Moon Palace- 2014

[TheBHolders]

@@jackielemman I'm so glad everything is turning out great. I didn't know they had multiple spas

[jackielemman]

@@jackielemman I'm so glad everything is turning out great. I didn't know they had multiple spas

Ok ladies!! Waiting for our catamaran and caught a minute to let you all know that last night was by far the best night of my life!! Everything was more than perfect!! I can't wait to write my full review!!

[TheBHolders]

Does anyone have the list of approved Palace vendors and the catalog for Zuniga?

 

Thank you

[jackielemman]

Ladies I just posted my review! What a wonderful week we had!! I have copied it below. Please let me know if I can answer any questions.

 

If you are worried about the size, location, or communication issues of Moon Palace... let me assure you that it is all worth it!!!

 

Let me start with the cons since its short!

Upon arrival to the resort I found about 15 of my guests in the Nizuc lobby relaxing and drinking. I found out that some had been waiting hours for a room assignment. I checked in at the VIP lounge upstairs and was able to talk with Carlos who was very helpful and even upgraded many of my guests to better rooms for the inconvenience. He gave all my guests options of upgraded King rooms or rollaway beds. (these are actually very comfortable). Solutions were found for every problem and they were very understanding of my frustrations. There was a convention leaving the day after we arrived and the hotel was unfortunately sold out of double bed rooms until they checked out. Everyone was happy in the end.

 

Second issue was with rooms. I had a couple guests not be given their concierge room upon arrival and didn't tell me until 1 day before we left. Moon refunded their concierge charge... wish I would have known earlier because I could have had that issue fixed. 

 

Third annoyance-- Upon returning to the states many of my guests including myself had large holds on their credit cards from Moon Palace from room charges. We paid cash upon checking out but still had over $1000 worth of holds on our account. Called Moon and they were extremely helpful and removed the holds immediately with the credit card companies. Please let your guests know about this. It was a little surprising!

 

OKay done with the complaining because its really petty stuff compared to the fabulous week we had!

 

Resort Credits:

The resort credits are great for spa and trips but I found that its cheaper and a lot more fun to hire a private taxi for 10 people to go to ruins, cenotes, and shopping areas-- you have to ask concierge about this. Plus its a whole lot more fun to be with your small group rather than spend 6 hours on a hot bus with 60 people. I highly recommend the Coba trip!!

 

Activities:

It took us all a couple of days to figure out that you can get a daily schedule of activities from the Public Relations concierge in the main lobby! What a help that was! We missed a couple of shows and fun things because we found out afterwards. There are free paddle boards, snorkling, kayaks, and sailing on property! Had no idea until half way thru the trip and it was sooo much fun!! Ask lots of questions to other guests and keep your eyes open while you're walking around the resort for all of the wonderful free activities. There were a few large display boards around pools that had all of the pool activities with times and activities. Heard the romantic dinner was incredible from many of my guests. They had a wonderful 6 course meal and a saxophone player serenaded them all night. Every night while we were there they released baby sea turtles into the ocean. We went twice-- each time the sea turtles were less than a half hour old. Incredible experience!! So much to do for all guests!

 

Restaurants:

Soo much incredible food!!! Best restaurants Gondola, Momo, Bungabilla buffet, and the Mexican restaurant in the Nizuc lobby-- cant remember the name. The Mayan Coffee experience is a must do! Ask for it at the Mexican, Brazilian steakhouse or mayan restaurants!!  Room service breakfast and late night service was incredible. Great menu selections! If you're staying on the concierge level you have a second room service menu that has options from all of the top restaurants-- use it! 

 

Spa Services:

My FI and I the day after we arrived had a body scrub and hot stone massage together at the Golf Resort Spa. What a way to start the vacation!! So relaxing and the service was very professional. Other services done by my guests include: reflexology massage, holistic massage, seaweed wrap, chocolate wrap, citrus massage, facials, aroma therapy massage, deep tissue massages... I think there were more services but every one of my guests from young to elderly said it was the best they've ever had! The complimentary pedicure, manicure and back massages for being members and on the concierge level were wonderful. I thought they would be quick and lame but they took their time and make you feel special the entire visit. Daniel my pedicurist/manicurist was precious and wonderful!! My bridesmaids, mother, mother-in-law and myself all had their hair and makeup done at the salon at the golf club salon. Alfredo did a trial hair run a few days prior to my wedding. He looked at my picture ideas and then worked his magic! He was incredible at hair.. his makeup was not as good as some of the ladies but was definitely better than I could do myself! They all us MAC products and were willing to use my bridesmaids eye shadows that they had brought. Most of the ladies and Alfredo had been working at the salon for many many years! I highly recommend saving your money and just using their salon services on property!! Side note: They only offer airbrushing makeup and sunrise and the Nizuc salons... my makeup stayed on the entire night and I chose not to do the airbrushing! 

 

OKAY lets jump into the Wedding greatness!!!

 

Wedding Date: Sunday, October 12th

Ceremony Time: 4:00 pm

Ceremony Location: Tucan Beach

Package: Complimentary symbolic ceremony

Coordinator: Abril- off site, Joseline-- onsite

Reception and Cocktail Hour: Tucan Garden/terrace

Cocktail Time: 5:00 pm

Reception Time: 6-10 pm (paid extra for 2 more hours-- worth the money)

Complimentary Packages: Unlimited events for booking over 75 nights and a free 1 week honeymoon stay 

 

Decoration Rentals: Gama Grupo

We rented the Disco design with the light up columns and strung lit lanterns for the reception. Stunning... More beautiful than I could imagine. We also rented their gold tiffany chairs, coral table cloths and napkins, gold chargers, gold napkin rings, white and coral fabric for huppa at ceremony. They were very patient during the 1000 times I had to change the number of guests and add/subtract items from my list. They set up early in the morning and were there to pickup right at 10 pm! 

 

Music:

We bought and brought with us the BOSE Sound dock 10. OMG ladies!! This was genius! We used it at every event and never had it at max volume. Saved us sooo much money and we get to keep it!  :)My FI who is not very tech savy went to a guitar center store and purchased an inline amplifier and microphone. Mind you he wheeled the BOSE system in there with him and they were able to get him all hooked up to have a microphone! We made a Spotify playlist for each event ahead of time and had no problems using bluetooth to play the music!  Make sure if you are doing this that you have the playlists downloaded-- there is no wireless outside! 

 

Officiant: 

Dont judge a book by its cover!!He was awesome! First impression was not so good... his hair was all over the place and looked like a 70's hippie!! His ceremony was personalized and very special. We did traditional vows, exchanged short personal messages, and had a groomsman do a prayer. After the ceremony you sign a certificate. Funny story--- soooo embarrassing! I was signing the certificate and was clearly over joyed with happiness because I couldn't spell Twelfth or October, our best man signed where the officiant was supposed to sign and our officiant signed where our witness was supposed to sign! I slipped a curse word.. luckily only my bridal party heard me!! MEMORIES!!!! The officiant gave us another certificate at our final meeting with Joseline and we all died from laughter!!

 

Onsite Coordinator:

Joseline was incredible. So wonderful to work with and really made us feel like we were her only couple during the week! She must have had 10 weddings the week we were there. Here is my recommendation... if you read anything please read this!!!

Every email and conversation I had with her, I expressed my sincere gratitude and appreciation for what she does. They work really really hard... too hard and I can only image how much money they bring to the resort and see pennies of it. During our first meeting we gave her a very good gratuity card. This set the tone for the week with her. I am sure that she would have been lovely to work with but we wanted to make sure that she understood how much we appreciate her services. During our first meeting she went thru every private event we had scheduled and a backup plan for weather issues and how the ceremony will work. There was no actual rehearsal with the bridal party but theres no need to practice. Everything went very smoothly.

She was at almost all of our private events! I swear she never sleeps. 

On the wedding day I saw her with another wedding party. Once she was finished with them she came right over and found our groomsmen who were setting up small decorations that we had brought with us. She led the entire group to the beach and got people in their seats and the ceremony to start right on time. She was literally the director behind the scenes!! Amazing job. You should try organizing 40 crazy loud Italians from New York!!She stayed the entire reception and even helped us pack some of our decorations we had brought. we saw her throughout the week and had our final meeting the day before we left. There were no additional charges on our bill and we gave her the rest of her gratuity to thank her once more. 

 

Horse and Carriage:

Must do. Thats all I can say. It was the best 15 minutes that my mom and I had together. They take you around the resort and drop you off right at the beach. Its an incredible entrance and absolutely beautiful.

 

Flowers:

Used Maya Floral and was in contact with Marvin the entire time. We ordered bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, and center pieces. They ere beyond beautiful and arrived right on time. My FI and groomsmen picked them up in the lobby and tipped a bell hop to take them to the reception area. I highly recommend their services! I used the free bouquet from the resort for my bouquet toss!! It was beautiful but not even comparable to the product we got from Marvin at Maya Floral.

 

Photography--

Naiara Altuna from Naal Photography http://naalweddingphotography.com/

 

I considered her a guest at our wedding and purchased day passes for her and the assistant. Worked just find and no one but the front desk questioned it. Her prices are reasonable and her work is incredible! She was on property from 2:00 until 9 pm. I highly recommend her!! Go look her up!

 

Mariachi Band--

We purchased a 6 person mariachi band for our entrance and cocktail hour entertainment. WORTH THE MONEY!!!! 8 showed up and marched us into the cocktail hour. My guests were absolutely shocked and loved the entertainment. They played for 45 minutes and took pictures with us. I still get chills thinking about their voices!!

 

Banquet Catering/Cocktail Hours:

The service was incredible-- many of the staff we saw at all of the events, it was nice to get to know them! we tried every banquet menu except the Japanese option. By far our favorite was the Mayan option that we had at our wedding. Everyone raved about it! The Italian was no so bad but no as good as the Italian restaurants on property. The International and Mexican cocktail hour menus were the BEST!!!!! Those are a must for your cocktail hours. We have some picky eaters and they were devouring the food. The bar setup for private events is awesome. If they don't have something they'll go hunt it down for you.

 

Locations of Private Events:

Wednesday night Cocktail hour-- Caribbean terrace-- There was a set up fee per person but worth the money again!! What a way to welcome everyone to paradise! Its a beautiful terrace with sofas and a beautiful bar.

Thursday Breakfast- Arrefices Terrace-- It was a bit warm at 9 am but stunningly beautiful. 

Friday Cocktail hour: 5:00 pm on Tucan Terrace-- Beautiful view of the ocean

Saturday Dinner-- Bungambillo terrace-- beautiful area with a large gazebo near by. Perfect location

Sunday-- wedding event day all at Tucan Terrace and Garden-- Beautiful area! Between Nizuc Lobby but closer to Moon Grand Lobby.

Monday Breakfast-- Aqua Ballroom (Across from Nizuc gift shop)-- Has one wall of windows but is pretty plain inside. 

Tuesday Dinner- Aqua Ballroom due to weather-- It was nice to be inside for some of the events because of the humidity but the ballrooms just dont have much of an atmosphere.

 

It was really nice being able to have the whole group together for at least an hour everyday but by the end of the week I was really tired of wrangling everyone. if I could go back i would have not scheduled any events after the wedding. I love my family and friends but I always felt like I was planning something or had to be some where. It would have been nice to relax the last couple of days. Keep this in mind brides! 

 

Private Tequila Tasting:

We added a private tequila tasting to our rehearsal dinner evening and this was sooooo much fun! They had 22 different tequilas for people to try and the staff knew everything about each bottle. They suggested different kinds according to your preferences. I don't even drink tequila and I found at least 5 I enjoyed. Who knew there were dessert tequilas?! This was a little pricey but worth the money!! 

 

As you can see we added a few extra things to our wedding week but we really tried hard to spend our money wisely. Forget about all the small details like gift bags, presents, decorations etc. People would much rather have entertainment and experiences during their vacation! OOT bags are a great idea but its a lot to carry down and they get expensive fast. I did purchase mosquito bands for everyone-- they were a savior! We are bit up like crazy!! Bring some after bite spray or ointment... multiple tubes!!!!!!!!

We spent less than $10,000 on the wedding and have been told it was the best vacation that our guests have ever taken.

 

I hope this helps some of you! If I have forgotten anything please ask! I hope your wedding is as wonderful and memorable as mine! 

[Wafflesmom]

Foremost, congratulations and thank you so much for the helpful review @@jackielemman! I'll be sure to put your tips to good use.

 

Few questions:

 

1) We are all staying at the Sunrise, any recommendations for ceremony and reception locations (prefer terrace for reception)

 

2) Did you have to pay the outside vendor fee for the photographer and assistant plus the day passes, or just the day passes for the both of them?

 

3) Did you have to pay a vendor fee to use Maya Floral or does dropping off the flowers at the front desk get around the vendor fee?

 

4) Why does Moon Palace place a hold on credit cards?

 

Thanks in advance for answering my questions

[natalie25]

Congratulation @@jackielemman.

 

With your photographer did you not pay the vendor fee? Did anyone question who you were using as a photographer if you hadn't used hotels option and hadn't paid the vendor fee?

[jackielemman]

@@natalie25

 

Didn't pay a vendor fee. The front desk started questioning my photographer but we quickly just said she was a guest at our wedding and we also had pre-paid their day passes. Was very simple.

@@Wafflesmom

 

The sunrise section is beautiful! You will love having hammocks on your patio! The bungambillo (spelling might be off here) Terrace was really close to Sunrise. It is a beautiful area!! very large terrace and grassy areas.

 

To be honest you can get married wherever you like. There are golf carts every where to take you places. We didn't get married anywhere close to where we stayed and it was just fine! 

 

We only purchased day passes for our photographers. We had seats for them at our reception and considered them guests while they were there.

 

Maya Floral dropped them off at the lobby and we never paid a vendor fee. They did not set anything up... my groomsmen tipped a bell hop to put the flowers on a golf cart and take them to the ceremony area.

 

After calling Chase we found out that its common for these all inclusive resorts to put holds on cards and that they go away within 6 days of check out. I am almost positive it'll happen at any huge resort in that area. They want to make sure they get their money. Totally understandable but we just didn't know this ahead of time!

 

Anyone know how to upload pictures to a post?! I have some nice pictures I could send out!

Also... checkout the eversnap app for phones. We created a free album that all of my guests were posting photos to during the week. I have 700 photos from the week and never took one!!! Its amazing!!

 

We handed out a little business card with instructions and helped everyone get it on their phone at our first cocktail hour. People had so much fun with it.

[TheBHolders]

@@jackielemman thanks for sharing. I wish my wedding was closer. Where did you stay? We booked a concierge room. I asked for the sunrise side, but I was told that it's really up to Palace. I'm glad you reached the 75 nights. That is what I am stressed over now, trying to get guests to pay their deposits.

Our budget is under $10,000 as well. We plan to hire a DJ, but I would like to have a better range on how many guests are coming. Before I hire one. Maya Floral has a bunch of great reviews, I am not a flower person though and was going to have my stepmom make fake bouquets for everyone, but maybe I can order a few bouquets from Maya Floral for centerpieces. To upload pictures there is a white box with green inside under the smiley face, when you hover over it, it says image. I have my wedding booked for the bugamibilas sp gazebo, but I want to switch to Tucan for the longer walkway. We want to have a ballroom reception, I appreciate your feedback on the ballrooms since it doesnt seem to be popular for many. I asked for the Star ballroom, but who knows what I'll get. I just dont want it to be dated. I saw the ballroom at Playacar Palace and it is quite nice and has white draping.

[jackielemman]

@@jackielemman thanks for sharing. I wish my wedding was closer. Where did you stay? We booked a concierge room. I asked for the sunrise side, but I was told that it's really up to Palace. I'm glad you reached the 75 nights. That is what I am stressed over now, trying to get guests to pay their deposits.

Our budget is under $10,000 as well. We plan to hire a DJ, but I would like to have a better range on how many guests are coming. Before I hire one. Maya Floral has a bunch of great reviews, I am not a flower person though and was going to have my stepmom make fake bouquets for everyone, but maybe I can order a few bouquets from Maya Floral for centerpieces. To upload pictures there is a white box with green inside under the smiley face, when you hover over it, it says image. I have my wedding booked for the bugamibilas sp gazebo, but I want to switch to Tucan for the longer walkway. We want to have a ballroom reception, I appreciate your feedback on the ballrooms since it doesnt seem to be popular for many. I asked for the Star ballroom, but who knows what I'll get. I just dont want it to be dated. I saw the ballroom at Playacar Palace and it is quite nice and has white draping.

 

We wanted a DJ as well but with 40 guests it wasn't necessary at all. People had a great time and we were able to put that money into other places. If you're not a flower person then bring the fake flowers for sure! Save the money and use it for something thats important to you like DJ!

 

We stayed in the Crocodilo building in the Nizuc section we had ocean front and it was beautiful!! We had our first look at the Tucan Gazebo and it was a beautiful area! Your wedding will be wonderful!

I couldn't figure out how upload pictures to this site but I made a gallery on my profile. I posted a few pictures that my family had on eversnap. My professional pictures will be in a couple weeks!!

[Wafflesmom]

Again, thanks for everything @@jackielemman! I just saw your pictures and everything looked fabulous. You looked gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous I've been contemplating hiring a DJ but we'll probably have the same number of guests. Based on your advice, I'm seriously rethinking that idea. Best to save money where I can. And we have a budget of $10,000 too so I may be asking you for more tips. Hope you don't mind