Petit Lafitte Reviews

We hosted our daughter’s wedding at Petit Lafitte in January 2025 after visiting a year earlier. I cannot say enough about how wonderful the entire experience was for our family and our guests. The property is intimate, pristine, and literally right on the beach. The entire PL staff are outstanding! Everyone, without exception, went out of their way to enhance our stay, both in ’24 and ’25. Because this is a small, family owned property, they can pay special attention to each guest. Many of the staff have been there for over a decade and clearly take pride in their services. Because of PL’s intimate size (55 rooms) we were able to host a buyout wedding for 110 guests. Andrea and Diana and the entire Wedding staff were exceptional. They were able to execute my daughter’s vision for her wedding perfectly and were extremely organized and flexible as this vision evolved. They managed multiple requests for entertainment and decor, as well as last minute changes due to travel snafus, rain, etc. Andrea deserves a special shout out for her tireless on-site management of our 3-day event. We had a balanced schedule of activities ranging from yoga and sound bath to beach volleyball and dancing. The ceremony in the jungle promenade was gorgeous.
A final note to illustrate just how special this place is. Our daughter and son-in-law live in Los Angeles, where the fires began raging the week before their wedding. After many frightening days they were forced to evacuate the area. Rather than evacuate locally, we contacted Andrea at Petit Lafitte and explained the situation. Long story short, although there was another buyout wedding that weekend, that bridal couple and Petit Lafitte graciously and generously hosted our daughter and son-in-law for several days before they had originally planned to arrive. This allowed them to regroup and recover a bit from the fires before their own wedding. The compassion shown by Andrea and the entire management staff, as well as this couple, was very much appreciated and we are forever grateful.

We can not say enough good things about Petit Lafitte. Andrea was an absolute delight to work with and made sure our dream wedding was everything we could have hoped for. We would absolutely recommend this if you're looking for the perfect beach wedding.

We had the most incredible wedding experience at Petit Lafitte in early 2024!

Details:
50 people including wedding party -
All guests stayed 4 nights:
Day 1: welcome party
Day 2: Wedding
Day 3: R&R Beach Day at Petit Lafitte
Day 4: Catamaran Tour
Day 5: Depart

We have heard from all our friends (5 of whom had their OWN weddings this year) that it was the best wedding they had ever attended.

I had known for many years that a destination wedding was the dream. My husband and I come from very small families with limited wedding experience, and have been together many years and felt a destination wedding would create enough time/space to spend quality time with people from different times of our lives. Having everyone in the same place for a few days was a dream come true. For context I am a type A planner and did so much research and also met with 3 wedding planners prior to making this decision!

We went down to the Rivera Maya 2x to scope out wedding venues and looked at about 18 places around Playa Del Carmen and Tulum (skipped Cancun completely since not our vibe). We looked at a variety of types of options: corporate resorts (felt too cookie cutter), separate venue+hotel options (too much coordination and very expensive), DIY options with renting a villa (too much work from afar) and a few boutique hotels which started to feel “just right.” I LOVED Tulum, which is full of boutique hotels and great vibes, but the list of cons was really hard to get past (cost, distance from airport, sound competition, “danger”).

Petit Lafitte offered the best of all worlds - My husband found this location initially and we had last minute “penciled it in” as a lower priority when researching what felt like 100s of places on line, because there were’t many reviews. Prior to seeing it in person, I was also very concerned about the rocks on the beach (this is actually a HUGE perk for photos and general vibes because there are no swimmers in view!!). We stayed one night on the initial trip, and my husband and I both thought it was “the one” - but we waited a few weeks to finalize the decision to do the wedding there. It was seamless meeting with the wedding team on zoom and actually really helpful to be able to have a chance to review all the numbers a few times. We planned everything online, and returned for a 4 night trip ~8 months later (6 weeks before the wedding) and then arrived 2 nights before all the guests.

The location is perfect - beach is beautiful and its idyllic being a distance from the hustle and bustle of playa del carmen (many hotels here are beautiful but unfortunately have a lot of noise), away from the big corporate feels of Cancun. Petit Lafitte captures many of the Tulum vibes with incredible lush jungle greenery, natural details throughout the entire property (especially within the main palapa and bungalows). Petit Lafitte also offered organic, fresh, delicious food, (food is SO GOOD!), fantastic yoga every day, fun live music, and it isn’t a “party” vibe, but the vibes are incredibly positive and fun. What you and guests get for the cost is also an incredible value.

Most importantly, we loved the people in the wedding department (along with all of the staff). Working with Diana and Andrea was wonderful each step of the way. It was important to me to have a team I could trust planning from afar. We felt incredibly well cared for each step of the way. I had the entire experience of a wedding planner and coordinator without hiring someone private. I looked forward to our zoom calls and they were both so open to hear all of my ideas and figuring out how we could make it happen. I would send pictures of things I found on Pinterest and literally they made my dreams come true. Andrea did an incredible job with my flowers, I felt completely star struck walking into my own wedding seeing how beautiful it was! The team is detail oriented, organized, and went above and beyond to make me feel so special. It was so reassuring to have Andrea there with me throughout the entire day of the wedding, she worked incredibly hard and the entire experience was a great success. I also used all of the vendors Petit Lafitte recommended (after vetting them) and they were great to work with, and it made it so much easier.

The welcome party was perfect and so easy to plan! We had a cocktail hour in the private room above the palapa (did speeches during this time), and then joined the full hotel for dinner. We arrived right when dinner started, so it felt like ~95% private event.

Wedding day was incredible top to bottom. We rented an extra bungalow and had some lounge furniture brought in- bridal party got ready here. Everything pre-ceremony went very smoothly, outside of getting a big behind on schedule (which was at no fault of Petit Lafitte). Ceremony in between the bungalows was beautiful and felt very private, despite being out at the beach. Pictures came out amazing. Reception was to die for, we did long tables and the food was incredible. We planned/ paid for an extended cocktail hour as well as extended reception which was 10000% worth it. Our wedding partied hard, and the bartenders and staff had so much fun with us. Dance floor was full all night. W Beach Day and Catamaran Tour days were wonderful. PLF helped us with the logistics.

Looking back, I am so grateful for Petit Lafitte and the entire team there. Special shout out to Luis (yoga instructor) who made my wedding day so beautiful with a dedicated session. We are counting down the days for our first anniversary trip, and plan to return for many years to come.

Few pieces of advice for anyone planning a destination wedding (especially for anyone used to the US Northern East Coast pace of things)
1. Tour a few different types of places to understand differences, quite different options compared to US (large resort vs boutique hotel etc)
2. Recognize the pace of Mexican wedding planning/venues/vendors/itineraries/ is different. Staying perfectly on a schedule is not the way of life for many. I received this advice from a wedding planner I had interviewed, and felt it was incredibly helpful perspective and consistently apparent among all the places we toured/considered. This is actually a huge advantage and adds to the relaxed and casual feel you want for your wedding vacation
3. Arrive at least 3 nights before your guests (4 would be better). We arrived 2 nights before and looking back, it felt a bit rushed at times with all the last minutes that come up (packing, being too excited to sleep, etc). Plan 2 hours every day to relax and connect with your partner. Petit Lafitte built this in for us with the different things they set up (private beach side dinner, sunrise intention setting session, women’s power session, and we did a group yoga the morning of the wedding). I would have never planned this 1-3 days before the wedding, but it was so so so valuable
4. Bring an extra dress to change into if you are having a beach wedding. Even if you don’t think you will wear it. Bring one just in case. The sand and salty air make any dress heavy. I LOVED my wedding dress, and was also so incredibly happy to be able to change into a new dress mid way through the reception. It wasn’t about having a “second look” but it was an opportunity to get refreshed after being out all day (I even took a 1 min shower!). This absolutely kept me partying and happy all night. (PS Don’t forget about wind when choosing a style!)

Celebramos nuestra boda el 6 de septiembre de 2024 y fue todo un acierto haberlo hecho en Petit Lafitte.

Desde que empecé a buscar la localización para celebrar nuestra boda destino y vi Pettit Lafitte en la web de Bodas.com fue amor a primera vista. Inicialmente contacté con Diana Navarrete para que nos facilitara sus opciones de celebración y conforme a nuestro número de invitados (100) este hotel se nos iba de presupuesto, por lo que decidimos ver otras opciones pero siempre volvíamos a ver sus fotos y seguía siendo nuestro favorito pues no queríamos un hotel gigante con todo incluido y este hotel es super auténtico así que volví a contactar con Diana y con unos ajustes conseguimos adecuarnos al presupuesto. Si bien tienes que aceptar que todo se contrate con sus proveedores, de los que tienes varias opciones, para mí fue extremadamente fácil dado que tener que contratar a cada proveedor desde Madrid habría resultado una locura y tanto el fotógrafo, Niccolo como el maquillaje y peluquería con May y el PhotoBooth resultaron excelentes.

Queríamos un hotel pequeño en el que disfrutar el fin de semana de la boda con nuestros invitados y nos dieron todas las facilidades posibles. Tuvimos un evento de bienvenida y dado que la cena y desayuno, absolutamente deliciosos, están incluidos en el alojamiento pudimos disfrutarlos con todos nuestros seres queridos. El día de la boda me regalaron una ceremonia con mis mejores amigas guiada por la instructora de yoga y meditación que fue inolvidable.

Para nuestro enlace elegimos una ceremonia Maya en su pasillo de palmeras con el mar de fondo, todo lo prepararon sencillo y muy bello tal y como lo habíamos diseñado con nuestra coordinadora Andrea Coli. La chamana Marbella nos encantó, fue una ceremonia super especial y todos los invitados acabaron llorando de emoción.
Estaba previsto que la recepción se celebrará también en la playa, sin embargo el tiempo tormentoso de Septiembre no lo permitió, por lo que en la reunión de la mañana nos propusieron montarlo en la playa y arriesgarnos o mover la recepción a la palapa de su restaurante .

Aceptamos la segunda opción por el bien de nuestros invitados y menos mal pues tras la ceremonia cayó un chaparrón que nos habría arruinado la fiesta. Aunque nos hacía mucha ilusión que todo fuera en la playa la decoración de la palapa quedó hermosa y disfrutamos muchísimo de su deliciosa comida, los cocktails y la fiesta hasta las 2 am.

Todo el Staff del hotel no solo durante la boda si no durante toda la estancia tuvo un trato impecable con nosotros y con nuestros invitados hospedados que se fueron con unos recuerdos imborrables. Estoy muy agradecida con todo el equipo de coordinación de bodas, Diana, Andrea y Ana, y con todo el staff del hotel, pues no pude disfrutar más ese día, con la absoluta tranquilidad de saber que mi coordinadora Andrea tenía todo bajo control.
Sin duda volveremos a Petit Lafitte porque nos hicieron sentir como en casa y dentro de unos años ojalá podamos renovar nuestros votos de nuevo con ellos.

Paola and the whole team at Petit Lafitte helped us coordinate the most special wedding weekend for our 100+ guests! The staff treat you like family and we were able to create an intimate, fun, and personalized wedding party with their help. The grounds are so beautiful and rustic and because of the smaller size of the hotel, we were able to have the place entirely to ourselves for our guests. A bonus in these Covid times! The wedding itself went better than I could have imagined - everything was taken care of by Paola. I highly recommend this spot for a wedding!

We had the Wedding of our dreams at Petit Lafitte in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico!!! I have been coming to Petit Lafitte (previously known as Capitan Lafitte) since I was 2 years old. This place truly is a slice of heaven and will be visiting here for many years to come!
My wife and I toured many venues for our Wedding in Maya Rivera. We didn’t like the boilerplate/restrictive offering of the larger resorts and upscale boutique resorts were significantly more expensive without meaningful value add. Petit Lafitte is the ideal place for a destination wedding or a vacation. The hotel is picturesque and quaint, the staff is incredibly friendly and food is on point. Buying out the resort gives you the ability to create a truly unique experience we wouldn’t be able to replicate anywhere else.
It was 3 days of events including a welcome party, traditional American Wedding and an Indian Wedding. Paola is their new in-house planner, and she did an amazing job executing our plans during the week of the Wedding!. We really enjoyed working with Paola because of her positive energy and responsiveness. She is always in a good mood and being able to clearly communicate in English or Spanish through What’sApp made our lives easier while we planned our destination wedding. In the months leading up to the Wedding, Paola met with us multiple times over zoom and in person. She helped us nail down a timeline, coordinate Petit Lafitte’s services and gave us vendor recommendations. One of the attractive parts about a Petit Lafitte Wedding, is your ability to hire outside vendors without being priced gouged or restricted like so many of the larger resorts. We found most of our vendors via online search or personal recommendations and were very happy with our choices.
Our only complaint was regarding some early miscommunications with guest reservations. These were ultimately resolved by management. Our 3-day Wedding included many moving parts which required a ton of coordination the week of. Each day, the entire staff gave it their all and truly came together to provide us with our dream wedding.

Just please don’t have your wedding here- the general staff are wonderful, definitely go on vacation here, but the wedding team is brutal.

We were told we’d be working with a senior team member, but upon signing our contract were transferred to someone extremely green (and they had just hired another brand new team member when we were there). There were a lot of small hiccups along the way planning, but mistakes happen.

These days they do a wedding+ a weekend and you will feel that you are one of many.

TLDR we were not people stuck on very many details at all, but just about everything was mishandled on our wedding day. Things go wrong at weddings and we didn’t have expectations that wouldn't be the case- but we didn’t expect every misstep would be directly from lack of attention or care from the Petit team (and we had 85 guests who stayed 3+ days and 3 open bar events, so I’ve often thought about how badly they must treat smaller weddings). It was hurtful, nowhere near the expectations they set with us, and whole thing felt more McDonalds drive through than boutique wedding experience.

Once we were onsite it was a tough, disappointing experience from start to finish. From their team showing up very late to scheduled events, forcing last minute venue changes (despite their being no weather and with 30 minutes notice to us), messing up any details in their hands (think incorrect processional songs, multi minute gap unexplained gap of silence in ceremony, incorrect first dance song, etc— despite their having an in order Spotify playlist along with filling out their lengthy ceremony directions forms), the lack of attention to detail (or caring at all about our wedding) and was tough to stomach.

If you’ve already booked with them (and can’t cancel- I can’t tell you how much I recommend cancelling) I highly recommend getting an external planner or at least day of coordinator- you need someone on your side when dealing with PL. We had hired a photographer outside of the vendor list and they were our saving grace, but I wish we had a coordinator of our own.

They did offer us some refunds for some of their mistakes, but I’d much rather have enjoyed my wedding than have a refund. We’ll never get our wedding back and I’ll always regret trusting PL with ours.