MoonPalacePookie

Quote: Originally Posted by Mrs D To Be! just bumping this to see if any past mp brides can help us out with this question - i'd thought about it before but not worried too much about it, because as was said above, i've not see the wristband on guests in pictures of weddings at mp...i'd imagine they allow all the guests to take them off for the afternoon - especially if you are having a private reception! xxxxxxx Our guests were not allowed to take their bracelets off, but some took them off and it was like $15 to replace them, you have to make sure you keep the bracelet you cut off, otherwise they will assume it is lost and will charge you daily for the remainder of your stay. The bride and groom will have their bracelet cut off by the WC. Hope that helps.

Quote: Originally Posted by TXgirl I was wondering if anyone had information on the free wedding package with add on's. Any opinions on whether or not it was worth it to do the package or just do the free one and then add on preferred items? THANKS! It depends on how set in the way you are about your wedding. For the free flowers and cake that come with the packages you have very limited choices. If you dont like their choices, you cannot use the "price" of your free item towards a more expensive choice, you have to pay the full price and forgo the free item. If you want things to be easy, do the package and just pick from what they offer. If you want lots of choices, do the free package and add things, that way you'll end up with exactly what you want. Hope this helps. I bought the superior package and could not get the flowers and the cake I wanted for "free." I just gave in and used the things that were included and they turned out perfect and I couldn't be happier.

This is kinda feeding off the other girls' responses, but here are mine: 1. You will learn who your true friends are, and they are not the ones you thought were your true friends. 2. People will not consider it a wedding, but rather a vacation/family reunion/way to meet women/excuse for a drunken party. 3. You cannot control everything, something will go wrong, just learn to roll with it. 4. It sucks meeting with your wedding coordinator at the resort while everyone else is in the pool having a great time. 5. No one cares about the food, decorations, lights, flowers, etc (all the stuff you spend months planning), they care about a DJ and booze 6. Don't try to spend time with everyone who came at the expense of some alone time with your FH.

Hey girls, sorry long time no write, we just got slammed at work and I got a new puppy at home and he is a handfull. Melissa, I loved your pictures, they are gorgeous, as are you. Awesome dress. I did not have the option of having the photographer taking pictures of me getting ready, that would have been cool. I'm still working on getting my photographer for my TTD, I miss wedding planning so this will be cool. All you new girls, if you have any questions, feel free to ask, its probably better to PM me, that way I see the message in my email box.

Quote: Originally Posted by absolutpink24 Thank you. Trust me, the Miami office won't disappoint. Neither will Mexico. I work better at freelance wedding planning because the outcome is handled by me and not dependent on someone else sending me info. Not having the information to answer questions and having to wait to hear from the Mexico office irritated me. Carolina is more then aware of the issues that need tweaking. They are going to be adding to their staff in Miami hopfully to lighten the work load on the coordinators. Miami is just the stepping stone. Mexico finalizes every detail and they do it well. If you guys have any wedding questions I'll be happy to help. I have nothing but the best things to say about the Florida department, I have worked briefly with you, Carolina and Maribel and Lisa Lizano in the Reservations department. Everyone was super responsive and helpful. There are communication delays, but those are to be expected with the number of weddings going on. I think you did a wonderful job while at PR and am glad you found something you like even more. Good luck.

Not to be a post hog, but the one thing I would recommend to all you girls getting married at MP is meet with your WC as soon as possible, tell her all of your concerns and your requests and then sit back and relax. They know exactly what they're doing. My WC kept coming up with suggestions for things I never thought of. Also, the day of the wedding, while you're getting ready, your WC is whipping your bridal party into shape at the gazebo. She will discuss the processional with you when you meet and she will let everyone in the bridal party know what is going on, so you dont have to worry about it. Just make sure everyone gets to the gazebo early, my wedding was at 4 and bridal party was there at 3:30. Just relax and have fun, these people really know their stuff. Make sure to enjoy your wedding day, dont worry about small things, the day just goes by so fast, keep taking mental pictures of everything for future memories.

Quote: Originally Posted by mtomas5555 Just beautiful!! Pookie, what photo package did you get? Also, did they serve the champagne to you and bring the cake over on their own or did you have to request when you wanted that done? P.S. Any sicknesses? All my guests are worried about the water. They are silly! I got the package upgrade to the $780, which includes ceremony, beach pictures and 2 hours of reception, plus an albums and CD of pictures. It was perfect, we got more pictures than we would have with the free package, so totally worth it. When I met with my WC she asked if we wanted them to do the champagne and cake after the ceremony or just at the reception, we chose to do it at the ceremony to get good pictures, totally great decision. They then took the cake to the reception and cut it there for everyone after dinner. The only people who got sick at MP indulged a little too much in the open bar. No one had any food or water problems and we had a bunch of people going on tours and eating outside of the resort, no problems at all.

Quote: Originally Posted by mtomas5555 Pookie, You look absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! Your dress is amazing!! I am so happy for you! We leave a week from today, so seeing all of those beautiful pictures are making me really excited! What time was your ceremony? Was it too hot? And was it really windy? I am obsessed with that! LOL! Melissa Melissa, My ceremony was at 4 and reception at 6, both outside. The weather was perfect, it was hot, but not miserably hot, no one complained and these people complained about everything. We did rent umbrellas for the reception and those helped a lot, we had one for each table. It wasn't terribly windy either, my veil kept getting blowed over my shoulder, but other than that no problems. Nothing to worry about. I'm so excited for you, I wish I was doing it all over again, I had such a great time. Nicole, Welcome back, glad to hear everything went well for you.

Quote: Originally Posted by ashrose POOKIE! I have one more question... how was dancing on the lake terrace? Was it even? Were you able to spin easily? The terrace was great, it looks like stamped stone type surface (I'm not sure what its called, it looks like the rest of the pathways in MP) and I had no problem dancing or spinning and I had 3 inch heels on. The only problem we had is they have power sockets on the floor right in the middle of the dance floor, they had plastic covers, but those kept getting kicked off. They did not get in the way of the dancing, but it was weird knowing they are there.

Quote: Originally Posted by mtomas5555 Pookie, The Bugambilia Gazebo and the Bugambilia Terrace are on the Nizuc side, right? I am confused because my WC told me they were, but I saw in your review that they are on the Sunrise side. Thanks, Melissa Melissa, I guess they could be considered to be on the Nizuc side, they're on the very far side of Sunrise, I'm not sure where one ends and another begins. It is the gazebo closest to the Sunrise side out of all the gazebos they have. If look at the map on the Palace Resorts side, you can see where its located. I would definitely recommend it if you are staying in Sunrise and if you're having your reception there.

Cutierosie, here are the answers to your questions: 1) One of the big reasons I chose the Moon palace was the carriage, I love that idea, and the pictures look beautiful. I am glad to see the carriage guy was not wearing a mariachi suit, I love the the carriage, but don't really like the mariachi suits LOL Did you ask for a no mariachi suit carriage driver? No, i didn't even think of that, but now that you mention it, I'm glad he wasn't wearing the mariachi suit. 2) the flowers are a huge issue for me because I want natural flowers but I am already over my budget and I am not even half way through my planning. So, I have a question does the 12 calla lillies reception centerpiece cost $70? Yeah, the centerpiece comes with 9 lillies for $70, but my mom told them we wanted 12 flowers and did not need the vase, we were prepared to pay $100 for the 12, but they charged us $70, so it worked out. You just have to play tough with the WC, they have some leeway with prices and options. 3)I like your idea of the North Solarium which is a raised platform overlooking the pool. Did you have to pay extra for this? We paid for the cocktail reception, but the location was free as part of the cocktail price. I told my WC I wanted a terrace by the pool and this is what she offered, it was absolutely beautiful. Thanks for help and review Mrs. Pookie!

My wedding was only a week away so this is all fresh in my mind, its not as bad as some of the other stories: 1. Our best man wore a shirt that was similar to the rest of the GM shirts but a few shades darker. Another GM wore the same shirt becuase the BM bought it for him. I did not notice until I turned to face my husband and the difference in the color caught my eye. I just decided to let it go, they were almost the same, but how do you do that? We sent him the link to Macy's site, complete with a description and a SKU. Oh well, at least it was blue. 2. When I returned from taking pictures after the ceremony, my guests informed that my WC crashed her golf cart into the buffet table. Thank god there was no food in it, but I guess it made a loud bang when the chaffing dishes hit the pavement. 3. During her toast, my mom said "today we lost a member of the family." I know she meant it in a nice way, like they gave me away to Bob's family, but it just sounded like I died.

Quote: Originally Posted by ashrose Thanks so much for the review! I've been stressing lately that I'll come with my linens/napkins/centerpieces and the wedding cooridnator won't set them up for me -- its good to know that they were so accomadating with you. I gave her 2 boxes of stuff and a document outlining step by step directions for the set-up. I also did a mock up at home and included pictures for her (I'm a business analyst, I'm a bit more detailed than normal). She did everything, she did ask that I send BMs to help her set-up and I forgot, but she had a bunch of people helping her, so it worked out.

Quote: Originally Posted by ashrose Pookie, I already said it in your picture thread --- but you looked so pretty! It looks like your NC2S came off without a hitch. Any problems with the dress and dancing? Our first spin, I stepped all over the inside of my dress and almost ripped it, but got the hang of it after a while. Here are some pics just for you, since you were my inspiration:

WEDDING COORDINATOR: A Name: Cristina Suarez Cristina was very helpful and responsive, when I met with her before the wedding, she remembered things I asked her that I forgot I even asked. She did mess up my centerpieces by not putting water in them (I had floating flowers that just sat on the bottom of the vase), but quickly fixed that once I told her. Everything was perfect, she followed the directions I gave her for decorations and just did an overall great job. We spent about 2 hours going over the order of the bridal party and all the small stuff I didn't even know existed, she was right on the ball. A funny story, while we were taking pictures after the ceremony, our reception site was being set-up, we found out later that my WC drove a golf cart straight into our buffet table (there was no food on it yet). So we have a picture of that too. HAIR / MAKE UP: A+++++++++++++++ Name: Alberto (dont know his last name) at the Sunrise Salon Alberto was god. I watched him work on another bride while i got my nails done and he did an awesome job. I had pictures from magazines of what I wanted and he did such an awesome job, I looked just like the girl in the picture, it was perfect, could not be happier with both my hair and make-up. PHOTOGRAPHER: A- We used the hotel photographer and I think he did a great job. We upgraded to the next highest package (included ceremony, beach pictures and 2 hours of reception). He did an amazing job during the ceremony and the beach session, he was such a professional and the pictures turned out great (posted in a separate thread). My only problem is that he was supposed to do 2 hours of pictures during the reception, but most of the time he just stood there and watched. I thought there were so many great opportunities for photos, but we ended up with about 20, so not too happy with that, but he totally redeemed himself with the beach photo session. VIDEOGRAPHER:A (I think) We received our DVD right before we left and have not had a chance to watch it, but the videographer was very attentive and seemed to be doing a great job of capturing the ceremony. FLOWERS: B I had a lot of issues trying to get the flowers I wanted. I wanted orchids but they were not included in my free bouquet and they would not budge on the very high price. In the end, I decided on roses and cala lillies (alcatraz in Mexico) and think the bouquet turned out great. It was so incredibly heavy, I felt bad tossing it to the girls. The only reason for the bad grade is the price of the flowers, they were outrageously expensive. The simple cala lilly bouquet i wanted for my BMs was $120 each. So my mom, who is a florist, bought one of the hotel's centerpices of long stemmed calla lillies (the centerpiece had 12 flowers), split it into 4 bouquets of 3 flowers each and tied it with ribbon we brought from home. They turned out beautiful and cost us all of $70. Yay mom. HORSE CARRIAGE: A+++ This was the best part of the entire wedding. Some of the guests did not know about it and as the carriage rounded the corner i heard everyone go "AHHH" it was just perfect, wouldn't trade that for anything. CEREMONY: A Our ceremony was originally scheduled for the Tucan Terrace at 4 pm. The night before the wedding my WC asked me if we wanted to move it to the Bugambilia Terrace as it was on the Sunrise side (Tucan is in Nizuc) and much closer to the Lake Terrace where the reception would be. We agreed to do it and it was a great choice, the two gazebos are pretty much the same, except Tucan has a much longer walk up to it. The ceremony was great, the JOP did a beautiful job reading some Mexican wedding thing (I have not clue, I was so nervous I did not hear a thing, but everyone else loved it). He also read our sand ceremony for us, which we were not sure he could do becuase the hotel said he could not, so just keep pushing your WC until they agree. We did the champagne toast after the ceremony and cut the cake, it was nice to get pictures of that. RECEPTION: A Our reception was on the Lake Terrace at 6pm. The reception was perfect, we brought all our own decorations, napkins, favors and centerpieces. We got a free cake and they decorated it using a picture we gave them, it was not the most professional looking cake ever, but it looked like the picture and was good. We had the Carribean buffet and the food was amazing, everyone commented on how great the food was. The waiters did a great job and the bartender was great. We rented umbrellas for the tables, i would totally recommend doing that ($25 a piece) to keep the sun off the guests. DJ: A+++++ We did not do a DJ for the wedding, we just rented the equipment from J&S Audiovisual Mexico, the company recommended by the hotel. We used an IPhone for music and had a friend do the MCing. The equipment came with a "technician" who actually spoke great English, knew all the wedding traditions and walked our MC through the entire process, he was just amazing. They also had colored lights that came with the equipment (we did not realize they did, so it was a wonderful bonus) and everyone loved them. These guys just did an amazing job. Overall the wedding was wonderful, there were a few small things that went wrong, like the centerpieces not having water and our Best Man showing up in the wrong colored shirt, but in the big picture, the wedding went wondefully, the hotel staff knew exactly what they were doing and made my time so much more enjoyable.

Wow this is so crazy, it seems like just months ago I started planning my wedding and now I'm married. Not sure what I'm going to do with myself now. I figured I need to get this out of the way before I get super busy at work, so here it goes: LOCATION Moon Palace Golf and Spa Resort, Cancun Mexico WEDDING DATE July 23, 2008 NUMBER OF GUESTS 52 DATES AT RESORT July 18-28 HONEYMOON To be determined later, we're thinking the new Palace resort in Punta Cana in February, but its up in the air for now. MOON PALACE RESORT: A- We have been to the resort three times before the wedding and loved it everytime. I gave the minus grade because this time the resort seemed to be pretty much at capacity. Service was still great, but not as good as it was in the past and all employess seemed overworked. I have never seen that many people at the resort at the same time before, so there were longer waits for restaurants and less personalized service, but still great. FOOD: AThe food is great for an all-inclusive resort, the best part is the large number of restaurants on property, providing lots of food selection. Lunch and breakfast were pretty much the same everyday, which is fine. A few times they brought our a taco stand to the pool and made awesome tacos, so no complaints there. ROOMS: A-The rooms are beautiful with lots of marble, large screen flat TVs and alcohol dispensers. Maids do a great job cleaning and restocking the rooms daily. Our only complaint is our safe had a glitch and while we asked for a maintenance person, no one ever showed up to fix it. The good news is we had money and documents in our room the entire time and nothing was taken. POOL/ACTIVITIES: A The hotel has a large pool in every lobby and there are lots of activities to do onsite and free tours offsite. The people who book the tours are very helpful and knowledgeble. WEATHER: A+++ I know this is not important, but I thought I'd include it becuase it was such a huge part of my wedding. Sunday (three days before my wedding), tropical storm Dolly hit Cancun, it rained for two days straight and the wind was crazy. I was a nervous mess, especially since they shut down all public places (lobbies, restaurants, etc) one night becuase of the storm and made us go to our rooms. I had images of spending my wedding day in a hurricane shelter. The weather cleared by Tuesday, and Wednesday (the wedding day)was beautiful once again. It was actually a bit cooler than the rest of the days, I was so worried guests would melt during the reception, but it turned out perfect. So I guess you can worry about it, but sometimes things just work out. WELCOME DINNER: A Since we did not use our free group restaurant reservation for our wedding, we decided to use it for a welcome dinner. We knew we had about 28 guests coming the first night, so we had our WC make a reservation at the Brazilian restaurant for us. The table setup was outside, it was beautiful, they even had flowers for us. It felt so weird sitting at the head of the table, that was the first time it hit me that we were actually there to get married. REHEARSAL COCKTAILS: A We did a cocktail party the night before the wedding for an hour. The cocktail party usually comes with appetizers but asked for Mexican style desserts instead as this was later in the evening. The desserts were amazing and everyone had a great time. The party was at the North Solarium which is a raised platform overlooking the pool, I could not have picked a better location.

These are the pictures of my wedding taken by the hotel photographer. Here are a few teaser pics and the rest at in the link below: Picasa Web Albums - Eugenia - Wedding Pictures

Hey girls, I'm back, everything was perfect and even Dolly didn't get in our way. I have the pictures from the hotel photographer and I think he did an amazing job. I will post them in a different thread, but here are a couple of them. I will also be posting a review sometime soon (before I dive back into work). Feel free to ask questions. PS. Thank you for the flowers Dez, you're so sweet.

Quote: Originally Posted by kellywinter1 You did a great job! the pinatas are adorable. Where did you get them from? Oriental Trading Company: Mini Hollow Donkey Pinatas Mine are darker, but I love them, they're so cute. I got BMs albums at Mervyns, they had this crazy sale last year, the albums came two to a bag for like $5 a piece.

Quote: Originally Posted by ntanzob Hi Melissa, I sincerely appreciate your thoughts! I know I have been married forever, but this is our first wedding and believe it or not, I am having serious doubts on if this was a good idea - the wedding, that is. I am in this thread and enjoy providing and receiving information, but honestly I know I am the only one in here already married. I wish you guys all the luck with your weddings and I hope they are all you want and more. Married life is good and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have and do. Take care! Nicole Nicole, You should have not doubts about doing the ceremony. I think it is a beautiful idea and a testament to your relationship. Plus you get to do the whole bride thing again, I told my fiance we are coming back to MP (if its still there) in 20 years and getting the symbolic ceremony. And there are a bunch of girls on here who are already married, so many people do the legal thing here and then go to Mexico for the symbolic. You just waited longer than most of them . I sometimes have doubts myself about having a big wedding thing, my FI and I have been together for over 10 years, we have a house together, we've lived together almost the entire time, so it seems like we dont need a big wedding thing, but its your day and you get to make the rules. I hope you have a great time in Mexico and a beautiful wedding.

Welcome to the forum, there's so much information for Moon Palace. Happy planning.

Quote: Originally Posted by pixydustkr Crap, crap, crap! I just found out from Maribel that we are not allowed to use the dinner that was included in our wedding package for a rehearsal or welcome dinner because we have too many people coming (like 50 ish) and they will only accommodate more than 35 if it is the actual "wedding dinner." How am I supposed to get all of these people together at some point for a dinner? I feel bad bringing them all to Mexico and then not having a welcome dinner or at least a reception dinner... UGGHHH... has anyone else run into this and what did you do? Are they all coming on the same day? We have 54 people total, but only 27 of them are coming the first day we get there, so we are having a welcome dinner for them only. It kinda sucks for the other people, but that's the only way we could do it. Plus its mostly family there the fist day so I guess it works out.

Quote: Originally Posted by ntanzob I leave 1 week from today. Happy Birthday, Dez! Do you guys know when Pookie is leaving? Her wedding is 3 days before mine. I'm still on here, though not much, I actually have work to do the next few days, figures, I've been bored for months and now that I'm leaving, I get slammed. I'm leaving Friday morning (6 am, who wakes up that early?), so I'll be lurking around for the next couple of days. Happy Bday Dez. I'm so glad you and your FI are doing better, you're such a sweet girl, you deserve so much happiness.

Quote: Originally Posted by ashrose Pookie -- have a blast!! Remember... breath, smile... Quick-Quick Slow... Quick-Quick slow! Your NC2S will be gorgeous. I"m freaking out, we were practicing our dance and I for the life of me could not remember how to get outof the Cradle Hold thing we do. I knew I had an underarm spin, but could not get my feet right. Tonight is our last lesson, I'm so nervous. At least she has choreographed the entire thing for us, so there is no surprises when we dance. Tonight we learn our dip and WOW step for the end, Woo Hoo. I'm starting to hate "At Last."

Check out Moon Palace, they have gazebos for the ceremony and the Tucan gazebo has a cute terrace right next to it for the reception. There is a view of the ocean and its close to the beach, but you never have to be in the sand. That's one of the reasons I picked it.