Newbie Azul Beach 2013

[KaelaMcD]

Hello Azul Beach Brides! I just returned from my wedding at Azul Beach (10/14) and it was absolutely PEFERCT! Just rest easy, because your wedding will be fantastic and your guests will love the experience. I plan to write a detailed review, but in the meantime, if anyone has questions about anything, don't hesitate to ask! We can't wait to go back!!!

[karyc]

Originally Posted by KaelaMcD 

 

karyc-I just returned from my wedding at Azul Beach (10/14) and had my reception at Blue Terrace. I don't think you can use round tables, because they utilize the tables that they use in that space during regular operation hours (ie; lunch and dinner). However, I was told you can have tables of both six and eight. I went with all tables of eight (it was better for my seating arrangements) and it worked out great! Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

thanks! how were the tables of 8 arranged? as long rectangles, or giant squares? or could you do either?

[karyc]

Originally Posted by KaelaMcD 

 

Hello Azul Beach Brides! I just returned from my wedding at Azul Beach (10/14) and it was absolutely PEFERCT! Just rest easy, because your wedding will be fantastic and your guests will love the experience. I plan to write a detailed review, but in the meantime, if anyone has questions about anything, don't hesitate to ask! We can't wait to go back!!!

 

congratulations!!!!!

[truitt2002]

Hi, KaelaMcD!  

 

First of all.....Congratuations!  I look forward to reading your review.  Did you use the photographer that was offered on site or did you hire an outside vendor?  I'm trying too see if the facility will allow you to bring outside vendors.  I know there was a thread a while back regarding Karisma resorts and their strict rules about outside vendors.  

[KaelaMcD]

truitt2002-

 

Thank you for the congratulations! I did not use the photographer offered by the resort/Lomas because I wasn't impressed with their work (and the pictures are really important to me). I used Playa Weddings, a husband and wife team from Colorado. They did both photography and videography, but they are technically one vendor, so I only had to pay the "outside vendor fee" one time. They are really strict about bringing in outdoor vendors. They charge an $800 fee in fact (Unless the vendor is staying three nights or more at the resort, which was the case with my ceremony musician who was a cousin of mine, otherwise they would have charged for him too! Craziness....)! Playa Weddings was kind enough to "split" the fee with me, by basically offering me an extra hour of coverage without charging me. They were a fantastic team, very professional, on-time, easy to correspond with via email (also important to me!) and we were overall very impressed. Visit their site at www.playaweddings.com They have done a number of other weddings at Azul Beach (you can see a few on their site) so they know their way around the resort, and have worked with the staff, etc. I highly recommend them! As soon as I have some pictures, I'll share!

 

Let me know if you have any other questions! Happy planning. :-)

[asposeep]

This is so helpful--thank you Kaela!!

I actually just requested a quote from Playa Weddings this morning for my August 31st wedding and am anxiously waiting to hear back from them.

 

Who did you use for music? I am trying to get a hold of DJ Doremixx but he isn't responding to my emails so need to start expanding my search.

Thankyou!

Ashley

Originally Posted by KaelaMcD 

truitt2002-

 

Thank you for the congratulations! I did not use the photographer offered by the resort/Lomas because I wasn't impressed with their work (and the pictures are really important to me). I used Playa Weddings, a husband and wife team from Colorado. They did both photography and videography, but they are technically one vendor, so I only had to pay the "outside vendor fee" one time. They are really strict about bringing in outdoor vendors. They charge an $800 fee in fact (Unless the vendor is staying three nights or more at the resort, which was the case with my ceremony musician who was a cousin of mine, otherwise they would have charged for him too! Craziness....)! Playa Weddings was kind enough to "split" the fee with me, by basically offering me an extra hour of coverage without charging me. They were a fantastic team, very professional, on-time, easy to correspond with via email (also important to me!) and we were overall very impressed. Visit their site at www.playaweddings.com They have done a number of other weddings at Azul Beach (you can see a few on their site) so they know their way around the resort, and have worked with the staff, etc. I highly recommend them! As soon as I have some pictures, I'll share!

 

Let me know if you have any other questions! Happy planning. :-)

[KaelaMcD]

karyc-

 

All the tables they use are about 2.5'x2.5' (guesstimating here...) squares. For us, we had 7 tables of 8. They put them into rectangles (basically pushed six regular tables together) but then they had three people on one side, three on the other and two on one end. They are big enough that you can fit three people on one side when they're pushed together. This was actually a great idea, because then no one's back was to the middle of the room/dance floor, so everyone could comfortably watch the "action." The only downside is that it does make the tables kinda wide, so it was hard to talk across the table to people, but it really wasn't that big of a deal (I'll send a pic when I have one). Once dinner was over (which was fantastic, btw) most people were up dancing, moving around, etc. Hope this helps, let me know if you need anything else! I also have TONS of pictures of the property, so let me know if you want to see anything.

[KaelaMcD]

Hey Ashley-

 

Music was another "big deal" to me. I'm actually a music teacher, and can be a bit of a "snob" about it, so I toiled over this one a lot! :-) First, I wanted the live band, but we couldn't fit them, and all 55 of my guests at Blue Terrace so I settled on a DJ.

 

I actually also contacted DJ Doremixx for a quote (just out of curiosity, because everyone was talking about them!). I never heard back, and I was getting close to my contract deadline so I had to make a choice. I went with the Lomas DJ (DJ All Music, the $1500 package) and have zero regrets! They were AWESOME!

 

We went with the more expensive of the two choices, mainly because we really wanted to have an emcee, and Mega DJ (the cheaper of the two) does not include one. They actually had four staff members, the emcee, the "main" DJ, and the two other guys either helping him with the tracks/equipment, or running the bubble machine, handing out neon bracelets, or balloons, etc.

 

In your contract with Lomas, there should be a tab that has a detailed list of the reception for the DJ including times of the events (first dance, garter toss, cake cutting, etc.) and you can also include a list of songs you want them to play (or not). They were very professional and kept the reception running on-time.

 

They also did a fantastic job at playing the songs we picked (and in true DJ fashion running one song into the next so there's no down time where people think, "Oh, this song is over, I'm tired, I'll go sit down!") and choosing other songs that weren't on the list that fit our "genre" (which for us was mostly classics). And any time I popped my head over his computer for a request, that song was up next!

 

I put on the list that I didn't want any pop and I didn't hear one Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber song (not that I don't like them, I was just trying to appeal to our entire audience of guests, which were mostly over 50 :-)) I thought they were great, and would definitely recommend them.

 

For my ceremony music, my cousin played his guitar. For our cocktail hour between the ceremony and reception, we had the Mexican Trio, and they did such a great job too! It definitely gave the event a very authentic flare, and the guests loved the live music.

 

Sorry the response is so long...I tend to ramble. But I know when I was planning, I wanted as many details as possible! Let me know if you need anything else.

[Misadelf]

Thanks Kaela! Your posts are VERY helpful!  I have a question about what happened with the live band? Was that another rule? Because I think they require 50 guests to allow you to use the terrace, so if they said no band with 55 guests, I kinda think that means no bands on the terrace? Is that the case? These guys... I have had like 10 back and forth emails on bands and my options but noone has mentioned that a full band would not be available on the Terrace!

 

Thanks again, and I would love to see your pictures of the ceremony/reception!

[karyc]

Originally Posted by KaelaMcD 

 

karyc-

 

All the tables they use are about 2.5'x2.5' (guesstimating here...) squares. For us, we had 7 tables of 8. They put them into rectangles (basically pushed six regular tables together) but then they had three people on one side, three on the other and two on one end. They are big enough that you can fit three people on one side when they're pushed together. This was actually a great idea, because then no one's back was to the middle of the room/dance floor, so everyone could comfortably watch the "action." The only downside is that it does make the tables kinda wide, so it was hard to talk across the table to people, but it really wasn't that big of a deal (I'll send a pic when I have one). Once dinner was over (which was fantastic, btw) most people were up dancing, moving around, etc. Hope this helps, let me know if you need anything else! I also have TONS of pictures of the property, so let me know if you want to see anything.

 

kaela, thanks so much! yes i would love to see pictures of the set-up in blue terrace. out of curiosity, do you think you could have fit very many more people into blue terrance (sounds like you had 56)? i know they have a technical cut-off of 60, but it sounds like they might be somewhat flexible on that, and i'm just wondering how crowded it would feel if we had, say, 70 people... thanks again!!