I wish I could rate this place even higher, because it exceeded any expectations we had by a mile. Wonderful wonderful wonderful experience. Fantastic staff, absolutely terrific.
We got there on a Wednesday which we later found out is the airports busiest day for some reason. We didn't have any problems it just took a little while to actually get us into a van and off to the resort. The resort is very close to airport, we were the first stop the made before they headed to other resorts to drop the other couples off. All of the workers at the Moon Palace are as pleasant as you can get. All of them say thank you for everything, and "its my pleasure". Wednesday we just hung out and walked the resorts a little bit. We stayed on the Nizuc side vs the Sunrise side. The Nizuc is smaller but its supposed to be more couple oriented, less families around. When we first got there we checked in with the guest services desk and he gave us a run down of all the tours they offer and explained them all to us and helped us decide which ones were a must see and so on. So we had booked about 4 different outings to go on. Thursday we went to a "time share" kind of proposal. Be ready to tell them no before you even get in there. They make it sound extremely appealing. Just for going to this we got 3 $100 vouchers, one for the spa, one for the pro shop, and one to put towards a tour offered through our travel agency. I'll elaborate on those later. Then we just hung out by the pool and relaxed and enjoyed everything for a day. Friday we had to get up early because we went to see the Chichen Itza, the mayan ruins. The tour started early because the ride is quite long. This was the only hot day we experienced. It was pretty hard for me to concentrate on the history being told but the site is quite something to see. All of the tours come with guides so you actually feel quite safe traveling to and from these places. The Chichen Izta took an entire day and we were rather exhausted afterwards, so we cancelled the tour we had set up for the following day because it was another all day deal. Saturday and Sunday we stayed on the resort. I forget which day it was but I got an 80 minute massage, it was fantastic, and he checked out the proshop. So we used 2 of the vouchers for that. The spa is quite expensive but the voucher helped. Monday we used the last voucher to book a trip through our travel agency. This was swimming with dolphins. It was the best experience ever. i'd do it again in a heartbeat. There were 2 places we could choose from through the agency. One is wet n wild, and the other is Delphinus. We chose Delphinus. Wet n wild allows up to about 15 people in each group. And Delphinus was only $10 more and they only do groups of 6 or less. We watched a 10 minute video of the dos and don't and that sort of thing. Then we got right into the water. We were in the water with them for about 45 minutes or so. Do it together in the same group. We did it seperatly hoping to take pics of each other but we were too far away to get good ones. Also they have a photographer there and someone doing video of you the whole time. So afterwards you can buy individual 8x10s for $19 a piece, or get the dvd of the entire group for $50. This was only took up a half day so it was back to the resort for more pool time, drinking, and eating. Tuesday we went out to a private beach club for snorkeling. They just load up about 100 people and take ya out a little ways, and you just swim around and look at stuff for about 30 minutes. It was neat but we didn't see anything spectacular. The rest of the time you're there about 2 hours, they will try to sell you other activities to do like jet skiing, horseback riding, 4 wheeling, parasailing, etc. We chose not to do any of these so we could just hang out and enjoy the beautiful white sand. This is getting really long.=)

We met a lot of really great nice people just from hanging around the pool. A lot of people from Europe go over there. There were quite a few groups of people as well, kinda surprising. To me there was just enough alone time, and just enough socializing. Our favorite restaurant was the Brazilian one on the Nizuc side. When you go on some of the tours they will always try to sell you something or at a higher price it seemed. If you go to the Chichen Itza DON'T buy at the little market until after you've been to the actual site. There will be lots of people selling the same kind of items for much cheaper and you can haggle with them if you want. You'll stop back at the little market place on your way back for dinner, so you could always buy something then. There are a few restaurants on the resort that are supposed to be formal, but you can wear jeans and flops. I saw guys in there in jeans and sneakers, so its not as formal as you would think. On the Sunrise side there is nightclub and casino. The nightclub wasn't bad, just not a lot of people in it. We never did the casino, but if there's a pay perview event on that he might want to watch he could watch it there for free. =) All of the rooms, have a jacuzzi in it, we used ours once cause we aren't big hot tubbers. All of the rooms have a flat panel TV and you can watch a few american shows and movies. They are old but hey its better than trying to figure out spanish if you don't know it. Our maid came twice a day and it was like mom came in and straighted up the room. put things nice and neat in places, left little chocolates and towel animals on the bed. We tipped our maid $10 at the end of our stay. We were on the first floor and our patio looked out right into the ocean, it was beautiful to wake up to. Everyone at the resort wears a different color bracelet to let the workers and visitors know who you are. We had pink ones becuase we were honeymooners, more on this. Blue nad grey were for members "time share" holders. Gold is for those from Europe. Yellow was just a regular vacationer, no one special. =) Make sure to bring your marriage certificate, not license. It will get you the pink bracelet, free tshirts, a bottle of champagne and fruit delivered to your room, and a special honeymooners dinner. And everyone on the resort will know you're honeymooners and you'll get the congrats, which is fun. =)

I was very disappointed with our stay here. At our arrival one of the employees dropped a box from the luggage cart. This box happened to carrying some breakables needed for the reception. They lost the reservation of a couple in our wedding party. They wedding group rate they gave us was more expensive than the online rate. We had to contact everyone who had already booked (mostly our wedding party) to let them know. They weren't able to adjust our rates so we all had to book a second room online, then call and cancel the first reservation. The room they put us in was supposed to have a view of the river. Instead we got a view of the roof that covers the sitting area over the pool. After the reception we were in the lobby waiting for an elevator and others to gather. We had some left over beverages from the reception with us and a security guard very rudely told us we couldn't have it downstairs and to take it elsewhere.

He wasn’t my favorite vendor but still did a good enough job. He was the cheapest DJ in the area with lots of experience and a good reputation. There were a few communications mishaps that were faulty on both sides so I can’t completely hold that against him. He did a good job, but I was still slightly disappointed. But again I think that is my fault for not remembering everything to tell him before hand. My guests loved him, and he was very helpful at the end of the night giving some of our guests a lift to their hotel.

Her cake designs are incredible and unique. She’s very creative with some of the designs. She’s an artist who happens to bake, but her cakes definitely don’t lack in taste. They were extremely moist and delicious. She was great to work with on pricing. I still crave the cake from our wedding, I wish I would have indulged in more than I did. Of all the wedding cakes I've had over the last 5 years, her's definitely tasted the best.

Angie is just a piece of work. Lots of character in this lady. She’s wonderfully helpful, knowledgeable, and will work with you on menu pricing. The food was delicious, her staff was great. She will even help you save money wherever you can. She almost felt like a mother at times the way she looked out for us. =) I was so glad that she made sure we were able to eat and get enough of the food ourselves. It's such a shame when the bride and groom don't get to eat at their own wedding. I absolutely loved this lady and she takes real pride and joy in the work she provides.

They are by far the cheapest and friendliest rental company in Wilmington. They don’t offer the widest selection as some others, but they were extremely helpful and willing to do what was needed. I couldn’t have been happier with them. The customer service was just excellent! They were so patient with all my questions, changes, and phone calls. They were willing to drop off/set up/pick up at any of time of the day we needed. They were just an overall pleasure to work with. They are able to order some things if they don’t have it as part of their inventory.

Vince was very friendly, and does a great job. I let him pick out all our ceremony music. It was just one more thing I didn’t want to think about and I fully trusted he would play what was appropriate. Everyone loved him and I’ve always heard great reviews about him from other knotties. He goes just a little further to make sure he wears a color shirt that will not clash with your wedding colors. =) Really just a nice guy all around. I wish I would have gotten to hear him play more at the reception but we only used him for the ceremony.

We loved the trolleys. They showed up on time, they worked with me great on scheduling everything. Our guests appreciated not having to worry about the limited paid parking by the beach. They were more than we wanted to pay for transportation but it was a necessity for our guests and it was money well spent. Our guests really enjoyed the trolleys, as it was different and unique to them. It made a great photo op on our way to the reception having all of the wedding party and both families on it. The trolleys are a big part of Wilmington’s charm, so it was nice to be able to incorporate some of that into the wedding.

There aren’t enough adjectives in the world for me to describe how much I love Matt McGraw. He is truly a talent. His pictures aren’t for everyone, but if you want a dramatic look to the simplest of subjects he’s your guy. Even outside of the wedding I would love to be his buddy. You have to meet him to see just how crazy he can be, in a good way. He has a ton of energy and loves to try out new things to see what interesting results he can get. He was incredibly helpful throughout my entire planning process. He was willing to answer any and all questions I had. He gave me suggestions for other vendors that I had a hard time finding. He had our slideshow ready just a couple of days after the wedding, just in time for us to see it before the honeymoon. And it was a wonderful surprise to come home to the rest of our pro pics ready for viewing. I plan to hire Matt for any photography needs in the future.

Whitney at Steven Ward:

They were more expensive than I was hoping for but I believe that comes from the fact that it is a celebrity hairstylist owned salon. Whitney did a fantastic job, my hair stood up against lots of wind, lots of hugs, lots of dancing, and even 2 nights sleep.