Beach Palace Cancun Brides

[laurag85]

Hi everyone! My fiance and I are getting married at Beach Palace on 7th September! I can't believe how soon it is! I am both excited and nervous. We haven't heard very much from our wedding coordinator and I'm worried about the additional costs. There will be 17 people including ourselves staying between beach palace, sun palace and royal sands. We will need 4 day passes for the guests staying at royal sands (they have a time share so we couldn't exactly tell them they had to stay at a palace resort), we have booked the pure package and plan to have our ceremony on the sky terrace, a cocktail reception and dinner on another of the terraces. We are planning on taking an ipod docking station for music in the evening and taking our own led candles and decorations. My fiance and best man plan to set these up prior to the ceremony if allowed. Has anyone any tips? Or know of anything we should be aware of?

 

Laura x

[SunshineDreamKay]

Hi ladies, hope all is going well with planning! This thread is amazing, full of so much info!!

 

I'm getting married at Moon Palace on 26th April and was hoping some of you may be able help with a few questions I have.

 

1. I really want to have a Charicaturist as the reception entertainment. Does anyone know of anyone or a company who could provide one? I've contacted TEMPO, not sure if they can help but would love at least 2 options so I can choose.

 

2. Do you know where I can get sparklers from or who could provide this in Cancun? I would prefer they were provided so I don't have to search for them when I get there.

 

3. I'm just finalising my hair and makeup and wanted to know how far before your ceremony you plan to be ready? I want time for photos with the bridesmaids and some of me getting into my dress etc. My ceremony is at 3pm.

 

4. Finally, I have booked the ceremony for 3pm in the Catholic chapel which has air con. Do u think 3pm will be too hot? Our photographer suggested a 5pm start due to the heat but that feels too late for me. We have a little girl and I want her to be able to enjoy our day. Plus I feel like I want to make the most of the wedding day itself. Our reception is in a ballroom so the only outdoor part is the cocktail hour so we can take pics.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

[stephygirl]

@@laurag85 - congrats that's so exciting and coming up so soon!  Your WC should be sending you a purchase order listing all the costs for the various items you booked.  My biggest piece of advice is DETAIL REVIEW the heck out of that purchase order.  Make sure you look at times and locations on each sheet as well (my original WC booked all times and locations incorrectly).  Also as a tip your fiance and best man don't need to do any of the set up if they don't want to - you can tell your WC exactly how you want things set up and he/she will have their team do it for you!

@@SunshineDreamKay - congrats and hope you're enjoying the planning process!  I tried to answer what I could below:

 

1. Maybe reach out to your WC and ask for options?  They should know the local business and/or be able to find a couple of options for you.

 

2. Possibly the shops at Mercado 23?  Again, probably ask your WC.  Would you be using these during pictures at the cocktail hour?  I don't think they'll let you use sparklers inside the ballroom.

 

3. Are you doing your hair & makeup yourself or getting it done?  I had my hair done and it took about 1.5 hours.  I did makeup myself, which took a half hour.  Getting into the dress, shoes, jewelry, etc. probably takes another half hour.  Answering people's questions and organizing everything you need for the ceremony takes forever, too!  For example, I was doing my hair from 11:30 to 1.  Then I hung out, drank champagne, and ate from 1 to 2.  Then I started doing my makeup, answering questions from my WC, talking to my bridesmaids, etc.  Then the photographer came and made me take about an hours worth of pictures, and before I knew it, it was 3:30 and I didn't even have my dress on!  I ended up being about 15 minutes late for my ceremony - whoops!  Best bet is to start on the earlier side rather than later, because the day flies by.

 

4.  Hmmm...I would assume the ceremony itself should be fine if there's air conditioning in the chapel?  However, your cocktail hour and picture time will be quite hot if it's at 4pm.  My ceremony was at 4pm on June 28th and we were all roasting.  It was probably 95 degrees (i don't know what that is in celsius!) and humid.  My cocktail hour was from 5pm to 6pm and most people ended up sitting in the shade or inside the hotel area since it was so hot.  Me and the husband and family took pictures during this time period and it was a tiny bit cooler, but everyone was dripping sweat.  Regardless, our pictures still turned out AMAZING and you couldn't tell all that much how sweaty we all were.  It's pretty much going to be hot no matter what you do.  Sure, it will be cooler if you move the times later, but then you also run into lighting issues as the sun goes down.  Overall advice is do what works best for you and your family - and just make sure you have some ice and face wipes on hand to cool down and mop up any sweat! 

[laurag85]

Thanks. They charge a lot for them to set up decorations. Seems to be an unnecessary cost. How goes everyone feel about sending them a photocopy of credit card? I feel a bit uneasy about this.

[stephygirl]

@@laurag85 - who is charging you to set up decorations? Your Beach Palace wedding coordinator, or the outside vendor?  I'm curious because my BP WC didn't charge us anything to set up decorations.  Granted, that only consisted of a few favors, our guestbook, a sign, and a couple of baskets of flip flops.  The rest of our decorations (including centerpieces) were one of the Beach Palace collections.

 

I didn't love the idea of providing my credit card information on the authorization form or giving them a photocopy of my card.  But at some point they do have to charge your card and need your information.  I think the photocopy is to ensure the information and your signature per the cc authorization form matches back to an actual valid credit card.  I have had no issues regarding cc fraud since I provided them a photocopy back a few months ago.  However, I did call my cc company ahead of time and told them the specific $ amount of the charge that was to be coming through...and also mentioned that I would be in Mexico from x date to y date so they would allow any of those transactions through as well...but nothing outside of that period!

[laurag85]

@@stephygirl there's a $200 set up fee for decorations not provided by them. What did you do in the evening after your meal? We would like to stay on the terrace for further drinks and dancing but apparently dinner reception is only 2 hours. There's so many hidden costs! Who was your wedding coordinator?

[acw271011]

 

@@jj575757 - For the rehearsal dinner, BP set up the tables with white tablecloths.  If I recall correctly our WC (Zaray) gave us the option of different table napkin colors, but we just went with the standard white.  I'm sorry to say we don't have any pictures of the tables from the rehearsal dinner.

 

For our wedding reception, we ordered the "Metallic Sands" decoration package.  BP set everything up on our behalf and we did NOTHING other than drop off our favors (we had multiple favors) and guest book with the WC.  We also emailed our WC telling her how and where we wanted everything set up.  She did it all perfectly.  See some pictures below! I have a lot more pictures but am having a hard time figuring out which ones to post!  

 

This is also the first time I've ever posted pictures so I hope it works - but here was our reception!

 

 

 

 

 

i love your photos! Your BM dresses are gorgeous!! Where did you find them? And i love your hair down. How did you find it 1) in the heat and 2) with your veil? It's what I would like to do but I'm worried it's going to be really hot. Also, how did hubby find it being in a suit? Was he overly warm?

 

Thanks!!

[stephygirl]

@@laurag85 - Yikes that's a steep price!  You should be able to extend your reception.  Originally they had only booked our reception from 6pm to 8pm, and I didn't realize it.  So the day we got onsite and met our WC i FREAKED out when I realized it was only two hours.  We wanted it to last as long as possible - and 10pm is the latest they'll let you go on the Palenque. But....of course that came with a catch.  We had to pay for extra time for our lighting and for our DJ.  Overall the incremental cost wasn't that bad, although we would have shelled out for the extra time even if it were bad.  So in the end our wedding reception was from 6 to 10pm and it was the perfect length for us.  At the end of our reception I grabbed the mic and told everyone to meet up at the Sky Bar with their swimsuits on.  Pretty much everyone went up to the sky bar and we partied there until really late - it was so fun!

 

@@acw271011 - Thank you so much!  I was originally worried about the BM dresses, but I loved how the color popped against the ocean!  My BM's got them from Nordstrom's - they were Laundry by Shelli Segal dresses.  I can't find them at Nordstrom's anymore but they're still available certain places online (note we removed the gold chain because I didn't like it, hah!):  http://www.belk.com/AST/Main/Belk_Primary/PRD~150025995S24119SU/Laundry+by+Shelli+Segal+Tulip+Hem+Maxi+Dress+with+Chain+Belt.jsp?navPath=Women/Shop/Dresses/Casual

 

1) As far as hair down - I have very fine and very straight hair that does NOT like to hold a curl. That's why I went with a dutch braided side ponytail, with a curly tail.  The braided side ponytail was great because it kept my hair off my face and I stayed nice and cool.  The curls fell out pretty quickly though...but that's not unusual given my hair type.  I didn't wash my hair the night before, but the stylist I went to at BP INSISTED that she wash it...so probably part of the reason my curls didn't stay in!  Oh well, it turned out fine overall!  

 

2) My veil didn't mess up my hair at all, thankfully!  I bought veil weights from Etsy so that my veil wouldn't flop around in the wind too much - they worked pretty well because I didn't notice it flapping around.

 

3) Hubby decided upon a 3-piece suit (he's crazy). I just posed this question to him and he said "I was fine but heat rarely bothers me.  So I might not be the best case to use as an example.  I'd say it depends on the guy."  From my recollection, he was sweating, but not overly much so. I was probably sweating just as much (actually probably more) in my wedding dress.  He DID buy a linen suit and a linen shirt - which is a lighter fabric overall.  Our groomsmen had linen shirts and linen pants.  One of them is a sweat-er and it looked like he had jumped into the pool by the time our ceremony was over!

Edited August 13, 2015 by stephygirl

[acw271011]

@@laurag85 - Yikes that's a steep price!  You should be able to extend your reception.  Originally they had only booked our reception from 6pm to 8pm, and I didn't realize it.  So the day we got onsite and met our WC i FREAKED out when I realized it was only two hours.  We wanted it to last as long as possible - and 10pm is the latest they'll let you go on the Palenque. But....of course that came with a catch.  We had to pay for extra time for our lighting and for our DJ.  Overall the incremental cost wasn't that bad, although we would have shelled out for the extra time even if it were bad.  So in the end our wedding reception was from 6 to 10pm and it was the perfect length for us.  At the end of our reception I grabbed the mic and told everyone to meet up at the Sky Bar with their swimsuits on.  Pretty much everyone went up to the sky bar and we partied there until really late - it was so fun!

 

@@acw271011 - Thank you so much!  I was originally worried about the BM dresses, but I loved how the color popped against the ocean!  My BM's got them from Nordstrom's - they were Laundry by Shelli Segal dresses.  I can't find them at Nordstrom's anymore but they're still available certain places online (note we removed the gold chain because I didn't like it, hah!):  http://www.belk.com/AST/Main/Belk_Primary/PRD~150025995S24119SU/Laundry+by+Shelli+Segal+Tulip+Hem+Maxi+Dress+with+Chain+Belt.jsp?navPath=Women/Shop/Dresses/Casual

 

1) As far as hair down - I have very fine and very straight hair that does NOT like to hold a curl. That's why I went with a dutch braided side ponytail, with a curly tail.  The braided side ponytail was great because it kept my hair off my face and I stayed nice and cool.  The curls fell out pretty quickly though...but that's not unusual given my hair type.  I didn't wash my hair the night before, but the stylist I went to at BP INSISTED that she wash it...so probably part of the reason my curls didn't stay in!  Oh well, it turned out fine overall!  

 

2) My veil didn't mess up my hair at all, thankfully!  I bought veil weights from Etsy so that my veil wouldn't flop around in the wind too much - they worked pretty well because I didn't notice it flapping around.

 

3) Hubby decided upon a 3-piece suit (he's crazy). I just posed this question to him and he said "I was fine but heat rarely bothers me.  So I might not be the best case to use as an example.  I'd say it depends on the guy."  From my recollection, he was sweating, but not overly much so. I was probably sweating just as much (actually probably more) in my wedding dress.  He DID buy a linen suit and a linen shirt - which is a lighter fabric overall.  Our groomsmen had linen shirts and linen pants.  One of them is a sweat-er and it looked like he had jumped into the pool by the time our ceremony was over!

 

Thanks! That's a huge help!! I looked around at the Shelli Segal dresses - quite a few really pretty ones! I'm going to go looking for veil weights I think. Another bride here also got them. I think it just might be a worthwhile investment.

[Danielle1]

Hi Everyone! I've been a little MIA for the last few weeks... but now I have a slight concern. My cocktail hour was supposed to be on the Palenque Terrace and my reception on the Sky Bar South. My wedding coordinator is now telling me that both will be on the Sky Bar South. I will have 90-100 guests. I told her that I didn't think there was room on the Sky Bar South and she said that they do 10 tables of 10 people each on one side and then cocktail on the other.  Do you girls think there will be room for that? Also, I kind of liked the idea of having the cocktail hour somewhere different and then moving to the reception. Does anyone have thoughts on that?  They also moved my Welcome Party location... so I feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick.