We just got back from our amazing wedding week at the Royal Playa del Carmen. We had 52 guests + ourselves. Most of us stayed at the Royal, while a few (those with children) stayed at the Gran Porto. My immediate family, his immediate family, and we arrived on a Tuesday, our wedding was on a Friday (5/27/11), and we left the following Tuesday. Our guests were there between 3-7 days, with most staying about 5 days. His extended family came from South America, mine came from all over the USA. Mexico was a perfect compromise, and the Royal was an amazing ambassador to their beautiful country. No one had any complaints, and everything ran smoothly, even with such a big group! My new husband’s parents are members of the Real Club, and generously coordinated everyone’s rooms. The Royal was very accommodating and made us feel like VIPs. 

Hotel: One word: amazing. The staff were incredibly and genuinely helpful. Our guests were catered to and everyone was impressed. 

Ways they went above and beyond: 

• • • Without a request, they put my 83-year old grandmother’s room next to my aunt’s room.
    • Someone was always there with a wheelchair to help my grandmother, in case she needed it. She can walk, but since the hotel is pretty spread out, she needed a little help.
    • Many nights we would show up at dinner with more than 8 guests. They would do their best to put us in the same area, even though no more than 8 can fit to one table.

Food: Pretty great. My favorite restaurants were: breakfast at Spice, lunch at Tapas y Pinxtos, dinner at Pelicano’s & Maria Marie. Also- the ice cream/gelato at Spice was worth a second-helping. Delicious! Marie’s at the Gran Porto was also delicious. We also ate at Asiana, breakfast at Albatross, and our guests ate at the El Mediterrano, and the Chef’s Plate with good experiences.

Bars: We are so thankful our guests got along so well. My family blended with his family who blended with my friends who blended with his friends. It was a big love-fest, and everyone could not stop smiling. Every night, everyone met up at the Lobby Bar at the Royal just after the show. Guests would then head over to the 24Hour Lounge to play pool/ping pong, outside to the Tequileria to smoke cigars, or down to the moonlit beach. Then, those who were the party animals would head out to a night on the town in Playa. Many times, the hosts at the Royal would coordinate a place, other times our guests would find a spot on their own. We would hear the stories the next day by the pool. Everyone had a great time.

Welcome Cocktail: We debated over having a private “rehearsal” dinner versus eating somewhere else versus just meeting at a bar. We are so happy with our decision to meet at the Lobby Bar at the Gran Porto. What we had planned to be one hour ended up being two. Everyone had a great time meeting each other in the cool ocean breeze, with a good flow of piña coladas, mango daiquiris, and tequila shots.

Wedding Coordinator: Zulma was amazing. She was calm and cool, and had everything under control. We met with her on Wednesday morning, with a huge suitcase full of goodies. We had: extra tulle to wrap around the gazebo poles, some “papel picado” flags to hang from the gazebo, “papel picado” wooden-stick flags for name cards, more tulle for the tables, framed table numbers, a printed out version of our ceremony with our vows to give to the minister, a printed out copy of the order of events for the reception. We went over my choices for bouquet and boutonniere, and a few other things. She was very thorough, and took a lot of notes. The day of the wedding my groom got a little mixed up with his directions (he was supposed to meet her 15 minutes before the start of the wedding), but everything went smoothly. Our group takes their time, and sometimes Zulma seemed a little inpatient with our transitions (from the cocktail hour to the reception for example). 

Luxury Package: I am so thankful that we decided to go with the Luxury Package, because we wouldn’t have taken the time to treat ourselves. The last night we were there, we did the moonlit dinner by the beach after our amazing massages. 

 Paparazzi at our moonlit dinner. 

My groom loved his face-saver treatment the morning of the wedding. And my hair and make-up turned out amazing. More on that...

SPAzul: Oh, what luxury. This place was calm and totally exceeded my expectations. I treated my ladies to a mani/pedi the day before the wedding, and they accommodated all four of us brilliantly. One of my bridesmaids was kind enough to treat us all with massages afterwards. They were simply amazing. I’ve had many massages before, and this was so relaxing, and so needed the day before my wedding. The Spa itself was dimly lit, smelled incredible, and the jacuzzis and saunas were a wonderful escape from everything. They waited until after the massages to paint our nails, and they came into the Spa area and painted while the four of us reclined in recliners in our robes. Ahhhhh.

My groom and I had another “relaxing” massage as part of the luxury package. It was the same protocol, but so amazing yet again. He loved it, too. After my talk of my first massage, many of our guests made appointments of their own. One got a 80-minute sports massage, two got hot-stone massages, and I met one girl in the locker room who had had a cleansing massage. Everyone was raving about how amazing they were.

My mom got a blow-dry here, and was very pleased with the results. Her hair stayed shiny and frizz-free the whole night. They did a great job.

My hair and make-up was fantastic. My appointment was at 12:00 for my ceremony at 4:00 PM. I nervously showed up at 11:30 just to make sure I had had enough time. Alicia was fast, she started at 11:50 AM and I was done by 1:30PM. I brought photos of how I had had my hair and make-up for my bridal portraits back in the States, which was done by a very gifted and amazing make-up and hair artist that I’ve known for more than a decade. I showed Alicia pictures, and she smiled and went to work. I brought my own make-up, but I ended up telling her to use hers, as I knew that she was the professional, and she knew what she was doing. I let go of control, and let her do her thing. She was awesome. My only directions for the hair, besides the photos (which were not the best quality), was some height and some swirls. Oh, she just did a great job. My make-up was “natural” but still dramatic and awesome. Everyone complimented me all night, even my brothers! AND- after hours and hours of dancing, my hair and make-up was still in place after midnight.

Flowers: As part of the Luxury Package, we had the bouquet and boutonniere, and the centerpiece for the gazebo. They were done perfectly. I had the white calla lily bouquet (Zulma made sure I had a back-up choice since the white ones weren’t in season, though they turned out beautifully!), he had the white calla lily boutonniere, and the centerpiece I request orange with purple and pinks. All perfect. 

For everything else, I used Marvin at Maya Diseno*.  He did an amazing job. We got mango calla lily bouquets for the bridesmaids, mango calla lily boutonnieres, calla lily centerpieces, and single calla lilies for my mom, his mom, and our grandmothers to carry (instead of corsages). We are happy we went with Maya Diseno - for the quality and the cost.

*They were a little late with traffic from Cancun, but my friends and family helped so much by putting them on the table for us. I guess there was some miscommunication about the centerpieces with Zulma, and she refused to have anyone from the Royal put them on the table. So one of my bridesmaids and her husband handled it and put them on the tables themselves. Anyway, it worked out OK!

Ceremony: We had the harpist, it was decorated perfectly, and we had all of our guests sitting under the gazebo. Maybe the light wasn’t the greatest for our photographers, but I’m sure they figured it out fine. Our guests appreciated the shade and the cool ocean breeze, because it was hot! The minister did an amazing job with our script, and we had some parts where she chose the reading and she chose what to say. We had our mothers each read a reading, my mom in English, his in Spanish. It worked out beautifully. We wrote our own vows. Though the ceremony was short and sweet, it was heartfelt, and there was not a dry eye in the crowd. It was very special.

Cocktail Hour & Canapes: We had this in the garden next to the gazebo. They brought out umbrellas, and thank goodness, because it was so hot. Everyone relaxed, we took some photos, and the Mexican Trio played well. It was awesome.

Reception: We had the reception in the Central Gardens. It felt private, though I’m sure others could watch our party, and that’s OK, because they would have smiled to see what a great time we were having. We had the Mexican Buffet (thank goodness we had more than 50 people), which sort of made one barrier on one side, and the DJ was on the other, making another barrier, and they had some plants around, too. The Mexican Buffet was delicious, according to our guests. I was too excited to eat much, just like everyone says. The waiters made a special drink: watermelon, and white wine with sangria, and it was delicious, and they would keep them coming! They brought out champagne for our toasts. The waiters were awesome.  I’m so happy we went with the Central Gardens for many reasons: I couldn’t imagine a sandy dance floor, and I’m sure our 80+ year-old grandmothers wouldn’t have appreciated walking in all that sand to get to a bathroom so far away, and it was super-windy!!

DJ Doremixx: Ok. Best ever. This was awesome. They read the crowd, saw what got them going, and really set the mood perfectly. They played a few of the songs we suggested. Everyone danced and no one stopped. It was amazing. They brought out balloons, glow bracelets, and masks, which everyone loved. They even threw in some firecrackers at the end of our first dance, which surprised us, but was a really special touch. Go for the extra hour & get these guys. I was hesitant about doing this, but I couldn’t recommend them more. 

Cake: We went for the tres leches cake, and were happy we did. Like everyone says, there was so much leftover, because everyone was too busy dancing. That’s OK. They brought it to our room after the wedding. We brought it out into the 24Hour Lounge the next day for everyone to get a taste, because we weren’t going to eat all of it!

Photographer: The resort photographer was present at our ceremony and so was the resort videographer. They were hardly noticeable at the time and did a great job with everything. Many of these photos are from them. I’m still glad I brought my own, even though his photos will be ready in a few weeks. My best friend used Hiram Trillo Art-Photography for her wedding, so I decided to go with someone I knew and trusted. He is amazing and so talented. He flew down with his wife and stayed in the Gran Porto, therefore avoiding the outside vender cost. We did a Trash the Dress session at some cenotes the day after. This photo speaks for itself.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6874973&id=41210241877

Goodbye Breakfast: On Monday, we held a Goodbye Breakfast for those who were still there at the Albatross at the Gran Porto. They were so accommodating. We put a bunch of tables together, and took up a whole section of the restaurant. It was a perfect way to say goodbye to everyone again!

Everything else: Our guests enjoyed the snorkeling excursions from the hotel ($30 for 2 hours), they also went to Chichen Itza, to Cozumel, and to Rio Secreto. Some played tennis at the resort, and had a fun time with tennis lessons. Others just stayed by the pool or the beach and had an amazing time. We recommend our Aventuras Mayas - Mayan Xtreme Tour with our tour guide, Israel “Izzy.” And the boys loved the fishing trip with Fishing with Ivan. Everyone had a great time, and is still floating on all the love these days later!

Check out my planning thread for more details:

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/73730/sarah-s-royal-playa-del-carmen-planning-thread#post_1611808