newyork6156

The end of the night missing a few people, but still cute If you didn't see something you were looking for, just ask...I have tons of pictures. It was such a great time. I wish I was back!

not the best pics, but trying to give you an idea of the set up great service dance with my dad Everybody up! does it look like I'm trying really hard to cut the cake...maybe it's b/c they forgot to mention to us that the bottom layer was fake!! Thanks, LOL

Last, but not least...the reception The room was pretty with all the tile detail and long curtains on one wall. The back wall is a bit plain and the DJ would let them put a table cloth on the table he set up on (why...beats me) The big candles around the room looked really nice and the little ones on the tables were pretty too. I probably wouldn't have choosen pink roses for the centerpieces if I would have known where my reception was going to be beforehand...oh well, I liked them anyway. shots of tequila!

Cocktail Hour mixture of low and high top tables with one big candle on high tops The Food (platinum selection- very good!)

The sky looked so cool my bouquet (included in wedding pkg) TIP: Putting our shoes back on after pics on beach was not fun...try to ask Cecilia to have a towel!

The Kiss Married! The Violinist Then you have a champagne toast Some of our photos after ceremony

Here are some pictures. This is just the ceremony set up This is what you see when you're waiting to begin walking Not a good pic, wanted you to see that you are basically standing on someone's swimout! Great if you could get this room in building 27. You could walk right out the back door! This is what everybody else can see Here I go...

ranaya12 - good question. I forgot to post about the AC. Airconditioning While it definitely was not cold inside anywhere, I was comfortable for the most part. I never felt too warm in any restaurants. I did feel warm in the lobby/lounge area sometimes and in the business center. Obviously the computers were generating heat in bus. center and we were never in there too long. Guestrooms The guestrooms were inconsistant. My room was fine with the AC and I like to sleep with it cold. Some of our guests said it wasn't necessarily hot in their room, but also not as cool as they would have liked. Others said the AC worked good for them. Wedding Reception Restaurant The room we had our reception in could have been a lot cooler. But we were dancing so much, I guess we were bound to be a bit warm. If it would have been as cold as the dancers wanted it then the people sitting around talking would have needed jackets! Our guests were not complaining about the heat inside, just the ones dancing! Being inside for our reception was decided because I didn't want to bother with the possibility of mosquitos and I wanted my guests to be comfortable with the temp. The mosquitos did come out towards the end of the cocktail hr so I'm glad we moved inside. I want to note that if there is a nice breeze and if your reception is outside closer to the water...you probably will not have a bug problem. Our welcome dinner was on the beach the night before with a great breeze coming off the water and there were not any mosquitos bothering us at all. It might also depend on the time of yr. I have only been to Mexico twice and both times in July. I also think there was something going on in the area with the electric. One morning we heard that some surrounding area resorts were experiencing no electricity and the lights blinked once or twice when we were in the lobby/lounge area. So I'm not sure if the AC is always inconsistant or if they were just experiencing some technical difficulties. All in all...the AC didn't pose enough of a problem that I would miss out on this great resort. Was it warm at times in certain places...yes. But it was Mexico in July!! :-) (Hope this wasn't confusing!) PS - My photos were just delivered FedEx!!!! I'm going to take a look at them...I'll post some soon!

Butterflyf369 - thanks - it's Michael Franti w/ spearhead - Say hey, I love you. I love that song...it was the pretty much the theme of the wedding. I'm glad the photographers used it for the video!!

sorry - duplicate post!

Simistar - Thanks!! I received an email yesterday that my pics are on their way!! I will post more when I get them. And yes, we were charged $200 for the bonfire set up and then $25 per person.

Here is a picture of the gazebo where you can have your ceremony. It's just right next to the main pool, but if that doesn't bother you it is pretty. You won't have the nice backdrop on the water though. They also have yoga here in the morning. I couldn't resist posting a pic of the pool area at the spa...I wish I was back there!

so I received some more of the bonfire. you can see the pretty lighting that was set up and where the actual bonfire is set up in the background of some I can't say enough good things about the Carribean Trio...so good. The sun was just setting so pretty in this one I know you want to see more pics of the cocktail hr and reception. I promise I will post them soon. I can't stress how good the service staff were at each event. My husband asked for an extra place setting at the welcome dinner and we watched the guy actually RUN to go get it. At the reception some of the guys went back onto the patio to smoke a cigar and the staff even followed them out there to get them drinks. I feel like I was a bit hard on Cecilia in the original review. She definitely did drop the ball a few times, but did come through a few times also. She just needs an assistant to help her...it's way too much work for one person. Sometimes I felt what I was saying was falling on deaf ears b/c it just never got done, but I think she is just overwhelmed. This really shouldn't be an excuse though and I hope that help is hired for her and the "bumps in the road" that I and past brides have encountered don't continue. oh and something else I forgot to add in original post...the cake. I gave a picture of the cake I wanted and it didn't turn out nearly as pretty as the picture. And it wasn't a difficult design or anything like that. I saw the picture on here from a wedding at the sister resort Secrets Capri. The cake wasn't that important to me so it didn't bother me too much. just something to note...if the cake is important to you make sure you double and triple check on it when you arrive at the resort.

OK, I was going to wait until I get my professional pics back...which should be soon...but I remember how badly I wanted to see pics so here ya go! I'm also still waiting for some of our guests to put their pics on our share site. As I get more and better pics I will post them. First some welcome dinner bonfire. I don't have any of the actual bonfire. I will post them if I get any from our guests. Next, the ceremony location beautiful backdrop I have a bunch more, but I need to go eat some dinner...I'm starving! I'll post more later. Also, if you go to the video I posted a link to in my original post under photography you can get some idea of the reception area.

Quote: Originally Posted by ranaya12 Hi NewYork; Congratulations on your wedding and thank you for the very detailed review of your wedding. It sounds beautiful! We are currently waiting for Cecilia to confirm our date for us before we begin talking details. Do you happen to have pictures of the ceremony and cocktail reception? We are also planning on having our ceremony on the beach and cocktail reception outside followed by the reception by the pool. I would like to get a better idea as to how the two were set up. Thanks a million! Again, congratulations!!! You will LOVE it there!! I do have pictures of the ceremony on the beach and a few of the cocktail hr. I will post them below. I'm still waiting for my professional pics, but these should give you an idea...I hope! Quote: Originally Posted by inspiredfyre yay! Thank you for posting that, I think it greatly helps, you and simistar's reviews seem to be the only one's I've found! It's nice to know that generally mostly everything went well, even though you had to keep asking for it! I'm getting married there in November, and am also using destinationweddings.com. Who were you working with, if you don't mind me asking? I've had a few issues, but not so much anymore! What things can you hold off until you arrive to make appts for, or order, and what things should I do in advance, like the spa apts? It is just me and my fi, though, so I suppose I don't have to worry about as much as most do!! Thank you for your advice about the buildings! I hope you post more pictures soon, i can't wait! Congratulations on being newlyweds! Awww, that's so romantic...just the two of you! Well, I have to say I think you can actually decide so much when you get there and it's so much easier than trying to communicate what you would like through email! I swear, deciding the flowers over email almost put me over the edge! :-) It depends on how many days before you are arriving. We got there on Wednesday and the wedding was Saturday. I had read somewhere that you should decide your flowers a few weeks before if the type you want has to be ordered and shipped in. Mine were basically roses and some gerber daisies. I decided the flowers, all the food, and all the locations when we arrived there. I was also told that they only have ONE wedding a day, but some of my guests did see an only bride and groom ceremony earlier the day of my wedding. Maybe they just mean not more than one larger wedding?? But there was a corporate dinner also going on the night of my wedding and they almost got in the way of where I wanted my reception...long story...but I guess I would be careful about the location part. Oh, I keep forgetting that it's just the 2 of you...so I wouldn't worry too much. The Spa appts definitely make ahead of time....sooo good! If you plan on doing any excursions you can book them with the conceige...they suggest a day or two before you want to go. If you want anyone in particular officiating the ceremony or playing live music at any point, I would definitely request them beforehand to make sure they are available. Quote: Originally Posted by Kits55 I can't wait to see the pictures from the ceremony and reception. What a difference between the allowances that were made for your wedding vs mine. I guess with some things I maybe should have pushed harder it sounds like. I was in building 17, and also asked for the gold cart so I wouldn't have to traipse across the resort. Cecilia said she would ask, I asked her again, and nothing happened. I finally had to carry EVERYTHING to my mom and dad's room and get ready there. They were in building 24 I think. We definitely didn't get all of World Cafe to ourselves even we also had our reception in the Red Room. We didn't get to have our beach bonfire due to high winds BUT it sounds like you got WAY more than what was described to us. And you got to substitute in your wedding package, no way! I also had Alicia, my hair wasn't "perfect" but close enough to not care at the time. I also loved the spa. We used the couples massage and upgrade to make it be an hour and a half, woooonderful! Thank you for the review...it totally refreshes my memory!! I am motivated now to get my own review written and posted! I am glad to hear that you also liked Mike Cantarelli...I LOVE our video oh no, that stinks about having to carry everything to your moms room. I had asked cecilia about using a room in blding 27 to get dressed or getting a golf cart and I was really surprised that she took care of that without me reminding her. I decided to just use the golf cart instead of the room b/c when she came to tell me about the available room I was already in about to get ready mode and didn't feel like thinking about what I would need to bring over to the other room. About getting some allowances - My husband is a salesman and REALLY GOOD at negotiating things....not me! That's why I say just try asking for what you think you want...cecilia was really good about negotiating with us. example: when we wanted to upgrade our food to platinum choices she gave us a price and my husband just asked if that was the best she could do and she came back with a better price. It was that easy. We asked about substituting some things that we weren't using in our pkg for things we really wanted and she said ok. What's the worst that can come from asking...she says no. Cecilia has some flexibility when decisions have to be made. My husband actually was briefly annoyed that I accepted the 1st quote she gave me for adding flowers to the ceremony set up when we were there (he was in the bathroom) oops. :-) About the spa - I actually went back and got the 1 1/2 hr massage by myself later that week!!! I couldn't resist! We LOVED our ceremony video as well! I can't thank you enough for telling me his name...I wouldn't have thought about I should request. THANK YOU!

Hi everyone! Our wedding at Secrets Maroma Beach was awesome! I would definitely recommend this resort, but like with anything there were bad points and good points. So let's get to it... Email Correspondance with Cecilia (WC) It was fine in the beginning when we were making general decisions, but once it started getting closer the communication seemed to really start to break down. That is why we left our food decisions and the exact location of our reception until we arrived there on Wednesday July 8th. Cecilia was good with getting back to me through email and we even spoke on the phone once or twice. Airline We took JetBlue. They have no spot to hang your wedding dress. We ended buying an inexpensive carry on garment bag from WalMart online. So we just stored our wedding attire overhead. I didn't trust letting it out of our site! :-) Getting through customs with all our welcome bag items Well I read to bring receipts for all welcome bag items incase asked to see them. I did bring them, but we were never asked about anything. It was fine. Airport - Resort Transfer We used CancunTransfers thanks to the referral from Simistar and they were GREAT. On time both ways...very easy and private so no stops at other resorts...WELL WORTH IT! Check In / Guest rooms Easy! Received cool towels and sparkling wine. No free upgrade though. We were in Building 14 on the top floor. All of our guests that arrived on Thurs. were upgraded...so my husband decided to ask again and now they said they could do it. We decided not to move though b/c I had already unpacked ALL our stuff and I had too many other things on my mind to have to pack everything back up again. Our room was fine. It wasn't so close to beach/pool, but honestly for the first couple of days I was back and forth to the main blding planning things, meeting our guests, etc that I liked our location. I also liked being on the top floor, best view. Everyone really loved the guest rooms. They are just beautiful. Most of our guests arrived on Thursday, with a few coming in on Friday so we put together our welcome bags Wednesday night and gave them to the front desk area. They held them on a table behind them and gave them out as the guests checked in. No problem, no extra cost. I didn't have the bags put in their rooms b/c I figured some would be getting upgrades due to low occupancy at the resort. Also - The room descriptions say DVD/CD players and I doubled checked to make sure the DVD players play CD's, but they DON'T play copied CD's. I made a few mixes for my friends and they didn't play. :-( Just a tip. Mosquitos I would absolutely request that you and your guests be located on the left side of the resort (I think it's the north side - bldgings 12, 14,15,16,17) If you are on the other side you will be right along side the jungle and the mosquitos seemed to be worse over there. Only one of our guests ended up on that side and they had bugs in their room every night. I think it happened when they got turn down service b/c they leave your door open when they are inside. Anyway most of the rooms have a little bottle of bug spray and the shop there has AfterBite which seemed to work well for some of our guests that got bit. We didn't have any problem with bugs at our welcome dinner on the beach (there was a great breeze, but not too strong) or our ceremony on the beach (which was in front of blding 27 at 5:30pm). We started to have a problem with bugs at the cocktail hr (on the patio outside world cafe) at around 7:45 (it was from 7- so we all just went into the reception room a few minutes early. Cecilia - Wedding Coordinator She is very sweet, but needs some more experience in my opinion. We met with her at 4pm on Wed. July 8th. We sat and went over all the food, flowers, set ups, and just double checked everything on our contract and made any corrections. I highly recommend making a checklist of all the details you want to go over with Cecilia. Then it was time for the location decisions...what a mess. The ceremony would be on the beach with the rain back up being the ballroom....fine. Now for the cocktail hr and reception, I originally wanted to be in one of the restaurants for a private event. Let me preface this by saying that last yr we did a site visit there when it was still under construction and were told that we could have a private event in one of the restaurants, this being one of the many reasons we picked this resort. In our inital emails with Cecilia she said she thought that the restaurants wouldn't give us enough room for dancing and DJ set up. This is why she suggested we just wait and look at them when we arrive. So now I show her how we could set up the tables in Portofino to accomodate everyone and still have room for dancing (we only have 26 people). Cecilia decides to tell me that the music pumping through the ceiling speakers cannot be shut off for the dj b/c it would shut off all the music in the 3 restaurants along that side of the main blding. Why didn't she tell me that before?? Also, I come to find out a day before we leave that different CD's play in each of the restaurants and I truly believe if I picked their brains a bit more I would have found out that the music could have been shut off in that one restaurant for us. I also believe Cecilia probably really just didn't know what she was talking about as she was only used to having receptions in a few select locations and this would have meant "thinking outside the box" for her. Anyway, not to make an already long story longer, we ended up having our cocktail hr on the patio outside The World Cafe and the reception dinner in the Red Room in The World Cafe. They closed the entire restaurant for us that night, but we still just used the one room b/c I felt we would have gotten lost in the entire restaurant with only 26 people. If you really want more details about the ballroom and the bit more trouble we encounted with that, just send me a PM. :-) FRIDAY - JULY 10TH They came to get my dress and his suit to press and gave my husband his own room for the night. The Welcome Dinner (Bonfire on the Beach) This event was GREAT! It was from 7-11pm. The set up was big round tables, a bar set up on the beach, buffet style (carribean menu) and some tiki torches and other lights. We used the Carribean Trio included in our wedding package for this night instead. They were Great, everyone loved them. The service was awesome. The staff were so attentive without being annoying. After drinks and eating a bonfire had been set up closer to the water, so we all sat around drinking and talking some more. Since we only had the Trio for 45mins. we had brought our own radio to hook our Ipod up to and played music around the bonfire. That way we didn't have to pay to use their sound system. It worked out great. They had set up mats around the bonfire but We started bringing our chairs over instead, which the staff then finished doing for us. The food was great, the service was great, the set up - great, music - great. A really nice relaxing night overall. SATURDAY - JULY 11TH The Wedding Day The dress and suit were delivered back to my room perfectly. They do leave them out, so be careful your Fiance doesn't see it. I didn't have that problem b/c he was in a different room the night before and then went straight out to golf saturday morning. The weather was crazy. I woke up and went to the spa with my sister - the weather was beautiful. I came back to the room and took a 45 min. nap...woke up and it was completely cloudy with crazy wind and some sprinkles. Went to get hair / make up done at 2:30 still not good so we are scrambling to decide where everything is taking place. By the time I was done at the spa the weather was absolutely beautiful again and everything was back to it's original locations. When I got back to my room there were some flowers in the room with a bottle of champagne and fruit. I think the champagne was supposed to be for later after the wedding but I really needed a drink so my friend and I opened it! I really didn't want to walk across the entire resort in my wedding dress so I had asked Cecilia about getting a golf cart to take us around the front of the resort and she came through. Thanks Cecilia! So if your room isn't near the ceremony location make sure you ask. The Ceremony (5:30-6pm) On the beach sort of in front of Blding 27. I bought chair bows and also added flowers to the set up. If it's in your budget I would definitely add flowers for the ceremony. I only decided that when we arrived at the resort and I'm glad we did it. It would have looked really plain if we didn't. Also if you are planning on buying chair bows make sure you get enough for the ceremony set up and the reception set up...I was told they don't have time to move them from one set up to the other. Maybe it's a different story if your reception is going to be outside also, but for us being in a restaurant I had to bring double. The Minister - Alex Monroy He was wonderful. Very nice man. His V's do sound like B's. Simistar - I think you said this to me. Since my husbands name is Vinny it came out sounding like Binny. It was funny. I would request him. Cocktail Hour (7-8pm) The location was on the patio of The World Cafe (closed for us that night) We used high top tables and low round tables. We upgraded our food from gold to platinum selctions. The service was great about getting drinks. It was fine that the guests had some time between the ceremony end and the cocktail hr start. We wanted to get our photos done and be able to enjoy the cocktail hr ourselves. Our guests went up and got a drink in the lobby bar (right above the cocktail hr location) and talked about the ceremony. It worked out fine. Reception Although not our 1st location choice, it turned out beautiful. We upgraded the food from gold to platinum and was buffet style. If you have a plated dinner your guests have no choice of food. You pick one entree beforehand. We had the buffet set up outside the room in main restaurant area. This restaurant is used for the buffet style dining and we didn't want it to look so much like a kitchen when our guests came out to get dinner so we asked them how we could hide that area and they hung ceiling to floor curtains in front of the big buffet serving areas. Our buffet was set up on the pretty tiled wall with nice hanging lights above. The food was great and the service was great all night. After the reception we headed back to our room and it was decorated with rose petals on the the floor and bed, a jacuzzi bubble bath was drawn for us. They also had the half empty bottle of champagne next to the bed...ooops! :-) NOTE: It is always nice to have someone you trust check on how things are being set up. You may think you have been really clear on how you want things done, but somehow it still doesn't happen. The cocktail set up would not have worked out right without the help of my best friend, who happens to be an event planner. She said they didn't have the low tables set up at all and that they were just pushed out to the side (ugly). So she had them change it quickly. She also took charge of the reception room. She made it look beautiful!! She somehow had tea lights on the tables and big candles set up around the room (something I thought I would have had to pay extra for) She also made sure the tables were grouped correctly, etc. I believe they would not have had it set up properly on their own. It would have not been disasterous, but definitely not as beautiful as we imagined without her overseeing everything. If you have someone that can check on things for you it is a BIG help. VENDORS INCLUDED IN ULTIMATE WEDDING PACKAGE The Violinist - Karine Astrayan She was great. A little late b/c of traffic, maybe 10-15mins. so no big deal at all. I'm really glad we decided to use live music for the ceremony. We were allowed to substitute our package photography for the violinist since we hired an outside vendor for photos. I originally thought we weren't allowed to do substitutions, but we decided to ask anyway. So I would definitely always ask for something you want, it's worth a shot b/c you just might be pleasantly surprised! The Videographer - Miguel Angel Cantarell Great guy. Did a wonderful job. Ceremony video was included in our wedding package, but we now wish we would have paid to have him stay for the reception. He delivered the video to our room maybe 2 days later. He is the one used in wedding package, but I would request him anyway with Cecilia to make sure. Flowers The bouqets and bouts were delivered to our room around 4pm.(I think) I used all white roses and it was included in my package. The flowers seemed very fresh and were lovely. I used all white roses for my MOH smaller bouquet and I was allowed to substitute this for the 2 corsages included in my package. I used pink and white roses in my centerpieces. I had to pay an upgrade fee for the 2 included in my package and an additional fee for the 3 extras I needed. I also paid extra for the flowers added to my cake and the flowers add to the ceremony site (which were supposed to be all roses and didn't end up that way) I had all the centerpieces delivered to my room after the reception. I was going to have them delivered to our guests rooms but I definitely couldn't remember everyones room number at the time. I only decided to do this at the end of the night and it was just easier to have them brought to my room. If you decide to do this before having drinks all night it is a nice idea to have them brought to your guests rooms. :-) Hair/ Make up I pretty sure her name was Alicia. She did a good job. I showed her a picture for my hair. It was definitely slicked back, but I guess it needed to be to not have any flyaways and my bangs were still mangaed to get in my face on the beach. My sister didn't like her make up - it was really dark. I don't remember who did it, but I could see if she remembers if you want to know. OUTSIDE VENDORS Photography - Moments That Matter - Lori and Lincoln I'm really happy with our decision to use them. They were just wonderful to work with....really nice people. I wrote a review about them here: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t33248 I haven't received all our photos yet, but they have a teaser video on their blog - it's a YouTube video, so you can find it there also YouTube - Moments that Matter Photography - Secrets Maoma Spa & Resort Mayan Riviera DJ Bob He is a nice guy and a very affordable price, but we have a few issues with him. We used him for the cocktail hr and reception dinner/dancing. You can find my review here:http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t26291 Outside Vendor Fees It is usually $80 per person, but we ended up paying $150 for all 3 people (2 photogs and 1 DJ) Make sure to go to the front desk and have their day passes set up for them. Don't leave it up to cecilia. Just a tip -The front desk asked me for everyone's last name when setting up for their passes. I had to go online and find them, b/c I had been dealing with only first names the whole time! :-) Their day passes include food for them. Since we had a buffet, it was not a problem for them to eat at the reception, but if you're having a plated dinner make sure you check on food for them too. Some Misc. Notes You get a champagne breakfast and couples spa treatment included in the ultimate wedding pkg. Make sure you set up these time/appts before hand and then double ck them with your blg conceige and spa when you arrive. We had our champagne breakfast set up for Thurs. morning to kick of the week for us. (we knew we would be seeing our guests for bkfast sun.) and set up a couples massage for Tuesday morning (after our guests left and the honymoon starts). Also don't forget about hair and make up appts for you and anyone else that wants it. Tipping I know you don't have to, but we did. You do get some better service and I just felt like it was the right thing to do. Bring enough singles! We ended up running out toward the last day or two and it's not that easy to get change. Oh and don't forget to tell your bank that you will be out of the country. I know that with our bank, if you don't tell them and try to make a purchase in Mexico with your bank card, they won't allow it to go through. Taxis It is so easy to get a taxi at the resort. We set up a taxi van to take some of us into the town of Playa del Carmen on Thurs. night. We paid $80 round trip. There were about 10 of us so it was really affordable. The van was about 15 mins. late picking us up from Playa and we were hot, tired, and a bit cranky at that point. but still worth it! Also, my friend came by herself and needed a transfer back to the airport on sunday morning. She had hitched a ride in my parents private transfer on the way in. Instead of paying for the hotel shuttle, I got her a taxi, which cost about the same and didn't stop at any other resorts like the hotel transfer did. The Spa This is the most amazing spa I have been to...and I love spas! Make sure to make your appts before you go so you can get the times you want. They have the most relaxing rooms and pool/ hydortherapy area for before or after your treatment. After our couples massage we spent a few hours by the private pool area. It was incredible and it turned out we were the only ones using it at that time! They have a sauna, meditation area, jacuzzi, etc. The staff brings you out cool towels. I just can't say enough about it. If your budget allows...don't miss it! Excursions We used edventure tours to book a group excursion for friday july 10th. We did the Ziplines and Dos Ojos Cenote. It was really cool and everyone had a great time. It was a private tour, so it's only your group. You get transportation to and from the resort. You can make the day as long or as short as you want. We had to get back for our welcome dinner so we couldn't do too much. I would have loved to add The Jungle Place...next time! They were great about email reply. Here is their website:"Edventure Tours, The best day of you vacation Overall We had a great time and will definitely be going back! The service was great and the resort is just gorgeous. It is not even a yr old so the flowers, etc still have to grow and fill in. The beach is amazing and so is the pool. I thought the food was great. Maybe one or two restaurants were just ok, but all the food was delicious at our organized events. Eric - the general manager He was always nice to talk to and good at easing our stress leading up to our arrival at the resort since we ended up hating our TA from destinationweddings.com. I have heard mixed reviews on them, but our TA was a nightmare! If you are thinking of using them and want to know her name just send me a PM. Well, I hope this is helpful to future Secrets Maroma Beach Brides. Let me know if I forgot anything or if you have anymore questions! I'm sure I will add things as I think of them.

DJ Bob review - He was very nice and arrived at the resort on time to set up and is very reasonably priced. I must say that I was not completely happy with him though. My then fiance and I spent a lot of time putting together the music we wanted played at our wedding. I emailed DJ Bob the list of music, but many of the songs we wanted played were not. I knew that maybe not all the songs we listed would be played and that was ok. He even said he would like some freedom to play some songs he thought would work and I said that would be fine. But I did BOLD a handful of songs and specified that these songs were important to us and would really like them played. MANY of our bolded songs were never played. When the end of our reception was coming near (maybe one or two songs left) I actually went over to him to ask him to play a song I had wanted dedicated to my friends (bolded on my list) and he didn't even have it! Talk about not being prepared with, at the very least, the songs I had made clear were important to me! This was OUR WEDDING and we were PAYING him to play the music we wanted to hear. It felt like he showed no interest in preparing the music we wanted played. If music isn't that important to you and you don't want to spend hours putting together music playlists...he will do a good job choosing music and making the wedding fun. We just spent alot of time choosing our music and it came across like he didn't pay much attention to what we wanted played.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mixie23 I highly recommend Edventure Tours. Eddie and his wife Bonnie are originally from the States, and now live in Akumal and own a tour shop in Tulum (right outside the ruins). They have vans and all the tours are private, they take you to places where you can avoid the 200 pax bus loads of tourists, you pretty much have each place to yourself. Their website is "Edventure Tours, The best day of you vacation and they will customize your day. We started by being picked up by Bonnie at our hotel, went to Tulum, visited the ruins, then went to Dos Ojos cenote, Garden of Eden cenote (cliff jumping, but not really), and Akumal Bay to snorkel with the sea turtles (and sardines, and barracuda, and amazing other wildlife), we stopped at a local restaurant called La Vida Bonita (I think) in North Akumal, had an amazing lunch (additional charge obviously), and lastly visited Yal-ku lagoon, which is an amazing location that puts Xel-ha to shame. This place is surrounded by sculpture gardens, and has no one but residents who live in the private gated community there (and you, of course). There are other options as well, like Zip lining through the jungle, visiting monkeys, etc, I just included information about our day. They are so friendly, accommadating, reasonable ($$), and just fun to be around that we are still talking about it and recommending it to people almost three years later. We are getting married in June 2009 and you can bet we will be booking a trip with Eddie for either pre-wedding or post-wedding! Good luck! I agree, edventure tours was great. We went to the ziplines and cenotes. Eddie was really friendly. For $30 he will take pictures all day (even underwater in the cenotes) and then deliver 3 picture discs to your hotel by the next day. Great Experience!! Very reasonable prices...private tour...respond to emails very quickly.

Congratulations July brides so far! I got back on friday night. TinaM2B - we had the same wedding date! The weather was so unpredictable that day!! Sunny in the morning then really windy with a bit of sprinkles then absolutely beautiful by the time of the ceremony. It all worked out perfect. I went into the salon to get hair and makeup and it looked awful outside then a friend comes in and says the sun is out! It was crazy. I didn't know where the ceremony was going to be up until about 2 hrs before!

Yay! Lincoln and Lori put a few pics and a "teaser" video on their blog! Here it is: Blogging the Moments That Matter I can't wait to see the rest!

Quote: Originally Posted by inspiredfyre I just booked for Nov 10, and I was going to just use their photog! Seeing that I really HATE his work, I will happily get an outside photog. Do you know how much the resort charges for an outside photographer, and more importantly, who loved their photog, and has contact info!?!?! Has anyone used Del Sol at this resort? Lol, I love this forum, it's so helpful! I have no one but me and my FI going, and feel so helpless! I'm stressing out over nothing, but pictures are going to be insanely important to us, as this is all we'll have to show our families and friends!! Any advice from a previous SMB bride would be so helpful in this area. Bringing a phtgr from the states is not something I want to do, i'd rather use someone local if at all possible! ALSO, lol, if anyone can tell me if it's worth getting hair/makeup done at the resort, I'd greatly appreciate it! happy planning SMB brides! Hey! photography - I actually used moments that matter photography and they were great! I did look into Del Sol but they were way too expensive for just a short period of time. Moments that Matter was much more affordable and we had them for the whole day! Now that my wedding is over...I can say I wouldn't change my photographer choice for the world. They were great! I would absolutely recommend using them, you will not be disappointed. I will post some pictures once I receive them. I think the resort charges $80 per person for outside vendors. Cecilia ended up charging us $100 for both lincoln and lori which was nice. videographer - He was great! He is the one that is used with the resort wedding package not an outside vendor. I would double check with cecilia to make sure he is the one used for your ceremony. His name is Miguel Angel Cantarell. He delivered our video to our room in about 2 days...it came out really nice. Hair and makeup - I liked how mine came out. I just had my hair pulled back into somewhat of a bun (very simple). It was definitley slicked back but I guess it was kind of necessary so as not to have a million flyaways and my hair all over the place during the ceremony. I don't wear much make up at all so it was alot for me but it looked nice. My eyes were a bit heavy but I don't really wear eyeshadow so I guess you can see what you think from my pictures when I post them. I think the woman that did both my hair and makeup was Alicia. I know my sister did not like her make up but I'd have to ask her if she remembers the lady's name that did it.

HELLO!!!! I'm Back! Just got back last night. We had such a great time! I will be writing my review on Monday (most likely) when my husband goes back to work and I have the day to myself. I will be as detailed as possible.

Hi Ladies! Well I just got back from Secrets Maroma Beach last night! It was great! Lincoln and Lori were really wonderful to work with. They were sooo nice and easy going. I can't wait to get a glimpse of some of our photos on their website...I''ve been checking everyday. :-) Out of everything I had to worry about on our wedding day, our photographer choice was definitely not one of them. They were at the resort on time, took tons of pics, everyone said how nice they were...I could go on and on saying nice things about them. I am completely honest in my vendor reviews (as you will see in other threads) and I will give the good and bad for each experience. I really don't have any "not good" comments about Moments That Matter...really. If you have any questions about them ask away.

OMG...we leave in 2 days!!! I can't wait!

I'm in the same boat!