2011 & 2012 PLAYACAR PALACE BRIDES!!!!!!

[chynadoll81]

Vaz, What outside vendors did you use and was the a vendor fee on top of the day pass fee? Thanks!

[alanak]

Originally Posted by Katelynfry 

 

 

I am not an active poster on these boards, but I've been reading them every week for a year and a half now...Thanks to all of you, you all have helped me plan my wedding more than you know. 

 

Alanak, after 1.5 years of planning, my time is finally coming....So excited I am getting married there on April 28! We are so excited it is finally near!!!!! I'll see you there

 

We are expecting 27 guests, bringing our own photographers, bringing all my own decor. We have DJ Doremixx, mariachi, violinist - ceremony on beach, cocktails on cielo terrace, dinner at solarium, and dancing/reception on the beach! We are kind of doing it big for 27 people - I was hoping more would come, but what can ya do!!!?? 

 

 

Katelyn

 

Hi Katelyn,

 

You are the day after me - so exciting!! What days are you staying at the resort? We are there Apr 24 to May 1 - we will have to find each other! Just look for the rowdy bunch of Canadians haha - we have close to 50 ppl coming, and most are friends. We are planning to do ceremony on the beach, cocktails at cielo terrace and dinner/reception on the beach. I am bringing my own photographers as well, but using the resort videographer from Ocean Studios. I am bringing most of my own decor too as they really didn't have a lot of options and I am a wedding planner and control freak haha. How are you able to use Doremixx - I was told they are super strict on not allowing outside vendors.. I really want to use a different florist as Zuniga's prices are insanely high and it doesnt look like they do the greatest job..

[alanak]

Also, for those who were already married -  what flavor cake did you have, and was it good?

 

For those who had the buffet - which did you choose and how was it?

 

Thanks!!
 

[vazworld]

Hello all Playacar Palace brides,

 

I had my wedding on December 9, 2012 but couldn't find the time to write a review. Sorry... I hope the following pictures will help you plan your perfect wedding!

 

Wedding Coordinator: My wedding planner was Wilma and she was amazing! She agreed to almost every request we had. Most importantly, she saved us quite a bit of money by letting us use outside vendors. She got all our requests noted and followed exactly how we envisioned. Everything was under her control and she was very pleasant to work with.

 

Flowers: We ordered our decorations and bouquets from Laura from Premium Flores (premiumflores@gmx.es). The price was reasonable and the flowers were great! They came in fresh and on time. I would recommend them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Makeup/Hair: I booked Trio Stylist and they were great! I would highly recommend them. Adrian, not only helped with my makeup, he also recommended a great taxi driver for our trash the dress session. I had a great time with them.

 

 

 

 

If you stay at this hotel, you MUST MUST MUST go to the park next to the hotel for photo session! The park is only located 3 minutes walking distance from the hotel. No one was there and we had lots of great pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Some beach shots after the ceremony/night time:

 

 

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

 

Happy planning!

 

Cheers,

Eva

[Katelynfry]

Originally Posted by alanak 

 

 

Hi Katelyn,

 

You are the day after me - so exciting!! What days are you staying at the resort? We are there Apr 24 to May 1 - we will have to find each other! Just look for the rowdy bunch of Canadians haha - we have close to 50 ppl coming, and most are friends. We are planning to do ceremony on the beach, cocktails at cielo terrace and dinner/reception on the beach. I am bringing my own photographers as well, but using the resort videographer from Ocean Studios. I am bringing most of my own decor too as they really didn't have a lot of options and I am a wedding planner and control freak haha. How are you able to use Doremixx - I was told they are super strict on not allowing outside vendors.. I really want to use a different florist as Zuniga's prices are insanely high and it doesnt look like they do the greatest job..

 

 

Alana,

 

We are staying the 24th through the 1st, too! We have a group of 27. I am sure you will see us! I will definitely look for you! We are doing pretty much the same thing as you all! How much is the videographer? I am starting to really think I need to get this on video! I got Doremixx over a year ago - been planning this a LONG time - when the office was still in Miami. They OK'ed it back then, but I did have to copy and send that email to the wedding coordinator in Mexico. Once she got that, she said they would make an exception for me. I am definitely using an outside florist. The prices are SO HIGH. I'm bringing beautiful hand-emboridered table runners I just bought in Antigua, Guatemala. I am also bringing my own small vases and candles...WHen we arrive on the 24th, I am making a trip to WalMart to find sparklers (they also charged ridiculous prices for those), a few large vases, and check out what kind of flowers they have! If there is nothing there, I've heard there are several flower shops nearby. I've seen a lot of girls on here say they used outside florists. I am hoping to place a floral order (just loose stems) on Wednesday, and have them either delivered on the night before the wedding...OR have one of my family members go pick them up for me. We are going to put together the bridesmaids bouquets ourselves (bringing floral supplies from home) the night before and just keep them chilled in my mom's jacuzzi! HAHA. My mom is also going to decorate all my tables for me while I am getting ready and put the loose stems in my vases...Basically, my wedding is VERY DIY! lol! I just couldn't fathom spending $100 on a teeny weeny centerpiece. Hopefully it all goes according to plan.  

 

Our wedding is at 6 pm on the 28th I check this site abotu once a week, but if you have any other questions, email me at katelynfry@gmail.com. Sometimes it just helps just to talk to other brides and see what they're doing. That's what's helped keep me sane so far

[vazworld]

Originally Posted by thatpiscesgirl 

 

Was your arch part of the complimentary, or did you have to pay more for them to decorate with fabric? It looked beautiful!

 

Was TrioStylist and outside vendor?

 

Anddddd who is your photographer?  Thank you!

 

Jessi

 

 

 

The arch was included in the old complimentary package (not the Colin Cowie complimentary package). I like the drape of the arch so I requested it for the wedding ceremony.

 

Trio Stylist is an outside vendor. The company is located very close to the hotel but I asked Wilma to let them into the hotel for my makeup and hair for both occasions (wedding day and TTD). Wilma waived their day passes! The stylists did a great job and they were fun to work with. I highly recommend them!

 

I brought my photographers, Stone Photo, from Vancouver, BC.

[vazworld]

Originally Posted by alanak 

 

 

Hi Katelyn,

 

You are the day after me - so exciting!! What days are you staying at the resort? We are there Apr 24 to May 1 - we will have to find each other! Just look for the rowdy bunch of Canadians haha - we have close to 50 ppl coming, and most are friends. We are planning to do ceremony on the beach, cocktails at cielo terrace and dinner/reception on the beach. I am bringing my own photographers as well, but using the resort videographer from Ocean Studios. I am bringing most of my own decor too as they really didn't have a lot of options and I am a wedding planner and control freak haha. How are you able to use Doremixx - I was told they are super strict on not allowing outside vendors.. I really want to use a different florist as Zuniga's prices are insanely high and it doesnt look like they do the greatest job..

 

I hired Laura from Premium Florist for all my floral decorations and I have no complaints. The hotel didn't charge me any outside passes for all my outside vendors: Trio Stylist for my makeup and hair; Laura for my decorations. I told Laura my budget and she worked with it and gave me suggestions. I also sent her tons of pictures with my ideas and she provided me with quotes. Her price was reasonable. Feel free to contact her and compare the prices.

[AmyMarie13]

Hey there. We did the vanilla and the strawberry cake. The strawberry cake was the better of the two and had fresh berries baked into the cake. Hope this helps.

[alanak]

Hi everyone,

 

I got married at Playacar Palace on April 27, 2013. We were there from Wed April 24 to Wed May 1. We had 48 guests total. I need to write a full review still, I have been so busy since I've been back!

 

Let me start by saying I am from Toronto, I am a wedding & event planner, and I am a perfectionist type A personality. I have been to numerous AI's, traveled all over the US & Europe & Caribbean, so I can compare this resort to quite a few others.

I have nothing bad to say about the resort or the experience - overall I was SO happy, we had the day/week of our dreams. Only thing I will mention is.. this is not a vacation for the bride and groom (especially considering we had 50 guests!) It was so much fun but even with 8 days I really had zero time to relax lol!

 

To answer someone's question - there is really no nightlife at the resort. There is a bar next to the lobby open till 1am, and one night they had a DJ in there, but usually it was just a quiet bar. We had over 30 friends join us, and one brought his own DJ equipment down with him, so we had a lot of room parties and they even let us set up in the bar and play music till 4am one night! The resort is literally next to downtown Playa del Carmen, and no joke NEXT to Senior Frogs, so if you're good with going off the property, there is a lot of clubs/bars nearby. I found everything very safe, we went into town a bunch of times and all was good.

 

I will write a more thorough review soon, but here is some info/tips.

 

We had a 2 tier cake, 1 was vanilla 1 was chocolate, people actually LOVED the wedding cake and said it was amazing. It got totally sweaty though, but luckily the photographers can photoshop that!

 

We had a few private dinners, we chose the Roman, BBQ and Cajun buffets. BBQ was by far the best, I wish I chose it for the wedding (I was scared it would be messy to eat but it wasn't), Roman was pretty good and Cajun was our least fav but still pretty good.

 

We had a welcome dinner at the South Solarium, rehearsal dinner at MoMo Terrace, and the wedding ceremony was on the beach at 6pm, cocktail hour at South Solarium, and reception on the beach. It's so funny - once you actually see the resort you see how close together everything is - there really isn't much of a difference between South Solarium and MoMo Terrace.

 

6pm was perfect for a beach wedding because starting around 5ish the sun sets and goes behind the resort - so we were not in direct sunlight at all.

 

We had the reception on the beach because we wanted to stay late - we ended at 1:30am and then had an after party in someones room!

 

I used Premium Flores (Flowers) as our florist (the resort prices were insane for flowers), DJ Doremixx (we didn't have Ivan/Doremixx himself, we had a different DJ and he was great - they included the lighting and balloons which were super fun), and Styling Trio for make-up (my hairdresser was a guest at the resort!). The resort tells you strict policy no outside vendors, then they say fine but $400 fee per vendor. I just PUSHED and FORCED it for free - I would make like I was already speaking to the florist for months, or say you gave a deposit already, etc. and get it in writing that you are allowed to use them with no extra charge. Only fee I paid was $250 for the DJ - but I still saved over $600 by using Doremixx vs. the resort DJ, even with that fee! Laura from Premium Flores was amazing, she is really nice and great to work with, and her prices are wayyy more reasonable than the resort. Adrian from Styling Trio is the nicest guy, and did a great job! Love that they use airbrushing - stays on really well in the heat! He had a team so other people did my bridesmaids make-up, and were great.

 

My contact from Zuniga (the resort decor company) was Lily, she is so sweet and answered my million questions. I used a lot of decor from the resort (lounge furniture, bamboo structures with lanterns, chuppah with chandelier in it, dance floor, tiffany chairs, custom wedding sign, tiki torches, etc) everything was set-up great, they did a really good job. I did not choose a package - being a wedding planner I personally would not be okay having a wedding that looked like a ton of other people's (no offense to anyone choosing a package, just for me personally I would not like that), so I custom made my entire wedding from scratch and it all worked out great. 

 

To be honest, I saw up to 5 weddings a day there, and one day there were 2 beach ceremony's going on at the same time, and both were the complimentary package, so at either end of the beach you had the EXACT same looking wedding happening. I loved that mine was totally MINE and looked completely different than the other ton of weddings going on during the week we were there.

 

I saw the pearl shimmer collection, the purple one, and the complimentary - they look exactly like they do in the PDF, so you don't have to worry, they look nice in person.

 

My WC was Carolina, she is really sweet and nice and did a great job. I gave her a 12 page document with exactly how I wanted everything set-up (I brought a lot of decor down with me, signs, starfish seating cards, etc) - I had 2 suitcases and 5 carry-on suitcases full of decor!

 

As for the resort itself, it is lovely, perfect size - you could always find your guests, we are so happy we chose a smaller resort for the wedding. What you read about the staff is true - they are SOOO nice, always looking to help you, the service we received was like nothing I have ever experienced at an all-inclusive. The food was very good for an AI - Italian resto is really quite good, the buffet was always good, Asian resto was good (sushi was pretty decent considering you are in Mexico!), the teppanyaki was not so great, although 2 nights before I went a bunch of our guests did it and said it was amazing, they had a different cook than us though. 24 hour room service was used A LOT - after the wedding I think we ordered 12 cheeseburgers, 12 club sandwiches, 12 pizzas, fries, etc. and it came really quickly!

 

The drinks were great, they make amazing mojitos! Whoever writes that they water down the drinks - I don't know where they get that from, I drank a few double mojitos one night and got really drunk lol! There is a liquor dispenser in every room - stocked with bottles of vodka, tequila, rum and whiskey. Along with mini fridge full of water, pop, beer and juice.

 

Each room has a hairdryer AND a FLAT IRON which was amazing - no need to bring your iron with. They give you CHI bath products - the shampoo, conditioner and body lotion were great - no need to bring that either.

 

We used l'escape (a Canadian destination wedding planner/travel agent) to book all the travel and through them it was WestJet Vacations  - for the person on here who asked, we had enough people to get the free private events, so you don't have to book directly through the resort. We had other guests book on expedia, etc. who couldn't come for the full 8 days. The free private events is so worth it - like I mentioned we had the welcome dinner, rehearsal dinner, cocktail hour and wedding dinner all for free. I think it's ridiculous that all these resort want you to pay for it anyways when it's an AI!

 

The resort credits were great - we got a couples massage and it cost us $28 (the new spa is SOOO nice), we did the Tulum excursion and it cost $7.60 per person, you could even buy wine at the Italian resto to bring home with credits (we upgraded wine with credits too, the house wine wasn't very good).

 

I have more to say but this is already really long, if anyone has ANY questions please feel free to private message me, I can give you my email addy it's quicker and easier for me to respond

 

I will try to come on here as much as I can to answer questions and help out.

 

Good luck! I think this is a great resort to have a wedding at, all our guests loved the resort too.

[thatpiscesgirl]

Great review.  I too am a event planner, insane type A! hahah Are you interested in selling any of your decor?  I would love to see it.  

 

Did you happen to see the ballroom?  We are having our recepetion in there, as our wedding is in June, when its hot as hel, and I really dont want to be a sweaty bride;)  We plan on being beachside all week.  

 

Why did you choose doremixx?  Did you have concerns about the resort dj?  

 

thanks, 

and CONGRATS!!!

 

Jessi