Barcelo Maya Palace Brides

[michelle2011]

 

Originally Posted by Brenners 

Hi Michelle,

 

I sent an email to the photographers and they said that they do not go to Barcelo, however, we could use Anel.  Is Anel part of their photography group or is she separate from them?  Their email was confusing so I just wanted to hear from you to find out how they work.

 

Thanks!
 

 

Hi ya, i thought she was part of their group, as i contacted them to get to her. They are the Dreams resort photographers so maybe they just mean they are not part of the Barcelo. Maybe Anel is freelance? She is great though and if they said you can use her i would definitely take them up on it. Did they send you a price list?

 

[michelle2011]

This is Anel's direct email if you want to ask her any questions...Drercphoto@vallarta-adventures.com  

[Corporate40]

I just booked Anel for my wedding at the Barcelo on Aug 27th.  Thanks so much for the pictures and recommendation.

[Brenners]

Just signed and sent in our contract!  YEAH!!!!  So excited to be moving on to the next phase!  WOOHOO!!!!

[SandRWedding]

Just a quick question for all of you brides.....I just found out that our reception is only 2 hours with the package that we have booked. I don't feel that 2 hours is long enough, but my fiance does lol. I am thinking that the meal itself would take close to 1 hour??

 

Does anybody have any feedback or suggestions??

It will cost an extra $13 per person to add on one more hour to the reception, but things are adding up quickly!!

 

Thank you

Steph

[Corporate40]

Things will add up quickly.  After adding this and that, I'm over budget by a good $8K.  That's the one bad thing about planning with the Barcelo.  It seems like we're nickel and dimed for everything, even things you'd think were just included at an expensive all inclusive resort.

 

But I agree that 2 hrs is not long enough.  Our package includes 3 hours, plus we're doing a cocktail hour on top of that.

[JoanneIreland]

I think 2 hours is definitely too short, as you said it will take about an hour for a 4 course meal, plus add in any speeches, first dance, and cake cutting and bang the wedding is over! We have 3 hours included in our package and are going to add a fourth.

I agree, the Barcelo really seems to nickel and dime. This is working out much more expensive that I originally thought. Plus I never imagined a photographer in Mexico would be so expensive! On top of that the flights and accomodation are higher than anticipated, but that's probably because we will be there late November and it jumps up around Thanksgiving. Oh I would love to turn back the clock and elope!!

[JenRZ]

I know what you mean. We are here right now and our wedding is tomorrow. It is down pouring right now and I fear it will do so tomorrow as well. We ended up around $7,000. We did the Strawberry Passion, Mariachi, dance floor (we may not need it if we are rained out). That is not including the 2,600 we spent on photographer and outside fee. It does add up, but, appears they do a nice job. Let you know how it goes!

[SandRWedding]

Jen - Good luck for tomorrow - fingers crossed the rain stops for you!!!!

 

We had initially decided to have a DW as it is sooooo expensive here for one day (we priced it out to be about $10,000), and we decided that if we were going to spend that kind of money we were going away and spending the week!! It is turning out to be a lot more than I had anticipated, all the things you don't think about or you think would be included in an AI resort are adding up.

I am afraid to sit down (yet again.......) and do the math, and I am looking at the flowers and hupa now which I am sure will be additional.

And I will have to break the news to my FI that we are going to have to add another hour on to our reception. He is going to be happy lol

 

The trip itself is more expensive than we anticipated too, although we are the first week of April, right in between spring break and easter. Probably not the best time to go......but we were pretty limited in the dates we could choose from.

 

Thank you all

[nsousa]

I just got married there this past May.  Which package only includes 2 hours? 

 

We added the cocktail hour (and the extra hour at the end for a negotiated rate of about 50% what they wanted).  Cocktail hour seemed worth it bc for the same price, at least they give you food and a rooftop party...we hired the mariachi to entertain for this.

 

We had 36 people, but we had also paid for the 2 photographers meals and 2 other meals for guests that didn't make it due to a personal emergency at home, so we paid for 40 in all.

 

I think our bill was $6000 paid to the Barcelo.  

 

Ultimately, the total expense of our wedding amounted to about 3.5 times that, when you add in EVERY little detail leading up to the day of.  It was a lot more than I had every anticipated when first entertaining the idea of a destination wedding, but it was a beautiful day and when all is said and done, it was worth it for the most part.

 

See my post about wedding budgeting...I shared a spreadsheet that should help you calculate everything.  Fortunately, my meticulous calculating paid off, bc when we arrived at the resort and had our first meeting with the WC, I had pretty much nailed it with the amount I expected to need! 

 

But yes, Barcelo weddings, when done right, do seem to be more expensive than other resorts.  Or so it seems, but then again I wouldn't know.