mitchell.johanna

I haven't been too active on this post but I thought I would finally just share a little about my wedding at Azul Sensatori. In short, it was amazing! After many months of planning and dealing with the off-site team (Fabio), it was great to see that all the details were passed on correctly to the onsite team. The on-site team was so great to work with -- I put a lot of trust in their hands to make things beautiful and run seamlessly and they did exactly that. We had 115 guests at the resort, everyone had an incredible time and we threw multiples of fun parties (a welcome reception on thursday night on the beach, rehearsal dinner in Playa del Carmen on friday night, and the wedding reception at Zocalo on saturday night). The donkey was a huge hit, people drank so much tequila, the mariachi band was a lot of fun. Here are some unprofessional photos of our welcome reception on the beach: Picasa Web Albums - Nini - Johanna and D... In terms of vendors, we brought in the fabulous Jean-Marcus Strole (he's pretty active on this site) from Seattle and he stayed with us in the Riviera Maya for 4 nights taking thousands of pictures wherever we went. He posted some of our photos on his blog and I am eagerly awaiting the rest of the pictures: jean-marcus strole photography He is great -- if you can get him, get him! So easy to work with, obviously very artistic, we had a great time doing our TTD with him too. We are so happy that we chose to bring him down to Mexico. We used Cancun Wedding Videos by Mike Cantarell for our videography. Our specific videographer was Jerry and he was really great and fun to work with. Cancun Wedding Videos is associated with Claudia Photography so they are a preferred Lomas vendor through the resort. We brought on our own professional DJ - Bluestar Mobil DJ and paid a $500 outside vendor fee for this (: BLUE STAR : MOBILE DJ : Proud Design Award Winner :) -- my contact there was Mauricio Alanis ([email protected]). Blue Star Mobile is not actually located in Cancun -- they are based out of Monterrey, but they team up with a company called Solen ([ SOLEN ]) to do all of their Cancun parties. The contact at Solen (who I never once spoke to but cc'ed on all my emails) was Carlos Alanis Briones ([email protected]). I don't think he speaks English. Our specific DJ was Christian Coello -- he was amazing...when we had a pre-meeting with him, we talked through the kind of music we wanted and gave him a list of the kinds of songs we wanted played and not played. He hit the nail on the head at the party and the dance floor was never empty. They also brought party props for the crowd and these were a huge hit. Here's a link to our wedding highlights video -- you can get a sense of the quality of the videography services and also how our DJ really kept things going. Cancun Wedding Videos | Mayan Riviera Wedding Videographer | Mike Cantarell The food at the resort and at all our events was amazing. I gave the food and beverage group a photo of a cake I wanted. Even though we had 115 guests, we only got a small cake, expecting the guests to eat the tres leches cake we selected as part of our set menu. Some people decided to have both! why not! The cake(s) were great.... the fondant icing on our cake started to melt/fall off before we cut it, but we didn't really care. We were having a good time. Anyway, I am more than happy to answer any questions as I don't want to go on an on here. Please pm me if there's anything you want to know more about. Johanna

I was just at the Azul Sensatori last weekend and as far as buffets are concerned, there is a main buffet offered at Spoons during breakfast, but they also have a menu with a lot of breakfast offerings (such as omelettes, french toast, belgian waffles, etc). Inside Zocalo, there is a buffet station that has chips, salsa, guacamole and various ceviches -- but this is just a side offering to their main Mexican menu at the restaurant.

Quote: Originally Posted by Beecher2Be Mitchell.johanna - When did Fabio send this to you? I agree that this space is MUCH larger then I thought from the other photos. Almost too big for my reception. I really want to make sure that I get the private reception that I dreamed of and I have been asking Fabio for info on the locations for months. I have a question for everyone. Does anyone know if you can use your reception dinner for the Welcome Dinner the night before the wedding, if you are paying for a private reception? 1/2 my guests are arriving the night before the wedding and I wanted to have a group dinner but I will not pay another 75$ per person for it so I am hoping that they let me use my free dinner. Fabio sent me that picture on 10/15. I didn't even ask for it at the time even though I had been asking over and over again about location options and capacities to no avail. I must send the guy 4 emails a week with various questions -- all of which take weeks to get a response. He just sent me this picture as an attachment to another question I had on food options. I am going on my site visit on Dec. 5 and that day cannot come quick enough! I feel like so many of my decisions are being held off until I can actually see the place and get a sense of where my reception will be held. Hopefully that central courtyard will be somewhat private for an event even though it looks like it is plopped right in the middle of the resort for everyone to walk by and gawk at. I have a question for any girls thinking about or planning flowers. I've read (from many of you) that the resort is flexible with taking photos of flower arrangements that you like from magazine cut-outs, etc and re-creating those arrangements for your wedding. The question is, at what cost Lomas Travel has their website with a limited selection of flower arrangements for centerpieces and bouquets so I'm curious as to how a more customized arrangement might price out compared to what they have listed. Has anyone started dealing with the on-site coordinators (or Fabio or Nancy) about flowers and how has that experience been? Likewise, is there any choice/flexibility with the wedding cake? It seems like they have a very generic "1-tier" "2-tier" "3-tier" listing of cakes in a generic selection of flavors. From a "gourmet inclusive" hotel, this surprises me a little. Cake isn't going to be a huge deal-breaker for me at the end of the day, but it would be nice to know if they can pull together something nice that likewise tastes good. A question to throw out there on food options. For those planning a private event, if you've looked at the most recent Event Kit, they have listed a number of "Set Menu" selections already designed as 3 course meals, which actually look really tasty. Does anyone know if we have to get our guests selections (meat, chicken, fish, veggie) prior to the wedding or does having a "Set Menu" give the guests the ability to make a table-side decision on which main entree they'd like to pick? On a totally different topic, I'd like to share with everyone a great website I found that sells paper lanterns and other fun party decor items. Party & Wedding - Paper Lanterns, Parasols, Fans, Candle Holders, String Lights (Paper Lantern). If you don't already know about this site, it's worth checking out. I hope to buy up a bunch of lanterns and use them to decorate (I read from someone else that the hotel will allow you to string the lanterns across the courtyard by attaching them to the palm trees, is this correct?). With the uplighting on the trees, some votive candles on tables, lanterns (with lights) above, I feel like this could be a really gorgeous location. Anyone have any comments on the condition/beauty of the beach on the property? I've read so many great comments on how amazing the beaches are in Tulum, but not much on Puerto Morelos. I hope it is nice. And this is where I end my random stream of comments and questions...

I just received this photo from Fabio - it is one of the reception areas available at the resort and I think will look stunning for an evening reception with proper lighting. It is a much larger space than it seems in other photos (ones that don't have tables) as even in this photo it looks a little underwhelming with just 7 tables. I'm having about 120 guests and I think this space can still accommodate the 15 tables plus dance floor/DJ set up, cake table, etc. SensatoriPlaza.doc

Has the hotel released any information on how many people can be accomodated at each of their potential receception sites?

My ceremony is scheduled for 3:30 pm all the way down in Playa del Carmen. Our families really wanted us to have a religious Catholic ceremony and I believe that is the closest church, with 100+ capacity that will perform our ceremony for us. We figure that we'll be back at the resort by 5/5:30, take pictures, join our private cocktail hour and reception, and party on the rest of the night. Partying can happen all day and all night, but keep sunset time in mind when thinking of your ceremony and reception (and pictures!). My photographer told me about a wedding he did down there this past April and I believe the sun was pretty much completely set by 7/7:30. The couple got married at 6pm and by the time they were taking pictures on the beach it was already dark.

October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 shannonmarie09 – February 28, 2009 March 2009 manders757 – March 14, 2009 April 2009 Lucky1 – April 8, 2009 mitchell.johanna - April 18, 2009 JHarwood2Be – April 25, 2009 Polly….Prince – April 26, 2009 teethdh – April 26, 2009 May 2009 MGP - May 5, 2009 milejilo – May 8, 2009 weddingchick – May 9, 2009 pepper55 – May 24, 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 lenka14 – November 14, 2009 rtswan – November 26, 2009 December 2009

I haven't logged onto this site in a while so I'm very pleasantly surprised to see that we have quite a group of brides getting married at Azul Sensatori! I think everyone shares the same concerns and agitations, and I believe that this is largely driven by the fact that the hotel isn't open yet. I have been in contact with Fabio both on the phone and email. Talking to him personally on the phone made me feel A LOT better about the hotel and the timing of the planning process. It doesn't look like anyone will be able to have a sense of where they can have their ceremony, reception, etc until a later date - from what I've learned, this is largely driven by legal capacities for all the areas, something they have yet to determine. That's the part that's driving me crazy as I would love to have some sort of 'vision' of where everything will be held. I'm doing my site visit in December and will definitely post whatever I learn from that trip. The whole no outside vendor policy is difficult to deal with, especially when I dont feel like Lomas Travel posts very many options on their website. Unfortunatley I don't have much to share at this point. I'm in the painful process of trying to figure out how good the band is that Lomas offers. There is something about having Lomas that makes me feel so helpless in terms of pricing. oh well... that's the wedding industry. Looking forward to staying on this post and sharing learning from all!

These boxed invitations look fantastic! What kind of costs did you incur to mail those?

I'll be there on the 8th!

Thanks for directing me to this thread, Maura. I'm definitely interested in meeting all the Chicago brides. Count me in for the get-together on March 8th. Looks like you gals have been trying to set this up for awhile...

dallas_texas09- Thank you so much for your explanation!!! I think that was exactly what I was looking for. I think that my FI and I will have a civil wedding here in the US and try to do our Catholic wedding in Mexico. Anyone have any ideas on how difficult or easy it is to find/book a Church in Riviera Maya...AND find an English-speaking priest? This would honestly be my ideal situation... would please the Catholic parents and relieve the stress of doing all the "legal" stuff in Mexico.

I'm dealing with the same issues/thoughts on the Catholic wedding. So will you have a Catholic wedding in the US? I'm still keeping my options open to finding a Catholic Church to get married in in the Riviera Maya area (problem is I'm having a hard time finding these churches except for the few that are on existing resorts). I haven't been able to figure out if this is legit, but I hope I can do a legal civil wedding in the states and simply a Catholic wedding in Mexico. With that as the case, I'm thinking that I won't need to do the blood tests and legal paperwork (but certainly yes, the Catholic paperwork). If all else fails, we will do Catholic and legal wedding in the US and stage something symbolic yet still religious at the resort/beach. Of course, my mother is balking at this idea but.... So I agree, this is challenging! If anyone has any insight I would love to hear about it. I've heard that Ajua Weddings has some expertise in wedding planning, particularly Catholic weddings. I might enlist in their services but honestly have no idea what they charge for their wedding coordination fees.

Hi all, This site is a godsend and I'm lucky that a friend directed me towards this website. Haven't booked a place yet (but I'm close) but looking primarily in Riviera Maya for April 2009. Johanna