melaniesum

Hi @@rawrice, congratulations! We got married at the gazebo as well and it's breathtaking! They've painted it completely white and against the blue sky it's just so so so beautiful! A tip for doing your own makeup, make sure it's heat/sweatproof and get a good setting spray! It is H-O-T and humid there. Yes! We added a private poolside reception for dancing/open bar to our Sunshine package . To privatize the poolside area it is $250USD for up to 29 ppl and $350USD for 30 or more people. There are 3 open bar choices - International $18USD pp/per hour, Domestic $12USD pp/per hour and Cocktail $6USD pp/per hour. Private dinners are a little different. We had a semi-private dinner at La Gran Tortuga (included in the package) and then moved out to the poolside for dancing after the cake cutting. The Deluxe private outdoor dinner is $120USD pp and regular private outdoor dinner is $75USD pp. On the form it says you can only choose from the Tequila (Tulum) menu or Arlequin (Akumal). In terms of timeline, our ceremony was at 2PM, dinner at 6PM, cake cutting inside the restaurant at 730PM and moved out to the private poolside area for dancing/open bar at 8PM. As for the outside photographers, they say that the photographer must stay a minimum of 5 nights and pay a fee of $500USD. We flew our photographer in and when we met with the wedding coordinator, she informed us that when we meet with Tropic One Studios to tell them that our photographer was our friend (which wasn't a lie) and to ask her to not act so "professional". During our meeting with Tropic One, they found out that we had our own photographer and since "they have an exclusive contract with Grand Bahia", they asked for our photographer's name so they can Google them and see if they were professional. We thought "that's it, we definitely have to pay the $500" but the wedding came and went and we even got our 10 free photos included in the package and no mention of the $500. All of the information I have is from the Wedding Wishes form the resort sent me. They kind of dropped the ball sending me the form because we booked our October wedding in January and there was no communication from the resort until I asked them about it in June. They will also need your complete guest list along with the Wedding Wishes form a month before your wedding. I would email the resort and ask for the form ASAP because there are so many options to choose from! Let me know if you have any more questions and happy planning! Hi @@Gino15, I'm not sure if they still have the Saturday beach party. Have you been dealing with a wedding coordinator from the resort or are you working with one from your travel agency? I would email the resort because they will know all of the details. They're really friendly and helpful although sometimes it takes them a few days to reply to an email. Happy planning!!

@@Gino15, we just got married in October, stayed in Coba and had the choice of restaurant in either Coba or Tulum. Here are the menus the resort sent me while I was planning. I hope the links still work. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9Z4XuvqT5HwOFlXT0cxUll0TVE - Tulum https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9Z4XuvqT5Hwc2ZZUTRDV25ZMnM - Coba We also had a small group (22 including bride and groom) and we had our reception poolside. The poolside reception was $250USD to privatize the area. We opted for the least expensive bar option which was a cocktail bar and that was $6USD per person, per hour. Sound equipment was $70USD an hour for 1 mic and 1 speaker for us to plug our phone into. I did my own makeup so I can't comment on the spa services. Are you bringing in your own photographer? The rates for the in house photographer are quite steep. We went with the Sunshine package which included 10 free photos but had the option of buying 70 photos in a CD with a printed book for $900USD. Which we thought was a little crazy for only 70 photos. I hope this helps! I'm not sure if the prices have changed but those were the ones I got and I started planning in January 2016 and got married in October 2016.

For those of you who are in the process of planning your wedding, when did you receive the Wedding Wishes form? We confirmed our October 2016 wedding back in January and I wasn't even aware that this form existed until I emailed and asked when I would be assigned a wedding coordinator. The responded and said that the Wedding Wishes form and the complete guest list is required before they can assign me a wedding coordinator. >.<