Resort: A++

We have traveled all inclusive before, and The Royal really is a top notch place! Almost all of our guests had never been to an all inclusive, and everyone was super impressed with everything about the resort!

 

Room: A +++

 

We had a swim out beach front, room 512. It was gorgeous, and right out of our patio door was both the pool (and swim up bar!) and Pelicanos!

 

Restaurants: A

24 HR. ALL INCLUSIVE VIP LOUNGE: We stopped here in the wee hours after the wedding for nachos!

EL MEDITERRÁNEO: We did a group dinner and a couple of breakfasts here. Everything was great!

TAPAS & PINTXOS: My favorite lunch spot! We tried almost everything on the menu, and everything was wonderful!

 

SPICE: Most of our group had breakfast here, and they had great selection!

 

PELICANOS: We had one breakfast and one lunch here. We enjoyed both meals! 

 

MARIA MARIE: Best dining experience at the resort! They accommodated our group of 14 at one table, and the service and food were outstanding! Everyone raved!

 

CHEF’S PLATE: We went here one night because it was included in our room category. While we enjoyed the food and thought the service was wonderful, I would have been disappointed if I had spent $80 per person. Skip it if it’s not included.  

 

Room service: D

 

I frankly disliked the room service very much. I thought the menu was extremely limited, and I didn’t like anything I tried. The cheeseburgers were really thin and tasted funny, the pasta was just okay, and on the day of the wedding, all I wanted was a simple grilled cheese, and it arrived slathered in mayo! So gross! It would arrive on time, but everything was usually cold.

 

Pools: A

We spent most of the time at the pool by the swim up bar! Both were great!

 

Beach: A

 

We spent some time at our designated beach bed, and we liked it! We never smelled any sulfur smell while there.

 

Welcome Dinner : B+

 

Our welcome dinner was at La Cueva del Chango. We had everyone met for drinks, and then we took shuttles over to the restaurant. While they were really easy and accommodating to work with, reasonably priced, and had AMAZING food (People are still talking about the guacamole), they did sit us uncomfortably close together, it was really hot, and there were a couple of stray cats that came in during dinner.

 

Wedding Coordinator: A+++

 

I had Maritza as my online coordinator, and she was really easy to work with. She answered all of my questions on basecamp within 48 hours. I will say that I was pretty laid back, though, and I didn’t really have much to go over before the wedding.

 

My on-site coordinator was Lilia, and I cannot sing her praises enough! She answered all of my emails within 2 hours! Even on the weekends! When we had our meeting the day after we arrived, I gave her the itinerary I had made with all of our wedding details and the suitcase full of décor. We spent about 20 minutes going over the itinerary, and everything was executed to perfection! I couldn’t have been happier!

 

Hair and Makeup A:

 

My mom and I did a couple of services during our stay. I had an updo done on the night of our welcome dinner, my mom had an updo for the wedding, I had my eye makeup done for the wedding (The only had an appointment at noon, so I did my own base makeup later in the day), and we both had pedicures. We both loved everything they did! Here’s a picture of my eye makeup on my mom’s hair on the wedding day:

 

 

Photography: A++++

 

We brought out our own photographer, and it was worth every penny spent! We used Colson Griffith (www.colsongriffith.com) We got quotes from all of the major players in Cancun/Playa del Carmen, but we couldn’t stop thinking about the photographer from our engagement pictures. When we contacted him for a quote, he was really excited to add some destination shots, and he was super excited about the TTD. He cut us a great deal, and it wasn’t much more to bring him than it would have been to use someone locally.

 

Flowers: A++++

 

We used Marvin from Maya Diseno for our flowers, and he was great to work with! He sent me samples via email, and they ended up even better than I had imagined in real life! My dad and brother met him at the lobby entrance to pick everything up, and there was no vendor fee. We ordered our centerpieces and my bouquet from him:

 

 

 

 

Ceremony at the gazebo: A++++

 

We almost didn’t get to have it because it rained all day! Luckily, Lilia let me hold out on deciding to move it indoors, and it cleared up about an hour before the ceremony! My husband’s brother married us, and we decided not to do a sand ceremony or anything. Because of that, I kept it SUPER simple. The only decoration we had were chair bows, and I didn’t want an altar or floral decoration. I thought that the backdrop of the ocean would be dramatic enough, and I think I was right:

 

 

Cocktail Hour: A

 

We did have to move our cocktail hour and reception space because of the weather. We ended up having the cocktail hour on the balcony outside of the ballrooms. It was really hot and humid over there with no breeze, but the hot and cold apps were awesome! The servers kept the drinks flowing, too!

 

 

 

Reception: A+++

 

We had this in one of the ballrooms because of the weather, and it worked out great! No one complained about the air conditioning or super close bathrooms :)

 

The set up the room with our place cards on favors on one table next to the guest book table:

 

 

Our tables were in the middle:

 

 

The cake table was in the back, and they even did some fancy purple lighting for us!

 

 

We had an iPod and microphone, and someone ran it for us all night. We asked a family member to MC for us, and we did all of our dances and cake cutting prior to dinner.

 

The food was wonderful! Not like “good for wedding food”, but genuinely great food! We opted for a Caesar salad and gave our guests the choice of beef or red snapper (I don’t have a pic of the snapper, but everyone who ate it loved it!), and then we had the cannoli trio for dessert. Our cake was chocolate with strawberry filling, and we had a TON left over.

 

 

 

 

And I know that we have all seen the maraca thing done to death, but none of my guests had been to a destination wedding or had seen it before. They loved it! So, if your group is like that and you want them, do it... They thought I was a creative genius, and I happily took the credit :)

 

 

We opted not to do an extra hour because we knew that our guests weren’t exactly dance party people. After the reception ended, we all met at the Tequila and Cigar bar, and we closed it down! It was so much fun!