Bride: Abby Lenhart
Wedding Date: 12/6/2025
Guest count: 67
Welcome party venue: Playon Espiral
Ceremony venue: Catholic Church
Reception: Caleta Fuego
Florals/Decor: Corazon
DJ/music: in house DJ Jaime Villamil (reception); Drums in Paradise (cocktail hour)
B&W Photo Booth: La Cabina (in-house vendor)
Photography: The Open Lens
Hair/Makeup: Styling Trio
Wedding planner: Claudia Solís
Travel agency: Yellow Umbrella Events (YUE)
Overall, our wedding was the best time of our lives and we would absolutely do it again! (despite some headaches along the way). Our guests RAVED about the Xcaret property and many said they want to go back. The weather was beautiful and pretty much everything turned out perfectly on our wedding day so we couldn’t be happier!
I am more than happy to share the prices we paid for things if anyone has questions.
Some notes about the resort:
I’ll touch on the negatives first then end on a good note 
Long story short, we were told on short notice that the Fuego building at HXM would be closed and our entire room block (36 rooms) would be moved and scattered throughout the resort. It was a huge shock and disappointment. However, Cheryl Bailey at Yellow Umbrella single handedly resolved this issue for us, advocated for our group, and was able to convince the resort to move our entire room block into the comparable building (Artistas) on the Hotel Xcaret Arte side!!! She and Mia worked tirelessly to secure our rooms at Arte and ensure we still received the oceanfront, adults-only experience we envisioned for our wedding. Not only did they resolve the issue in a matter of a couple days, but the Arte resort was better than we imagined! We cannot thank Cheryl, Mia, and the entire Yellow Umbrella team for advocating for us and making this work out so beautifully for our wedding trip! They are the best.
Our only other complaint was the responsiveness and quality of the resort’s wedding office coordination in the weeks leading up to the wedding and once we arrived on property. Our wedding coordinator was very nice and seemed knowledgeable, but her response time was slow. Once we arrived at Xcaret, our welcome bag delivery that we paid $500 for was pretty much a disaster. Thankfully, they refunded us for about half of that fee, but some guests never got their bag. If I were to do it again, I would hand deliver the welcome bags to the guests myself or pass them out at the welcome party.
The resort coordinator was also overly aggressive about moving the reception inside. This was so confusing to us because the highest chance of rain was about 24% early in the morning on the wedding day (around 7 AM). The percentage dropped to about 4-8% for the rest of the day. After we said multiple times that we wanted to keep it outside based on the forecast, she expressed frustration and still pushed to move it indoors. Bottom line- if you want your reception outside and the forecast is reasonable, stick to the plan and don’t let them pressure you. We are from south Florida and are used to unpredictable weather and on-and-off rain showers. However, the weather for our wedding day turned out gorgeous and we would have been so disappointed if we moved inside (it was hot and sunny during the day and perfect temperature in the evening for the reception- no rain).
Also, please be sure to ask for your leftover wedding cake at the end of the night! Ours disappeared with no explanation from the resort (
). We were so caught up in the party and dancing that we didn’t think to ask them to set it aside for us (I suppose we assumed they would save the leftovers). Anyways, we are huge cake lovers and paid A LOT for our cake, so my husband and I were disappointed that we didn’t get to enjoy much more than the bite we had during the cake cutting. 
BUT our amazing wedding planner, Claudia Solís, felt so bad that she ordered us the exact same cake in a smaller size for my husband and I to enjoy before we went home!! She is truly the nicest person ever.
). We were so caught up in the party and dancing that we didn’t think to ask them to set it aside for us (I suppose we assumed they would save the leftovers). Anyways, we are huge cake lovers and paid A LOT for our cake, so my husband and I were disappointed that we didn’t get to enjoy much more than the bite we had during the cake cutting. BUT our amazing wedding planner, Claudia Solís, felt so bad that she ordered us the exact same cake in a smaller size for my husband and I to enjoy before we went home!! She is truly the nicest person ever.
Overall, I have no idea how I would have planned my wedding using only the resort’s wedding coordinators. I will rave about her more below, but hiring Claudia Solís was the best decision we made for our wedding- I would highly recommend hiring an outside wedding planner if you are having a larger wedding, care about the details, or are hiring a lot of vendors.
Things I would do the same:
Having food at the welcome party was one of the best decisions we made. It was pricy, but worth every penny if it’s in your budget. The food was delicious- we had street corn, tacos, and churros. We had guests who had just arrived from the airport, so they were hungry. It was a great touch to the party! We also extended the open bar by an hour, so having a 2 hour party with food and drinks was perfect! The venue (Playon Espiral) was perfect because it has a huge bar with barstools (no need to purchase extra seating) and there was enough lighting that we did not need to buy extra.
Hiring the Drums in Paradise sax and drums duo was such a great choice!! We hired them for during cocktail hour, and everyone loved them. They were so talented, got the party going, and interacted with the crowd. If it’s in your budget I would recommend adding this as an extra over something else, such as a Photo Booth.
We absolutely recommend doing a first look and taking all photos before the ceremony. We still took a few sunset photos just the two of us after the ceremony, but we were able to attend most of our cocktail hour because we got the first look and group photos out of the way beforehand. Attending the cocktail hour was so fun and a good way to chat with some of the guests before the reception!
I would recommend doing a hair and makeup trial at some point before your wedding day. I did mine the night before for the Welcome Party, and it was great because I got to test the hairstyle in the humidity and also look good for the welcome party! Would def do this if you can.
We booked the junior suite so that we had plenty of room for the moms and bridesmaids to get ready before the wedding; there were 9 of us in total getting our hair and makeup done. The room was huge and soo nice. We also brought a lot of luggage so it was nice to have the extra space. If it’s in your budget I would recommend getting a bigger room!
Things I would do differently:
I paid around $100 for a QR code service for people to upload their photos to share with us. I had signs printed with the QR code on display during the welcome party and reception (which cost around $200). In the grand scheme of the total cost of the wedding, this was minimal, but I still would not have done it because no one used the QR code and I ended up having to text the link to our friends after the wedding and ask them to upload their pics.
I’m not big on flowers, however I know some people are. But if you’re like me, I would not have spent as much money on our centerpieces for the reception. They were beautiful, but honestly unnecessary because once dinner was over, everyone left the tables and was on the dance floor the entire night- I don’t think anyone will even remember what the centerpieces looked like, so maybe save some money here and go more minimal if you aren’t super concerned about the flowers.
For example, our money was so much better spent on the light-up dance floor! People actually noticed this and we received several comments about how cool it was. It really added to the whole vibe of the evening. If you care more about the party than the flowers, I would spend your money on the dance floor instead!
I also could have gone without the Photo Booth because it was expensive, but the guests seemed to like it.
Special shoutouts:
I can’t rave enough about 4 people who made our wedding so amazing:
First and foremost, Cheryl Bailey and her team at Yellow Umbrella are truly unmatched in their services and ability as advocates for your group and event. The entire reason we planned our room block at Fuego (and part of the reason we even picked Xcaret for our wedding) was to stay in an oceanfront, adults-only building and have a party the day after the wedding at the rooftop pool. So when Fuego closed unexpectedly, we knew the experience would not have been the same if our group was scattered throughout family-friendly HXM. Moving to the Arte side was the perfect solution, and our group was able to stay together and get the experience we wanted. Our rooftop pool party was amazing! None of this would have been possible without Cheryl and YUE.
Second, our wedding also would not have been possible without Claudia Solís. I know hiring an external wedding planner may be expensive, but she was worth every penny. I cannot even begin to imagine how I would have communicated and coordinated everything with only the resort (it honestly would have been a nightmare). Claudia secured every detail, every vendor, had an extensive and detailed schedule for the entire weekend, communicated with the resort constantly, and helped bring everything together perfectly. Her organization and planning process leading up to the wedding was impressive, she truly knows what she is doing. Claudia is also able to buy things for you in Mexico and bring them to the resort so that you don’t have to take everything in your luggage through the airport – this was SO helpful! Her assistant Krystal is also amazing, she helped organize all the details, she was by my side the entire wedding day (she even wiped my sweat during photos 
) and was so kind, fun, and supportive. I truly cannot say enough about these ladies. If you are considering hiring a wedding planner, please hire Claudia. She is AMAZING!
) and was so kind, fun, and supportive. I truly cannot say enough about these ladies. If you are considering hiring a wedding planner, please hire Claudia. She is AMAZING!Third, Styling Trio did such a good job on the hair and makeup, especially the hair stylist Nadia. We had 2 makeup artists and 2 hair stylists for 9 girls. They were all so talented and kind. They made us feel so beautiful, I can’t recommend them enough.
Last but not least, Leo from Open Lens is a one of a kind, talented, passionate, and hilarious artist. We hadn’t even seen our wedding photos yet and were already raving about him because we could tell how amazing he was just from shooting with him. He knows every angle, every pose, every slight movement to get the perfect shots. The spot he chose for our group photos was gorgeous. He also has a wonderful personality and was so fun to be around. If you’ve seen his work on Instagram, you know how talented he is. We ended up loving our photos so much. I cannot recommend him enough!!
Here was our schedule for anyone interested:
Day 1 (Wed): Arrived with a few family members, assembled welcome bags, and explored the Arte resort. Dinner at Arenal.
Day 2 (Thurs): Final meeting with wedding planners in the morning; ceremony rehearsal at the church; guests started arriving; mostly a pool day. For dinner, we reserved 2 hibachi tables at Xin Gao for our family members (16 ppl total).
Day 3 (Fri): rest of the guests arrived; pool day; bride hair and makeup trial; Welcome Party.
Day 4 (Sat): Wedding day! We went to El Deseo Speakeasy for an after party and reserved a few booths and purchased some bottles of champagne and tequila. Was sooo fun! (Taco cart outside the speakeasy was DELICIOUS)
Day 5 (Sun): We had a pool party at the Artistas rooftop pool. The staff sectioned off a portion of the roof for our group, we purchased some bottles of champagne and tequila, and they provided burgers and fries for us. (We paid extra fees for this). Dinner at Ha for a small group (14 ppl) (it was AMAZING)
Day 6 (Mon): most guests left; my husband and I enjoyed a day of relaxation at the spa on the Arte side; dinner at Chi on the Mexico side(group of 9 ppl) it was so good.
Day 7 (Tues): Departure!
