h&a

Shay, I hope you have a wonderful time in the DR. Your attitude with dealing with all of this has been great, and that positive attitude will pave the way for a happy marriage. You're absolutely right that the most important thing is that you're marrying a great person. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time in the DR... we can't wait to see pictures... and a beautiful AHR. Alex and I are planning on the Royal for Christmas this year so perhaps we will see you there! Best wishes to you and all the other girls!

Girls, I know I don't post much any more but I still check in from time to time to see how everyone is.... I'm so, so sorry to all the brides who are affected by the swine virus. My heart goes out to you... I can't imagine how you must be feeling. Shay, I first started talking to you last summer after my wedding when you were just beginning your planning. I feel devastated for you. I'm sending all my love, thoughts and prayers and am hoping that somehow this will work out for everyone. It may not be the date you hoped and planned for, but I hope you all end up having the beautiful wedding you had planned for at the Royal. Thinking of you all....

Also, a tip... if you're paying for everything at the end be sure to request your invoice the night before check out. We did this, and it was good we did b/c it starts to get a bit confusing w/ all the different charges for different flowers, etc so it's nice to have time to go over it and make sure it's right. It ended up being a good thing we went over our invoice the night before b/c there was a charge of about $500 for an excursion that we never went on... they had accidently input our room number or something, but it took a little bit to sort it out so it was nice having the extra time to do so. Other than that, though, it was super easy just to pay for everything by credit card after the fact.

Haven't been on here in ages, but logged on today to see how everybody was doing... for those who are worried about payments, I didn't make any payments until I was there. It wasn't until check out that I actually paid for everything. I had assumed they would want a deposit or something beforehand, but was told to just pay for everything once I was there... frustrating, I know, that people are getting different information but for the girls who are leaving soon and haven't paid don't worry at all... everything can be sorted out once you're there...let me know if any of you have any questions! Hope the planning is going well!

I have 12 of them from OTC that I never ended up using. I'm in Ottawa, Canada but I can ship them to you tomorrow if you want.... not sure if that will give you enough time, but if you want them just send me a PM and they're yours. Here's a picture below of what I have...

Congratulations, Amy! You looked absolutely stunning on your wedding day! The day and the whole wedding week looked perfect! Yay! Isn't it great being a Mrs?! BTW my veil also flew off during the ceremony - right after I said 'I do' a big gust of wind came and took my veil away and the WC (who was translating) caught it. It was pretty funny

All of our guests were fine. I was pretty careful the first while b/c I've had pretty severe food poisoning in Mexico before and stayed away from salads... but as of our wedding night onwards I ate pretty much everything including tomatoes.

You did such a great job! The room is perfect! Congrats on your little one!

Quote: Originally Posted by Geminie I feel so good! Everything is confirmed! I was soo worried about the price my guests would have to pay.. after reading some of the posts and getting some outrageous quotes from a wedding planner at destinationweddings.com (which I fired...) Anyways, good news is, my 10 confirmed guests (so far) are getting their package for a little over $1500 for 1 week flying out from toronto... Transat Holidays is having a tax promotions right now so it's $150 cheaper /per person in taxes. And this is a group rate that we got. It is possible to go to the Royal on a budget! This is the entry level room though, the junior suite, and we're trying to see if we can make sure that everyone will get a pool view... we might be on the other side of the hotel... the garden side. I figure that's fine too, I don't want to be spending too much time in my room, there's so many things to do and see! Zulma has been really great too, and she said that we'll have to buy a day pass for outside photographers and that it shouldn't be a problem to have them there on our day. That is a huge relief! I'm not sure about other vendors though... I'll have to find out. I really want to do a lounge set-up on the beach..... Yay! I'm glad things are working out for you! Just wanted to let you know that we had some guests in the junior suite and, honestly, they are just as gorgeous. We paid extra for the beachfront walkout for our wedding, but we would have been just as happy with a junior suite. Depending on your group, though, you may want to be away from the pool side... it can get a bit loud there. We had guests in the same block as the rooms facing the pool, but on the garden side and they preferred it like that. Also if anybody wants, I found on the Internet a great overview of the Royal with all the room numbers so you can see as to which ones you might want to reserve ahead of time. PM me with your email address if anybody wants and I'll email it to you.

Yay! I'm glad that you're getting somewhere, and I'm glad that my review helped! Your website looks great... you are definitely on top of it! I can't wait to see pictures of the dress and the Passport Save the Dates!

Hi Girls, Yay, I'm so happy for you that they're honoring the rate they initially had when you booked! Honestly, Zulma and Michaela are the sweetest, and I couldn't have seen them doing otherwise (unless coming from above)... Shay, hopefully Michaela will be able to do something about the outside photographer... Kriswim, we didn't do group rates for rooms - we made it easy for ourselves and everyone just did their own bookings (plus in Canada and Germany where our group was coming from we do package deals with air and hotel included together and not separately as in the States).

Quote: Originally Posted by Shay2679 I know, right?! I can't believe it. This is the problem with not having a signed contract...they can just up the prices, and even though you have entered into discussions about how the day will be...there is nothing you can do. You think, though, that they should honor the prices they first told you - especially if you've already booked your date. Let us know when you hear back from Michaela... crossing my fingers for you to hear something positive... big hug your way!

Shay, I'm so sorry! I was looking at the Royal wedding packages on their site the other night and they sure have gone up in price... and to not allow outside photographers!!! That is not going to go over well with future brides at all! I hope your day looks up and that you hear something positive back from Michaela...

Quote: Originally Posted by antonia321 YAY!!!! Great review, Heidi and FABULOUS pictures!!! Thanks for mentioning me, too! he he Your review and pictures took me back to March when we got married and further confirmed that we both made such a great decision with The Royal! Isn't Zulma just the sweetest? All the staff there is so wonderful and very accommodating. They really just make you feel so special there. I just read my husband that part where you mentioned the Mango Tangos. And we started laughing. That was the popular drink at our wedding, too and I think some of our guests had them for breakfast daily! The lounge furniture looked great and your pictures are amazing. Go del Sol photography!! Wasn't the location so perfect? You can be lounging at a 5 star resort then just a block away is downtown Playa del Carmen. Our guests loved it. Anyway, congratulations and I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review. Hopefully, we can help out more future "Royal" brides!! antonia I'm so glad you also knew about the mango tangos! Lol...they were so delicious... we're going to try and recreate them at home next weekend with friends! Wouldn't you love to go back to the Royal? We're so missing it - what a wonderful spot... just perfect! We can't wait to get back there! Yes, Zulma is so sweet... so is Michaela! It was like having two great friends there taking care of all your weddings worries and requests. I asked Zulma and Michaela if they remembered you, and they both said how sweet you were and how much they enjoyed working with you. Zulma said to tell you that the she couldn't stop eating the delicious treats you gave her... she said she ate them all day at work, and that they were so good she couldn't stop! lol... Thanks for all your nice comments on my wedding! I wish we could do it all over again!

Hi Shay, The lounge furniture was $1500 US (prepaid by certified cheque) + $250 US for transportation (the company is out of Cancun), which I paid the night of the wedding (I had envelopes ready ahead of time with tips for vendors and any owing amounts, which my friend held onto in her purse). I think it's more of a standard set up than based on number of guests, but I could be wrong. This price included all the lounge furniture, dark tables, the decorations they had on the dark tables, and the big pots with bamboo near to the water. It also included pillows with your color choice. I was quoted a bit higher, but talked him down a bit to that price. I know it's a bit steep, but it really made the look for me and was actually a much better price than I was quoted by other companies. All the white linens are included with the Royal. They also have white tiebacks for around the chairs (made from the same white material as the chair covers) if you don't bring your own sashes. I bought my sashes and colored runners/overlays from www.sashesoflove.com If you go to that site and then to products you can see the size measurements of everything. Let us know if you have any more questions! I'm glad to help and I'm going through a bit of wedding withdrawal so it's nice to relive everything by telling all about it! Quote: Originally Posted by Shay2679 The lounge furniture really does look awesome - for both of your weddings. Can I ask...for the size of your party, how much did the furniture run you Heidi? There will be about 13 of us for our wedding, and I'm just wondering...if I might be able to afford something like this? Also, Heidi, for your table linens that you brought with you, what size did you make them? Were the chair covers included by the resort? Did they have tiebacks you could have used? I don't know what I would do without you. You've both certainly helped me, and I know dozens more. Thank you, to both of you.