CarolynSD

Sorry for the long review but it wanted to put in all of the details… The Excellence Riviera Cancun (ERC) is beyond amazing. Wegot married April 19, 2013 and had 86 guests attend our beach wedding and not a single person had a complaint. In fact people loved the resort so much that they are already planning family trips back there. With a wedding of 86 people I was expecting at least one thing to go wrong and I was very surprised that nothing did. Everyone raved about how wonder the resort and travel company were!. The Ceremony was on the beach, (4:30pm) the cocktail hour on the pier(5:30pm), and the reception (6:30-11:30)pm was also on the beach..all were amazing! 1)On site wedding coordination- Gloria was amazing! I have heard horror stories about other resorts that are hard to work with and nothing goes right, this was the complete opposite. Gloria always emailed me back promptly. she helped me coordinate our flowers, cake, food, DJ, and photo booth. I sent her pictures of what I wanted and she made it happen. Even when what i wanted wasn't offered in their wedding look books, all i had to do is send a picture and it happened. I honestly don't think she knows the word no at all. Gloria made this day and weekend amazing for us. 2)Travel agent- YOU MUST DO THIS!!! It will save your life. with 86 guests you can only imagine how hard it would be. They negotiated a group rate, provided transportation to and from the resort in Cancun and helped with any other needs that came up. Everything was executed flawlessly and every single guest was happy with them. My Coordinator sent me updates on who has booked as they booked so that I could be kept informed. She also helped negotiate some perks for us once we arrived to the hotel. We received 9 free nights to be used on our room or our guests, a free welcome cocktail hour, free room upgrade, and a few other things. They organized all of the transportation for all of the guests to and from the resort in Cancun (this was amazing! And the guests didn’t have to worry about anything when they got there) They helped me greatly when a guest had to cancel a week before the wedding due to a death in the family, and negotiated everything on our behalf. Overall their service was much needed and wonderful. I highly recommend using them. I plan on using them for all of my travel now not just group travel. Their services are free for you as they get paid from the hotels. It’s a no brainer to use them. 3)Food- the food was very good. Much better than most all-inclusive resorts. Many of the wedding guests commented on how great the food was. All of the restaurants were very good and true to their theme. Room service food was also very good. Our actual wedding food was amazing! Actually the best food we had all week. 4)Rooms- the were great! very roomy and sunny. The rooms look exactly like the pictures on-line. Swim out rooms are awesome. The excellence club is also pretty cool as you get access to a private pool, beach and lounge. The lounge has very expensive alcohol you can drink and snacks all day. If you can afford the upgrade its nice but you will be just as happy without it, they treat everyone great there so you don't need to be in the VIP area to be treated like one. One of the reasons we choose this resort was that their basic room was just as nice as the upgraded ones. The only difference was that the upgraded ones have extras like rooftop spas, hammocks, swim out rooms, ect. But all of our guest loved their rooms no matter what category they were in. 5)Beach & Pool- The thing i loved the most about these were the abundant amount of chairs at both. It was very nice not to have to fight for chairs every day! They were also very clean. There is a brick pizza oven at the pool which is kinda fun. also soft serve ice cream yummy! If you want a more fun environment you can go to the main pool where there is live music but if you prefer a quieter time you can hang at one of the other pools where it is very calming and relaxing. I loved the options for our large group and i know the older guests did too. 6)Nighttime shows- the shows were fun and well put together. the outdoor theater was awesome and served as a great meet up spot. it was also a nice place to hang in the shade during the day. The disco is fun, not always packed up a good amount of people in there having a good time and dancing the night away. I had my bacholette party in there. 7)Service- AMAZING! all of the staff is so nice to everyone. The service at the pool and beach is also very good. They must train their people to never say NO and to make it happen because that is the type of service you get from everyone at this resort. I asked for a cheesecake at a place that didn't have it on the menu and their response was do you want it round or square? I had to say I didn't need a whole cheesecake just a slice and of course they brought me one. Honestly who offers to make you an entire cheesecake…The service is impeccable. 8)Spa- The spa is awesome. You must do the water treatment. I did it with my bridesmaids the day of our wedding and it was soooo much fun! There are all sorts of surprises so I wont ruin it for you. We did a wedding package that included ½ massage, snacks and drinks outside in private area, and water treatment. Then we went to lunch and came back for our hair and make up. My hair looked good and was what I asked for. I recommend brining a picture of what you want. They didn’t use enough hairspray though so I was trying to fix it all night (well my bridesmaids were trying to fix it for me) As for the makeup I did my own b/c I wanted water proof makeup and my laura mercier makeup never smudges no matter how sweaty I am. side note- have all bridesmaids put their hair up too as they wind will blow it in their hair and the pictures wont turn out as you planned- this was a tip from the photographer and after the fact I am glad we followed his direction. 9)DJ- we used the approved DJ by the hotel (dj mania)- he was amazing!! I ef recommend using him. He had a lighted dancefloor (extra money, but you can choose the size) and it was awesome! He played all of the songs we asked for and non of the ones we didn’t want. He gaged the music towards the guests and people were dancing the entire night. In fact we had to be kicked off at 11:30 because we were having so much fun no one wanted to leave. At one point I looked out and 80 of the 86 guest were dancing. Now that’s a sign of a good DJ if you ask me. 10)photography- We used Claudia Photography it was $500 extra to bring them in but well worth it. They were great and even stayed a little extra to take pictures of the surprise dance my husband and groomsmen did for me. As for the hotel photographers We used the 25 free photos that came with the Gold package during our welcome cocktail hour. These were the hotel photographers and they were ok. The posed pictures were good but the rest were not. So I would not recommend using them. Its is worth paying extra for another photographer. 11)Photo booth- love booth weddings- sooo much fun! Highly recommend if your budget allows. We used the photos for our guest book and ahd guests write something by their pictures. There were 2 prints so people could also keep a copy. This was approved my ERC so you didn’t have to pay any extra to bring them on sight. 12) Out of town bags- I had them delivered to all of the rooms as the guests arrived. With so many guests arriving ½ came on wed and the other ½ came on Thursday, so it was nice they delivered them. We brought all of the stuff in an extra suitcase and then put them together when we got there and gave them to Gloria to deliver. Some of the things we put into the bags were… Wedding day survival kits (wisks, mints, bobbypins, chapstick, nail files, lotion, hand sanitizer); cups (plastic tumblers, with our wedding logo imprinted on them, discountmugs did them); photo booth photo holders (we had a photobooth at the reception); do not disturb door hangers (I made them); beach bracelets. For the actual bags I just used gift bags except for the bridesmaids and mothers I had canvas bags with their names on them from exclusivelyweddings. We had gym draw bags made for the groomsmen and also gave them cufflinks. 13)Reception decorations- ERC provided the chairs with covers, napkins, table clothes all white..very standard. We brought our own menus that I made to match our theme and my mom made coral napkin rings so they put all of that on the table for us. Also we brought chair sashes as they didn’t have the color I wanted. We also brought Christmas lights and chinese lanterns to hang above the area to give it a roof look. I highly recommend this as it really competed the area and looks great in pictures. (they have some to rent if you don’t want to bring your own). We had a just married sign that my mom made to hang on our chairs (we left it there for other brides so hopefully you get it if you want it on your chairs) It whole thing was on the beach and so much fun! It felt like we were in a private area and we never saw any other hotel guests. So that was really nice. 14)Flowers- I sent a picture in of what I wanted for the boquets and center pieces, they all looked great. They did add a little purple in which I could have done without but that’s ok. I asked for white and coral flowers which they did but added a little purple. So be specific if that’s important to you. Over all I think it still looked great and I wasn’t going to let that ruin my day. 15)Food- ask Gloria for the menu, but all was very good!. We had 3 options for the guests, sea bass, chicken roulade, beef tenderloin. All guests said it was the best food they had all week. You have to turn in the guest choices about a month before you arrive. 16)Cake- we didn’t care too much about it so we just told her what we wanted, white with flowers, and that’s how it turned out. It looked great! I brought my own cake topper (starfish) and they put that on. We actually had cheesecake as we don’t like real cake. They had lots of options though. 17)Ceremony- they provided speakers and mic for the minister, (we brought our own that we grew up with) and signed the legal stuff after with the judge. Its so beautiful you don’t need a lot of extras. We had 4 flower settings some memorial candles and the basic aisle with shells. We also hung starfish on the aisle chairs. Looked very beautiful. You don’t need alof of extras here. We also brought our own hand made programs (fan programs) that gloria gave us a basket to put them in. As far as music, they will help you if you have playlist on your iphone set up. They have the house DJ come with the speakers and mic and play the music for you. I had my friend do it just because he know how but he worked with the house DJ. 18)Cocktail hour during wedding- we did this on the pier and it was great. There was a mariachi band (came with package) and food and drinks. They used the straws and umbrellas I brought for welcome cocktails. 19)Welcome Cocktail hour- Did this at the x-lounge it was nice and in a center area for people to meet. They also used the straws and umbrellas I brought for welcome cocktails. Overall I would highly recommend this resort for your wedding! Gloria will make it perfect so you can relax. There is something for everyone there. You will not be disappointed.

I have confimed my wedding at The Excellence Rivera Cancun April 2013 and was wondering if anyone else was getting married there between now and then? I was hoping for ideas and other info such as DJ info and things like that. Past brides please feel free to give advice. Thanks! C