Hi Maartje,

Thank you for helping make our wedding so much fun! The weekend was laid back and relaxing — just what we were hoping. The setting at Al Cielo was beautiful, the food was tasty and the drinks were plentiful.  Also, the iPod music seemed to go off without a hitch.  The rehearsal dinner was also a lot of fun.  Our friends and family were very happy with the food and impressed with the friendliness of the staff at Ajua.

Regards,

Jon & Dorrit

Wedding, January 19, 2008

Maartje,

Wow, what can we say. Our wedding was perfect! It was everything we dreamed of and more. The church was even more beautiful in person and the flowers were exactly what we had asked for. You helped us every step of the way and put us at ease through the stressful times. You made planning a wedding in a place we had never been easy. We are so happy we made the right choice to have a destination wedding and we couldn’t have done it without you.

Thank you soooo much!!! 

Kim & Brian Maloney

Wedding, February 2, 2008

Maartje,

Where do I start. The wedding was fabulous. There is always that bit of fear when you are not directly involved with the touchy feely part of the wedding. We had the most fantastic time. Everything was PERFECT.

You did an outstanding job, we could not have asked for more. The beach was perfect, the cocktail hour was awesome. Our entire family can’t stop talking about it & those that weren’t able to come were jealous. We have great pictures that we have shared which puts everthing into living color.

The walk into town I could not have imagined. It was great & people on the streets knew we were having a ball. The restaurant was awesome & the food was delicious. We loved the entertainment & the FUN things they did. The kids loved dancing with the waiters, it was great. The flowers were beautiful also. We wish it could have gone on for a couple more days.

Marty said it was the best vacation he has ever had because we were able to share it with so many family & friends. IT WAS MORE PERFECT THAN WE COULD HAVE IMAGINED. Thank You for an AWESOME JOB.

Thank You also for the great job on the rehearsal dinner. The restaurant we loved & the food was great also. Everyone had such a GREAT TIME. It was the perfect lead in to a PERFECT WEDDING DAY.

We can’t THANK YOU enough for a FABULOUS JOB. We won’T hesitate to give your name to our family & friends who may be considering a DESTINATION WEDDING.

I’m sure Charlotte & Pat will share pictures with you.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU AGAIN.

Kathy & Marty Cathro
Parents of the Groom, Wedding January 11, 2008

Dorrit and Jon enjoyed a beautiful ceremony on the beach of Al Cielo, followed by a cocktail party and lots of dancing!

Best Destination Weddings Forum:
http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t13757
Non Resort Wedding in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico: A Review

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Wedding Coordinator: Ajua Weddings (Ajua Weddings - Playa del Carmen Wedding Planner, Riviera Maya Wedding Coordinator, Wedding Reception, Akumal, Tulum, Xpu Ha, Cancun, Mexico)
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I don’t even know where to begin to rave about Ajua Weddings! First off, my coordinator was Maartje Oremus. She was absolutely amazing to work with. But before I get into that, I would like to talk more about why we picked Ajua Weddings. The first reason was because we wanted a Catholic ceremony. After much research online, I found that Ajua Weddings are very experienced with planning a Catholic ceremony. With all of the work involved planning a Catholic ceremony, I wanted to make sure we went with someone with experience. Ajua definitely has that! They made the entire process go so smoothly! The second reason why we picked them was because we wanted a non-resort wedding. We wanted our wedding to not only reflect us as a couple, but to also embrace our destination of choice. Ajua definitely made that happen for us! We had our wedding at the AMAZING Capilla Nuestra Senora del Carmen – a cute little chapel centrally located in Avenue 5 in downtown Playa del Carmen.

All of the vendors that Ajua Weddings used for our wedding were absolutely amazing. My bouquet was simply gorgeous as were the bridesmaids’ bouquet and the boutonnieres. The cakes (Tres Leches cake for the wedding cake and chocolate cake/chocolate filling for the groom’s cake) were absolutely delicious. I also had a special request to have 2 eggless miniature cakes made for our vegan guests and we got amazing feedback on that – our vegan friends wanted some to take home with them! The guitarist they picked out (Benjamin Aguilar) was wonderful – the music was beautiful and fit perfectly with the ambiance of the chapel.

Maartje Oremus (our coordinator) was a joy to work with. The scariest thing for me while planning the wedding was working with someone whom I had never met and with a company that I just randomly found online. To put my dream day on someone I didn’t even know was pretty terrifying. However, Maartje made the whole thing so easy for me. All I had to do was send her pictures of what I wanted and she made sure it happened. She was so patient with me throughout the whole planning process. I don’t know about you girls, but I can be a bit of a bridezilla, but that didn’t faze Maartje at all. She was such a trooper – helping me make my decisions, offering suggestions to me, and letting me change my mind 5 million times without batting an eye! She didn’t even blink when I walked in to our pre-wedding meeting with boxes of wedding stuff! Maartje coordinated everything for me – from transportation, to flowers, to cakes, to music — EVERYTHING! She even arranged for a van to pick my family and I up at the airport upon our arrival in Cancun. Maartje also took care of everything on the wedding day – all we pretty much had to do was show up and enjoy ourselves. Oh, my mom also meet Maartje at the pre-wedding meeting. My mom’s a pretty good judge of character and after our meeting she told me that she could tell that Maartje is a genuinely good person. She couldn’t have done a better job even if she wanted to. She was the perfect wedding coordinator and I will forever be grateful for all the work she did in making sure my dream wedding came true.

Reception Site: Ajua! Maya Restaurant
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We had our reception at the Ajua Maya restaurant, which is also on Avenue 5 and owned by Ajua Weddings. Ajua Maya is by far the best restaurant and the best bar in downtown Playa del Carmen! The food was SOO delicious. We gave our guests a choice of either the BBQ platter or the rib-eye and both were a huge hit! Our vegetarian/vegan option was the spinach enchiladas and those were delicious also. The ceviche was by far their best dish ever – probably the best I’ve ever had! The restaurant is the perfect blend of 5-star dining and laid-back atmosphere. As for the restaurant staff, well, I don’t think there are words to describe what an amazing staff they have at Ajua! They kept all of us entertained throughout the night – from serving food and drinks on their head, to the infamous legs (very funny), and to the best conga line ever (which, I must say, ends with tequila being poured down your mouth!). Ajua Maya also have a live salsa band playing at the restaurant every night. The music was amazing. It definitely gave our wedding the perfect Mexican vibe!

Ajua also catered our beach cocktail party and the food they served at the cocktail hour were also huge hits with all of our guests! I’m telling you, these guys can’t do anything wrong! If you are looking for a unique place to have your reception, rehearsal dinner, whatever, definitely go with Ajua Maya! You will have an absolute blast there and I can guarantee that you will leave the restaurant with happy stomachs!

HUGE kudos to Maartje, Vaughan and all the staff at Ajua Weddings and Ajua Maya Restaurant!

Catherine Solidon

Wedding, November 24, 2007

According to a family tradition, Charlotte´s dad had made the wedding cake. It looked amazing and tasted even better!!!

Hello Maartje! We miss you!
 
Maartje and Jeanette, you two are fabulous ladies. No need to tell you because everyone feels the same. Maartje, what would I have done without you? You managed to have everything done, in place, and made us feel like the only couple who had ever had a wedding at AJUA Maya.
 
I will write more, but for now I wish to extend our heartfelt thanks, and to tell you how much we appreciate you setting us up on the blog which will allow our family and friends the opportunity to see what we got to witness in person…
 
I love the staff too at AJUA…poor Tiger, I think I danced his tail off…!
What a great event, and we are telling everyone to book a wedding at AJUA Maya. They won’t be disappointed!

Fondly,
Sal, Allan, Lara, Rory and Ava Robusky
Wedding January 10, 2008

After being together for 10 years and being blessed with three beautiful daughters, Sally and Allan decided it was time to tie the knot! With their closest family and friends they enjoyed a beautiful ceremony on the beach, followed by a cocktail party. After enjoying a fun mariachis parade through town, they had dinner in Ajua Maya! What an amazing couple!

A beautiful beach ceremony, followed by a reception in Ajua Maya

A beautiful and intimate ceremony

Hi Brenda, Erika and (of course) Maartje!

When Tania and I got engaged, we thought that a destination wedding would be a great way to celebrate our big day. But we had no idea how to go about actually putting one together. We thought that we’d be on the phone a lot, making long distance calls to the priest, the musician, photographer, etc.

Then one day, we discussed the idea of getting a wedding planner, and after going to the Mexican Tourism website, I registered on your website (as the bride, by the way)…. That afternoon, only a few hours after I visited your site, Tania and I were astonished to get your call! Any stress that we were destined to have in planning our wedding evaporated within minutes of talking with you.

We can’t thank you enough… For the next 16 months, you were there for us to answer any questions, and, more importantly, to help us when we had to make adjustments to the plans (which there were many). It started feeling like all we had to do was show up and say “I do”. During our pre-planning session, we brought along two of the harshest critics we know (our mothers) and they left that meeting completely relaxed and excited…. They were able to enjoy the wedding day.

As we look at this blog, we don’t know how you did it… It felt like we were your only clients, but by the looks of all the posts, we obviously weren’t.

We wanted to thank you and everyone that was a part of our day… The music, the photography, the church…. There is nothing that could have been better.

We’ve recommended you to couples already and will continue to do so. We wish we could do it all over again.

Thank you very much.

Tania De Jesus & Jose Roldan
October 15, 2007

After 11 years of marriage, Tami & Ken renewed their vows in their beautiful hotel.

Reservations for a rehearsal dinner at Hacienda Maya

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