~Stephanie~

Quote: Originally Posted by msglave Duprk, that is an AWESOME review! Thanks for posting it so detailed! I am sooooo excited! Question, did any resent brides have the same dance floor as Duprk or had the wood planks? If that is the regular dance floor, we don't need to pay to upgrade. Kenlyn, what did you think of Victor? I didn't pay for a dance floor and mine lit up white and kinda yellow. It was very pretty. Quote: Originally Posted by jesmcan kenlyn - so glad it was so perfect like I said they should give people that option msglave - I agree with Kenlyn Victor does not get enough credit I featured a wedding he did in Tulum Ale & Pedro Destination Wedding Tulum Mexico Destination Inspirations and just like Kenlyn's pictures you can see what great work he does I did not even put two and two together until I saw Kenlyn's pictures that it was the same photographer lol By the way for past brides who had their reception on the beach was there an issue with sand in food. No one mentioned but I thought I would ask. We are thinking about doing a private dinner on the beach as a gift for our parents. Any thoughts? No, sand is not a problem. We did the private dinner and the reception on the beach. By the way, there were other private dinners going on when we had ours, but honestly I couldnt see them. We also had a violinist play for us at ours, didn't know they would do that. The beach was still so crowded at 5:30, 6:00 that we moved our recpetion to 6:30, there were still people but it was better by then. Also the beach in front of the gazebo is the most private due to the gazebo and the plants growning in front of the gazebo. We switched from Central beach to this because when we got there we didn't like Central beach, switching was the best decision for us.

Ok so I am not going to get to my review for a while but I wanted to share the 2 major problems I had with my wedding with you girls so you can be prepared and not have the same problems I did....I am still trying to get over it, I have been so upset ever since my wedding but there is nothing I can do and I just hope when I get my video back that I don't feel upset all over again...since its all on video! I took so long writing my own ceremony script, I finally had it perfect. At the wedding the Minister (who I understand does most of the weddings and I see her pictured above) messed up our ceremony by skipping an entire portion of our script. She didn't ready any of our sand ceremony script except for one small paragraph at the end. I didn't know what to do at the time, if I stopped the wedding it would have been worse, everyone would have know. It would have looked terrible on video- stopping the wedding. But I was so angry that for a "wedding factory" everything should be smooth and no major errors as they do this everyday, several times a day! The other problem was with the music. The was a short or something in the cord they used to connect my IPOD to the sound system.. the music kept cutting out. The control of the music for the ceremony was just terrible, songs cut off, the music cutting out. It was very upsetting. We decided to give it a few days, try to "get over it" but by the end of out stay I was still crying over it. We went to talk to Zulma before we left, she was unaware of the problems with the ceremony script. After talking to her about it (which she was great and very sorry) she took action and by the end of the day had provided us some compensation for the minister's error. It was great of her to do this, it obviously didn't make up for what we can't get back but she did everything she could to help make it up to us. The sour taste in my mouth comes though with the phone call we recieved from the minister to our room shortly after my conversation with Zulma. The minister didn't apologize, she didn't understand why I would be upset and she was upset with me because the resort was apparently going to take part of the compensation from her. She was basically asking me to reconsider but without any apology. It made me so angry, what was I supposed to do? She skipped a huge portion of our script. I feel like my perfect wedding was ruined. It made me more angry that she confronted us about the money instead of her employer. (yes she works for the resort). I want to say thought that Zulma was very professional in all of this and she was just so wonderful with everything. She is amazing and she does take complete care of you when you get there! She is aware of everything that is going on with the MI office moving and she does know what is going on with all of us brides. I just felt that everyone should know what we encountered. I don't want to worry anyone but at the same time if I can prevent any problems I want to do what I can. Every bride plans and hope for everything to be perfect and when its not and its errors by someone else and its out of your control, well, its heartbreaking, at least to me. We do miss The Royal so much already though, we have already been trying to figure out when we can go back... aside from a few problems with the ceremony, everything else was wonderful.

Quote: Originally Posted by orbitingbklyn also, do you have to pay for the photographer as a guest at ceremony, cocktail hour & reception if he's not sitting & eating & just taking photos?? thanks ladies!!!!! Ok, so I am sure everyone gets a different answer and in fact I thought we had to pay for our vendors in our counts regardless of if they were eating...but.. when I got there, Zulma only had me count the vendors that were eating. So I didn't count any for my cocktail because they were busy with me, and I did include my photographer at my reception because I wanted to feed him... Quote: Originally Posted by duprk452 Okay, so I'm going to try to post a few teasers from my photographer. She just sent them and I LOVE them. She is from Louisiana, but travels for destination weddings and has amazing prices. If you would like her information PM me and I can get it to you. Beautiful!!

Hi Ladies! I just got back this morning! I have so much to tell you all! I will try and get my review done soon. In the meantime let me know if you have any questions! We did have some issues with our wedding but it had nothing to do with our WC, Zulma. She is wonderful! I got to meet our Kendra! We ended up on the same excursion together Monday! Ruins, ziplining and repelling together- she is so sweet! I wish we had more time to hang out. Her wedding was so beautiful! I have a picture here of us at Tulum! Hope this isn't to big...

Quote: Originally Posted by msglave Any previous brides that have gotten married in the gazebo, is it extremely windy? I have a veil and a blusher but am worried about the blusher blowing crazy in the wind. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! It was windy but very nice, my veil had beading on it which helped. I think it is ok to wear a veil if its not to "lightweight" Quote: Originally Posted by orbitingbklyn Hi- I am getting married 12/3 at The Royal (Mayan ceremony on the beach by Pelicanos, followed by cocktail hour & then reception on the beach) and I am really glad that I found this site. Thanks everyone for posting tons of helpful information and specific info about your weddings. I have a few questions and of course it's a bit hard to get answers from my WC, who thanks to you i just learned moved to mexico! ha! Lighting for the reception (it will be dark out by that time). What is anyone's experience with lighting? In the del Sol photos I've seen tables that light up different colors. Is that standard? Is there a fee for that? I would love to have that! Does the hotel supply that? What other lighting is available? I was thinking of bringing some cool string lights, is that necessary or do they provide other lighting? Undertable lighting, candles on the table and tiki torches are included. The dance floor also provides a lot of light. It was perfect. I wouldn't add any. Music for reception - Does anyone have experience with bringing an Ipod loaded with music and using that for the reception? Does the hotel provide a sound system/speakers and is there a charge for that? I am thinking of getting the Mexican trio for the cocktail hour and then using an Ipod, as I'm not a huge fan on DJs. Is there someone available from the staff that can make sure the Ipod is running? The hotel has a sound system they let you use for the ceremony-reception. They run it for you. No charge for the system. I used an IPOD for the ceremony and reception and did the mexican trio for the cocktail hour (which my guests loved). I am upset that there was a short in the cord they used to connect my IPOD and the sound cut out during my ceremony (I will explain in detail in my review) but otherwise it went well. Rachel Quote: Originally Posted by dianep thanks jess! it was such an amazingly fun day. i'm seriously ready to head back! no one brings me mojitos when i'm just in my back yard. Dude, seriously, I just got back, there is no beach waitress in my house Quote: Originally Posted by orbitingbklyn Hi! Does anyone have a formal statement from the hotel regarding the dress code that I see mentioned here (but was never told by my WC or on the website!)? Can guys wear nice sneakers? Are there any restaurants at The Royal or Gran Porto that do not have a dress code? THANKS! Dress code is required at dinner for most of the resturants (all expect Spice and Pelicanos). Sneakers are fine. We had one guy that did a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers at every dinner... no problems. They only care about shorts, sleeveless shirts and flip flops or very open shoes on guys.

Officially off to mexico! Heading to KC airport. Gotta be there by 3 am! I will check in! Let me know if u have any questions! Thanks for everything ladies! I could not have done this without u! Xoxo

Quote: Originally Posted by FutureMrsYak So I'm trying to give it a few weeks for things to settle down before asking who my new WC is, since my wedding isn't until December. But I'm not going to lie I'm a little anxious! I'm sure this has been answered in the past, so I apologize in advance...but my wedding is under 6 months away now, is there anything I'm supposed to be doing? When do I pick my restaurant and food for my semi private recep, when do I choose flowers... Also, has everyone played some sort of music during the actual ceremony when you walk down the isle and all? I'm not getting a DJ because of the semi private ceremony (and our AHR is over 200 guests so I'm keeping it as simple as possible in Mexico) but im totally clueless on what to do about music- is it weird not to have music when we walk down the isle? I'm not sure about the restaurant pick, other than the standard "45 days before the wedding" guideline. For the music, they provide a sound system, all you have to do is provide some song selections with either an Ipod or CD. They will play them as you walk down the aisle an any other times during your ceremony that you want music.

I picked up my dress Saturday- made it so real! We leave Wednesday morning at like 5am! My experienced playa girls.... I know you can buy cigars there but does anyone know how much we can expect to spend on some cheap cigars for the reception? Also, girls that have used petals... don't they blow away? I really really really want petals but I can't see spending $20 a bag on petals only for them to blow away....

Thanks for the "No rain" wishes ladies! Keep it up- its working! The 60% chance went down to 30%! I'm crossing my fingers!

I am so sad right now.... 10 day forcast calls for 60% chance of Thunderstorms on my wedding day... I want to cry. Also, Any opinions on this? Zulma told me she needed 1 week notice on my flower choice in case they needed to be imported, but when I responded with questions in order to help make my decision- she has been MIA again and now its too late to get anything imported.... Do they have to import roses, cali lillies or gerber daisies??

Quote: Originally Posted by Abbie Steph it was me i figured why bother nomming you when i have the super power to add you when it counts Nice! I love the way you think! lol

Quote: Originally Posted by astreit Sorry I haven't been on here much since my wedding, it has been hectic getting everything in order. I will tell you about my aisle runner though since it was my favorite thing. I ordered it online without my fiance knowing, and hauled it to Mexico in a huge box with all the gift bags. He still didn't know. Well after a bunch of hassle getting it through customs (they wanted to charge me tax on my big box of stuff they thought i wanted to sell)...I finally got to the resort with it. It was a heavy weight runner, much heavier than one Lilia showed me that someone wanted to use. This one was on a roll and more of a thick net almost, not like a lacy fabric or anything. Lili went to put it out for me, and the wind blew it everywhere. They tried candles holding it down, tried pinning it to the red carpet, they tried everything. They ended up having to roll it up and only let the runner go to the bottom of the steps (i got married in the gazebo). Any further and the wind kept catching it. It turned out really neat for my pictures though because the monogram was in all my pictures then, but it was a huge pain for them to get to stay down. So I guess my advice is....if you really want it, make sure it's as heavy of a material as you can get, and be aware that on a super windy day there will be nothing that will hold it down. I will try to include a few pictures to show you what I mean. I'm not very good with shutterfly, but here is a link to a shared account I created with a few pictures in it of the aisle runner and us. Hope this helps. http://justinashleywedding.shutterfly.com/ Thank you for sharing this, Zulma told me it would blow away and i thought she was crazy... I am thinking I should just skip any runner (can't use the red, clashes with my colors) but I only bought a simple white one at Nobbies. So probably not very heavy and not worth my time to lug down there.... oh well. Thanks ladies for the other advise too! New question... Those who did TTD pictures, what locations did you go to?

COOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGSSSSSSSSSSSS! I love you!

LOL, Ok seriously this is amazing! I managed to make the vote list but I seriously saw no nom for me in the nom thread! I have super powers! WOOT WOOT! All kidding aside... good luck ladies!

Thanks for your help ladies! OMG, I can't believe we are leaving in one week! Are any of the brides still around that are going to be there the same time as me? June 9-17? I want to say Hi if I see you guys! I know there are 2 or 3!