babigirl21

Hello Emily, So far I have 18 people booked (Yea!). I'm hoping to stay between 35 and 60 guests. I'm about to send out my invitations with a RSVP date of October 5th. I will soon approach the 6 month mark (wed date 2/16/13).

Hello Emily, I hope you had or are having a great time in Cancun. I participated in the webinar last Saturday and it was very helpful. The ladies from Real Resorts provided Tammy with the sideshow presentations that were shown to us and she emailed those who wanted it. There is a little more updated info captured in these attachments that I did not initially receive so if you would like a copy send a message to my inbox with your email. One of my questions was the outside vendor fee. Basically the vendor fee attaches for each type of vendor so you pay the fee for an outside photographer (at minimum this can include the photographer and a assistant), but if you also have a videographer, you have to pay another outside fee for that vendor since its a different service. Depending on how long the vendor is there, you may also need to pay to their meal and drinks. If you have a friend attending the wedding as a guest who takes photos that is allowed with no vendor fee, but if it appears they are a local professional they will charge you if they are not staying at the hotel for the 2 night minimum. They will get that fee one way or the other. This logic applies to everything (minister, make up, etc). You are allowed to have vendors drop off things without a charge but you have to be responsible for transportig and setting up anything that is labor intensive or pay an extra rate for them to do it (like stringing lIghts to the palm trees, complicated chair bow decorations).

I registered today.

Emily, yes we are using a travel agent. I have family and friends traveling from all over the US so it only made sense to use an agent who could cater to everyone's needs. And besides, it's lessen the stress on us having to answer a ton of questions. Our rates are higher being that we will be in Cancun in February during a holiday weekend, but we are okay with it. All your items look great so far.

In hindsight, I would have waited to send out my save the date postcards until I knew for sure that the hotel released the rates for Feb 2013. Even though you can go to a certain month on the online booking calendar does not mean that the rates have posted. We just booked our travel two weeks ago and so far 6 of our guests have already reserved their rooms. We have to wait until late April/early May to book our airfare through Air Tran (they have reasonable direct flight to Cancun from my area). 322 days and counting!

Hello All, I have a question for past brides or those who will have their weddings in the next few months. What group incentives were you offered based on your number of guests? My wedding is 2/16/13 and we are starting to have our guests put down deposits now through our travel agent. I just wanted to know if brides received free rooms or a free private events like a cocktail reception if they had over 15 rooms booked. And if free rooms were received, did they still charge you for the all-inclusive food/drink portion? Thanks.

Hello Mizpriya and Emily11386, My luxury package included the cocktail and reception already. Because we are only doing a symbolic ceremony (I'm having my uncle who is a minsiter marry us in small ceremony 2/12/13 before we leave for Mexico) we are going to do "First Look Photos" before the ceremony so we can some photos with guests during the cocktail reception and then take some photos during the sunset. There is a fee for everything, but hopefully you will not be charged the $400 fee for having the private reception start at 6:30.

Mizpriya, My wedding coordinator is Maritza Guzman. Whatever decor I use will be cost friendly and easy to pack. I think we will buy the maracas from Amol's to use as favors and to help accent the table. My coordinator said you can bring decorations down and they will set them up for you according to the way you want it (without an additional fee). As far as the photographer, as long as they are a paying guest (and yours will be there for a week) you do not have to pay an outside vendor fee. But if I was you, I would inquire with your coordinator so you have it in writing. We have a photographer friend who is coming down as well and he will take photos at the welcome reception and other aspects of the wedding in addition to our local photographers. Our photographer also has a videographer in his company so I'm undecided about whether to get the video included in my package for the ceremony or use an outside vendor.

One More Thing, If one of your guests are a licensed minister, they can preside your symbolic wedding. I'm still on the fence about paying $600 for a minster when I have several family memebers who are either pastors or ministers and it would add a more personal feel to my ceremony. My wedding coordinator said they just have to be a guest at the hotel and we have to provide their name. Not sure if this helps anyone but it is an good option.

Hello all, I'm a 2/16/13 Gran Caribe/Royal Bride. I sent out my STD postcards about 2-3 weeks ago and everyone really liked them and our wedding website. Initially, I felt like alot of you ladies (I have been engaged since the end of July 2011), but the time is really flying by. My colors were inspired by the beautiful turquoise Cancun water with a touch of spice (red). I took advantage of this website for ideas and planning and so far I have booked the venue/ wedding package (Luxury), photographers (Photos In Cancun, BTW they are affordable and great to work with. We took our engagment photos when we were in Cancun last August). In January, I found a seamstress to make my beautiful spanish inspired detachable dress. And I purchased my 5 bridesmaid dresses from David's Bridal for $50 each (above the knee turquoise lace dresses). I have some ideas for decorating the reception venue, but I'm trying to keep my costs down so I have decided that whatever I do buy, I will be able to use for our at home reception later in the summer of 2013. We are in the process of having our house built, so much of my time is now occupied with that. Keep the faith ladies!

I ended up getting mines off Magnet Street (mexico tiles themed suite). I like them because you can personalize it down to your wedding colors. Esty has some great passport and boarding cards. I was looking into doing them as well but decided that I did not want to spend the extra money on this. I'm still debating on if I will do welcome bags.

I'm so happy you started a 2013 Gran Caribe Real/Royal Cancun Brides thread. We are booked for 2/16/13 at Gran Caribe Real. Our ceremony will be held at the Oceanfront Gazebo with our reception on the Villas Terrace. We are waiting for the hotel rates to post so we can book our trip. I have my STD postcards and will mail out to my guests within the next 2 weeks. I honestly believe the time will fly by before we know it.

I live near Andrews Air Force base.

@Emily11386, I have not been checking this site as much as I used to. It's great to have another Gran Caribe/Royal bride on here. The 2012 Gran Caribe thread is not as active as some of the other threads so it will be nice to start a thread to get some activity. We were in Cancun this past August but we viewed other hotels in Riviera Maya. We decided that we wanted to pick a resort that was closer to downtown Cancun because the water was that beautiful turquoise color and there would be more nightlife for our younger to middle aged guests. We plan on doing a site visit to both resorts in the summer of 2012. If possible, can you send me any photos you may have taken of all the venue locations during your site visit? Because my soon-to-be step son will be in the wedding along with my nieces we will likely stay at the Gran Caribe up until the wedding (the suites that have the Royal privileges) and then switch over to the Royal for our mini-moon. I'm hoping that we are able to vacation at both hotels in the summer like you did.

Congrats everyone, I just secured my wedding date of February, 16, 2013 at Gran Caribe Real/The Royal in Cancun. Now I just have to wait until December to get the 2013 hotel rates. I plan on sending out STDs in January so that my guests get 13 months notice. I'm working with a great travel agent as well. We have been engaged since August and although we are getting grief for waiting until 2013 to wed, we have decided to purchase our house first. Once we get the house, I won't feel bad about spending money on the wedding. And then we can also have at AHR at our house a in the spring. 2013 does seem far away, but it will pass by so quickly. It's about to be November! Happy Planning Everyone! There is a lot of great and useful information on this site.