Ben

Quote: Originally Posted by gemstone Hi Ben, I hope all is going well. I definitely understand your situation. I've been to all sorts of countries and resorts and have found the Mayan Riviera to be the best and most consistent of them all so when we decided to have our DW there. We wanted a resort that was nice, cost efficient, had a nice ceremony and reception location and in our case, kid friendly, as some of our goods friends have little ones. This helped narrow down our choices. Grand Palladium fit all these requirements but my FBIL got married there last year and we didn't want to repeat. It was a great choice though. Everyone had a great time and it was beautiful. It was more cost efficient than the Palace resorts. My fiancee and I have decided on Iberostar Paraiso in MR for our DW. It fit our budget and has some gorgeous locations for ceremony. Plus, a lot of guests coming are golfers and they have a golf course on site:) The best bang for your buck in our last year of research is Grand Palladium, Iberostar, Bahia Principe, and Barcelo. Though there are lot more, these all ha the needs we wanted I guess it depends on your needs. Our family and friends all have different financial situations so we had to find a 4-5 star that all could afford. Hmmm, thanks, definitely interested in checking those ones out, I had not. Which GP are u talking about though, there are at least 3 - Riviera, Colonia and Kantenah from what I found. I'm assuming you mean Riviera? Looks the nicest from the one pic on tripadvisor anyways

Quote: Originally Posted by Jteam Hi & welcome to the forum. Good luck with your planning. I've looked in that region but most of the places are pretty pricey and I suspect you will have checked them out already. (Tides and Riviera Mayakoba) I have the wedding info if you haven't already got it. (we considered it but now think we'll honeymoon there instead). WOW!!! I had definitely not even looked at those...that's just way out of my price range...although prices aren't out yet for Jan 2010 I've been browsing trip advisor just to get ideas and never even stopped on those 2... 1100+ a night, no thanks haha. I think all my guests would boycott. Not even sure I'D show up We are actually down to a couple, Riu Palace Mexico, another Riu (name escapes me - its a palace tho in Playa Del Carmen), Dreams, Moon Palace (my personal choice) and I've also been looking at some Iberostar's too... All of them have pro's and cons, from what I've seen the Palace resorts have by far the best weddings for the buck... 2150 and you get a horse drawn carriage for the bride's entrance, mariachi band, etc. Riu want 900 JUST for the mariachi band for 45 minutes...ridiculous! Anyways, they all have pros and cons, but our main consideration will be our guests unfortunately, including my parents who definitely don't have a lot of money. Like I said though its too early...palace told me they'd have their prices out in a week, so if its reasonable we'll probably go to MP. Thanks for the tips!

Quote: Originally Posted by MomentsThatMatter Congratulations Ben! It sounds like you guys have been there a couple times. I would image that Cancun would be out if your looking for something more intimate. Best of luck with all your plans. Its looking more and more like that, yes! We had some intentions on maybe checking out Dreams, but I have a feeling that will be too expensive for what my guests can afford. Do you have any suggestions? Obviously you must have seen quite a few resorts... we are looking for something nice, and yes, a lot more intimate. Moon Palace comes to mind as an example but more affordable. We found one that looked interesting (can't remember the name now) but its closing in April 2009 to be torn down for some condos

Quote: Originally Posted by cdc0427 What did you think was "ghetto" around Riu Caribe Hi, later after I wrote that, I wanted to actually edit it but I couldn't find the edit button. I guess it disappears as soon as someone replies to it... Its definitely not "ghetto" haha, I've stayed at much worse. There are things I really didn't like about it (especially for a wedding) but as someone else pointed out these things probably exist in most of the Cancun destinations. What I absolutely hated though was where the wedding setup was, right beside the main (and very busy) lunch buffet. And on the other side is a hammock area and more beach, with like a volleyball court and stuff. I'm not sure if they get people out of there, but it really wasn't private at all, and there is a seagull problem I'd say a lot of days at that buffet... I don't know, its just way too busy for my liking. And after the wedding is over, they walk you through the entire court and the swimming pool areas... we saw one doing it there, they seemed really happy, and good on them, but we want something a little more intimate. As for the rest of the hotel, the food is mediocre (I'm not expecting the moon at an AI but its worst then the last Riu I stayed at by a long shot!). The rooms aren't that nice either. One whole side of the hotel is facing a construction zone (the side they gave me), although obviously there isn't much they can do about this. I don't know, it didn't scream class to me. It really was what it was, a 4* tops but probably more like 3 1/2. Not that I would NOT recommend it for a fun vacation (I have fun wherever I go down South with friends), but I wouldn't for a wedding to be perfectly honest. If you want great bang for the buck, well more for my taste anyways, check out the Riu Jalisco in Puerto Vallarta. Their wedding setup is AMAZING, much more intimate, and the hotel itself is just a lot nicer (and probably the same price range as the Riu Caribe / Riu Cancun). I know its in a completely different part of Mexico though. We already went for a wedding there, and if the bride of that wedding wasn't coming to our own, we probably would have used it haha. A lot of the same guests though, so we wanted to go somewhere new at least. Having big problems finding it though!

By the way, it was $1632 in 2005, hehe. And yes, 2200 is a lot, but it really depends on you and your friends' situation. I'm in my late 20's and so are my friends, and we coudldn't afford that...

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsFisher2B Hi ladies! so, I have an issue. My fiance and I cannot agree on a location for our Feb 2010 wedding. He does not want the resort to be more than $1700-1800/person (taxes included). I, on the other hand, think it's okay for it to be $2200 (taxes incl. with group rate...which seems to be the norm of the placed i think would be nice). I mean, as long as we get there, and our parents get there...then we're fine. He wants tons of people to go, while I could care less if anyone comes (as long as our parents come). so I'm looking endlessly at these stupid resort books trying to find a resort that he'd be happy with. I mean, it's our *wedding* not a random trip that we want the best deal on. I don't want to have my wedding at a hole-in-the-wall resort just to save a couple hundred dollars. It was his idea for the destination wedding, and he sold me on the idea. Help me out girls...Am I crazy? I am having the exact same problem to a 'T'! Anyways, just wanted to suggest, we would go there ourselves had we not already went there once (for one of our good friends weddings). We went to Riu Jalisco in Puerta Vallarta, and although the water is not as nice as Cancun, this place, for the price, was probably the best value I've ever had on vacation. It was 1632 per person, in CDN $. So anyways, due your dilligence and check it out if you want, I really loved it and everything about the wedding was top notch too. The Gazebo is not anywhere near the beach (well it is within walking distance but not right beside it or anything) so you don't have crowds watching you. Anyways, our whole party of 38 really enjoyed it. The disco SUCKS though! haha

Wow, I wish someone had responded to this...this is my exact question. Go to tripadvisor, you will see some really nice pics @ Iberostar Coz. I emailed the wedding coordinator of Iberostar a week ago and still have not had a reply. I actually talked to someone who did have a wedding there from Tripadvisor and she said she loved it. The thing I really don't like about that place is the rooms look bad... like really bad. I don't know, I guess it has some charm, but I know some people (like my fussy parents!) would really be turned off over the sort of dirtiness haha If having not so good rooms doesn't bother you, it might be worth checking out. I'm still planning for mine (Jan 2010) and this is one of the leading resorts for me. Its just those rooms....!!!!

Hi, My name is Ben... me and my lovely fiancee are getting married next January (2010) and are looking for an economical place for the big day either in Cancun, Mayan Riviera, Playa Del Carmen, or any of the surrounding areas. I have been searching tripadvisor for places and have found a few, unfortunately all the ones we are interested in have been very expensive. We have to keep it near that general area, because we have a timeshare at the Palace resorts where we have 4 prepaid vacations, so no doubt we'll be going for our honeymoon (Sun Palace, yay!). Anyways, any suggestions? We don't want ghetto, like a Riu Caribe (no offense to anyone who may have got hitched there, we just really weren't impressed when we went this last winter with some friends!) Our main concerns are privacy and ceremony location, we aren't too fond of the idea of having 100's of partyers nearby for our big day, although hopefully they would be respectful if it does come to that. We really want something nice, and even if we have to leave the resort for the day and go somewhere else, well that is also an option... I've been to the Moon Palace, and that would be ideal, but that would definitely cut most of our guests out of the picture... and I know that you should plan your big day for what YOU want, but one thing we definitely want is as many friends as possible and like I said we are probably going for a 1-2 week honeymoon right after at some really nice places so if we have to stay at a less expensive place for the ceremony itself then so be it. We just want something decent...