We had about 50 guests that attended and about half were hesitant about Mexico.  They all raved about it after and some are even planning a trip back.  Don't let the naysayers get you down!

Hotel:  The hotel was amazing!  We were in one of the presidential suites and couldn't have asked for a better room.  Since they couldn't upgrade us they ended up upgrading a couple of our guests. 

The location is perfect for a large group who wants to have fun.  Some guests walked to fifth ave to shop during the day, some went to eat and others went out at night to the clubs.  Everyone had a great time and came back with no complaints.

The staff there was more than accommodating, after the hiccup we had (see wedding coordinator) they were bending over backwards for us!

Food:  No complaints on food.  We ate at every restaurant on the resort and had no issues.  We ordered some Mexican food that was not on the room service menu and it was a nice change since there are no Mexican restaurants on the resort. 

Wedding Coordinator:  We had Zulma for our wedding coordinator.  We originally had Michel and loved her; we met with her when we went on a site visit last May.  Michel ended up going on maternity leave a couple of months before our wedding and didn't return till right before so we were given Zulma.  Well what ended up happening was they double booked two of our reservations.

The first double booking was with our rehearsal dinner.  We had planned to have it at Asiana in the mezzanine but were told about two months (January) before that we had to have our dinner at 5 or 9 o'clock since a reception was going to be in there at 7 (we booked our dinner in June 2011).  My fiancé contacted the manager and they ended up honoring our food choices from Asiana and giving us a private dinner in front of the gazebo.  Not sure if this would have happened if my fiancé would have not contacted management there. 

The second double booking was with our wedding dinner also scheduled in June.  We were supposed to have dinner in the main garden but when we met with Zulma on the second day we were there she told us it was not available anymore and there was a group there!  I was not too happy with this, it was not because I HAD to have it in the garden but I was worried about what else she was going to double book.  She (Zulma) had not contacted management and the romance concierge (Veronique, who was WONDERFUL) saw me crying and wanted to know what the problem was.  She ended up telling management and we had dinner at the gazebo instead and were given a complimentary cocktail hour for our guests following our wedding. (not in the original plans)  Cody and I loved Veronique and knew she would take care of anything we needed.  She was much more helpful than Zulma.

Flowers

My bridesmaid’s bouquets, all boutonnières, my bouquet and rose petals were all from Marvin at Maya Diseno Floral.  They were all very pretty, were a great price and he was there when he said he would be.  Would highly recommend using him!

Hair/SpaZul

I LOVED my hair.  I was so nervous about them doing my hair at the Royal without a trial run.  I had bought a Jessica Simpson clip in ponytail extender so my side chignon would look fuller.  I had my doubts but when it was done it was so good, it even stayed from about 1:45pm till 12:00am.  All of my bridesmaids loved their hair too.  I did not have them do my mani and pedi and just got shellac from the gal at home that does my nails.  I had it on a week before the ceremony and it still looked great the day of the wedding.

I also had a couple massages there and thought they were great too.

Rehearsal Dinner/Ceremony/Cocktail Hour/Dinner

All of these events were held in and on front of the gazebo.  Great location and really never noticed anyone else around but our guests.  The day of the wedding some of my guests said there were a lot of gawkers but they were chased away before the ceremony.  I didn’t notice anyone but my husband and guests.

In the end I am glad that we didn’t do anything in the main garden.  We would have noticed people so much more and think it worked out so much better in the gazebo area.  At the end it all worked out for the best!

Reception

We had our reception at the beach in front of the gazebo.  It was the best part of the whole week!  Great location and so much fun.  The wait staff was amazing and we had so much fun with them.  They danced with us, played limbo with us and even came out with two liters of shot, stood on a chair and squirted them into our guests mouths.  (great pics to look at the next day) We even have photos of our moms taking them!  You HAVE to go for the light up dance floor.  Everyone raved about it and it provided a lot of extra light but not too much.

DJ

We had Ivan from Doremixx and he was AMAZING!  I did not leave the dance floor and most of the guests didn’t either.  We gave him a playlist that he more than honored, didn’t play guests weird requests and when he deviated from the list he played songs that we loved.  They had some huge sparklers at the end of the first dance; passed out balloons, glow sticks and masks throughout the reception.  I also like to sing karaoke a little now and then and he let me close the reception with a song.  We danced from about 8pm till a little after 11!

Photographer

I hired Derek Campbell from Photos in Cancun and him and his assistant Lorena were great.  They caught all the great moments of our day.  We hired them for the entire day; they were there from 1pm till the end of the reception.  At the end of the reception they gave us three discs with all of our photos on them.  That was the best part.  They shot about 3000 photos and said they would Photoshop 200 of our favorites.  We finally went through all of them and I just sent my 200 to him, can’t wait to get those back.  Great prices also, hire him!

Our guests all said they had such an amazing time and it was the best wedding they had ever been too.  They were even thanking us for getting married there.  Even my Dad who had not flown since 1991 said he had a great time.  Just grin through all of the complaints because they will all forget when they get there!

Please let me know if you have any questions, I am happy to help!