~Melanie~

It's quite close to Playa Del Carmen. I think it was only a 10 to 15 minute cab ride, closer to 10. Quite cheap by taxi - but they told us to make sure you decide on the rate before you get in the cab! The resort didn't have shuttles unfortunately, but there were tons of cabs available both to the resort and in the town so it was never an issue.

I'm pretty sure that they only do a maximum of 2 per day. I remember hearing that.

We really liked the DJ. We were able to send them all our songs: first dance, bride/father, groom/mother, cake cutting, garter, bouquet toss - and then our MC coordinated with them and it was just effortless! The music selection was great - he had a fog machine (which I probably could have done without), bubble machine, LED lights, balloons, handed out neon bracelets - it was a riot. You definitely don't need a DJ, an IPod and playlist with speakers would work fine, but we really enjoyed it.

And i'm certain your wedding will be just as fabulous TLGnhci!! I think all the Azul hotels are supposed to be amazing.

We did a symbolic ceremony - and it was fantastic. The grooms cake came with our package - we weren't even aware of it until they told us just before we got there. Wasn't it cute?

Oh - budgeting bride - just saw your question. Yes, we paid extra for the chair covers and sashes. Azul Fives does everything through Lomas Travel for weddings, and Arturo, who is onsite at the hotel actually works for them. So, the DJ, the gazebo decorations, chair coverings, etc - were all through Lomas Travel. We went with the Exotic Gazebo, which included: *4 Poles with Sheer Fabric (Hotel Standard), 2 large hanging corsages with Tropical flowers (any colour), and Rose petals any colours from 48 roses. The cost of that was $220USD. and then we decided to upgrade to get some colored shears. The chair covers and bows were $5USD per. And we had 25 - which wasn't very smart because I wasn't taking into account the wedding party. That just occurred to me. Oh well! My main bouquet was included, but i had to pay extra for the bridesmaid bouquets, boutonierres and corsages. The flowers on the gazebo were part of the exotic gazebo package as well as the rose petals. I did have heels to wear, but because of being on the sand we all wore matching flip flops! (Not that you saw mine). I'm a bit sad I didn't get to wear my heels, but sinking in the sand would not have been fun. Because of that, we did pay for a dance floor for 30 people and it was well worth it. Here is the link for Lomas Travel that shows you all the extras you can do and the costs: http://weddings.lomas-travel.com/planning/ I hope that helps answer your questions budgeting bride and daisymable!

Hello again Azul Five Brides! My photographer, Claudia Rodriguez, has posted our wedding slideshow, so I thought I would share the link if anyone was interested. If you are looking for a great photographer, I highly recommend her or any of her photographers on staff. She is fantastic. http://claudiaphoto.com/slideshows/claudia/december10/melanie_randy/ I agree with the Trip Advisor review above whole heartedly. Faith Wishnie, Erika, Valeria, Arturo and Estefania did an amazing job at making our wedding something wonderful. Given that we were all Grand Riviera Princess refugees, the fact that it all came together so wonderfully in such a short period of time should speak volumes. The resort is stunning - which i hope you will be able to see in some of the pictures. I'm home from our San Francisco honeymoon now, so if anyone has specific questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

I could keep posting photos all day - but that would probably be excessive. All the pictures here were taken at the resort - so you can see how gorgeous it is. And again - any questions, please just let me know. It's Christmas tomorrow and then my new hubby (still getting used to that!) and I are heading to San Francisco on Dec.28 for a week, so if there is a lag in responding, that's why!

Hi there, Sorry for the delay in responding. Daisymable posted my email above. The wedding and the resort was fantastic. We were thrilled to be there and I think they did a fantastic job with our wedding day. We just got some of our professional photos back, and I'll post some as well here. The wedding coordinators were fantastic - and more so when you consider that we were moved to this resort 5 days before we were set to leave and we organized the entire wedding before we left. We got married on the beach and had a beach reception. We had a DJ - and it was great - he had a bubble machine, fog machine, LED lights, balloons... it was pretty hilarious. I did not use the facilities for my hair or makeup - my stylist is a good friend and she and her boyfriend came to our wedding and did our hair. We chose not to do a cocktail party, we decided to just let everyone do their own thing for a couple hours, and most people went to the Zky Bar. We went with the family style dinner which was great - all the sides and salads were in the middle of the tables and they came around with different meat options - much better than buffet! We did have a rehearsal dinner the night before - you have about 6 menus to choose from, everyone eats the same thing - we chose pork tenderloin and it was great. My husband and I got breakfast in bed the next day and it was huge. We also had a romantic dinner for any night and we chose to do it on the last night - but gave it to my parents and went into Playa with a bunch of people instead - but my parents said it was great. I found the coordinators so accessible and fantastic and able to accommodate basically every request for us - much better than I found the coordinators at the GRP actually. If anyone has specific questions for me - feel free to email me at [email protected] and I'll do my best to help. It really is beautiful - as you will see from the pictures. We used Claudia Rodriguez as our photographer and I can't say enough good things about her.

We're heading there on Nov.28 and the wedding is on Dec.3. We were originally at the Grand Riviera Princess, but with the explosion and then the closing we were moved here. So far, i'm extremely impressed. The wedding coordinators are so hands on and extremely helpful and accommodating - a much different experience than the Riviera. One thing you may not know is all the restaurants are al a carte - which means no buffets! I will post a review and pics when we get back.

Hi all. I just heard that the Riviera is set to open again on Saturday. Not sure if that's for sure though but it was reported in the Vancouver Sun. Apparently they found a propane pipe that wasn't in the original approved plans for the hotel. Whether or not that was the cause of the explosion - they didn't actually say. They did say that the investigation committee is going to recommend a fine of $4000 for the hotel - which seems a bit light. But then again, the article didn't really give a lot of detail! We're leaving on Sunday, November 28th and the wedding date is December 3rd at the Azul Fives in Playa del Carmen. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it went and share pics!

Hi Trinamh, No problem. We have 27 people in our group (including my fiance and I). Who are you booked with? Ask your agent about the Azul Fives. It's a brand new resort, and not a lot of people know about it yet so they have decent availability for both accommodations and wedding dates. And Air Canada Vacations gave it to us without any of our guests having to pay more. Check out the resort and then push it with your agent if you like it. I know exactly how stressed you are - I got pneumonia last week courtesy of my stress! I hope that helps. Mel

Hi everyone, So we had originally planned to stay at the Riviera as we leave on Nov.28 (this Sunday), with a wedding date of Dec.03. The news that the Riviera closed on Sunday hit me like a ton of bricks. We had originally expected to be moved to the Sunset but Air Canada Vacations did not want to move us there and I read that Sunwing bought up 425 rooms at the Sunset right now. So I spent two agonizing days wondering if we were going to be cancelled outright, if i would even be able to have a wedding, much less on Dec.03. Today, we found out that ACV is moving us to the Azul Fives Resort, also right by Playa. This is a new resort and part of the Karisma line of hotels. It is a step up from the Riviera and our guests will not have to pay any extra for this. And - they have my wedding date available. So we're both just thrilled. For those that are at the Sunset or waiting to see what happens at the Riviera because you have more time than less than a week - I'm sure the Sunset will be wonderful and from all the great reviews about both resorts, i do hope that the Riviera reopens safer than ever because it is beautiful.

We've decided to stay. We're leaving Nov.28. We looked at other resorts but there was very limited availability and we would have had to ask our guests to pay around $500 more each to move. It's a tragedy for sure, and part of me feels a bit weird about it. Another part feels like now is the best time to go there - the place has been inspected from top to bottom.