If you haven’t already, check out my post, How to Plan a Wedding in Mexico – Part I, which goes over budget, wedding planners, and how to get legally married in Mexico. In Part II of this three part series, I will go over how to find a venue and hotel, and how to plan your wedding music. All of this is based on my personal experience of planning a wedding in Mexico in less than six months.
Skip to:
- Wedding Venue
- Wedding Hotel
- Wedding DJ
- How to Plan a Wedding in Mexico – Part I
- How to Plan a Wedding in Mexico – Part III
Choosing a Wedding Venue in Mexico
Timing
Five months in advance of the wedding, but recommend 6-12 months in advance for more date availability.
What to Think About
First of all, choosing a wedding venue in Mexico is about location and vendors. Generally, where more weddings take place, there are more venue and vendor options. My husband and I wanted to potentially have our wedding in Puerto Escondido or Baja California. However, there are two issues with this:
- Because they aren’t typical wedding destinations, there were fewer venues and vendors to choose from.
- We had to think about what was easy for our guests, and getting to these places isn’t as easy.
It is possible to get married anywhere in Mexico, but the two major wedding destinations in Mexico are the Cancun/Playa del Carmen/Tulum area and the Yucatan/Merida area. The former is mostly beach weddings and the latter mostly hacienda weddings. There are also a ton of venues in and around Mexico City. We picked our wedding venue in April for a September 29th wedding, and that was the only date left on a weekend, so I recommend choosing your venue at least 6 months in advance.
- Popular Cancun/Playa/Tulum Venues: Blue Venado (3 locations), Villa La Joya, Villa Chenera, and all of the resorts in the area.
- Popular Merida Venues: Hacienda Sac Chich, Hacienda Teya,, Hacienda Yaxcopoil, Hacienda Xcanantum
We got married at Blue Venado, and it was truly incredible. I cannot recommend it enough. The location, the privacy, the service, the food was all excellent.
Questions to Ask in your Wedding Venue Search
- How many hours can we stay at the venue? How much extra is it per hour?
- What packages do they have? Does the venue include a wedding planner?
- Does the base price include tax and service? How much are tax and service?
- Are vendor meals included? How much are they?
- Can you bring in your own decor (menus, chargers, table numbers, etc.)? This can save you money but some venues don’t allow it.
- Does the venue include a bridal suite for the bride to get ready? For how many hours? How much is it per hour? If you get ready at a hotel, they often charge for vendors to come in, so this is something to consider.
- Is a menu tasting included in the fee or is that extra? Can we include it?
- Can I use the same chairs for my ceremony as the reception? Some venues will try to charge you for ceremony and reception chairs (this is insane, I know). Ask if they can just move them.
Choosing a Hotel For your Mexico Wedding
Timing
Five months in advance of the wedding.
What to Think About
In choosing a hotel, you can ask your wedding planner and your venue for options nearby. Around the Playa del Carmen area, there are a ton of hotels. However, there is one area, called Playacar, which is a gated community with Airbnbs, residential homes and all-inclusive resorts. This area was perfect because we could recommend our guests to stay in this area and have our shuttles pick up from one or two places.
We ended up choosing the Riu Palace Riviera Maya all-inclusive resort for our wedding hotel. We recommended guests stay here, and we had one shuttle pick up from this location for everyone staying in Playacar, and another pick up in the town of Playa del Carmen. I’ve never stayed in an all-inclusive before, but our entire family stayed there and it was perfect. Everyone had the freedom to do what they wanted, but could also come together anytime. You don’t want to worry about having to entertain during your wedding week, so anything that can make it easier is highly recommended!
Choosing a Wedding DJ
Timing
Four months in advance of the wedding.
What to Think About
Choosing a wedding DJ is surprisingly important. We used Plug In Audiovisual and I can’t recommend them highly enough. The music was the one thing my husband was extremely involved in. He pretty much completely curated the playlist, and Plug In made it super easy. They had us download an app, and for every aspect of the event – song for walking down the aisle, wedding entrance, cocktail hour, etc. – they had us choose the music. We could pick 60 songs for the dancing part of the night and then they curated around those songs based on our picks. You could even choose at what second to start a certain song. For example, I walked down the aisle to “La Vie en Rose,” but I wanted the song to start at 0:32 seconds, and they took care of everything. We chose the DJ in June, about four months before our wedding, and there seemed to be plenty of availability.
Questions to Ask in your Wedding DJ Search
- How long will they stay? How much extra is it per hour?
- Do they include lighting?
- Do they include microphones? How many?
- How are you going to make the playlist? How much control do you have over the playlist?
- Do they include a generator? Does it cost extra? This is for outdoor weddings.
