Destination Wedding- Riviera Maya/playa del Carmen, Mexico

Heyyy! W're getting hitched at Azul Sensatori in Riveria Maya in 100 days! My biggest piece of advice for a planning a DW - find a Travel Agent! our TA took our "must have" resort amenities and target cost ($1200- 1500/person for flight + 3 nights AI resort) and came back with a list of resorts. She had personally been to each one and attended a wedding at each - so she had some great insights. We picked Azul because it's a bit more upscale but still affordable. the wedding package and pricing is pretty similar to other resorts. I'm happy to share her contact info - she's no charge to us and she's been wonderful in handling every guest's booking and questions - one less thing for me to worry about. Plus, as a DW TA, she has great insight on the best 'freebies' and discounted group rates.

A tip for planning a DW - be patient a lot of DW resorts give you a menu of items to pick from and that's it. You can customize most - but the costs add up, quickly and/or you end up hauling 8 suitcases of decor with you. We ended up with flowers from their standard menu. but we are DIYing the centerpieces bc I wasn't willing to spend $100/table.

Our wedding planner at Azul responds to emails within 1-2 business days and we have a conference call every few months - he's been wonderful, but not all resorts are the same. Some resorts won't start planning with you until 3-6 months out or are less responsive. You can do a site visit to see the resort in advance, but it is an added cost. we did not - we trusted our TA. This is our resort's wedding planning site (for reference): http://www.weddingsbylomastravel.com/planning

final recommendation - jump over bestdestinationweddings.com - tons of reviews from real DW brides on almost every resort. I've found this very helpful!

We’re planning a DW there as well for Aug 2019 but are having a hard time picking a place. Currently we are looking into the following resorts:
Azul Sansatori
Azul The Fives
Dreams Riviera Cancun

But have also heard good things about excellene riviera canacun (adults only) and la esmeralda playa del carmen.

View Quoted Comment Would you mind sharing your TA’s information? We have been going back and forth about if we need one or not and if we do how we would select one. So a recommendation would really help. Thanks

Hi. We used Kate’s Travel - KatesTravel.com - she was great! I found her online and was really happy with our first convos and felt comfortable with her. She was FREE for us and our guests too.

I highly recommend a TA - she managed every little guest travel question and bookings and changes. I would have gone mad if I had to handle all the details for our 60 guests.

Happy plannig!!

View Quoted Comment Tomandamandagetmarried.com - this is the site she created for us. Let her know we referred you if you do reach out to her

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much!!

View Quoted Comment Hi Amanda, I am looking to get married at this location (I believe the name has now changed to Blue Azul), how was your wedding experience? Would you recommend using this venue? Which package did you select, was it as advertised? Also, how was it working with your Lomas TA?

thanks,

Tephaney