Wedding: A+

We started planning the wedding back in November of 2009.  We always wanted to do a destination wedding, and early research narrowed it down to places with more affordable flights.  Mexico was the front runner for me on this, and the Royal had amazing reviews from tripadvisor.  I liked that it was close to a town for guests to do things, had a beach, and 24 hr room service.  Also, it was 16 and up, but the resort across the street allows kids.  Their prices were good as well for the wedding, although they have raised them since we booked!

I also always told myself I wanted a simple wedding.  My husband and I always agreed, its only one day and not worth breaking a bank…we would rather put money into our future together!    I think being laid back about it put everyone at ease.  Overall just remember to enjoy and take it in, b/c it is over quick!  I never got nervous except that I wanted everyone playing money to be happy and have fun.  Sure, that’s easy enough right?  But it was…everyone still cannot stop talking about it.  “Wedding of the century” is what it has been dubbed by several of our friends and family!  My in-laws were the most nervous about it, and they are now telling their daughter, “that is how you do a wedding!”  LOL

 
Travel Agent: B

Our travel agent was a local Jill Demers from Sand and Sun Vacations (use to be affiliated with this site, no longer are). When it was time for the trip she had everything organized and explained everything well. The only reason I didn’t give her an A is because she’s only part time and travels a lot herself so it was hard to reach her at times.  I had a few guests book elsewhere b/c they could not get a hold of her.


Arrival in Cancun: B

 This sucked, but what are you going to do?  Just long lines, but everything ran smooth.  Customs was not a problem and Cancun is a nice airport.

Transfer company: B

Our transfers were done by American Express thru the TA. They were fine although next time I would book private transfers.  We had to get picked up so early on the morning of our flight out (like 4 hours head of time), it wasted so much of the day.  We got to the airport 3 hours before our departure, making a long travel day even longer. Some people left Sunday after the wedding and had to get up at 4 am the next day to get the shuttle.  Personally I think it is worth the extra money b/c time is money afterall!

Resort: A +

We loved this resort.  From the second we arrived we knew we had made the right decision.  Some of our guests were apprehensive about Mexico, but were completely relaxed after a few minutes in this place.  It is gorgeous!

 

 

 

Room: A+

We booked two different rooms.  The first 5 nights we stayed in the junior suite, which is already a very nice room.  All of our friends and family were around at this time, so why pay money for a room you won’t be in?  The next 5 nights we stayed in an ocean view master suite, which was wonderful.  Our room was in the new part of the resort that is much quieter, perfect really.

 

I only have pics of the upgraded master suite -

 

 

 

 

 

Restaurants: A
 

The food was great, but my advice is to ask the server what is good. They really do know best, and every time someone did this, they had the best dish on the table.

ROYAL COFFEE HOUSE: Very good.  Afternoon iced coffees with a splash of kaluha!  They often had cookies out, but they were not very good or maybe I’m just use to my sugared American diet!

 

24 HR. ALL INCLUSIVE VIP LOUNGE: Just what you would expect, food to keep you sober.  Usually had rolls, coldcuts, and cheese, chips/guac/salsa, cookies. Still, beer, wine, soda, coffee, espresso, etc at all hours. 

EL MEDITERRÁNEO: We went here for breakfast and lunch.  It is over by the new part of the resort and our second room was right near it, so we got breakfast here a few times and liked it better than Spice…but barely.  Really about the same.

TAPAS & PINTXOS: Very good, one of our favorites for lunch.

SPICE: We ate breakfast and lunch here. Everything was very good. .  

ASIANA: We had dinner here twice.  My favorite, SO GOOD!!!!!!

PELICANOS: This was hit or miss....but when I asked the server I loved what I got.

MARIA MARIE: I was not very impressed with this, it was probably my least favorite.  Good of course, but others were better. 

MARIA’S (AT THE GRAN PORTO): Mexican at the resort across the street – very good. 

ITALIAN (AT THE GRAN PORTO): That was not the name, but I do not remember it.  I thought it was okay, but my husband loved his lasagna and many other guests also enjoyed it.

CHEF’S PLATE: We loved this!!!!  You have to be in a upper level room to go here, so we did it on our honeymoon.  It is a long process but very good food!

 

Here is the view down from our room to El Mediterranean -

 

 

Room service: B

We called several times for things (more water, etc) beyond meals, but they often took forever or forgot.  However, we discovered calling the night before for breakfast, and that was awesome!  I am a coffeeaholic and they bring a whole carafe of it to your room.  Lovely!  Also, go Mexican when in mexico!  We got huevos rancheros and loved them, my husband got the American omlette and was not impressed.

Cleaners: A-

My husband got his suit pressed.  They picked it up late on Thursday and had it back by Friday evening.  There was a mix up in picking it up, since you have to be in your room for them to get it (which is slightly irritating since they can take 30 minutes to get there).  I don’t care though b/c they had it back and looking good when we needed it.  My sister got her dress pressed also and got it back in time for the wedding (24 hours).

Pools: A
I loved the pools!  Especially that there is two of them.  The main pool can be loud and roudy, which is fun of course when in the mood.  There are servers that keep drinks coming but they can take a while, which only figures when everyone gets frozen drinks that take a while to make.  The other pool in the quiet section was exactly that, quiet and relaxing.  We went here a lot after the wedding on our honeymoon. Also since it is less crowded, you get drinks more quickly!

 

Center pool -

 

Beach: A

I loved the beach.  I could sit in a cabana and listen to the waves all day.  The water was warm and salty, of course, but I’m a beach girl.  You have to walk over by the gazebo to be near the area without rocks that is good for swimming. 

 

Welcome Cocktails : A+

Instead of a dinner, we opted to do a more informal get together for everyone to meet.  I put in the welcome book to meet up if you wanted on Friday night at 7 pm in the lobby for drinks.  This was great!!!!  We took pics, everyone talked, and many reconvened later and hung out till late in the evening.  Our parents and families talked the most this night, and everyone was still free to do whatever.  Not to mention, drinks are included so this was free to us!

Some pics -

 

 

Wedding Coordinator: A

I know several brides can comment on the hell of the coordinators when they were still in the US.  They moved to Mexico and I got transferred to Elsa, who was wonderful!  My tip is this – call them.  Emails are great to confirm right after a phone call (and highly recommended, get everything in writing!), but you got much better responses when you called. 

My on-site coordinator was Lili.  She was great!!!   I cannot say enough good things about her.  I came in with a layout for the ceremony, a script, reception lay out, and a cd for the ceremony music.  It took less than an hour.  She is on a radio with the person running the music and syncs it all perfectly.  She had it all packed up, along with a gift from the Royal (a wedding frame!), sent to our room the next day. 

Royal Florist: A

I only ordered the centerpiece for the ceremony table, and it went on our sweetheart table afterwards.  It was beautiful.  These are the flowers in our room afterward -

 

 

Florist – Marvin  – A+

I ordered the bouquets, bouts, corsages, and 4 centerpieces from Marvin.  He was wonderful, sending me many different ideas and narrowing down what I wanted till it was perfect.  I went back and forth on centerpieces, thinking I would save money and make them down there.  I finally gave in and added them about 6 weeks before the wedding and I was so happy I did!

My friends met him down in the lobby and the centerpieces were slightly off…they were suppose to have birds of paradise instead of tulips in the middle.  They ran back to the store and came back with the right flowers and stuck them in within 30 minutes.  We kept them in a room in the AC, and my friends just ran the centerpieces out to the folks setting up the reception at 5 or so.

Everyone LOVED the flowers!!!  I got a lot of great comments, and he has great prices as well.  HIGHLY recommend Marvin.

 

Here is my bouquet -

 

 

Hair and Makeup Spa Azul: A-

I got my hair and makeup done here after the recent good reviews from other brides.  I was VERY happy with my make up.  I went to MAC before I left and had my eyes done to get an idea of what I wanted.  I brought everything with me and she used it all, and did an outstanding job.  I had fake eyelashes and they stayed on without a problem.

As for my hair, everyone loved it, but at first I did not like it.  I warmed up to it (did I have a choice?)  They didn’t really use curling irons, but instead would twist your hair around a straightening iron.  Now I am a pretty simple girl, I have curly hair that I wear down and do nothing to.  But I wanted the front to look curly, like me!  And instead it was more of big curls that fell out.  I thought I explained that, but I think there was a bit of a language barrier.  I also think I freaked out too much when it wasn’t what I initially expected b/c I got a lot of compliments and my husband LOVED it!

 

 

Photography: A++++

We used a photographer from Philly, our friend Susan of Clauss Portraits.  She did such an amazing job.  If you are in the area, she is wonderful and does weddings and anything else you might need!!  www.claussportraits.com  Here are some of my favorite shots -

 

 

 

 

Ceremony at the gazebo: A+

Our ceremony was at the gazebo at 4pm.  The gazebo was a perfect location, far more private than any other part of the resort.  Here is a photo on a different day looking at the gazebo from my friend's room, and you can see how it is more remote than other locations.

 

 

 

The ceremony was a bit of a mess in some ways, haha!  My husband messed up his lines a bit b/c he couldn't understand the minister's accent, and my heel kept falling through a crack between the slates in the gazebo and getting stuck.  I was still just grinning like a fool, and many of our relatives were crying.

 

We got legally married back home but told no one.  It was actually very sweet and personal by ourselves, my husband teared up!  But we did not use "husband" and "wife" or wear our rings till Mexico, which made it not feel 100% real until then. That and not telling our families!

 

So for the ceremony we did a symbolic one (known only to us), but that allowed us to take out any religious overtones.  I wrote the entire ceremony script and she used that without a problem.  The script they orginally sent me to use had bible readings, and I was not raised Christian and really did not want a religious ceremony.  If this is a concern of yours, definitely get married legally back home and then write your own ceremony!

 

We did not do a cocktail hour, and I was very happy with this decision.  Why spend the money when people can just go to the many bars around and get a drink?  I wrote in the welcome book for people to meet back up at 6 pm for the reception, and most just went to the lobby bar.  We took pictures.

Also now there is an additional charge for a 4 pm wedding on a weekend, and the price per guest for the reception went up.  I kept all my price info when I booked, and I did need to show them that to let them not charge me those additional fees.  Keep everything!

 

 

Reception: A+++++

We chose the gazebo garden/terrace.  I wasn’t sure about this till I got there, and I could not be happier.  You could see and hear the ocean, but you didn’t have to worry about sand flying into your food (it is definitely windy!).  The central garden is not private AT ALL, although it is beautiful.  To each his/her own, of course, but I thought the gazebo area was personal and perfect.  We turned that whole corridor into a dance party!  Two girls snuck over just to dance with us.  It was amazing. 

We opted not to do any formal introductions or entrances.  We just started with dinner.  A long time ago, I had talked with Angie about doing three courses of salad, soup, and entrée.  The dessert is the wedding cake.  I had to forward these emails to Elsa when reassigned, but they stuck to it and I am very happy I did it that way.

Salad:  Alexandria Salad with Duck Breast, everyone LOVED THIS. 

Soup: Princess cream soup.  Everyone is right, it was delicious.

Main course: Beef fillet tournedo with fresh wild mushroom sauce….but I got a pepper sauce.  It was good but overcooked, many commented on this.  More of a medium or medium-well. 

Chicken Zacatecas – did not try but asked and those who had it loved it.

Wedding Cake: Tres Leches .

I loved it, others thought it was too sweet.  Please!  Delicious in my opinion.

DJ: A

After dinner the best man gave his toast, and we did our first dance, followed by father/daughter and mother/son.  Then the party started!!!  The DJ was great!  I requested a few songs from other guests and they played them right away.  Some people wanted the lectric slide (god help me!  I had banned it), and they double checked with me before allowing it to be played. 

Also, one of our friends always sings the humpty dance.  It came on, and he started, and they gave him a mic right away.  It was awesome!!!  

 

 

 

Bartenders and Servers: A

I expected open bar, but they had servers just for my husband and I, and then other servers bringing our group drinks the whole time, along with a bartender you could go get a drink from.  They kept bringing out trays of shots, it was deadly but great!!  Tequila with a plate of salt and limes!

Playa del Carmen: A

I only went out to a club the first night, and I don’t even know the name of the place!  It was awesome though, we danced the night away.  During the honeymoon portion, we went and got massages from Veronica massage on 5^th.  $30 each for an hour, totally worth it!!!  Better than a lot of massages I got in the states, and they have great reviews on trip advisor as well, which made me feel better when we first went to go there.  We went back the next day!  I liked having a place to walk around so close by, another reason I loved the Royal.

 

I guess that is it, feel free to contact me with any questions!