I would like to write a review about our wedding at Valentin Imperial Maya and photos by Blue Lens Caribe. Overall we were very happy with our wedding, the resort, photographer, videographer, and supporting staff.
The Resort: Valentin Imperial Maya
PROS: Very good beach in the Riviera Maya area, small swimming area, great tide pools. Very nice, large pool with two very large swim-up bars. Beverage service was very good, with usually very short or no waits at the bar. (The have large self-serve coolers full of Tecate, Coors Light, and water bottles, which I think helps to dramatically relieve congestion at the bar.) Texas holdem twice a day at the bar; $20 buy in; no limit; soft competition. Overall, evening entertainment was very good—45min show is better than at most resorts, followed by a pretty good cover band, followed by a DJ and dancing. Espresso Bar, Cigar Bar, Sports bar are additional bonuses. We enjoyed the wildlife including birds, iguanas and small animals. The food was good at night breakfast was great.
CONS: The quality of the room service food between 2400-0600 is very marginal. At other hours. Daytime entertainment was mediocre.
ADVICE: Very few floaties in the pool; consider bringing one from your local Wal-mart for $1. Bring a beer cuzzi (if you plan to drink Coors Light, or Tecate, or Tecate Light); Dos Equis is on tap. Consider a large insulated mug from the local truckstop if you desire fewer trips to the bar, or if you are a slow drinker who doesn’t enjoy melted drinks, etc.
We had an excellent 8-person Jacuzzi that overlooked the ocean, but the jets would repeatedly fail. The first three times this happened, we called for it to be fixed. After the third time, I just watched how it was fixed (had to loosen and retighten the PVC fitting attached to the pump on the ledge to let the air-water equilibrate.) After this, I could fix the problem with ease in 1 min.
If you want some nearby snorkeling, walk south along the beach about 10 mins to the pier; there are some decent fish swimming about the breaker walls—I would recommend fins, and for newbies to be very cautious in this area, lest a wave throw you into the breaker walls. If you like searching for seashells, walk north about 15mins to a yellowish house, several nice conch shells about 10yds out in the ocean, but it can be rough, also!
Valentin Wedding Package:
We went with the more expensive package, but couldn’t have been happier. See the Valentin website for exactly what it includes.
PROS: Wedding coordinator, Ariadna Cardoso was phenomenal. Couldn’t have asked for a friendlier, more helpful, knowledgeable, and courteous person. While the restaurants do not accept reservations officially, the coordinator would pull strings whenever and wherever we wanted at any restaurant for unofficial “reservations†we had up to 20 people. Free room upgrade. Couples massage. Couples body scrub. Videographer. Photographer. Private cocktail hour. Private transfer to resort NOT to airport.
We got married on the beach in between building 11 and 12. It was a nice private location. The weather was not that great, but it did not rain. The reception was at the Mexican restaurant outside, it was a beautiful set up. The cake was very nice. Flowers were just like the pictures I sent.
CONS: Make sure that your minister has the ceremony you want him to use, or at least a layout (if you care). Our minister had forgotten the ceremony which we worked hard to create, and was going to just use his own. Thankfully, the best man happened to have a copy of it, which was delivered to the minister, literally as the bride was walking down the isle. Yes, it ended up working out very well, but it was almost a disaster!
ADVICE: Free room upgrade with the package, so we decided to pay a couple extra bucks for a golden suite, so that we could be upgraded to the ocean front “Emerald Suite†with the jumbo Jacuzzi. We didn’t pay for the $25/head “private†reception dinner, but was still placed in a very nice private area, although we were warned other non-wedding guests could “conceivably†be sat with us, it was still roped off as a private event.
Photographer/Videographer:
While this is sort of a part of the wedding package, I just wanted to make a separate section, because the exemplary service they provided was so deserving of it.
We used Blue Lens Caribe ( www()bluelenscaribe()com ) Dennis was our photographer.
PROS: Amazing quality of photos and video. Very professional service. Would come to the resort whenever you wanted to discuss the photos, videos, packages, etc. We couldn’t have been happier with how the pictures turned out. He took about 600 photos throughout, arrived early, and stayed late. He spent about 6 hours altogether, even though he was in no way obligated to spend that much time. We had a lot of family members visiting from afar, and he was happy to take a several non-wedding family photos at no additional charge! They also did an amazing post-processing job, adding effects and photoshop touch-ups to about 100 of the best photos. The slide show DVD they made was amazing, as was the wedding video. The wedding package we bought included 52 prints and the video DVD, but Blue Lens Caribe gave us a very reasonable option to buy DVDs with all 600 photos, post-processed edits and slideshow (perfect for showing at our local reception) for a reasonable price. It was a no-brainer for us, we bought them all because they are so good and we couldn’t be happier! I would highly recommend that you make a specific request for BlueLensCaribe to do your video and photos.
CONS: None.
Overall Rating:
Valentine Imperial Maya: 9/10
Wedding Package: 9/10
Wedding Coordinator: 10/10
BlueLensCaribe Photographer/videographer: 10/10
Hi I was married at VIM in FEB and it was perfect. I wanted to share with you the book of pictures we made. I has pics of site and reception, most pictures taken by blue lens caribe. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1248091 here is the link or search for Kim and Wyatt on blurb.com