I just had my wedding there a few weeks ago. Deyanira was the best. I did work with the other coordinators as well but highly recommend Deyaniya as she is more experienced and I felt was better able to answer my questions.
We oped for a symbolic ceremony. The minister was really nice. I don't recommend having the ceremony earlier than 4:30pm just because its so hot and only part of the jetty is covered so the guests are sitting in the direct sun. Everyone was burning up but Deyanira did a great job by informing people to wait until the ceremony was going to start. Thinking back, 6pm might have been better, b/c it cools down. The ceremony is less than 30 mins....If you have the ceremony earlier, I also recommend paper fans or hats for the guests. We ended up having the reception on the beach, not the garden as originally thought. I spoke with the DJ we hired and he said there are mosquitos in the garden even though they spray the grass. I didn't want to any chances. Also, the beach reception is the way to go as long as you have the reception over by 11pm. Since we had ceremony at 4:30pm, took pictures, we started the reception at 6pm and it lasted until 10pm. You could have the ceremony at 6pm, and then do the reception at 7pm if you are looking for timelines. I think this is the perfect timing, and if you want to party more, La Marina restaurant turns into a Disco at 11pm and it is open until 1am.
The food was pretty good. I recommend opting for the seafood. Anytime we dined at the restaurants, the seafood was also the best tasting food. We opted for the beef and chicken for the reception. Some guests said the beef was overcooked and the chicken was too sweet.
I think the resort was great, except there were a few hiccups. I feel like since I worked with 3 different coordinators, I had to make sure I had everything in writing and it was very clear.
Salon Avoid the salon at all costs!!!! The salon manager is the worst!!! It was almost impossible to get the lady, I think her name was Maria to respond for appointments. They sent me salon prices lists, and then a few weeks before the wedding, the salon manager increased the prices to almost double. It was ridiculous. Then after talking to the WC, we comprised and got the salon to come down 15%....but then the morning of my wedding, the salon manager decided that she wanted to charge 16% tax, and it had to be paid in cash. She was obviously pocketing the money and then yelled at ME on my wedding day after I told her that wasn't the price we agreed on. I was extremely calm and just trying to talk to her and she told me to go talk to the wedding coordinator. It made me extremely mad b/c I thought about hiring outside professionals to do my hair/makeup, but the resort was going to charge a $300 vendor fee, so I opted to use the hotel salon. After this debacle, it would have been in my best interest to have hired an outside professional that knew what they were doing. None of the salon workers knew how to do makeup or hair. I broke down and started crying! After 3 attempts, the hairdresser finally did what I asked. It was extremely hard to communicate b/c they don't speak English. Luckily my sister came and was able to speak to them since she knows some Spanish. For makeup, they didn't have anything I could use, and I ended up giving my makeup to use. Luckily, I brought it and had good makeup (MAC, Smashbox, etc). I had to tell the beautician step by step how to do my makeup. After 10 mins, I said forget it, and told them I wanted my money back. Luckily, my friend is good with makeup I am decent, so between the two of us, we ended up doing it ourselves. Also, my hairstyle fell apart an hour later and I ended up redoing it myself. It was extremely stressful. None of my bridesmaids liked their hair either. The salon is very limited and really can't do a good job. So if you are looking for a nice hair/makeup artist, I highly recommend looking to bring someone that knows hair/makeup to the resort, and paying the $300 fee or getting them to bring that price down.
After everything, I think the salon was just a small hiccup, and it ended up working out. No one could tell I did my own makeup...everyone had a great time and that's what is most important.
The DJ, Photographer, and Cinematography were all outside of the hotel's recommendation. I found them myself and they were TERRIFIC!!!
DJ - I used DJ Movil Cancun. He is very professional and set up was beautiful. We opted for the LED Dance floor and everyone loved it. His selection of music was great, and the guests raved about it. We did give him a music list of liked songs, and he did a great job incorporating them. We hired him for 4 hours and it worked out perfectly. I liked the fact he played music during dinner. It was
Photographer - Oscar Castro. I found him through some destination wedding website. He is absolutely AMAZING!!! He is great photographer. I highly recommend him, and looking him up on facebook or his website oscarcastrofotografia.com.mx. He is extremely professional and takes amazing pictures! We hired him for our engagement photos, wedding photos, and the day after photo (trash the dress) photos. Reasonably priced and he has won multiple photography awards from MyWed and other websites.
Videographer - BUP photography. They are amazing as well. They were extremely professional and went above and beyond to give us the best experience. I can't speak highly enough of them.
Flowers - I used the resort's vendor for flowers. They were BEAUTIFUL. I couldn't ask for more beautiful bouquet. You can tell your WC exactly what you want. They give you pictures of some options, but you can still customize colors, etc.
Party Favors - I bought colored maracas from Amols (online distributor) and then decorated them myself. I bought Sharpie Paint Markers and drew designs on them. Everyone loved them! They were a huge hit! They are lightweight, so between my husband and myself, we were able to just put them in our check in luggage. There are also other companies in Mexico that will design and ship your maracas directly to the hotel/resort, but this is much pricier.
Booking All my guests reserved their hotel/airfare through travel websites such as Expedia or Orbitz. It worked out perfectly.
Transportation - I highly recommend letting your guests know they should hire transportartion from the airport to the hotel and then back to the airport. Our guests used CanadaTransfers.com and USA Transfers. The airports have a lot of timeshare people that will try to get you to go with them...Avoid those people, they are a waste of your time. read this.
If anyone has any other questions, feel free to message me!