Review: Puerto Vallarta wedding!!

[KARALANE]

We stayed at the Riu Vallarta May 27-June 3rd for our destination wedding. We had a wonderful time and wedding.

Pros

-Resort: beautiful! Grounds well kept, lobby was so pretty. Nicest resort I have ever been to.

-Room: we were upgraded to the Deluxe Suite which was large with a jacuzzi tub, walk in closet, living room and large balcony. The bed was hard, but nothing that kept us from sleeping.

-Pools/Beach: great, warm, swim-up bar was fun. The Beach was nice, very windy!

-Staff: Very friendly and helpful.

-Disco: Fun, smelly and smoky

-Spa: Very nice. I visited it often!

-Shows: Didn't really watch them, they looked a little corny. We always sat outside every evening and saw bits and pieces of the the shows.


Cons

-Drinks were VERY weak.

-The rooms get a moldy smell and items are damp.........that being said we were next to the ocean, so we weren't surprised!

-Making reservations every morning for dinner was a pain, especially for 32 people.

-The food was just OK. I enjoyed breakfast the most, at lunch you have to think outside the box. I would take a roll, cut it in half, get some chicken or fish, and make mini sandwiches. Dinner was OK......nothing special, nothing horrible.

-24 Snack Bar: Ugghhh......they should just do away with it.

Wedding

Great! Andrea did a wonderful job. The ceremony was so windy I was almost blown away!, Everything was set up as we asked.
We ate at the Flamingo Steakhouse for the reception and then had a private party at Bar Mezcal, all great.

The only downside was the following;
Flowers: the bridesmaids bouquets were tiny and looked nothing like the photos we were shown.
Cake: Ick....
But, oh well, all little things in the grand scheme of life!

Dinner:

Dacquiri Dick’s in Puerto Vallarta: such good food, great service. On the beach it was a nice view.

Karen’s Place in Bucerias: our favorite place. Great food, wonderful service. Karen was so nice and provided us with champagne when we left. The beach was beautiful and the restaurant was very private (we almost had the whole place to our self). When you pull up, you may think twice…..you walk through some condos off a side street.

Excursions:

Santa Maria: For the price it was fine. The snorkeling was a joke……..”there is the fish!” They threw food for fish to come around us. If you have been snorkeling in Hawaii, you will laugh at this. The trip was about 2 hours too long. We had a great time though!

Scott’s Tours………left our guys group hanging when the captain of the boat was hospitalized. We would have been very understanding of the situation, however, Scott never alerted us of this and the group sat and waited and waited………..Unprofessional in my opinion.
We had a bachelor/ette bar hopping bus tour scheduled with Scott, but after the no-show and no-call for the private boating excursion, my friend cancelled this tour. (we did the party at the Riu and had an awesome time!)

We had such a wonderful time, we grew closer with our family and friends and have so many wonderful memories! We could not have had a better time!!

[Christa]

Well Congratulations!! Sounds like you made the best of it, regardless of the "cons." So, of course the next question is: where are your pics??

[KARALANE]

Yeah- it was hard to find cons! Still waiting on pro pics :) I'll post when I get them.

[Christa]

Well right on! Thanks for sharing & can't wait to see some pic! Congrats again :)

[Raeka]

Oh that's great Kara, sorry I'm so late on this.

That sucks about the BM boquets... good to know perhaps I'll ask Andrea if I can get little bigger ones. The cake I could care less about. I forget which photographer did you use?

Oh I'm so excited to see your photos!! I'm hapy everything turned out for you! Congratulations girl!

[TammyB]

well sounds like it went well for the most part. Can't wait to see your pics, any non-pro ones you want to share? :-)

[PVBride]

Thanks for sharing! It sounds like you had a great time!

[KARALANE]

Raeka- We used our FF miles and brought in a photog from Oregon; Kathryn Elsesser Photography as we didn't care for the Riu photog and they were very pricey.

Here is my sknottie bio with non-pro pics; Bio

Pro pics to follow in a couple weeks :)

[jpkw]

Congratulations Kara!!

[KRISTEN]

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your bio. Great pics and ideas.