christy12

Originally Posted by claruickie 

 

Quote:Originally Posted by christy12 

 

Hey..we've been home for a week now and are definitely ready to go back! Its weird not coming on here to check this forum every couple of days! I honestly don't think our wedding would have been the same without this amazing resource!

 

Anyways, i have been working at my review for the past week and have finally finished it. So here it is!

 

The resort

Our entire group stayed in the royal golden section in the buildings closest to the beach (mostly 65 and 67). We were in building 65 on the 3^rd floor with a view of the ocean as well as the wedding site. The rooms were nothing special but were always clean. When in the bathroom you could hear conversations going on in other bathrooms (we constantly heard a couple giving their child a bath). The bed was surprisingly comfortable. The resort is huge, however we managed to randomly run into almost everyone in our group of 30 everyday. We spent most of our time by the pool and on the beach closest to our rooms (MUCH quieter here and there is a bar). We ate at 4 of the a la carte restaurants while we were there. I am a vegetarian so I typically ate the one thing on the menu I could eat. I found the Mediterranean restaurant the best of the ones I went to. Our wedding dinner was at the Frutos Del Mar restaurant which a lot of our group said was the best a la carte restaurant they had been to. My favourite thing I ate all week was the 7 peppers soup at this restaurant (minus the shrimp floating in it). The Tequila restaurant was a huge disappointment. My veggie fajitas looked like a Chinese stir-fry (with carrots, sprouts and zucchini) and had no flavouring. The buffet was okay but nothing special. There was not a huge selection of vegetarian food and by the end of the week I was sick of chips and guacamole. Our entire group was in agreement that the Coba buffet was the biggest and the best. Overall, it is a large, very nice resort.

 

Wedding coordinator meeting

We met with Eugenia the day after we arrived. She had all of the information we had discussed over email for the past year compiled and everything was accurate. She was very sweet and extremely easy to work with. Her English is very good. We gave her all of the wedding stuff we had brought during the meeting (chair bows, fabric, fans, glow sticks) which were all set up perfectly on the wedding day. She had also arranged a welcome dinner for our group in the buffet for that same night.

 

 

Wedding day

Our ceremony was at the Akumal beach location at 3 p.m. All of our guests met at the snack bar at 2:30 and were brought down to the ceremony location shortly after. Eugenia delivered me my flowers just after 2 and came back to get me at 3. Even though I was only meters from where I needed to be (I could see the ceremony site from my balcony) they put me in a cart and drove me the 10 or so meters to where my dad was waiting. I posed for a picture with my dad and was off walking already (we did not have a bridal party). I walked down the aisle to Yiurmi’s River Flows in you, which was perfect. The officiant spoke good English and added a bit of humor. Our primary complaint (of the entire day) was that it was an extremely religious ceremony when we had specifically requested as little religious content as possible. He read from the bible and said “amen†more times than we could count. We ended up snickering a bit throughout as we found it funny just how religious it was. Our guests commented on this as well. After the ceremony we had champagne with all of our guests then moved on to photos. Our guests moved to the lobby bar to have some drinks before dinner while we took a few more pictures. We only used the resort photographer for the 10 free photos (and later bought another 20) as we had my dad and brother take photos.

 

Our dinner was at 5:30 pm at the Frutos Del Mar (seafood) restaurant. We had a springtime salad, 7 peppers soup, and the choice of either salmon or chicken. Myself and the other vegetarian had a pasta dish. Everyone said that the meal was good, and for many it was the best a la carte meal they had had all week. We opted to have the tres leche wedding cake for our desert, which was really good!

 

At 7:30 pm Eugenia came and picked up our group and brought us to our poolside reception that was beside the small pool. Our DJ (we hired DJ Bijan) was there waiting for us and we had our own bartender at the bar beside the pool. We paid for the cheapest bar option and were given most things. I think a few people had to walk ~20 feet to the snack bar to get wine. Eugenia had left the glow in the dark stuff (necklaces and bracelets) I had given her with the DJ, which I took and put on the tables. Our guests LOVED these (and they proved to be beneficial when we went in the ocean later!).  Our biggest complaint was how fast the 3 hours went by! Almost all of our guests danced for the entire 3 hours, and many (including us) were sore the next day! At one point about 10 people were standing and dancing on pillars in the pool (only 3 fell in!).

 

The original plan had been to go to the disco after the reception to continue dancing, however most of us were danced out. Instead about half of us went to the beach and went swimming in the ocean. We all still had our glow in the dark stuff on which looked pretty cool when that was all you could see in the ocean. After about 10 minutes though security came and told us we were not allowed swimming, so we ended up back at the snack bar. I think we all were in bed by midnight!

 

 

I cant stop looking at your photos they are gorgeous and make me giddy.com   Which Coco Bongo's did you go to - Playa del Carmen or Cancun ?  Kirstin x

Glad you are getting excited! I am sad that our wedding/trip is over and there is no more planning or anticipation! 

We went to the Coco Bongo in Playa del Carmen..there is no need to go all the way to Cancun. The one in Playa is amazing. I would definitely recommend it for anyone of any age!! I would compare it to a really good Las Vegas show where you get unlimited drinks and dance the entire night (with the option to sit!)! I got yanked up onto the dance platform way up in the sky where they video you and put you on the big screen. It was quite the experience. I am dreading seeing the videos my friends took!

Originally Posted by AndreaandAaron 

 

Your wedding looked beautiful!  Thank you for posting your review. Welcome back!

 

I am a vegetarian as well, as are a few people in my group.  When you pre- chose your dinner entrees, did you get to pick 2 "meat" choices and was the vegetarian one available for the people that wanted it?  I would like to give my guests 2  non veggie options to choose from....  

 

thanks in advance!

Hey, yea we picked 2 meat options and i told her that myself and another guest were vegetarians. When we met with her before the wedding she had this noted (and specifically that the Bride was vegetarian). We didn't know ahead of time what the vegetarian option would be though. During our dinner the waiters went out of their way to ask us if the vegetarian option (pasta) was okay. They originally were planning on giving us linquini, which I vetoed as i thought it would end up all over my face! So they gave us a less messy noodle instead! If you know sort of what you want i'm sure you could request it. The Frutos Del Mar restaurant is attached to the Italian restaurant so it was easy for them to bring over some pasta.

Originally Posted by futuremrswarner 

 

Question: welcome dinner... is that something included in the wedding packages? Or is that something extra you have to pay for for the resort to organize the tables and such for you at the buffet?

I had heard of other brides doing a welcome dinner so i asked Eugenia about it a few months before we left. She said it was no problem and arranged it for us at no charge.

Originally Posted by Tammyd23 

 

Your photos are beautiful and your wedding sounds amazing glad you mentioned coco bongo me and my friends want to do this for the hen night, how long did it take to get there?

The bus to Coco Bongo took 30-45 minutes i think. We left at 9:30 and were inside and seated by 10:30ish. There were about 10 people from our resort and we also stopped at the Gran Sierens to pick up a few people. The bus was pretty empty. I'm not sure if on busier nights they would stop at more resorts or not. There is usually a Coco Bongo rep hanging around the pool that you can ask questions and book from.

Hey..we've been home for a week now and are definitely ready to go back! Its weird not coming on here to check this forum every couple of days! I honestly don't think our wedding would have been the same without this amazing resource!

Anyways, i have been working at my review for the past week and have finally finished it. So here it is!

The resort

Our entire group stayed in the royal golden section in the buildings closest to the beach (mostly 65 and 67). We were in building 65 on the 3^rd floor with a view of the ocean as well as the wedding site. The rooms were nothing special but were always clean. When in the bathroom you could hear conversations going on in other bathrooms (we constantly heard a couple giving their child a bath). The bed was surprisingly comfortable. The resort is huge, however we managed to randomly run into almost everyone in our group of 30 everyday. We spent most of our time by the pool and on the beach closest to our rooms (MUCH quieter here and there is a bar). We ate at 4 of the a la carte restaurants while we were there. I am a vegetarian so I typically ate the one thing on the menu I could eat. I found the Mediterranean restaurant the best of the ones I went to. Our wedding dinner was at the Frutos Del Mar restaurant which a lot of our group said was the best a la carte restaurant they had been to. My favourite thing I ate all week was the 7 peppers soup at this restaurant (minus the shrimp floating in it). The Tequila restaurant was a huge disappointment. My veggie fajitas looked like a Chinese stir-fry (with carrots, sprouts and zucchini) and had no flavouring. The buffet was okay but nothing special. There was not a huge selection of vegetarian food and by the end of the week I was sick of chips and guacamole. Our entire group was in agreement that the Coba buffet was the biggest and the best. Overall, it is a large, very nice resort.

Wedding coordinator meeting

We met with Eugenia the day after we arrived. She had all of the information we had discussed over email for the past year compiled and everything was accurate. She was very sweet and extremely easy to work with. Her English is very good. We gave her all of the wedding stuff we had brought during the meeting (chair bows, fabric, fans, glow sticks) which were all set up perfectly on the wedding day. She had also arranged a welcome dinner for our group in the buffet for that same night.

Welcome dinner

Our welcome dinner was at 6 pm in the Akumal buffet. The buffet did not open until 6:30 so it was nice to have 30 minutes without anyone else there. They had set up 3 tables of 10 for us in the back corner so it was semi private. We had brought some customized mugs full of candy for our guests so we showed up early to put one at each place. As our guests arrived they were each given some sort of blue welcome drink which was not really drinkable, but a nice gesture! They also walked around throughout our meal and gave us random drinks. Overall it was really nice to have the chance to get everyone together at the beginning of the week to get to know one another and thank them for coming.

Spa

My mom and I went to the spa the day before the wedding to have manicures and pedicures. This experience would have been 100 times better for me if I were not so hung-over! They do not use OPI nail polish,, however whatever they used lasted for about a week. My only complaint was that while I had booked two 10 am appointments weeks before we arrived, they took my mom in and got her started and left me sitting in the waiting room for another 15 minutes. When I went to inquire as to why when I had intended for us to have the appointment together I was still waiting, they whisked me in and the male receptionist asked me to select a colour. I thought I was a bit strange that he would be doing my manicure, however soon realized that the lady I was seeing was late, as she rushed in apologizing a couple minutes later.

The next day I had my hair and makeup done at the spa. I brought my Itouch with about 5 pictures of hairstyles I liked. In the end I was happy with what she had done. I was not as happy with the make up. I had brought some of my own good quality make up from home, however she insisted on using their make-up which was observed to be cheap drug store make up. The only thing of mine she used was my mascara and lipstick. While everyone told me my make up looked good I felt that it was a bit too heavy. Better than I could have done myself though, so I can’t complain!

Wedding day

Our ceremony was at the Akumal beach location at 3 p.m. All of our guests met at the snack bar at 2:30 and were brought down to the ceremony location shortly after. Eugenia delivered me my flowers just after 2 and came back to get me at 3. Even though I was only meters from where I needed to be (I could see the ceremony site from my balcony) they put me in a cart and drove me the 10 or so meters to where my dad was waiting. I posed for a picture with my dad and was off walking already (we did not have a bridal party). I walked down the aisle to Yiurmi’s River Flows in you, which was perfect. The officiant spoke good English and added a bit of humor. Our primary complaint (of the entire day) was that it was an extremely religious ceremony when we had specifically requested as little religious content as possible. He read from the bible and said “amen†more times than we could count. We ended up snickering a bit throughout as we found it funny just how religious it was. Our guests commented on this as well. After the ceremony we had champagne with all of our guests then moved on to photos. Our guests moved to the lobby bar to have some drinks before dinner while we took a few more pictures. We only used the resort photographer for the 10 free photos (and later bought another 20) as we had my dad and brother take photos.

Our dinner was at 5:30 pm at the Frutos Del Mar (seafood) restaurant. We had a springtime salad, 7 peppers soup, and the choice of either salmon or chicken. Myself and the other vegetarian had a pasta dish. Everyone said that the meal was good, and for many it was the best a la carte meal they had had all week. We opted to have the tres leche wedding cake for our desert, which was really good!

At 7:30 pm Eugenia came and picked up our group and brought us to our poolside reception that was beside the small pool. Our DJ (we hired DJ Bijan) was there waiting for us and we had our own bartender at the bar beside the pool. We paid for the cheapest bar option and were given most things. I think a few people had to walk ~20 feet to the snack bar to get wine. Eugenia had left the glow in the dark stuff (necklaces and bracelets) I had given her with the DJ, which I took and put on the tables. Our guests LOVED these (and they proved to be beneficial when we went in the ocean later!).  Our biggest complaint was how fast the 3 hours went by! Almost all of our guests danced for the entire 3 hours, and many (including us) were sore the next day! At one point about 10 people were standing and dancing on pillars in the pool (only 3 fell in!).

The original plan had been to go to the disco after the reception to continue dancing, however most of us were danced out. Instead about half of us went to the beach and went swimming in the ocean. We all still had our glow in the dark stuff on which looked pretty cool when that was all you could see in the ocean. After about 10 minutes though security came and told us we were not allowed swimming, so we ended up back at the snack bar. I think we all were in bed by midnight!

Other

Coco bongo

7 of the girls in our group went to Coco Bongo on Wednesday night. It was 65$ per person which included transportation, expedited line up (however this is basically everyone so it is not expedited) and unlimited drinks inside. The Coco Bongo rep Elsa was with us on the bus, and when we got inside she brought us to some of the best seats in the house. I had heard that it was hard to get drinks unless you tip well, however that was not the case at all. We did not even have to move to get drinks as we had someone waiting on us all night. He came around regularly, tip or no tip. The show was AMAZING! It started at 11pm and went until about 3:30 a.m. We had thought that we might leave early as this was pretty late, however the time went by super fast! We went to got home sometime between 4 and 5 am.

Catamaran trip

Prior to arriving in Mexico we booked a 4 hour private catamaran tour for our group through Fat Cat Catamaran charters. For up to 30 people it was $1650 plus $7 per person for transportation. We were picked up in 2 vans at 1 p.m. and taken to Puerto Adventuras. The Catamaran left at 2 pm and went until 6 pm. There was an open bar, snacks and music. We stopped at one place to go snorkelling at a reef, and at another place to float around in warm water while the crew threw us beers.  The entire crew (of 4 or 5) were awesome, and the main guide was Canadian which was cool.  The company is owned by a very sweet couple (from Sweeden I think…) who were very easy to deal with from Canada. For many of our guests this was the highlight of the week and we would definitely recommend this tour!

Pictures

Hola Amigos!

Just got back from 2 amazing weeks in Mexico. We were married at the Akumal beach location on November 23rd and everything went perfectly. Eugenia is amazing and everything was done to perfection. I will post a review soon but in the meantime here are a few pics.

taken by the resort photographer

taken by the resort photographer

taken by the resort photographer

taken by my brother

taken by my brother

Leaving for the GBP tomorrow already! Thanks for all the awesome tips and advice everyone! I don't know what i would have done without this forum!!!

Hi,

I was wondering how much others have (or plan to) tip their wedding coordinator and DJ? And is there anyone else that should be tipped?

Thanks!

awesome thanks!
 

hey,

Does anyone know approximately how long it would take to walk from the Akumal hammocks wedding location to the Akumal lobby bar? As well as between the Akumal lobby bar and the Frutos del Mar restaurant?

My guests have just over an hour to kill between the ceremony and dinner..is it close enough to walk there, or would another bar be better???

thanks!

Hey,

I am thinking of using Ho Hey by the Lumineers as my Recessional song........ I realize its about getting someone back but i love the chorus!! Thoughts? is this a bad song choice?!

okay thanks!
 

Hey,

Just wondering if anyone knows about the golf at the resort. I read on the actual website that golf is free for hotel guests, however on the golf course website it says it is 65$ per person per round for hotel guests (including cart and snacks). Has anyone been that can confirm the price?

Thanks!

Christy

Originally Posted by Alskipworth 

 

Hi, just wondering how everyone had their guests book travel. Did you have the resort block off rooms? I think booking through Expedia would be cheaper but I'd be afraid the rooms would fill up before all my guests were able to book!

I also agree that a TA is best! You definitely need to take the time to find a good one though. I don't know where you live, but i went to sears travel, marlin travel and flight center, and they were all completely useless. Most told me it was too soon to book (it was about 8 months before our wedding date and really they were too lazy to request a quote from the tour operators), and many took down my info and never got back to me. After getting fed up i went to Blue Petal, who specialize in weddings. They were great, however charge $500 for their services. I ended up finding an awesome TA (specializing in groups) with Travel Best Bets. She got us an awesome deal, coordinated all our guests from across the country (we didn't have to do anything!), and every 11th guest is free! I would definitely recommend Travel Best Bets if you are flying out of Canada!

Hey,

Just wondering if anyone has used the resort spa for their make-up? Tlseege i think maybe you did? I read a couple reviews on here but it doesn't seem like too many people use them for make-up... Has anyone used them, or know what type of make-up they use? It seems like a lot less of a hassle then bringing someone in..but i don't want my make-up to suck either!!!

1 more question!

If you bring in someone to do your hair/makeup, do you have to pay for a day pass for them as well? I'm assuming yes, but would love to hear no!

Thanks!

Hey,

A question for any past GBP brides. Would it be a good diea to provide each guest with a paper fan for during the ceremony (on the beach), or is it not necessary due the wind?

Thanks!

Hey, the hammocks location is the designated wedding site for the akumal section of the hotel. Its just called that because when there are no weddings going on there are hammocks hanging there. There are tons of pics of the location in the wedding reviews or if you go to the official GBP page.

Originally Posted by yeemein 

Hi Christy12, what's the Akumal hammocks location?

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what type of fabric to bring to decorate the akumal hammocks location? I know how much to bring, but I don't know what type to get. Thanks!!

Hey Ladies,

I was wondering if anyone who has gotten married at the GBP would recommend a poolside reception with only ~20 guests? And if so, would you recommend having a DJ or just using music from an IPOD?? I am worried it will be boring with so few guests!

Thanks!!

Ok that solves that problem! Lobby bar it is. Thanks!!

Hey, I am getting married at the Akumal hammocks location and was wondering if anyone would recommend drinks at the beach bar following the ceremony vs. the lobby bar? It seems like the lobby bar is more popular..is that because it isn't as hot? Any advise is appreciated! Thanks!

Hey, I was wondering if anyone knows what music the resort uses for the ceremony if you do not bring your own? The only description was "wedding music" and I opted for that to make things easier..hopefully it is alright!!

Thanks!

Crystalz, your photos look awesome! I was wondering what time you had your ceremony at? The lighting is perfect!

The only ceremony time I was able to get was 3pm and I am worried it will be too bright and too hot..has anyone had this problem?

Thanks!!

Hey,

I have been addicted to this site for sometime so I figured it was time to create an account and post something! All of the information on here has been such a huge help!! My fiance and I have booked our wedding at the Gran Bahia Principe Akumal for the week of November 18-15th, 2012. We are still waiting to hear back from someone at the resort to confirm a wedding date/location. I emailed Paloma Flores about two weeks ago and have not heard anything. Does anyone have the email for anyone else i can contact?! I know Paloma is technically not the wedding coordinator? Any help is appreciated!!!!! Thanks!!