ImSusan2

Oh, I took pictures of Chili's, La Habana, Bota Fogo, Don Manolo's etc. I can try to email them to you if you want to look at them. If you have a small wedding party, you can do a semi-private reception at Chili's which is a beautiful venue but they won't let you do it till 8:30pm. We didn't want to have our reception that late. Oh and believe me... The Welcome dinner is almost as wonderful as the reception. When we arrived for the Welcome Dinner at Don Manolo's they had segmented off a private area and had it decorated just like a wedding reception. Since we had seen a previous wedding earlier that day, I thought the dinner was the actual reception for that wedding because the decorating was so elaborate!! Nope.. THAT was our WELCOME DINNER.. They even had a head table for it.!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jaime If there is anyone out there who has picked the RIU Rivieria Maya Palace please be in touch with me. We booked for Feb 5, 2009 and am wondering about the DJ/dancing after the reception dinner- if you did this why or why not and was the open bar included? Any other helpful tips are much appreciated. Thanks- Jaime Yes, Josie, my daughter just got married at the RIU Palace Riviera Maya on 11-28-2009. It was spectacular. We had 55 people total and had our reception dinner at Bota Fogo at 6:30 pm. The wedding was at 3:00pm. We had a complimentary cocktail party from 4:00 to 6:30, at La Habana Bar (The gorgeous Hotel Lobby Bar) We added full bar service to our reception package for $442.00. Well worth it although if you can't afford it, your guests can step right outside the restaurant to the outdoor theater bar for free, but then they have to leave the reception and it could break up the action. Our total cost for the Caprice Package with full bar and DJ from 6:30 to 11:30 (we added an extra hour of DJ services because we didn't want the party to break up at 10:30. We also asked Bota Fogo to stay open the extra hour and they said no problema... we just tipped the waiters a lot of extra cash for working overtime.) but the total for every single thing including the Caprice Package was $5,700. This also included a lot of extra flowers, fancy flowers for the bridesmaids etc. We had tropical flowers at the foot of every row of chairs....just a lot of random extras we wanted and let me tell you. It was the most spectacular, beautiful, amazing wedding anyone had ever seen. People were literally freaking out over how fantastic it was. The food was scrumptious. People say don't worry about the cake because they have a lot of extra desserts but let me tell you we got the Chocolate Raspberry Cake with white frosting and it was the most delicious cake EVER. Our DJ was a total crack up!! He came ready to party his head off!! No one left the dance floor all night long. Josie and Jason got married in the gazebo... perfecto because it was a lot more private but we saw an actual beach wedding and it was gorgeous too, but windy...so it was hard to hear the vows. I would be happy to show you the pictures and we could have done it for a lot less money. We could have gotten by with a perfectly nice serviceable and beautiful wedding for about $3500 but the DJ was well worth the money as were all the extras we decided to splurge on. The RIU bends over backwards to make everything just wonderful. One suggestion... tell your guests to book their rooms on the 3rd floor... or on the top floor (in some sections of the hotel the 2nd floor is the top floor... but get the top floor whatever you do. The hotel is noisy and it is hard to sleep unless you are on the top floor. Plus the views from the top floor are much much better. This is a super easy hotel to navigate so if you have seniors or disabled guests... elevators and ramps go everywhere. Pictage Slideshows

Josie's wedding is just 3 weeks away! How exciting. We still have no real idea what the heck is going on and how all the details will come together but with this forum, we have decided to just let the chips fall where they may!! Everyone who has been there said it turned out fantastically once they got down there though it was hard to get concrete plans made while here in the states!

Oh my goodness. Lisa will be there right before we are!! How exciting is that!

Ha! That is actually Carolyn in that bridesmaid dress. She looks so cute!!

Oh, here is something I forgot to ask. Did any of you "ask" the front desk if they would hand out your OOT bags or put them in the rooms of the guests for you, or are you just assuming they will? Thanks... Susan

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome. (I did not see our last name in there anywhere but perhaps Josie had the moderator take it out already... sorry about the faux pas.) Yes, I am new to any type of forum and the search feature is certainly very helpful. Congratulations to everyone on their engagements. I have been married for 31 years.....it has it's rough spots and it's times of smooth sailing but is well worth while if you stick with it and just muscle right through any heavy lifting. Ha Ha. Thanks to those of you who said "No to the mailing stuff to Mexico." Guess that plan will be shelved but with all the extra charges for additional luggage on the airlines, I wonder how expensive it will be and how many suitcases and bags we will end up needing to haul all the stuff down there? Oh well. We need to buy more suitcases!! (Josie can't you ask for that for your shower... ha ha ha... just kidding) Has anyone seen the disco... or does anyone have some pictures of it? We have a few from the resort but would love to see the layout of it. What a great idea to go down there in advance and scope it out. Wish we had thought of that but with 2 of Josie's best friends getting married and all their showers, engagement parties and our own stuff we have had so few weekends. Have fun everybody!! Aren't you just so thrilled that you were born girls I know I am. I wouldn't be a guy for anything....ha ha ha...

I'm the mom of Josie who'll be getting married at The Riu Riviera Maya on 11-28-09. We are so excited and can't wait for the day to arrive. My biggest problem is that I am an advance planner so am a little nervous thinking of all the things I would like to have "set" and not leave to chance. However, it sounds like other members weddings have gone off fantastically without a whole lot of advanced planning. Yet it is kind of confusing..... without knowing in advance where different activities would be, how did you make up a program to give your guests so they would know where to meet and when? We'd like to put together a program that would say what bar to go to meet at for the cocktail party, etc. Like the previous bride mentioned, we don't want to be trying to be get the word out to the guests verbally while they are all out trying to enjoy their vacations. Another question I had was for people doing the out of town bags. Did the resort deliver these bags to the wedding guests when they checked in, or did you have to go to them individually and give them to them? I saw that quite a few people did the maracas at the reception.... love it... and many have posted that they purchased them while there for $1.00 each. I guess I am just worried that we would get there and there wouldn't be any maracas there to buy or they would be very expensive?? Was it easy to find them in town? Could you buy more than 50 easily? Did anyone try to ship anything to the resort in advance? For instance, if we purchase bows for the chairs, travel mugs etc... are you allowed to ship them direct to the resort and have them just hold them there for you? Has anyone done a planned excursion for the guests to one of the ruins or nature preserves? If so, did you just pay in advance for everyone and let them do it at their leisure? Or, did you just send out a note to everyone or include a note to everyone that there would be an optional excursion on such and such a date at such and such a time? I have seen several references to a "casino". Is there a casino at the resort (I did not see it on the website) or is there a casino at one of the sister resorts that is easy to get to? Who has been to the disco and what is it like? Has anyone had their reception "after party" at the disco? If so, will they play your personal music play list for you there or will they only play their own music? (If you rent out the disco that is) If you do rent out the disco can you still allow anyone to come in including your own guests but also resort guests as well? Will the DJ announce the wedding party as they enter the disco? How far is the disco from the resort and is the path to get there easy to find and follow for those who want to walk? I heard that the music they provide at the wedding is " cheesy"... Can you ask them to play your own play list as far as music goes for the actual ceremony? Thanks for bearing with all the momly questions. Hi Josie!! Sincerely, Susan