Helen_S81

Great review! Everything looked wonderful! Great photographs by Elizabeth Congratulations!

Welcome to the forum Holly! Check out this thread here if you haven't already: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t36651 I'm pretty sure the price for renting the pool bar is in there somewhere! Good luck and post any other questions you may have in the Riu Vallarta thread

Absolutely beautiful! Your wedding looked like so much fun! Congratulations!

Congratulations Yamille! Thanks for sharing your day with us and good luck with your Mexican wedding!

Wishing you all the best Casey! Enjoy your wedding day. Can't wait to hear all about it! Congratulations!

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Melissa~ Sorry gals that I've fallen so behind with this thread. My bad. Do you ladies think I should just change the title of this thread to, "The official PV Riu Thread" ?? I think that is a good idea! What does everyone else think?

Quote: Originally Posted by alliegrenier Sorry I haven't been on much...we've been so busy organizing...then reorganizing because of a change....then reorganizing AGAIN because of ANOTHER change...LOL. Things seem to have finally calmed down. We leave on Tuesday for the Riu Vallarta and the wedding is on Friday (one week from today...woo hoo!!). We have been planning from the get-go to be at the Riu Vallarta. With all the media hooplah, and the closing of some resorts, we were moved to the Riu Palace about 2 weeks ago, which meant picking from new restaurants and reception bars...we also had to notify all 45 guests of the change to ensure they made the upgrade as well. Then flights from Denver to Mexico started getting cancelled (primarily United). So about half of our guests were scrambling to make new flights. Some had to shorten or extend their stay since many carriers aren't flying every day of the week any longer. After we got it all worked out and everyone was comfortable again....we got switched back to the Vallarta!! hahahahahahahha....I'm mostly laughing because this was supposed to be my stress-free wedding that required very little from us...so much for that. Oh well...it'll be memorable...and most importantly...we WILL be married on our 3 year anniversary as originally planned...that's the important part! I can't wait to dig my toes into the sand...this is my FIs first time at a real beach! YEAH! Oh my goodness! How stressful this must have been! I'm glad it's all sorted out now You'll enjoy the vacation after all the organizing and then reorganizing you've had to do. Have a great trip and don't forget to come back and tell us all, and show us all (because you know how much we all love the photographs) how it all went! Good Luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by LaBre That's awesome Helen!! Thanks for all the great info. I love Katie and Chris's photos! That price sure is far lower than the quotes I have from other photographers!! (although generally I think they include far more pics on the dvd) How long did they have him for? Thanks for the tip on booking online for golf too. I'll check out the courses you mentioned. So are you saying you gave folks the oot bags before even leaving for Mexico? The photographer was there before the ceremony, but just at the beach, he didn't come and take pictures in the room. He took a fair amount of photo's before the ceremony. I'd say he was there for an hour? He did the ceremony and then took Katie and Chris down the beach for some shots by themselves, then he left. He wasn't around for the reception. Yes, we gave most of the OOT bags out before we left. We only took the ones for the guests who were coming from the USA and the UK. It was just one less thing to worry about

OMG we must have more! Come on Jean-Marcus don't leave us hanging like this!

Thinking of you! Good luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by mskcard77 Does the Majestic Elegance/Colonial use the same wedding coordinators? Also... Have you come across any beach wedding pictures at the Elegance? Thanks I looked for a possible beach location when I was there in March but I didn't see one. I think Elegance brides might use the same beach location at the Colonial. The location was kind of in the middle of the two resorts.

Quote: Originally Posted by LaBre I wanted to ask you ladies what you're all doing about photos. KayLMR, do you mind sharing how much Aldo Tovar charged, and what his package included? I haven't heard too many positive things about the Riu photographers. Anyone have different experience? I've been in contact with both Alfonso Lepe, and Paulina Uolla, who have similar rates (until Alfonso came back with a counter offer- a smokin' deal!) and both seem to do great work. I have also heard that the Riu doesn't appreciate outside photographers. Can anyone verify or nullify that? Another question for you ladies who've already been. What has been the feedback on the zip tours? I've heard they are incredible down there, but never from anyone who has been. Also, Helen, I think it was you who mentioned golfing, and that you may have more info around that? I would love some info regarding the courses, how far in advance tee times have to be booked etc. Thanks! And oot bags.......did you gals bring most of your stuff, or find local stuff down there? Thanks so much for sharing all of your experience and knowledge ladies! This forum is indeed a real treasure!! La Katie & Chris used Aldo Tovar and were happy with the results. I posted about the costs in my review thread http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t21027 but here it is: For $300 you can get 36 pictures or for $350 you get the CD with a full set of high resolution pictures, of which Katie seems to think there are just over 100, but that originally he must have taken close to 300 because of the numbering system on the pictures. So the CD is what the photographer considers the best shots. The DVD of the wedding was $450. All prices are the 2008 prices. Expect an increase for 2009 weddings. All US dollars. Here is a link to some of the pictures by Aldo Tovar Katie & Chris Professional pictures pictures from friends & fun photos on webshots We had a few guests do the zip line tour (Katie and Chris did the combo go carts/zip linning one) and most people enjoyed it, but got very dirty. I think LCRachel did a review on this tour somewhere on the forum. As for the golf, we didn't do any of the planning, but my husband did play once whilst in PV. We had a guest from the groom's side of the family, that made all of the plans. He booked t-off times through a travel agent friend he has (not the one that made all the travel arrangements) and I am trying to get that info. I think you can book your own games online. My husband tells me it works out much cheaper to book in advance. My husband went to Flamingoes to play. He says the course is nothing special, very flat. It was a 5 minute cab ride from the Riu Vallarta. It was not too expensive. Very hot. I know that the guest also played at El Tigre, probably twice. They loved that course but it is further and much more expensive. By the way our guest also brought his own clubs along and they did not count towards his baggage allowance (so they stuffed all sorts of other stuff in the case with his clubs). On one trip they brought a ceramic sink home in the golf bag! All of our OOT stuff was purchased ahead of time. Most of the bags were distributed ahead of time. We had had 5 or 6 to take with us. Those OOT bags along with parasols and fans were taken down by my friends. We didn't have any extra room because we took all of our stuff plus the brides stuff for her big day. Quote: Originally Posted by Goldstein to Be Oh yea, I FINALLY heard back from Jessica today. For those that are wondering here are the restaurant details: There are two restaurants in Riu Vallarta available for weddings: 1 - The Asian Restaurant "Nirvana". Here we have buffet dinner and there are two seating times: at 6:30 pm and at 8:45. This is a smaller restaurant and is located in the main building. 2 - Steakhouse Flamingo is located right on the beach and is spacious. Also here we have two seatings at 6:45 and at 8.45 PM. But of course if we make reservation at 6.45pm, is possible to extend your stay till 10 pm. Here we have plated service Jessica seems to get confused easily because of the language barrier. I would suggest that you figure out want restaurant and seating you want and then tell her. On a side note, they don't have a chocolate fountain (FI really wanted one) but she did offer to prepare something similar with chocolate & strawberries, the cost of that is $150dls per hour. Hopefully, this will help you all out too! I'm glad that Jessica finally acknowledged you Goldstein to be! But that does seem expensive for the chocolate and strawberries. I love berries but I did notice that there weren't too many around when we were there in May. I'd go down for breakfast and the only strawberries around were for decoration, so I'd take them all and then save some for my daughter when she came down. I hope I answered some of the questions! I've been so busy the last couple of weeks and I hope I haven't missed any questions! Just PM me if I did!

I just love all of your photo's by Michael! The bus photo's are so unique! I think my favourite is the one of the whole group by the bus. That kind of photo symbolizes what a destination wedding is all about Congratulations Amy and Octavio on a beautiful wedding! Well done Michael for capturing it all!

Oh no! I don't really have too much advise. The Pacifico would be an upgrade and I imagine they are consolidating the guests into two hotels instead of three, because of low occupancy. The Pacifico is further down the beach from the Vallarta/Jalisco - we walked down there to have a look but it was under construction. Have you tried emailing the co-ordinators yourself? Maybe Celina has a phone number so you can try contacting them that way? With that many guests I think I would want some of your reception details confirmed. . . I would keep trying to get your travel agent to get some answers for you. I don't really know what else to say. . . good luck and keep us updated! I just checked and I have a telephone number that was for Erica but maybe it would be the same for Jessica? Here it is anyway: Erika Cruz Wedding Coordinator Hotels Riu Jalisco and Riu Vallarta [email protected] Tel: +52 322 226 6600 Fax: +52 322 226 6610

Your engagement pictures are spectacular! Can't wait to see the wedding ones! Not long to go now

Quote: Originally Posted by JUSTUSTWO There was a past ROR bride whose mother made the cake before hand & brought it with her to the resort & assembled it on the day of. I can't for the life of me remember who it was or how she stored it, but I know that lots of us were pretty amazed that her mother was able to do that. I found the thread http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t27365 The brides name was Shenmaat and if you go down to post #16 there is a link to the pictures where her Mom is doing the cake.

Congratulations Jacqueline! I can't wait to read all about your day and see the photographs!

Thanks Maurice! It's great to have a ROR review from the groom's point of view. I checked out your pictures and you both looked lovely. Love that everyone is in neutral colours. I also checked out the video tour of ROR. What a great thing for you to have done for any future brides! Well thought out and executed! Congratulations on your wedding!

Happy birthday Betsy!

Great review! I love the picture at the end of you in your dress, a life jacket and a bottle of tequilla! Can't wait to see the pro pictures! Congratulations!

Quote: Originally Posted by Tammy Host its for grilled chicken...not the delicious fried stuff... I guess I didn't read it carefully enough. I thought it was for either the grilled or the fried, but it's only the grilled. Sorry about that.

Just saw this on Oprah but it's only for the USA girls. Download the coupon here: Free KFC Coupon - Oprah.com Only available until 9:59 CDT May 6, 2009! And you can get grilled chicken instead of the fried!

That was quick Shelley! Everything looks wonderful! Enjoy your honeymoon and congratulations!

Great job Morgan! Thanks for sharing this with us.

Quote: Originally Posted by 00lindsey00 here are my pictures! 03.13.09 Lindsey and Nicholas | Excellence Riviera | Photography by Vincent What a beautiful wedding! I love the photos of the two of you on the pier. Very nice. I did chuckle when I saw the one of the two of you with the soldiers on the beach Congratulations on your marriage!