Jackie

Thanks Karla

You cant sit out, if I win I want to feel like I beat you. Its no fun if your not playing.

Holly S#*t, What the F#*k, . Just kidding Sarah, Congrats! See the lottery gods new you were having a bad day and they stopped by to cheer you up.

There is nothing better than finding a great detailed review of your future destination like that. Are you sure youre going to be able to get on the plane to come back home. I think you might have found paradise.

Welcom Nina

Thanks Sarah, its so much fun. I really think I was meant to be extremely rich and do nothing but travel. I wonder if I have any relatives I can inherit millions from. I'll have to look into it. lol.

Have yo tried googling them. I hope they are reputable. Jeez, knowing you WC she probably has son in the kitchen makeing wedding cakes calling the company Seesters Deserts and charging you way to much for them. lol. Sorry TammyM just kidding I couldnt resist.

Welcome Amy, Even though a lot of the info is for Cabo dont overlook it. A lot of the info, hints, advice ect can be carried over to any destination. Have fun.

Valerie, wow you are under the gun. If you need any help let me know. Weirdly enough I love looking and searching around for stuff on the internet so if there is something you cant find. I will give it a try.

Karla I would be so excited if you had any pics to share abouth this resort. Take your time though I'm sure you will be crazy busy after the wedding trying to get pics and put up reviews. I am like forever away from my wedding date and am in no rush.

Congratulations girls, now hurry up and get home so we can hear all about it.

You better get your behind to your local convenient store right now missy! Your on FIRE!

I am getting married in the Rivier Maya for sure and almost positive that it will be at the Occidental Grand Xcaret resort. We are planning on sending out about 50 invites and hoping that only 30ish will end up comming. When I first came on to this site I was set on a Cabo wedding but recently have made my mind up on the Riviera. The one thing I have really learned from the Cabo brides though is that they are eachothers best source of information. If all of us Cancun/PDC/Riviera brides start posting the little bits of info we find I think we will be in good shape. Baconnic - I'll keep my eye out for resorts that sound like they would fit your wedding needs. are you thinking All Inclusive or not? Weez - Both the Royal and the El Dorado seem like really nice spots to have a wedding and there is a ton of information about them floating around on the internet. I think there is a couple posts about these two resorts on this forum allready. If I come across any info on them I'll be sure to post it. Valerie - I am so excited that you are having a weeding at an Occidental Resort. I am very interested to see how well the Occidental resorts handle their weddings.

Good, except I keep finding info on everywhere besides the Occidental which is where we want to go. This is just my luck unfortunatly lol. If I could just find one wedding slide show at the Occidental Resort I would be the happiest girl in the world.

September 2006 All 56 family members were scheduled to stay at the Gran for my sister's wedding. The four of us (sis, fiance, my husband and me) arrived a day prior to everyone else and stayed one night at the Gran. Upon arriving, we all had just missed the storm. First impression of the lobby was wet, wet and more wet towels all over the place. Our Master Suite room was ready before check in time. Day 1: Master Suite room (rm 527) was more than spacious, very clean, beautiful views of the beach and ocean. Loved it. Has a separate sitting area. We had 3 balconies. I anticipated a lot of activities happening in my room (getting ready day of wedding, luggage being placed while other guest's room not ready, all the wedding supplies, etc). Day 2: I went to speak with the front desk staff to inform that our guests would be arriving Wed through Fri for my sister's wedding. Front desk was friendly and informative. I even provided a list with everyone's names and arrival dates in order to facilitate the process. About 3 hours later, some of the guests started to arrive. Rooms were not ready yet (if coming from East Coast, flights are early and only 3 hours, so it's understandable). However, in speaking with front desk, they informed me that they could not accomodate our whole wedding group at the Gran Porto. In particular, the oceanview/oceanfront junior suites. We think it may have been due to the storm prior to our arrival (some of the rooms were slightly flooded) or they simply overbooked. They then offered us to put half our group at the Gran and the other half at the Royal. This was not acceptable to us. In case you didn't know, if you are the Royal, you can visit and eat at the Gran. It doesn't apply if you are at the Gran. Finally, a decision was made, and they upgraded our ENTIRE wedding group to the Royal. We were pleased with the situation. The one downfall was that my Master Suite room equaled an oceanfront/oceanview junior suite at the Royal. (1100 sq ft vs. 750) Oh well, at this point, I was too busy getting everyone checked in and situated. How did the Gran do this? Our wedding group received a letter at check in and then were told to go to Royal for check in. Welcome Cocktail Party on the beach: We had a Welcome Cocktail party on the Gran Porto beach. We had 8 apps served, 1 hut bar all to ourselves, AV system, about 3 or 4 waiters, cocktail tables with some chairs and our private beach area was sectioned off with candles. It was really nice and the staff was really attentive. We booked this prior to our arrival. Walter, the sales manager is great with email correspondence. They are very accomodating with the menu as well. They even made a special drink in honor of my sister (the bride) Emily Martini. Wedding Ceremony: We had the beach ceremony on the Royal side, closest to the pier, but to the right of where they play volleyball. We had a minister and a guitar player as music with the AV system all set up. We had white cloth covered chairs and a few floral arrangements. Ceremony started at 6:15pm as the sun was setting. Prior to the ceremony being set up, I could see them arrange everything from my room. My one concern was that at 5:45 the volleyball net was still up and people were still playing. Of course, with the staff's help, that ended right away. If you are getting married on the beach, there will definitely be attention. People are respectful, but when I found myself at the ceremony location going over the details, little things like...walking through the aisles, taking pictures of the floral arrangements..it was a nuisance because the staff had just raked those areas. Security is present before and during the ceremony, mainly to ensure that people walk through a certain path. Photographer: Recommend Vanessa Vargas. I had done my own research on her. Emailed her about the wedding at Gran/Royal. She informed me to tell the wedding coordinator that I wanted to request her. It got to busy for me and we just expected run of the house photographer. Then, at the ceremony Vanessa was there! Great, great shots. My sister received an album of shots picked out by Vanessa before we departed on Tues (8/15). Floral: Paty, the wedding coordinator arranged it. Told her our colors and picked out some styles. Wedding Coordinator, Paty: Unfortunately, the day of my sister's wedding we did not know she was not present until 4:00pm when the concierge, Ursula informed us that she would be taking over. We understand that she had a family emergency and we hope everything worked out. We do feel at least a phone call from her as a courtesy to us would have been factored in?? Even the photographer knew in the morning before we did.. Otherwise, Paty was great in her email correspondence and quickly answered questions and concerns. Reception: We chose to have the reception at Yaxche Restaurant, not at the hotel. Yaxche is located off 5th. We wanted a different, local experience. We had authentic Mayan cuisine. Erica, the event coordinator was great! We had lots of email correspondence and decisions already made prior to our arrival. She met all my requests and expectations..mariachi band, DJ, salsa dancing, photographer, shuttles for my guests..everything. The reception was held in their outdoor garden area. If you go on their website, you can see how they set up for groups. One area which is used for a ceremony has Mayan designs..we made that the dance floor. For 56 people, it wasn't too tight, but still comfortable. Organizing a destination wedding was definitely a unique experience. Also knowing you have 56 family members from NJ/NY/Philly/Texas/Seattle..it's alot on you..but it was all worth it in the end!! Lots of emails and planning! Everything is still so fresh in my mind, I feel I could organize another one As for the Royal...love, love it. I agree with the other reviewers. New, modern, clean, spacious rooms, food options were varied, service was fine, pools were large, enough chairs to go around..beach cabanas were great. The proximity to 5th ave/market area is waking distance. I think all inclusives are great for large groups, esp this one. We already have talk about going back soon :-)

2004 "We arrived in Cancun on June 30th -- our flight was approximately thirty minutes early. As soon as we got our bags we had someone who was waiting to take us to the resort. It was nice to have a quiet ride to Secrets Capri, we both napped on the 30 minute trip there. Upon arrival we received a cool wet towel and a glass of champagne while we sat down to be check in. When we got into our room I felt like crying. Everything was so beautiful and we were so pampered. It was the perfect atmosphere for a very happy, soon-to-be bride. We had a beautiful exotic flower arrangement, a fruit tray, and a bottle of chilled champagne. The room was ocean view with a spectacular view of the ocean as well as the resort. The customer Service was excellent, we felt like royalty. Each night when we got back to our room the bed was turned down. A rose was laid on the bed as well as chocolate. Claudia and Lucely, the wedding planners, were absolutely wonderful. They were both full of enthusiasm. They took care of all of the pre-wedding paperwork, blood tests, etc. They made everything very easy and hassle-free for us. On our wedding day everyone in the hotel knew that it was our special day. Daniel our concierge called that morning to let us know that he was available if we needed anything. Isabel in the hair salon did such a good job on my updo. I am very picky about my hair. She was very meticulous, my hair was perfect before I left the salon. The photographer I also have to praise. Marco was absolutely wonderful and he produced fantastic pictures. These pictures captured the moment beautifully, they will help us remember such a beautiful and romantic day. The Spanish ceremony is also very nice. After the Spanish/English ceremony, that we chose to have on the beach, we had an absolutely delicious Spanish Wedding Cake and champagne. The ceremony was very intimate. I could not have imagined a more wonderful way to get married. I almost cry every time I think about how absolutely perfect it was. When we got back to the room later that evening the room was covered with flower petals. We had champagne on ice, towels that were made into swans on the bed, and chocolate covered strawberries on the night table. We had the most awesome experience. "

Another Gazebo pic at the aventura March 2006

Sarah, your killing us!!! Congrats, I hope you take your luck and play a scratch ticket now and then. For Ch#*sts Sake you could be a millionare by now.

Yah, I was just sorta throwing that one out there because I kept comming across it. It does seem like the bigger companies seem to be the ones that dont turn out quite as good though. Lets hope your right about the not needing a WC if you are getting married at a resort that has a decent one. I'm really thinking of trying to save some money and not hire one. Kinda makes me a little worried but we will see.

Welcome Ailish, I cant wait to hear wait to hear how the Dominican Republic was. Have you ever been there before. I hear its unbelievable.

I think so. Of course I'm about 18 months away from my wedding so I could always change my mind. But I believe we have picked the Occidental Grand Xcaret for the week of the wedding and the wedding reception and then the El Dorado Resort and Spa for the honeymoon week. I picked the Occidental for a few reasons. 1. Its beautiful 2. It has extremely good prices and I wanted pick a resort that everyone on my guest list could afford to go to. 3. Ive read really good reviews on it. The down side to this resort is that it seems like other resorts might have a better plan money wise as far as the actual wedding goes. At the Occidental you have to reserve 10 junior club sweet rooms to get the free wedding. The junior club rooms are pretty expensive. But at the end of the day I think Id rather have to pay a few more dollars here and there for the actual wedding then booking a place that my guests couldn't afford to get to. There are other resorts in this price range to check out but I personally think this is the prettiest. Here is the link to the hotels website. http://www.occidentalhotels.com/grandxcaret/index.asp Here is the Occidentals wedding website link: http://www.occidentalhotels.com/incl...ngs/xcaret.htm P.S. If money was not an issue and we did not possibly have children coming then the El Dorado would probably be our next choice. http://www.eldoradosparesorts.com/royale/?Lang=EN

Hi Jill, Welcome. theres information everywhere around here and everyone is great at helping out with ideas. Have fun.

Hey girls, Ive been reading some reviews today trying to get an idea of what hotels are the best in the Cancun/Riviera area and I keep seeing this WC's website comming up with some positive reviews. www.caribbean-cancunwedding.com I am not sure if there prices are high/low or average because I do not think I will be hireing a WC and havent really researched them much, but from what I have read they seem to be a reliable WC company.

Yah, I went to a wedding a couple of years ago at this really buetiful and expensive old house/Inn on the Cape, and the Bride/Groom and all of us guests were being rushed out of there an hour earlier than when the wedding reception was supposed to end, because the Inn had another wedding booked for that day and they wanted to clean and get ready for the next one. It was horrible.