Excellence Riviera Cancun Brides!

Good to know that we can ship things down since I had heard that some resorts don't accept packages. I didn't realize there was a fee for bows and ribbons and stuff. I wonder what other fees apply.

We aren't telling people that it's a symbolic ceremony, but a few people do know that we are getting married here first.

My next task is to figure out what to do about the music situation, DJ vs ipod set up.

From what I've researched a 20 pound box is around $300 to ship to Mexico! YIKES1 So we'll be paying for some extra baggage as well as sending some family members down with extra suitcases if they don't use their 2 per person.

As far as the chair sashes go- It's $5 for one color and $8 for two tone. We're buying our own, and bringing them down, they work out to $50 for 60 sashes. Veronica also said no charge to set them up for me if I bring them on my own. Which is wonderful It saves us a lot. And tulle isn't heavy so I can stuff my glass favors with them as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jggm Hi, I heard from Vernonica two days ago. It took her a little while to respond to me, but she did apologize. I get so worked up too!   I also just wanted to share a few things with everyone. I was concerned about centerpieces and being able to add stuff like candles ect. and she said that we are able to ship stuff down ahead of time. I am not sure if this will turn out to be cheaper, but with all of my luggage and the new bag fees I thought I would look into it. Also I was told that the chairs for the bows are $5 a piece and if you want any other color linens besides white there is a fee.   Does anyone know if the symbolic ceremony has all traditional vows and ring exchange? I think we are going to get married ahead of time because the blood thing freaks me out. Are people telling their guests that it is not a legal ceremony?   Thanks for everyones help! Happy planning!

Hey Ladies,

Glad to hear someone has heard from Veronica. I was getting nervous as I wrote her on Tues with no word back as of yet. I have an email confirming my date and time but thats about it. With the changing of coordinators (Noemi to Veronica) I was getting the impression that Veronica didn't really know anything about me or my wedding. She has since confirmed, as I said, but I still feel a little nervous. Do you think I need something in writing? Under Noemi's watch (with her manager) my TA got them to agree for us to arrive only a day before the wedding. (Its only a symbollic ceremony) I don't want to find out too late that this has become a problem.

The purpose of my most recent note was to start selecting some of the details, flowers, dinner,etc. Its a small wedding with only a few close guests so I suppose I'm not behind the ball yet....but I'm a control freak. And all of these delayed responses and email OK's just make me nervous. Has anyone else gotten anything in "real" writing?

Hope you are all doing well and Happy Planning.

Erika

Not really, and that's why I'm panicking a little too. She assured me that my date was saved about a month ago but we haven't had much contact since then. I recently booked my photographer, just sent ~75 people save the dates, and plan on booking travel arrangements at the end of the month. I'm freaking myself out thinking about what I would do if I was told our date was given away! I'd feel better if we could have put down a deposit.

I feel a little better though hearing that I'm not the only one who hasn't heard from Veronica in awhile.

I emailed this week about availability and I've yet to receive anything back.

I finally heard from her today. I'm feeling a little frustrated bc it takes her days to return emails and then when she does, she makes me feel worse, not better. My note to her was asking what I should do next. I'm arriving only the day before the wedding and haven't selected anything, no flowers, restaurant, nothing. The only thing they know is that I'm having a symbollic ceremony. I think I may have told them that I'll have around 10 guests as well.

She finally writes me back (2x) -the first email says she can't find any of my info, the second email says she found it and she's off on Sundays. (FYI-Sunday is the day I arrive, Monday is the day of my wedding.) So she won't get to see me until my wedding day. That's fine as long as I can "truly" confirm all of the details in advance. She hasn't even answered my question as to what I need to do next. Geez, this doesn't make me feel very good. I'm trying to be nice but I kinda want to say that she needs to get her act together. For a resort that has such a good reputation, I'm a little alarmed by this. Suggestions anyone? Thanx.

Erika

Oh wow, that surprises me! She was so good about responding before this. Now I'm really starting to freak out.

Good morning ladies! I am hoping to ease your minds a bit re: your concerns about Veronica!

My brand new husband and I were married at ERC on 10/28 and the whole thing could not have gone any better! We were very happy with the whole experience!

Chuck and I opted for the symbolic ceremony and we had 4 other couples joining us. This was not a first marriage for either of us, and the main reason we selected a destination wedding was was to ensure our wedding was about the two of us, and to avoid as much of the stress as possible that comes with more traditional wedding planning. (Also, I lost my mom (and best friend) very suddenly the day we told her we'd set our date. This made planning VERY difficult for me initially!)

Anyway, that's just a little background...

I was initially in touch with Neomi - we confirmed our date, etc. with her. Then she left and EC was without a coordinator for a time...Enter Veronica - I had a few concerns myself in the couple of months leading up to the wedding: email response time, no clear/definitive written confirmation of requests, etc. However, Chuck and I are both fairly laid-back people and we trusted that it would all come together as it was supposed to...

We arrived at ERC on Sat. 10/25, with our wedding scheduled for Tues. 10/28 at 4 pm. The resort notified Veronica that we had checked in and she called our room to setup and appointment that day to meet with her...she's normally off on Saturdays, but was there for a wedding that took place that day.

We met with her for about 30 minutes or so, where the majority of details (she already had notes for everything we had discussed, but I guess because so many brides make last minute changes, she didn't put anything down on the "official" form until we met.) were hammered out: location, flowers, cake, music, dinner after wedding (we did not have a reception), did we need the groom's suite (YES!), how and where she would pick each of us up for the wedding, etc. She also setup dinners for our group of 10 for Sunday evening and followed up on making sure the driver we'd hired thru the concierge for a trip to Playa for our group on Sunday was all ready to go! She went way beyond her WC duties for us!!

Chuck and I had a very specific budget and most of it had already been spent, but I really wanted professional photography! The info I had received ahead of time listed a few photo pkgs (we were only doing the basic wedding - didn't include any photography). We discussed this at our meeting with Veronica and she informed us that we could hire the resort photographer ourselves (not going thru ERC) and if we paid him cash, we would get a much better package for our money! So, she brought Mauricio (photog) over to meet us and to see if we could work something out. He assured us he could and would work with us, so we set up a meeting with him on Monday (the day before the wedding) to hammer out details.

Chuck and I walked away from our meeting with Veronica feeling really good and positive about our upcoming wedding!! We were very impressed with her! Any concerns I'd had prior to arrival were completely alleviated by the end of that meeting!

I reminded myself that this was Mexico and they have very different ways than what we are used to here in the US!

On Monday, Veronica called to meet with us again to make sure we still wanted to do everything we had agreed on originally on Saturday and showed us the options for the chair ribbons. We stayed with our original plans, and selected our ribbons (bluish/aqua)!

Our group of 10 had dinner together at Agave on Sunday, and then at Chez Isabelle on Monday. (At Chez Isabelle they gave us a private room in the back! It was perfect!)

We also had our meeting with the photog on Monday and we got a very good deal with him! First he showed us photos of the wedding that occurred on the Saturday of our arrival - they were gorgeous!! We selected his package of 70 pics + CD with wedding and beach photos. We upgraded a little to get additional photos taken around the resort. If we had selected the resort's package with him, we would have only received about 40 pics and only wedding and beach photos.

On Tuesday morning, Chuck stopped at the front desk and got the key to his suite. We relaxed with our group on the beach and then went to get ready around 1:30 or so!

Veronica picked us up as planned and made sure everything was perfect and ready at the wedding location (on the beach) before she allowed us to make our grand entrance!! (we chose to walk down the aisle together).

The wedding was amazing - our minister spoke beautifully, and had all the traditional wedding stuff - vows, rings, etc.

Afterward we took many, many photos with Mauricio and Juan. We then headed to our wedding dinner at Spice, where we had one of the teppanyaki rooms! After the amazing dinner, they brought out our wedding cake, which had 2 birthday candles in it (Chuck and I have the same birthday (Oct 2 and so we decided to get married on that day!) The candles were there because we happened to mention about our birthday's to Veronica - this was a little unexpected extra!!

Veronica made a point to find us each day for the rest of our trip to see if there was anything she could do for us! What an amazing experience we had!

Please do not fret!! Veronica will take very good care of you and you will feel as though you are her ONLY concern!!!

Please PM me if you have any questions, or would like a link to our wedding photos if you're considering using the resort photog but have reservations....

Sorry so long, I just wanted to ease any concerns you have!! Veronica is AWESOME!!

Kris

Hi Kris!

It's sooo good to read about your great experience at ERC!!! I'd love to see photos if you don't mind sharing! Our guest list is a lot longer than we were hoping for so I've been getting a little more worked up over things. Planning a vacation for potentionally 70 people is stressful! Your review has eased my nerves a little... thanks!

What did you think of the flower and cake options, food at the resort? Any other tips you can give us upcoming ERC brides

Congratulations on your marriage!