melanderic2017

Here's my wedding & Resort Review. We got married on May 9, 2017 The Wedding Day: The wedding day was incredible. I couldn’t have asked for a better day! We had a total of 30 guests for our big day (including us). It started in the spa where my mom and I got our hair and makeup done. The service at the front desk of the spa seemed a bit lacking (no smiles at all) but once we sat down to get our hair done, the ladies were great! My hair and makeup stayed in place for the entire wedding day, I can’t believe it! A huge shout-out to Laura. Our day couldn’t have gone the way it did without her. Thank you so much for everything you did to make sure that we were on-time even when we were running late, and making sure that every step of the way went well. The flowers were delivered to us, and were beautiful. Almost exactly what I envisioned. The ceremony was perfect. We had this on the beach. Everything was set-up as I wanted, except for the cocktail table that my groom took care of moving (I didn’t want it under the bamboo arch, but that was an easy fix). The only note I had was that the lanterns lining the walkway were much smaller than I expected, from the pictures I sent in advance. The dinner was done perfectly at the Nautica Beach Bar. We had our backs facing the water so that the water was in the background. Laura checked in on me throughout with any little details that may need to be tweaked! We had two allergies we weren’t aware of before the big day, and they were accommodated! The only note I had was that the flowers in the cylinders were also not the colour I requested, so I was a bit disappointed there, but it still worked great. Thank you for your on-the-fly thinking Laura, and the whole team, for making sure everything went well! Francisco, was also great! He was the resort designated MC, however my uncle did the MC job. So he made sure that everyone signed our guestbook puzzle pieces and date-night cards, and made sure that all loose-ends were tied while Laura was away doing something else. To the DJ, he played all of my requested songs, and made sure that everyone was up and dancing all night. For someone who plans events for a living, the Royalton team managed to turn my event-focused brain off, and make me rest assured that the entire day went off without a hitch. Something that I didn’t think would be possible, became a reality. Thank you again for everything. Photography: We went with Moments That Matter Photography. From beginning to end, work with MTM Photography was a breeze! E-mails were very quickly tended to before the wedding date, and the planning process was very easy. On the day of the wedding, our main photographer was Lincoln and his lovely wife Silvina. We had an amazing day with them both. They sure aren't afraid of getting dirty, and getting so many different creative shots. We would work with them again in a heartbeat, and will be sure to recommend to anyone getting married in the Mayan Riviera We got our pictures, and they're so great that it's hard to pick which ones to print, and which ones to get enlarged. Thanks again for everything you have done to make our wedding day that much more memorable. The pictures will last a lifetime, and make our dream day go on. Here's our wedding picture teasers: https://www.momentsthatmatterphotography.com/single-post/2017/05/09/The-Royalton-Riviera-Cancun-a-wedding-day-for-a-King-Queen Event Planning Company: We went with Luxe Destination weddings based out of Toronto to take care of the travel planning and event planning for our wedding. This way we were able to start planning from day 1, and weren't restricted to the 4-month timeline that most brides seem to complain about. I have everything pre-planned almost a year out, with tweaking based on the budget as we got closer to the date. My travel planner was Christy, and Wedding Planner was Alexandra. They both were amazing! www.luxedestinationweddings.com Food: Breakfast: We ate most of our breakfasts at the Carribbean Restaurant, which has a picturesque view of the ocean and beach! The patio is nicest as there is a breeze, and it’s quite warm in the restaurant. The service can be a little slow, but if you’re up for a little wait and enjoying a morning coffee with a great view, this is the place for you. The best breakfast experience was the Agave Restaurant. We had great service here, but only ate there once for breakfast, as we preferred the ocean view! I can’t remember our server’s name, but I believe it was Alfonso? It would have been Monday, May 8th on the Patio. The buffet is plentiful for breakfast and every option imaginable is available. We opted against it for the most part as we wanted to enjoy the ocean in the morning, and the Carribean restaurant was closer to our room. We also loved our server (his name starts with an S... Sansergio I think??) Very happy to serve us and even remembered my partner’s order! Lunch: The Italian restaurant was a great option for lunch, with smaller yet delicious portions. The Wood Oven pizza was divine, as well as a the calamari! The Carribean Grill has some decent lunch options. We ate here once for lunch. The Buffet again has a wide selection, but we preferred outdoor options for our lunches! Dinner: Our favorite dinner was by far the Zen restaurant for sushi. The sushi selection was divine and by far the best sushi I have ever had at an all-inclusive resort! We also had Tappenyaki at Zen which was a great show, but the food was just average for us. Agave’s menu was slightly disappointing. I was expecting more than just tacos. There were a few other options other than tacos, but to me that’s not the only Mexican type of food out there. The desserts were also pretty disappointing. The dinner service was also the worst we had all week. We waited over 30 mins as the first on the waiting list. About 30 people left the restaurant before we were seated. A little bit ridiculous. The restaurant was more than half empty when we were seated! The Buffet’s selection was always plentiful, but the service wasn’t the same as the a la carte restaurants. I think there was only 1 meal we had here where the server actually seemed happy working! Rehearsal Dinner – We had a semi-private dinner included with our wedding package, and opted to use it as a rehearsal dinner in a section of the buffet. The meal was fabulous. We had a tortilla soup, followed by a chicken with tomato sauce (a bit bland, but the chicken was soooo juicy!) and a tres leche cake which everyone loved! It was beautifully set up, and the flaming show drinks at the end were an unexpected yet awesome touch! Would love to know what the flaming tower shot was actually called. Hunter’s Steak House – The steak here was divine, though if you like your meat well done, make sure to specify as they tend to undercook. My pork was very tough, so I would choose something else if I was ever back here. Raoul was a great server! The Facilities: We loved the resort as a whole. Incredibly well-kept grounds, and very well manicured! The pools are all beautiful, and temperatures were reasonable. Our friend’s swim up pool was the coolest temperature but it was extremely refreshing in the hot sun! Beach & Beach Service: The beach did have some seaweed, but that can’t be avoided. It was still very swimmable, and the first few days were clear waters! We noticed that there are mini sting-rays at the bottom of the shallow water, and lots of fish around too. It’s too bad I didn’t get to snorkel while it was clear. Would have been amazing! The service on the far end of the beach (near building 9) for drinks was hit and miss. It is the farthest away from the beach bar, so it would take a long time to get drinks, but we did have the best service from Marco, who was very pleasant, and even surprised us with some drinks we had yet to try. The Room: We were upgraded to the Presidential Suite in room 9201, which had a fantastic private view of the beach and mangrove, right at the end of the resort. It was absolutely perfect. I didn’t expect such a lovely upgrade, but it was great for the wedding day and getting ready with the girls!! A big thank you to Alonso that cleaned our room every day. I did have to call on the wedding day to have the room cleaned, as it was 1 hr before the wedding, and nobody had come to clean the room yet, but after the call, it was cleaned! The fridge was also always stocked with delicious beverages! Our Guests feedback: We had nothing but positive remarks from our guests for the wedding day and their week stay. They thanked us numerous times saying that we couldn’t have picked a better resort!

Hi Shakdaniel! I think your budget would be realistic if you brought a lot of your decor from home. The decor and flowers are the most expensive part at the resort. You're looking at paying I believe it was $1500-$2000 for the Sky Terrace (Can't remember exactly).... Plus which ever wedding package you include. Private Dinners are about $30-$40 per person for a 3 course set meal. The DJ is expensive, at $315 per hour. We opted for outside photography. It's an $850 charge, plus the photography. All-in-all though, my wedding is costing me about $10,000 USD for 32 people. (We opted for the beach ceremony, followed by the Nautica Beach Bar).

I don't think it'll be the covered area but I'm not sure yet I went with one of their basic DJ packages without the lights. Didn't feel I needed a lighting package for dancing As long as there's good music, I'm ready to go!

We're actually doing large pillar candles around the beach bar (fake ones) instead of the string lights! We want to keep it more romantic You should look into these! No dance floor for us, we're going to use the space in front of the bar on the wood floor as a dance floor!

No way - I'm May 9th I get to the resort on the 6th. Can't wait to see your setup at the beach bar - my reception is there too! What are you doing for Decorations, centrepieces, etc.... Did you go with the string lights?

When's your wedding in May??

We haven't factored in travel to that cost, but we did get a discount for having a certain number of rooms booked, and applied some of it to our trips. The rest was given to our siblings. We're looking at about $1400 CAD each for our all-inclusive travel & resort stay, with our discount (That's roughly $1100 USD). I've always wanted some dreamy pictures, as they will be the memories that last forever. To me it's the most important part of my day, as I want it to be remembered in the best way possible! I ended up spending about $3500USD on the photographer, for 6 hours. This includes I believe about 800 pictures too, so way more than what the resort offered with their packages! Thankfully I feel like the hardest parts are over for me and I can just sit back and relax

We decided to have them make them for us! With 33 people, all-inclusive, including DJ, outside photographer, flowers, and the whole wedding, I'm looking at about $15,000 CAD (So about $11,000USD)

We're doing 3 vases with electronic lights at the bottom, rocks at the bottom, filled with water and some tropical flowers. One of the vases will have starfish accents in each centrepiece.

I think they're much larger pillar candles than normal, and different heights. I would just be putting them around the perimeter for the most part I believe. Plus we get free tiki torches! So the combination will be really pretty

Hi there! I don't know about the setup fee, but My planner recommended pillar candles that were way cheaper than the string lights! The beach bar is pretty lit up on it's own from the picture's I've seen so you may want to look into that option?

Congrats Valerie!!! I found that working with a destination wedding planning company, I was able to get all of my details and pricing in advance, which is a blessing in disguise! I know that I ended up asking for a custom menu in regards to wanting the Mexican Family Style menu, served as a plated, and they were able to give me pricing. So I imagine if it's something they already have or make, that you may be able to incorporate it into your menu. It may not be the same price obviously, since an hors d'oeuvre size is totally different than a starter course for a meal Hopefully that helps!

Congrats on your big day!! My last day at the resort is May 13th, but who knows we might cross paths! Looks like there's a ton of brides that week, let's all say hi to each other on our wedding days My wedding date is May 9th - Beach ceremony, followed by the Nautica beach bar!

Sending you a quick e-mail with the quote my destination wedding planner sent to me

Hi Tina! Let me know if there's anything I might be able to help with. I've been working on my wedding there for a while with Luxe Destination Weddings, and they've been super helpful to give me a full quote in advance So I have the full breakdown in my pricing! Good luck, it's right around the corner now!! Melanie

Im working with a destination wedding planning company who has priced out all of the different decor/flower pricing for me strange that they won't give you prices in advance! Bringing string lights is genius to save money we're doing pillar candles for a more romantic ambiance! Great pricing on your photographer!! Looks like you're getting married two days before me. Might have to take a peak at your setup hehe. I'm opting for round tables with the head table facing the water so I can see the ocean and sunset during dinner How many people are you expecting? We've now decided on the semi private dinner as a rehearsal and it's going ahead as planned. Which is exciting!! I want the day after the wedding to be a day for me and the hubby to be to relax together with the breakfast in bed that's included!! If you see me at the resort say hi!!! Or on my wedding day haha. tminus 232 days

I don't have a plan of the Nautica beach bar either, but I have been told that it is 8 guests per table. I mentioned to my planner that I wanted the head table to face the ocean, so that I can see the ocean while eating dinner! I recently stumbled upon some pictures of the beach bar set up and it seems like it will work quite nicely. (Which I can't seem to find to show you)... My planner has been great via e-mail! I'm not too concerned there! So she's looking into availability for a rehearsal the night before in one of the restaurants We're using Moments that Matter Photography. They are covering 100% of the vendor fee in their costs. 6hrs will be $4200 USD including the vendor fee. Still expensive but the photos are phenomenal!

Interesting! For the lanterns and corsages... Perhaps it's the type of flower for the corsages?? Congrats on such a high attendance that's amazing!! We've only got 33 right now confirmed, but it could be 40 I plan weddings for a living so I'm not too stressed, but it's nice to bounce things back and forth with other people who are also planning things there (helps make sure we're not getting ripped off haha) Who's your photographer?

Here's a full breakdown of what we're doing for ours: Ceremony - Beach Bamboo Wood Chuppah w/ fabric - $300 Flower arrangements with white lilies, orchids and dendrobium - $180 x 2 Hanging chandelier - $210 Lanterns lining the walkway - $18 x 8 Tiffany chair upgrade 12.60x40 Bouquet w/ tropical lilies - $147 2 bridesmaid bouquets - $110 x 2 Wrist corsages for mothers - $35 x 2 * Reception - Nautica Beach Bar Navy Napkins - 40 x $5.04 Gold Chargers - 40 x $6.30 Local Flower centrepieces in glass vases - $110 x 5 Moving fee for gold Tiffany Chairs - $5 x 40 Dinner - 3 courses w/ Filet Mignon Beef - $36 x 40 Cake Stand - $30 1 tier cake - Included 1 additional hour of open bar - $9 x 40 DJ with mixer - $315 x 4 Pillar Candles - $9 x 30 * Moments that Matter Photography Gold Package (includes $850 vendor fee) for 6 Hours - $4100 * Wedding Hair & Makeup - $185 x 2 They're letting you have a rehearsal dinner for the semi-private dinner?? That's amazing!!! I want to look into this...

Hey! I'm doing the Love Package as well I've got ahead with different sizes of pillar candles instead of either option. They've quoted me waaaaay too high for string lights so I'm doing 30 pillar candles on stands at $9 each!

That's strange! I don't have an additional $20 fee per person, it's only the fee for additional chairs to be setup. Based on a 3 course meal, with all the decor, upgraded chairs, DJ during the reception, and my photographer, my total is just over $12,000 USD Ceremony will be on the beach, followed by dinner at the Nautica Beach Bar! We're looking at 40 people right now!

Hey there! We're having our wedding at the Royalton Riviera Cancun which does have a small waterpark. I also wanted to offer some feedback on the Memories resort! My friend got married at the Royalton Punta Cana which shares a beach and amenities with the Memories Splash. We personally stayed on the Memories side, however all of the other guests stayed at Royalton. I would personally book my wedding with Royalton Punta Cana, if a waterpark is a must. Their waterpark is actually quite impressive as a resort property. Guests who want a cheaper alternative could book wtih Memories and still attend your wedding! With Royalton, you get all of the amenities from the memories, but also get all of the amenities from the Royalton side. Way more choices for meals, and access to all of the pool & beach bars, closest to the beach! The only downside to the wedding location, is that the location on the beach is not that private. They do have a secluded garden space that I feel would be gorgeous for a wedding! Let me know if you want any other feedback about the memories/royalton, I'll be happy to help!

Totally just a thought for bringing additional items. I saw a post saying to buy additional suitcases from a thrift store and leave them in Mexico when you leave, since you won't need as many things! Alternatively, put it amongst everyone's suitcases before you leave

Thank you!!! I definitely want to keep it up

How We Met While on a world-wind trip throughout Europe, my friend reached out to me saying that she had a great match for me when I got back to Ottawa. At the time I truly didn’t want anything to do with thinking about my time back home, or guys back home for that matter, so I shrugged it off……. Once I returned from Europe, the topic of having to meet Eric was brought up again by my friend, so I finally said “why not?”. Our friends ended up inviting Eric and myself for an afternoon of bowling. Eric was nothing like the guys that I had previously dated, so honestly wasn’t sure if he was truly my type. I thought to myself “my type hasn’t been working, so maybe I should pursue him!” My intuition was right. We ended up seeing each other every day for a week and a half straight. Shortly after we started officially dating! Our Travels Travel has always been a big part of my life. Throughout my childhood, I was lucky to experience many different destinations and trips with my family. Florida, California, Arizona, and even a cruise to the Caribbean. This must have planted the travel bug. I have always had a passion to explore, adventure, and see the world. Once I met Eric, I was surprised as to how little he had traveled. My goal was to change this, and explore the world together… Our first big trip was a 2 month trip, across Canada. We went all the way to the East coast of Canada, and then back through all of Canada to the West Coast, as far as Vancouver Island. On our way back, we drove through the top part of the United States, so that we could experience something a little bit different. This entire trip of 20,000km was done in our 2001 Pontiac Sunfire. We slept together in tents, at friends’ places, couchsurfing with strangers, and even in the trunk of the car with the backseat pulled down, in Walmart parking lots! Spending all of this time so close together truly was a relationship tester. We always joke that if we could get through those two months, we could get through anything! We have also traveled on a separate trip to Newfoundland with one of my Best Friends Ellyn, and her parents! That in itself was an adventure. This was Eric’s first time on a plane since he was a little kid. Thankfully Porter offers complimentary beer and wine, so his fear of flying was drowned with a few cans of Steamwhistle! We also started geocaching together on this trip. For those of you who don’t know, Geocaching is a worldwide treasure hunt, using a GPS application on your smartphone, to find hidden objects around the world! It’s a great way to discover a city that you’ve never explored, or to get to know hidden gems in a city. We have also gone on three separate trips down south to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Nothing better than a fun week filled with sun, sand, alcohol, and delicious eats! Our most recent trip was probably the most adventurous! We backpacked throughout the northern and central parts of Europe. We visited the Irish cliffs, saw Big Ben in London, said hello to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, watched the Mannekin Pis (and his sister Jeannekin Pis) in Brussels, ate tasty mussels in Brugges, went for a stroll in the countryside of Belgium in Kalken, experienced my birthday in the Red Light District of Amsterdam, went to a German Beerfest in Hannover, saw a Comedy Show at Tipi-Land in Berlin, went to a Swedish Hockey game in Malmo, visited the most amazing beach near Esbjerg (it’s 5km wide, and 16km long!), and cheered on the local ‘football’ team in Copenhagen. The most amazing part about this trip is it’s when we got engaged! Our Engagement While on our European Adventure in the fall of 2015, we decided to go geocaching in Berlin. We hunted for geocaches throughout this park in the middle of the city. We ended up in an area with ponds, and a lovely little stream, willow trees, and birds chirping. We ended up splitting ways, to find the geocache. Little did I know, Eric found the geocache first, while I was completely in the wrong area, taking pictures because it was so gorgeous! I followed the coordinates and wound up near this bridge, where Eric was hunting and told me he found it! He went under the bridge to retrieve the geocache, and passed it to me to open. I looked through, had him sign the log, and just as I was about to put it back, I noticed a white folded piece of paper. I opened it up to read it, and I honestly thought it was for someone else…. Until I saw my name at the bottom. With a small fence in between us (haha) there was Eric on one knee with a ring in hand. My initial reaction was that it was a joke, and it wasn’t real but reality eventually set in and I said yes! That evening, we ended up going to a lovely Thai restaurant for dinner, where we were the only ones in the restaurant! Following dinner we wound up at a local smoky bar, with a live jazz jam where people who had never even played together jammed the night away! Let’s just say it was a memorable day, and evening! The Wedding Planning Being an event planner myself, something I've strangely never wanted to plan was my own wedding. It's a job to me, and to be honest, I really didn't want to have to deal with all of the little details. My first little bit of wedding planning involved looking around the Ottawa area. I personally wanted a more outdoor venue, with a waterfront, as a beach wedding was always a dream, but my parents weren't too keen on a destination wedding at first. The other issue was looking for a venue that also had a hotel nearby, or on-site. This was quite tricky... We found one venue that worked, but the quote came back with a sky-rocketed price-tag. This lead me to start thinking about destination weddings again. The ease of being able to plan the wedding, with the guidance of a planner to take care of all the details for me, seemed quite attractive. I saw an ad for Luxe Destination Weddings, who proved to be quite helpful. I took a couple months of back and forth with the Travel Agent to figure out what resort would work best for us. We toyed with Mexico, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, and Jamaica, but since food was really important, we narrowed things down to Mexico, as they have the most refined food, since the USA is so close. The first quote that intrigued us was the Royalton Riviera Cancun, but the price was extremely high, so we wanted to see what other options were out there. Our second choice that seemed quite intriguing was the Grand Sunset Princess, but it just wasn't quite right.... We then saw the Azul Fives, which was gorgeous, but for the number of people we expect to attend, we couldn't use the Pier that was my dream wedding location. I reverted back to our travel agent and asked for a new quote for the Royalton Riviera, and the price had gone down significantly. We decided to book!!! From there, we decided on a departure date of May 6th, 2017 and a wedding date of May 9th, 2017. We will be getting married directly on the beach, followed by a dinner reception at the Nautica Beach Bar. We're expecting about 40 people, and are super excited. I had my first call with the destination Wedding Planner from Luxe Weddings, who started to go into the details of exactly what I want for the wedding. Wedding Colours Here's what I'm thinking for wedding colours. A midnight Charcoal Grey/Blue for the bridesmaids, with a deep coral and yellow/white accents, which will hopefully be incorporated into the bouquet too! I love starfish too, so hoping to incorporate those into the mix as well. That's basically where I'm at right now, but i'll definitely be updating as the date approaches! If you've had your wedding here, I'd be really excited to see some pictures for ideas. Especially the Nautica Beach bar, all done up. It's hard to find pictures!!