JHarris

Heidi! Working on uploading the pics to my profile on here as we speak. Hopefully that will work much better. Will post link once done. =) My wedding coordinator said they couldn't have a large crowd ordering off the menu bc the restaurant may not have that much food in stock of the same entree. Anyway, at least you'll get to enjoy the atmosphere. I'll post pics from my rehearsal dinner there. I am glad we paid for the service bc it can be a little slow at Asiana. We went on another night with our parents and it took a long time to get water and food.

Hey Bonnie!! Congrats on being a Mrs!!! How does it feel now that it's official? So sorry to hear about the last minute switch. I'm sure it was still beautiful. Did you get to have the ceremony outside? I know you worked so hard on those butterfly decorations for the gazebo.

Thanks Lisa!! Can't believe it's already over and seemed so far away at one point. LOL.. How are you!!! I loved your AHR pics. It looked like you guys had another mini wedding. =)

JoZee - I love love love that last pic of you two!!! Beautiful. It's the one where you're at the cenote sitting on the rocks but half in the water. Gorgeous shot. Blue lens did a fantastic job. I wish we had more outside shots but it was so windy that Friday that it didn't make sense and then inside was so dark and had a million people roaming around. LOL... I can't believe you were literally two doors down and never once ran into you except at Spice! How funny is that? Did you have your AHR yet? I'm dying to see your traditional dress. =)

Congrats to Jennifer and Bonnie this week!!! Can't wait to hear how it went for you both!! Okay - I've been a little remiss in getting my review out there, but I also believe pictures are worth a thousand words. So in the meantime - I'll just show you some pics and add words later!! Below are some pics from our Romantic Dinner on the Beach in front of Pelicanos. Main entree was lamb: it was so good and looked amazing. Dessert was a lime cheesecake- yummy! We even had a violin player! She was very sweet and not instrusive at all. I think she played for about 10-15mins. The moon was almost a full moon that night and it just illuminated everything. We started dinner around 6:30-7pm. Perfect timing with the sunset. Enjoy!!

Hi Denielle - Congrats!! That is super fantastic. =) This is what I did. I used the resorts bouquet, boutonniere and alter centerpiece. Then I used Marvin for the table centerpieces, bridesmaid bouquets, mothers corsages - wrist, fathers boutonnieres, groom's & groomesmen boutonnieres. The resort boutonniere went to our officiate who is a good friend of ours. For the alter centerpiece they may ask you where you would like to put it after the ceremony. If you have a specific location in mind you can just tell them. I asked them to move the alter centerpiece and to put it on the same table as decoration for the escort cards. On that table we had my bridal book and our engagement book, plus escort cards, extra maraca favors and wedding programs. It worked out pretty well. Then for the cake table we put my bouquet and the bridesmaid bouquets on it. When I had contacted Marvin, he told me he wouldn't do the alter centerpiece bc the resort has a specific clause that only their florist does it. Perhaps that rule has changed now but since you're already paying for it in your package - why not use it? The alter centerpiece is beautiful. They did a great job on mine. Which reminds me! I need to upload pics and do my review!!! Here's a picture of my alter centerpiece and resort bouquet: Resort Bouquet: Pic 1 is wedding day and Pic 2 is day after, I wanted to capture the crystal bead on the handle Marvin Table Centerpieces: Resort Alter Centerpiece: Pic 1: During Ceremony, Pic 2: After the Wedding, Close up. We loved the tropical flowers. Hopefully these help!

Jennifer - I think I remembered reading that! It's funny you say that because I told my photographer he needed a vendor license and to go to the Mexican Consulate to obtain one. He goes there and they tell him he doesn't need one bc he's not a certain kind of vendor. Talk about a Catch 22! Thanks for that reminder!!! That is what we did - we took tons of photos on the beach in front of the Royal but we didn't have any issues at all from the police. In fact there were several couples taking Beach shots that weren't guests of the Royal nearby. It's funny bc we only saw the police once the whole time we were there. Perhaps we were just lucky but I am definitely grateful we didn't have any issues at all. Heidi - that is definitely something to consider. As you can tell by reading our reviews each of us experiences different things. I do have some teaser shots! Let me see if this will work.We actually have over 1000 photos to review but he's not done editing them yet. I highly recommend having the mexican trio during your cocktail ceremony. They were alot of fun and added to the atmosphere. One of my favorite ones is of us standing in front of them. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=10150205190011324&set=a.10150205186951324.308819.198323456323&type=1&theater These pics were just the ones he liked immediately as he started working on them. Enjoy!

Heidi - I brought our photographer down from Houston. It was all apart of his destination wedding package - so I didn't have to worry about flight and room. He stayed at the Royal - so I never had any issues with him coming into our room. The beach is public access. So the photographer can meet you guys on the beach behind the resort. The street between the gran porto and royal dead ends into the pier for ferries. I would totally have your welcome/rehearsal dinner on the Royal side. if none of your guests are staying at Gran Porto - there's no need to eat there. The food is not that great and you'll be disappointed. I would totally spring for Asiana's. I think the banquet cost is the same. =)

Heidi - Don't worry about the lamb. Maybe I miscommunicated. If you picked your main entree - they don't mess with it. It's the salad or soup or dessert that they tend to switch up. However if you do like lamb, I highly recommend them. The lamb chops are fantastic there. Call me crazy but they were able to cook it medium and still have it very tender. Basically Andrea - the online WC- sent over a huge menu listing: from romantic dinners to buffet items to all the menus included for all wedding types they had. They basically said pick from these whatever you want and that will be your meals for Welcome and Rehearsal dinner. So that's how we picked our menu and thank god it got progressively better each night. =) On a side note - they love putting gelatin in alot of stuff. I'm not sure why but maybe it's bc the gelatin helps to hold the shapes since it's so warm there. If you have a romantic dinner in your package - DO IT!!! You will not reget it and it's also a way to taste some menu items if you haven't decided for your wedding dinner. We had ours Monday night and the wedding was Friday night and we met with our WC on Tuesday morning. So for us the timing worked great. So right! Happy early Fourth of July US Gals and Happy Canada Day tomorrow for our Canadian Gals.

Bonnie, The only things that they would switch up was either the salad, soup or dessert. They never changed the main entree. Which is good bc then I would have thrown a fit. However, they do a good job of presentation and most of the switches were yummy. My whole party is partial to lamb chops - so we tested them out on our romantic dinner and they were fantastic. In my opinion way better than the beef filet. But if you have picky eaters - lamb may not be the best choice. My Dad enjoyed the lamb so much there at our parents dinner that he ordered lamb almost the whole time there. I will say the food at Gran Porto is no bueno at all. I felt bad for all my guests staying with their families there. Everyone that stayed over there said the food was horrible and the rooms were not nice. Understandable you have children there but it's not their fault they have kids. The food at Albatros was not good at all. In fact I was pretty upset at the quality. We held our welcome dinner there and they really messed up the food. Everyone kept saying it was fine bc they didn't want me to be upset and go off on anyone. The food at Maries was a little bit better but not much. We met some families there for dinner one night. So if all your guests are staying at The Royal then they should have a great time. Our favorite place for breakfast was Meditereano (sp?). Love their breakfasts. I ate a ton of fresh fruit, scrambled eggs with refried beans. For lunch we liked Spice. They had yummy guacamole and a huge seafood bar. I will say what surprised me the most is that everything is cooked and cooked well done. I wasn't used to cooked smoked salmon but I'd rather they do that and not get food poisoning. Asiana's was ok. Not my favorite place but we held our Rehearsal dinner there. We actually paid for the rehearsal dinner services - so the food was not Asiana's menu but the actual banquet menus. It was a huge improvement from our Welcome Dinner at Albatros - in which we paid for that service too. Maria Maries was good but not exceptional. You can probable find a better steakhouse in your hometown but the attention to detail and service from the wait staff more than makes up for it. Presentation was always beautiful. Ask the waitstaff what their favorite is bc generally that tasted the best than deciding on our own. Even though it was all inclusive - we tipped everyone. They work hard to provide such an amazing experience that we felt they deserved it.

Jennifer and Bonnie!! Congrats ladies!! Just know that issues will happen and to just take it in with a deep breath and let it go as you exhale. In the end it will work out. Make sure you go over everything with your WC and don't be surprised if the resort changes your menu choices slightly. I'm telling you that seemed to be a running joke at our group dinners. Everyone would ask me, did you order this? Bc every dinner something was different. Even on the wedding day the soup we chose was not the same soup - but it tasted great. DO NOT GET THE MOUSSE!!! It is not tasty at all. Lamb chops were amazing. Beef was good but not exceptional. Fish was okay and chicken was dry. I can't wait to see your pics!!! As JoZee said - ignore the people in blue!! They are timeshare peeps!!! Tell your guests do not meet them for breakfast or make any apts with them. Luckily for you guys - you get the romance concierge and they are awesome! Veronique is super nice and get this, both the ladies are from The Netherlands but have lived there for about 6yrs now. I love how international their staff is.

JoZee! Loved your review!! I'll be putting mine up this weekend. So glad I got to meet you and your hubby!! We were in 920, literally down the corridor from you! I can't believe we never ran into you. LOL.. We upgraded our rooms last minute. So glad we did bc I had all the girls in my room getting ready and ordered stuffed chicken breasts and salads for everyone. I had Connie too but I used the hair and makeup for my TTD session. I've had my hair curled with a flat iron before and it never hurt. I have a pretty hard head since my hair is long but it definitely wasn't comfortable. The curls definitely stayed with that method - at least it worked for me. She did put in a lot of hairspray. Quick question, did she curl your eyelashes with the back of a spoon? My eyelids were super sore and sensitive by the time she was done. I did have to touchup the makeup with my own stuff since I had her do basic stuff.

Hi Deniden, Well, I checked what they charged my card and it was $334. I think it was due to the exchange rate. Generally the vendor fee is $350. And I paid that for my makeup person. I paid onsite but I had one of those travel cards which don't get hit with the 3% exchange rate fee. So keep that in mind if you have to pay for anything with a credit card that doesn't have that feature. If you have the continental president's plus card or something similar that is a good card to use while traveling. Just make sure you notify them that you're traveling overseas and what country so they don't block your transaction.

It's almost time for our July Brides!! YAY!!!! This weekend I will do my review and post tons of pics! Let me know if you have any questions! For all girls using Fernando and his hairstylist - they are super awesome and hilarious. We couldn't stop laughing or taking pics! I have a pic of him with my sister - classic Fernando! He is an artist. I arranged for my trial session to coincide with our rehearsal dinner. They even changed the hairstyles and look so it would be different. Everyone loved how my makeup and hair looked. He used colors on me that I never thought to use. Marvin - From Maya Diseno: Flowers and centerpieces were amazing. He did a great job. You will not be sorry!! I'm not a fan of rose petals on the table but when I saw how he did mine, I actually liked it. It was tasteful and not cheesy looking. And yes I did pay for the vendor fee. I realized - why am I having us decorate tables? We should be getting ready, taking pics and having fun. Not working!!! If you have your reception in the ballrooms, you will not regret it. It's a beautiful setup and the lighting is nice. Plus it's A/C! I definitely recommend the Mexican trio. Basically they're mariachis. We had them play during our open bar cocktail reception in the area right outside the ballrooms. Everyone loved them. They were characters and hamming it up for the cameras. Just know there will be little hiccups along the way but in the end it'll be perfect as you planned.

Hi Bonnie!! Basically the front desk just stinks. Incredibly rude. Good luck in being effective bc they just don't care. It's like the wedding department and front desk do not communicate at all. You get told one thing by the wedding coordinator and another by front desk. As long as all your guests are at the Royal then it's not a problem. All week long I've been calling front desk for transfers and one day one person told me they are the front desk and do not do transfers and to call the operator and then hung up on me. I will say our stay started off fantastic and then towards the end of week with our wedding it just started to slowly crumble. It's just really sad bc the bellhops, housekeeping staff, restaurant staff and spa staff bend over backwards to make you feel like royalty. Hopefully everyone else will have a much easier and less hassle free wedding day with their guests.

Heidi82 - Do you by any chance know a Breah Goerlich? She was asking me about my wedding and when she heard the Royal name she said she has a friend named Heidi getting married there. I just thought it was too coincidental so I just had to ask!!

Ladies!! I am back!! Bonnie!!! Love the pics. You look super amazing. He will definitely be going gagga over them! I agree!! Give him some imagination. Heidi - The new chairs are not extra. You now get a choice between them or the original style. I went with the new ones for the ceremony. They looked beautiful decorated and was a nice contrast to the reception style. Okay - so the wedding went off pretty well but we did have some major issues with them letting in some of the bridal party which really, really stressed me out and made hubby super angry. Let's just say the front desk and wedding department do not communicate at all. If you make arrangements ahead of time - GET IT IN WRITING and have the copy with you!!! I don't care what was verbally agreed upon. The front desk people will not honor it. To be honest they were quite rude and not accomodating. Apparently we were not the only ones with front desk issues. They have no idea how to handle any issues that is not policy. So in general it was great but a few things could have made it disasterous. However - I'm sure my experience is a one-of situation. You girls should be fine. Just make sure to protect yourselves and any plans you have made with the coordinator. Let me know if you have any questions.

Girls!!! I saw jozee's wedding ceremony from afar and it looks amazing!!! aw!!! so happy for her!! Oh! so a great surprise is that Royal now offers different chair styles. Their white and folding kind look so much better then the conference chairs draped in chair covers. I was super excited about that. All I can say is that the food quality at Gran Porto is nowhere near the same as the Royal. I'm actually pretty mad at my welcome dinner. We picked everything based on the quality of the Royal side and we ended up with not what we wanted. It was sorta what we picked but not really. So except for that little aspect it's been great here so far. I definitely recommend the Tulum Express Tour. Just beautiful and full of ancient history. The sun here is much brighter and stronger than US and Texas!! I am wearing 100spf sunblock on my face and 85 spf sunblock on my body and I am tanning. So definitely be prepared.

Hey girls! The Resort is amazing!!! There are a few sprinkles here and there but nothing too terrible. I highly recommend upgrading to the master suite if you can!!! It is amazing and super huge!! Plus there's so many amenties, like free long-distance!! We got an awesome deal on it. They offered it to us for just $100 extra a night. We originally had a royal jr. suite oceanview and the master suite is oceanview as well but man it is nice!!! We have room 920. I highly recommend it and we're close to the gazebo. Customs was super easy. If you can get in the line with the scanner - do it. That way they don't open your bags and go through it. JoZee!! YAY!!! We don't meet with Michelle until Tuesday at 9am. can't wait!! Hope to see you too!!! Oh!! we did the couples massage that was part of our package. Amazing!!! definitely do it!!!

Hello my fellow Royal Brides!! We are leaving tomorrow (sunday) at 9am. I found some generic numbers on word and printed them on nice paper. We have family checking for us Monday in case they arrive. But if not - I have backup. So ready for Mexico!!! The weather is starting to look alot better ladies. At least no storms just some rain here and there. I will be taking tons of pics!!! Can't wait to see JoZee down there. We'll be in rm 292. Can't wait!!!

Girls!!! I am quite peeved!!! The table numbers that I order with coral image have not arrived yet!!! We leave this sunday. HELP!!! Who has the numbers in sand? Please PM me the design. I'm running out of time. GGRRRR.... I just need 1-4.

Thanks ladies!! 99% percent of my wedding is inside, if it rained it would just be the ceremony moved inside. I'm just concerned with guests arriving in during bad weather or may be stuck somewhere else bc of it. Hopefully it won't be too bad. We'll see. I just love DYI project time!! lol... Last night I put together 6 paper chinese lanterns. it's a light sky blue with two kinds of ribbons (light yellow and sheer gold) tied in a bow at the top and long tails so it blows in the wind. Today I have to cut-out seashell shaped tags to go around the maracas. Everyone gets one and it says Shake at and for a Kiss! I finally found a TTD dress. Went into David's Bridal and found one on sale and got an extra discount too!! WOOT!! Rosie - Loved your review!!! It looked like you guys had an amazing time!! I love the chineset torture!!! Those pics were hilarious! I think you should be able to pick the different menu choices but it may depend on the WC that you have. For some crazy reason - we all get different answers. LOL...