On the Monday I met with Rocio - she is lovely. We went over all the paperwork and then she brought out a folder of flower photos. I was disappointed with this, because from reading other posts I was under the impression that there was going to be a really large selection of bouquets to choose from - well there wasn't. I didn't bring a single photo with me of what I would like to have so I just selected from the book. I was still happy with the flowers - they were really fresh and lasted until I left the following week.

We had our blood taken and it was virtually painless. This Dr. needs to come to Canada and teach the blood takers how to do it.

The wedding was on thurs so we had lots of time to explore and enjoy Mexico. A group of us went to the Coba Adventure Tour - zip line, rappel, hike, see the ruins and it was really good, a lot of hard work but tons of fun.

I took the girls swimming with the dolphins at Delphinius for a thank you to them and it was the experience of a lifetime, the Dolphins are amazing, so soft and they love to play.

We also did a snorkeling trip on the friday after the wedding.

The Wednesday night before the wedding the bridal party all booked into Portofinos for dinner - it was ok - disappointing really, the italian night at the buffet was heaps better. and then my hubby went back to our room and I bunked with my girlfriends.

After breakfast I headed up to my room to begin preparations for the day. My maid of honour curled my hair and then her and my BM pinned and styled it for me. It turned out amazing and lasted pretty good all day. (the resort stylist was too pricy for us $80US) We all got dressed and then at 3 the Photographer Alberto (www.claudiaphoto.com) showed up. He took a variety of photos and then left at 330 to go to the gazebo.

The little cart was supposed to show at 4 but by 410 we still didn't have a cart so my dad walked to the lobby and got a guy to come get us, so we got to the wedding site around 420.

We arrived at the site and it took my breath away, it was beautiful, as I hopped off the cart all sorts of people started to applaud, it was really sweet. The trio started to play and the girls headed up the flower strewn isle. I got a little choked up and my dad made me laugh and unchoke by explaining all about the birds and the bees as we walked the isle. I was laughing like crazy.

The JP was great, he spoke English and he was wonderful, the ceremony was sweet and to the point, we exchanged rings and the JP allowed us to say our vows. My DH had his memorized, and I had to pull out a piece of paper to say mine. After our vows my brother said a few words and then the JP finished the ceremony off and we were introduced as Mr and Mrs.

We had lots of photos after that and then dinner at the buffet. The dinner was fantastic. They had reserved two long tables for us and when we walked in all the buffet staff were standing at the entrance and applauded us as we entered. The staff were attentive and kept our glasses full and our plates clean. I wouldn't have changed it for anything. It was relaxed and everyone had lots to eat. We said a few speeches during dessert and then they brought out the wedding cake. hmmmm, not to sure what I can say about it except, it tasted amazing. All I did with regards to the cake was hand in my cake topper and figured it would be a plain white cake - perfect. Well I guess the chef decided it needed to be jazzed up so he went to town on it and had all these edible maple sticks sticking out of it in all directions including a small stick in between the cake toppers grooms legs - it was the funniest thing we had ever seen.

After dinner we went to the lobby bar where we had our first dance. Then we went to the La Laguna and danced the evening away to Quarzo. Quarzo is a coverband and they are really good, heaps better then some of the coverbands that play in local pubs. Everyone was dancing, the place was packed. After Quarzo left we went to the disco and the finally back to our room. Our room wasn't decorated for the wedding as it was supposed to be but it really didn't matter cause my girlfriends went up and made it look pretty for us.

I got married in Cancun October 2006. It was everything we expected and more. We booked everything on the net through my-cancun-wedding.com. There were no complaints with them at all. If you want an entirely stress free wedding then go for them. We e-mailed many times in the few months running up to it to get the finest details right.

They even asked us if we would like to postpone the wedding date when we were out there because the weather was forecast rain and wind. We waited four days for the bad weather to pass and ended up getting married in the gorgeous evening sunshine (5.30pm) just like we had dreamed. That's a good tip, cooler towards the evening means its much more relaxing.

The flowers, photography, and DVD were excellent and worth every penny. The way they deorated the area with flowers was gorgeous. We had some photography taken on the beach too. The beaches there are gorgeous. White sands and bright blue sea.

We had a small wedding but I know they do many larger weddings and I would certainly trust them with any special requirements you have no matter how big or small.

Ours was held at the JW Marriott hotel although we were staying in a hotel 5 mins down the road. (This hotel would have been very expensive to stay at but gorgeous if the budget allows it. We went with family that have a timeshare with another hotel) It has gorgeous gardens, and there are choices of other hotels too.

For the bride, I had my hair and nails done at the JW Marriott hotel beforehand. I took photos of how I would like my hair to look. We had a practice run a few days before. I was more than pleased. I could have had my make-up done too but opted out for that (too worried I wouldnt like it even though they did end up helping me a little anyway)

The traditional mexican wedding cake called tres leches I think, was gorgeous. I would definitely recommend it.

We loved the area so much we're thinking of going back this November. If only we could do the marrying part again and re-live it. Loved every minute of it. If you need to know anything else at all, just ask. Be happy to help with advice, thoughts etc.
donnamilner2001@yahoo.co.uk
Top of Page

Liz is a great wedding coordinator. I think her only problem is that she is understaffed. Always running around and missed a couple of minor details for the wedding. However, she was very responsive over email ahead of time so we pretty much knew what to expect. The beach wedding was spectacular. I thought we would mind all the people on the beach, but the way they position the aisle, there is not that many people around. When we looked back at the pictures, our friends kept saying that we were on a deserted beach! According to other reviews the hotel photographer was not very good and he/she was unresponsive when we asked questions over email. We chose to go with Claudia Rodriguez and her team. We did not regret our choice. Both the videographer and photographer were professionals with many years of experience. We enjoyed our photo and video shoots a lot. The pictures and DVD were awesome. If you are getting married there and have more questions about any details, email me.
vtsinman@yahoo.com
Top of Page

Let me just start be saying that I have been to many beautiful places around the world, but for some reason I am always drawn back to the Mayan Riviera. I absolutley love Cancun!! I have been there five times in the last seven years!! From the first time that I stepped on that prestine white sand and looked upon that turcqoise water I knew that this is where I wanted to have my wedding! In March that dream became a reality and myself and my husband got married at the Hyatt Cancun Caribe. The beach in front of the property is by far the most unbelievable sight you will ever see. It is postcard perfect!!

If you plan on getting married in Cancun, on the beach, I suggest that you look this sight up. My wedding coordinaror Paloma, along with the Hyatt made my wedding spectacular! I explained my vision and they made it a reality. I could not have been happier with how they arranged that unforgettable day. My photographer, Claudia Rodriguez was the most amazing photographer along with her husband who does the videography. On our wedding day it was very windy and Claudia was concerned that we might have not taken the best pictures, so she drove two hours out of her way the next day to our honeymoon hotel, the El Dorado Royale to take more pictures of us that she knew we would love. Wow....she is the best!!!!

Speaking of the best.......the El Dorado Royale was what a honeymoon is supposed to be! We stayed at the Casitas, which were very romantic. The property is amazing!!! It is an all inclusive resort with five star restaurants to eat at every night. The staff were so friendly!!

Our wedding coordinator Mariela was amazing. She offered to meet with us the day after we arrived, immediately after our blood tests. On a side note those worried about the blood tests shouldn't worry. The doctor was very professional and used only brand new disposable needles, though the $150 cash grab for 10 minutes of blood work is a little pricey.

We met with Mariela right afterwards(she has at least 2 other girls working for her also) and we went through all the options for decorations i.e. white or Mexican themed wedding ) and flower options for the tables, wedding party, etc. We also confirmed our numbers for dinner and confirmed the private booking of the disco from 8-10 on the wedding day. Because we had a group that nearly filled the restaurant, we were able to dine with just our wedding group. If you had less than 40 people you would be eating with strangers. She also agreed to us having a rehearsal the day before the wedding. There was a wedding planned for that day as well so it was nice to rehearse with all the chairs and alter set up.

Our wedding was scheduled for 4pm so we spent the day on the beach, with the bridesmaids and bride getting their hair/makeup done in the early afternoon. The gentlemen arrived at the wedding site( Jungle location) at around 3:40. We selected the jungle location over the beach location as it was more private. The beach location is essentially the beach volleyball court. It was a gorgeous day, luckily with a little breeze to keep cool. The ceremony went perfectly though the judge was a little late. The ceremony was in Spanish and then Mariela translates the judges speech into English. Though it was a civil ceremony translated from Spanish into English, it was surprisingly meaningful and the exact same ceremony performed at every Mexican Wedding.. It was very quick though so if you wanted a bit longer ceremony you may want to ask a friend to speak, or write your own vows for the ring exchange like we did. By 4:20 we were hitched and the ceremony was followed by a champagne toast in the jungle area before we were whisked off to the beach for photos. The time for photos is narrow as the sun starts to set by 5:15 5:30 ish. We got in all the pictures we needed on the beach and with the group, and then spent some extra time with the photographer at different points around the resort. In total pictures took just an hour and we were back to the lobby bar for a pre dinner cocktail by 5:45pm

Regarding pictures - the photographer takes the maximum amount of photos available regardless of what you say you want before the wedding. You can then go in and pick a package based on how many photos you like. We ended up getting around 90 photos (5X7) that come in an album and include a CD with all the photos saved for you digitally. The also try and sell you a very cheesy, poorly done video which we passed on($300USD). It turned out they through it into our album anyway for free.

Dinner was at 6:30 and were told that we would be kicked out at 8:15 so the staff could get ready for the 8:30 sitting. We had the steakhouse menu but due to the large group we were forced to have a set menu, which was fine. We wanted to do some very quick toasts to the bride,groom, welcome to the family) etc. but we ran out of time and then finished them at the Disco. If we could do one thing over again it would be to do all the toasts at the Disco as then no one would have been rushed, plus there is a microphone at the Disco(also where the cake and cake cutting took place)

My husband and I got married at the Iberostar Tucan on November 17, 2004. All in all, it was a complete dream come true - it was all truly fantastic.
Background info – we’re both 29, have been to this area twice before – once to the Viva Azteca for a wedding 3 years ago, once to the Iberostar Paraiso in April 2004 for a wedding and this time for our wedding. Have also been to Dominican Republic and stayed at the Barcelo Bavaro. Iberostar Tucan is by far our favorite!! My husband and I travelled to Mexico along with 50 other people from various parts of the globe. The majority of us came from Calgary, Alberta, while there were some from Vancouver, Toronto, Ohio, England, and Ireland.

There were about 30 of us staying at the Iberostar Tucan/Quetzal, the other 20 stayed at various other resorts, some by choice, some becuase they didn't book soon enough and the Tucan was fully booked.

FLIGHT
From Calgary we flew via Sykservice through signature vacations. Skyservice was not quite as bad as I had anticipated. The seats were tight, but we learned on the way home that rows 20-30 are the tightest. Anything before 20 and after 30 has a little more leg room, which really made quite a difference on our way home.

The flight went reasonably well - it's a long cramped ride, but worth it for where you're going. Arrival in the Cancun airport at around 3:45pm on the Friday was quite smooth. We were the only flight that arrived to the terminal at that time, so while we were in line for about 20 minutes, it wasn't too bad at all. (as a side note for future Mexico brides, we did carry down with us gift bags for all our guests. We had boxed them up into smaller boxes to distribute to some of our family and friends to check as baggage on the plane, which worked quite well. Our baggage, however, was too heavy. We were overweight and had to pay about $180 for overweight luggage, which we were expecting, so it wasn't the end of the world for us. It was quite stressful upon arrival to make sure all the boxes were collected and got on the bus and to our room at the resort, but as soon as we had them in our room, it was all good. I did also carry on my dress, which I learned probably wasn't necessary, other than the fact I would have been horrified if they lost my luggage. But, in terms of wrinkles, it didn't make any difference. The airline would not hang the dress, so it went in the overhead bin folded neatly on top of bags, but fell off the hanger numerous times throughout the travels to the resort and for the most part sat at the bottom of the garment bag in a ball, but as soon as I hung it for a day, it didn't need any pressing what so ever. My dress, however, did not have any thick heavy fabric, which also helped in terms of wrinkles).

Cancun airport went smoothly, got through customs and collected our baggage and all our boxes. Unbelievably, no one in our group got the red light, which was great! Hopped on the bus and made one stop at another resort on the way to ours.

CHECK IN
Got to the resort and check-in went very smoothly. We were greeted with welcome drinks and given our room number and resort information and room keys. We were also given an envelope with a note from Mariela, the wedding coordinator, asking us to meet her at 10am the following day in the lobby to go over the details of the wedding.

ROOMS
Got upgraded to a GREAT ocean view room on the Quetzal side (we had originally booked on the Tucan, but truly, it DOES NOT make a difference. I have seen some reviews where people are dissapointed by which side they're on - it really doesn't matter - they do each have different decor to the rooms, and different sort of pathways, but they're both beautiful. You have to be really picky to be upset about one side over the other).

So, we got upgraded to the oceanview room which was great. They had left us a bottle of wine, a nice fruit basket and flower arrangement. The rooms was great. Yes, the bed was firm, but we really didn’t have an issue sleeping. Nice size bathroom with great stand-up shower with lots of water pressure. The only thing lacking in the room are drawers and places to put clothes and things – there are some shelves throughout, and lots of counter space, but more drawers might have been handy and kept us a little more organized.

The night was pretty low key - had something to eat at the buffet, had a few drinks and went to bed.

WEDDING PLANS
The next day we were up nice and early (weather was perfect throughout the 2 weeks until the last day we were there). Went to the beach for a while before our meeting with Mariela. Met with Mariela and her assistant (Anna I think was her name). The meeting was great. They showed us pictures, we picked our decor (Traditional white or Mexican - we went with White), we picked our flowers (you can pick traditional bouquets, roses, gerger daisies, etc, we went with the tropical flowers and weren't dissapointed in the least). They showed us pictures of cakes, we chose one, they gave us the cake flavours, we picked one. And we went over some of the other details of the day.
All in all the meeting took 45 minutes. 45 minutes to plan a wedding - how wonderful!!

The next couple days were great. Oursleves and all our guests were extremely thrilled with the resort - everything about it.

GREAT RESTAURANT IN TOWN…
Tuesday night the immediate family and wedding party went into playa del carmen for a rehearsal dinner (we didn't really have a rehearsal dinner, we just wanted an excuse to go out with all of them). We did it at Yaxche restaurant - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! It was great. We were set up in the garden area. The food was the best we had in the whole 2 weeks in Mexico. SOOOOO good and the service was fantastic too.

WEDDING DAY:
Next day was the wedding day. I had always wanted to be sitting by the pool the morning of my wedding, so I made a special point of getting up and out right away so I had a couple hours at the pool. At 11:00 I headed up to my room for a shower. Headed over to my mom’s room with my bride’s maids and dropped off our dresses, then over to the spa to get our hair done. We all did our make-up ourselves in the spa while others were getting their hair done (they only have 2 girls doing hair, so we had to take turns). Though the ladies doing hair in the spa spoke very little English, they gave us a book of up-do’s and had us pick which one we liked and they did an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC job! And no worries about my hair staying in place – they have some SERIOUS hair spray! They incorporated my tiara and veil into my up-do and I was really really happy with what they did.

By now we were running a little behind schedule, so we rushed off to my mom’s room and got dressed. Flowers were delivered on time – WOW!! They were absolutely fabulous, I was so thrilled with them, could have never gotten flowers so beautiful here in Canada. The boys lapel flowers were delivered to the room where they were getting ready – also great!

PICTURES:
I know some of you brides to be out there are wondering about pictures – I was lucky, my uncle is a professional photographer and he came to Mexico with us and did our pictures for us down there. The resort does not allow off-site photographers unless they are part of your wedding group. I have seen the on-site photographer and the pictures done, which are great, but really you can’t go wrong with the scenery there, however, I do have to admit it was nice having a REAL professional photographer rather than the same one that takes pictures of the iguanas and parrots throughout the resort that day. I’m really not meaning to ‘diss’ their photographer, I’ve just grown up with an uncle as a professional photographer, so I really know the difference, but the albums that the resort photographer was doing looked beautiful – I’m just biased.

I had my pictures with me and my bridemaids and my mom before the ceremony. We took a bunch of them throughout the resort as we made our way to the beach for the ceremony.

WEDDING CEREMONY:
We arrived at the wedding ceremony and had to wait hiding behind a building for a little bit because the guests wouldn’t take their seats! But, eventually we got underway. We were given a list of music for the processional by Mariela to choose from, but it was mostly filled with cheesy Mariah Carey and Celine Dion type music. Instead I asked her to just play some ‘Mexican’ music. She had a mariachi CD she used, it was great.
We also cheated a little bit with the legal requirements. We legally got married in Canada prior to our departure, which saved us some of the paperwork. Usually, for a non-legal ceremony, they offer a ‘non-denomination Christian minister’ to perform the ceremony. This didn’t sit well with my husband and I as we wanted no religion in the ceremony at all. So, instead, since it wasn’t a legal ceremony anyways, we asked one of our close friends to perform the ceremony, it was a wonderful way to include someone so important to us and it was absolutely perfect.
Following the brief ceremony we had a champagne toast and more hugs and kisses than I could ever count. Yes, there were on-lookers in bikinis and speedo’s during the ceremony, but to be completely honest, I only know this from some of the pictures and video, during the ceremony I was so wrapped up in everything that I didn’t notice at all. As well, Mariela and her assistant were very good at clearing most of the people away from the area for the ceremony.

Champagne on the beach with mariachi music playing from the speakers – it was fantastic. We did pictures of the wedding party, family and bride and groom immediately following champage. It was so much fun!!!

COCKTAIL RECEPTION
We had a cocktail reception planned to take place in the jungle from 5:15-6:15 with a mariachi band. In comparison to all the other costs, this was the most expensive event of the entire wedding – but worth it!! The mariachi band was unbelievably fantastic and fun. The food was good (appetizers), and drinks of course were great. It was QUITE costly in comparison to everything else, but quite cheap to compare to doing something like that at home. To us, it was worth it. Gave us some time to mill around and socialize with everyone after the ceremony and before the formal dinner. It was a lot of fun.

DINNER RECEPTION
We chose the steakhouse (la Marimba) for the dinner/reception because we wanted the open air environment and we just liked this restaurant from what we read in previous reviews. It was a GREAT choice. I did have to negotiate a bit prior to departing in order to get the entire restaurant reserved for JUST us for the entire evening (6:30-10:30). Because we had less that 75 people we couldn’t just have it for the evening, but because we were 52, Mariela allowed us to have the whole restaurant for the entire evening as long as it counted as one dinner reservation at an a-la-carte restaurant for each of the guests. This was fine with me, I don’t think any of the guests minded, in fact, most of them didn’t even realize that they had one less reservation. The table set up was fantastic, the flowers were great (we upgraded the flowers at the ceremony, and then they took the flowers from the ceremony and used them as centerpieces at dinner – it was great). In fact, I upgraded flowers anywhere and everywhere we could – they were really cheap and really beautiful.

We had dinner, which was served, including appetizers and main course. We had ordered a DJ for the evening to have a microphone for speeches and play music for the dance afterwards (we burned our own CD’s for the dance as we didn’t know what to expect the DJ to have in terms of music for dancing). This was my one of 2 disappointments of the entire wedding – the DJ was REALLY cheap ($50 for 2 hours), which surprised me, but really, the DJ was nothing more than a getoblaster with 1 speaker. It was loud enough for the speeches, but pretty pathetic for dancing, but really not a catastrophic thing, we got over it pretty quickly. Just meant that dancing didn’t really catch on, most people just mingled and drank – if the music was louder, people probably would have danced more.

The wedding cake was AMAZING!!!! It was beautiful (we ordered fresh flowers as decoration of course), and it was sooooo tasty. We went with the strawberry vanilla cake – basically it was like strawberry shortcake and soooooo yummy!!

AFTER 10:30pm
We headed over to the disco. Lots of dancing and fun, not much more needs to be said.

All in all we had a FANTASTIC day!!

VIDEO:
2 days after the wedding our video was ready at the photoshop. We ordered the video not really expecting the most quality video in the world, but just so we had a video of the day. We brought our own personal DVD player, so we were able to take the DVD back to our room and watch it. This was the 2nd disappointment of the wedding (there were only 2, and neither of them are major as you can see). The video was pretty terrible. The editing was just soooo choppy and bad. We took the video back to the photoshop and told them how we felt and they said they would re-do it. So, we picked up another one a few days later and it wasn’t much better. All I can say is for $300US, don’t expect much for the video. I’m still glad we did it, even for the money, because I’m happy to have the video, but the quality is just pretty bad.

REST OF THE TRIP The rest of the trip was totally delightful and wonderful and relaxing and fun. I can’t give any reviews about the a la carte restaurants because, if you can believe it, we didn’t eat at any for the entire 2 weeks except the steakhouse. We were pretty content with the buffet and we weren’t keen on having a reservation at a specific time – this isn’t the way we like to vacation in Mexico. We also ate dinner in town quite a few evenings. We liked venturing into town during the evening for a bit and you could find pretty cheap restaurants to stop and eat at.

Because we had so many people along Lindsay actually traveled with the group without a cost to us. Actually she did not charge at all for her service which I found ammazing because she is worth a million dollars! Which was great for our budget and family. She was wonderful. Prior to us getting down there she went through every steps from flowers to cake to vows to music to location. She even had the picture poses down to give to the photographer. Once we where down there all we had to do was the blood tests and enjoy the beach. She met with the wedding coordinator at the resort then asked us and everything set. We chose the beach gazebo, kudos to the resorts design team. Very nice flowers creating almost an arch as I stepped up. Lindsay had the aisle marked with white flower petals and tiki torchs (sorry not lit) with tulle and some tropical flower. The chairs where cover in white too. The night before she actually had us rehersal which was very nice. We found a place that I could hide to surpise Chet before I come into view. Friends of ours went to Sandals last year (where we got the idea) and never had that. We even had a rehersal dinner too that she coordianated. The day of the wedding we had little gift bags for our guests which where a suggestion of Lindsay plus she included a wedding day time table. Us girls went to the spa and she got the guys a tee time up at the new Moon Palace course which they loved. The whole day was orchstrated without a hitch. We even had Lindsay's husband helping the guys keep it together another nice touch! The wedding staff at the resort allowed us one of the dinning rooms for both the day before and after the wedding. To them I say thank you! Lindsay did not promise this which I liked she said we can try and that is what we always did. I would highly recommend this lady and her service again, again and again. Two couples friends of ours got engaged on the trip which she lined up the private dinner at the beach for them. They are looking at next year but already talked to her about Jamaica and St Lucia. I got the Save the Date already for both. Truly if you are looking for a company that does weddings in Caribbean and Mexico plus I think she does Hawaii or some Pacific area you email me and I will forward you her information.

Thank you Debbie for hosting this great site, which I have found to be accurate on several occasions. When researching our destination wedding, there were almost no reviews for the area/hotel we were looking for, so I hope this will help someone else planning their wedding at the RIU Tequila.

My husband and I decided on a destination wedding in Mayan Riviera, Mexico since there was something for everyone – tours, gorgeous beaches, shopping, nightlife, etc. We arrived on March 28th and our wedding took place on the 31st. We had 26 people join us for our event, and it was an amazing week.

We booked our hotel and made a deposit in August 2004. As soon as everyone in our party was confirmed, I contacted the RIU Hotel Wedding Coordinator who booked a wedding date for us – her name was Jessica and she was excellent – very prompt and efficient. You have to book a date as soon as possible since there are many weddings held at this hotel and surrounding RIU hotels, and dates become limited the more you wait. By law, we needed to be in Mexico three business days prior to the wedding so it worked out perfectly for us.

We arrived in Mexico late in the evening on March 28th. The following morning we had an appointment to meet Jessica, our wedding coordinator. We woke up and met Jessica at the RIU Palace for about ½ hour – during this time we provided her with our passports and paperwork and went over all the details for the wedding. She provided us with a binder of flower selections, cake choices and ceremony spots. We chose to get married on the beach of the RIU Playacar (we came all this way after all) as opposed to the garden areas. Although the beach was much less private, it was the reason we went south to be married in the first place.

Our wedding was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on the 31st. At 2 p.m., the flowers arrived and shortly after the hairdresser came to my room for an updo. She was fantastic – I would suggest you bring a photo along since their English is quite limited. At 3:30 p.m., I headed towards the beach area with my parents, my maid-of-honour and Emery’s best man. The ceremony was gorgeous, and quite brief. There were many (probably about a hundred) people taking photos of us and video taping as we were not in a private area. The Coordinator did a great job of cordoning off the area which we were to me married, but weddings like this attract almost everyone. This didn’t bother us in the least as we were concentrated on us, and our ceremony. If you want a more intimate ceremony, choose the gardens.

After the ceremony, we had professional photos and a video taken in several different locations of the four RIU hotels – the beach photography was stunning. After the photo/video session, we met our family and friends at the Kiosko bar and terrace for a few drinks and casual photos before dinner.

Dinner was at the “Steakhouse” à la carte restaurant and was perfect. We ate, had a toast, and made speeches before giving all our guests a gift for joining us. There was also a small cake cutting.

We have just returned from 2 glorious weeks at the Barcelo with 57 family and friends! I must say that everything was perfect! I secured my wedding time/date back in April, and the process was very quick and efficient. My wedding Co-ordinater was Carolina Marin -who I cannot say enough about. She was very prompt in returning all of my emails and answering all of my questions.

We had a bit of a scare with Hurricane Wilma passing through 1 month before our arrival. After hearing back from Carolina after the storm, I had no hesitation about going as I was reassured that the resort was in full operational condition.

When we arrived, our whole group was located in the same building, close to the beach/pool/bar/disco -we couldn't have asked for anything better.

The endless amounts of food and drink were amazing. I am usually one that likes the ala carte restaurants vs the buffet, but the buffet was amazing every day and every night. I cannot speak enough about the great variety of the food and drinks!!!

We met with Carolina a few days before the wedding to go over the final details. We had endless choices for flowers, cakes, extras etc...which turned out so beautiful. The wedding day arrives and mother nature is not at her best -a few showers in the mid morning and the forecast for the rest of the day was enough to cancel the reception on the beach, which then was moved inside the banquet hall. The ceremony on the beach was a last minute addition as the rain held off enough for us to be out there --which was unbelievable -the set up, the music -everything was absolutely perfect!!!!! The banquet hall turned out great -the set up, the meal, and the DJ was amazing!

The photos turned out very nice -the prices for the pictures were reasonably priced. The DVD video that they take is great -but very expensive ($295USD). We had someone tape the ceremony for us, so we didn't need to purchase it.

The wedding was 100 times worse than we could have ever imagined. Let me tell you the horror story... I mean wedding story:

- We arrived late on Sunday (Jan. 7th) and were assigned our room. Other than a simple ocean view there was NO room upgrade. During our check-in we received a letter from the wedding coordinator, ************ asking us to meet her at the main lobby at 9:30 am the next day.

- Jan. 8th - we arrived at the main lobby bright and early 9:20 am excited to get the wedding arrangements out of the way and get on with the day. During the next hour I made inquiries 6 times at the front desk as to the whereabouts of *****, each time being assured that they had contacted her and that she was on her way. 10:45 am after finally getting the assistance of a manager ***** was located. ***** greeted Karen and myself by promptly advising us that WE WERE late and "did we not get her etter ? "...she further went on that people had to be punctual and that she had lots of other things to do. Trying to keep my composure I quickly challenged her to ask the front desk staff who were now annoyed with how many times I had asked for her and ask them how long I had been here. *****, without apology changed the subject.

- During the meeting with *****, she still did not have the majority of the details about the wedding correct as per previous numerous e-mails. For example she had our quests listed as 31 as opposed to 41. She also argued with me on what our menu selection had been. ***** became matter of fact and told me that I had only made one entree selection off the menu and went on to show me the e-mail I had sent her. Much to *****'s surprise I was right.

- Throughout the meeting ***** assured us that there was no reason to worry about the details as everything would be just fine. She also assured us that if it rained then a location would be set up to have the wedding indoors. After finishing the paper work and looking at some of the locations ***** assured us that she would have a formal letter prepared for each guest listing the itinerary so they would know where to go for the wedding on such a large resort. I told ***** that we were having a get together that evening with all the guests and that this would be the best time to deliver the letters. ***** assured us that we would have the letters well before this time (before 6pm.).

- 7:00 pm went by and I finally put a message into ***** to call us back. Lucky for ***** that when she called back ; Karen answered the phone. ***** told Karen that the letters were not ready and that she would hand deliver them by 9:00 am the next day ( the wedding day).

- Jan. 9th - ***** never showed up as promised and we are now scrambling to get ready for the wedding and worrying about tracking down 41 guests to deliver letters to. I called ***** and she advised me that she had sent the letters already by bus boy and that we should have them within 20 minutes. I reminded her that she said that she would deliver them personally and she replied that she was busy !!!@!!!. I told ***** that if the letters were not at the room in 20 minutes that I would be calling her right back, she then stated that she was not sure when the letters would arrive in the room. Then amazingly ***** told me that she would hand deliver them in 10 minutes (...this is after she told me they had already been sent). ***** arrived and gave us the letters without apology.

- It took us almost 3 hours on our wedding day to search the resort and deliver the letters to our guests. ***** had offered to have the letters delivered at this late hour to the guest's rooms. I reminded ***** that these people were on an expensive vacation and were not going to wait in their rooms all day for a letter.

- ***** called later in the day and told me that she would not be around for our wedding and that she would send one of her co-workers. The reason she gave for not being there was that she had to go to "an employee of the month meeting".....this is no lie. ***** assured me that everything would run smoothly. ***** also asked if we wanted the wedding inside or out as it was now raining. I reminded ***** that as previously agreed, the wedding would be outside if it was not raining and inside if it was raining at a decorated location.

- Separate transportation to the wedding was arranged for Karen, me and our wedding party. A trolley was to pick us up at 2 different rooms and the guests were promised exclusive transportation from the main lobby to the wedding site. It should be noted that it is now pouring rain.

- Both the transportation for Karen, myself and our wedding party was 10 minutes late. As such we obviously thought our guests would be waiting for us. We arrived at the wedding location in the rain just after 4 as the wedding was scheduled to start at 4.

- Much to our horror, none of our 40 guests, including parents were present. The new wedding coordinator ; ***** said that they were likely in another lobby because of the rain and that she would go get them. ***** returned 15 minutes later telling me that she had NO IDEA WHERE MY GUESTS were.

- Obviously upset I went outside in the rain to catch my breath. Out of pure luck, one of my wedding guests who went looking for us had gone to the 3rd story balcony of one of the Villas to see if he could spot us. Luckily wearing my now soaked red serge my guest spotted me and stated he would send the rest of the guests over. I attempted to have ***** send transportation for them as it was pouring rain but this did not work. MY GUESTS WEARING FORMAL WEAR WERE FORCED TO WALK 5 MINUTES IN THE POURING RAINING TO THE LOBBY OF A RESTAURANT AFTER THEY HAD BEEN PROMISED TRANSPORTATION. This was probably the biggest embarrassment. ***** went to get umbrellas but came back with only one for herself as there were none left.

- The quests who had been dropped off at the wrong location advised me that they were becoming very upset thinking that they had missed the wedding. Several of them checked with the front desk and were advised that nobody knew of the MILLER / PAWLOFF wedding and that they had no idea where they should go.

- It is still pouring rain and I have 40 people waiting in a stuffy entrance to a seafood restaurant. The minister is ready to preform the wedding and I am inquiring with ***** where we are going for the inside wedding service. ***** then tells me that I had wanted to do the wedding outside and that nothing has been set up at any indoor location.....It's now after 4:30 and I have 40 soaked guests staring at me and wondering what the hell is going on. Out of pure frustration Karen announced to our guests that we were now getting married......yes....in the stuffy entrance of a fish restaurant. There was NO walking up the isle. There was NO having the parents give us away. The flower girl was NOT able to walk up an isle with her flowers. There was NO music as promised. There was NO seating for the guests....the list goes on and on. The minister was great but his cell phone goes off in the middle of his service.

* Needless to say my face in now the color of my red serge.

* I had a quick chat with ***** at the end and told her to express my displeasure to management.

* From here everyone was supposedly brought to the wedding dinner location. Nobody was brought to the correct restaurant and it was only with the help of some very nice bell boy that we got to the dinner.

* To add insult to injury ...... The wedding dinner was very nice, however, in big bold letters on the personalized menus it read...." Wedding of KARY and Brent"

* During the wedding dinner ***** sheepishly interrupts me during my meal to say she was sorry. I quickly advised her that this was neither the time nor the pl ace to be having such a conversation.

* After the dinner the guests were actually transported to the so called private terrace. This was in a big open court yard which anyone had access to. ***** again met me there and stated that she would make things better by giving us an extra hour free on the Terrace. I told her this was not needed as everyone had already planned to be elsewhere at the end of the hour we had paid for. She said she would do it anyway. It was very nice and many of the resort guests unrelated to our wedding enjoyed the free music and drinks. !!!

* ***** said she would be speaking with her boss and would talk with us the next day. This never happened, although we did get 2 cheap t-shirts and a $6.00 bottle of sparkling wine in our room.

* Being very frustrated with everything and having lots of other commitments we never had an opportunity to speak with management direct. In fact the last day when we paid almost $800.00 American and checked out they advised us that they were unable to give us a copy of our bill as 1st the printer did not work and then they could not find it on their computer after we paid.

** I am hoping you can forward a copy of this to someone at the Resort who might actually care and other travel agents in Uniglobe. There were numerous frequent travelers in our group many of whom hold prominent positions in news media, policing and government across Canada. For example: One guest is the Mayor of Toronto's assistant, another guest is the former Chief of Police of Niagara Falls, and another guest produces the 6 o'clock news for City TV in Toronto. I mention this only as the experience has been very bad advertising.

** These are just some of the highlights....I'm sure if I think a little harder I can come up with many more complaints.

** Good Thing is...Karen is still married to me.

31 of us stayed at Bahia Principe Tulum the week of June 3-10 for our wedding. Most of the information about the resort has been written up by previous travelers so I won’t need to touch on that, I will just write about the things that our group went through.

Arrival
Emailed the resort weeks ahead requesting that we all stay in the same complex. Unfortunately we all got separated but this was not a big deal at all. We got upgraded to an ocean view room in villa 4. The majority of the group stayed in villas 9-11 which was close to the 24 hour snack bar.

Food and Restaurants
We’ve stayed at the Akumal side of the resort before so we were quite familiar with the facilities. Our group ate mainly at the Tulum buffet because they had larger tables. Our server Marcos was great the whole week.
We ate at the Akumal buffet for lunch and it was nice and breezy. We ate at Coba buffet one night, and it was super hot. No breeze going through that restaurant. Selection at all restaurants varied and you will definitely find something to eat there. A lot of times for lunch, the group would eat at the snack bar because they served these amazing ribs. We also went to Coba pool area for lunch when they made Paella in front of everyone.
As a whole group, we had a big problem trying to book a ala carte. We decided to split up the group and go to different restaurants. The Gran Tortuga Steak house was enjoyed by many. They said the steaks were gigantic and the service great. We all ate at the El Senador Seafood restaurant at the Coba side and had the best food. We weren’t supposed to but we requested two different entrees cause we couldn’t decide which one to order. The manager, Alfredo, was so accommodating to our large group. We also ate at the Oriental restaurant on a Thursday during the Fiesta night. Although they say you don’t, we got into the Fiesta for free by showing our reservation sheet at the entrance. The Don Pablo was also a nice romantic restaurant.

Activities,Night Shows and Excursions
As a large group, we were fine entertaining ourselves. We joined animation staff when they played volleyball, or had beer drinking contests. We also had fun watching our friends learn to dance some meringue. At nights after dinner, we would go and watch some shows and then head over to the live band while having a couple of drinks. After, we would all head to the La Rancherita disco at the Hacienda and dance the night away. Drinks are also included here, and everyone from all three sides of the complex are welcome.

We stayed up late many nights trying to catch turtles laying their eggs. Usually happens around 3am and the ecological team can show you where it is. Saw the eggs but missed the turtles. Paid $30 to learn how to operate a Hobby Cat, after that, you can take it out as many times as you wish. Negotiated down to $50 for the parasailing.

As for excursions, we went to Tulum on a Sunday so it was FREE entrance. We decided to take taxis and negotiated a deal for all taxis. Some went on the ATV/Speedboat tour. It cost $69 and they negotiated prices for all the pictures and DVD of their tour. We all went to Xelha. We bought the tickets from our rep but only paid for entrance which was $59 all inclusive. Others paid extra $139 for their dolpin experience at Xelha. Again, negotiated cab rides for everyone. Xelha is only about 10 minutes away. Went to Playa Del Carmen and took collectivos, $2 each way. At Playa, they opened a Walmart just west a couple of blocks off 5th Avenue. There we bought local snacks and super cheap liquor. We also had a girls night out and went clubbing at Blue Parrot. Entrance was $6 and this included 2 drinks. Just a note, collectivos stop running at 11pm so if you have to get back to the resort you have to take a cab. It will cost you $20 for 4 people. Some also went on the Coba Mayan Adventure tour and this was $89.

Wedding
My dress was steamed and pressed for $15, it takes atleast 48 hours so do it in advance or you will end up paying express prices. Went to the Bahia Spa and got my hair done. It was very pricey but well worth it. It cost $65 for an updo but if you have a veil it will cost $85. Put the veil yourself and this can save you money. My friend had a pedicure and it faded the moment she went on the beach, she went back and they gladly rescheduled for a free touch up. Ladies, ask for Guadalupe to do your hair. She did a fantastic job. Jazmin Ortiz was the coordinator and we met with her two days after arrival to discuss the location and flowers. We picked the site at the gazebo. Restaurant menu was picked ahead of time and flowers were picked that same day. We provided our own music and everything was nicely synchronized. Champagne was served after the ceremony. We booked the Mexican restaurant for dinner at 7. There were other hotel guests with us but not a concern. The band was also walking around playing to everyone. Food was great but the restaurant was boiling hot. We had to step outside to get a breeze. Our wedding cake was a Tres Leche Cake (three milk cake), and was delicious. The service staff at the restaurant did a good job serving the food while we made speeches and toasts.

We rented the disco for an hour and upon arrival they gave us a nice cocktail. Had first dance and bouquet & garter toss there as well. Disco opened up an hour later and quickly filled with other guests. Wedding party had tons of fun. The following day, upon return, there was cake and champagne ready for us in our room.

The reason I write you is because I used your site when choosing my own wedding destination.

My husband James and I were married in Play Del Carmel area in January 2005. We chose the Bahia Principe Akumel due to it's reputation, size, location and handicap accessibility as my husband' mother is in a wheel chair. This resort is great for anyone with a handicap. Not only are the staff incredibly helpful all the time, but the rooms are equipped and the resort has ramps all over the place. Excellent rating on that front.

The wedding coordinators Karla and Antoinette were superb!!! At first they seemed too relaxed but that was simply because I was a complete bridezilla. They kept telling me every thing would be fine and it was!

I had many correspondences with Karla by email and phone which was so helpful. When we arrived at the resort our room had been updated to the golden rooms and the view was breathtaking. A package arrived the next day setting up an appointment where to meet our wedding coordinator to discuss all the remaining details that hadn't been decided over email correspondence.

We met with Antoinette and picked out our flowers and discussed documentation and she answered all our questions. Then we had arranged to get our blood work done in Mexico to avoid bringing more documents with us. That I must say was a nightmare for me. The doctors office was located on the resort site and it was clean etc with clean needles that came in packages but the doctor and paramedic could not get a vein from me as I have bad veins. I finally brought back my cousin (who is a paramedic) from Ontario and in one shot, she took my husband and my blood work. I would recommend taking a nurse with you on your trip or a paramedic and if you can't, have your blood work done in Canada or US.

The day of the wedding the flowers arrived around noon and they were beyond what I had imagined. They were cream roses for me and my sister had Gerber daisies.. so beautiful and fresh. outstanding!!!!! I had been very nervous about what might arrive and so was my mother.

The beach area looked fabulous with covered white chairs in the sand, cream rose petals, a dj who played music that I didn't even pick which didn't bother me-romantic music. There was limited decorating at the site, but the ocean, sand and white chairs looked so breath taking. The ceremony was approx 20 minutes and they did supply a microphone for our vows which was nice as the ocean is loud. The wedding coordinators arrange for a shuttle to pick you up at your door to come down to the site the day of the wedding -ours was on the beach. The shuttle forgot to come so we just flagged one down, that was not a problem.

We had arranged to have Champaign served immediately following the ceremony that was delicious and it looked great in photos toasting in front of the ocean!

The restaurant we picked is the resort's nicest restaurant in my opinion, the Arlequin. We begged for a private dinner for one and a half hours. We got our wish, head table, podium for speeches and decorated so elegantly. The dinner was phenomenal. Chicken, soup, rolls etc etc. Everyone loved our wedding cake and the staff were UNBELIEVABLE and we tipped them well. They put on a service that would blow your mind.

After dinner we took the old beat up shuttle which was funny to the disco that we rented out privately-costly but WORTH it for two hours but we stayed all night and no one else came in. We had private bar tenders and private dj's and the girls took over the d.j booth throwing c'ds at him to play and it was an absolute blast!!!!!!!!

All in all the wedding was a dream wedding and the most beautiful wedding I have ever attended. There were minor hiccups that there are in every wedding ie. not thinking we could get blood from me and having to do a non legal ceremony but it turned out PERFECT.

The day after our wedding we received a bottle of Champaign and cake in our room and the room was always done up so nice with romantic things for us.

I would rate this resort for it's weddings as a 10/10 and the food in general 10/10 and the staff helpfulness 10/10 things to do and activities 10/10 transportation around the huge grounds 10/10. The only thing I was disappointed with was the beach frontage as I am a beach worshipper and I would give it 7/10.

David and I decided to have our wedding at the Bahia Principe Akumal due to multiple recommendations from travel agents and friends. My travel agent said that Mexico is equally as beautiful as any of the Caribbean Islands, but much more affordable. I wanted to be sensitive to the finances of the other 23 guests that joined us for the week.

I began emailing the wedding coordinators at least 8 months before the wedding. They were all very helpful and answered questions within 48 hours. There was a little bit of a language barrier, but for the most part, we overcame this. I am a planner, so was a little surprised when the coordinators said that we would not pick the flowers, location, and some other details until we arrived, but I tried not to worry. And I didn’t need to! It is much easier to do these things after arrival.

Make sure to read the requirements carefully for paperwork, passports, etc. The wedding coordinators will tell you everything you will need to know.

I was extremely nervous that the airline (US Airways) would not allow me to carry my dress on board. It was a very puffy dress, and I refused to check it as luggage, so I was fully prepared to wear it on the plane if they were not going to let me put it in the overhead compartment! Luckily, there were no problems, and we even had another bride on my flight with her dress. I think the airlines are used to brides carrying their dresses onboard. David’s brother even told the flight attendant that we were getting married, and he told the story of how we met over the loudspeaker. It was really sweet.

David and I arrived on Tuesday 3/8, as our wedding was on Friday, March 11. The resort is absolutely stunning. It is meticulously maintained- the grounds are just beautiful. I can’t say enough wonderful things about the surroundings. We had to wait about an hour for our room to be ready. We received a slight upgrade for being the bride and groom, and were promised that the rest of the week, we would be upgraded to an Ocean View room in the Golden Club area, which we did! We received a letter from Antonella (wedding coordinator) in our room, asking us to meet her the following morning with our passports, and bring our 4 witnesses with their passports. The following morning, Antonella met us right on time to take our information and pick the flowers and the location. I gave Antonella a picture of some flowers that I wanted to special order, and also ordered extra flowers for my father, the best man, maid of honor, and our mothers. The extra flowers were very inexpensive. We decided to have the ceremony at the hammock stands, which is relatively private and right on the water. Spectacular.

Antonella had made an appointment for us that day at 1 pm to have our blood drawn on-site at the medical center at the Hacienda. The doctor could not find a good vein in David’s arm, so he took the blood from his hand, which he said was a little painful. He did fine with my arm, though. We paid him $140 USD, and were on our way. No bruises, no harm done.

We had an incredible week with our friends and family. We spent actually more time on the Tulum side, which we preferred. It is more open and airy, and there was a better vibe by the activities pool. Both sides are great though. The food is to die for. Delicious. Five-star.

Rehearsal Dinner –
We made some arrangements with Lomas Travel to take all 25 of us on a catamaran and a candlelight dinner on the beach. At the last minute, Lomas told us they had overbooked, and we couldn’t get the dinner on the beach. But it all worked out eventually, as they refunded part of our money, and arranged for all 25 of us to have dinner at Tequila at the resort after returning from the boat ride. The boat ride was great – there was an open bar, and everyone got the chance to get to know each other. The scenery was beautiful and very romantic. We had a great time at Tequila as well. Make sure to do “Tequila Boom-Boom” at the restaurant! It’s a lot of fun.

The Wedding-
David got ready in the best man’s room, while I got ready in our Ocean view room. My maid of honor did my hair and makeup, so I can’t give any recommendations about the spa services. We hired photographer Claudia Rodriguez and her husband for pictures and videography. She was very sweet – I haven’t seen the pictures yet, but I felt pretty confident in her abilities based on prior reviews from this site! She came to the room an hour before the ceremony to take pictures of me getting ready. The flowers came on time and were beautiful – and very much like the picture I had provided. One of the boutonnières was missing, but we called Antonella, and she sent it right over.

The ceremony started about 10 minutes late because the judge was a little late, and then Antonella forgot to come up to tell us that the judge had arrived. But then we walked down the sandy aisle, and everything was absolutely perfect. I mean, it was better than I ever could have even dreamed it would be. The sun, the blue skies, the palm trees, the sand….I wore a very formal gown with bare feet and it felt great. We hired the Mexican guitar trio, which was just perfect. Very romantic and appropriate. There were white covered chairs set up in the sand and some tulle around the hammock pillars. Two tables were set up with white tablecloths, one for signing papers (it had a flower centerpiece on it that matched my bouquet) and one for champagne after the ceremony. We actually did all of our paperwork and fingerprinting during the ceremony, which was different. It was a very casual, laid back ceremony, so we felt comfortable. We were actually dancing and talking during the paperwork, it was just great not to be nervous or formal. The judge spoke in Spanish, and Antonella translated into English. My dear friend Heidi read a beautiful poem on the microphone, and David and I had the chance to say our own vows that we had practiced on the microphone as well. It was a great personal touch. The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes, and the trio played again at the end. It was really the most special ceremony, everyone was crying. The sound of the ocean and the view just took your breath away.

Champagne was served while we had more pictures taken. Everyone had a chance to go back to their rooms before our 6:30 dinner at Frutos del Mar. I kind of wish we had started the wedding at 3:30 instead of 4:00 because we had to hurry the pictures before we ran out of sunlight. But Claudia went as fast as she could, and we got plenty of shots.

All of our guests were seated at the restaurant, and they asked us to make a grand entrance so they could announce us. It was so nice; all of the other restaurant patrons were clapping and congratulating us. We had drinks, and then we had our first dance. They dimmed the lights, and Claudia had brought in CD with a romantic song since we had not thought to bring a special wedding song. Everyone watched us dance, and we felt like royalty! We had a really nice dinner, and after our soups, we cut the cake. It was a “Tre Leche” cake, which is 3 milks. It seemed like it had vanilla pudding in it – whatever it was, it was the best wedding cake I’ve ever tasted. The manager was very accommodating, and checked often to make sure we were happy. We all did “Tequila Boom-booms” and even a few funny games after dinner. It was really great!

After dessert and coffee, we headed over to the Pakal Bar, where Antonella had saved us a table right in the front for 25. It was set up perfectly for us. We felt like VIPs again! We had originally considered renting out the disco, but someone else rented it before we decided. It was just as well, because we all had a blast dancing at the Pakal Bar! When the band left the Pakal bar, we followed them to the Hacienda, and danced like crazy over there as well! The staff led us in some line dances which were a lot of fun. After the band left the Hacienda, we danced to the DJ at the disco until 2 am. It was a fantastic evening. All of the other resort guests were so friendly- complete strangers were hugging and congratulating me. It’s such a happy, friendly atmosphere. The tram even made a special trip for us to take us back to our rooms at the end of the night.

When we were making plans to book our trip, we had the mayan riviera in mind for our wedding. We just had to narrow it down to the resort. We were recommended the BPA by our travel agent. We decided to look into this one and several others, and we ended up deciding on this resort mostly by word of mouth. We met several people who had been to this resort and couldn't say enough good about it. Also when it came down to it, this resort was a little cheaper fee, and also included a reception dinner, a lot of others were an extra charge.

When planning my wedding i found this review site very helpful, as i was able to contact other girls from their reviews, and got good information from them, which made me feel better knowing i was hearing good things from other brides in Canada. Most of the other posts pretty much sum up all the information on this resort, so i'm not going to go into great detail on the resort itself, other than it is FANTASTIC. I honestly can't say enough good things about it.

WEDDING: First of all, air transat upgraded us to first class flying, because we had a good size group (44), which was really cool. In regards to your wedding dress, they will not take it on the plane, so you either pack it yourself, or have it wrapped in a box to check as luggage. When we arrived at the resort we had also been upgraded to the VIP area in the resort. (I was told after so many ppl booked you automatically get VIP at the resort). Anyway, we were booked in villa 66, which was by far the best villa in my opinion. It was ocean view and the closest villa to the ocean. It was really neat waking up to the sound of the waves, and sitting on the balcony. We were also overlooking the wedding location too, so that was nice as we got to see other weddings set up etc. before ours.

PAPERWORK: when we checked in, we found an envelope left from the wedding coordinator Karla, requesting we meet her the next morning at 10:30. When i was contacting the wedding coordinators via email, i received replies from several different people. At first i got emails from Fernanda, and Martina, and then the last month before our trip, i was getting replies from Karla. We went to the reception area to meet Karla, and as mentioned in other emails, they work on mexican time, don't expect them to be on time. (Even though every other service at the resort was on time). We waited about 15 minutes and still nothing, so we got the front desk to page her and she finally came at 11:30. She apologized, and proceeded to tell us that the wedding the day before gave her a bad cheque, and that they are short staffed so they are very busy. So I understood, but at that same time.....not my fault. I had asked her about martina and fernanda, and she told me they were no longer at the resort. I was a little frustrated but whatever not a big deal. I had previously emailed her and let her know that our witnesses wouldn't be there until after us, so we finished what paperwork we could, and had to meet her again monday morning with our witnesses and their info. So again, we show up at 9:30 monday morning at her request, and paged her, and she was 45 minutes late this time, which made me mad because she's not just wasting our time, but our guests as well. So then we were finished with the paperwork portion, but the photocopier on the akumal side doesn't print good enough so she had to keep our passports and we had to go back the next day to pick them up.

DAY BEFORE WEDDING: I requested to have my dress steamed and my own wedding music at the ceremony. Karla had instructed me to leave my dress on my bed the day before the wedding and someone would pick it up to have it steamed. I hadn't talked to her since monday, so i finally called her on wednesday afternoon to ask her when she was going to get my wedding music, so she told me to leave it at the front desk, which was fine. Also by 4:00 my dress still hadn't been picked up for steaming, but i just called the front desk and they had someone pick it up asap. We didn't want the big wedding extravaganza, so we didn't have a rehearsal or rehearsal dinner or anything.

WEDDING DAY: My dress was returned to my room by noon carried in by 2 staff, one holding the train up in the back, it was very nice. I had a hair appointment booked at the spa, i was booked in with a lady, and i gave her pictures of what i wanted, not expecting it to be perfect, but quite honestly she wasn't very good and really quite snotty, and she didn't listen to what i asked her, and i think i was very polite about it. She kept saying yes, but she never changed what she was doing, so i finally just quit asking, but she basically greased my hair to my head in the front which i did not like at all, but i decided just to get out of there and fix it myself. This is where i made my mistake because other brides had recommended booking victor and i didn't specify him, and now i would stress to anyone getting your hair done, please ask for him. I had brought some clips etc, to put in my hair, but because i was frustrated by the end of the appt, i just said i would do it in my room myself. Well victor came over and he was so nice, and he wanted to put them in and he reassured me it would be OK, and if i still didn't like it then i could put them in myself. But as everyone else told me, he was fantastic, both in personality and skill. The back of my hair looked good, it was just the front i had to fix, it was basically glued right to my head. So i managed to pull it out and fix it a bit on my own. I still wasn't 100% happy, but i'm probably a little picky about my hair. Bottom line though, get victor. Also the hair appt. costs 80USD and a nail repair is 10USD.

Our wedding was scheduled at 3:00, which i highly recommend, as again in "mexican time", we weren't picked up until 3:30. We were ready to go by 2:45, and we could see everyone on the beach waiting around. During the signing of the papers, we had music play, and the person playing the music didn't have it hooked up properly so the song kept cutting out, which was a little annoying, but not the end of the world. We also had outside spectators which was fine from a distance, but there was one guy who came right into the wedding, and sat on the rock ledge at the front right beside my uncle who was videoing, i could acutally look right at him from where i was standing, and then he ran into us later and bragged to us that he was there at our wedding, like we were supposed to be complimented or something. You may want to get ppl in your group to set up a perimeter keeping non-wedding guests out. Anyway, at 3ish, there is a cool breeze that blows off the ocean. Like mine wedding, and every wedding we saw after was always running late. We watched a wedding one day that didn't start until 4:30, and they ran out of sun for their pictures. It gets dark at 5:30. We had a photographer in our group, so he took our pictures, we did ocean pictures and we moved to another location of trees behind the seafood restaurant along the path and took pictures there, which i think turned out great. We also did some fun pictures, sitting on a beach chair, dipping feet in the pool, which looks neat. We only took probably an hour to do the pictures, but again, if your wedding is later, you'll run into dark.

Our reception was at the Arlequin restaurant, and i cannot brag enough how good the food and especially the service was. They were all over us, pulling one plate out and putting another down. We had also requested just a wedding cake and no dessert. We got the vanilla, and it was without a doubt the best cake i have ever had. We had several ppl in our group comment on how good the service and the cake was. We rented the disco for the evening because i thought it would be nice when you have a group. The DJ was 20 minutes late, and when i'm paying 170 USD per hour, i want to start on time. We had fun, but we also saw other wedding groups throughout our 2 weeks who just went to the live music bar and joined the disco at midnight, and they looked like they had a great time. Unless you have a really big group, i wouldn't bother renting the disco.

Our wedding day went extremely smooth, we all thoroughly enjoyed it, and we weren't going to complain about anything until... we got a call 3 days after our wedding from a mexican waiter at the arlequin restaurant where we had our reception. He couldn't speak very good english, but he got the point across that our wedding documents were there. We didn't think too much about it as we thought we just misunderstood him. However my husband went to check it out. Sure enough, our official, legal wedding documents were at the restaurant. This is when we got mad. We called the wedding supervisor, to find out what was going on. We told her what happened, asking who took them there, that we knew nothing about it. So because it was sunday, we called her back the next day, and sure enough,she found out that the coordinator had dropped our documents off at the restaurant, but didn't tell anyone. To me these are like a passport, i kind of thought they would be sent to our room or handed directly to us. So hadn't this guy had called us on it, we would have never known where they were. What if someone had thrown them away? Because of this the supervisor gave us a dinner on the tulum side which we normally didn't have access to, which was nice. We were still a little mad, but we just left it at that.

In the end i can't say a bad thing about this resort vacation wise. I don't know if i recommend having a wedding here right now, even though i have nothing else to compare it to. I understand they work on mexican time, but being late twice? Dropping my papers off at a restaurant? No one called us to ask us how the wedding was, to settle the bill, nothing. I was very happy with the day itself, but they are very short staffed and a little unorganized in the wedding department right now, and it showed. They did take money off our final bill, so we did leave fairly satisfied. Hadn't the day itself gone great, i don't know if i would have been. Maybe in a year from now when they are fully staffed again, this would be the best place to be married, we did have a great day, but for now i would say keep it as a consideration, but look around.

I wanted to write a review of my wedding experience at the Bahia Principe Akumal Resort in Riviera Maya Mexico being that this website was such a huge help with planning my wedding. Dawn and Susan’s reviews were such a huge help in my decision and they were great with getting back to me when I emailed them with additional questions.

Now that the holidays are over and life has slowed down a bit I am finally able to sit down and write about my experience at the BPA resort in Riviera Maya Mexico.

My husband and I had never been to this part of Mexico but had heard so many great things about the Yucatan Peninsula with the white sand beaches and the Caribbean water that we knew that was the perfect place to exchange our vows. We had a pretty large wedding party, 60 total people, flew to Cancun Airport from all around the USA for our wedding on Friday November 12, 2004. The planning started shortly after we got engaged in Los Cabos Mexico in November 2003.

I did a great deal of research on beach weddings and narrowed it down to the Mayan Riviera. I had initially contacted a travel agent locally in Denver, CO, but quickly realized that standard travel agents are not accustomed to booking such large groups and don't have a lot of the same access/rates that wholesale travel agencies would have. So I did a lot of research on the internet and located a wholesale travel agency: Vacations International (1-866-925-9408 toll free) /email vacationsintl@earthlink.net and Rudy Mees was the travel consultant that took care of everything. We had guests would be traveling from the east and west coasts and everywhere in between so we needed someone that could accommodate all of that.

Why we picked the BPA:

*It’s a mega resort and could therefore accommodate ‘late-bookers’ and people could spread out among the BPA or visit the BPT and use services on both sides
*All-inclusive (food/drink), and was affordable for all guests
*Nightly entertainment for hotel guests and for kids
*Kids club/activities for kids during the day (that was a must because we have many nieces and nephews)
*They will only have 1 wedding per day unless it has been authorized by the 1st bride/groom that it is ok to have another wedding that same day. (BPT and BPA are considered separate resorts).

After deciding on the resort, I emailed Rudy a list of all the guests we were inviting with their departing locations. In turn, he priced package deals with RT airfare, hotel cost, transportation to/from hotel/airport, and all taxes and fees from all departing locations nationwide. With that, I located an invitation company on-line (www.psaessentials.com) and ordered ‘save the date’ cards and magnets. In the envelope I included a card that I made pricing a total cost for a 7-day package from where the guest would be departing from. This allowed guests to plan several months in advance and to contact Rudy directly to book their trip.

Rudy has worked on many occasions with the staff at the BPA so he put me in direct contact with the wedding coordinators at the resort: Kathrin, Angeles, Martina, and Fernanda. The majority of the contact I had with the wedding coordinators was with Martina and Fernanda via email. They were extremely attentive and were understanding that this happens once in a lifetime and that every bride wants things to be as perfect as possible. I asked literally a million questions and they would always reply with in 24-48 hrs and would say, “Let me know if you have any other questions…” I had asked about set menus and they emailed me all of the menus that I was able to choose from to pick the menu. They confirmed everything over email and no deposits were needed. Everything was just charged to the bride and groom’s room bill upon checkout. I was even planning on ordering set menu place cards but Fernanda told me that they typically do that so I left that up to the resort and they were perfect. They were rolled up and placed on everyone’s place setting at the dinner.

Photography was another must that had to be booked early on. After reading all the reviews I knew that I wanted to have Claudia Rodriguez do the photography for our wedding. She was amazing! We opted for the largest still photography package and the pictures turned out amazing. Claudia met us at the honeymoon resort the following week and delivered all the photos (about 250 4x6 that she put in a photo album), as well as the enlargements and all the negatives. I cannot say enough about Claudia’s services—it was truly amazing.

One to two months prior to arrival Fernanda would again confirm the wedding date, number of guests, set menu, restaurant, if we wanted live music at the wedding ceremony, Rancherita Disco (for reception after the wedding), full names, etc… In addition to confirming all of that, I faxed all the documents to Fernanda in Mexico to be sure that we had everything necessary. (Our travel agent told us that a prior wedding took place there and the medical certification was not completed and so the wedding was not valid in the US). So needless to say, I made sure I had all the proper documents. For US bride and groom must have valid US passport, birth certificate (with parent’s names listed) with an apostille attached (and it must be translated into Spanish and typed and signed/dated by the translator), and the Mexican Tourist Card that you receive when you are on the plane to Mexico. For US residents, you can order a certified copy of your birth certificate from the Vital Statistics website. After receiving the birth certificates, you need to send them to the Secretary of States Office in the State you were born and they will attach an apostille (a document certifying that the notary who notarized the birth certificate is in fact a notary). I would allow AT LEAST THREE MONTHS so that you are not rushed with getting all of this done.

We arrived at the Cancun Airport on Saturday November 6, 2004, and the wedding was the following Friday November 12, 2004. Guests arrived during that week before on different days and we knew everyone’s flight schedules so we could meet and greet everyone upon their arrival and give them their welcome bags that we made. It is quite a long journey by bus to the resort because the BPA is pretty far down on the Mayan Riviera from Cancun. We were so pleased upon arrival because the lobby was just absolutely amazing (the pictures on the website don’t do it justice). The staff had mimosas lined up at one of the tables in the lobby and we were greeted with a very warm welcoming by the entire staff. We had not problems checking in at all at the hotel. There were some people in our group who had booked through different vendors (Apple Vacations vs. Fun Jet) based on the city in the US they were departing from. The guests who were Apple Vacations were “gold club members” and so they had to check-in at a different lobby at the resort and they were also allotted more ‘ala carte’ dinner tickets. That was the only discrepancy.

We made contact with Fernanda on Sunday and sat down with her and discussed the plans for the wedding. We were able to choose the wedding location, flowers, and book spa appointments. We also made a date later in the week with meet with her with the 4 witnesses and all of their documents. We went and did the blood work that day as well and it was $140 versus $100 because the blood work was done onsite as opposed to going into Playa del Carmen to get it done. My husband absolutely hates needles, but everything was sterile and there were no problems at all.

Thursday November 11, 2004

In lieu of doing a rehearsal dinner (that is not a tradition in Mexico) we chartered an 85-foot catamaran for a snorkeling sunset cruise for about six hours off the coast. We had planned this well in advance after reading Sue Dyson’s review. We booked this through Paradise Tours with Kim Gill (office@paradisetours.info). Kim was so responsive and took care of all the details. We had an open bar, which wasn’t opened until after the snorkeling portion, and we had sandwiches and snacks prepared for us by the company. Everyone had such an amazing time. I sent out invitations in advance with response cards so we would know an exact number of guests because they charge a base rate for chartering the boat and then a PP rate for the open bar and food.

Friday November 12, 2004—Wedding Day

Greg and I had treated our mother’s to Caribbean massages and I had treated my wedding party (3) to French manicures and I had my fingers and toes done. I opted not to have my hair done at the resort, instead I had practiced a simple up-do with my hairdresser in Denver and my mother was able to practice with me the day of the wedding and she did my hair for the wedding. My maid of honor did my makeup and the girls in the wedding had their hair down and just put a bobby pin in their hair with a flower attached. (Prior to heading to Mexico I went to an arts and crafts store and bought faux off-white colored flowers and then glue-gunned them to the end of bobby pins). We had 2 flower girls and 1 ring bearer and so we had ordered flower petals for the girls’ flower baskets. We were also able to get our dresses and Greg’s suit and the groomsmen outfits steamed for the wedding. They we supposed to pick it up on Thursday morning, but we arrived back from the catamaran trip and the clothes were still on the bed! We called Fernanda and she took care of everything.

The wedding was scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m. so Fernanda had the flowers arrive at my room at 1:30 p.m. and sure enough they were all there. We had ordered extra flowers for the ceremony site and those were all delivered there and setup, but she had the boutonnieres, corsages, bouquets, and flower petals delivered to my room.

There was a delay with our arrival to the ceremony site because the little golf cart that is supposed to pick of the bride, father of the bride, bridesmaids, maid of honor, flower girls, and ring bearer did not arrive until 4:30 p.m. so we were late and we were rushing through pictures after the wedding because the sun was setting. I would recommend starting the wedding at like 3:45 p.m. because things are just done at a slower pace in Mexico.

We had a live mariachi band play as I walked done the isle, and from what people tell me, they were playing beforehand as well. The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes and then we had a toast of champagne on the beach and then we went onto the rocks for pictures. Our dinner was at the Dolce Vita and was scheduled at 6:30 p.m. It was just amazing. We cut the cake and did toasts at the dinner and then at 8:30 p.m. we left the restaurant, headed to the front lobby and waited for the trolley cart to pick us up for the Rancherita Disco. We had the first dance, bouquet and garter tosses at the Rancherita. Everyone had such a great time. At 11:45 p.m. they closed the bar for 15 min or so to clean before opening the club for the public at midnight. We all stayed there until they re-opened the bar and partied with resort guests.

When we arrived back to our room that night (early a.m.) our room was decorated with flowers, a chilled bottle of champagne and a chocolate cake.

This was truly a dream come true and we plan to go back to the BPA for years to come. Many people who have gone to all-inclusive resorts complain about the food and say that the drinks were ‘watered down’, but that was far from the experience we had. The food was amazing and there was such a variety to please everyone’s taste. The service was outstanding and the resort accommodations were exceptional.

Feel free to email me if you have any other questions, please write BPA in the subject line. elcarp3@hotmail.com

My husband and I recently got married at the Bahia Principe Akumal on November 19, 2004. After reading Tyler & Julia's review, it would be hard to put things in to words better than they did but I will still share our experience.

Resort Selection:
In the spring of 2004 I was thrilled to find Debbie's Carribean Resort Reviews since I really had no idea how to begin searching for a resort for the wedding. After reading all of the reviews, I had narrowed it down to the Palladium and the Bahia Principe Akumal. The final decision maker was 2 comments made by others which were that the Palladium charges for each guest at the reception and the photos of the Bahia Principe Akumal on certain websites did not give it justice. Thus, the Bahia Principe Akumal it was.

Contacting the Resort Wedding Planner:
Luckily with all of the resort reviews, I was able to find the website address to begin the process. The e-mail address is: grupostulum@tulum.bahia-principe.com and website address is: www.bahia-principe.com. All I did was send them an email to let them know that I was interested in having my wedding at their resort and sent them a wish list of a few dates. I received an email back advising me that all of the dates I'd chosen had been booked already so I had to look through my calender to find others. This is a very busy resort for weddings, so the sooner you figure out what you want to do and book with them, the better off you will be. What you need to keep in mind is that you (and your witnesses) must be in Mexico for three working days prior to getting married - so if you arrive on Saturday, you won't be able to get married until the Thursday.

1. The Wedding Planner will send you a package advising of all prices, what is included and what you are expected to provide. You may initially be assigned to one wedding planner throughout or deal with 2-3. I spoke with Martina, Fernanda and Karla. Once at the resort, I had been assigned to Karla - she was great!
2. After providing our names and the resort requested (Akumal or Tulum), we were then advised that a file had been opened in our names. The Wedding Planner sent us a questionnaire with the following questions:
Which Resort: Akumal or Tulum; Full names of Bride and Groom; Date of Ceremony - Civil or Religious; Name of Tour Operator; Arrival/Departure Date; Time of Wedding; Number of people + their names (to arrange rooms); Restaurant to have dinner at (if at Akumal you have a choice of one of the 3 A-La-Carte Restaurants, unless your group is over 17 people then you will go to La Dolce Vita - but choose a set menu from one of the three restaurants at Akumal); Dinner Hour; Kind of Music (CD or additional cost for live music) and do you want to rent La Rancherita (disco bar).
3. Just before the Wedding date all details were confirmed by the Wedding Planner again.

Booking and Charter Company:
We booked with Air Transat through Discount Travel Warehouse in Vancouver. The reason for choosing this Travel Warehouse is that they are 'no frills' and offer 10% off the prices that you see in all Charter Company brochures (ie. Air Transat, Signature etc..). We did not get an additional group rate as Discount Travel Warehouse already provides such a large discount. I have used this company for various vacations since 1999 and they have proved to be trustworthy.

Air Transat - We flew from Vancouver International Airport on November 14th, 2004 and only ran into one problem which was the 'wedding dress' issue. I won't go into too many details but since it was a 'warm' wedding, my wedding dress was very thin and was in a garment bag. When I got to the airport I requested to hang it up in the plane possibly in the closet where the crew would keep their coats but was told that was not possible. The agent offered to put my dress in the 'fragile' section instead. When I arrived in Cancun, I found my garment bag in a ball on a baggage carrousel under a very large/heavy suitcase. The bag had been gouged in various area and had a long streak of dirt on the back. Fortunately, I had wrapped my wedding dress in plastic drycleaning bags prior to putting it in the garment bag - so the only damage were a few beads and stitches pulled off - which I was able to fix.
My point - If you choose Air Transat, be sure to pre-arrange your weddding dress details and bring a sewing kit just in case.

Photos
After reading the amazing reviews on those who had used Claudia Rodrigez before, I decided that since my photos would be so important, I wanted to be sure that they would be well done and that was the one thing I was willing to pay a little extra for. I checked out Claudia's and wrote to her. Claudia was absoloutly wonderful from the start. She was so helpful in providing little tips to us even prior to our arrival in Mexico. For more information on my review, please see her website. Anyone who has seen our photos have all mentioned what a great job the photographer did. Our DVD and Special Highlights were also amazing. The Special Highlights was a last minute decision - but the best decision. It is the perfect thing to show anyone who wasn't there and only lasts about 5 minutes (or 2 songs).

The Resort
We arrived at The Bahia Principe Akumal on November 14th, 2004 and I was amazed by how beautiful the resort was. We were greeted at the door with Champage and orange juice while we waited to check ourselves in. Since many of our relatives were from Saskatchewan and Ontario, they had already arrived the day before and were waiting in the Lounge for us. The staff were always very polite and would go out of their way to ensure we had whatever we needed.

The Bahia Principe is a huge resort which is almost in a Triangle. On the waterfront is the Tulum Resort & the Akumal Resort and between them both near the highway is La Hacienda. Tulum and Akumal are about a 5 minute walk on the beach, 15 minute walk on the roadway, or 5 minute trolley ride (which comes approximately every 15 minutes). You can catch a different train to La Hacienda which also comes about every 15 minutes. La Hacienda is pretty great as well - it is the Resort's own shopping center. It is quiet, clean and has a photo shop, internet cafe, La Rancherita Disco, Sports Bar, Pharmacy, Doctor and numerous shops. The Sports bar is mainly open outside which tables and chairs everywhere and a band that plays in the evening where you can dance. After the Sports Bar closes, La Rancherita opens until about 2am. Because it is part of the resort, all drinks are included.

Both the Tulum and the Akumal resort were so beautiful, between the Lobby, Restaurants, Lounges, Pool and Beach. The washrooms were very clean as was the rest of the resort. I don't think I could put it's beauty and quality into words - it was immaculate. There is a 24 hour snack bar at both resorts where you can continuously order drinks, pizza, ribs, fries, tacos, hamburgers and hotdogs all day and night.

There are various places closeby to visit such as the town of Tulum, Xel Ha and Playa Del Carmen. You can can take the Collectivo (a large white van) into Tulum for 15 pesos each and Playa Del Carmen for 20 pesos each. We took a cab to Xel Ha for $8USD.

Wedding Planner
The next day it was pre arranged that we would meet our Wedding Planner, Karla, in the lobby at 1100am. We were requested to bring our witnesses (2 for the bride and 2 for the groom), with our Tourist Cards (that you receive at the airport) and passports. We also had to provide our Birth Certificates translated into Spanish. Please remember that both you and your witnesses must be in Mexico for 3 working days before your wedding. We had actually not heard of this until we were approached by another couple, Tyler & Julia, advising that there guests would not be arriving in time to satisfy those dates - so they requested that we be their witnesses. Although it worked out great that we were able to meet another couple, I would imagine they might have felt a little stressed at that time. While with Karla, she showed us photos of flowers and later brought us to the ceremony location, which was right on the beach in a more private area. We were advised that my husband, the groomsmen and guests arrive 15 minutes prior to the ceremony start time and I, with my bridesmaids, would be picked up at my room with a Trolley and taken to the Ceremony location. Karla gave us a slip of paper and told us that we could see the doctor in La Hacienda at the resort to have our blood taken.

Karla arranged ahead of time to have my dress, the bridesmaids dresses and my husbands suit to be picked up for steaming. The Resort did a great job with that.

I brought my own CD for our Wedding Music. The resort played the Wedding March for our first song and I had three others that I requested they play for the downtime while we signed the papers and when the ceremony was over.

The blood test cost $140USD for the two of us and although I did not have a bad experience, they could not seem to find the vein in my husband's arm and ended up squirting his blood all over his arm. He had a bruise on his arm for the entire two weeks that we were there. Really, this was not a big deal - it's just something that we now look back and laugh about.

The Wedding Day
I spent the night with my bridesmaids and my husband stayed in our room the night before the wedding. We just arranged in advance not to be in the same place at the same time for breakfast and planned that he would be out of the room 2 hours prior to the wedding so that I could get ready. I had my hair done by Victor at the Salon and he did a really nice job. He told me that he has 15 years experience and it shows. My flowers did not arrive at the room until a little later than we were expecting and the groomsmen were calling over every few minutes looking for them - not a big deal at the end of the day. Claudia arrived at my room for 'getting ready' photographs and video. She arrived right on time and was always patient and helpful.

Once our guests were ready at Ceremony Site, Karla called my room to tell me that they would be on their way to pick us up. Our Ceremony start time was at 3pm and the trolley took a few additional Mexican minutes to show up. We did not have a rehersal so really just guessed as to who would go where, when we arrived at the site - it made it fun - but if you are concerned about that you may wish to make a plan ahead of time.

The Ceremony was beautiful and the JP was really nice. While she was speaking to us in Spanish, she looked at us the entire time. Karla did the translation after the JP finished what she was saying. We had to give a thumb print while signing the papers which was unexpected but fun for the photos and DVD.

At the end we all just walked to an area behind the Ceremony location, had Champagne and took Photos.

Claudia and her husband have been to that resort so often that they organized us and took us everywhere that they knew would be great. Again, our photos and video were amazing.

While we were waiting for the reception, our group just went to the Snack Bar for a few drinks and to socialize. When it was time for dinner, they were completely organized and we just walked in and sat down. The dinner was really good and the Maitre D had a funny tradition he made us do with Tequila when we were done eating.

We did not rent La Rancherita but had everyone go to the Lounge where they play Live Music everynight and have a dance floor. I guess the Wedding Dress gave away the fact that we just got married, so the band played us a cute 1st dance song. Although there were other people around from the resort, the Lounge was still very beautiful, relaxed and we all had a great time.

When we got back to our room, there was Champagne on our little table in our room and our Marriage Certificate was laying on our bed.

The 1st night after the Wedding, they also sent someone to decorate our table with a table cloth, napkins, Champagne and a cute chocolate Cake.

Overall
We and all of our guests had a wonderful holiday and great time at the wedding. Some of our guests told us that it is the best trip they have ever been on. For me, it was hands down my best trip ever (besides the wedding) and I still find myself wishing I were back there. I could not find enough wonderful things to say about the Bahia Principe Akumal/Tulum, their staff or their Wedding Planner Karla. It was everything I had hoped it would be! The food was great both in the Buffet and A La Carte Restaurant. The only problem was during a certain time of the day - they would be lacking on beach towels - and if that's all that one can complain about, then you are pretty well off.

Suggestions
If you are thinking of having your wedding in Mexico try to remember the following:
- You are on Mexican time, everything happens slower there than anywhere else
- If you are high maintenance, you may be disappointed - it is Mexico, they have certain ways of doing things at the resort and given the language barrier if you ask for something they aren't expecting - you might not get it.
- if you are looking to have a great time, relax and let someone else do everything for you - this is the place to go
- don't forget the in Mexico your body plumbing may either get backed up or work a little more than you'd like - bring the appropriate remedies
- if you have guests at both the Tulum and Akumal Resort, try to see if you can get them a different wrist band which allows them to eat at the Buffets in both resorts - otherwise they only time you can eat with your guests at the other resort is when you book an A La Carte together.
Requirements (copied directly from the information provided by the Bahia Principe)
1. VALID PASSPORT, drivers license will not be accepted by the official.
2. BIRTH CERTIFICATE and the translation into Spanish; the birth certificate should show also the names of the parents of the couple.
3. DIVORCE PAPERS or DEATH CERTIFICATE and the translation in Spanish. The copy of the original document has to have an Apostille.
4. TOURIST CARD (Clients get this card upon arriving to Mexico).
5. BLOOD TESTS (Sexually Transmitted diseases – VDRL, HIV, Blood Type) and MEDICAL CERTIFICATION. It is recommended to get these papers done here in Mexico (cost aprox. 50,-- USD per person) as soon as they are not valid after 15 days. If you bring these papers from outside of Mexico, you will need an Apostille, they are not valid after 15 days and have to be translated into Spanish.
6. FOUR WITNESSES: two for the bride and two for the groom with passport, drivers license will not be accepted by the official. The parents of bride and groom cannot be witnesses. The witnesses have to be older than 18 years.

** All the translations have to be done by computer or typewriter, not handwritten. They have to show the name and signature of the person who did the translation.**

Hello Debbie:

We just got married at the Bahia Principe Akumal resort in the Mayan Riviera on Wednesday, November 10, 2004. We had about 46 people in total join us from Vancouver, 2 from Prince George, we were very fortunate! Everyone could not believe how beautiful the resort was. Pictures cannot do it justice. Fernanda Nino, our wedding coordinator did an amazing job. We had been corresponding with her via email for over a year and she answered all my questions promptly. The spa services were wonderful, even though they do not speak much English. I had 4 bridesmaids and their hair and make-up were stunning. They took extra care of me with my hair and make-up and I was very impressed. We were not happy that the blood test cost $140 US for two instead of $100 for two. Apparently, this has been misadvertised so I would check on this before you get married or contact the resort so you know the costs ahead of time. It is a very simple procedure that is done at the resort. It was a bit painful for me, but I think that is because they do have the best techniques with taking blood. It isn't that bad. The wedding day was seamless except that it poured rain at 2pm but cleared up right away before we took pictures. After that, we had amazing weather for pictures, clouds, winds, sun. We got married at 4:30pm so we had to take pictures before it got dark (In November it gets dark around 5:15pm). The photographer we hired was Claudia Rodriguez and she takes the most amazing pictures. She is very thorough, efficient and professional. She is the person to hire if you get married in Mexico. Her shots were very unique and candid. I have a photojournalism educational background so I was highly impressed. Back to the ceremony, the music was played perfectly, champagne was served right after. (I recommend ordering champagne right after, it is a really nice touch) There were no glitches, we were so lucky! The judge and wedding coordinator did an awesome job with the spanish/english translations. They had a microphone so everyone could hear the ceremony. There were even rose petals in the sand. Our reception was at the Dolce Vita (Italian) and the service was great! They made a special menu list for us and each guest. It listed everything we were eating that night. You do need to pick this in advance. (Usually the day before the wedding they will ask you) We used shots glasses with our names on them as our favours and they set those up in front of each place setting in advance. Before dinner, they made us do tequila shots off each other which was really cool. We didn't eat our cake but it looked good, we were on our way to the LaRancherita disco for dancing after the dinner so we didn't have enough time as we rented the disco from 9-11pm. I would highly recommend renting this out $300 US I believe so you can do your dancing. There is no other place to do this for a large party and it is really fun. We brought our own CD collection as they do not really have that great of a selection. The disco only really plays Rave music so bring your own. As for the legalization, you need to only get the short form of your Canadian birth certificate translated into spanish. Approx. $100 for 2. I do recommend getting it apostilled by the Mexican Consulate ($50 Cdn)It is good to have just in case. We got our marriage certificate the day after the wedding and we need to find out how to make it legal in Canada. That is something I am working on. Also, we didn't find it necessary to have a rehearsal dinner.

We are from Penticton BC Canada and we were just married Jan 25/07 at The Grand Palladium Colonial, total attending guests was 37 (26 on site & 11 off site), we just returned on Saturday the 27th. The end result of our ceremony was beautiful; however, I wanted to share our experience to help any future brides with knowing what to expect.

We arrived on the Saturday and didn't marry until Thursday. Upon our check in we did get the notice from Rocio to meet her on Monday to go over the final details and get our blood work. Prior to arriving, I was under the impression that during our meeting she would physically take us to the ceremony sites and would review how the ceremony would be done etc., this did not happen, we had to choose from pictures on the computer and the meeting was quite short and to point. So if you have the opportunity, check out the ceremony sites prior to your meeting - we did choose the spot on the White Sands beach, which was beautiful and was very close to the beach bar and bathrooms, but we never had the chance to even check out the other choices until it was to late. After the ceremony we gathered briefly with our guests, then did photos on the beach, and then met with everyone at the white sands beach bar for snacks and drinks.

We had our dinner at the Tikal Buffet and then gathered at the Grand Azul (pool bar) for dancing & throwing the bouquet & garter, which worked out fine, but again prior to arriving we were never really informed properly on the other options. They will serve your drinks at the Tikal but the only alcohol available here was wine or beer, and the service seemed to be slow (especially for beer, the wine was easier because they would just bring the bottles out and refill at the tables). We saw that other wedding parties had theirs all at the Grand Azul, with more information we more than likely would have choose this instead; however, I'm not sure on what the cost would have been. The cake was done very nicely and tasted excellent and the food at the buffet was pretty good. We did our speeches at the Tikal, they wouldn't provide a mike due to being in the restaurant and the back noise was pretty load, but it worked out nicely - they had us sectioned in one of the outsets of the restaurant and it was semi private.

After dinner, speeches, and cutting the cake we headed over to the Grand Azul (pool bar), which is right next-door. Then around midnight, after dancing to the band and partying at the Grand Azul which was a ton of fun, we went to the Disco to see if they would play our actual first dance, which they did and we also had a few other dances here, but the disco is very load and the atmosphere not so great especially for the older crew so our time here was very short and a lot people dispersed right away - but by this time we were ready to call it a night anyways.

Rocio was a nice lady, and maybe my expectations were to high, but I felt that she wasn't as attentive as she could have been. So, please keep in mind that yes she does her job well, but do not have your expectations to high and be as prepared as possible for your meeting with her and to get a hold of her after could be very difficult (there were a lot of other wedding this week which may have been a factor). For example, I wanted the tables at the restaurant to have assigned seating, so all I asked was that they set up four tables in a very simple layout with a certain amount of seats per table and I would then get my sister to do the rest - well this had to be approved by the Tikal restaurant and Rocio couldn't confirm this until the night before. There were a couple of things like this that I needed to get clarification on and it took me all of Tuesday & Wednesday to finally get a hold of her to confirm; also, even on things that she said no problem too during our meeting were not properly followed through with. I felt that a simple phone call on maybe the Wednesday morning and on the morning of the ceremony would have alleviated a ton of stress from me. In the big scheme of things these were minor complications, but when you're a new bride and somewhat in a state of disarray it just seemed to compile on the stress, which I felt could have been avoided.

The resort itself was great; some staff was definitely better than others, but mostly pretty good. Keep in mind that everyone is very nonchalant and they don't seem to pick up the pace for anything. Because the resort is so big that if you have two-way radio's to take this may help. We had our radios, but they weren't working properly because the batteries were faulty; we definitely would have used them all week if they had worked. I guess the main thing to remember, is that your in Mexico, and they have a very very laid back attitude whether you're a bride to be or not.

Doing your hair - the humidity is VERY thick, all the girls in my group said that their hairspray didn't seem to work at all (expensive or cheap stuff, didn't make a difference). The friend that did my hair for the wedding used ICE mist, which did hold a little bit. I suggest to have you hair pulled back into a nice bun, and not to count on hair spray or product to hold a fancy updo with curls. My hair did seem to get curly because I have a bet of natural curl, but a lot of the girls in our group had a hard time with their hair regardless of what they tried.

All of our guests had a great time, and a lot are planning to return to the resort so in the end it did turn out great. My word of advise is that if you're in a group don't worry about what the others are doing they can take care of them selves, be prepared to not get your questions answered immediately, take things in stride. I believe that it wouldn't have mattered where we were in regards to dealing with the laid back attitude of Mexico and yes Rocio is good but don't leave your meeting with unanswered questions or be prepared not to get them answered until the very last minute.

We were married June 8 at the Grand Palladium and it truly was the wedding of our dreams. Forty-seven of our friends stayed with us at the resort and then we had other friends join us the day of the wedding so we had 68 guests. They upgraded us to the Mayan Suite and the room was incredible - complete with an outdoor shower that I used every day instead of the regular shower. The staff were so friendly and accommodating. The day that we arrived there was a letter in our room indicating what time we were to meet Rocio and have our blood test. I have a strong aversion to having blood taken but it went very smoothly and the doctor took our blood painlessly (and a very small amount). We then selected our choices for the wedding. The flower selection was excellent. Rocio pulled out a very large book to choose from and you could get any flowers that you wanted (from lilies to roses to more tropical flowers). I opted for pink roses as we had a more traditional type wedding and it went with the theme. We rented the Gran Azul for the wedding and could therefore select any dinner that we wanted from any of the restaurants across the resort. We had caesar salad to start, sweet potato/carrot soup, steak and then creme brule for our dessert and a wedding cake on top of that. The meal was excellent. I also ordered flower centerpieces for all of the tables and wrist corsages for our moms and mc and all of the flowers were exactly what we wanted. The Gran Azul looked beautiful and was very private. We had it set up with tables of 10 and Rocio also had candles on all of the tables.

I had my hair done earlier in the week for a trial as I was worried. It was only $40 and was well worth it. I was glad that I did do this as we worked out all of the bugs before the day of the wedding so that I could just relax. The woman who did my hair was wonderful - very patient as to understanding what I wanted and I was extremely happy with my hair. I highly recommend getting it all put up as it is incredibly hot and it is much neater for the pictures especially in the wind.

The day of my wedding, it rained. I was not concerned as the rain in Mexico seems to come and go and right before the wedding, it did clear. I had breakfast with my 4 bridesmaids and Glen had stayed over with his groomsmen. I then went to the hair salon around 10 am with two of my bridesmaids who swam in the pool at the spa while I had my hair done. We all got ready in my room which was a lot of fun. My parents arrived around 1 pm along with the photographer and I had photos done with them and my bridesmaids. We used Claudia Rodriguez and I would highly recommend her. We were to be married at 2 pm. The cart did not arrive until 2:15 pm to pick me up but I was not really concerned. Our plan was to have the wedding in the garden (very private) versus the beach but because it rained, they moved us to the Kantennah lobby overlooking the flamingos and waterfall and this was beautiful and we were not disappointed. Glen and I said our own vows during the ceremony and we were very glad that we did as it made our ceremony even more meaningful to us. We also had two of our friends do readings/poems and Rocio was very accommodating for this. We ended up doing pictures after the ceremony until 5:00 pm or so and then I went to check on the reception set up. Rocio had done an excellent job and I put out the decorations that I had brought with me and set up the tent cards as we had assigned seating.

The food was excellent. I did take me a few days to get used to it, but once I did I really enjoyed it. We had a group of 37 on our trip and no one got sick from the food... a few from drinking too much, but not one from the food. They also had lots of things that we are used to from home, like yogurt and boxed cereal, so if you are concerned about eating unfamiliar food, don't be!

I have read some reviews about the drinks being too weak.... we didn't have a problem with that. We didn't have any problems with mosquitos at night either.

The pool was also fantastic. I would recommend bring a pool noodle or some sort of floatation device if you are under 5'4". The water was over my head in most parts and there were many people asking me where to get a noodle like mine. We also had to air mattresses that conveniently held 18 drinks each that were given to us by another couple that were leaving. We returned the favour when we left and also left the air mattresses and our pool noodles for others to enjoy (plus more room in your suitcase for souvenirs!).

The staff at the resort was unbelievably helpful. Not one person was mean to any of our group... even when we were ordering 18 drinks at a time! I would also like to mention Ivan "Diesel", the train driver. He was such a good time! He drove us the long way around the resort just so we could go up and down the hills on the Riviera side. We saw him multiple times through out our trip and each time he was a riot! Jose at the Kantenah pool was also very accommodating to our group.

The water at the beach was a bit rough and we weren't able to do any snorkelling from the beach. We were always able to find beach loungers both at the beach and the pool. May is a good time to go to this resort because it isn't during high season. The beach was clean and we did enjoy it... my husband more than I because there were lots of topless women!

Overall we thought that the Palladium was top notch and we would definitely recommend it.

The wedding-
Rocio took care of everything for us. We chose to get married in the pavilion on the White Sands beach. We picked this location because there were no beach loungers around it and the beach bar is right beside it. It turned out to be a fairly hot day, so we were glad to have refreshments nearby and washrooms.

We met with Rocio 2 days after our arrival and made all of our decisions regarding flowers, location and dinner. After, we met the doctor in the Kantenah lobby and he took our blood samples. I have to admit that seemed a bit sketch... he took our blood in the lobby, where anyone could see. Everything seemed sterile enough and I wasn't worried, but that part did seem a little odd. Rocio was with us the whole time, so that made us feel better about it.

Wedding day- We spent the morning on the beach trying to relax. I wasn't too nervous and managed to eat some cheese fries from the beach bar, but my husband couldn't. About an hour before the wedding I left to get ready and found our flowers waiting in our room.

At 3pm sharp the golf cart arrived at our room to pick me, my mum and the bridesmaids up. After a short trip we were there. Everything looked stunning! Very white and blue. We requested not to have the red carpet because I felt that it was a bit too bold for the look we wanted.

Alberto, our photographer, was also there. We booked him through Claudia Rodriguez and he was amazing. I was a bit worried because I hadn't heard from him since leaving for Mexico, but everything went very smoothly. We also had a videographer that was book through Claudia. We haven't seen the video yet, so I can't comment on it (should be arriving shortly).

The ceremony was quick and simple like we wanted. All we had to say was, "I do". The JP guided us through the whole thing, which was very helpful. He spoke English as well, so it made the ceremony a bit quicker. He was very professional and made it a lot of fun. When asked if we had something special to say to each other we both just said, "no", which made everyone laugh. Neither one of us wanted to write our own vows so this was perfect!

After the ceremony we had champagne, mingled with our guests, then did some photos with Alberto and videographer by the salt water pool on the Riviera side. Pictures took about 1.5 hours. It was hot. I recommend bringing a small towel or tissues for the bride and groom to dry themselves off with. You don't want to look shiny or wet in your pictures! Also, bring water with you when you get your photos done so you don't dehydrate.

After pictures we met our guests in the White Sands lobby for some celebratory drinks. We also went to Churchill's (which is right off the lobby) to do some shots of tequila. First the women, then the men. We had a great time!

Following that we took a train ride with Ivan to the Kantenah lobby for our buffet dinner at Tikal. We are glad that we chose the buffet because it gave our guests more food options. It was also cheaper and there was no one else in there! We had our own private section and the staff served everything but the food (drinks, cake, etc...). And we could eat/drink at our leisure. It was fantastic and very relaxed.

Then we went to the Colonial lobby for more celebrating and then off to the disco around 11pm. We were exhausted but it was a lot of fun!

It really was the wedding day of our dreams and I'm certain that our guests enjoyed it as much, if not more, than we did. Rocio was super and took care of every detail. If you are booking a wedding at the Palladium in Mexico.... RELAX! You have made an excellent choice!

We are looking forward to going back to the Palladium next year for our anniversary, and hopefully every year after that!
Top of Page

The meal was booked for 8pm. To our surprise, we actually had the terrace at the Portofino restaurant. Rocio had kept it a secret. We were so ecstatic. It was a perfect ending to a fairytale wedding. The food was delicious. We were all absolutely stuffed and struggled to eat the wedding cake. It was definitely the nicest of the speciality restaurants. We had speeches before we cut the cake. A Mexican trio came along and played music for us for no charge. This just added to the romance of the setting. The terrace was empty barring our party. It was just so romantic. We had the chance to have a first dance in one of the restaurants after the main bamd had finished but we were all worn out and retired to our rooms. The final surprise came at the room. The maids had scattered red rose petals everywhere. On the floor, on the bed, in the jacuzzi, on the toilet etc. It was stunning. I would definitely recommend this location for a destination wedding. A sample of our wedding photos are on Sol Tamargo's website in her blog.(www.soltamargo.com/blog)
Top of Page

Thanks again for all of your help,

If you have any questions, you can email me at katwatt@sympatico.ca.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email me. rondeau_lise@hotmail.com
Top of Page

I would highly recommend a wedding there!
Top of Page