Jackie

Stephanie, good to hear that they got back to you, what a relief that must be. At least you are the last wedding, you dont have to worry about being rushed out of anywhere because theres another wedding behind you anyway.

Sarah, its on the Carribbean side of Mexico, if you can make the travel over for the honemoon it looks amazing. Check out the swim up Cassitas. This is where Ryan and I want to honeymoon. I read a report on Tripadvisor and the women said they never even checked out any of the big pools because their room opened up into a small pool that was shared by a few other cassita rooms with their own personal swim up bar/bartender. Um hello can you say ROMANTIC. Here is the resorts website link. http://www.eldoradosparesorts.com/royale/?Lang=EN

I cant believe how pretty it is. We want to honeymoon there. Ryan took one look at the resorts website and said, to be exact, "screw the wedding lets go straight to the honemoon". Ha, he wishes.

Hey Riviera girls, just found a slideshow of a wedding at the El Dorado Royale. Sometimes the actual slideshow stops to reload and then continues again, but if you dont feel like waiting for that you can just click the icon down on the right bottom corner that says order pictures and view each picture one at a time. Some of the shots give a good idea of what a wedding would look like there. The slide show is awesome though played to Van Morrison, how sweet, Here is the link: http://www.leighmillerphotography.co..._nate_wedding/

Thanx Tammy, I Love the Arcade!!! the new card games seem awesome.

Just thought I would post this review I found. Adults Only wont work for us but man does this place look great. Anyway here is the review. Quote: September 11, 2006 We were married in February at Aventura Spa Palace, in the Riviera Maya. It is an amazing all inclusive, adults only resort and spa. We had 30 guests, all of whom said it was the most beautiful wedding and most amazing resort they have every seen. Most are now making plans to return, because they had such a great time. We had a white horse drawn carriage, decorated beach gazebo (there are 3 gazebos of varying sizes to accomodate your wedding size), red carpet, beautiful flowers and candles, marriach band, great photographer, lots of champagne, fantastic reception dinner with beautifully decorated tables, music and dancing, wedding cake. When we returned to our Presidential suite at nights end we discovered the great staff had decorated our bedroom with balloons, confetti, lots of flowers, bride and groom towel art on bed, and the wonderful large double jacuzzi was full of warm water and bubbles.! A bottle of campagne and a fruit tray sat near the jacuzzi ! Of course breakfast was deliverd to us the next morning. We had a fairytale wedding, followed by a perfect honeymoon. Aventura has many things for your guests to enjoy. There are 7 restaurants (no Reservations) and 24 hour room service. All of the restaurants are very good and have quite a variety of food. There are 2 beautiful outdoor pools with swim up bars. One pool is quieter than the other. One has volleyball and live music. There is also a cross current pool, 5 jacuzzis and an indoor pool. There is a beautiful clear lagoon to swim, snorkel, or kyack in. The restaurant, beach, and pool service is spectacular! There is a world class spa that our guest took full advantage of, an excellant beauty salon, a state of the arts gym, a fitness trail, zen garden, laberynth, climbing wall, tennis and basketball courts, diving tank, pool and ping pong tables, 5 bars, live music and dancing in the lobbies, disco. Also, there are free unlimited tours to many popular destinations and when you stay at one Palace Resort you can use any of the others for free (restaurants, golf, spa etc). The rooms at Aventura are beautiful, all have a large double jacuzzi that looks out on the ocean, all have balconeys and hammocks. Also, if you want to have your rehearsal dinner somewhere else, you could go to one of the other Palace Resorts for that (Playacar Palace, Cozumel Palace, Moon Palace, Cancun Palace, Beach Palace, Sun Palace) and it would be free or you could take a 15 minute ride to Playa and have dinner at a restaurant there. Aventura Spa is truly a first class resort and has a very romantic atmosphere. You will fall in love with it. Who knows If I'm doing anyone any help by posting these but I love to read reviews and since their arent any brides around here that have been married in this area (I dont think anyway) I thought I'd try and grab some info and just bring it over. Geez I hope this is legal, Tammy, am I allowed to do this? Maybe I'll hold off til you get back to me. Ive only posted 2 so far. God I hope its ok.

Ok, I found the review. She posted her review on Oct 6, 2006 and had a wedding date of March 2006, about 6 months away. I'm hoping that the WC isnt bad but maybe just not as attentive to Brides untill the wedding date is closer. I hope I hope I hope!

Hello there, just thought I would try and start posting more in this area of the forum. I have been trying to research any reviews I can find online in the Riviera Maya area. I have just started doing this today so I started with the hotel I am most interested in so far. Occidental Grand Xcaret. I found a nice review and thought I would post it. Posted on: 9:42 pm, January 05, 2005 "Hi and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!! My husband and I got married in November of 03 in Playa del Carmen. We stayed at the Grand Flamenco Xcaret by Occidental. It was beautiful!!!!!!!! The hotel, was probably one of the best all-inclusives. We did get the Royal Club rooms, which helped greatly with excellent service and better/fresh food. We are going to Cozumel at the end of May (May28- June4) and staying at the Grand Cozumel by Occidental. We loved the hotel that much, that we fully trusted the entire chain of Occidental hotels. I highly recommend getting married in Playa del Carmen. It will be our first time in Cozumel, so I can't provide any advice yet. I know weddings can be stressful, but the wedding coordinator (provided by the hotel) is great at planning everything. I hope I helped a little. Again, CONGRATULATIONS!" I also found a not so good review for a wedding at the Occidental Grand Xcaret, but the women who wrote the review hadn't even had her wedding yet and was basically just venting in regards to not being able to get in touch with the WC at the resort. I am not sure how close she was to her wedding date but I know that the WC's that the resorts have in Mexico seem to be a little laxadazel in returning e-mails ect. until the wedding date is pretty close. I will try and go back to see how far away she was from her wedding date.

Congrats Kristina!

Congrats Sarah. Boy you must have the most points other than Tammy. Thats pretty impresive.

Ok Carol, I think it should be officially up to the two of us to start makeing some noise over in the Cancun Riviera Maya forums. I'm almost sure we will be heading to the Riviera Maya. If you go over to the Cancun/Riviera Maya threads Tammy (host) has a great list of different resorts. Sometimes the list will not appear immidietly you need to scroll down and hit the button that says show threads posted in the last year. I think it is automatically set up to show threads in only the past day or week or something. The resorts in that area look amazing and whats even more amazing are the prices.

Welcome Sharry, Great to have you join in the fun.

Welcome Cortnie, you have definitly found the write site as far as info goes, happy planning.

Quote: Originally Posted by TOESNTHESND We are sending out STD's and formal invites. Eventhough we pretty much know who is coming we are still sending both. Just cause I want to. I agree, I think invitations are so fun. But I suppose if you arent into the idea then you dont need to. Thats what I love about a destination wedding, You can pretty much throw any ritual/tradition out the window and add new ones as you please. I say, do whatever the heck you wanna do, Its your wedding.

Stephanie what a nice story, I love that you got engaged at the RIU and now you will be married at the RIU. AWWWW.

Yeah!!! Congrats Me, Congrats Maria Elena!! Cant wait for you to come home and tell us everything.

If Ivory looks better with your skin tone then by all means go with Ivory.

Good Question, I know theres travel insurance out there for flight and hotel but I wonder if there is an isurance plan that would cover the whole shabang. I'm sure one of the girls around here will know.

I love it when there is a slideshow at wedding receptions too. Great idea.

Congrats Christa

Welcome Carol, there is a ton of information around here. A lot of it sorounding Cabo but all the tips and advice can be taken to any destination wedding I'm sure.

Welcom Betsy, I think Sarah and Tammy are right, One place Ive heard good things about from friends and family is the Occidental Grand Xcaret in the Riviera Maya. I believe it is a 3/4 star hotel. But it seems like it is a pretty good bang for your buck and still buetiful at the same time. I dont think it compares to some of the resorts in Cabo though, like the Dreams and Riu that Sarah was speaking about. Cabo is known for their great hotels and from what Ive researched they are indeed great. I think Tammy (host) put another thread in hear somewhere about the El Dorado which I believe is in either Playa Del Carmen or the Riviera too. Good luck.

good for you Natasha, one less thing youll have to do when in Mexico.

Congrats Sarah!

Welcome Steffie Lyn, I'm not sure if it helps at all but I hear that Aruba is awesome. I know a handfull of people that have been to Aruba and wont go anywhere else now. My friend who got married last year also honeymooned in Aruba at the Bucutti resort (gorgeous) and said it was the best spot she has been to in the Carribean yet. Another good aspect of Aruba is that it is under the hurricane belt which I guess means they dont get hit by the hurricanes like some of the other islands. I think (am not sure) that Aruba might be a little on the expensive side though.