Mexico Resort: Hotel Xcaret Mexico

We had planned on meeting everyone at Xcaret Park for the Underground River Float in the early afternoon but ended up spending the morning at the spa hydrotherapy circuit and massage that was included with the Junior Suite. It was REALLY nice to relax after a hectic week and ended up being one of our favorite parts of the entire trip. After the spa, we met up with some guests to grab lifejackets and float around the river at the resort. That evening, guests met at Xcaret Park for the special Day of the Dead activities that weekend.

TRAVEL AGENT: Yellow Umbrella Events

Nothing but good things to say about Cheryl and Shea! We had the joy of meeting them in person last March during our venue walk-through and tastings. Their expertise in dealing with Xcaret makes the planning process so much easier despite the resort’s known communication issues. Shea communicated with all of our guests and made their booking process a breeze. It was so much less stressful having a point person for our guest’s questions about booking. Added bonus – because of our room count, we were able to upgrade a few guests and also got an airfare credit!

WEDDING COORDINATOR: Medelin

I’ve seen a few negative comments about Medelin but she was AMAZING and went above and beyond for us the entire week we were there for our wedding. She coordinated our venue-walk through and tastings ~7 months before the wedding so we were able to meet her in person and iron out some initial details. We started communicating more regularly 2 months prior to arrival and almost daily via WhatsApp during the 2 weeks leading up to the wedding. Medelin did a really great job coordinating with all of our vendors and made sure our wedding day went as smoothly as possible despite some minor setbacks with florals and a late priest.

WELCOME BAGS:

Custom tote bags with our name and wedding date (Etsy), printed wedding weekend itinerary, metal telescoping travel straw (Alibaba), inflatable pool drink float (Amazon), waterproof phone pouch (Shein) and a small mesh pouch with ibuprofen, mini reef safe sunscreen, shout wipe and hand sanitizer (all Amazon). Each welcome bag cost in the range of $15-20. We handed out the bags to people we saw before the welcome event and then the butler/Medelin brought the remaining bags to set out on a side table at the welcome event. We also bought Raffia hand fans (Oriental Trading) for all guests that were handed out with the ceremony handouts at the chapel on wedding day.

FLORALS & DECOR: Corazon

Martha was my point of contact and she was excellent with communication in the months leading up to the wedding. Corazon was the only vendor that stayed within my budget for what I wanted. A few guests’ names were spelled incorrectly on the mirror seating chart and I had them make some changes to my wedding bouquet on wedding day; otherwise I was very happy with everything they did.

PHOTOBOOTH: PicMe

I highly recommend doing a photobooth! We had them create a custom neon sign with our name and Corazon did an “upgraded background” with extra greenery. We had guests place a copy of their photos in a book for us with a handwritten note and we love looking back through it. All photos were also sent to us in an email afterward for download.

HAIR & MAKEUP: Sara Tamargo

I absolutely loved the Sara Tamargo team! They came to the suite a few days before for a trial and made sure I was happy with my final look. I did a half up half down look with a large fishtail braid. Toward the end of the night, the curls around my face were a little frizzy and flat but I was expecting it with the humidity. Overall very happy with how my hair/makeup looked and I wouldn’t have changed anything!

PHOTOGRAPER / VIDEOGRAPHER: Pixan

Vincent is THE BEST and exceeded all expectations. He truly cares about you as a couple and is passionate about capturing the emotion of the day. We spoke with him on Zoom 2x prior to arrival and had an extra “trash the dress” session with him that we ended up doing the day before the wedding. It was nice for us to get more comfortable with him and with taking photos before the wedding day. He’s a super cool down-to-earth guy with a ton of stories and made us feel at ease the entire time. We are blown away with the final photos and video.

DJ: Resort DJ

The resort DJ was great! I initially was going to go with the dance floor through the DJ but I asked Corazon to match the price and they did! I provided a Spotify playlist for song inspiration and was happy with all of the song choices.

TIPPING: I organized all tips in separately labeled envelopes and gave them to Medelin the morning of the wedding. Ask your coordinator how many servers/bartenders are working so you know how much to include. We tipped Medelin and her assistant, florist, photobooth attendants, banquet captain, servers/bartenders, DJ, photographer team and butlers.

I hope this review helps! I’m attaching our wedding video and can post pictures of any additional details as requested. Planning is definitely stressful but I promise everything will turn out great!!