LurkerDan

I don't have much to offer, except you don't mention whether price is important to you or your guests. We chose Moon Palace because unlike many resorts, they don't gouge you to have your wedding there, and recognize that if you have a large wedding there, they should charge you less, not more, because of all the business you are bringing. So if you have a large group you get free room nights and free event(s). I don't know, however, how the price of these resorts compare for individual guests and for you.

Thanks! I'm only on here because my now-wife is not much of an internet person, whereas I spend a lot of time on forums. She kept saying that she was going to get on here and and take over for me, but never did.

Most of your questions were answered, but didn't see a response re bathrooms. And the answer is, I think, no, there aren't any super close by bathrooms. Most of our guests had rooms nearby, so if someone had to go they could probably have easily walked to their room (and for those not close by, someone else surely would have offered the use of their room). The closest "public" bathroom is probably near the lobby of the Grand side, there was a little bathroom that was probably 200 yds or so from Tucan.

The way they do this is so half-assed and annoying. They apparently let some people lock in locations months ahead of time, but everyone else is told they have to wait. Then they also randomly assign locations. We were assigned Tucan Gazebo, we never actually booked it. We actually asked to be switched to Bugambilla Gazebo, because we were supposed to be on the sunrise side, but were told it wasn't available. Then they placed us at Nizuc, close to tucan, so it all worked out.

I believe only one wedding per time slot. However, that doesn't mean all locations are available for every time slot. For ex., if I get married at Tucan Gazebo at 2pm and have my cocktail hour at Tucan Terrace from 2:45 to 3:45, all Tucan locations would be probably be considered "booked" until at least the 4pm timeslot (or even 5pm).

My review of Smile Market as well other people's reviews are in the Moon Palace reviews on this site. Direct link to my review is back a couple of pages.

We paid for all the extras at the resort, added to our room bill upon checkout. Given that they are changing the whole planning process, that may be changing. But I would certainly just ask if you can pay at the resort and see what she said (for ex, we were asked for payment ahead of time but didn't pay until we arrived).

I don't think there is just one photographer. The resort photographer is called "Smile Market" but I am sure they have more than one actual photographer (sorry, I don't remember the name of the guy who was ours).

I just updated my review to add in details re Smile Market photos.

updated the review to add Smile Market details.

Great and detailed review. Sorry for your bad experiences, many of which mirrored mine. It sucks, but it's a little validating (for us and probably for you) to see that others had similar experiences.

yep, I can still edit the review!

Weather is hard to predict. My research said June sees 8 days of rain on average, which didn't scare me, yet we had at least some rain 4 of the 6 days we were there, and 3 of those 4 days had very significant rain (including one day of nonstop rain). We chose June to accommodate families and friends who are teachers (we have many); there weren't other options for us. But if you do have options, May would be an improvement over June.

Yeah, it won't be much better (if at all) unless they significantly add to their staff down there. We got very few responses from our on site, Valeria, after she was assigned. If they just heap on more responsibility to the same staff, it will be much worse, I think.

Congrats! How long did it take for you to receive your pics from Smile Market? Just wondering if I need to holler at them. We chose the least expensive package that included the CD of images, but haven't seen anything yet.