Hyatt Zilara Riviera Maya Destination Wedding: Crystal & Chris

For Crystal and Chris, a destination wedding was the perfect way to combine their love of travel with a memorable experience for their loved ones. This couple loves exploring the outdoors with their two cats, Neo and George, in their self-built camper van. (So cute, right?!!) Off-road, they enjoy their love for food, especially when Chris cooks up delicious meals.

When they got in touch with us, they were set on having a destination wedding but were feeling overwhelmed by all the choices out there. Crystal and Chris were really drawn to the idea of an all-inclusive resort that’s family-friendly and offers top-notch food and drinks, but they needed some assistance navigating all the details. 

Their priority was ensuring their guests had a smooth experience, with someone taking care of all the travel arrangements. That’s where we stepped in to guide them through the planning process and make their dream wedding a reality.

Real Wedding Q&A with Crystal and Chris!

What were your biggest fears when planning a destination wedding?

We just had no idea how to go about it. We are not resort/cruise travelers by any means. So this world was new to us!  Shy of visiting the resort ourselves, we just wanted to make sure it was a nice place AND the wedding crew onsite knew what they were doing. Then of course you always fear the big things in the back of your mind like terrible weather or somebody getting hurt/sick while abroad. 

Is there anything about the actual destination wedding experience that surprised you?

We were surprised by how many decisions we had to make about the actual ceremony and how much we didn’t understand how it all worked. The anxiety of so many people showing up in Mexico to celebrate us really clouded our ability to reason through things lol. I (crystal) am no stranger to contracts or organizing travel, but I am clearly not up to speed on how all inclusives run weddings! Also….. generally, I am shocked by how many people came! My parents and Chris and I REALLY thought it would be like 15 people. JOKES! 

What is your favorite memory of your destination wedding?

Seeing the people from the different parts of our lives meet each other. It’s just pretty magical what happens when people travel together. Seeing how much fun everyone had was also amazing. Everyone cried at the ceremony and afterwards MANY said it was the best wedding they had ever been to!! Two of my friends that I studied abroad with in 2011 came. I haven’t seen them in 13 years!! Wild. But I think the best part was that we (Crystal and Chris) just felt really happy the whole time. We were so excited to get married and see our people all in one place! 🙂  

Did you splurge on anything travel or wedding related? If so, what was it and was it worth it?

We splurged on the welcome gifts for our guests by getting everyone a yeti tumbler and blanket. Buying the nicer gift was so worth it. They were using them at the resort and everyone loved them.  It was a huge pain getting all of that down there, but so worth it. The flowers were also the one thing that were pretty expensive but we bargained for smaller arrangements and they ended up looking beautiful. So worth it! 

Did you attempt to *save* on anything travel or wedding related? If so, what was it and was it worth it?

Our own flights. The flight path was “icky” but we paid with points. I do wish I had tried to get a better flight home or a direct flight. We were beyond exhausted and had a 15 hour travel day to get back home. I also saved on the “second dress” and found a $20 dress on the clearance rack at Target … that was completely worth it though. I didn’t need to spend hundreds more on a dress that just got drinks spilled on it lol. It will be tie dyed and upcycled into a new dress now that we’re back! 

If you could change anything with your wedding (planning, the day itself, the location, resort, ANYTHING) – what would you change?

My dress… it was way too hot. I LOVED it…but my goodness it was hot. I would also change the excursion to a cultural one. I value that so much and I was just too overwhelmed to think that one through clearly.  And I regret not making it super clear to the resort that I have a lot of hair and it takes longer to style. I was supposed to be back to my room by 4:00 for the 5:00 ceremony but didn’t get back until 4:45. 

What kind of feedback did you get from your guests?

best wedding I’ve ever been to, we felt so welcomed as your guests, ashley is amazing and I watched all of the videos, this resort is perfect, I’ve never been this relaxed, that’s the most beautiful wedding I’ve ever been to, I couldn’t stop crying!, the music was the perfect soundtrack, the flowers were stunning, everything was perfect … SO many people asked how I found the resort and I was like that was ALL Ashley and Alpaca Your Bags Travel. 

Now that you’ve been through it, what is your #1 best piece of advice for wedding couples entering the planning process?

Create a separate email address for this event. That was advice given to me and it served me well. My second piece of advice – read contracts in full.  Lastly, get a dress that’s built for the heat. 

In what ways did Alpaca Your Bags Travel make this less stressful for you?

In every way, it simply wouldn’t have happened without Alpaca Your Bags Travel!

Apart from Crystal and Chris’ feedback in our usual Q&A, we recently received a heartfelt email that we couldn’t help but share:

Chris and I (and my parents) wanted to extend our gratitude to you both. None of it could have happened without you all! We deeply appreciated your expertise in destination weddings and your insight and advice through all of the decisions we had to make. 

There is just no way we could have ever found the beautiful Hyatt Zilara or gotten all of our guests on board with the travel on our own. Some were traveling internationally for the first time! We even had some break throughs in showing some of my people that the world outside of the U.S. isn’t so scary as they were commenting about other places they’d like to visit now. Melted my heart as an international educator.

We also appreciated your temperament as the nerves came about more than once throughout this experience! I deal with very nervous people all the time for my own job, so it was wild for me to be on the other end of it. It was a humble reminder for my own work life.

Ya’ll are beautiful people that help couples like us have the best wedding experiences and weddings aren’t easy to coordinate/pull off. Just wanted to acknowledge that your work is hard but you’re the best at it in my book. Thank you for being so enjoyable to work with throughout this big life experience!! 

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Photographer: Adventure Photos

Travel Advisor: Alpaca Your Bags Travel 

Resort: Hyatt Zilara Riviera Maya