Catalonia Riviera Maya

[koolatta]

Thanks Joleen and Congrats!! I would greatly appreciate it. Make sure to tell us all about your experience when you return!!

[MomentsThatMatter]

Congratulations Evelyn! We have a wedding slideshow on our site right now from the Catalonia. Our bride had her hair done at the Salon at the resort. We think her hair was fantastic and she didn't have any problems with it. She brought in pictures to give to the stylist.

The walk for your grandfather might be too long especially in sand. They should be able to put something down so he can use his chair right up to the site and then walk you thru the guests! That would be nice.

This resort is very nice... and small so if you do have to run back to your room for stuff, it’s very close. Lots of great photo spots!

I would also suggest getting the Pure Chill Out bar for your reception. They decorate it very nice and it looks fantastic at night.

Let us know if you have any more questions.

Lincoln *& Lori

[kerid]

Hi Evelyn,

We just got back yesterday from our wedding at the Catalonia (Carson did our photography and he was amazing by the way!). I did my hair myself but the first day we were there, Cora asked if I needed someone to do it and she would arrange it. I'm not sure about make up.

 

Elena and Cora (the wedding coordinators) are very helpful so they might be able to help your grandfather in his wheel chair. I'd send Elena an email and see what she thinks.

 

I agree with having the reception at the Chill Out bar. We reserved the terrace by the creperie, but I'm not sure it was worth the extra money to do that again.

 

I'm not sure if you've seen the other Catalonia thread, but Morgan got married there over summer and has some really useful information. If you have any questions about the resort or anything else please let me know - I'd love to help!

[koolatta]

Thank you Carson, Lincoln *& Lori and Kerid.. I appreciate all of your feedback.

 

Congrats Kerid!! How do you go about booking an outside photographer/videographer. I am not too happy with what i saw of the company the hotel uses. Also, did you hire a dj and how does that work? Did you send them a playlist or make a cd??

 

Thanks Again everyone. I certainly appreciate your help!

[kerid]

I just got back from my wedding and everything was amazing!! Elena and Cora were super helpful once we were down there. When we checked in the front desk guy called Elena right away and we set up a meeting for the next morning. It was so easy to plan stuff!

 

I ended up paying for a private reception on the creperie terrace. It was really nice but I wouldn't spend the money to do it again. I would have had everyone meet somewhere, like the chill out bar, or the sports bar - our group spent a lot of time in there.

 

We did the Coba trip like Morgan did and everyone loved it. 6 of us also went to Akumal to do a little snorkeling. I would definitely recommend that for a cheaper excursion. It's only about 15 minutes away. We spent about $10 USD per person for a van (roundtrip) and then $35 USD for 2 hours of snorkeling and a little boat ride after. We probably could have negotiated better prices but at that point I was tired of negotiating!

 

Morgan did such a great job of reviewing everything... but if anyone has questions please let me know.

 

Oh yeah! the spa is open and it's beautiful, but the prices are a little high. They re-did the gym since I was there and it was very nice as well, but only 2 treadmills, 2 ellipticals and 1 bike, so when the sun wasn't out it filled up fast. Also, our travel agent told the resort the list of everyone who was in our group and most people got upgraded to nicer rooms (the new ones near the spa). I was really happy about that.

 

Overall, everything was fantastic and it's worth it to keep nagging Elena!

 

We also had an awesome photographer - Carson Day - but I already wrote a review about him. I think he took pictures of the resort so I'll post those here when I get them.

[kerid]

We found Carson through this site and I'm so happy we did! He was soo great. Friends of ours got married at the Catalonia and the pictures they have from the hotel photographer were very posed. The resort did not have a problem with us bringing in a photographer - Cora (WC) just asked if we needed one and I said no and that was that. We didn't have a videographer, but one of our friends taped it so we'll see how that turns out.

 

My sister made CD's to play during our reception at the Creperie. We had to pay $40/ hour to play them but could hardly hear them But they kept playing my sister's mix at the creperie all week so that was funny! I think there's also a dj that you can hire from the resort but its more expensive.

[MexicoBride1]

We just got back from our wedding at the Catalonia (we would be the couple that Lincoln and Lori wrote about in their post).. I had my hair done there and as they mentioned in the post, I brought a picture I printed off the computer and she did it exactly the same. I paid $45 US which was more than reasonable. For makeup, one of my BM's did it for me and we just went to MAC makeup and did a trial run before going away to see what we should use for SPF, sweat and tear proof makeup and whats best for pictures.

Lincoln and Lori with Moments that Matter Photography did an AMAZING job and I highly recommend them! We had 40 people attend the wedding and every single person raved about the job they did. I would suggest getting in touch with them. You only get married once so I would say get great photographers to capture the memories. You should take a look at the 2 slideshows they've just put together as a sample on their website.. its really great. Let me know if you have any questions at all..

 

Good luck!

[kerid]

Congratulations! Your hair looked beautiful!! Your pictures are great too - it's fun to see the resort again. I still miss it!

[koolatta]

Thanks MexicoBride1 and kerid,

 

I have contact moments that matter. I do love their work and you looked beautiful (love the hair!!) I am also contacting Carson. They both look like they do awesome work!!

[LeighAnn84]

Hope you have a great time please post pics and tell us how it was my wedding is there on June 13th!!