats on being a Mrs! I hope you post a wedding review and photos! I hope your wedding was everything you hoped for and more!

[jj575757]

@@stephygirl what buffet option  did you choose for your reception dinner? There are so many choices!!

[stephygirl]

@@acw271011 - Thank you!  I will definitely be posting a wedding review in the near future.  The wedding was a total dream...I want to do it again and again!  I miss Cancun...

 

@@jj575757 - We chose the Italian buffet for the reception dinner.  It was pretty decent.  My (SUPER PICKY) husband liked the lasagna, and our guests liked the chicken and fish.  The desserts were underwhelming.  For the wedding day, we had the BBQ buffet. The BBQ chicken was GREAT, the shrimp kebabs were pretty good, the pork ribs were okay, and the fruit salad was lovely.  I definitely liked the BBQ buffet better than the Italian.  I wouldn't recommend doing a Mexican buffet.  Your guests will be having enough Mexican-themed food during their stay.  One thing I wish I'd considered looking into is having the rehearsal off-resort.  There is a "mall" called the Flamingo mall about a 3-5 walk away.  There is an Outback Steakhouse, a Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, and a Bubba-Gump Shrimp.  I wondered if they had private rooms there - it might have been nice to go off resort for dinner one night.

 

Our cake was a round chocolate cake with vanilla chantilly frosting - and it was seriously the best wedding cake I've ever had. I normally don't even like cake that much.  When you get married there please cut off a few pieces and refrigerated-mail them to me  .  

Edited July 7, 2015 by stephygirl