wenz4bruins

After having my wedding here ALL I can say is that the venue is beautiful, the bar service was fabulous and the officiant was great. I TAKE BACK my rave reviews as communication was a HUGE problem that caused me many tears and unneeded stress. For instance, the coordinator went MIA for weeks right before y wedding with one excuse after another which was a major fail for a bride who is nervous and anxious as it is. The caterer "Festiv" was irresponsible and wanted money that wasn't CLEARLY communicated even after I repeatedly asked "Is that all I owe?" BUT on the night before they wanted a "deposit" of 1K IN CASH! Another major fail, not to mentioned the food I ordered was NOT completely correct. For instance we ordered the main dish and mashed potatoes ... NO mashed (embarrassing when you have pre-printed menus). The taco bar was tiny and food was limited. The cake was extremely dry & we threw it all out. Needless to say NOT worth the outrageous amounts of money I paid for all of the food. Another example was the photographer Sweet Caribbean. We PAID for TWO photographers for all day and only ONE showed up until the end of the night when the other showed. They came highly recommended because their photos are good... UNTIL it came to delivering the pictures. I didn't get to preview or chose the pictures that came in my album, further more I had to nag and nag and nag some more as well as pay out some MORE cash to get my all of the photos and then NAG and Nag and Nag and pay another $100 for me to get them on CD. The pictures were good until I saw there was NOT ONE picture of me and my mom so now I have to go take some just so I have some. Furthermore, the video which was indeed beautiful was only 14 minutes!!!! 14 MINUTES!!!! For over well over $1K, really??? I had to fork out more money to have the outtakes sent to me so I can have another remade here because I had no choice if I wanted all of my stuff. The amounts of money they charged was very not even close to what I would have paid in the states for what we got. I am so disappointed. Once again, I loved the venue and my wedding was extremely beautiful but in retrospect, I would only have my wedding here IF I had wedding insurance and some stress medication. I'm sorry if this is offending anyone but just as I was excited in announcing my recommendations, I am also responsible for sharing the truth of my experience. You may also want to message Becky, who also had her wedding there (See thread) her and I had similar experiences especially with the communication and money. It's a gorgeous, magical place and Ilse did a great job on the DAY OF my wedding BUT I got to be real as well with all the prewedding and post wedding stuff. I really hope she works on communication and for her vendors to be more professional. I wish more effort was made to avoid stress all around.

Dani & Jose from SWEET CARIBBEAN, hands down. They were great. I saw my proofs & they are like a dream.

Hi Jen, I just got married in Riviera Maya and stayed at Riu Palace Riviera Maya with 40 of my guests. The place is gorgeous but the service I received during my most special time was terrible! NO bride should EVER experience what I did. The manager Jose Luis was a big jerk who was rude to me and some of my guests who were not staying at the hotel. He made them feel like criminals because they wanted to walk through to the beach (which is public in Mexico, btw). Nancy the coordinator is nice but lacks communication skills! She messed up my rehearsal dinner and then made me feel bad about it. I was in tears the night before my wedding and my now husband had to "yell" at her and Jose Luis threatening a lawsuit VERY UPSETTING the night before your most important day of your life. I would think twice about this place, especially if you have guests who may or may not find a room at the hotel as was in my case. Your "off-site" guests will be treated like criminals unless you pay $100 per day for them and they will be excluded from any beach activities. I understand this is the policy for a lot of hotels but these people were very rude and almost ruined my wedding day. I had lots of undue stress when I should have been having the time of my life. Luckily, I got married off site in a beautiful, peaceful place & my day was perfection! Hope this helps!

I don't know where THIS place is that you are posting about but I reviewed the one I mentioned. I don't want to confuse anyone because it is not the same place OR wedding coordinator I hired. This link is to something else.

The place shown here isn't the place I'm talking about. The place is Capilla de Santa Maria del Secreto. I've never been the to EW place so that is somewhere else. Here is the link for the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Capilla-de-Santa-Mar%C3%ADa-del-Secreto/105157861821. Hope it helps

Ooopies! Correction on the email it's [email protected] Sorry about the mix up.

Hi Becky, The place is AMAZING!!! I am doing the wedding ceremony in the chapel, cocktails on the beach with lounges and reception in the palm groves. I did hire everyone of Ilse's vendors on the spot. I just got more samples of photography and videographer (SWEET CARIBBEAN) and can I just say the bar service was phenomenal (Bittersweet Movilbar) I totally sound like a commercial for them, huh,lol. But seriuosly after two trips and what felt like a million hotel venues. This was by far the most beautiful, intimate and secluded little piece of heave and Ilse is an angel (really). She is really busy & I know she was sick but I communicated with her this week with some more ideas I came up with and she just found me an officiant who will meet our needs. I want to post pictures but I don't know how. I am using some pictures I took of the place as my wedding invitation background. I will contact Ilse and let her know you need more info. I wrote you an email on private email but please let me know what you need the prices of. Wendy

Someone wrote and asked for my wedding coordinators contact by I don't know where that reply went. Here it is anyway email: [email protected] and her website is www.secretjewel.com.mx If you are interested in looking at some of her work samples she is also on facebook under Capilla de Santa Maria del Secreto. Hope this helps

I don't know why I did not find my newly hired wedding coordinator Ilse Diamant on this website ((scratching head)) I looked and didn't find her so I write this in case anyone is lost and wants a truly special wedding venue in Riviera Maya and a wonderful coordinator. True to her last name she is truly a gem! I must share her with this community because I know how nerve wrecking to go somewhere where you don't know much about services. My fiance, Jeff and I did a surveying of the Riviera Maya last August (2010). We booked appointments with several coordinators at different resort hotels. By the end of our trip we knew one thing, we loved Riu Palace Riviera Maya but were not thrilled with their wedding options. We came back home rather disappointed but then my mom told me about a Mexican tv star who had recently married in a chapel by the sea. So there I went looking for places that fit that description. Quite by accident or serendipity I found "Capilla de Santa Maria del Secreto" (which means "Chapel of St. Mary of the Secret"). I was taken by the beauty of the pictures posted on the website. I was impressed with how professional the coordinator sounded. I looked her up on facebook and all seemed so wonderful. But you know the saying "too good to be true" ? Well this place was BETTER!!! I recently came back from my "scouting" trip to Riviera Maya with my mom and wanted to meet Ilse and see the chapel and grounds for myself. One word: SPECTACULAR!!! Another Word: MAGNIFICENT! The place was more breathtaking than any picture I had seen. When we met Ilse she was hired on the spot. Her professionalism is equal to any professional in the states or better. She had everything planned out. She had all vendors in time staggered appointments to meet us and present to us what they envisioned for our wedding. Starting with the bar service called "Bitter-Sweet Movil Bar" (which had an arrangement of AMAZING drinks)... I'm dreaming of the mango margarita now. Everyone from the baker to the florist, dj and photography was truly professional. Behind it all was my very own personal "Jennifer Lopez"... Ilse Diamant! Her visions for my wedding were completely personalized and she was very considerate of my conversations about our budget arranging vendors that were affordable and completely professional. I am so happy to have found a place where I can have a church feel right on the beach. The reception will also be an elegant affair with a touch of whimsy (toes in sand). The best of both worlds. I cannot wait for November to roll around so I can marry my prince charming in a little chapel by the beach ((Sighs)) Please contact me if you have any questions about what I saw. BTW Ilse is VERY, VERY good at returning emails within a reasonable time (which was not always the case with other hotel coordinators I wrote to).

Hi, I just came back from Riviera Maya and visited Dreams. I hated it. My travel agent had contacted them so I could do a site inspection and I was highly disappointed with the level of service there. Ana the wedding coordinator is nice. I booked another place which I was really impressed with and we are all staying at Riu Palace Riviera Maya instead.