ccphu

Hello Ladies. My wedding was over a week ago and it was Amazing! The hotel staff are very friendly, and they always do their best to make sure you are happy. Food is great and drinks are good. I highly recommend you to build relationships with all bar tenders or waiters from the hotel, they are usually the ones that will be taking care of you and your guest the day of the wedding.  One negative thing I can say is that the communication, organization, and logistics are very bad. Something that happen to me was that there was another wedding the same same as mine. I asked multiple times to the coordinators the location of the other wedding and first the told me it was going to be at the Zky terrace. The night of my rehearsal dinner one of the onsite coordinators told me that the other wedding was going to be at the beach and mine was going to be at the garden by the pool. In other words the other wedding was going to be few feet away from my wedding. I was very upset about the situation. Finally they were able to move the other wedding to the zky terrace. The good thing was that I had an outside wedding coordinator and she helped me to keep everything organized. I had some outside vendors like, photography, video, and dj. Thanks to my wedding coordinator we were able to negotiate the vendor fee. 

I  also want to share something important with all of you.

 Something that I found out was, that you don't need lomas/Miami to book your wedding at Azul Fives.I know that the majority have all ready a contract with lomas/Miami. But, If you hire a local wedding coordinator that worked at AF before you are good to go. The vendors fee are a lot cheaper and you will have the flexibility to bring anything and any vendors you want. We had someone in our group that didn't work with lomas. She hired a wedding coordinator from playa del Carmen and the coordinator took care of everything, she was able to bring her own dj, flowers, tables, chairs and anything she wanted. For those that want to save money and still have time to schedule and plan your wedding. I highly recommend you to consider other options than just using lomas/Miami. The service and quality lomas/Miami offers is very poor compare to other coordinators from the hotel. Lomas/Miami will make you feel the pressure to get a contract with them. Just take your time and analyzed your options. I compared prices from outside vendors and what lomas/Miami offers and an outside vendor is 100% better than what lomas offers. Better quality, better service, better price. I know we have brides in this forum from different countries and their rules or policies to book a wedding are different, but it would not hurt to try and look for other options than just jump the gun and work directly with Lomas/Miami. Take your time and talk to your travel agent. See if by hiring a wedding coordinator from Playa del Carmen is a better option for your budget. Just keep in mind that the travel agents that are karisma certified,most likely are going to give you the option to only work with Lomas/Miami.

It is important for me to share this info with you guys because I believed you all need to know that not only Lomas/Miami can do weddings at Azul Fives. Unfortunately the service, prices and quality that lomas/Miami offers are very poor and i don't think it is fair for any future bride to pay crazy prices or have to make sacrifices because of Lomas/Miami. Use this info as an advice and don't feel the rush or pressure from Lomas/Miami. Look at your options and chose whatever works better for you and your budget. For those that are not on the FB page, i highly recommend you to join the group "Azul Fives Hotel Brides"    

@@andreaberretta I guess you are not using karisma or Lomas and that is why you where able to negotiate the vendor fee. You are working directly with you wedding coordinator?

@andreaberetta Did you pay for any vendor fee for you coordinator, photographer, and DJ??

 

@@andreaberretta Did you pay for any vendor fee for you coordinator, photographer, and DJ??

 

@amdreaberetta Did you pay for any vendor fee for you coordinator, photographer, and DJ??

@@andreaberretta. Are you working directly with the Hotel? I know that if you work directly with the Hotel it is easy to negotiate vendor fees and  they are more flexible on using any vendors that you want. Unfortunately for the Brides that are using Karisma or Lomas they are very strict and possessive and they want all the business for themselves. That is why they don't "allow you" to work with other vendors. It is ridiculous!!! It is not the resort fault that Karsma and Lomas brides cannot bring any other vendors. That makes me very, very upset. We are paying a lot of money and people from Lomas and Karimas think that we are ignorant or stupid and they can charge us anything they want. If any previous brides know how we can trick the system and find other ways to use outside vendors. PLEASE share the info in a PM I want to know!!! LOL 

Hello Ladies, 

Is anyone bringing your own decoration for the ceremony?? Does anyone has any ideas on how I can decorate the Gazebo?? Lomas and Karisma prices are very expensive and I don't want to spend  too much money on something that i'm just going to use for one hour.  

Hello, 

Does any knows how much is to have a legal ceremony at the sky deck?? I know at the beach they only charge you $700. 

Hi girls! I posted my review in the main forum. I just wanted to let y'all know!! It was GREAT!

@ Congratulations on your wedding. I saw the pictures and everything looks prefect! I sent you a PM let me know if you got it    

thank you!

hello

Does anyone has any activities prior to the wedding day??  Do you guys know if the resort offer any activities for the guest??

I'm in the same boat, @@ccphu.  I picked the bridal spa package as my perk and I'm not able to get upgraded to a sky suite, so we're going to pay for it on our own.

I guess it depends on the number of guest you have and also your TA.

Hello,

Does anyone has pictures of the garden?? I'm planning to have my reception there and my WC sent me only two pictures and you can't even see the whole garden.   i want to know hum much space does the garden has and make sure that i can hang some string lights. 

The hair makeup package is free to anyone using a GI certified agent, as is the room upgrade. You just need to ask.

@@kmk2016 i just spoke with my TA and she told me I can only chose one of the three perks they offer. Cocktail hour, Bridal spa package, or Photo credit. I'm not sure if this is how it works with all TA or it is just mine that doesn't want to give me any more perks. 

The only room upgrade she can offer is a first floor one bedroom suite close to the pool. 

@@ccphu - When I go in a few weeks for our wedding, I'll let you know about how many string lights you need and stuff too. My TA also is covering my wedding make-up, hair and rehearsal make-up and hair. She also got me upgraded from a regular room to a roof top one bedroom suite. And she also helped me convince them to waive the sky deck fee. Oh and she also got me a new WC who has rocked! She's not with Karisma. She's with Lomas and the hotel so she's been so great. I hear back from her in a few hours and she updates my detail sheet and sends it to me every time she makes a change. She's going to be at our meeting at the hotel too, which is nice. So my TA has rocked.

 

I'll let you know about the lights for sure!

@ Thank you!! that info will definitive help to know how many string lights i need. 

I'm going to ask my TA if i can switch my WC. It is very frustrating not getting the right answer or have to wait days/weeks to hear back from her. 

@ Really?!?! Do you think is because the number of guest you have, the more perks your can get? 

I wounder if i can talk to my TA and ask her if i can get hair and makeup too.  

According to Arturo at Azul Fives, he said 3-4 strings would be enough since there are less palm trees and places to hang stuff from.

 

But I'm going to the November Brides Dress Rehearsal so I'll hopefully find out the correct # of strings of lights needed for both the garden and the beach area and I'll post the info here!

 

I was considering it, but then I heard on here that the salon is actually pretty decent if you tell them what you want. I'm going to use my GI TA perk that covers bridal hair and make-up and a trial run, so I don't have to pay for this.

@@reynbow Thank you! 

your TA gave you a perk that covers bridal hair and make-up? The only thing that I got from my TA is the free cocktail hour. 

who is your WC?   We are working with Lucy, and I have not been that impressed.  She takes 4+ days to respond, and then doesn't answer all questions.  I've been trying to set up a phone call to move thigns along, and this is taking a while too.  I'm not expecting an answer with 1 hour of my email, but something that is thorough and timely is expected!

Lucy!!! is my WC. you have no idea how many times i made a complain about the time frame of getting information back from her. what i heard is, that it usually takes around 72 hrs for a WC to reply back to you. I understand i'm not the only bride with questions or concerns, but at the same time i'm paying a good amount of money for a service. No matter how long it takes for her to respond, she still gets pay for the service. i think that is very unprofessional. 

Hello again. I'm having my reception at the garden by the pool. I was thinking in adding some string light bulbs as par of the decoration. I was looking at the Lomas Wedding website and 12 light bulbs are $200. It is insane!!

I was thinking on getting some from an outside vendor and have someone from the resort to set them up.

Does anyone knows how many string of light bulbs you need to decorate the garden by the pool? 

Hello. Have any of you thought of the idea to do hair and makeup from a salon outside the resort? I was thinking it might be cheaper to find a salon in Playa del Carmen. I haven't compare any prices yet. 

@@MrsHK I tried to send you a PM, but for some reason i couldn't do it. Do you have any other email?. I will like to get more information about the services that you offer.  

@ Thank you for all the information!!! your wedding is around the corner. I'm sure it is going to be a beautiful wedding. Don't forget to share pictures with us. 

Are you paying any vendor fee by working with Katy? 

@andreaberretra Are you paying vendor fee for you WC? 

Does anyone knows if there is an extra charge for having a guest signing book table?

I hired an outside photographer and video. I'm was thinking of getting just a day pass for the day of my wedding, but i'm not sure if i can do that. 

We are paying a lot of money for the wedding, plus we are having around 70-80 guest. I think that is more than enough money for the Hotel and they still find ways to charge you and arm and a leg.  

@@TinkerSofi Do you have the contact information-name of the person that you are using to rent some of the decor for the wedding? I'm glad i'm not the only one thinking that prices Karisma offer are too high. i don't want to go over my budget just because everything is so expensive.

I'm glad i find this forum and all of you girls. I love the fact we can help each other and give tips to save money. 

@@reynbow thank you so much for the information!!!. Yes, I met with the onsite wedding coordinators and I have their information. If I have any questions and I don't get a response from my WC I will contact them.

Are you paying the vendor fee for the outside wedding planner that you hire???.do you think you are saving some money by doing that?? I read in one of the comments that a bride ordered centerpieces flowers from an outside vendor and they just delivered the flowers at the lobby, that way she didn't have to pay for vendor fee. Not sure if you can still do that. But I don't see why they are going to say no to you. I love the idea of doing half flowers and the other half Moroccan lantern.

I will definitive going to look for Katy HK love &lace wedding decorations.

@ I'm new at this and playing catchup with the comments everybody is making. I read on one of your comments that you got a rate for $489 for 3 night per person per room. Is this rate base on the number of guest you are having?? In other words the more guest you have. The more amenities you get form the resort?? I'm just curious because my rate it is a little it different so I don't know if it the resort or the TA that can negotiate the rates. I guess we all want to get the best rate for our guest.

Thank you!

Hello everyone. My wedding is on May 23, 2015. After reading all your comments, I'm glad i'm not the only one stressing out about prices, the WC, vendors, etc. it is very frustrating to plan a destination wedding. I'm considering to get some of the decorations for the reception on my own and just bring everything with me the day of the wedding. I did hire a photographer and video from an outside vendor. I'm considering to find a local florist and see if they can make my center pieces for the reception. 

I visited the resort back in September and everything looks like the pictures you see online. The staff is very friendly and the service is great. I asked one of the WC of the resort if it was possible to work directly with them, but unfortunately we have to use Karisma. In my experience with Karisma, i'm very disappointed with the service. My WC from Karisma  take days if not weeks for her to respond back to my emails. I tried to change my WC , but they told me I cant.   it is sad because my WC is in charge of the preparation and coordination of my wedding and if something goes wrong she is not going to be there to fix it. 

Does anyone have any tips or ideas of things that i can bring or make that will help to save money??

Lomas-Karisma prices are outrageous and the things the offer for that price are not that glamorous.