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Quote: Originally Posted by CancunTrish Hi ERC brides! My fi and I are getting married at ERC on 10/4/14. We are expecting about 70 guests or so. I did a site inspection at ERC earlier this month with my MOH and fell in love with it! A couple of questions for all of you 1. what type of room did you and your fi/hubby stay in while you were there? 2. we were thinking about doing our reception at the Grill, did anyone have theirs there? Was it too hot or were you comfortable? 3. Food recommendations for hor d'ourves and dinner please!!! (for the cocktail hour and reception) Thanks ladies!!! My husband and I stayed in a normal room. We unfortunately didn't get an upgrade because they were at near capacity. My reception was at Barcelona but the Grill probably wouldn't be too hot. It's near the water so it would most likely be breezy. You may want to check because I'm not sure every place can hold a large number of people. For our dinner we chose the filet and scallops from the Silver menu. Gloria will let you mix and match items for the menus though. All of the hor d-ourves were good that we chose, but I can't recall what we picked right now. For our wedding cake, we chose Tres Leches and Strawberry. The Tres Leches is AMAZING!

Gloria is fantastic!! I would have my wedding there (ERC) solely because of her, She was incredibly accomodating and as Cancun Trish said, EVERYONE that worked there acted as if they loved their jobs and wanted to make everything wonderful! I had the most amazing time and wedding. My guests, some of which are very critical and have stayed at impressive resorts all over the world, raved at the level of service and the resort in general. Mandy

I'm so excited for you!! Can't wait to hear the details!

Hi Trish! I booked through my Travel Agent and she was able to give us a better price than booking online through Excellence. It was only $20 or 30 less a night, but I figures it adds up. She also got us incentives like, for every 10 rooms booked we got a room free, limited to two. (So our parents rooms were paid for.) and free welcome cocktail party for everyone. We had 44 people come with us, so 22 rooms. I'm not sure where you are located but I can give you the name and number of my travel agent. She was absolutely wonderful. I live in MD and she lives in NJ and I was able to work very we'll with her. She is very familiar with Excellence and specializes in Destination Weddings. If you have any more questions please feel free to contact me. If you want I can pm you my email address. Hope I've helped! Mandy

If you decide to change things I'd let them know as soon as you get there and be sure there isn't another wedding that day. I was fortunate to not have another wedding. If you want to have it in the beautiful Foyer, I'd HIGHLY suggest asking her if you can have fans sitting around. The foyer has large open windows on top but the walls go about half way up, so there is no air circulation on the bottom half of the room. In the daytime temps were 95+ with high humidity. Evening temps were 92 or so with high humidity. I think I read someone else asked for fans to be sitting around. I think they have some larger industrial fans. If you have any other questions, ask away!!

HNeal, I also asked Gloria's honest opinion about the heat and location. She said my guests would appreciate the air conditioning, and she was right. They all thanked me for having it indoors. Everyone was on the dancefloor Non stop too. I can't imagine they would have danced as much in the heat.

Hi HNeal! I did get married in July (late July)but our reception was at Barcelona. The Foyer is beautiful and when I got there I almost changed my mind mid week until I stood out there for a while. It is very warm. I was so scared about having my reception where they have the buffet every day, thinking it would cheapen it. I was very wrong. I'm very glad I went with the indoor location with air conditioning. The beach was nice and breeze but anywhere else was absolutely scorching. When I was waiting to walk down the aisle, I stared sweating badly. Fortunately it was only for a sec. I hope this helps. Mandy

I had no issues with mosquitos but I did bring spray along, just in case DJ Mannia will keep your guests so busy, you probably won't have time for a 5 minute video!! Seriously, they kept everything moving so fast (complete with a Tequila shot conga line organized by our servers) that the reception whizzed by! Love and enjoy every minute of it!!

Quote: Originally Posted by karijean Well it's official ladies! My fiance and I are all booked for June 12th, 2014!! I am soooo ready for it to be here NOW! I just sent Gloria an email full of questions regarding questions about the bouquets, centerpieces, locations, menu, etc. (she already sent me the options to choose from) but I wanted to ask a few questions on here to see if you all knew! 1. Does anyone know how much DJ Mania costs? I read that that company is on that list of approved DJ's so there is no $500 fee correct? We aren't having a reception at home so I want it to be a fun time! 2. What is the name of the company of in-house photographer? I think Gloria sent it to me but I can't find it anywhere. I wanted to research them some. 3. I'm also curious about the groom's room night before the wedding, this would be very helpful. 4. Anyone know if you can have a slideshow played at the reception? TealMarie your day is coming so fast! I'm excited to see how it turns out! Thanks everyone! 1. DJ Mannia was $1200 and worth every penny! 2. The in house photographer is Beach Wedding Studios. http://www.beachweddingstudio.com/ Honestly it doesn;t look like they've updated the site recently, but they were biggest surprise in my trip. I hired them with absolutely NO regrets! I was a little nervous after seeing some people's posts about photos they took at rehersal dinners for the couple because they didn't want to have them take wedding photos but they were great. They take extra special care of you if you're paying for them I guess. I also got an EDITED beautiful video of my ceremony, complete with shots of the resort as a whole. It was really spectacular. If you'd like to see some of my photos I can email some to you. Oscar and his crew were AMAZING! 3. We utilized the room for the groom and they were accomodating, even though the resport was nearly at capacity. You'll have to ask Gloria about it when you get there and then ask the front desk the morning before your wedding. They won't book it in advance. 4. We didn't have the slide show but TealMarie knows what she is talking about.

Quote: Originally Posted by HNeal I'm interested to hear about the food as well. I've been to ERC before and know that all of the food is so good so it's going to be a tough decision. I was wondering if anyone used the extra room that is included in the package for the groom the night before the wedding? I know it says "based on availability" so I was wondering of couples actually got to use that option. I'm hoping to have that option and host a "girls sleepover" that night. We used the room for the groom and the resort was pretty packed. So much so, that they weren't able to upgrade us to a better room so they gave us a dinner on the beach instead.

You are both going to be so happy with everything!! After I booked and figured out what I wanted in terms of location, time and even menu options, I emailed Gloria EVERYTHING. I like to have everything planned out as well. She was so wonderful to deal with and so thorough. I want to go back so badly! TealMarie, I can't wait to read your reviews!!!

TealMarie, Your day is coming fast!!! Can't wait to hear all about it! Mandy

Hi there iryna10! I got married there on July 27, I have to tell you, I don't think you'll get that price for 7 days with airfare. My guests, on average, paid $1550 per couple for the hotel (All inclusive, of course) for 4 days. I had 42 people come with us and most of my guests only stayed for 4 or 5 days, if that helps at all. There were very few that stayed longer. We flew out of Baltimore and airfare averaged about $400 per person round trip. That being said, I think the price for what you get at this resort is well worth it. Some of my guests have stayed at the best of the best and though ERC was excellent! We used a travel agent to book for everyone and she was able to get us a pretty good rate and offer us incentives through the resort as well. (I can give you her information) I offered my guests pricing for 4, 5, 6 and 7 days, letting them make their decision and booking accordingly directly through the agent. You may be surprised how many people will go when they can make the choice on how many days and how much they can spend. Absolutely everything was included at the resort so once they've made the initial investment, they can relax! I hope this helps. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Mandy

So excited for you!!!!!!! Everything will be perfect. I can't wait to hear the details!

first off, congrats! You made the best decision and won't be disappointed! I got married July 27 and had a semi private rehearsal dinner with 2 tables in the back of Toscana as well. Gloria and their staff don't do a rehearsal and that made me a little nervous but trust me, they know what they are doing. Before the dinner that night I took everyone over to the excellence club and showed them the area on the beach and we talked about who walked with who and that was it. The day of Gloria came and got us girls and made sure the men were in place with flowers etc. she wears a little headset to cue music changes and everything, like Jlo in the wedding planner! It was perfect!!!!! I can't wait to read all about it!

Hope your day was fantastic and hope you hit to use my sign!!!!

You definitely DO get the hydrotherapy with any spa treatment. You just have to let them know when you are booking and they will schedule it for each person after their treatment. It's weird tho because you will be upstairs in the spa with a robe on and have to change into a bathing suit and then go back upstairs after. We had a few people that had treatments throughout the week and everyone got the hydrotherapy included.

Turquoise Please, Same with us. When we arrived and met with Gloria, she showed us the contract with the prices. When we checked out we paid with cc. We had some additional charges on our room we kenw about. No surprises at all. I will tell you this made me a little nervous paying for everything after and during checkout, but it went well. I would let your cc company know that you'll be traveling. some companies shut off cards when they are used in another country as safety/fraud protection. Everything will be so fantastic! Mandy

Hey girls! I just left the sign a few weeks ago, so it wouldn't have been there for other weddings to use. She said brides are always asking if they have one but they didn't until I left it for you wonderful gals! She said people usually bring one with their names and date on it and leave it but people can't reuse it. She was very grateful I left the one my new father-in-law and I made by hand. It was a great collaborative effort and I hope others enjoy it as much as we did. It was a b*tch to get through customs or we would have brought it home Just ask for it! I'm sure she wouldn't offer it unless someone asked! She is on vacation right now because I sent her an email to thank her and got her out of office. Mandy

Thanks so much KayLynn! Everything was absolutely amazing!! I felt stunning! Elias at the salon did an amazing job on my hair and makeup and Oscar from the resort took our photos. I think he did a fantastic job. We have atleast 40 photjournalistic style shots along with tons of others. I promise I'll do a review this weekend.

Trisha, It is totally weird being over. Your photos are fantastic! You looked beautiful and both looked so happy!!!!! Isn't Gloria adorable!?

I would suggest 5pm, only because the temperature is the hottest around 11/12 ish. You'll still have sunshine until 7/7:30 and the temp drops a few degrees and the breeze picks up later in the day. Whatever you choose will be wonderful! Mandy

Here are a coupld of our professional shots. Review probably tonight!