Azul Fives Brides 2015

[MexicoWeddings]

Hey Azul Fives Brides! Azul Fives is in my top pics for spring 2015 wedding but am a bit Leary of lomas, their outrageous outside vendors fees and such. I like to hear all the clever ways brides are getting around this! I read on one if the Azul Beach forums that a bride had all of her flowers done from an outside vendor and just had them deliver them to the gate and her family collected them. She said she saved a ton of money on the flowers which turned out great and didn't have to pay the bogus outside vendor fee! Anyone else considered doing this??? Flowers are a big thing for me but don't want to pay an arm and a leg...

Hi there, 

 

It is true that all the resorts have an outside vendor fee. If you really want some natural flowers I really recommend you to get them from an outside vendor and just bring them to the resort. Spring is a big season for local flowers here in the Mayan Riviera and you can save tons for doing that. Let me know If you have any questions and I can help you with them. 

[acw271011]

Well things are off to a dandy start! I got my confirmation finally a little while ago for AF and the location is wrong! I specifically picked the pier and they come back with the garden. uh nope. wrong. so I emailed back and said fix it. Then I just talked to the TA I've been dealing with and yes, Transit has signed an exclusive contract with AF so nobody else will get to go. and since it's low season in October they likely will not add any other travel dates beyond the Saturday and Sunday they have now. just great. so now decisions to make and I'm not happy about making them

[TinkerSofi]

@@acw271011 I'm sure they'll fix those things up without a problem. I've had some things that the've put wrong on my summary sheet but an e-mail easily fixed it

 

@@MexicoWeddings from what I hear AF doesn't let you bring in outside flowers or food so it's their way or the highway when it comes to flowers. I'm bringing fake ones from home 

[Karilynnfarhat]

Hello everyone!

I am having a hard time trying to stay within budget especially since no one bothered to mention that I had to pay $950 for the basic wedding package, as I thought it was free.. I picked this resort because it is amazing but I am bringing 50 people with little to no perks.. Thought they were going to throw that one in. Someone please tell me what are the perks for this resort again? I talked to my travel agent and she didn't have much to say about it although I was never informed about this. My friend was married in Mexico and her package all together was $2500 and included a DJ.. Maybe I was suckered into picking this resort.. Anyone... help....

[acw271011]

I don't know how much help I can be since I just put in the request for us and they got it wrong. But my understanding is if you have a certain number of room nights and you're in the US you get the basic forever package for free. Canadians don't get it. All of the other packages cost. Big time. $3000+ from what I've read. Is your travel agent a GI certified agent? That makes a difference. You can look for a GI certified agent right on the AF website. They seem to have better access to the perks. I don't know about a DJ being included. Everything I've heard is that you have to pay extra for everything.

 

If you're in the US you don't have to go any further than this site. Wright Travel is affiliated with this site and are destination wedding specialists, and are GI certified agents for Karisma properties. There is a link page here to get in touch with them. If you're in canada, like I said you can find an agent right from the AF site.

 

Hope that helps. I know some of the other ladies will chime in with info that they have.

[snswedding2016]

My TA told me before I decided on AF (back in Nov) that the only tour operator is Air Transat. This did initially pose a problem for my guests as a significant portion is travelling from PEI and Transat doesn't fly to/from PEI. They do fly to/from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick but not in Jan when we wanted our wedding. There was a lot of back and forth and going back to drawing board to look at other options but ultimately we really loved AF and what it has to offer. We looked at moving the wedding later but then the prices not only went up for those coming from the East Coast of Canada but also the guest from the West Coast and Toronto. Other resorts were just as expensive or more so we ended up securing the really good rate our TA got us for Toronto and Calgary and then we got "Land only" (hotel only) rates for our East Coast guests. With the rate we got we estimated what a flight would be to Mexico and the price was on par for the rates we found for our East Coast guests if we changed resorts.

 

In terms of the packages and the perks - I'm not sure what everyone else found but when we did our research for our size of group we found that while most of the other resorts offered a cheaper "package" than AF that came with basic decor, cake, food etc, it would only include up to 15 or 25 guests. The price per person above that was crazy! A lot of other resorts offer little to no substitutions or changes within their packages. That's actually how I started to consider AF - my TA recommended it and just warned me that the costs can add up but as long as you're careful about where you spend your money you could definitely have a beautiful wedding on a budget. In her words "they will try to woo you with their wedding packages". haha

 

My TA was really great, during the research phase she did a budget breakdown between the different resorts for wedding packages and it really helped me make my final decision. 

[TinkerSofi]

@@snswedding2016 I agree with you. @Karilynnfarhat Most of the packages we found for other hotels were cheaper at first glance but the include a very limited amount of guests. Since we were expecting quite a few we needed to pay on a per person basis after the certain number, which ended up being about the same. Also, other hotels offered a lot of things in their package that we didn't want and we needed to add others that we did, so that meant putting more money on top of the package. 

 

Sometimes the prices at AF can be overwhelming and it looks more expensive, but in the long run, if you watch your choices, it's about the same. Keep in mind that the other resorts are not giving you a wedding like the one on the memorable moments package for $2000. It's a very simple one, so you need to compare apples with apples.

 

I also didn't know that the package wasn't free for Canadians. When I booked I made sure to go through all the small print and at that point it said valid only in North America, so unless they lost their map, last time I checked we were in North America. My TA tried to tell me but I kind of misunderstood her and believed the website instead. Of course after we booked, they changed the website to say US only. I tried to fight it but nothing because I didn't have proof that it said North America. Anyway, I've come to accept it now, I'm still paying less than at home. Canadians don't get any perks pretty much unless you book through one of their TA's, in that case, you can choose a spa package (so you get your makeup and hair, trials and the real thing, pedi and mani for a bridesmaid), a cocktail hour, or some photography package for free. They say we get no perks because they give us a huge discount already on our packaged vacations. 

[AllieH]

did you ask them to correct it for you?? they will start a spreadsheet of your planning, and you'll get a chance to review it as you get closer to the wedding. minor issue (but just enough to be an annoyance, for sure!)

 

I don't know how much help I can be since I just put in the request for us and they got it wrong. 

[acw271011]

Thanks Allie. Yes - I sent the coordinator an email as soon as I realized they had it wrong which was within 5 minutes of them sending the confirmation, and I just called and waited, then got sent to voicemail. Now I'm worried that the reservation will expire before they get it fixed. This is a deal breaker. I'm not going to put down money until they confirm to me that they have the location right. I don't want the garden. I would look at the Zky Terrace if they tell me the pier isn't available now (which it was when I did our form) but that's the only two. I'm not going to pay $1700 for the Sky Deck for 6 or 8 people and the garden is a no go. Hopefully they'll get it sorted but if not then I'll just go looking for somewhere else. I'll tell you, things are not off to a great start. Between finding out about the tour operator and getting the requested location wrong.....

[acw271011]

Well ladies. I'm just getting more unhappy. It turns out that the application process showed me and allowed me to book the pier for 5pm. Well guess what. It's not available. She said the system shouldn't have allowed me to book it. So I asked about the Zky Terrace. There's a wedding there at 3 and that wedding is moving to the pier to have their cocktail reception. That's why the system stuck us into the garden, which I really don't want. The coordinator is looking at whether or not they'll allow us to take the terrace since they mandate 2 hours in between weddings but she needs to talk to the on site person and she's going to send me pictures of the garden because it's "an awesome location". But people can walk by on a sidewalk 6 feet away. Don't know what's so awesome about that. She said if we want to switch to the 21st we can have the pier but I want to do our renewal on our proper wedding anniversary date which is the 20th. She offered me the Azul Beach but it's 45 minutes away from PDC. This just gets better and better....