Destination Wedding and Event Locations We Love: Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

By Pauline Parry

Playa del Carmen

I met Susan De Lima through a mutual friend and a few months ago she visited us here in Los Angeles. Susan is originally from Canada but six years ago, wanting to change her life and reinvent herself, she moved to Playa del Carmen, a gorgeous destination in Mexico about 45 minutes south of Cancun.

Susan has the perfect disposition and fabulous outgoing personality which is great for her business -- Latido de Mexico Vacation Service, a division of Playa Carmen Rentals and Property Management. Susan is the “go to” person to find clients houses, villas, condos, and apartments. Her services go a step further and she becomes a personal concierge for her clients before they get there – setting up the house and stocking it with the food they love, then creating a complete itinerary for them during there stay.

Inevitably, Susan found herself involved with couples who wanted to get married in the area and began helping with wedding planning as well. Here in Los Angeles, Susan and I talked about how we could work together. I’d love to be able to offer Good Gracious’ destination brides more in this area and Susan would love to know a good planner and someone in America that could bring events to Playa Del Carmen. Solution: Susan has now become the Good Gracious! Concierge and together we can create full-service signature weddings in Playa, as well as corporate retreats and incentives of course.

When Susan was here we spent time together to show her Good Gracious! style and then she wrote about it on her blog which I’ve excerpted below. And in November, I’ll join Susan in Playa del Camen to seek out all the “best of the best” not only for wedding, but for corporate events such as retreats and incentives.

FROM SUSAN'S BLOG ...

“While in Los Angeles I was fortunate enough to “shadow” the team at Good Gracious! Events. Each day I was greeted with a new and exciting experience. One day I attended a Sony PlayStation event for several thousand people (!) that GG had designed and produced. Pauline took me on a tour through the catering process for an amazing spread of brunch goodies to a fabulous concept of food trucks her staff had conceived to host several different types of foods. It was a hit and I was humbled by the ease the team conducted themselves. My brain still swims with inspiration and ideas for my future event projects in Playa."

A Good Gracious "food truck" at the Sony event.

"Here is GG’s clever take on a food truck. The food truck craze is amazing and fun, but GG was smart enough to know that no food trucks would be able to handle an onslaught of 2,000 people. Yet, for this 20-something crowd, they wanted the feeling of food trucks. So they created stations designed to look like three different “trucks” – tacos, grilled cheese and ice cream / shaved ice – but be able to serve a crowd like a catering firm. They even had their own Twitter names just like the food trucks!"

A wedding at Le Dome Chateau / Saddlerock venue

“Later in the week we took a trip to Le Dome Chateau Vineyard to view a wedding produced by Good Gracious. We were actually in charge of transporting the wedding cake (it arrived safe and sound)! There I was able to witness the Good Gracious! Event team in action setting up a stunning wedding on a hill top.”

The retro Airstreams at Camp Cabernet offer the perfect place for the
groom and his entourage to hang out before the wedding.

“I watched in envy as there was an actual outdoor kitchen…in Mexico we’ve had some very interesting experiences with remote locations! We later dined on a picnic lunch in the cutest retro campground that is for rent at the Chateau outfitted with Airstream campers and vintage cars."

Pauline and Susan at The Knot event

“Finally, we attended a wedding planner's event held by the bridal magazine, The Knot, at Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica. Rrivreworks did the outrageous décor and Tic-Tock Couture Florals did the floral design and the delicious food produced by Casa Del Mar. It was another great learning opportunity for me not to mention FUN!”

As you can see by Susan's blog entries, with her enthusiasm for food, fun and love, she is the perfect addition to the Good Gracious! family. I can’t wait to visit her and Playa del Carmen in November and report back to you with a blog post that will show you all the beauty and resources this destination can offer to bridal events, weddings and corporate outings!

Susan de Lima in her work environment
For more on Susan and Playa del Carmen, go to www.latidodemexico.com