Bringing Tulum to Cancun

If you follow destination wedding trends at all, you’ve probably noticed: Tulum, Tulum, Tulum. 

This is a tucked-away village with a seriously nonstop boho-chic vibe. The nightlife is upscale, the beaches immaculate. Mayan ruins and mystical cenotes with crystal-clear waters give it a spiritual feeling. 

It’s not hard to see why this place is attracting young couples in droves. 

Here’s what I’ve found: Tulum is ideal for brides and grooms who want an intimate wedding weekend with a few friends, in a location that’s more rustic and off the beaten path. 

It’s two hours from the airport, and the simple, charming accommodations are wonderfully suited for smaller groups that are all about the feel and aren’t super attached to having a ton of amenities. 

So there’s no question that there’s something undeniably magnetic about Tulum and its aesthetic. And it’s also true that if you’ve got a guest list of more than 40, then you’re gonna want something that’s easy to get to, has all the in-room perks, and lets you book blocks of rooms.

What’s a destination wedding expert to do?

It got me thinking: What if a couple loves the style of Tulum — and they also need a wedding weekend that includes more high-comfort amenities, more available rooms, that’s closer than two hours from the airport, and that has the easy-access convenience of an all-inclusive resort? 

It seemed like the perfect challenge for my recent Destination Wedding University graduates — and the perfect setup for our annual exclusive Destination Wedding Playbook retreat. 

2021’s theme was “Bringing Tulum to Cancún” where we set out to create the best of both worlds: a flawless Tulum-styled wedding, with all the perks that Cancún has to offer. 

-------------------------------

I designed the Destination Wedding Playbook retreat as a final experience exclusively available to and curated for my graduates. It’s not a standard FAM trip. 

It’s 100% unique in the industry in that it’s live, it’s on-site, and it offers agents a nowhere-else-available inside look at planning a knockout destination wedding. We accomplish this by allowing agents to participate as guests in a real wedding weekend, with a real couple, from start to finish — and also offering behind-the-scenes business training after each event.  

So from the moment my students arrive at the resort, they are both guests enjoying a weekend wedding and destination-wedding-experts in training. 

Here are just a few of the amazing benefits that this trip offers my graduates:

• Every event — from happy hours to the groom's dinner to the actual ceremony and reception — is followed by a debrief. 
• Agents get a hands-on, inside look at exactly what it takes to plan and execute an unforgettable wedding: the details that matter and how much every option costs. 
• We do a half-day immersive sales course.
• We get intimately acquainted with the best resorts and all they have to offer — luxury add-ons, day trips, restaurants, spa treatments, etc. 
• Agents get access to luxury photos from the live wedding event — so they walk away with built-in, professional-level marketing materials. 
• Agents establish direct connections with all the best vendors at high-end resorts.

“Bringing Tulum to Cancún” had big shoes to fill from previous retreats, because honestly, they’ve all been incredible. But I was confident we could pull it off. :)

-------------------------------

I chose to hold the DWP retreat at Live Aqua Cancún, a luxe 371-room adults-only resort that’s just 20 minutes from the airport and in the heart of the hotel zone. 

I also brought in vendors who have experience working directly in Tulum, so that the photography, catering, and decorating would all have that signature free-spirit flair that has made Tulum a sought-after destination. 

In addition — and this was the cherry on top — because Live Aqua is right in the hotel zone, it shares some of the exact same restaurants, palapas, and clubs that are also in Tulum. (One of my favorites is Taboo.) That means that couples and their wedding parties can have a direct visual experience of Tulum style just minutes from the many perks that an all-inclusive offers. 

In the end, my graduates go home with so many valuable things. They’ve just had the time of their lives. They’ve earned skills and credentials. They’ve bonded together as a group (more on that experience here). 

And they have a whole new confidence, because they’ve done exactly what the experts have done: they’ve learned exactly how to plan, organize, and execute a gorgeous destination wedding that can meet the needs of any couple, any guest list, in any destination.

Photo Credit: LuxArt Wedding Studio