Ok so where do i start??? This will prob be long and i'll babble, but i'll try to do it as best as i can :-)

Well, Thank you everyone on BDW for your support, Especially the girls in the UK, RPRM & the all the 2011 brides :-) We have all had our ups and downs..... but each and everyone of you have been fantastic, and we have got through it.......

Thank you all so so much, Ok so here we go :-

OUR WEDDING AT THE RIU PALACE (AND OMG IT IS A PALACE)


FLIGHTS:
We flew with Thomson Airways from Glasgow airport (Scotland) We borded our flight on time only to be delayed by 2hours before we took off... There was an extra case on the plane we finally found out which should have been going toCape Verde!!! Whoops... Those poor people whose case it was!!!
Oh well, just one of those things, we were in holiday mode anyway so werent too bothered just wanted to get on ourway, would by no means complain about the airline because of this as were only human at the end of the day and allmake mistakes.... the flight was great.... went suprisingly quickly for just over a 10 hour flight!!!We also had our own private transfers to and from the hotel witch was nice!We were delayed 5 hours coming home, 4 of which we stayed on at our resort.... This was due to a fault with the planeback in the UK, and they had to get a replacement plane in...BOTHERED??? absolulty not!!! :-) We got to stay in Mexico for longer!!!!




HOTEL:
OMG what can I say RIU Palace Riviera Maya TOTALLY exceeded our expectations, talk about having the WOW factor when you walk in, I can honestly say it took our breath away. We new straight away we had chosen the best hotel to get married at, without a shadow of a doubt!!

We checked in no problem and asked about our "free" room upgrade which we got as part of our wedding package to whichwe were told yes we had been given... only to get to our room and no we hadnt, we were given the exact same room as our guests, so we went to query this, we were fobbed off with excuses and finally we were given another room (No' 1110), futher down from original room (no' 1134) with a view looking out onto the nice fountains instead of a few bushes and next doors hotel, the room looked exactly the same as the other but with a better view... this was OK though we accepted and were happy with what we got. We werent being awkward about it but wanted to see if we could get an upgrade as stated in the packege :-)
We were happy with the receptionist who saw to us and delt with our request.

The grounds were imaculate!! ALWAYS being tended to one way or another. They are so so clean and tidy, absolutly stunning to walk around, the place is just gorgeous... i would go back in a heart beat!!!


BARS:

The Lobby bar was lovely and had a piano which had a live piano player in the evenings which was nice. and was nice to sit in in the day to, for a quick drink if your passing through. The lobby does have WI-FI if your waning it. This bar closes at midnight.

The pool bar was nice, we didnt use it much though as we are more beach people but this was a nice area, but VERY busy... this closes at 5pm.

There is the sports bar which was fab... 24 hours.... ask for a "Tequila Boom Boom" from Victor... Shots all around... we had some laughs in this bar, fantastic :-) They even have a self serve food (snacks) at the back of the bar including burgers, hotdogs, sandwiches, fruit. and a microwave to heat up the burgers etc and also tortillas with cheese sauce, M M Mmmmmmmmm :-) Great for when you have had one too many and just need food to soak it up!!!

RESTURANTS :

We ate at Chillis most days for lunch this opens at 12pm.. range of pizza, pastas, burgers, fruit, chicken, cheeses, chips etc etc this was good food but repetative.

For breakfast we ate everyday in the main buffet area, again good food but very repetative, we had bacon, hash brown, eggs etc, your typical English Breakfast but they did all sorts.....

For diner we ate in all the a la carte : We opted for the later seating of 8.45 each night except for 2 nights when we ate with friends who have baby and we opted for the earlier sitting of 6,30 but thats too early really for us to eat!!! Each resturant is definatly worth a visit, even if its just to say you've tried :-)

Chillis : Steak House : Was lovely but gets booked up very very quickly we managed to get in here once in two weeks, LOVELY :-)

Yashmina : Japanese : Was good if you like Japenese food, we tried it to try it, but didnt like it very much BUT a couple of our guests went 3 times as they found it to be gorgeous.

Bota Foga : Brazillian : Lovely only went here once on our wedding night... really good :-)

Mexican (cant remember name) : Was our favourite we went here a couple of times, really really good food.

Krystal : We ate here twice, lovely food, not keen on the tapas, but thats our opinion, worth the visit though.

Buffet : Was good had 3 nights a week they have a themed night... our fave was the Asian... samosas were beautiful.


STAFF:

Staff in the resort are fab... so so friendly and nice and would go out of their way to help you if you need it...always say hello and smile.... brilliant :-)

We never saw a cockroache once in the room or in the hotel.


BEACH:
Gorgeous, the sea is just to die for, its SOOO warm :-) We headed for the beach every morning at 8/8.30am where we would spend the day... we are definatly definatly beach people and this beach suited us down to the ground not crowded, ALWAYS beds available. Lovely white soft sand. You can see right across to Cozumel from our little beach aswel. we walked along the beach to the left right up to the Pier where the boats dock what take you to Cozumel....

Lovely walk, some gorgeous houses/villa/apts along the way... wish i had the money to buy!!!!
When you first walk into the sea there is a slight step down with shells etc so just be a wee bit careful walking in bare foot but this does not spoil the ocean one little bit.

MEETING WITH W/C:
We had to walk a short 10 mins to the RIU Mexico for the meeting, and our blood test.
This went well, we sat with Nancy who from our emails seemed to know everything we wanted. She took notes of our wishes and seemed to have everyting in hand. She was very nice and seemed a lot younger than i expected before we go to Mexico.

We did have one or two hiccups throughout the process though, with passport and visa cards from our guests not being photocopied right, and on one occassion not being photocopied at all and about 10 mins before i was to leave the room to go marry my husband i got a call saying can i get intouch with 2 of my guests as we needed their tourist cards AGAIN (3rd time) as they lost them and needed more copies!!!

Also we asked for music to be played for the guest whilst waiting for me to come and this wasnt done (not a biggie but would have been nice to have something)
It sounds like im having a right whinge but to be honest all in all we were pleased with her :-)

The day before the wedding we ventured back to the RIU Mexico to see Nancy as we had last min changed our minds about where we wanted to get married, as we were given 1PM as our wedding time and we just knew that in that heat we would just die stood on the beach (our original spot) getting married so we asked to get it changed to the gazebo, with a bit of shade for that time in the day, this was absolutly fine, no bother at all Nancy let us change the location no problem....

Having our blood test in the upstairs part of the lobby bar in the hotel was very strange but hey hoe its just their way and it takes two mins so i dont know why i worried so much before hand about this!! Haha. :-)


PHOTOGRAPHER:
We met a lovely lady from calypsofoto who went through the photo packages with us she made it quite easy for us, and she showed us the different types of albums they offer, we opted for just a dvd with the pix on as were are going to do our own album back here in the UK.
We had two guys on the day Ricardo and Marc, they were fantastic and so nice to wrok with, brilliant guys :-) Easy to get on with and didnt bat an eye lid to suggestions. I would absolutly recommend Calypsofoto to anyone.They are situated at the RIU YUTACAN a 5 min walk away from RPRM.


FLOWERS:
Were lovely, i opted for the white roses and brought some aqua ribbon myself to put round the stems and also brought my own bouquet jewell (aqua starfish) to add about of colour and bling to my bouquet. we had matchong gorgeous flowers on the side if the gazebo too, which were a lovely touch.




CAKE: Really nice, we chose sponge cake with strawberry filling and white icing. This went down a treat. We took our own aqua ribbon and cake topper for the cake too, this looked really nice.



Renova Spa:
We had our apt booked here for 9AM. We were made to feel welcome here as soon as we walked in. I opted for hair and make up to be done and they really did a wonderful job. I took a picture with me of how i wanted my hair and she did it perfectly and it lasted ALL day, im so glad as i have the worst hair in the world especially in warm, humid conditions, as i always say i always end up looking like Monica from friends when shes in Barbados and luckily on my  wedding day i didnt :-) And my make up was just perfect not over the top nice natural and simple, i would recommend the spa to anyone and it gives you piece of mind that you dont have to worry aboout hair and make up. it  took about 2 hours to do both my hair and make up. My sister in law came with me and had her hair done and again fantastic, perfect and was just like the picture she choose from the range of pic they have in the spa.

WEDDING:  
(US and 5 guests, my mum and dad, sil, bil, and their daughter)
The wedding itself was just out of this world, It was fantastic, definatly a day we will never evr forget. We woke up at 6.30am and went for breakfast at 7am. Didnt feel like our wedding day, was strange really, just felt like a normal day. Then Stephen headed off for the beach to chill for the morn (alright for some) I met my SIL and we headed for the spa. we were at the spa 2 hours so when we came out at 11am, I bumped into Celeste from the RPRM thread, was lovely to see her!! She wished me luck and i went on my way then i thought what am i going to do for 2 hours....
so i went to the room on my own to have a drink and chill... it was nice really i was on my own for a good hour as id asked my mum to come to the room for 12 to help me get in my dress.
i just sat on the balcony with a drink taking it all in, was really nice for me actually, then there was a knock on the door... my mum, who helped me get into my dress then my BIL came to take some pix as he is quite a dab hand a photography and he captured some pix for me of my mum helping me do up my dress, etc.



Then my dad knocked on around 12.30. Was really nice, my dad was more nervous than me bless him, he gave me a lovely bracelett for my wedding day and at this point got quite emotional, so we poured him a brandy!! :-) Then my mum and bro in law left to go meet with sil, niece and stephen at the gazebo, then it was just me and my dad.... again quite emotional and lovely to have a bit of time on our own. Then about 12.55 Nancy the WC knocked on our door and then the nerves kicked in... OMG IM ON MY WAY TO GET MARRIED!!!



We walked through the hotel which seemed to take a life time but really was like 3 mins to get to where we needed to be. Me and my dad had a few pictures taken, then walked up to the enterance for the area where the gazebo is....

....Then the music started and as predicted i started to bubble... not much but the emotion just took over... walking towards Stephen my heart was pounding, i was just soooo happy to see him and he looked gorgeous. He isnt a romantic but he took my hands smiled and whispered how beautiful i look, well that set me off again!! LOL :-)

The ceremony was done in Spanish and translated by Nancy. it lasted around 15 mins.

OMG.... Were married, husband and wife.... what a feeling :) I can tell you, i have NEVER felt so happy in all my life!

We then went off for pictures arounf the hotel grounds and the beach. This was soooo much fun. When the pictures were done went to the lobby bar where they had set up some tables for us with flowers etc where we sat and had a few drinks this time went really fast im glad as i was worried people would get bored as the evening meal wasnt until 6.45pm. but the day just went sooo smoothly fell into place all on its own, it was brilliant.

6.45 came and we went to Bota fogo for our wedding meal. This was lovely a really nice meal, and the staff were wonderful, the cake was set up on a lovely table with flowers for us. We didnt do speeches or anything with our party being small but we did cut the cake :-) Its was just perfect.

We left and went for drinks... the perfect end to the perfect day.... and OMG what a day it was :-)

We would definatly like to return to thr RPRM and we would recommend this resort to friends, family, and anyone who will listen really, we had the time of our lives and know 100% we couldnt have chosen a better resort to get married if we tried.