Our review of Wicky's Beach Club & Vendors

[spunkimo]

Here is my complete review of our experience getting married at Wicky's in Playa del Carmen. Sorry it is so long, I didn't want to leave anything out! I hope this helps some of you plan your day! OVERALL EXPERIENCE: A Beautiful place, great food, excellent service. If you can let the small things roll off your back and just enjoy yourself, you will have an amazing destination wedding! Wicky's Location: A+ Great stretch of beach, and centrally located just off 5th ave. El Faro: A Great condos w/ modern finishes. Daily housekeeping, free garage parking, amazing views, concierge. Wicky's: A Decor is warm and chic. Regular menu items are like upscale bistro fare - good quality and priced similar to what you'd expect to pay in the states. Beach bar is a plus - great for outdoor dining and people watching. We noticed service can be pretty slow, but everyone is very friendly. Bathrooms are located downstairs. Elevators were out of service part of the time we were there but fixed in time for our wedding. Wedding Food: A- Overall very pleased with the quality of the food. My only complaint is that we did family style sides and the portions were too small for the side dishes. There was enough for everyone at the head table to have like 2 pieces of broccoli and a few tablespoons of mac & cheese. At least one table requested more food, which is a little embarrassing. I wish i had asked them to bring out more food for all the tables. The lobster Mac & cheese is seriously to die for!! We opted to open a bar tab for the reception and pay on consumption. Their per-drink prices were very reasonable. Everyone partied HARD and the total came to about the same as what per-person open bar would have been. Wedding Service: A Everyone was great - The bartenders were especially fun and really friendly. Because of the rain, our reception had to move inside and the staff did an amazing job setting everything up. Wedding Coordinator: A- The wedding coordinator is included with the venue rental, so you have to have realistic expectations on what you get. Linda will put you in touch with vendors, handle payments, and get them set up on your wedding day. She will communicate your selections with the chef, dj, musicians, etc. This makes it possible to put a wedding together without hiring an outside planner, which is really great if you are a laid back bride. If you are particular about what you want, I would def recommend getting another planner - Linda is stretched thin during wedding season and probably won't be able to look after all the details, babysit vendors, etc. I will say the planning process can be a bit disorganized at times... Lots of different emails with information scattered throughout... So keep a system for tracking everything in one place! One thing about Linda- she is very prompt to respond to emails and phone calls, even if it is 10pm! During our wedding reception, there were times it felt like we couldn't find Linda when we needed her. This is where it might be helpful to have another coordinator to make sure everything flows... That way if linda gets pulled behind the scenes the show can still go on! Cherry blossom Floral & decor: C Sadly, we were disappointed in the flowers. Poor construction on bouttonieres and corsages - would not stay pinned and were comically oversized. Hubby's bouttoniere is hilarious in the pictures - two humongous roses barely supported by his lapel, haha! Arrangements did not look "full" if you know what I mean, lots of stemmage showing. But most frustrating, the colors were wrong! Requested green, white, & plum color scheme... Instead of plum, we got Hot Pink. They also did our ceremony decor, which was different from the setup we requested (photo was provided and approved during bidding process). It sort of looked like a "cheaper" version of what we wanted. Pricing was the same as you'd expect to pay in the States, so I expected better quality and felt a little ripped off. But in the end we still got married and it was fine. Zaida Marcos cake: C We got a cake on our wedding day, but it was not the flavor we ordered and didn't look much like the photo either. Still very confused as to how this happened. Hubby and i probably had some confused looks on our faces during the cake cutting... We were expecting dulce de leche and were surprised to find a pink cake with strawberries!! We didn't bother trying to get a discount for the cake because we had pre-paid for it and didn't feel it would be worth the hassle. Zaida was very professional when we met for the cake tasting during our site visit. She charges $7/person plus delivery if I remember correctly... Dj Carlos: A- This is Wicky's preferred dj. His fee was around $900. I thought it was strange when i found out he does not emcee or make announcements as part of his gig. We were not aware of this beforehand so we had no emcee. He had a great selection of music and was able to download some obscure song requests and play them immediately, which was cool. I can't really speak about his song selection because we gave him a long list of songs we wanted him to play. He brings all of his own equipment and sets it up for you to use during your ceremony as well - huge plus. The lighted dance floor is expensive but really pops on the beach. Since it rained earlier, they staggered the floor tiles on the deck instead... It was an accident waiting to happen. thankfully our guests were either very careful or too drunk to care if they fell . Ceremony musicians (2 guitarists): A++ These musicians regularly play gigs at Wicky's so Linda booked them for me. I really wasn't sure what to expect because they did not have a song list to choose from or any samples to listen to beforehand. But they were amazing - they played all of the songs we wanted, and so beautifully. Mariachi: A++ We hired a mariachi band through Linda for cocktail hour... These guys were awesome!! They were super energetic, and looked/sounded amazing. Highly recommend! Hair/makeup by doranna: B Doranna came to our condo in the morning because we had a lot of people getting hair done. I loved my updo- it was exactly what I wanted and she did a great job! The moms and bridesmaids were really hit-or-miss though. Their hairdo's were $85/person, mine was about twice that. One thing to consider is that having only one person doing hair means you have to hang around the condo that whole time (as opposed to going for brunch, etc). So if you have a lot of people it might be better to go to a salon together. La Luna/Del sol photography (Melissa & Jonathan): tba Still waiting on our proofs. They say it takes 2-3 months for them to finish the editing process, so I'll just have to update this part later. Indigo beach (welcome party): A++ Linda recommended this place for our welcome reception. This place was awesome!!!! The food was amazing, everyone raved about the Mayan fare. Linda helped us work out a menu with the manager that fit in our budget. We did beers and margaritas on consumption, which was way more affordable than open bar, amd their margaritas are delicious! The ambience at indigo beach is incredible, just beautiful. The bathrooms were very clean and nice. The resident dj was there for our party, at no extra cost to us. The waiters, bartenders, staff, and management were all great... Super attentive and friendly. Highly recommend!

[LCB803]

Spunkimo,

 

Thanks for the very thorough review! This is so completely helpful. We've started planning our May 2013 wedding after an exhausting visit to Cancun/Playa last month, when we saw 17 locations in three days! We narrowed it down to two so far. We have hired an independent wedding coordinator who has returned quotes on everything from the vendors she works for both, but I like to know what all my options are

 

After lunching at Wicky's, I was seriously considering this as a reception venue since the food was so delicious. However, they told me the reception wouldn't be private-- i.e., they couldn't shut the restaurant down for us, regardless of how many guests we had. Did it feel intrusive, to have the other people there? I was also worried about the flow being broken up by having people both inside and outside. I know you said it ended up raining (Im so sorry!), but how was it supposed to work for you? 

 

Our first choice is Playa del Secreto's "all in one" private beach location, where we can do ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception, however, the numbers are coming in a little high. Wicky's (or other downtown options) plays into our second choice for a ceremony at Chapel del Carmen, downtown, and reception at a venue within walking distance from the chapel. What other reception venues did you consider? Was Wicky's somewhat budget friendly (e.g., less than the $10k our reception for 60 guests is coming in at for Playa del Secreto)?

 

Also, great tip on the musicians-- do you have contact info, or names, at least, for the guitarists and the mariachi band? And thank you so much again for your other reviews, too. I had heard of DJ Carlos and thought he would be great, but not if he won't emcee!  

 

Congratulations on your wedding!

 

Lydia

[Matt Adcock]

Originally Posted by LCB803 

 

Spunkimo,

 

Thanks for the very thorough review! This is so completely helpful. We've started planning our May 2013 wedding after an exhausting visit to Cancun/Playa last month, when we saw 17 locations in three days! We narrowed it down to two so far. We have hired an independent wedding coordinator who has returned quotes on everything from the vendors she works for both, but I like to know what all my options are

 

After lunching at Wicky's, I was seriously considering this as a reception venue since the food was so delicious. However, they told me the reception wouldn't be private-- i.e., they couldn't shut the restaurant down for us, regardless of how many guests we had. Did it feel intrusive, to have the other people there? I was also worried about the flow being broken up by having people both inside and outside. I know you said it ended up raining (Im so sorry!), but how was it supposed to work for you? 

 

Our first choice is Playa del Secreto's "all in one" private beach location, where we can do ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception, however, the numbers are coming in a little high. Wicky's (or other downtown options) plays into our second choice for a ceremony at Chapel del Carmen, downtown, and reception at a venue within walking distance from the chapel. What other reception venues did you consider? Was Wicky's somewhat budget friendly (e.g., less than the $10k our reception for 60 guests is coming in at for Playa del Secreto)?

 

Also, great tip on the musicians-- do you have contact info, or names, at least, for the guitarists and the mariachi band? And thank you so much again for your other reviews, too. I had heard of DJ Carlos and thought he would be great, but not if he won't emcee!  

 

Congratulations on your wedding!

 

Lydia

 

Hola Lydia,

 

We just finished Monica's slideshow and I wanted to share it with you: http://delsolphotography.com/blog/content/galleries/?gal=743

 

Here are a few of our favorite moments:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Planning!!

[spunkimo]

Originally Posted by spunkimo 

 

Zaida Marcos cake: C

We got a cake on our wedding day, but it was not the flavor we ordered and didn't look much like the photo either. Still very confused as to how this happened. Hubby and i probably had some confused looks on our faces during the cake cutting... We were expecting dulce de leche and were surprised to find a pink cake with strawberries!! We didn't bother trying to get a discount for the cake because we had pre-paid for it and didn't feel it would be worth the hassle. Zaida was very professional when we met for the cake tasting during our site visit. She charges $7/person plus delivery if I remember correctly...

 

 

UPDATE: Zaida Marcos cake - A

 

The Wicky's wedding coordinator went above and beyond, sharing our review with all the vendors.  As a result, the bakery that did our cake reached out to us to offer a partial refund and their apologies for the flavor mix-up.   We are very impressed with their professionalism and unsolicited efforts to make things right.  It was evident that this had never happened before and they were extremely upset about it as well.  Long story short, I would recommend Zaida Marcos' cakes!

[Moments That Matter]

What a great review and overview of your wonderful wedding, spunkimo! it's clear you put lots of time and energy into compiling it - well done! It's a great resource for all the Wicky's Beach Club brides.....way to go! Brides like you are what makes this forum so helpful

[LCB803]

Thanks, Spunkimo! I appreciate the update, and will consider Zaida Marcos.

[TheDivineMissC]

Great review!  So helpful.  My fiance and I are in the process of going through all the information on Wicky's that Linda sent and your feedback is very helpful. 

[AnaSteele58]

Great review!

 

Has anyone else had their wedding and/or reception here lately?

[dreamweddings]

Originally Posted by AnaSteele58 

 

Great review!

 

Has anyone else had their wedding and/or reception here lately?

Hey AnaSteele58,

 

I am a wedding planner here in the Riviera Maya,

 

I was just at Wicky´s yesterday for one of my Bride for November,

 

They have this beautiful wooden deck overlooking the beach, you can actually have your reception on that area. Or the pool area. you are allowed to use their furniture. and bringing in your own preferred vendors.

 

Feel free to ask us anything and we will be happy to help.

 

Or you can email us at  [email protected]

 

 

Happy Planning!

Joyce