Cal Goodell
Wedding Review 11.8.25
I must start by saying to anyone who is on the fence of having their wedding at Hotel Xcaret, just go for it! The entire experience from start to finish was nothing short of magical. Our expectations were exceeded from the time we arrived at the resort until we sadly had to go home.
Guest Count: 65
Travel: Yellow Umbrella Events
Wedding Planner: Magic Dream Weddings
Onsite Event Coordinator: Tamara
Photographer/Videographer: Pink Balance Weddings
Content Creator: Creative Vision Mexico
Entertainment: Drums in Paradise + Musik
Travel Arrangements
We originally contracted with a different company when we started planning, but once we saw how active Cheryl from Yellow Umbrella was in these facebook groups, we quickly changed direction and signed with them. This was one of the best decisions we made during our planning process. They are experts and know this resort. They truly made us feel at ease during the whole process and are unbelievably quick to respond. Big shoutout to Mia who helped herd all my cats (wedding guests) during the booking process.
Wedding Planner
HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER!!!! For those of you like me who are big planners you need to have someone be your advocate for vendors and start the planning process for you. The Resort is a machine and knows how to throw a party, but planning with them begins about 6 months out. If you want to get your ducks lined up earlier hire a wedding planner. Medellin, our wedding planner, owner of Magic Dream Weddings, truly is a dream to work with. We worked with her for almost a year and a half planning every detail. Her advice was spot on, she responded quickly and was the key factor for the success of our weekend. I wish I could pay her 10x what she charged us.
Welcome Party Thursday November 6th
Location: Palyon Espiral Bar
8pm-10pm
We had a slight rain delay here (we opted for this as the team offered us to move inside, but we chose to stay outside) so we started at the hotel lobby bar waiting for the showers to pass. Once the rain stopped we were escorted to the party where we had passed desserts and a taco station. The setup of the taco station was absolutely gorgeous, well worth the money and everyone commented on how good the tacos were. The passed desserts were beautiful, I did not personally try any, but they looked great. We also opted to add the 2nd hour here for the bar. This was a perfect way for our guests to mingle and everyone to get acquainted for the rest of the weekend.
Group Activity : River Float Friday November 7th
Location: Xcaret Park
11am
We offered a group activity to encourage everyone to experience the park. We had about 50 guests join this. We met at the lobby, walked to the shuttles, hopped on and escorted everyone to the river float. If this is something you are considering I highly recommend you doing a dry run a day or two before. If we did not do that, it would have been very chaotic ushering many people through the park and to the float. This was so much fun and was a highlight for many of our guests. After the float everyone dispersed and did there own thing at the park or went back to the resort
Wedding Day November 8th
Ceremony: Palmeras Beach
Reception: Caleta Feugo
This day was nothing short of a dream. We opted to get ready together and booked a suite so we had plenty of space. We had bottles of champagne sent up and our coordinator had snacks delivered for everyone.
The ceremony was incredible, emotional, and simply beautiful. We had the violist play as we walked down the aisle. She was perfect. We opted to do a toast on the beach right after the ceremony with all our guests to kill a little time before everyone headed to the cocktail reception.
For the cocktail reception we had a soloist singing and playing the guitar. Think Amy Winehouse meets Lady Gaga, she was awesome! Food was passed horderves and quesadilla station. People were going NUTS over the quesadillas! Once again a stunning setup for the station.
For dinner we chose the pear and cantaloupe salad, RumpCap Steak (I called it top sirloin on the menu) and chocolate coulant. EVERYTHING was delicious. Cake was Carrot, I did not get a chance to try it, but heard it was good. For late night snacks we had mini sliders with truffle fries, churro station, and marraquetas station. Most guests indulged so I was happy we provided this.
We went big on entertainment and so glad we did. When dessert was served we had the drums in paradise fire show come out. This was so much fun, got everyone out of their seats and set the tone for the evening. When the dance floor opened we had the electric sax come out to play along the DJ and this got everyone on the dance floor. Espresso martini shots were passed at this time and they were soooooo good! For the last hour of dancing we had an electric violinist come out playing “the thong song” with disco ball dancers. This was epic!
Overall, I have zero buyer’s remorse and would do this again in a heartbeat. So many guests told us this was the best wedding they have ever been to. Thank you to all the teams that made our dreams come true!
