Aarica

How did your book turn out? I am interested in it too!

Quote: Originally Posted by missdanelle great review! Im soo excited for my wedding there in October 09! Your dress was beautiful, whos the designer? Thanks! I found my dress is a boutique in Dallas. The Designer is Golden Gate Bridal and the best part was it was under $500 I think! I loved my dress!!

Quote: Originally Posted by tylersgirl Oh my gosh! Great review! I can't wait to get married there. I really love your pics. You look so pretty. Did you do your makeup or did the spa do it? Congrats! Desiree Thanks! I did my own hair and makeup, but I saw a bride the day before that had her hair and makeup done at the spa and she looked great! I has tons of time experimenting with my make up! Good Luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by kychick Aarica, I am worried about the long gap between my cocktail hour and dinner. Our wedding is at 3:30 and the cocktail hour is from 4-5pm. However, dinner isn't until 6:30. How did it work out for you? Were guest unhappy, inpatient or even mad? Your cocktail hour will most likely last until the dinner (4-6pm) if it is at the lobby bar. It is a long gap, but it gives your guests time to go back to their room and freshen up or just hang out at the bar. It will be fine!! Have fun and good luck!!

Yeah, the cake is nothing special at all! I honestly wouldn't pay to upgrade it. I brought a crystal "m" to put on top of the cake and told them not to put any of the cheesy icing flowers on it. It was basic, but fine. 9pm is kind of late for the dinner, are you having it at Botofogo? No, we had the suite on the 1st floor, but the one of the 2nd floor looked awesome. Good luck! You will have a great time!!

A Few More... THE END!

Our wedding was absolutely fabulous! It was the most beautiful and intimate ceremony. We were upgraded to the suite upon our arrival and the best part was the patio overlooked our the gazebo where our ceremony take place. It was amazing!!! I guess I will start off with sections to make it a little less confusing…  *The Meeting with the Wedding Coordinators* Cinthya was extremely nice and very accommodating. I brought some decorations with me and there is a $60 fee for them to set everything up (which is totally worth it). I brought my suitcase full of goodies to the meeting with a letter explaining what to do with everything in it, which they really appreciated. The flowers included in the package are beautiful. I think you have 4 to choose from with out paying extra. I chose the roses, and they turned out really beautiful! The meeting probably lasted about 45 minutes. When we were done I felt really good about everything which was very refreshing! *Welcome Dinner* We had a welcome dinner for all of our guests the day they arrived. It was at Don Manolo, the buffet. It was nice, they had the table decorated with little flowers, but nothing too spectacular. After that we all hung out at the plaza area and watched the shows and live music, which was nice! *Wedding Ceremony 4pm* Was gorgeous! It actually was a little cloudy and barely sprinkled during the ceremony, but I couldn’t care less. I loved it and the clouds made for some great pictures. The RIU wedding team is a lot more professional and organized with their weddings than I imagined. They had several people setting up the decorations, walkie-talkies to speak to each other back and forth, etc. I just had two bridesmaids and they walked out to a beachy song and then I walked out to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, everyone raved about the music. It was really nice because I walked straight out from my room down the aisle! The pastor was great! He seemed very sincere and sweet when talking to us. I sent the coordinators and reading for him, and he did great! We also had my husband’s grandmother read us the Hand Ceremony right before we said our vows. When it was all said and done we walked back up the aisle while people were blowing bubbles. It was so cute! I would recommend the wedding gazebo to anyone. It was so beautiful and made amazing pictures! *Cocktail Hour 4:30pm* We had our cocktail hour, which was really about 2 hours, at La Habana, the Lobby Bar. They section off a place for our at the back of the bar. It worked out really well. It was a good idea to have it inside considering the ceremony and the dinner would be outside. I added chips, salsa, guacamole, etc. for people to snack on during this time as well. It was good for people to go to the bar while we were taking our pictures. *Reception Dinner 7pm* Our reception dinner was at Chilis, the Steakhouse and was FABULOUS! We had it in the mezzanine section, which can only hold 28 people max. It was almost 100% private. It worked perfect for our reception. We brought our IPOD to play music during this time as well. They had all of my decorations set up nicely when we arrived. The food was fantastic! I had the surf and turf and it was delicious. They brought our wedding cake out, which is really small (I didn’t upgrade it) towards the end. We got the chocolate cake with chocolate filling and it tasted okay, not the best. Everyone ate the dessert that came with our dinner, so 5 people out of our group had a piece and there was over ¾ left when we were done! Good thing I didn’t upgrade it!  Overall I think Chilis is a GREAT choice for the reception dinner, especially for a small crowd. I thought the foot was so much better than the Brazilian Restaurant, as did the rest of my guests. After dinner we all jumped in the pool… yes I was in my dress… it was so much fun! The rest of the time we hung out in the plaza area until everyone went to bed. *Photography* AMAZING!!!!!!! We used the resort photographer, Juan Carlos Maggellon, and he was absolutely fabulous! We had him come an hour before the ceremony so we could get a lot of the pictures out of the way. He walked in and immediately got down to business. I did my research and found good shots from other weddings and the RPRM and gave them to him. I am so glad I did, it gave him an idea of how I wanted my pictures to turn out. He took pictures during the ceremony and for an hour after as well. We were leaving the resort the next day to go to our honeymoon resort, so we met him at 1pm and he had our pictures for us. We purchased the jpeg package with the photos on the CD so we have all rights to them. We took over 500 pictures during the 2.5 hours that he was with us. We had such a hard time narrowing the pictures down and ended up purchasing a larger package because they were all so good! All in all, I am extremely pleased with the resort photographer and have received wonderful compliments on how great my pictures are. Overall I am extremely impressed with the RIU and could not have picked a better place to have my wedding. All of the guests had an amazing time and are already talking about planning a trip back next year. Now Here are some of the Pictures.... A Few More Pics to Follow...

Quote: Originally Posted by Archie510 Good Luck to you! have fun and take lots of pictures! Let me know which restauraunt is the best one to have the wedding dinner at and if you get a chance, let me know about the disco!!! How many guests are going? Private reception We are having our reception dinner at Chillis because it is open to the beach... it will not be private. We have around 30 people going... leaving 2 weeks from today... getting kind of nervous!

Welcome! I am getting married there on October 4th... not too far away! Hope your planning goes well!

Quote: Originally Posted by adias.angel So the hotel arranges it for you? Or do you have to find an outside company to arrange it with? They would arrange it for me.

I am getting married at Riu Palace Riviera Maya in Playa del Carmen. They told me that they can do a firework show... it is a minimum of 40 minutes and the cost was $1,000. Professionals have to do it. Hope this helps!

Welcome! I am getting married there on October 4th. If you do a search for RPRM. You can find some information! Good luck with the planning!

Quote: Originally Posted by margarosa Dear Jenn, Thank you very much for your review. I'm getting married there in November. I was planning to hold my reception at Chillis. Would you recomend the Botafogo better than Chillis? I was so worried about my hair and make up. So knowing that the Spa worked out well for you make feel better! Thanks! I am getting married there on October 4th and having my reception at Chillis. I like the fact that it is open to the beach and the food is supposed to be really good! For the spa, I am doing my hair and makeup myself... so I have no one else to blame if it turns out terrible... hopefully it won't!!!

Those are so cute. I love them! And the best prices ever!!!

Do the chair sashes have something embroidered on them?