Wedding Day 1/28/12

Room Block: Nizuc side

On-site coordinator: Cristina Vanessa Valdiviezo Doblado

Wedding Package: Complimentary

Rehearsal dinner: Arrecifes Restaurant (Nizuc Side)

Ceremony 4pm Tucan Beach

Cocktail Hour immediately after ceremony at the Tucan Gazebo

Reception 6-10pm Tucan terrace

Photographer: Ismael Pacheco www.ismaelpachecoblog.com for a few more sneak peak pictures!

Justice of Peace: Benito Juerez??

We had 29 guests total, including bride and groom, we included our photographer and his assistant to our list since we did buy them a room night. We booked the photographer a room night ourselves since our TA could not and we had NO issues!! The WC asked at our onsite meeting if we were using their people and we said no and left it at that.

The first few days..

Upon arrival I dropped my dress off in the weddings department to get steamed and I was told she by the WC she would keep it until our wedding day,come to find out they brought it up to our room that evening, THANKFULLY it was in a bag that you couldn't see through and it was up high enough so it didn't wrinkle at the bottom. I will say people at the front desk are not aware of anything wedding related just go to the weddings department! (Located in nizuc)

Two days prior to the wedding we met with the WC and it was about an hour long meeting. Passed along all of the decor we brought, I brought a picture of everything with a number on them and typed a list out saying where I wanted things and took some suggestions from her as well. The meeting went smooth we got right to the point about flowers, cake, what we wanted to eat, decor, etc..After the meeting I had a trial hair run with Silvinia at the Golf Course Salon, trial went great we took pictures and I was out of there within an hour!

Rehearsal dinner

Arrecifes Restaurant

I loved the atmosphere here, we used our 35 ppl dinner reservation and everyone came minus the 2 guests who stayed off the resort. They had our table set-up in a T-Shape, with Jon and I at the top and a long table with all our guests. For people who have never been to a Brazilian restaurant they bring meat out on a stick and it takes time serving it to everyone, which was great so we were not rushed! The downfall was that we didn't know how many different options we were served and people got really full! But overall it was a great place & the server was hilarious too.

Decor

Zuniga

We used them for one string of lights, two candle entrance pieces, and centerpieces for each table. The center pieces and string of lights was somewhat pointless in my opinion. I thought the lighted centerpieces would add light to the tables but it didn't at all, and the one string of lights looked nice in pictures but there was more then enough lighting at the terrace. On a positive note they were very accommodating and quick to respond via e-mail!

Wedding Day

Our ceremony was at 4pm so the ladies and I went to the Golf Course Spa/Salon at 10:30 for our 11am hair appointments that I scheduled with Karla 3 months prior to our wedding. I had Silvinia for hair and make-up and I LOVEDDDD my hair & make-up,she spoke English pretty well too! I had pictures to show her what I wanted and by the time I got to the salon I lost my pictures, whoops! The ladies who did my bridesmaids hair spoke very little English and of course no one brought pictures so that was difficult! But in the end everyone was happy. We all wore our hair up because of how windy it is and their hair withstood the wind! Just a reminder only the bride and groom can take their wrist bands off, otherwise it's a charge of $75 to replace it!

At 3pm the photographer came up to the room where we got ready and by 3:30 Cristina (the WC) came up to give me my complimentary bouquet, at the WC meeting I choose yellow roses. After that we took 2 golf carts to the ceremony area. The bridesmaids in one cart went straight to the ceremony.While my mom and I sat further back so my fiance couldn't see me. We rode up when it was time and my dad was there to greet us and both my parents walked me down the aisle. The ceremony was roughly 12 minutes long, we did not add anything extra which is something I would recommend so it goes longer. They have you sign multiple marriage license papers and both of your witnesses so that takes awhile, then Jon and I had to put our thumb print down so be aware of the black thumb you will have! Right after the ceremony everyone received champagne and took a group picture on the beach then the bridal party separated ways to finish pictures.

All the guests not taking pictures went up to the Gazebo for cocktail hour, international appetizers were served. I heard they were great but there was a TON of food, we didn't get any due to picture taking. We did try to change the times and have the cocktail hour an hour after the ceremony so we could enjoy the food but Cristina recommended to have it right after and our photographer said it would be too dark for pictures. One thing we did mess up was the music for cocktail hour, we didn't have any! I don't think anyone noticed though, we were suppose to use our own ipod dock and completely forgot.

Our dinner was the French buffet and it was delicious! Once my husband and I arrived we had a groomsman announce our 1st dance, father/daughter, mother/son dance then we ate dinner. We had 3 tables plus our own and they were dismissed by numbers and it went smooth was dinner was done we cut the cake! I believe the assistant wedding coordinator who was helping with the wedding was telling the groomsman when to announce since we really didn't know when it would all happen, but it went smooth! As cake was being passed out we went around and chatted with everyone then the dancing began! We used the IPOD hook-up, we had the 4 hour package and the guy running it did great! We had way too many songs and wanted to make sure we got the good songs in so I went up there to suggest songs and I tried to replay a few songs more than once but he remembered what was played, very helpful! We went with the complimentary cake (we had flavor choices we just went with vanilla) and when we arrived it was looked like it was melting a little but they put something underneath it and it was fine. It was actually a little mushy but my husband and I didn't mind since we are not cake people, I heard my brother-in-law say he didn't like it though. One issue we had was with the bathroom situation they gave us two options one to the left and right. The one bathroom the entire hallway was in complete darkness and once we found the bathrooms the lights did not work! That's about the only "bad" thing that happened that night!

The morning after the wedding we had our "honeymooners" breakfast, which was regular room service. The only addition was the Mimosas and bloody marys but I was happy with it :)

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The thumb print

Resort Credits

Golf - $260

Hair trial, Wedding day hair & Make-up - $270ish

Bottles of wine - 3 bottles each varied $70-$90

Facial kit - $300

Isla Mujeres - $180

We had around $300 extra and we had trouble spending it all because of how our week was planned. What I would recommend to do is decide as soon as you get there what you want to do. We were able to change things and schedule things within 2 days but like I mentioned the resort was barely occupied. A lot of our guests upgraded their rooms once they arrived and it was only $300 credits, we would have done this but once we unpacked we didn't want to repack!

The guys dancing on the boat ride back from Isla Mujeres!

Nizuc side

The view from our room was perfect we looked out at the catholic chapel and the ocean. I was nervous about being in the same section as our guests but it worked out perfectly. We found each other easily and most people were so excited to be away that they had tours scheduled. During the day most people stayed at one swim up bar and pretty much the entire week we all went back to the same spot and we all became good friends with the bartenders, Wilmer and Walbert!

Golf Villas

We had two couples stay at the villas and they were very nice and more spacious! I didn't know this but if you stay there they give each room a golf cart! On our wedding day my friends with the carts drove us from the salon back to her room and then back to our room which was very convenient and we didn't have to worry about waiting! I would guess the downfall to the Villas is that you have to drive the cart to different restaurants instead of being able to just walk downstairs.

The golf cart!

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Isla Mujeres

Was not what we were expecting at ALL. We thought we were going to this little island and could rent boats and walk around, all we could do for 3 HOURS was drink and eat until people got done swimming with the dolphins then we went to down Isla Mujeres and walked around which was fun but we only had one hour down there! The boat ride was about 30 minutes one way and the guys running the boat were a blast but the first 3 hours was not enjoyable. They did tell us we could rent a golf cart and go downtown but we had no idea how to get there or what to expect so we did not venture away.

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Food experience

Overall the food was good. Breakfast we ate downstairs at El Manglar in Nizuc, it's buffet. The food is typical buffet food so you have a TON of options! A lot of our lunch was eaten poolside at the small buffet that offered nachos, hot dogs, burgers, ect. or the fireside pizza. The fireside pizza was everyone favorite, its a pita bread that you add your toppings too and then wood fired! YUM! Another place inside Nizuc the sweets and coffee shop was quick and easy, they had bagels, paninis, coffee, fruit, ect..

At the golf course the Italian restaurant La Trattoria, was very good! We used a wine upgrade here, the appetizer they bring out is great and our entrees were fabulous! I had stuffed chicken and it was delicious..the chicken throughout the buffets is a different type of chicken so I was very pleased to have chicken that looked "normal".

Another restaurant at the Golf course, Bambu was great too! I do not eat Sushi but they have several options for people like me! I did try a California roll and I actually liked it.

Los Taco at the Grand was decent also. I would recommend the steak over the chicken and I rarely eat steak. The atmosphere over there is extremely quiet and my husbands groomsmen were quite loud and litterally cleared half of the pool, it was pretty funny actually.

We did the Honeymooners dinner one night also. And they just sectioned off a tiny part of El Manglar so it wasn't anything spectacular. We did not know what we were eating until we arrived, which was a bummer since the entree was steak and shrimp, which I do not eat! We were happy we did it because the service was wonderful but the downfall was that the meals were so fast we barely had time to chat between them.

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Overall experience

Moon Palace has amazing customer service! Everywhere you walk someone is saying "hola" or offering assistance if you need it. The resort was roughly 30% occupied someone had told me, so our group had a lot of attention, whether it was eating at a restaraunt, a swim up bar or just walking around. One thing we all really enjoyed were the shows or events offered each night. Our first night there was a Casino night, so much we fun! They had a raffle at the end with the chips you won. Another night was a, hypnotist, belly dancers, Michael jackson (GO see this one) and our last night there was a Beach Party!

The wedding was PERFECT all I can say to everyone is relax the WC has it under control! The planning experience can be difficult because I found it to be hard to even plan. We didn't know what we were doing until 30 days before. We switched our reception from El Caribeno rooftop to the Terrace at the last minute and I am VERY happy we did. Of course it saved us money but guests would not have to walk far and wouldn't get confused/lost. We did not have enough rooms booked through our TA so therefore we were going back and forth about whether or not to have a private reception or just use the dinner reservation. I cannot expresss how pleased I am we that we went with the private reception. It is worth it if you are looking to dance and mingle privately. We ended up paying to have 4 hours 6-10 and it flew by I wish we could have gone longer. Our photog pulled us away for probably 30minutes to take pictures and so that took a big chunk of our time with everyone. As I mentioned above we did not have enough guests to get free events and it was because people found cheaper rates on other sites i.e. Orbitz this was a disappointment, we thought we would have hit 60 nights easily but we had at least 5 guests book elsewhere, in the end we reached 41 nights.

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I do apologize for typing any errors I wanted to get this up ASAP and also for typing a novel I just wanted to give all you ladies my opioin on EVERYTHING! Best of luck with your weddings and feel free to PM me with any questions!

- The new Mrs. Michaud!

A pic of us the day after our wedding with the fruity drinks!

Our Complimentary Cake!