JNagan2011

hey... not on here much anymore but just catching up. I did have two guests add on the week before. All I did was email Nancy with their names, where they were staying and dates there. It was absolutely no problem. Luckily I had extra mugs So don't worry!

So haven't been on here for a while.. hope all you RPRM brides are doing well :) Scarp- YAY congrats, cant wait to hear about your experience. I am sure it will be amazing just like it was for me. Virginia- I agree with Dana, they did a fantastic job with our hair. I think I even liked it better then the hair trial i did at home with my regular hair stylist as I got it colored. I would not have had to do the trial at home in my opinion. Not sure if this was posted with my review but here is the back of our hair, it is me and the sister on my right as you are looking at the pic from your computer who got it done! Well get anxious to get all my prof pics back.. he thought he would have them done in 2-3 weeks, well its been over 4 weeks now! Just emailed him saying I was getting excited to see them. He took well over 1000 I would guess so I am sure it is just taking longer then he thought. I will share some as soon as i get them!

Here are the dresses in action. First one is off my sisters camera so coloring not as great... second one is prof photo (only one i have so far)

Sent two

No problem Virginia! I am jealous that you only have 3 months, I want to go back allready ... What is your actual date? Also...although we didn't have great service at Chilli's, if I had to do it all over I still would have chosen that restaurant I think. I really liked the open air feel. Also, we had dinner at Boto Foga with a group of 13. I can't imagine my group of 36 fitting comfortably in there (maybe just because it was enclosed, not set up for any larger groups at the time and it was during the earlier seating). Also if you have any other questions please ask.

So apparently for wedding reviews, you now have to go to the resorts & villa sections and find RPRM. I posted my review there. I also copied it so I could post it here.... Here goes: We got back from our wedding in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico at the Riu Palace Riveria Maya a couple of weeks ago. It was the most amazing and perfect wedding, although I may be biased ! I would like to thank this forum for giving me so many great ideas and advice over the past year. Especially all the girls previously married at RPRM! Here is a review of my wedding, let me know if you have any other questions: Resort A+++ The resort was everything we could have wanted and more. It really made you feel like you were in a palace as you stepped into the lobby. We traveled from 12/15- 12/25 and they had a bunch of holiday decorations set up, which my group absolutely loved since some of us were leaving Christmas day. As soon as we walked in, everyone was very helpful. We got to Mexico pretty early, was at the resort by 11 AM, so unfortunately not many rooms were ready. But they gave us our wristband, and offered a hospitality room for changing in. The manager called me and my FI (now husband J) up to the front desk thought right away though and let us know they had a Suite ready for us. Free upgrade with the wedding package, and we didn’t even have to ask. This was pretty cool because the resort was full, I had guests book the week before and couldn’t get into RPRM because it was full! The pool bar= awesome. Be ware of sitting in the booths all day in the sun and having too many drinks. It took a couple of my guests as victims one day. They always seemed to have music playing around the pool bar. But, we did get up early to claim seats! Restaurants: I thought the food was great. My guests who have stayed at other all inclusive said this was the best food they’ve had. Mimosas and bloody mary’s at the breakfast buffet was great. Oh yea, reservations for the specialty restaurants were fairly simple to. Yes, it required leaving the beach/pool for 10 minutes any time between 12-3, but you can always just send a different person each day (only need one person). The buffet was great too, so no need to make reservations if you didn’t want to. Welcome Dinner A+ We arranged with Nancy ahead of time a welcome dinner at the Buffet the night before the wedding. They even included it for 2 of our guests staying at a sister Riu (through emails, Nancy made it sound like they weren’t going to be able to come at first). They sectioned us off a more private (as private as you can get in the buffet area) of 3 tables of 10. They even added simple decorations on it to make it feel more special. ***This is one of the three tables they set up for us! Ceremony A+ (3pm) We bought the royal package because we had 36 people attending (so under 40). Included in the package were two fresh flower decorations for the gazebo. Since I brought down real touch flower for my bouquet, she changed my bridal bouquet into another bouquet for decoration no extra charge. I also brought fake flower petals for my FG since we had 3, so she took the rose petal bag included onto the cake table. We met the minister right before the wedding, and he did a great job. Mexico being so catholic, he automatically inserted prayer and bible versus without us asking. We are both more spiritual then religious so it wasn’t something we anticipated being apart of the wedding but didn’t bug us (it was actually a really nice passage). But if you for some reason don’t want prayer apart of the ceremony, I would make it known ahead of time. He also introduced our readers and our name at the end without hesitation and good pronunciation! We did have some music issues with the Riu’s CD. The bridal party song, cannon in d, jumped around and skipped, etc. But it was really no biggie. All in all it was absolutely beautiful! I wouldn’t change a thing. We even had random person come up to us and told us they watched our whole wedding and it was perfect (Randoms will watch, but it felt a lot more private then the beach location. I didn’t really notice anyone watching) Cocktail Hour A + (5:30-8:30 pm) We did this outside the Lyrico Bar. We also had the mariachi band play from 5:30-6:15. I would recommend, having the band start at 6 if you are doing the cocktail hour at 5:30. Some of our guests were a little late, so missed the beginning of the mariachi band and even our first dance. (Our flower girls were down for quick nap between the ceremony and reception ) We decided not to do appetizers, but for our group this was just fine. People grabbed a snack following the ceremony at the snack bar. And then we danced so much and socialized during the cocktail hour that it didn’t seem like were missing anything. That being said, we brought down a sony stereo system for our ipod (like a bose, my dad just liked the sony better). We had a wedding playlist set up, but were able to browse through songs when wanted. It was perfect! Another tip: make friends with the staff, they are soo much fun! Also, treating them with a little $$ to show gratitude for what they do goes along way. Santos, one of our favorites, came in on his day off to serve our cocktail hour reception! We got the best tequila they had for one of our toasts (it didn’t even burn going down!) *** I didn't really have any good pictures that show how they set up the cocktail hour. But here is the Lyrico Bar. They set up the cocktail hour on the far left side facing tables inward creating a rectangular-ish shape. ***Here is our first dance with the mariachi band during the cocktail hour. They were great! Reception B (8:45pm-11pm) We had a semi-private dinner at Chilli’s for our reception dinner. Unfortunately with the size of our group, the only time we could have was during the second seating at 8:45. It worked out just fine for us, and no one complained about the late dinnertime. For dinner they provided the two appetizer options on the table for everyone. There was chicken caesar salad and a seafood plate (it had crab legs, shrimp, smoked salmon, calamari). Everyone got to order his or her own dinner option. So we had a group of 36, so they had 4 tables of 8 and a head table of 4 (which was sort of awkward since our bridal party consisted of 6+ us two and we had 2 MOH and 1 best man). They took our order first, and had brought out just our appetizers before anyone else had really ordered. The last table didn’t even place their orders until we had already ate which was really weird. We knew with a big group the odds of us all getting food at the same time was slim, but we thought they could have done a better job. Also the servers never came around with wine or soda options for any of our guests. That being said we were fairly disappointed by the service we received (there was like no one else in the restaurant either, so it was not like they were busy) All in all, it was such a great day that I don’t think my guests were too disappointed by the poor service. We were all chatty and in such a great mood that we made the best of it. We had really great service at all of the other restaurants, so I have to guess they were having an off night there. **Here is the setup for dinner... You can see the head table in the background! Wedding Cake A+ We got the wedding cake included in our package. We chose vanilla cake, with strawberry filling and vanilla icing. Was going to go with chocolate, but when I wear white I am prone to spills. I thought vanilla would look better on my dress . It was REALLY good. Although we were full and couldn’t enjoy it fully, I am still really happy with the job they did. ** our cake.. they brought over flowers from the gazebo and my BM put their bouquets there as well. Wedding Coordinator A Nancy was our wedding coordinator. She did a great job at responding in a timely fashion. We communicated through emails until our on resort interview a couple days before the wedding. That being said, I was not all that needy so really didn’t see her much or have any big requests she couldn’t handle. Photographer A++++ Alan Johnson We flew our own photog down and he is absolutely amazing. He did all my family’s senior pictures as well as my sister’s dw in Jamaica 2 years ago, so calling him a “family friend†that is apart of our wedding guests really wasn’t a lie. Nancy was really cool about us having one of our guests take photos and no questions were asked during all day pictures or the TTD session a few days later. Alan did amazing job, anyone in Northern MN area definitely should look into him! He took 71 gigs (I think that’s the term) of pictures for us J! ***First picture Alan sent us the day after we got back. Still waiting to get more *** sent us our family photo early so my mom could use it for a christmas card! *** He sent us one more sneak peak of the pictures! Can't wait for the rest! Renova Spa A Included in our package we got a couples massage. It was only 20 minutes so it was kind of a teaser but they did a great job. We were very pleased. My sister and I also got our hair done there… I had done a hair trial at home and brought pictures. My hair turned out exactly how I wanted it. It was perfect! My sister’s hair turned out great too, although it wasn’t exactly what she wanted. But she hadn’t brought a picture down so had to look through their pictures and describe what she was thinking. I would definitely recommend bringing a photo!

We picked cannon in d for bridal party entrance, here comes the bride for my entrance, somewhere over the rainbow for signing, and better together for leaving.. . There were some technical difficulties with cannon in d during the wedding, but it seemed to be the CD more so then the sound system (we used their CD). The song skipped around. We did do the traditional dances using our own ipod sound system which worked great. Kory and I danced to the the mariachi band for our very first dance and grabbed our parents for a dance with the mariachi band. However, none of us have very good dance skills or rhythm so it was hard for us to dance to unfamiliar tunes. So I was glad we had set up songs to do the traditional dances to after the mariachi band had finished. So I am about half way done with the review. Hopefully will be done in next few days. Have been busy seeing friends before I go and getting ideas for AHR in March.

Jen This is exactly what I was thinking of doing because we'll have about 30 people I'm guessing. Did you do appetizers during your cocktail party? Was there other music playing over your ipod player or could you hear it? I know Nancy told me they had a sound system for rent if I wanted to play my own music during the cocktail party, but I wasn't sure how much it costs, etc...Also, drinks were provided for no extra cost during the cocktail party, right? Also, what were the dinner choices for the semi-private reception? Did everyone get to order what they wanted? Will you be doing a review? Sorry for all the questions...I'm getting close now and all of a sudden I feel like I need to know everything! Thanks... Virginia I will be doing a review... just haven't started yet... We did not do appetizers. Our wedding was at 3, and done by 330... People ended up going to the snack bar after and just getting a quick snack after taking some group pictures on the beach. That was just fine for our group. For the first 2 1/2 hours or so, there was no other music so you could hear it just fine. At about 8, some musicians set up to play at the Plaza, which was right by our cocktail hr. So they asked us to shut off our music, but then we had theirs. It was only for the last 30 minutes anyways. Drinks were included... They had servers going back and forth to the bar. My dad had made friends with one of the servers, Santos, the night before. He actually came in on his day off to serve our cocktail hour! (we tipped him well, which helped ) So we got great service and no problems getting our drinks. They also said up our champagne toast here as well as at dinner! The sound system, I am not sure about the costs. We did our own so that we would have the oppurtunity to control the ipod. My dad had been looking at BOSE systems anyways, and ended up with a sony one that had radio too. For the dinner, we got choices from the full menu. I believe I still have the menus for both Chilli's and Boto Foga saved on my computer, I could send it to you.

It was amazing... We did the semi-private since we didn't have enough for the private (we'd have to pay 20 $ person actually there, plus an additional 20 $ per person to get our number up to the private dinner number). It just seemed ridiculous to pay that much. So we had the semi-private cocktail hr from 530-830 with the mariachi band the 1st hour. We brought down a sony ipod player which gave us music to dance to during the cocktail hr. Dinner was then at 845, and it was pretty much private (even though it was the semiprivate).

Thanks Nic! We did have loads of fun. I already want to go back For all those not on facebook, here is a link to a shutterfly we set up: http://koryandjensmexicowedding.shutterfly.com/ Its not just wedding pics, but also has some of the resort. Can't wait for the prof pics to come in

Hey all! We're back and had an amazing time! You definitely picked the right resort, it was everything we wanted and more!! Just settling in so hopefully will be able to post some pictures and do a review soon. My friends and siblings have started to post pictures on facebook, so you can find a sneak peak on there

Well girls, i am off to mexico!! :) So excited and can't believe its finally my turn... We come home christmas day! Can't wait to let you all know how amazing our resort is and show some pics!

Haha well, I really had all my wedding stuff and clothes packed last week... Just need to pack up shower/getting ready stuff. However, I've checked rechecked my bags like every day, lol!

Quote: THANKS... You definitely can use it an inspiration pic. I am really happy with how it turned out. So the resort contacted me at that 6 week mark... I am sure you could contact her if yours is a month away and you haven't head anything yet. We leave on Wednesday! :) But, we are leaving our hometown tomorrow afternoon to go stay at a hotel closer to the airport, so everything needs to be done then! CANNOT WAIT!!! Originally Posted by janapana Oh that looks so pretty!!!!! can i make it one of my inspiration pics?! how long ago did they get in touch with you? our wedding is in 1 month and i´ve not heard from the wc yet, i hear you about starting to get anxious. i feel like i have a million things to sort out, but i cna´t see when i´m going to get the time to do them, either i´m at work, or the kids are home, and they are not particularly helpful when it comes to arranging flowers and stuff like that! what date are you leaving?

Well here is picture from my hair trial! I really like it, so hopefully they can do something similar in Mexico. Sorry if the pictures are big... I have been MIA lately on the site as I am trying to do last minute things and also was in a wedding this weekend so did nothing for my wedding all friday, saturday and this morning. Starting to get anxious about getting everything packed up and making sure I have everything in line. I know it will all work out, but just ready to be in mexico!