CluelessBride

It's been awhile but I thought I'd update this post with what we ended up going with. We just sent one invitation. Here is the wording we used: Bride's Name and Groom's Name Will begin their lives as husband and wife on March 21, 2008 along the shores of the Mayan Riviera in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico They request the honor of your presence to share in the celebration of their marriage Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 8:00 pm Venue Name Venue address Pretty simple but it worked for us..

Quote: Originally Posted by Elisa Candi , Thanks so much for the info. I am getting married at the Riu Palace Mexico and am clueless as to how it will turn out . I orginally booked the Riu Palace Riviera Maya , but they moved the ceremony to the Palace Mexico because all by guests are staying there ** Gulp ** Thanks again . I look forward to seeing your pics ! CandiB helped me prior to my marriage, we were married on March 21st. I had spoken to three other couples who had gotten married at the RIU Palace Mexico. They all said it was amazing, wonderful, couldn't have been better... I didn't quite believe them fully since I had no idea what to anticipate. But the truth of the matter is, they were 100% right. It was amazing and wonderful and beautiful and I am so thankful we were able to get married there. I'm not really sure how to post pictures but we got married in the courtyard and then witnessed a beach renewal ceremony and got pictures of that, it was crazy. There was speedo boy, people sitting as close to the AISLE as possible! There's no way the photographer got a shot of just the couple w/o onlookers in the way...The courtyard felt sooo private even though our guests said that onlookers from their balconies were taking pictures, and people would walk along side of the buildings rather than in the middle of the courtyard and we didn't even notice them! We had a trio playing rather than a cd or ipod and it just completed the atmosphere for us. It was perfect. We traveled to the Riveria Maya a few times and it was great, but our guests repeatedly said they liked the RIU Palace Mexico better they couldn't quite explain why other than they thought it was prettier colors. They're both great but I don't think you'll be disappointed with the move in wedding location.

One more thing I should mention, we walked up and down the beaches in the Playacar area. None of them were that great, mainly because of errosion. There were large large sandbags in the water that looked like beached whales, in front of pretty much every resort in that area. But, the beach at the RIU Palace Mexico had soft marvelous sand, plenty of beach chairs, and plenty of areas to swim, it wasn't rough, or dangerous or rocky like I've read. On your way from the resort to the beach area you walk through a grove of palm trees in the sand, it's very lovely and very nice, then the sand goes downhill a little bit and then you get the view of the sand bags. I can share pictures once I get them downloaded to anyone who's interested.

We just got back last Saturday from our beautiful wedding at the RIU Palace Mexico. I'm working on a review along with pictures. We initially wanted the wedding on the beach, the wedding coordinator advised us against it but left it up to us. We went ahead with the courtyard...it was great. Even though it wasn't entirely private we didn't notice had no clue other people were watching us and taking pictures of us all around because everyone stayed a respectful distance away. On the beach however, we witnessed a renewal ceremony and people gathered as close as possible, there were beach chairs so close to the aisle, and yes there was speedo boy and topless girl in the vicinity... We took pictures of the differences and were soooo thrilled with our decision. The resort was awesome, we had 11 guests ranging from 21 to 50s in age. EVERYONE loved the resort and the fact that they could roam to the other neighboring RIU's and take advantage of those facilities as well. It's within walking distance to town, it's a cheap cab ride to town, and you do not want to miss the Playa Del Carmen town experience for sure! The food was surprisingly good at the resort, I've been to Dreams in Puerto Vallarta and Sandals in Ocho Rios Jamaica and the RIU resort was by far the most flavorful and best food I've had at an all inclusive. We saw lots of families there too so kids were definitely welcomed and accommodated. I'm the happiest happiest girl in the world right now and so thankful that everything turned out so perfect with soo little planning!

Thank you all for your help! I am now worried...my man isn't going to like all this tipping. He is not much of a tipper unless someone goes out of their way or just does a great job. I'm the opposite I tip because my mom used to be a waitress and her tips meant lunch money... What kind of gifts do people bring their WC??

We are paying for the wedding package offered by the RIU Palace Mexico resort, we will have a wedding coordinator, and hire an expensive trio to play music during the ceremony. So, is it common to tip the coordinator and the band? What have other brides done in the past? Thanks for any help you can provide!

Thank you for the responses...but YIKES! I don't think I can come up with something that nice in this short of time, plus I don't have a mac. Anyone else have anything a lil less elaborate? I want to thank the guests for coming and then also give a schedule of events. Any suggestions for this very non-creative person??

Is there anywhere else where there are Welcome letters posted? I want to welcome our guests and then do a schedule of events. I'm not going to have the time nor the creativity to put together an elaborate thing, I was hoping for some additional sample letters if anyone has them?

Thank you so much for clarifying everything! Your pictures are gorgeous!!

Oh yay! Here's your review. Well done!!! So here are my questions so that other brides may benefit from the questions as well... Did you do any extras such as musicians or just your own ipod selections? We have an MP3 rather than IPod do you think that will work? We are thinking of getting a 3 piece band for after the ceremony, take pictures, and between the ceremony and dinner the guests can hang out at a bar for "cocktail hour" is there a perfect spot there for that? Did you find that you needed to do anything like that? What did you guys do in between your ceremony and dinner? With the restaurant choice, did you feel like the atmosphere was nice and that it was a good spot for your reception? Other than the hunk o meat on your plate was there other food available salads, rolls, etc? Did they make it seem extra special for you? Do you think that the other restaurant El Patio (I think that's what it's called) would have been a better location? With the weddings you witnessed on the beach, do you think with us having our wedding at 5:00 pm with 11 guests, that we will feel as though it was crowded? Was it pretty? I'm afraid to do the gazebo wedding with only 11 guests it feels too big for our small intimate party. I think that is all the questions for now (sorry it's a lot!) Thank you, and I'm so thrilled for you that everything went so smoothly and that you are pleased with the results!!

Wow your wedding looked just absolutely beautiful. I'm so happy to hear that it went so well and that you were genuinely pleased afterwards. I am interested in finding out about the guest trip to Chichen Itza. How many of your guests went and how was it? We're contemplating a dinner at Ajua or a trip for our guests. We don't want to plan their entire vacation for them but want to do something as a group to show our appreciation for their attendance.

If you email the wedding department with questions, they'll email you back, they're really kind. So far I've had good luck with them and also with the different people who've given me feedback, no one has been unhappy or given any negative feedback whatsoever. It makes me feel more confident in my decision to get married there.

We are having an AHR and those are the only invitations we are sending out, we want to send them out prior to our wedding so it will be an announcement / invitation. My parents are not involved so they will not be mentioned in the invitation. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to word it in a creative way? We will probably go really cheap on these invitations since our funds are limited. But I don't want it to seem cheap, most of the invitation kits available at Walmart, Target, craft stores have been used by our close friends recently and we don't want to duplicate. We don't have access to any power points or photoshop so we don't have the ability to do any of the others I've seen when doing a search on here. Any suggestions or ideas? Thank you!

yes!! Can you tell me more details? What did you pick what was your total cost, what kind of ceremony you had? Oh my gosh I'm so happy to find a fellow RIU Palace Mexico bride!!

Thank you very much that just calmed me down a few notches.. the lack of sleep worrying about this thing is killin me! Thank you again!