KLaBate54

Erin- Thanks for sharing your pictures! You looked gorgeous and all of the pictures came out great! Paige- Sorry for responding so late to this, but yes, I would definitely reccomend Alux for drinks. I dont remember if they were really expensive or not though, but I think it would be an ideal place to go with your gruop. It's also such a unique place to see, and I'm so happy we did it! Also, we ended up just taking cabs there, which were $5 each way...so pretty reasonable. Sammysgirl- You must be getting so excited! Your day is almost here!

Congratulations and welcome back KimmyG!!! I'm so happy to hear that everything went well! I can't wait to see pictures!!! Jannae- I LOVE you TTD dress! Cute shoes Nicola...hopefully you'll be able to find them!

Quote: Originally Posted by sammysgirl there are hairdryers in the rooms correct?? Yes, there are hairdryers in the room, and they actually work pretty good too...I ended up bringing one, but ended up using the one in the room most of the time instead. Jannae- Sorry, yes I meant arrangements, lol! I was actually thinking I should have worded it differently when I re-read my post. What wedding package do you have right now? Samira- Since you're having a private reception I really bet you'll get the earlier time. Like I said, I didn't even have to ask for it...Ael just emailed me back one day and said the reception will start at 7pm. I wouldn't worry too much about it until you tell her what your plans our for the reception...see what happens when she emails you back.

jrb- Chilli's is where I had my reception and I actually had the choice of two different buffets at no extra cost; one was International (which I picked) and the other was Mexican. The International actually had a good balance between meat and "non-meat" items, such as lasagna, rice, and even french fries. We went to Bota Fogo one night, which was more focused on meat, since it is a Brazilian BBQ. They walk around with different types of meat and serve it to each person. Jannae- The natural flowers that were included were two pieces (real flowers) for the ceremony and two bags of rose petals. Like I mentioned before though, we ended up purchasing additional pieces for the ceremony and more rose petals to put on the tables at the reception. They also offer fake flower pieces for the ceremony, which I don't think are an additional cost...and they actually look real in pictures, but I didn't see them in person.

Samira- We did have to meet Ael at Riu Palace Mexico...and it was about a 15 minute walk down the beach. I actually walked there a couple days before our meeting just to see where it was...it's not a bad walk though. And are you planning to have a private or semi-private reception? If you're having a private reception, you may be able to get an earlier seating. I think that's why we were able to start it at 7pm, which I didn't even have to ask for...she just told me it would be this time.

Jen- The single flowers were an option from RPRM...they were $12 each...much better than the $50 each for bouquets! Just mention that you want them to Ael during your meeting.

Happy Friday!!! And yes, my flowers were the ones that came with the package. I added on more for decorations on the gazebo, but my actual bouquet was included.

Thanks everyone!!!

Here are some of our professional pics...

Thanks Jen! Virginia- I love your STD's! I also FINALLY posted my review: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...26-10-a-57619/

Hi Everyone! I just returned last Wednesday from an amazing time at RPRM and am hoping I can cover all of the details of everything in this review. Please let me know if I forget to mention something and I will be happy to answer any questions! Liberty Travel: D We decided to use Liberty Travel's group department after getting a referral from our usual Libery Travel TA, who is great. From the beginning, this caused me extreme stress and frustration. The TA that we worked with RARELY returned my calls or repsonded to emails (or my guests), which unfortunately made me so irritated that it took away from my excitement. By the time we realized how horrible working with this TA was, we were already in way too deep to start over with someone else. The only good thing is that we seemed to have gotten very good rates compared to what other TA's quoted us. Mexicana Air: A- Everything went pretty smoothly with this airline...we were able to each check two bags without paying extra, since we booked so early AND they didn't even weigh our bags, which was really nice since I know they weighed much more than they should have. The other great thing is that you get an actual meal and drinks (even alcohol) at not extra cost. The only downside is that I heard from other brides that they were very accomodating with placing your wedding dress in a closet...my mom even called ahead to double check this; however, when I asked the flight attendent to do this when I boarded the plane, she told me there was no such closet and that the only closet they had wasn't big enough to hold my dress (and my dress was not very big at all!!!)...so I ended up having to put it in the overhead area...thank God no one threw their stuff on top of it, and it ended up being fine there. RPRM: A+++ Our Room: A We chose to stay in a two-story jacuzzi suite, which I would definitely recommend. They first put us in room 2118, which was a nice room, but had a musty smell and not a great view...it was ocean front, but it also overlooked the roof of Chilli's. We asked to move our room, which was not a problem at all. They moved our room to 2046 two days later, which was PERFECT. No musty smell and an awesome view. This room was also on the same side of the building as the gazebo, which was great for the day of the wedding...I didn't have to walk far or across the pool to get there. The room was also very clean and had fresh flowers in it when we arrived (to the second room). Restaurants: B Since we were such a large group (74 total, but didn't all arrive on the same day), we tended to eat at Don Manolo's most of the time, which is the buffet. It was extremely annoying that you needed reservations for all of the other restaurants, especially since they can only be made at certain times of the day...guests are also allowed to make then for two nights in advance, which means that they fill up VERY quickly. When we arrived on Saturday, all of the reservations for Sunday night were already filled. We did get reservations for Bota Fogo (Brazilian) on Monday and Agave (Mexican) on Tuesday. Both were good, but not great. I actually preferred Don Manolo just because it gave more of a choice. Breakfast at Don Manolo's is SO GOOD...and lunch at Chilli's was also very good. There were a couple days when they also did lunch on the beach, which I always seemed to miss somehow. Wedding Coordinator, Ael/Wedding Package: A- Working with Ael was fairly easy for the most part. It would usually take her a couple of days to respond to my emails, which was fine. There were a couple requests that she seemed to say "no" to and I didn't really understand why, such as honoring my dinner requests since I was going to pay extra for it. We ended up working everything out on the day of our meeting and I was able to relax for the rest of the days before the wedding. As for the wedding package, it included a lot; however, it only covered up to $60 people...I didn't find out until my meeting that we would have to pay an extra $15 for each person over that number. In addition we also had to pay an additional $9 per person to have a full open bar at our reception. The package also included most of the flowers...we added a couple more pieces for the ceremony and instead of centerpieces for the tables, we just bought extra bags of rose petals for them scatter on them instead. The cake included was more than enough and was REALLY GOOD! We got vanilla cake with strawberry filling. Renova Spa: A- Scheduling my spa/hair appointments with Paula through email was VERY easy and she always got back to me extremely quickly...most times within a couple of hours. The only downside of scheduling appointments before my arrival is that I also had to pay for half of all services; this normally wouldn't be a big deal, but I scheduled appointments for some of my BM's too and ended up having to front over $350. I thankfully got all of this back from the girls, but just somewhat of a pain having to ask all of them for money. The second day we were there we ended up getting a couple's massage, which was SO RELAXING! I also had a manicure and pedicure the day before the wedding, which ended up being my least favorite part of the spa. The technicians there don't speak English very well, so make sure they understand what you're asking for. Hair and makeup the day of the wedding was great! She did my hair exactly like the picture I brought her. I had to guide her with my makeup a little more, but not a big deal...she definitely knew what she was doing, and I was happy with the end result. Ceremony/Cocktail Hour/Reception: A+ We had a symbolic ceremony at 5:00pm at the gazebo, which was the perfect time and perfect location. We also had the harpist play, which I loved! The entire ceremony lasted around 15-20 minutes. We had our cocktail hour from 5:30pm to 6:45pm in the courtyard area (I forget the name of the bar...the same as where the indoor stage/entertainment is, except everything was outside). We didn't pay to have food or music during this time, and it was definitely fine without both. Our reception was at Chilli's from 7pm to midnight. It was initially scheduled until 11pm, but we paid the DJ, servers, and bartenders to stay an extra hour. We ended up just choosing the International buffet instead of paying extra for the sitdown dinner. The food was really good and I'm glad we chose this option instead of paying more on top of what we paid for the private reception. Calypso Photography/Juan Carlos: A- Even though he showed up a little late (was supposed to meet me in my room at 4:00pm...didn't get there until 4:30pm), I was still very happy with him. We hired him for 5 hours and initially chose the package that included 170 photos. When we went to pick out our 170 photos from the 450 that he took, we could only narrow it down to 340...so he let us purchase the rights to all 340, even though it wasn't part of a "package." The album that was included was 50 pages of 8 x 10's of your choice...the pictures look great, however the album isn't exactly the best quality. The outside cover is nice, but inside each 8 x 10 is just pasted onto each page of the album...I'm still happy to have it though. Also included is a 10 minute slideshow with music, which includes most of our photos. Videographer (from RPRM): ? I don't have too many comments about our videographer yet, because we don't get our actual video until next week. DJ: A+ The DJ who works with RPRM is great! We didn't have to give him a "do not play" or "must play" list. We loved just about every song he played, and almost everyone was on the dance floor all night! Honeymoom at Secrets Maroma Beach: A After leaving RPRM we moved to SMB for another three nights. This is a completely different style resort than RPRM. It was much quieter, which was a nice break from all of the excitement going on the week before. Our room here was also gorgeous! We stayed in the Preferred Club, which gave us access to the Preferred Lounge (relaxing place to hang out with a bar, snacks, computers with free internet access, etc). No reservations were needed for dinner; the food and restaurant selection was great. Overall, everything was absolutely perfect! I can't believe how fast everything went by, and now that I'm back home I can't stop looking at all of our pictures wishing we were still there!

Hi girls! Thank you for all of the sweet comments! Josie- Welcome back and so nice to hear from you!!! For our room we ended up getting the two story suite...first they put us in room 2118, which is on the opposite side of where the gazebo is. It was also a very musty room, and not a great view...so we requested to be moved, if possible. Two days later they moved us to room 2046, which is supposedly the best room there. It was MUCH better than our first room. No musty smell and PERFECT view! It was also directly overlooking the gazebo, so I didn't have to walk far for the wedding. If you plan on doing the two story suite, I would highly recommend asking for this room; or at least try to be on that side of the building if you are planning to have your ceremony at the gazebo. If you're getting married on the beach, than it probably doesn't matter either way, since it's more centrally located. The cave bar is call Alux and it was so awesome! If you don't remember the name, just get in a cab and tell them to take you to the "cave bar" and they'll know exactly what you're talking about. We went on a Tuesday night and it was actually pretty empty...could have just been the night of the week. We only went for drinks, but they also have dinner, which I almost wish we did one night. Here is the website: Alux | Restaurant & Lounge Samira- I actually got my earrings at a small boutique store in my area. I found them kind of last minute and fell in love with them! If you're having trouble finding earrings let me know and I can always go get a pair and ship them to you...they had another pair of the same ones I had.

KimmyG- I hope you have an AMAZING time!!! Enjoy every minute of it, because it definitely flies by! Paige- I actually didn't do OOT bags...instead we made up bags with our favors, which was a photo album, and a welcome letter. We just gave them to people at dinner each night on the day they arrived. I wish we just had the resort do it as guests checked in though, because it was kind of annoying having to hand out bags every single night before dinner. And then people actually had to bring them to dinner too...and of course people would forget them and I would have to track them down the next day, lol! We also used the resort photographer, Carlos, from Calypso. The pictures he took came out great, although I'm not exactly thrilled with quality of the album and what he called a "slideshow." I just received it all today...the album was pretty much 50 pictures that we picked out, blown up to an 8 x 10 and then glued to each page of an album. The pictures are completely fine...I just wish it was more of a professional album. He also told us he was giving us a 10 minute slideshow with a couple songs playing...we ended up getting like a one minute "mini" slideshow with a mexican instrumental...one song...and only like 10 pictures in it. I'm going to email him tonight to complain about it. I wouldn't stress out about getting an outside photographer if you don't already have one though...I still love all of the pictures, and we have a cd with all of the pictures and the rights to them. As for good bars/clubs to go out to...for my bachelorette party on Wednesday night we ended up getting a bus and going to Coco Bongo. Two of the hotel staff actually came with us, which was nice, and it made us feel safer. It was definitely an awesome place to go, so if you have the chance, I would do it. We didn't do an all nighter there though...we only stayed until around 2am, which was enough for me! I was way too tired to stay out til 6am, lol! Sorry I haven't posted my review yet...grad school is taking up all of my time right now and stressing me out! I do have a lot of pictures on Facebook though, so feel free to friend me and you can see all of them. I made my own album and I'm also tagged in a bunch. Just do a search for Katie LaBate Barbera and I should come up! If anyone doesn't have Facebook, I will try to post some ASAP...especially the professional ones, which I will do anyway!

Thanks everyone! I will let you know once my official review is posted...by this weekend I hope! KimmyG- I didn't create any type of playlist of the harpist...Ael pretty much told me two songs that he can play while you walk down the aisle...Cannon in D or the traditional wedding March...I ended up choosing Cannon in D. I just let him play whatever else he wanted, which was fine, because everyone said it sounded great! I wouldn't worry too much about it. JNagan- When I was there the only beer they had was Dos Equis...I actually didn't even see Corona. Everyone seemed to be fine with it though, even though there wasn't much of a selection. They do offer a light or a dark version of the beer, so at least you can choose between the two.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mrs. McKenna Sorry- That posted way before it was supposed to! Not used to posting on this site! My fiance and I are leaving for our wedding on Tuesday and will be getting married on Saturday, March 27th... I haven't been great about posting but have been reading through every post as we've planned out wedding. We have 26 people including ourselves coming to the wedding and I've confirmed that we will be able to have dinner at Chili's and everyone can order off the menu... I freaked out about that the other day after reading some of the other posts. We're planning on taking our guests all to Carboncitos in Playa del Carmen the night before for the groom's dinner... my fiance did all the research and is really excited about it. As for the ceremony... we're doing is at the gazebo. I ordered the chairbows through elegant perspectives (thanks to one of the brides I saw recommended that on this site!!) My fiance found music to play while we walk down and walk back. We're then having our cocktail hour in the lobby bar... I asked Ael if we could move it to the terrace but she said something about that being for people that have over 50 guests... I'm hoping once we tell her we want the trio (for our first dance and background music) she will tell us move it outside. As for out of town bags- I ordered the bags through JoAnn fabrics for $4.99 a piece (they're microfiber bags that have an inside pocket for valuables). My sister is screen printing them all with our palm tree logo. We ordered travel mugs through discountmugs.com and have first aid kits, advil, SPF chapstick, playing cards, crossword puzzle books and pens incuded in the bags. I also did formal invitations with a list of all of our guests and a place for everyone to put everyone else's room numbers, an itinerary and a map. We're flying our photographer down from Minnesota but are thinking about getting the videographer... I'll be sure to let you all know my thoughts when I return. By the way- I know some people have had some frustrations with Ael but she's been really responsive and consistent with me (possibly because the smaller number of people we have coming down). Happy planning ladies!!! And for all those married ladies... thanks for all the advice! I could not have done this all without you! -Jessica Congratulations Jessica! I think I saw your wedding when I was there!