Ok Here it is.
I have been delaying this because I wanted to make sure that I did a good job at describing everything. I am sure that I will miss a few details but I will try my best.
Planning
My off-site wedding coordinator was Elizabeth Riff. She was very responsive and super helpful. Anything that I had questions about, she got back to me right away. The spreadsheet that they give you to work with was very helpful. I would make sure that when you are looking at your totals, the excel formula's are working. I made this mistake and didn't realize that I had spent 2k more than I thought until a month before the payments were due. The one thing that I had difficulties with was the DJ. They at first tried to tell me that DJ Doremixx wasn't allowed onsite. Based on other brides in the forums having him at the Azul properties, I was able to get them to bend for me. It appears that they are letting him onsite now, but with the charge. Honestly, he was so worth it. DJ Ivan will get his own review later. I was locked into having the 500 dollar vendor fee but I believe that this has been upped to 800 dollars, which is quite ridiculous. The hotels are pretty expensive, so for several guests and the money they are making off you, I would think that they should keep it low. Anyways, even after my money and information was due, Lizzie still kept helping me along the way and I really appreciated her. Karisma charges a decent amount for some of their decorative items. I brought several items myself and they put everything up the way I wanted it for a small charge of 4 dollars per person. Not bad considering the savings!
Hotel
This hotel is beautiful! Hands down the nicest hotel me or any of my well traveled guests have been to. If you can, definitely stay in the junior sweets or above. The regular rooms are nice, but they are just regular hotel rooms set in paradise where the suites will knock you off your feet. This hotel was WAY nicer than El Dorado Royale where we stayed for our honeymoon. The hotel is rather small, but it’s really nice because you can get everywhere quickly and it’s easy to hang out with your guests. Lomas travel picked us up at the airport and it was pretty easy to find them and before we knew it, we were on our way. It was probably 20 minutes to the hotel and the drivers had coronas for us in the car (for a charge of 2 for 5 US dollars). Once we got there the front desk was waiting for our arrival and we were greeted with champagne and warm cloths. The sat us down and gave us some forms to fill out such as our pillow menu and aromatherapy menu. The wedding coordinators (Celina and Tania) also came down to meet us and gave us our appointment to meet with them. Our rooms weren’t ready (we got there at 11:30 and check in was at 3) so we changed into bathing suits and grabbed some lunch at Chil. Chil's food was fantastic and the bartenders intoduced us to ice beers which are beers with half of a frozen margarita in side. Amazing, I know it sounds gross but you have got to try it! Around 3 we got our rooms. We had room 806 which was a swim up junior suite. Bed was super comfy and the rooms are just as good as they look in the professional pictures on their web site. The swim up was cold, but we knew that going into this trip as we were getting married in December.
The beach concierges were fantastic. Jorge was amazing, but his last day was the Friday while we were there but he, Hans and Sergio did everything that they could to make sure we were happy. The immediately knew we were the bride and groom and took the liberty of booking us 2 beach cabanas right near the bar and volleyball courts for the entire time we were there. This was free to us and made it so our guests always knew where to find the wedding party. The ocean and beach was so beautiful and the ocean water was a great temperature. The bar we spent the most time at was the aquanox bar which is ion the center of the resort. They made great drinks and several tequila shots were had! We also spent a great deal of time at the tequila bar. These guys make great shots like Scooby snacks and shit in the grass! Tell them what you like and they will come up with a dream drink for you!
Restaurants
Breakfast was always held at Blue International. You could order off the menu or do buffet which was very good. The tater tots were awesome as was the French toast and the omelet bar. Loved their fresh squeezed OJ and bottles of water were never difficult to get. We didn't eat dinner very much due to drinking, but we did eat at the Italian restaurant on our last night which was amazing and our guests all loved the Blue International and Chil dinners. The Latino restaurant was just beginning to open on our last night so we didn't try that place.
At Playa Chil, everyday that had some sort of party going on at lunch. One day it was a BBQ, one day was a fish fry, one day was taco bar, and each day was different but equally as yummy. We went there for lunch almost every day.
Spa
The massage was the best massage I had ever had. Ana was fantastic. Three of my girlfriends and I all went and it was so relaxing. The ladies who come around to the cabanas will normally have some sort of deal, so we got 25 min free from signing up with them. Definitely well worth it. The spa is in a beach cabana over the water and hearing the ocean crash underneath you was just heavenly. My mom and some of our guests also got pedicures which they enjoyed and came out very nicely.
Room Service
The room service food was OK, but you could order booze to room service. Our first night we ordered beers and shots from them all night and it was great! They are open 24 hours and the room service breakfast was really good too.
Onsite Wedding coordinators/meeting
We got legally married in Mexico so we had to do the blood test onsite. The blood test was scheduled for 9am, but the nurse's car broke down so it was moved till 10. It took about 5 minutes and we were never provided the results, so we got to the alter and joked that we must not have any STD's lol. The coordinator meeting was at 1:00pm. Once we got there, they walked us up to their offices which were very nice and we were introduced to our other wedding coordinator Victor. He seemed a little green. The meeting went ok, it was about 2 hours. Our witnesses came to the meeting and we had to sign the forms a few times since we had to have our signature match our passports and most of us have had our passports for a long time so the sigs didn't match. The other thing you will need is a list of who is having what for dinner if there is a choice and your seating plan. I was able to log into the knot.com and send them the spreadsheet, but I would have had that all set if I would have known I needed it. They also wanted to charge us 65 dollars to steam the dress, but it didn't need it so we passed. I think it was 15 dollars for bridesmaid’s dresses.
Once we got into the meeting we talked about our welcome party which was on the beach with the donkey and the cigar roller. The cigar roller, isn't actually a cigar roller, it’s a cigar stand wand the guy rolls like 3 cigars. Not what we were expecting for 400 dollars. They then asked us what kinds of cigars we would like and we told them Cuban’s and flavored cigars. At this point I let my fiancé leave the meeting so we could finish everything up. We saved a lot of money by bringing out own colored sheers. Azul beach would have charged us 300 dollars for this and I bought my own for 30 dollars. We also brought our own chair sashes for 30 cents each compared to 4 dollars apiece and we brought out own colored lanterns from the Christmas tree shop for 89 cents each compared to 4 dollars. The cost to have this all set up was 4 dollars a person so about 150. Huge savings if you ask me. I had everything in suitcases for them and they returned it all back to me the day after the wedding. I had made my hair appointment through my off site wedding coordinator and they added this to my bill. Here was the weird part. They needed some of my balance in cash, and some was able to go on credit card but Azul Beach does NOT have an ATM. The closest atm is at the Sensatori which is a 30 min walk each way. They also couldn't take travelers checks. This cause a bit of a problem because the cash we had brought with us was already spoken for, for our other vendors. Please be aware that traveler’s checks are pretty pointless in Mexico and ATM's are hard to find. The Sensatori did have American dollars in their atm so it was helpful to the guests that made the walk. We also gave them a CS of our wedding music and they played every song at the exact perfect time. It’s not just a CD player but a sound system. If you are getting married legally, make sure that you have a song picked out for the document signing. The only other thing was that I didn't know you could write your own vows to go with the legal ceremony and I wish I had known that. Overall, with the exception of the cigar roller, the wedding coordinators did a wonderful job. The made all of my dreams come true and I would highly recommend them.
Welcome Party
We had our welcome party near the volleyball court as there was a wedding happening at the other beach venue location. This was an OK spot, but I wished that they had taken down the court. They had some cocktail tables and some chairs for the elderly guests. They also made sure we had an electrical outlet so that we could plug in our sound system (another huge savings plus we get to have it in our home). The wifi was spotty so it didn't play all of our songs, but it was still great. We had the Mexican Donkey Cocktail party and the cigar "roller" It went from 4-6 but they extended it for us free of charge. I think the reason that they did this was because when the cigar roller showed up, he didn't have Cuban’s. They said that some of the leafs were Cuban, but not Cuban cigars. It was basically a BS excuse and to be honest, I feel that they messed this one up, but honestly I just wanted to have fun, there were cigars and the donkey was fantastic. He was great for picture ops and I was even able to get on top of him for photos. The food was excellent and we had our own bar and waiters. After the welcome party we all headed over to karaoke which was so much fun! We got some great videos and it truly was a night to remember.
Wedding
We got married at 3:30 on the beach, cocktail hour was from 4:30 to 5:30 and the wedding was from 5:30-10:30. The day started off very windy but beautiful. I had breakfast with my fiancé and both of our families and then we went back to the room and he checked into his groom's room. He was given a regular room in building 2. One of my best friends is a hairdresser so she was doing all of my bridesmaids and my mother’s hair and my hair appointment was at 12:30, all in our room. We had plenty of room for two hairdressing stations and 7 women all getting ready together. The wedding coordinators stopped by at 12:00 and had a waiter bring us all sorts of mimosa's, quesadilla’s, chicken fingers etc. I would recommend that you have the grooms gourmet bites go to the bride and have the groom get the burgers and such since they weren’t really into asparagus wrapped in prosciutto but we would have been. The woman from the spa didn't speak much English so definitely bring pictures of what you want. I thought she did a great job, and it took about 90 minutes, but I have a lot of hair. Towards the end she had a helper come to the room to help hand her bobby pins etc.
After my hair was done, the wedding coordinator's came back to my room to tell me that it was quite windy outside and do I want to move the wedding indoors. We were having our wedding at Playa Chil (which you should request for all of your events if possible as its really private and beautiful). We walked down to the beach and it was windy, but I didn't fly 37 people to Mexico to get married indoors so I decided to keep it outside and I am so glad I did as about 10 minutes before the ceremony the wind died completely. At 230 the photographer Juan Navarro came and he was amazing and will get his own review as well. He took pictures of my dress, jewelry and my getting my make up done. After that, it was time to get into the dress! He stepped outside as we got it on, and then he started up with the pictures. It was like he wasn't even there! By the time I was dressed we had about 5 minutes to go. Our flowers had come earlier in the day and they were amazing. So beautiful and worth every penny! All of our wedding guests and bridal party were instructed to be at the aquuanox bar for 3:00 so it was just me, my mom and dad. Victor then came to escort us to the wedding!
We walked over to the red bridge where I could hear the music playing and my bridal party was lined up and ready to go. I couldn't see the actual set up at this point, but I was just ready to get married and start relaxing! Once it was my time to go with my mom on my left and dad on our right we started to make our way. They had my fiancé turned around until I got to the main isle so I could see his face, which was priceless. Best moment of my life. When I got to him, they told me to kiss my mom, and hug my dad and then walk up to him. They never took my flowers so I had them for a little bit up there before I handed them to my sister. Honestly, we had no idea what they were saying as the translation was hard to understand, but it didn't matter as I was just so happy to be up there with my husband. When we did the signing, they called us up to sign and my hand wouldn't work! My signature did not look like my passport, so I hope this doesn't matter! They then called the witnesses and after the signing, we said I do, had my sister in law do a reading (the apache wedding blessing since the reading has to be done after the wedding not before or during) and were married! After the wedding we walked up to the main pavilion and greeted people and then they went over to the aquanox bar and then to the cocktail hour while we took our pictures.
Cocktail Hour
This was our GIVC event and was held in the Wave lounge. We didn't have any decorations for the cocktail hour and it really wasn't needed. They had great hour dourves and a mini bar with a waiter. People were able to sit on the lounge furniture and relax and take pictures. We were able to join about half way through which was really nice. Around 5:20 they escorted the guests in to the reception area at playa Chil and we walked over for 5:30.
Reception
The set up the wedding beautifully! Everything was exactly the way I planned, but honestly I think they upgraded my centerpieces, because they were much nicer than the ones I had chosen. They had a table for our guest book (vintage map of Mexico) table for the place settings and the case as well as the all of the lanterns and tiki torches. I made it clear that I wanted good lighting and they had plenty of spotlights set up in my wedding colors so the tiki torches weren’t needed. My candles and lanterns also stayed lit all night despite a little breeze. DJ Doremixx did our introductions and then we went right into our first dance which was "Better Together" by Jack Johnson. We had the cold fireworks at the end which was such a great touch! Followed by my Father Daughter Dance ("My Wish" by Rascal Flats. Finally we got to sit down for dinner. I told them I wanted dinner to be quick and they did a great job! We had the Cesar salad and the filet or mahi mahi which both were excellent. For desert we had the tres leches cake which everyone raved about. We didn't have a real wedding cake as I knew it wasn't karisma's strong point and we were serving cake as a desert anyways. We did get a small 20 dollar cake that was strawberry with fondant. It was a little hard to cut but fun to smash in each other’s face. I would say the tres leches cake tasted 10 times better than the strawberry cake.
After dinner the dancing started and it really didn't stop all night. The DJ handed out different props and we all had such a blast. So much fun that a crab decided to make an appearance on the dance floor! So funny! When we got back to our room they had decorated it with rose petals and flowers and it was really beautiful. The next morning we had our breakfast in bed. We didn't like any of the choices given to us, as we aren't that fancy so they made us scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns and I swear they were the best eggs I have ever had.
All in all, it was such an amazing experience and a beautiful hotel and location. I wouldn't have changed one thing about the week we were there and I am happy to answer any questions other brides may have! I do have to say that once the wedding is over, your mind is so much clearer and it’s a great time to just relax and start your new life with your husband!
