Rpc51

Hi all, for some reason I do not receive a notification when someone replies to this post. If you are interested in any of the items for sale, please inbox me:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastminbride 

Thank you!!! I JUST booked my Wed for THIS Nov16/17 (2013!!!!) and will be assigned my offsite coordinator tomorrow. I will ask for Renee. Thank you!
Any other tips/advice are welcome!

Thanks

I have not had a chance to write my review but if you need advice on vendors, feel free to contact me ([email protected]).

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastminbride 

Thanks so much for this advice!

You are very welcome.

I just uploaded some pics from the wedding on my profile under the "wedding" album.

P.S. I was told the Moon did not make elaborate cakes well but I took the chance and they made our wedding and grooms cake exactly as I requested (including adding a fake tier for free:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dondon84 

Hi,
We get married at Moon Palace on 11th October 2013!!!!! Just been told Valeria Vera is our onside wedding coordinator. Has anybody had Valeria before or in contact with her now?

Just wondered how she was during the whole process :-)

Thanks

Donna

Just a little advice: I specifically requested Valeria based on what I heard from past brides and was not disappointed. I didn't have contact with her until the week before the wedding but was not worried because I had Renee, who was my off-site coordinator and was totally wonderful. I didn't have to deal with things that past brides complained about like the outside vendor fees and set up fee for my personal decorations. I just paid the guest pass for my videographer and dj . . . that was it! Mind you, I only told them my guests were providing these service and never mentioned that they were actually local vendors. I had a HUGE bag of decorations and very specific instructions of how everything was suppose to be and Valeria went above and beyond. I was a veryyyy picky bride but got everything I wanted thanks to Renee and Valeria. Be persistent about what you want and what you are NOT willing to pay. I negotiated absolutely everything and got what I wanted in the end. I will post pics soon.

Beautiful ivory wedding dress with corset back: $600 (paid $800)

Belt: $250 (paid $400)

My turn has finally come!! Leaving tomorrow morning . . . the excitement is killing me. 

Originally Posted by dzaccaria 

 

We stayed in the Sunrise section of the resort and loved it! My parents stayed in Nizuc because my dad is handicap (a little more handicap friendly in that section) and they ALSO loved it! There was a lot of construction around the resort when we were there but it didn't bother us at all. You are getting married in 5 days!!!! Just put all of your worries aside until you get there and see everything for yourself!

I love your replies, lol. I need someone to tell me to shut up and stop worrying. I'm trying . . . I'm such a perfectionist though. I will stop though, thanks to you:)

Originally Posted by dzaccaria 

 

Try not to panic!! I totally understand the extra charges... maybe you could consider extending for one hour and then having everyone go to the disco after that to continue the party? This could cut down on some unexpected costs!

 

We never got to go to Los Caporales while we were there mainly because they have a dress code and our guests had on flip flops most of the time haha But I would HIGHLY recommend Arrecifes if you need to pick a new place for the welcome dinner!! Its right next to Los Caporales off of the Nizuc lobby.

Thank you for your help. I'm trying really hard not to panic. I chose Bugamilias; I have some vegans in my group so I didn't think it would be fair to them to go to Arrecifes (although I hear they have a salad bar). Also, my group is not the club/disco type so that wouldn't work. I had them take off $40 to lower my total for the extra hours. I'm still worried about the construction . . . I have not gotten an answer about how bad it is yet. What section of the resort did you stay?

Originally Posted by dzaccaria 

 

They did charge me extra! Only 2 hours were included for us so we extended ours an extra 2 hours as well. They charge $60 per table per hour. We had 5 tables so we ended up paying an extra $600 to extend our reception. I noticed your leaving REAL soon!! Have they not sent you a purchase order yet?

I just received the purchase order this week. That's how I realized they were charging extra for those hours. Seems like everything is going wrong this week . . . extra charges, the mexican restaurant Los Caporales where our welcome dinner was suppose to be held is not available and just found out there is construction on the Nizuc side where all of my guests will be staying. I can't take anymore changes/disappointments.

Originally Posted by nsg4729 

 

Yes, I had Ivan Luckie for my photographer so I only had to have a day pass for him and his assistant. The same with my DJ.

Did you tell your coordinator that you had an outside DJ? Our wedding is next week and I am a little worried because I have an outside DJ but I have not told them because I don't want them to charge me the $500. I purchased a pass for the DJ though . . . any advice would be helpful. THank you!

Originally Posted by dzaccaria 

 

Ugh... YES! I used my debit card and was charged the international fee from my bank! Not sure if credit cards do the same? But I'm pretty sure most banks do if you use your debit.

I just realized you were there not too long ago. Did they charge you for extra hours at the reception? My reception is from 7-10 but I thought they only charged extra if you needed the bar for longer than 2 hrs . . . I didn't budget for this.

Originally Posted by dzaccaria 

 

Ugh... YES! I used my debit card and was charged the international fee from my bank! Not sure if credit cards do the same? But I'm pretty sure most banks do if you use your debit.

Thank you. I'm glad I realized this now because we leave next week. I just called capital one and they don't charge a fee so I'll have to use that card while I'm there. 

Hi Ladies,

Did any of the past brides use a credit card to pay for their stay at the resort and/or the wedding? Were you charged an international credit card fee?

Originally Posted by Nicolew412 

 

Ok so I finally have some time to write a full review of my wedding week at Beach Palace. We arrived in Cancun on July 9th and left July 16th. We were married Friday- July 12th. 

 

Hotel Check-In: We had booked our trip through an outside agency and when we arrived at BP they tried to tell us that the agency had booked us a 2 double bed room and due to full occupancy there was no way they could give us a room with a king bed. I complained and said we brought 25 people to the hotel and it was our wedding/honeymoon week and there was no way we'd be ok with 2 double beds. They then offered us a king bed room but on concierge level for a total upgrade cost of $240.00. Normally concierge level room can be $50.00+ more per night, so for $240.00 total for the full week I thought it was worth it. We had one of the most amazing ocean view rooms plus concierge level has a bunch of upgrades. We had a keurig coffee machine in our room, a pillow upgrade menu, 2 free 25 minute massages in the spa, aromatherapy, IPOD dock, and a bunch of other small upgrades. It was definitely worth the $240 so we were pleased after-all. It was just a small bump in the road but it worked in our favor. 

 

Meeting with wedding planner- We met with Suzette, our wedding planner, at 10 a.m. on Wednesday- July 10th (2 days before the wedding). She has an office in their 2nd building across the driveway (where the ballroom is). She went over all the details with us and had me map out the seating arrangements for the reception tables and list the order of how all the groomsmen and bridesmaids would walk during the ceremony. I gave her all of my OOT bags and she made sure they were delivered to ALL my guests rooms ($3.00 charge per room for this). She also took my guestbook, CD's, and some of the extra reception decor and offered to set that all up for my free of charge. There's normally a $100.00 charge for this but because I had a small wedding (only 25 guests) she offered to do this for free. I thought that was very nice of her!

 

Rehearsal/Welcome Dinner- I had my private rehearsal dinner at the Tequila restaurant (on the outside terrace) on Thursday night (July 11th).  Margarita (my original wedding coordinator) had given me a menu of Mexican food to choose from for this dinner prior to leaving for Cancun, so the food choices were already picked out. It was a beautiful evening and the waiters were amazing. Suzette came by to check on me as well and met some of my family. There was no actual rehearsal though, which I was a bit disappointed about. I would recommend doing a rehearsal with your wedding party the night before (f they allow it), because it was a bit chaotic the day of. 

 

Wedding Day- My makeup artist (Tania Tagle) arrived around 11:00 a.m. on Friday- July 12th. She began makeup for my bridesmaids while my other bridesmaid started hair (I was lucky enough to have a hairdresser in my bridal party who is amazing so she did all my bridesmaids hair + mine for free). I played music, ordered a few bottles of champagne, and we just got ready all day. The photographer from Ocean Photo Studio arrived around 5:00 to 5:30 to take "getting ready" photos and introduce herself. She was in the boys room from 4:30 to 5:00 taking getting ready photos of them. Unfortunately, we began running really late so she didn't get the best photos of the girls since we were all running around trying to finish stuff. I was actually 20 minutes late to my ceremony LOL! It was supposed to start at 6:00 and I probably didn't walk down the aisle until 6:20 or 6:30. Not sure how this happened, but it was really chaotic there for a minute. One of my bridesmaids forgot her bouquet in my room and I realized I didn't have a key to my room, so my planner ran down to front desk to get a key, grabbed her bouquet, and deodorant and perfume for me (because I had forgotten to put it in during the chaos lol). She was amazing! As I was waiting to walk down the aisle, the bartenders on the sky terrace brought me a shot of tequila to calm my nerves! lol I was really nervous. It was also difficult walking up the stairs to the sky deck location (where my ceremony took place) in my wedding dress. I kept tripping over it. But once I got to the top, everything went very smooth. The minister was fabulous! We did traditional vows and had a symbolic ceremony. The music was all on key and the saxophone player was amazing! Because we were running late, the photographer did bridal party shots on the sky terrace instead of the beach. Around 7:30 my husband and I headed down to the beach for our photo shoot. I think normally they take the whole bridal party down for those photos, but since we were running late and the sun was going down, I think they decided to do those shots on the terrace instead. 

 

We were able to enjoy our cocktail party for about a half hour. It was 7:30 to 8:30. The food was amazing! But most of our guests were at the bar the entire time anyway lol. But everyone did rave about the food. JSAV also messed up and only had one speaker set up, when I had ordered two. But as soon as I pointed it out, they fixed it. A second speaker was set up right away. I just did the IPOD setup, no DJ and it went great. I definitely recommend getting a 2nd speaker, it made a huge difference! My dad acted as MC and announced the transition over to the reception tables for dinner. We had the BBQ buffet. AMAZING! Everyone thought the wedding food was the best food they had all week. We did first dance before dinner, and then had our dinner. We had a marble cake with chantilly cover. SOOO good! Everyone raved about the cake as well. And I was shocked how big it was! The cake was HUGE!!! I'll post pics of it at a later time. Our planner stuck around till about 9:30 p.m. which I thought was nice of her. The reception went until 10:30. Everyone danced and had a great time. Some of the groomsmen got pushed in the pool at the end of the night- got some great photos of this. As for decor- we did floating candles, purple lights until reception tables, and zuniga did the reception table decor. Everything was perfect and romantic! We heard such great things from out guests. They thought everything was beautiful! After the wedding, a few of us went out to one of the bars on the strip called Conga to continue the party :-) They also decorated our room with rose petals for our honeymoon and put some of our wedding cake out and had a different chocolate desert as well & had a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for us. It was beautiful and romantic. The jacuzzi is a lot of fun ;-)

 

One thing I'd like to point out is my matron of honor lost her wedding ring at the hotel somewhere. She got her nails done at the hotel salon the morning of the wedding and took her ring off and placed it in her purse. The lady doing her nails watched her put her ring in her purse. When she was moving to another seat within the salon, the nail lady brought her purse to where she was sitting. She thinks between this time maybe the lady took her ring! It was worth $7,000 and I hate to blame a staff member of Beach Palace, but you never know who you can trust. I would recommend keeping all your valuable belongings in your safe. When my friend told the hotel they were very nice about it. They took metal detectors and searched the whole beach, but it never showed up. 

 

Restaurants- All the restaurants were amazing, except the morning buffet. The food was kinda gross, except the fresh made omelets and waffles. Those were good!! We went to Bocceli (the italian restaurant) twice. You have to dress nice for this restaurant. Very romantic! I recommend the filet mignon- one of my guests said it was the best steak they've ever had. Wok (the asian) place was really good too! Sometimes the food comes out cold, which was my only complaint. But if you ask them to warm it up, it's no biggie. The snack bars serve really yummy food too! And the steakhouse was great as well. I loved sitting outside here. We ordered a lot of room service too. the pizza was awesome! 

 

The staff was so amazing the whole trip. They bend over backwards for you and are so polite. We gave really good tips the whole time because we were blown away with the service. 

 

We did swimming with the whale sharks one day. So fun! Amazing adventure. It was $200 per person but so worth it. A couple of our guests did the dolphin swim and zip lining. They all loved it!

 

We also went to Moon Palace (boys golfed, girls swam) one day. Moon palace was nice to visit, but definitely recommend BP over MP any day. The beach was so beautiful at BP. We did boogie boarding, and they have jet skis you can rent. 

 

It was such an amazing trip overall! I can't wait to go back. Let me know if you have any other questions. 

 

- nicole

Cant wait to see pics! Great review:)

Originally Posted by syl1115 

 

I have learned that DIY projects will be the death of me. I make something then the more I look at it, the more I don't like it so I start from scratch 2 months later. I feel like I have accomplished nothing. I started out with 1 dress and ended up with 3. I have "created" my bouquets and bouts 4 times now. I just finished revising my fans. I just want to stop the OBSESSION with DIY. I keep looking at everyone else's wonderful things then get another new idea.

 

I really didn't worry about people coming to the wedding. We are a little older than most of you on this forum, so trying to please family is so secondary. We decided it didn't matter as long as we were there together. This is just for us and if others want to join in the fun, so be it. We are not registered any where and do not expect any gifts. Although, I have spent a ton of money on my Oot bags, dinner reception, hotel rooms, cruise, and "bridesmaid" dresses. I just hope I can make it another 30 days.

Good to know I'm not the only one that started with one wedding dress and ended up with three (not to mention 2 veils cause I had the brilliant idea to tea dye my white veil after buying my third dress that was ivory . . . total mess!)

Originally Posted by BellaWright 

 

Oh my! I have no idea how you can study for the bar and plan a wedding, kudos to you and good luck with The Exam!!!

 

 

I started planning early so the big stuff was done at the beginning of the year. Thank you for the well wishes:)

Originally Posted by dreamweddings 

 

Hey Rpc51,

 

Did you mean Cherry Blossom instead of cherry mood. I know most of the vendors in the area who are using these options for deposit and payments. I must admit Paypal is not user friendly for everyone in the area.  I wouldnt worry too much that they have issues with Paypal I´ve had the same issue various times.

 

Hope this will help you with you decision.

 

Happy Planning

Joyce!

Thank you. I am not comfortable with wiring money or western union so I'm just gonna pay a little extra to have the resort's preferred vendor do it.

Thanks ladies . . . I am so excited to hurry up and get to Cancun that I actually started packing, lol. I finished one petal runner strip so now I just have one more to do plus a petal runner for the reception table. These are by far my biggest DIY projects. I need to get my dress steamed and belt sewed on, groom still hasn't gotten his suit, seating chart not done, welcome letters not done, vows not finished . . . the list goes on. 

Originally Posted by Katryne 

Rrpc51`- good for you!  I hope things go well and that you can concentrate on your wedding afterwards!

 

Carlota - Seems that you're on a roll!!  We share our wedding date!

 

I'm into the finicky stuff, little details here and there.  Hard to do with young kids but as soon as I get them to bed I go into bridal mode!  haha. These days I'm working on my dance mix.  I've got all the songs I want but I'm trying to get to play smoothly... hahaha feeling like a DJ!

Originally Posted by jennifer8913 

Hello August ladies!!! I can't believe how close we are!!! I agree, it is all the little details that stresses me out!!!

Rrpc51' hoping you do well on your bar exam!!

Carlota good for you for doing so many DIYs! I love doing them I wish I could have done more!

 

Has everyone started to pack?

Originally Posted by Nicolew412 

 

Hey guys,

 

I leave for the airport at 2:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, my flight leaves at 6 a.m. I'm soo excited! I'm all packed already :-) Fiance just needs to pick up his tux tomorrow and we're ready. 

 

I'm sure you guys heard about the plane crash at San Francisco International airport. So terrible! And that's the airport I'm flying out of :/ So far my flight is still on schedule, so please pray for me that it doesn't get cancelled or delayed! We had friends/guests leave for Cancun from SFO this morning. Their flight was delayed 2 1/2 hours but I'm just thankful it wasn't cancelled. They should be at the hotel by now :-)

 

I can't wait to tell you guys all about it.

 

- Nicole

Have a wonderful trip and an amazing wedding!!!

Did anyone end up using Cherry Moon? I have been working with them for the past few months and they have been really great. However, they want me to wire them my deposit or send through Western Union. They say they dont use paypal because they have issues with it in Mexico but all of my other vendors have used paypal with no issues. I'm a bit skeptical now . . . not sure what to do.

Has anyone made a petal runner or know how long the aisle is inside the catholic gazebo? I'm finally starting my petal runners but I don't know how long to make it.

Originally Posted by Katryne 

 

So August ladies! getting close here!! where's everyone at in their preps??

I have so much left to do but I'm currently studying for the bar exam at the end of July so I have not been able to do anything . . . such a stressful time but can't wait for the wedding to get here.

Originally Posted by Nicolew412 

 

I am having my ceremony on the sky terrace! There's no official gazebo up there, I don't think. They just create that cover above you with the diamonds hanging down. It will be beautiful! I leave for Cancun in 11 days. I'll be sure to post pictures when I return :-)

Exciting!!! Wish you all the best on your special day. Can't wait to see pics:)

Originally Posted by kather2008 

 

Hey! I am getting married in Beach Palace so no gazebo sadly but I am sure the Pearl Shimmer would look great there as well!

Oh, I thought all the Palace Resorts had gazebos. Either way, your wedding is going to be beautiful w/ that set-up!!