smckinney22

I was going to do this as well but I read that they give each guest a full blown map of the resort when they check in. Sure enough, they were right! So if you want to save money then don't bother with the maps since they're provided. A few ladies have asked about reception locations. My best advice is to go with the beach reception. Especially if you're not having your ceremony on the beach & in the sand. Give your guests a true "beach" wedding and go for feet in the sand We had 40 guests and the best option was the beach in front of Pelicanos. It was large enough for the whole party. The other 2 beach locations are nice but are a bit smaller so if you have a smaller party they'll work too.

I got them from a bridal store here in dallas but the brand is Impressions and the sister company to that is DaVinci. They are the same company but each division has their own separate website. The girls loved the fit and the color was perfect! Quote:Originally Posted by Heidi82 CONGRATS!!! Thanks for your review and pictures! They are really helpful! I'm glad to see everything turned out wonderfully! Just one question - Where did you get your bridesmaids dresses? I love the material and I might use a similar color. Thanks! ~Heidi

Michelle, about the Gran Porto guests... You may have the guests who are staying there check with the concierge when they check in to see if they can get an upgrade. FI's 2 aunts & grandma stayed at the GPR because they had his 13 year old cousin come with them. Well when they got there the concierge told them if they upgraded to an ocean view suite then they could get bracelets that were good for all inclusive access to The Royal as well. I'm not sure if it was free with the suite upgrade or if it was for a small fee but they were so stoked and said the price to upgrade and have access to both resorts was well worth it. The 13 year old couldn't come over of course but they all took turns hanging out at the GPR beach with her while the others would come to The Royal. May be something to check into.

Runningbride you just reminded me of something SUPER important that I forgot to put in my review for all to see... Brides- when you meet with your onsite wedding coordinator the day you get there, remember to re-verify all of your appointments, reservations with the dates and times they are supposed to be! We had a candle light beach dinner scheduled one day for 8:00 and when we got there they said we were supposed to be there at 7:00! Luckily it went just like RB said hers did, they were super accommodating and kept apologizing to us and we were apologizing to them lol it was all great and super romantic but we felt bad because we caught them off guard and they had to rush to put a table out on the beach. Also we had a couples massage for what we thought was 4:00 but the Spa had us down for 4:30. So just remember to make sure you have all your dates/times right as soon as you get there to avoid any mishaps. But if there are some hiccups The Royal is eager to keep the brides happy.

Thanks msglave! Here is a cropped picture of the bouquets for the bridesmaids. There are some more on the review where the girls are at the aisle but I know their kind of far away. We got them at Floweria Iris. It's on 30th Ave and Constituyentes. If you just take the street that runs in between The Royal and Gran Porto you make a right on 30th Ave you'll see a store called Aguilar (my new last name actually lol we got a laugh out of that) and that is 30th Ave where you'll make a right. It's about a 10 minute walk. They just have a bunch of loose flowers and we got a ton of flowers for only $40 and it was more than enough to make 3 small bouquets, 3 bouts for the guys and 3 wrist corsages for the moms and grandmother. I actually brought the turquoise lanterns with me. I bought them at Target back in the Spring when they had their outdoor type stuff in the dollar bin. We didn't make it to the Walmart but it's right up the street from the flower shop I just gave directions too. So if you go to the Floweria Iris and don't find what you're looking for then Walmart is just a block away. Here's a map if it helps. Thanks ChicagoBride2011 All future brides have nothing to worry about. Any and all questions you have will eventually get answered. And the wedding coordinators are really accomodating even if you have to get answers or make changes when you meet with them a few days before. And really, there's not going to be a problem big enough to ruin your wedding at such a beautiful place! Once you get there and see how beautiful it is and how lucky you are to be able to have such a great location, you'll quickly realize how petty all those little details are. Just enjoy yourself and your hunny and everything else is peanuts in comparison! playa_del_carmen_map.pdf

We just gave Ivan a list of the main songs like first dance and father/daughter dance. Then for the reception general dancing we just told him to play good dance songs. And it is true about him being able to download songs right then and play them. During the time everyone was up dancing my husband requested some James Brown so we could get a soul train line going. He found it and downloaded it right then. A few others requested songs throughout the night too and there were no problems with him finding them. Quote:Originally Posted by jesmcan  I am using DJ Ivan as well we locked out because Kool has their own DJ and services that you have to use. However we had already booked Ivan when we decided to switch from the Royal to Kool so thank fully they made an exception for us. I am so happy to reading such great reviews about him. We love music and everyone loves to dance to the DJ was important.  Â

The lounge furniture for 40 people was 1,200 We actually had way to many pieces though. It looked nice but since we had a DJ no one really used it lol Oh well, live and learn.

My FULL review of my wedding is up! Woah what a task to write everything and then find corresponding pictures lol It's done though! So bring on the questions I have a bunch of pictures in the review but have so many more saved in all different places on my computer. My next task...organizing a million pictures from 30 different cameras I guess that's a good problem to have though! Here's a link: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/the-royal-in-playa-del-carmen-all-inclusive-spa-resort If any newbies can't click on links then you can go to my profile and click on the thread that has the little pencil beside it

I just got married at The Royal in Playa del Carmen and honeymooned at El Dorado Royale. I've never been to Dorado Seaside but I've been to El Dorado Royale twice now. We actually wanted to have our wedding at the El Dorado Royale at first because it was our first vacation together but we didn't because of the kid issue. Honestly I do like the El Dorado Royale but after having my wedding at The Royal PDC and then going to El Dorado, I wouldn't have liked a wedding at the El Dorado Royale as much, just my opinion. I'm sure many brides have had beautiful weddings there but here's some of my downsides of a wedding there, these are not downsides to the resort in my opinion just for wedding reasons. The beach is very very rocky on about half of it. The other half is ok and on that side (near Casitas) the rocks are more into the ocean rather than all over. So yes, if my 40 guests would have showed up and had to feel crammed on one side of a resort with everyone else just to enjoy the sand, they wouldn't have been too happy. But, for vacationing there, I don't really mind it. The resort is HUGE! While we love this aspect for a honeymoon (basically you never see the same people twice and everything feels secluded) this would not have worked for our wedding. We loved the Royal PDC because it was a bit smaller so all of our guests could easily find each other and not to mention we were constantly running into each other which was convienient since there were so many of us and we didnt use our cell phones. The resort is SECLUDED big time! The El Dorado Royale is basically in the middle of a jungle. Again, we love this for a HM location but not for our wedding. Having 40 guests it would not have been a benefit to be all stuck in the middle of a jungle. The Royal PDC literally has 5th Ave Playa del Carmen market for shopping right outside it's doorstep. Many of our guests used the market to shop or just to give them something different to do. Also we were close to the Cozumel ferry. So 6 of our guests took a random day trip to Cozumel and rode scooters around the island and had a blast. They loved it and I loved that they had the option to make our wedding trip an actual vacation for themselves. Thats about all I can think of for now. I do love the El Dorado and it has a special place in my heart since it was our first vacation but honestly it wouldn't have met our needs for a wedding. I tried to think of all the things I wanted in my wedding resort but also kept in mind the size or resort and it's proximity to things my guests may want to do on THEIR vacation. I hope this helps if nothing else than to just give an outsider opinion

I'm a bone head and just realized I can upload attachments. So here's a few. I'm trying to find the other templates we used for the name tags for the key card holders on the bags. Once I do I'll post them here. If you have any questions about anything or need any specific templates just message me First aid kit labels FirstAidKit.pptx62753k .pptx file "Find the Couple" Wedding weekend itinerary Wedding Itinerary.pub792064k .pub file

When is your wedding? I have 5 table runners (assuming they're all in the box that came back with us) And the turquoise paper lanterns should be in there too. My MIL is doing a small at home reception Nov. 6th and she has my boxes with all my stuff in them and I think wants to use the table runners. After that I won't have a use for them. Oh and I probably have a million rolls of turquoise ribbon lol I was a little ribbon obsessed. Oh and turquoise sand also, you can have all that. If you're interested in any of it just let me know. I'll just give you any of it that you want, I'll just have to let you know how much the shipping is if that's cool.

Ok ladies I'm just about finished with the full review...where the heck to I post this thing? LOL I tried to go where Lady_Di posted hers in the actual "review" forum but it's shut down. It says something about to not post there and to post to a vendor site or something? And then the top of this thread says to not post to this thread either? So you ladies tell me where to post it and I'll do it

When did you originally book? I booked back in July/August of 2009 and probably requested the Tres Leches cake about a year prior to the wedding when I turned in my initial checklist maybe? I read other posts saying that they can't get the Tres Leches cake either which I find very strange. It turned out great and tasted great, it didn't melt or anything so that's odd that they'd take it off the choices of wedding cakes. If you do really want it I'd just send her a message asking what the reason is that it's off the list? Surely there has to be an explanation about it. Let me know what happens with that.

It was 500 extra to have the light up dance floor. I know that sounds like a lot but his price was so reasonable for just his DJ services that adding that wasn't a big deal. I saw other people's pictures when I started planning and I knew DJ Ivan and his dance floor had to make an appearance at my wedding no matter what! He's the nicest guy ever and is great at what he does. I'm a fan of his now!