OFFICIAL Azul Sensatori Thread

[LuluMai22]

Hello ladies!

 

I wanted to thank all of you for your advice and help through our wedding planning process! We had a wonderful wedding, thanks in part to ideas I got on this forum!

 

Here is my super long review!

 

Overall we are very happy with our experience at the Azul Sensatori. Some photos of our wedding can be found here:

http://abweddingrivieramaya.com/2015/03/28/wedding-m-and-r/

 

We chose the Azul Sensatori because we had a large group coming from all over the world that included a whole bunch of kids. There are direct flights to Cancun from almost everywhere, and the resort is truly and excellent place to vacation for all ages.

 

The wedding planning was quite frustrating at times. Our coordinator was Brigitte in the Miami office. She was always polite and professional.  She actually had a lot of good ideas and advice throughout the planning process. However, we usually had to wait a week to hear back from her, and sometimes more. She also occasionally mixed up our details. I think the main issue is that they are overloaded with weddings and there aren't enough staff in the office. This irritated us, as they make a TON of money off us wedding couples, Karisma should be able to afford a few more staff.

 

One of the most frustrating things about the planning process is that Canadian couples are excluded from all wedding promotions. The official reason for this is that Canadian guests generally purchase their rooms through a package and so get a discounted rate. That was not the case for our group, we had guests booking directly through Karisma coming from the US, and just because we were Canadian we were not given the perks an American couple would have received. 

Also, our wedding bill was in USD, which was a huge disadvantage for us. 

 

We attended the BDR in November 2014 and I would highly recommend this. It was so helpful, and fun! If possible plan to go before you book your wedding. They were far more likely to accommodate requests from couples who had not yet booked their weddings than those who had already signed on.

 

The resort is fantastic. The grounds, food, activities and rooms are all wonderful. The best part of the resort is truly the people who work there. They are all very customer-focused.  

The resort mixed up the room bookings for quite a few of our guests. We had singles staying in a room with two beds, and groups of platonic friends staying in a room with one bed.  We also had guests who paid extra to stay in the adults only section, and ocean views, who did not get the type of room they paid extra for. We also had guests who requested "guaranteed connecting rooms" and were not even in the same building!

 

We checked in late on a Sunday night, but still the wedding concierge Laura was there to welcome us and make sure we were taken care of. She confirmed our numbers and menu for our welcome lunch and made sure we were feeling comfortable with our plans. 

 

Our package came with a 40 person lunch or dinner at Spoons, and we used it for a welcome lunch. As always, the food was excellent and the staff was very helpful. We had guests with dietary restrictions and they were all served food they could eat, and enjoyed! 

The staff at Spoons was fabulous, as always. Our guests were well taken care of during our lunch, which we appreciated. We could focus on visiting with them instead of taking care of them. The wedding concierge Laura also present for our lunch making sure it all went well.

 

Janet, the Lomas wedding coordinator facilitated our rehearsal the day before the wedding. She is always professional and can multi-task like I've never seen. If you have Janet taking care of your wedding rest assured every detail will be perfect!

 

I went to the Vassa Spa for my hair and makeup, as did the two Moms and one of my bridesmaids. Everyone looked gorgeous and were very happy with both the hair and makeup services. The front desk staff at the spa are also really helpful. 

Angeles did my hair and makeup and it looked great and lasted all day, even in the heat. I paid extra for the airbrush makeup, and I'm not sure it was worth it. My bridesmaid who had regular makeup done looked great and hers lasted as long as mine did. 

 

We ordered flowers through Lomas. We got two hanging corsages for the ceremony arch, a bridal bouquet, two bridesmaids bouquets, five boutonnières, and two corsages. They were all lovely. The boutonnières wilted quickly. If I had to do it again I would skip them or use an option that is not a real flower. The corsages and bouquets looked great the entire day!

 

We ordered a few decor items from Lomas but they were so incredibly overpriced we ended up bringing most of our decor ourselves and renting some from Love&Lace Decor. We were charged a set up fee of $250 but that was WAY less than we would have spent ordering our decorations from Lomas.

 

Our ceremony was on the Rooftop Garden (which is not a garden, nor is it on the rooftop).  Janet did a great job of overseeing the set up, and it looked wonderful. It was hot, they turned on the fans and served our guests drinks which really helped. Luckily the ceremony was quick!

 

It only took one Google search for us to decide we were not using the "approved" Photographers. Caribe has a terrible reputation, and Matias Cano is so overpriced it was more economical for us to pay the ridiculous outside vendor fee of $800USD!!!! We negotiated that down to $500USD. Our photographer was PhotoStudioAB and we are so happy with our photos.

 

Our reception was at the Plaza Zavas. Janet, Berenice and Laura did a great job of setting everything up, and they were there throughout the reception to make sure all was well. It looked wonderful and we had a great time.

The staff at the reception was so amazing. All of our guests were so well taken care of. This was wonderful for us, as we could focus on enjoying the party! The service staff asked before taking the buffet away, and also made sure our Photographers had enough to eat and drink.

 

We used DJ AllMusic. Our DJ's name was Vulcan (I think). He did an excellent job. We bought the package that includes MC services and he kept things organized throughout the party. The package also included a bubble machine, glow sticks, and balloons.

 

We ordered the petite gourmet buffet for our guests, and everyone loved the food.

I wish I had ordered plated meals for my guests with dietary restrictions. There wasn't really a good entrée option for my vegetarian guest, and my guest with a seafood allergy was concerned because the tongs used for the fish were also used for other items.

The food was labelled clearly, and so most of our guests with dietary restrictions/preferences were fine with the buffet. If I could go back I would just order a few plated meals for those who needed them.

 

We also ordered a cake, we chose chocolate and vanilla. It was beautiful and delicious! 

 

One final note, we were planning to use the "anniversary voucher" included in our package to return to a Karima resort but we never received it! We emailed Customer Service about that when we got home, but no one has gotten back to us. 

 

We are so grateful to the entire team at the Azul Sensatori for making our wedding wonderful. All of our complaints have to do with Karismas prices and/or policies, not the people who work at the resort. 

 

Thank you so much for your incredible review. This was so helpful! We are getting married in September and I was slightly worried about decorations and such. Karisma also wants to charge us extra for one of the free events we are supposed to have, and our budget almost doubled!

 

Your pictures are absolutely beautiful!! If you don't mind my asking, how did you negotiate the vendor fee? For the same reasons you listed, we are going with an outside photographer, but the $800 fee is really killing our budget.

 

We are also having some trouble with our coordinator in Miami. She never has any good input, and forgets the things we've already discussed. 

 

As for decorations, did you have any issues with customs? What did you use for centerpieces? Any advice would be appreciated!

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to post this review! 

[BecomingaRiggio]

@@LuluMai22 why are they charging you for a free event? Whats thier justification. They are so FOS. I feel like they dont disclose anything and when you ask, they cant give you an answer. I am taking all my decorations. I would rather travel heavily and pay the baggage fee than to pay Lomas and let them have thier way

@@Ydolem YAY!! Congrats to you and the new Mr YDoleM. It is so nice to see the brides I am so familiar with have their day in paradise. Beautiful pics and you looked perfect!! Thank you for your review and taking the time to keep us posted. I'm glad it all went well.

[Aliyedwinramirez]

Thanks for reassuring us brides with your experience @yodolem ????

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@@Ydolem - whoops!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ydolem]

@@calgarybride2015 thank you! You look lovely in your pic too!

@@mrsgordoncomeondown Congratulations in advance. Your experience with the resort staff will be WAY better than dealing with Miami/Karisma.  

We had to speak with a manager to get the price of the outside vendor fee reduced, our WC couldn't do that. We basically said that we would have used a photographer they provided if they had given us  decent option. Caribe has terrible reviews and the Lomas package with Matias Cano is so expensive it is more economical to pay the fee and hire someone else (this is because Lomas/Karisma takes 45-55% of what they charge the couples for these services).

Choosing PhotoStuioAB was one of the best decisions we made! I follow him on FB and I can't wait to see your pics!

@@BecomingaRiggio thanks! Your day is coming soon and it will be wonderful!

@@LuluMai22 we had to complain A LOT to get the vendor fee reduced, but we basically told them we were forced to find a different photographer because they provided no good options. Now, they told us they often waive the outside vendor fees for couples that use the photographers that are on the approved list for the El Dorado/Generations resorts but for some stupid reason are considered "outside vendors" at Azul resorts. If we had known that before we would have looked into those options. 

I think the Miama WCs are overloaded with files, and our WC mixed up a lot of details for us too, included our wedding date and the spelling of my name! You really have to make sure you go over your detail sheet yourself to make sure it is correct.

 

I had a bunch of people help me bring stuff down, and my bridesmaid and I got searched at customs. There is a $300USD limit for anything you are bringing in that you won't be bringing out of the country. My bridesmaid has all our wedding favours and thank goodness I included the receipt with them (total was $280USD). The customs agent asked her how much they were worth.  I had all my linens, chair bows, etc-I used them to stuff my dress! I told the customs agent the beautiful chair bows were important to me and I would be bringing them home (lie, I gave them to Katy from L&L Decor).  Good thing they believed me as I didn't have a receipt as I bought them on Kijiji.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Ydolem

[TammyWright]

We are a top agency with Karisma and I was just at Azul Sensatori about 2 weeks ago.  In addition to the standard group perks, we are also currently offer:

 

1. Bride and groom fly free

2. free rooms

3. Couples massage for the bride and groom as well as spa certificates for the parents of the bride and groom.

 

You can rad our reviews, see some of our promotions, and contact us through the links in my signature.

[beth1234567890]

Hi Ladies- I have been reading all of these posts and following for a while. I guess I would be considered somewhat early in the planning stages. I have been talking with my travel agents and I am 99% sure I want to book at Azul Sensatori. Really the only thing holding me back is trying to calculate the cost of the wedding. We are doing destination because we both have such large families we cant do it in the states financially. We didnt pick a date yet but are saying sometime April 2016-but again think of selecting this and booking in next couple weeks. We are expecting about 100 people- and I know most spaces cant accomodate that big. Im nervous I will put down deposits and then they wont have a space big enough for us-should they be able to tell us what spaces are already booked before we do that. I know I want the wedding ceremony on the beach but am flexible on the rest. Or will I not know whats available until after I have already booked?

 

1. Deposits-since its about 5=$5000 for us to hold the rooms-does anyone know can you get your deposits back as people book? Or is that not resort related and would that be more specific to my travel agents?

 

2. For parties that large where can the reception be it looks like Zavas Plaza or the ballroom. Zavas looks nice but I am worried about rain and the ballroom looks not that great online. ******Have any brides had it here/do you have links to your photos???

 

3. Can anyone give me an idea of what you spent for a wedding that was on the larger size?? I guess im not sure what is even a realistic budget??

 

4. Also my fiance's family is persian and i know having cultural songs is important to them can you provide/request additional tracs that are not "normal" to the dj's azul makes you use??

 

Painfully nervous!

Thanks!

Edited May 2, 2015 by beth1234567890

[TammyWright]

Most recent resort map

 

azul_sensatori_mexico_map.pdf

[LuluMai22]

@@LuluMai22 why are they charging you for a free event? Whats thier justification. They are so FOS. I feel like they dont disclose anything and when you ask, they cant give you an answer. I am taking all my decorations. I would rather travel heavily and pay the baggage fee than to pay Lomas and let them have thier way

@@Ydolem YAY!! Congrats to you and the new Mr YDoleM. It is so nice to see the brides I am so familiar with have their day in paradise. Beautiful pics and you looked perfect!! Thank you for your review and taking the time to keep us posted. I'm glad it all went well.

@@BecomingaRiggio It's because they want us to buy the dinner under the pretense that we cannot choose the location. So, basically, if I want to choose where to have it, I have to pay per person.  It is insane!!!

 

 

@@calgarybride2015 thank you! You look lovely in your pic too!

@@mrsgordoncomeondown Congratulations in advance. Your experience with the resort staff will be WAY better than dealing with Miami/Karisma.  

We had to speak with a manager to get the price of the outside vendor fee reduced, our WC couldn't do that. We basically said that we would have used a photographer they provided if they had given us  decent option. Caribe has terrible reviews and the Lomas package with Matias Cano is so expensive it is more economical to pay the fee and hire someone else (this is because Lomas/Karisma takes 45-55% of what they charge the couples for these services).

Choosing PhotoStuioAB was one of the best decisions we made! I follow him on FB and I can't wait to see your pics!

@@BecomingaRiggio thanks! Your day is coming soon and it will be wonderful!

@@LuluMai22 we had to complain A LOT to get the vendor fee reduced, but we basically told them we were forced to find a different photographer because they provided no good options. Now, they told us they often waive the outside vendor fees for couples that use the photographers that are on the approved list for the El Dorado/Generations resorts but for some stupid reason are considered "outside vendors" at Azul resorts. If we had known that before we would have looked into those options. 

I think the Miama WCs are overloaded with files, and our WC mixed up a lot of details for us too, included our wedding date and the spelling of my name! You really have to make sure you go over your detail sheet yourself to make sure it is correct.

 

I had a bunch of people help me bring stuff down, and my bridesmaid and I got searched at customs. There is a $300USD limit for anything you are bringing in that you won't be bringing out of the country. My bridesmaid has all our wedding favours and thank goodness I included the receipt with them (total was $280USD). The customs agent asked her how much they were worth.  I had all my linens, chair bows, etc-I used them to stuff my dress! I told the customs agent the beautiful chair bows were important to me and I would be bringing them home (lie, I gave them to Katy from L&L Decor).  Good thing they believed me as I didn't have a receipt as I bought them on Kijiji.

 

 

Thank you for all the info!! I am a bit nervous about customs... it is $300 a person? I intend to bring everything back! Why would I leave it with them? They'd probably use it to charge other couples. 

 

By the way, do you have the contact info of the supervisor you spoke with to get that fee down? Can you private message it to me? (if you are ok with that). Our WC is avoiding the issue (I asked her 3 times about the photographer).

 

 

Also, does anyone have ideas for centerpieces that are portable?

 

Thanks again ladies!  

[Ydolem]

@@LuluMai22 I will PM you the supervisor info

 

The limit for items that you are bringing into Mexico that you will not bring home with you is $300USD per person. Keep in mind this only comes up for the 1/10 people who get their bags searched.

For our decorations we decided we would tell them we would be bringing them back to Canada (we didn't) so they didn't count.  The items that we were giving as "gifts" did count-these were our OoT bag items and wedding favours. We divided these items up between our wedding party.

My MoH was the only one who had her bag searched and she had our favours which were leather luggage tags. I packed the receipt with them and thank goodness as the customs officer did ask how much they were worth ($290).

 

For our centrepieces we rented items from Love and Lace and they looked great!

 

Hope that is helpful!

 

 

[BrianaJW22]

Hello Future and Former Brides!!

 

I am getting married at Azul Sensatori on November 8, 2015 and I am getting nervous about the planning aspect.

 

We have approximately 45 guests and are holding out ceremony and cocktail hour on the Sky Deck.  Any tips we should know about this?

 

We have out reception booked at Zocalo al Fresco, which was not our first choice.    Does anyone know what kind of feel this location gives off.  It looks dark and dreary, and the yellow walls seem as if it won't decorate well.  Please let me know any experience had with this location and any pictures.  I would love to hear how you decorated, or any input.

 

Any additional inside info, tips and recommendations from former Azul Sensatori brides would be greatly appreciated!   Thanks in advance.

 

Briana