Aventura is a beautiful resort, the staff was VERY friendly & accommodating, and overall our wedding group of 46 enjoyed a wonderful stay! SO, if I was just reviewing a vacation – the rating would be higher. But unfortunately there were MANY things that went wrong that make me hesitate to suggest having a wedding there.

Because of the natural beauty of the surroundings, we didn't opt for elaborate decorations. However, the things we DID bring were somehow missed: the centerpieces, table runners (placed on some tables, but not at others), & maracas, which we specifically asked to have at each place setting at the reception, were instead placed on the ceremony chairs. Decorations would seem trivial, but we spent a great deal of planning & money to bring them with us.

The buffet at the reception was wrong (we ordered Yucatan and they served the Cajun, which was still decent, but it's what our guests had the night before at the rehearsal dinner and we were looking forward to something more 'Caribbean'). The reception meal is an important component, so I'm not sure how this was also missed - especially after our meeting with Edith, which covered these details (it’s also frustrating because we could have been enjoying the vacation with our guests but instead were in a meeting…where half of the things got missed anyway).

A few other mishaps to note: they misplaced our toasting flute/cake cutting set & had to send it to our honeymoon resort later in the week, all of my bridesmaids'(pre-confirmed) salon appts were incorrect in the system, & at least 5-6 guests (that we know of, including the Mother of the Bride) had major check out/incorrect billing issues, which delayed their shuttle to the airport.

Hiccups are inevitable, so the above probably would've been more easily brushed off but the one thing that made this a less than stellar experience is the weather/back up procedure. Our contract & previous site visit assured us there would be a backup in case of rain. There was, but what was NOT previously disclosed is that you have to make that judgment call hours beforehand. Edith called me in room on my wedding day to tell me there was 60% chance of rain & I had two choices: move my ceremony & reception to the ballroom (whole reason we chose Aventura was the venue space) or keep it outside - but IF it rained, EVERYTHING would be cancelled, not able to be moved inside, & nonrefundable - food, dj, toasts, cake, EVERYTHING. I had to make the decision at 12pm for a 5pm ceremony (at 12pm it was GORGEOUS outside too). I wasn't going to let anything ruin the special day, but I will say it robbed me of some enjoyment, because I spent most of that day upset at the thought of that serious gamble. No one can predict/control the weather, but I felt like it was insensitively handled. We kept it outside thankfully because the weather ended up being PERFECT, but I spent half the day with my stomach unnecessarily in knots.

Though the wedding day was not smooth, I will say we did a welcome cocktail on Thursday (Cove terrace) and rehearsal dinner on Friday (Maracas terrace) & both events went well. Another side note - there is a wide range of activities for guests of all ages - kids could enjoy the kid stuff, teens had a cool game room, adults enjoyed all the lobby bars, Disco, martini bar/hut, there were nightly shows, and they have fabulous pools! All in all, the guests enjoyed the week, but he & I wish we could've enjoyed it a bit more without dealing with all the behind-the-scenes stuff.

Perhaps it's the Hard Rock transition, but after the fabulous reviews of past brides I expected much more - though Edith was so sweet, it was evident the wedding department is unorganized. EVERYTHING else with our trip-the restaurants, spa, staff service, was great & our guests overall enjoyed.