Destination wedding at The Fives Beach Hotel & Residences – an Honest Review from Ed and Billy

The Couple

Eddie and Billy met through funny circumstances, Eddie was on a terrible date to the same place where Billy was out with friends, which ended with them meeting briefly and exchanging information. After a month of dating, they became official. While celebrating five years together, they took a trip to Italy, and little did the other know they were both planning to propose on this trip. On a hike through Cinque Terre, they got to the last town of their journey, and at the same time they both pulled out their rings during sunset in Riomaggiore. Billy said, “Without knowing it, that day we had both put rings in our pockets to propose.” When planning their wedding, they originally were looking into local wedding venues at their home of Connecticut. They wanted something contemporary, industrial, and nontraditional, but they weren’t finding it there. After talking to a friend they stumbled upon the idea to have a destination wedding, and they loved the idea of having a wedding celebration as well as having a vacation with their closest loved ones.

The Planning

They put in a request on a Sunday, and within 30 minutes they received a phone call from Andrea with Destify. Eddie said, “We were so impressed, she was so knowledgable.” The couple originally planned for their wedding to be hosted in St. Maarten, but after the hurricanes, they had to change their plans entirely. Luckily Andrea was able to offer other options outside of the hurricane belt, and they chose The Fives Beach Resort. They liked that it was modern, had adults-only sections but was also family-friendly, and the food options were gourmet. Once working with the wedding designer, the couple agreed that their coordinator Edith was on top of everything. She went through numerous options and was easy to work with, but at times communication was slow during the initial planning. With her help, they scheduled several events for their wedding week.

The Wedding

The couple was in Mexico for 5 days, and their guests stayed around the same duration. They arrived before their guests and took part in a romantic dinner on the beach, which was one of their wedding package’s inclusions. Once all their guests were there, they had something scheduled every day for their guests, which they could participate in if they wanted too. Eddie said, “This is a vacation for our guests too, so we wanted to make sure they could enjoy the trip how they wanted.” They held a welcome party on the day when everyone arrived, which was a bonfire on the beach with music and s’mores, where everyone could really get to know each other. The following day they offered the chance to join an excursion, with a trip to a Mexican cenote. “We highly recommend working with Ivan from Living Dreams Mexico for your excursion needs. They made the whole process so easy and provided top quality service,” said Eddie. Everyone who participated loved it, it became a unique memory that everyone got to take home with them. That night they held a small rehearsal dinner, and the guest list included their families, the wedding party and their significant others. For their wedding, they held the ceremony at the oceanfront terrace. The couple agreed the wedding department really knocked it out of the park. The decor was everything they could have hoped for, and everyone loved taking pictures of it. The couple said, “We felt like celebrities”, and they loved the Justice of the Peace who performed the ceremony, and at their reception, the DJ did an amazing job of playing the songs they had put together. On the last day, they held a cheese and wine reception, which served as the perfect farewell and thanks to their guests for attending.

Looking Back

The couple loved that the entire week was full of festivities and love, and they like that their reception was really a grouping of events throughout the entire vacation. The on-site wedding coordinator Ingrid was fantastic. “Her attention to detail, customer service, and quick response made us feel at ease the whole time,” said Billy. Their favorite moments included the excursion to the cenote and the bonfire on the beach. The couples’ main advice is to make sure your resort has a great plan b ceremony venue just in case, as you are in the Caribbean, and you can never fully account for the weather.