I am back from my amazing wedding & honeymoon!  I was married there on October 30^th and spent a total of 5 nights there.  We were there with 26 of my friends & family, who all stayed at the Royal as well. 

Hotel Room– amazing!  We were walked from the front desk to the concierge at the Oceanfront section to check in.  Our room was not ready, so we ate lunch and hung out at the pool.  A concierge actually found us at the pool to let us know our room was ready, a very nice touch!  We had an oceanfront room and the view was great.  The room was very spacious and I hardly ever heard any noise.  We had a room very close to the gazebo, so it was nice to peek in on other weddings while we were there.  All the guests loved their rooms as well.

Pool & Beach – We spent a lot of time at the pool.  The pool activities guys can get a little annoying but it’s funny too.  The pool is very large and a little chilly.  We went in as long as it was sunny.  It was never too crowded at the pool or the beach.  The beach was nice because they have lots of beds lining the sand.  There were usually at least a couple that were always free. I did notice the sulfur smell a couple times at the beach but it dissipates quickly.

Bars – We went to the pool bar with the swings a lot during the day, they had good service.  The swim up bar was a little slower, mostly because they make all the frozen drinks for the servers who are taking orders for people pool & beach side.  The lobby bar had the best selection of liquor.  My husband drinks crown and it was the only bar that carried it.  24 hour bar was great late night.  They have beer, wine, and a few bottles of liquor. 

Resort Food – Very good!  My ONLY complaint was a very bad dinner experience at Tapas y Pinxos…had to wait over 1.5 hours and we were missing orders…we ended up leaving.  Spice does not have AC, we ate breakfast & lunch a lot at Mediterraneo…which is a buffet in the A/C, very good food. It’s near the quiet pool, which is in the “new” section of the hotel, on the north end of the property.  Also…Grand Porto has a great buffet for breakfast/lunch.  Asiana was great!  We had lots of sushi and shared a lot of entrees.  Everything was delicious.  Maria Marie was great for our “rehearsal” dinner.  We had 11 people and they said to get there at 7 or earlier so they could seat us directly next to each other (they are not allowed to move tables together, annoying).  It worked out and it was basically one long table with a space in the middle.  The food was delicious, definitely a French type menu and the fancier of the restaurants there.  The only thing I did not like was the lobster bisque.  Pelicanos was good as well, we went for lunch one of the days.  We had room service a few times late at night.  The nachos were a big hit!  They weren’t on the menu but you can order them.  Room service never took more than 30 minutes.  Also, if you are in between meals, the 24 hour lounge has great bar-type food. 

Spa – did Mani Pedi & Hair/Makeup.  Amazing Mani Pedi!  It was totally relaxing and the mani/pedi lasted more than 1 week.  Makeup and hair was also very good.  I would definitely get it done there again.  My advice would be to not wear your hair down.  It was windy and my hair was flying everywhere and the curls fell out quickly.  My sister had an updo-ish type of style and hers looked awesome the whole night.  They don’t have a huge makeup selection, so I would bring foundation and mascara (maybe eyeshadow too if you want something unique).  Makeup lasted all night!  It took about 1.5 hrs for hair/makeup (my sister took almost 2)…I miss timed a little so I was rushing to get dressed, yikes! 

WC – Lili was amazing & took care of everything!!!  We went over all the details 2 days before the wedding and she was running around on the wedding day making sure everything was perfect for us. 

Photos – We used Funever & we had Cesar who was really good!  We get the pictures in 2 more weeks so we’ll see how the final product turns out. 

Flowers – I got everything from the hotel to make things a little easier for me.  The bouquets and centerpieces were beautiful.  It was a little pricier because of the orchids but I love them!

Ceremony – We ended up with 22 guests seated under the gazebo.  Was intimate and very peaceful…the minister was great.  She said everything perfectly and with a lot of meaning.  We had a symbolic ceremony and it lasted about 15 minutes.  

Cocktail Hour – in the garden behind the gazebo…everyone loved the food and the guitarist we got.  We had an “upgrade” apparently which included all hot and cold apps.  The sesame crusted chicken was a huge hit!  I wish I had been able to enjoy it.  They used my sashes that I brought to tie the high tables which was also a nice touch.

Reception – AWESOME!  Lili set up my maraca placecards, centerpieces, and table names perfectly!  The set up was exactly perfect.  DJ and extra hour was worth it. The one hiccup was that they had played the wrong song for about 10 seconds for the mother-son dance.   Most of the time almost the entire group was on the dance floor Food & Cake was great.  We had the crab & avocado cup for app.  We had a selection of filet with mushroom sauce or snapper (without stuffing).  The snapper was a huge hit!  There was one issue with someone getting the wrong meal but it was resolved quickly.  Cannoli Trio was great and so was our cake, coffee & caramel.  The cake frosting is way sweet though so I scraped that off.  The servers were awesome at getting drinks for us…they wouldn’t even let us walk up to the bar and always found us to give us a refresher.  A lot of the married people there said that they wished their wedding was like ours.  That was a nice compliment. 

It was such an amazing experience and everything went perfectly!  Just make sure you really take time to enjoy if you can….it goes by sooo quickly!