shmanderz

Yes I only had to pay day pass for Del Sol

@@shan0487 @@shmanderz - Can you ladies tell me what type of table was used for your cake? I'm getting my tablecloths now, and my coordinator isn't helpful at all. Thanks!

I found a pic that sort of shows the table they had the cake on for us.  We were laughing because the cake wasnt cutting and the fondant was just pressing down under the knife.  It was pretty funny. 

@@shan0487 @@shmanderz - Can you ladies tell me what type of table was used for your cake? I'm getting my tablecloths now, and my coordinator isn't helpful at all. Thanks!

The cake was on tall small square table that had wheels and they rolled it out to the center area when the cake was being cut.

As for the table layout, I was told they only had round tables by the coordinator but I asked Mario, my on-site planner about the Imperial table set up (1 long table) and he was able to confirm it for us and we had it for the welcome dinner on the palenque terrace. 

When I was planning, my Palace Resorts wedding coordinator was not much help at all and took forever to get back to me but as soon as I was put in contact with Mario my on-site planner who was actually based out of Beach Palace, he was able to give me confirmation on everything super quickly.   The Palace Resort coordinators are kind of useless for anything Beach Palace specific because they basically have to contact someone at Beach Palace to get answers to questions since they dont actually work at the hotel...but dont worry too much, when the 90 days to event time comes, your on-site coordinator gives you their full attention and things start happening much faster and you wil find you are able to get them to be more flexible with stuff.  The first coordinator made it sound like "no they only have round tables' but then after talking with Mario he gave me a bunch of different options for table layouts and stuff.  He even threw in colored napkins for the welcome dinner when I was told they only had white linens.  There is lots of wiggle room so just make sure you talk with your on-site planner to get the real answer

@@shmanderz Great photos!  Looks ike a beautiful wedding.

 

A few questions for brides or past brides. What did everyone do for the wedding cake? I never did the tasting for the cake. I got a catalog from Zuniga with some options.

 

My wedding is coming up FAST! So far about 90 guests and 5 events! EEeekk!

 

Thanks,

Renal

I just used the cake with the complimentary package.  We chose the marble cake option with fondant icing...and you know what?  It was so delicious.  Fondant usually is really nasty but this version of it was so awesome.  All the guests were raving about the cake!  The fondant was rolled nicely on it and it looked super cute with our flowers and cake topper.  The only thing I would change was for them to leave off the icing decoration detail they added to the sides.  In the heat and humidity the side icing detail slid down and looked really bad in photos but honestly at the time I didnt even notice it and no body else did either.  Personally I would not spend a ton of money on a cake because the whole evening just flys by and the cake cutting was such a minor moment and then they wisk it away and cut it all up to serve.  I am really glad I did not upgrade the cake like I was planning on doing.

Thanks for coming back and posting your pics! Beautiful! I love Del Sol but they were out of our price range, esp. since we want our photographer for at least 8 hours!

 

Just a question about the Sky Deck. When we went for our site visit, it was really open. For weddings, do they "block" it off in any way from regular guests coming over?

The Sky Deck is where the ceremony is held and it is accessed by a staircase located on the rooftop Sky Terrace pool area.  The Sky Deck for the ceremony is completely private and has amazing 360 degree views of the ocean. 

Now as for the The Rooftop Sky Terraces, they split into two areas: The north pool is open to the public all day and night while the other south rooftop pool area is used for events.  We had our cocktail hour on the ocean side of the south pool and then moved over to the lagoon side of the pool for the dinner.  The dance floor was in the middle area between the two spaces. 

As for privacy during the reception, we did have one or two people looking into the event during dinner and stuff but we had no trouble with people crashing the party.  The ladies bathroom is actually on the south pool private event side so they cannot completely block off the area because of the people using the North pool/bar area in the evening.  But honestly i never saw anyone at our event that we didnt know.  You could definitely tell it was a private event.

Hope that answers your question!

Hi, your pictures are beautiful - thank you for sharing I'm a Moon Palace bride, but I'm wondering if the flowers in your and your bridemaids hair are real ones that you requested from them or are they fake and you brought them yourself.

 

I'd like to use real flowers (yours look gorgeous), but I haven't seen too many pictures so I'm not sure what it'd look like.

 

Thanks!

 

Lindsay

They flowers in the bouquets are from Maya Floral and I had also asked for extra flowers for our hair which Marvin included complimentary.  I decided to order fake hair flowers from Esty at the last minute just incase and I am so glad that I did because the flowers provided by Maya floral for the hair were beautiful but very small.  The fake orchids I ordered for our hair from Etsy were so awesome and nice and large and they were glued to hair clips so they stayed in all night without wilting like real flowers.  I ended up using the hair flowers from Maya on the cake so it worked out great!

Hi ladies, I got some of my photos back from Del Sol and I thought I would share!

It took about 8 weeks but it was definitely worth the wait.  The photos turned out amazing!!

The USB drive with all the other photos is being couriered this week so I am excited to see all the rest. 

Sol and Jorge were our photographers and they were so great.  I would highly reccomend Del Sol when choosing a photographer.  They are a little more expensive but I am so happy we decided to splurge on the photographs because my memory of the day is not very good due to excitement and adrenaline and Del Sol was able to capture moments and things that I had forgot about or missed.  

Here is the link to my album:

@@shmanderz - What a great review! Your wedding week sounds like it was perfect. I can't wait to see your professional pictures! Ah - all of these great reviews is making me very excited!

 

A couple of questions if you don't mind:

 

Can I get the contact of your friend in Isla Mujeres? Seems like he'd be great to have for the welcome party

 

You had to end at 10pm. I've seen varying things about ending at 10 or 11pm. Did you have an option at all with this? We are willing to pay the extra to extend our reception, and we're hoping we can go til 11

PM me and I will give you his email address.  I dont want to post his email in a public forum for spam reasons

As for the reception, once 10:00 came around they basically just started packing stuff away.  Mario said they had to shut everything down.  Maybe if you pre arrange for the extra time they extend it.  We only had arranged to extend it 2 hours (Originally the 2 hours reception was from 6:00-8:00 and we extended it until 10:00)

Hello!  I have finally found time to write this review.  It has been a whirlwind month and I can’t believe after over a year of planning the wedding has now come and gone! It has been so much fun planning and yes at times very stressful, but I am just thrilled with how it all turned out and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.  So…let start from the begging:

Basics:  Travel/Flights/Hotel Transfers, etc:

We had 27 guests and we all booked through a travel agent which made things very easy!  I would highly recommend this.  For anyone in Canada, we used Tricia at Marlin Travel in Calgary and we booked flights & hotel through Sunwing.  We reached the 75 room nights and were able to make use of the free welcome dinner, free cocktail hour and free reception (We extended the reception by 2 hours)

Our departure flights were perfect, leaving Calgary at 7:00am and arriving direct to Cancun around 1:50pm. I was able to bring my wedding dress on board with me as a carry on and it made it to Mexico with no issues.

Once we landed in Cancun we were shocked and happy to see that the security line was totally empty and we literally made it to the baggage carousel within 5 minutes of stepping off the plane!  Soon we all made it outside with our bags and we had a private air conditioned bus waiting for us to take us to Beach Palace! Our hotel transfer was arranged for us with Sunwing which made things easy.  Soon we were heading for the hotel and everyone was extremely excited!

Hotel Check in:

When we arrived at Beach Palace we were greeted with a hot towel and a refreshing welcome drink.  Check in went very smooth and the staff was so friendly.  Mario the wedding planner and Luis the hotel manager came out to greet us which was a nice welcome.  Mario told us we were going to love our room when we were given the keys to room 920.  We had originally been booked into a regular ocean view room but when we opened the door we saw that we had been upgraded to one of the corner suites in the hotel and it was HUGE!  We were beyond thrilled and very appreciative.  It was one of the most beautiful hotels rooms I have ever stayed in and it just made our wedding week even more special. 

Welcome Dinner:

When we finally got settled into the room after check in it was about 4:00pm and we had to get everything ready for the welcome dinner at 7:00pm on the Palenque Terrace.  I put together the welcome bags and unpacked the décor that I brought for the event.  The welcome bags included:  2 personalized beer Koozies, 2 personalized shot glasses, an “Oh Shit! Kit” with Tylenol, Band-Aids, pepto, and tums.  There were also some snacks in the bag, a welcome letter, and bottle of hand sanitizer. We hung these bags on the back of the chairs at the welcome dinner (1 bag per couple).  For the event décor I brought a bunch of electric candles to place on the table.  I had ordered to strings of white paper lanterns from Zuniga as well as a sound system from JSAV.  We had a musician friend of ours from Isla Mujeres come over for the event to play for us before and after dinner and it was absolutely perfect.  His name is Ryan Rickman and if anyone is interested in having live music, he is such an awesome choice.  PM me for contact details.  The hotel day pass fee of $97 was the only thing I had to pay for him to get access for the event.

Around 6:00pm we went down to meet Ryan and get him set up as well as place the Welcome Bags and the table décor.  Mario the wedding planner did such an amazing job with the set up.  We had 1 long imperial table setup with white linens.  He had added these beautiful turquoise blue cloth napkins at each plate and he also included these cute nautical style fish bowl centerpieces filled with sand down the center of table.  The whole décor setup looked so beautiful and the light of the setting sun behind the crisp white linens and paper lanterns was such a cool effect. 

We chose the Yucteca menu option for the buffet and it was so delicious!  I actually wish I would have picked the same menu for the wedding dinner because it was that good.

We swapped out a few things which made it even better (Swapped stewed pumpkin for roasted potatoes and we also added ceviche) and literally everyone today is still raving about the meal.

The live music was so fun and it was funny to see all the people on the abck side of the hotel sitting on their patio enjoying the free show.  Ryan has such a great stage presence and everyone in our group was up dancing and having a blast.

The bartenders and waiters were amazing and we even had the hotel Sommelier there for the whole event suggesting wines for the wine drinkers in our group.  The regular wine list at the hotel is great and the upgraded wine list also has some awesome options.

At 10:00pm we had to shut it all down but it worked out well because everyone was pretty tired after the long day of travel.  It was a perfect night and just set the stage for an amazing week of wedding festivities.

Hotel/Food/Room Service:

I usually go to Mexico 1-2 times per year and I don’t usually stay at all inclusive’s so this was a big change for us as well as a lot of the people in our group but I have to say, Beach Palace has completely changed my view about all inclusive’s!  It was such an amazing hotel with outstanding service.  Even the buffet was fantastic and had so much selection.  It was crazy all the different food options.  I also liked how the food was brought out in small quantities and refreshed often.  Everything was cooked fresh and not sitting out in huge platters for hours under hot lamps.  As for the restaurants, they were all great!  Our favorite was Wok because my husband and I are huge sushi fans.  The even had octopus nigiri and tuna sashimi which made my husband very happy lol!! I think the restaurant staff kinda groaned when they saw him coming because he can eat sooo much sushi.  The steak house was also very good and it was nice to sit outside on a warm night under the stars and glowyness of the hotel lights and pool area.

The best part about the hotel was the room service.  Every night before we went to bed we would tick off what we wanted for breakfast and hang the sheet on the outside of the hotel room door for pickup that night and the next morning whatever time you requested on the sheet would be the time you breakfast arrived and they would bring it out to setup outside on the patio table.  It was so relaxing to start the day by sitting out there in the morning, enjoying breakfast and drinking coffee (with Baileys! lol).  It was very hard to come home and not have this lovely service every day!!!

Wedding Day:

Our wedding day was Saturday, May 10 and I spent the morning relaxing on our patio just taking it easy.  Around 10:00am the flowers arrived from Maya Floral and I met them down in the lobby for pickup and to pay the remainder that was due. The flowers were absolutely gorgeous and so vibrant!  I was extremely happy with their service and would highly recommend them to anyone!  I didn’t have to pay an outside vendor fee for them because it was just bouquets that they were dropping off in the lobby and no event set up.

At 12:00pm my bridesmaids, my mom and myself had our hair/makeup appointments in the salon.  All our hair turned out great.  The makeup was just ok and I kind of wish I had just decided to do it myself because I ended up fixing a lot of it. I was also in the salon for almost 3 hours which was crazy and I was just trying to get her to hurry up.  By the time I got back to the room I only had about 5 minutes before the photographer arrived and everything started happening.  I mentioned this before in another post but for any future brides, be sure to take a moment to yourself and breathe.  It all fly’s by so fast and I just wish I would have shut the bedroom door when I got back to the room, took a few deep breaths and centered myself before everything kicked off.  I was running on pure adrenaline from being stressed about time and then all the sudden it was time to get married and my memory of a few things isn’t very good because of all the excitement!  I am just glad we hired such a  great photographer who I am sure has some amazing photo storytelling of the wedding day so I can relive it again and appreciate the small moments better J

Just before 4:00 Mario came to the room to get us and bring us upstairs.  As soon as we got off the elevator it was time to start the processional of the wedding party up the stairs.  Me and my dad followed and it was as very emotional.  Walking down the aisle is something every girl thinks about and it was really just surreal that it was actually happening.  The ceremony was beautiful and it was just an amazing moment. 

One thing I can say is that the rooftop is VERY hot and I am glad I brought paper fans to put on everyone’s seats.  And I am glad we kept the ceremony very short because holy crap, it is stinkin hot standing there in a wedding dress!  It was a difficult choice having the ceremony at 4:00 and I think 6:00 might have been a better time for temperature, but I really wanted the sun on the turquoise water for photos and also to have the sun setting around dinner time.  The soft sunset lighting during the speeches and the reception dinner was gorgeous and it was the only thing that made the heat during the ceremony worth it!

After the ceremony we had arranged for a cocktail hour on the sky deck while the wedding party did photos.  I didn’t get to even see the cocktail hour or try the food but everyone said it was great.

Del Sol was our photographer and we had Sol and Jorge photographing the event.  The were amazing!! Photo ninjas is was everyone was calling them because they were climbing on things and always searching for a unique angle for a shot.  Sol was great at making things fun and easygoing and coaxing a shy group of people into getting some great shots.  I cant wait to see the finished photos!  The whole day went by in a blur so I am really happy we decided to splurge on the photography because Del Sol has such a way about capturing a wedding and all the details that made the day special!  I would highly recommend Del Sol to any bride.  Right from the moment of booking we knew we made the right choice.  The package we chose was the 5 hour package from 3:00-8:00pm.  It was a little more expensive than other photographers but I believe it is going to be well worth the money.  I am so excited to see the photos and I will post them on here once they arrive J

The rest of the wedding day went off without a hitch and everything looked beautiful.  I was so happy with all the décor I ordered and the atmosphere it created was so cool.  I would recommend renting the lounge palms from Zuniga and the lights to illuminate them from JSAV.  It was a total showstopper and it really transformed the space!  We rented two speakers and it was perfect, one might have been too quite.  I also was happy with the choice to not rent a dance floor.  It worked perfect having the lights aimed down on the floor and to be honest, since the reception had to end at 10:00 there wasn’t a ton of time for dancing.  People jumped in the pool around 8:30 and dinner had just finished at 7:00.  I would also not recommend the lounge seating from Zuniga.  It looked really cool but didn’t really get used since it was placed on the other side of the dance floor away from the tables and it was pretty dimly lit over there.  Lighting is definitely key to making the space usable!  If you have a big group and are using both sides reception areas around the pool make sure you get tons of lighting.  The Gobo from JSAV was also an amazing addition.  Guests thought it was the coolest thing they have seen at a wedding!

As for the noise curfew, I was hoping they would let us party a bit longer than 10:00 but they shut it down pretty much right at 10:00.  Everyone probably would have partied in the pool until the wee morning hours but it was almost a blessing in disguise because the party was getting a bit crazy in the pool! Lol. 

When my husband and I got back to the room they had decorated the bed with rose petals and filled the Jacuzzi with bubbles.  It was really cute.

The next morning we had our honeymooner breakfast and mimosas delivered to the room and it was a great way to wake up and start our married life J

I was pretty darn stressed out during the weeks leading up to the wedding and honestly as soon as I met with Mario at the hotel my worries melted away.  They go above and beyond to take care of every detail.  I was also worried about hidden costs or them tacking on costs for setting up stuff etc, but honestly they threw in so many extras and cute additional details free of charge.  I had an extra $500 ready for hidden costs and I ended up giving it to the event staff as tips because the invoice upon checkout was exactly as quoted.  Beach Palace was the absolute perfect choice for our wedding and it was everything I could have dreamed of. To all you brides out there, just breath and relax knowing that your wedding day is going to be perfect!

Question from one of my friends to any of the past BP ladies. What type of beer is offered at BP? He's hoping for Corona haha

It was always Sol when ordering beer by the pool, beach, or rooftop bars.  They also had cans of Sol, Coors and Dos Equis in the mini bar fridge in the room. 

@@NicoleLV
Good choice.  The hotel salon actually did a really nice job of all our hair styles.  Just be sure to bring photos of what you want.  I was really happy with how mine turned out and using the resort credit was great.  My makeup wasnt amazing but i was able to fix a few things about it and I liked the result.  I would definitely recommend booking your appointment early in the day to give yourself tons of time.  I was in there at 12:00pm for hair and makeup and I didnt get back to my room until 2:45!!! I was getting so stressed because the photographer was arriving at 3:00 and I had wanted to chill out a bit and relax with my bridesmaids before the crazyness started but I literally had 5 minutes to fix my makeup and then the photographer arrived and then everything was kicking off...photos in room, getting dress on, group photos on the patio, then all the sudden it was 3:45 and the wedding planner coming in to bring us up stairs for the 4:00 ceremony....It all happened SO fast and I didnt even have a moment to breathe and center myself.  Everything went perfect with the wedding and reception but I felt very flustered at the start and I just wished I had a few seconds to myself to take a few deep breaths and relax before getting things started.

Yup we rented them from Zuniga!  We had to pay the two set up fees due to it being two seperate events on different days but I am sure you could negotiate the price.  Everything has wiggleroom in mexico

We got JSAV to knock off the $150 AV specialist charge for the sound system at the welcome party since it was just a basic set up for our guitar player but they ended up sending someone anyway to run the system at no charge which was cool.  We added the sound system three days before we departed so it was awesome of them to give us such a great price with a last minute booking too

Hello!!! We are back home after an amazing honeymoon and the wedding week was absolutely perfect.  Our guests are still talking about how it was the most memorable wedding they have ever been to.  The welcome party was also so much fun and in such a beautiful location.  Beach Palace did a fantastic job and I would not change a thing, it was perfect,  I am working on a HUGE review right now but I just wanted to say hi and to post a few pics that have been trickeling in from friends and photos I took of the hotel.  Our professional shots are not back yet but will also post those soon

Oh my gosh, 19 hours and 15 minutes until we leave for the airport!!! (Not that I am counting or anything! lol). We have to be at the airport at 4:00am which is crazy but we have a direct flight so we land in Cancun in the early afternoon which is awesome

These last few days have been pretty stressful and I am SO ready to get to Mexico.

I had some last minute changes and my wedding planner has been pretty slow responding which was really frustrating but he got back to me today and apologized and said they have been super busy with weddings. He sent me the all-inclusive package wine lists and the upgraded wine lists if anyone is interested (PM me and I can email to you). A lot of people in my group are big wine drinkers so everyone wanted to see the selection beforehand!

I also added a last minute sound system from JSAV for the Welcome Dinner tomorrow night on the Palenque Terrace from 7:00pm-10:00pm. We have a musician friend coming over from Isla Mujeres and he was just going to play an acoustic guitar set but we decided to rent a speaker, amp, and microphone set up plus the function to attach the iPod music to the speakers when he is not playing. They originally wanted $450 which was crazy but I got them to remove the AV Tech Specialist because we didn’t need any help with the system and it dropped the price to $290 after taxes and set up fees. I thought I would share with you all if you are looking for a price break on your rental from them...if you don’t think you need the person there to help run the system it can be a good money saver!

Packing has been a bit of a nightmare but I think we are going to make it work.  If anyone is from Canada and is flying Sunwing it is definitely worth it to upgrade to Elite Plus (The bride and groom get a free upgrade if there is availability!).  In the regular seats you are only allowed 20kg checked luggage which is only about 44lbs!  (Not very much considering every additional kg that you are overweight costs an additional $20 and that can add up very fast!!) But in the Elite Plus seats you are allowed 30kg total which is almost 66lbs!

Another good tip with Sunwing is when booking with a group, for every 10 people booked you get 1 additional 20kg checked bag.  You have to contact Sunwing and get it added onto you file and they send you a voucher because you cannot add this on at the check in counter.  This has been a life saver because we have all the extra wedding stuff packed into the free extra 20kg bag and then anything left over is packed in our regular checked bag which has the extra 10kg weight due to the Elite Plus upgrade.

I know that probably sounds super confusing but anyone flying with Sunwing will understand J

Anyways, if anyone has any questions about the hotel, PM me and let me know and I can respond to them when I get home!  Our wedding date is May 10 and our group departs Beach Palace on May 14^th.  Me and my fiancé are Honeymooning on Isla Mujeres but I will be home and back online May 21 J

Happy planning to you all!!

-Amanda

Was your wedding planner Elizabeth Yanez?? That is who I have but haven't been in contact with her in about a month I hope they don't switch me to someone else.  

Also a question about the day passes past and future brides.  So if you purchase a day pass for an outside vendor and a wedding guest is there an additional charge of $25 for the cocktail hour and $55 for the dinner on top of the day pass fee?  I don't have this stated anywhere in my contract or was ever told there would be an additional charge from either my wedding planner or on site wedding coordinator but on a Facebook forum the brides on there said that this was the case.  I emailed my onsite wedding coordinator to clear this up but just figured I would ask on here as well.

I purchased day passes for 2 guests for our welcome dinner and then another 2 day passes for our photographers on the wedding day.  On my Purchase Order from the hotel it only shows the day pass fees.  There are no extra charges listed for them for the cocktail hour or dinner or anything like that.

Hey-

 

Who is your wedding planner, I recently received an email stating Elizabeth will no longer be my wedding planner now its Macro?

 

 

-Kat

My coordinator was Renee for the whole time up until last week when I was officially passed onto my on-site planner Mario and now he is taking care of us and will be the person we meet with when we arrive.  Mario gave us our site visit back in December so I am glad to be working with him again!  Renee was great as well, she was usually pretty good at getting back to me quickly and she even scheduled a few phone meetings when I had a ton of questions.  It was nice to speak to someone in person!  I would definietly reccomend planning a few phone calls with your coordinator and have lots of questions ready to ask.  She would answer as many as she could and would email any answers later that she had to check with the hotel for.

Thank you SO much for your help! You really have no idea how great it is to hear all of this from another bride to be! I am expecting around 30 people for my wedding as well...really I have no idea how many people will come! Is the South Sky terrace the one with the pool? God I feel like I have so many questions, because it is very hard to communicate with the ladies at the resort. With that being said...I really appreciate you and your advice! Are you having a DJ? I think I read you are renting speakers and using your Ipod. Have you heard anything about FineArt Studios? Also, are you bringing any décor type things from home, rather than paying for stuff at the resort? I am crafty and would like to bring/make my own centerpieces and what not, but am a little concerned about getting it all there safe and sound. I am so excited that I have all of this information that you provided, atleast for a reference for me to look back on while I plan everything!! Thank you sooo much   :)

 

Your wedding is coming!!! SO soon!! Yay! You seem totally ready!

Hey!  No problem...I totally know how you feel. I was so overwhelmed before but trust me, it will all make sense and become easier.  One tip I have is to make a wedding binder and print every email coorespondance, write everything down, make copies of every contract and purchase order so when things get confusing you have one area where all your info and resources are located.  The process is painfully slow with the resort and sometimes thingss take weeks to get done so you sort of forget about stuff while you wait for a response.  My wedding binder has helped me so much! 

Here are some answers to your questions:

1) We are not doing a DJ.  Me and my sister put together a bunch of different playlists (Welcome dinner, cocktail hour, dinner music, party/fiesta music, etc).  Our MC is a friend of ours and he has all the info on when to switch the playlists and stuff.

We put all the songs in order and have told the MC not to shuffle the mix, that way during the reception it starts of with music for everyone and stuff the oldies will like and then builds up to more party dancing music by the end.  I think it will work well.  Once I have the music finished I can post the playlist songs we chose if anyone is interested!  We rented a sound system from JSAV which includes a speaker, microphone, ipod connections, mixer, etc.  We added an additional speaker just to make sure everything was nice a loud.  Here is the breakdown of the sound system costs:

$209- Basic Audio wedding package

$35- extra speaker

$335 Basic Lighting Package fopr dancefloor with robotic light tree + lighting for Lounge Palms

$100 Gobo and Gobo design fee

$220- Labour and Delivery

$143- tax

For the welcome dinner we are just bringing an Ipod speaker (we have a really loud one) and then our friend is playing acoutic guitar.  We made a Welcome Dinner playlist for this night.

2) The South Sky Terrace is the south pool area on the rooftop where they have all their wedding receptions and events. (The North Sky Terrace is the pool side that is closer to Cancun hotel zone point and they keep that area open for hotel guests everyt night).  One thing to note that since they keep the North side open you will see the odd guest coming through during your event because the womens bathroom is on the South Sky Terrace side.  During our site visit we were told about that.

3)I am bringing a TON of stuff from home! lol.  I have an entire extra suitcase of decor and stuff as well as all the welcome bags and contents.  I was shocked with the prices of centerpieces ($50 per centerpiece for a very basic centerpiece!) so I got crafty and put my own together.  

For the welcome dinner we are having an imperial table (one long table for everyone) and we are putting out a ton of electric candles down the center of the table.  Just keeping it simple and soft and glowy.

For the reception we have 4 round tables for guests and I put together centerpieces with electric candles and white pencil starfish around a small metal pail with a candle inside and we are going to fill it with sand from the beach.  I found these round placemats in the exact same blue color as mybridesmaid dresses so it will tie in everything nicely.  I posted a photo of it in my gallery if you want to check it out.  All in all I think I spent about $60 on electric candles and mayb $20-30 for everything else which is a great price that covers table decoration for both my event nights.

4) As for getting everything there safe I got some bubble wrap and packed everything in boxes and packed them all tightly in the suitcase and covered it in bubble wrap.  I also put a note ontop of everything listing the contents for airport secutiry if they happen to open it up and dig through it (I am sure 20 or so electric candles looks very odd when x-rayed!! haha.)

I plan to get the person at the check in desk to put a fragile sticker on the bag too if possible.  There isnt a ton of stuff that can break but I just dont want it tossed around, etc.

We are flying direct to Cancun so I hope that minimizes the chances that the bag gets lost in transit...but I just try not to stress about that and think positive!! lol

Oh and here is a another tip when choosing your buffet menus! You can swap out stuff you dont like and add things from other menus. The only restriction was that you have to take away something to add something. You cant just add things.

For the welcome dinner we chose the Buffet Yucateca:

We swapped out stewed pumpkin and added roasted potatoes

We swapped out butter sugar bread and added Ceviche

We swapped out marble jelly and added Petit Fours

For the reception dinner we chose the Buffet Cajun:

We swapped out Beef escalope and addedd Sirlon Steak with Blue Cheese Sauce

We swapped out Apple Tartlet for tropical fruit tartlet

And we also added Garlic Bread (This was not an issue to just add this because it was small)

The menu choosing was a hard decision for us until we learned we were able to swap stuff so I hope this helps anyone struggling with it!

@@LindsT

Sorry my computer is messing up.  I had posted another response and dont know where it went! lol

We have 27 guests so we were able to reach the 75 room nights.

With that we got the free cocktail hour and free 2 hour reception on the wedding day. 

We added two additional hours onto the reception which works out to be $360 total  ($60 per table of 8 for every additional hour). The free event includes premium bar service, buffet dinner, tables, chairs, linens (Standard white table decor).

We also are making use of a free event on the first night.  We are having a welcome dinner on the Palenque Terrace from 7:00-10:00pm.  It includes all the stuff listed above.  We have a friend who lives on Isla Mujeres who plays guitar so him and his wife are coming over for ther dinner and to play music.  I had to get them guest passes.  I also ordered 2 strings of paper lanterns from Zuniga for lighting during the dinner.

@@LindsT

Del Sol is definitely more expensive than most but their photos are so amazing!  We are paying $4000 for 5 hours. Photography is really important to my fiance and I so we pretty much went into the wedding planning with an inital plan to spend the majority of our budget on a crazy good photographer.  We had to pay 50% upfront which was a bit hard at the time but now that it is almost 6 months later our $2000 bill remaining doesnt seem that bad! lol I just try to not think of all the money that has been spent so far and it makes it easier now, haha

Hi ladies! I've been reading through this thread and have a few questions! I am getting married at beach palace on May 8th, 2015!!! I'm probably only going to have 30 or so guests. I booked the pearl shimmer collection and am now regretting that decision. I've been reading that if you book 75 room nights you get almost everything for free!!

I'm not sure ill even reach the 75 rooms, most likely won't. I'm kind of stressing out, worrying about spending money in the best possible ways. Still need photographer and dj, and am really dreading this 800 vendor fee. Any advice regarding the package I purchased, rather than going with the complimentary? Has anyone used and been happy with the vendors? Please help! 

I am doing the complimentary package and it has been great so far.  I am using Del Sol Photography and only am paying the day pass fee for the two photographers.  I am using JSAV and Zuniga for decor/sound/lighting and since they are preferred vendors there are no fees for them.  I got all my lighting, gobo and sound from JSAV for about $1000 and then I ordered a ton of decor, lighting, lounge area, lounge palms, etc from Zuniga for $1700. I just received my purchase order bill from Beach Palace this week and the total bill is looking like it will be about $3550 after all my extras like day passes, extra reception hours etc (This price also includes the JSAV and Zuniga charge because you pay them through Beach Palace).

I am totally happy with this total price because that literally includes everything for the entire wedding day, reception etc...we are also having a welcome party on the first night and costs for that are also included in that final price. 

In addition to all that I am using Maya Floral for bouquets, bountineers, hair flowers and cake flowers for about $400 and he is meeting my bridesmaid in the lobby so there is no fee for him.

So, I dont know if that really helps you at all but I guess it gives a little insight into the other option of just doing the complimentary wedding!  Hope you are able to make a decision and I am sure whatever you choose will be fabulous!

I am from Airdrie and getting married in a few weeks!! SO excited.  Our date in May 10, 2014 at Beach Palace in Cancun.  Everything is pretty much planned other than a few odds and ends that I am finishing up.   We leave May 7th for Cancun and have a group of 27 people joining us

Hi shmanderz!

 

Take a look at this centerpiece, It's very gorgeous and honestly is one of my favorite!

 

 

 

If you want more creative centerpiece I think this wil help you!

 

Have a nice day, Greetings! 

Thanks for the pic.  The candle tree idea is really cool!  My wedding style is definitely a bit more simple than that but it is a great idea for a flowerless centerpice

Is anyone else doing non-floral centerpieces?  This is what I have come up with to put in the center of the reception tables on white linens.  The center pail will be filled with sand

The starfish accents fiiiinally arrived this week....I was getting stressed!  Living in Canada makes things very difficult to order because shipping times vary so much if stuff gets stuck in customs!

Ladies,

35 days to go and I feel like I still have so much undone. So, here is what I have so far:

 

May 12th- Bachelorette cocktails on the Infinity Terrace from 8pm -10pm and then looking into CunCrawl

 

May 13th- Welcome Dinner ( family arrives this day) Infinity Terrace from 7pm- 10pm - Mexican Buffett- Ipod Deck for Music (keeping it simple) might give our welcome bags here since I was told, they can't already put them in the rooms prior to arrival

 

May 14th- Wedding Day- Ceremony at the Roof  Top Sky Terrace at 4:30pm ( flowers from Maya and then transferring them for my centerpieces) Ipod for the Music, chandelier, aisle runner, fans

 

Cocktail Hour - from 6PM -7PM -Sky Terrace ( I know my group takes a lot of pictures so I didn't want to rush anyone to get to the cocktail)

 

Reception: 7pm - 10pm in the Palenque terrace, Italian  ( I extended an hour)

Music from PSAV

Flowers from Maya

Tiffany Chairs

White Silk Tablecloths

Photo booth

lighting under the tables

paper lanterns

 

I'm doing my own make -up since that's what I do for a living and I'm debating to get my hair done at the hotel. It's so humid it would probably fall in seconds if I try anything.

 

anything I could be missing?

 

help

Sounds so awesome!!   I feel the same way about having so much undone! I did just had my phone meeting with Renee and feel so much better.  She is sending me an email with everything we talked about to confirm that the details are correct. Feels good to have the plan layed out with the hotel now and not just in my planning binder! haha

Were you able to get them to confirm that there will not be any nightly entertainment down near the Infinity Deck during your events?   I had originally had my welcome dinner planned there for May 7 when we all arrive but when talking with Renee she mentioned that I have to wait until about 10 days before the event to know the entertainment schedule.  Since the pool deck is a public area the nightly event schedule goes on no matter what events are planned down there. 

Hi!

 

I am having the Mexican Hors D'Oeuvres for the Cocktail and Buffect Mexicano for reception.

 

Side Note:

 

I am also having a playlist with no DJ. Do you have a playlist you created already? 

 

Thank you! 

 

-Kat

Hi Kat,

Over a year ago when I was just beginning to plan stuff I was like "I am going to start making the playlist now so I am not doing it all last minute" aaaaaand guess what....I am doing it all last minute!!! lol.  Thank god my sister is a kickass maid of honor and has been putting together an awesome mix of music for all the events.  This weekend we are planning to sit down and put all the songs in the playlists in some sort of order so that the music is a good mixture and builds to higher energy songs by the end.  We are not doing shuffle because I feel like it might get stuck on a bunch of similar songs and then someone shuffles the mix or messes with something it will repeat a ton of songs. 

New question for everyone:

What menus are you choosing for Cocktail hour and Reception?

I have a phone conversation booked with my coordinator tomorrow for 9am so I am trying to get organized but am still flip flopping on some decisions like this.  I cant believe I am already 30 days out!   This year of planning went by SO darn fast.

Also is anyone planning a welcome dinner? We have one booked for the night we arrive on the Palenque terrace (was originally booked for the infinity deck but the hotel couldnt confirm that there wouldnt be nightly entertainment going on on the big screen....lol!  How terrible would that be if there was a movie playing during the dinner. 

I only have 30 people so I feel a dinner on the Palenque is going to be too tiny for such a huge space....but I really didnt want to do it up on the skydeck because the reception is up there two days later....decisons decisons!