Mandiland

Quote: Originally Posted by LisaM&JimmyG I am getting married at Secrets Maroma June 10, 2010. We are doing our site visit Feb 3rd-5th. We are really unsure about where to do the reception because of the heat and humidity during the summer. Any suggestions would be helpful. We currently have 33 people booked. We want someplace that feels intimate so everyone feels comfortable and dances all night long! ALL suggestions are much appreciated! Hi! I am also getting married there this summer and can not decide where to have the reception at. What did you think?

Any suggestions for a DJ?

Are you getting married at the Half Moon?

Love them! Where did you get the key/tip holders?

One more thing...we booked this fall for summer 2010 thinking most weekends would be open and the whole month was booked. We only got a Saturday because someone cancelled. Point being, have a few dates in mind that you can use as a backup. Saturdays are always busy, but the other 6 days of the week are usually flexible.

I was torn between the Royal and Secrets Maroma. 1. I chose Secrets Maroma because I thought the hotel looked nicer and the Royal always looked so crowded. 2. I thought Secrets looked modern and it's only a year old. 3. I would def get in touch with Wedding Destinations and Planning | Destination Weddings .com though because they saved us so much time and work. Our planner has relationships with the hotel wedding planners which makes communication faster. The wedding planners in Mexico get so bogged down with all of the bride emails, but the destinationwedding people can pick up the phone and call them if need be.

Thanks New York! It is so hard to decide where to have a reception when you haven't been there to see it. We are going to have a beach bonfire for the rehearsal dinner on Friday night...and as much as I would like to have a beach/pool reception I am worried about the heat, the bugs and the wind since July is hot, hot, hot. Maybe Cecelia will let us spend a night there before we have to make all of the final decisions to check out what it's like in the evenings. We are having the ceremony down the road in an air conditioned beach front chapel at the marina, so I don't know if we should do something on the beach since we are dragging all of our loved ones all of the way to Mexico for a destination wedding. I did really like the pics of the foyer to the ballroom you posted! Where is the terrace you mentioned?

Hey gals, Does anyone have any pictures of the ballroom?

Quote: Originally Posted by Simistar Forgot this one! It just shows inside the restaurants... there are fans and air conditioning on so you don't get too hot:-) Thanks so much for all of the pictures and info!!!! I see the fans in the pics of the seafood restaurant but don't see any walls....how does it stay cool? (Unless the walls are glass and I can't see them.??)

I know I want my reception indoors because it will be hot in July, but I don't know which restaurant. I didn't like the pics of the ballroom but maybe it looks better in person I see a lot of the girls used the World Cafe and it looks beautiful. We are having 50+ people so I guess we will need the whole restaurant if we use that one...is the rest as pretty as the red room? What would be the 2nd best indoor spot?

Quote: Originally Posted by LIZAGEHL I am just starting to look into a wedding websites. Did any of you girls do free sites, or did you go through a company? Any recommendations? How much do sites cost and how do you pay for them? (monthly, annually, etc..) I am such a moron when it comes to computer technology!! I used Wedding Planning Guide and Free Wedding Websites - mywedding.com and I really love it! I opened another one first and after about a month it said I had to pay to keep all of the things I had on there. The site mywedding.com is free, offers a lot of pretty choices, and I too am not very computer literate and found it to be very easy to figure out.

Hi! I spent a lot of time deciding between these hotels, so send me PM if you have any questions about them: El Dorado Royale El Dorado Maroma Secrets Capri Secrets Maroma (I picked this one!) The Royal Playa del Carmen Another nice one friends are getting married in is Excellence Riviera Cancun.

Hi Gemma! I spent a lot of time deciding between these hotels, so send me PM if you have any questions about them: El Dorado Royale El Dorado Maroma Secrets Capri Secrets Maroma (I picked this one!) The Royal Playa del Carmen The Royal Cancun Another nice one friends are getting married in is Excellence Riviera Cancun.

Quote: Originally Posted by inspiredfyre Cecilia does take great photos, I actually have her booked for Monday, and am stoked!! Wish me luck ladies, I'm off to the airport in 4 hours!!!! I will post pics as soon as I get back...or at least when i'm back down to earth ;D yay!!! Did you have to pay the resort anything extra, fees etc, for Cecelia to do your wedding pictures? I wasn't sure what their policy is for outside vendors.

It's so helpful to have people on here to chat with! Semistar, I hate you had so many bad eperiences because you looked so beautiful on your wedding day and everything like the tables, etc looked great too! Did anyone do group bookings? We aren't sure if that's something we want to do or not. Also, does anyone know if they have ivory table cloths for the reception tables?

Semistar, I forgot to ask you what flavor of cake you had? We will have over 50 guests so we need a bigger cake; we are using the one offered with the package as the grooms cake.

Thanks so much Semistar! I really appreciate all of your information! I read all of your reviews on here when I picked my resort and it was very helpful! I'm not sure if Cecelia has an assistant or not but she is pretty good at getting back to us and our wedding planner. My wedding planner is working with her for other weddings at the resort so they keep in pretty good contact. I found the wedding planner at DestinationWeddings.com and I adore her. I would def. suggest to new brides on here to look them up and use them! We are having our wedding in July so it is going to be realllllly hot! I am also worried about mosquitos. We are having the wedding in an air conditioned chapel at the Marina. When you see that chapel at the El Dorado Maroma it is actually at the marina so people from other resorts can have their wedding there, you go through Lomas Travel. I wonder how windy it is there in July.... I do like the pool side reception, it looks very pretty!

I can share with you that both of my travel agents have said that trip Advisor used to be a great tool for the general public as well as travel agents. However, while you can still rely on the pictures (and it is a great resource for that) other hotels in competition with each other go onto Trip Advisor and post false bad reviews to make the resort look bad. I don't trust what the reviews say but it's great for pictures!

I am looking to book Cecelia for my pictures but had a thought about the resort photographer that is included in the package....do you think the resort photographer would do TTD pictures the next day instead of using his time at the wedding?

Quote: Originally Posted by Simistar Ummm...I'm confused:-) Did you mean to write EDM...or did you mean SMB (Secrets Maroma Beach)? Maybe you posted in the wrong thread by accident...? Sorry! I meant SMB....Edm was the other resort I was picking from and I must have had it on my mind. )

I am having a July 2010 wedding at EDM (just waiting on the date to come back as ok.) There are a few things I am thinking about if anyone has any feedback! 1. I see a few reviews that say it's very windy on the beach so the reception is by the pool or somewhere else...is this usually the case? 2. Has anyone has the beach lounge furniture brought into the EDM by an outside vendor? I liked it on other reviews for various hotels but haven't seen any here yet. 3. I know some brides have been annoyed with the wedding coordinator at the resort so I am curious if basically everything can be done in the days when you first get there? I know most brides on other posts say they stressed over emailing the coordinator and then everything was done when they got there. 4. For those who have been there, we will have at least 50 people at our wedding. Where do you think the best place to have the reception is? Thanks ladies!!!

We have narrowed our otel choices for our wedding down to: The Royal Playa Del Carmen El Dorado Royale Secrets Capri Dreams Riviera Cancun I just can't decide...has anyone been comparing any of these

Hi ladies! I am so torn on the "sand whales" that are in the ocean at the El Dorado Royale that we might fly to Mexico just to check it out. I read many reviews on here and on Trip Advisor saying that the resort is beautiful and not to let the sand bags keep you from having your wedding there, but we are very nervous. What does everyone think?