Review: Gran Caribe Real in Cancun

I wanted to write a review for those of you getting married at either the Gran Caribe or Royal in Cancun, because I wish I could have found a decent review for the Gran Caribe before the wedding. However, everything went great so no worries! Here it goes...

Service before the wedding

The worst part of the wedding planning process was the communication with the wedding "planners" here in the US. Luckily for you newbies, they have closed the US offices and now all communication is going through the coordinators at the resort, which is so much better. I had Angie Hayes and she was extremely frustrating to have as a planner and I could have done everything she had to do in half the time and in a better fashion. However, once I got handed over to my coordinator at the Gran Caribe, everything (for the most part) was corrected and communication was much better.

Wedding coordinator

My WC at the Gran Caribe was Diana and she was the cutest thing ever. She was so nice, made sure everything was going to be the way I wanted it, and she was just a sweetheart. My mom gave her a gift before the wedding for helping out when everything with the US coordinator got crazy, and she was floored and gave both my mom and me a huge hug and told us not to worry about anything. She really did a great job and she's an awesome woman

Ceremony

We had a ceremony on the beach at 6 pm. I was a little worried because while getting my hair done I found out that another bride getting her hair done at the same time was having her wedding at 6 also, and at the gazebo which was pretty close to our beach location. However, it worked out fine and my wedding actually started first, so it didn't even matter and I didn't even notice the other wedding! We just had a judge, nothing religious, along with a sand ceremony. The ceremony was pretty quick and after we walked down the aisle we were greeted with champagne (in the toasting flutes I gave to Diana prior to the wedding of course!) and all of our guests got drinks as well. We decided to then cut the cake, since our reception was outside at night and the pictures would come out better in the day. The cake was pretty tasty (we got hazelnut), but the colors I had asked for were a little off, but I honestly didn't care that much and no one said anything. We then sent our guests off to the cocktail hour while my wedding party and us did our pictures on the beach.

Cocktail hour

While I didn't really get to spend but 10 minutes at the cocktail hour after pictures were done, everyone that was up there said it was a good time. We did it up on the terrace which had a great view of the beach and ocean. We had a mexican trio play and they serenaded us when we came up, and they were great. I got to taste a little bit of the food and it was pretty good. We upgraded to hot food which was $5 a person and I thought it was worth it.

Reception

After the cocktail hour we headed to the reception which was right below the terrace on the beach. We had DJ Doremixx, Ivan Gomez, for the reception. He was nice and accommodating since much of our music plans changed due to time and whatnot (we had to be off the beach by 10 but we had music planned until 10:30). He got all of our songs right and the songs I didn't pick that he played were great choices. The fireworks during our first dance was awesome The food was pretty great also. We had the caribbean salad with shrimp, countryside soup, beef fillet with dijon, and this strawberry cake/pie stuff lol. Everyone loved the food and I think my husband and I were the only ones who didn't really like the main course, but that's okay! The reception seemed to go by fast, but we got to do everything we wanted (dances, bouquet and garter toss, all of that) and by the end we were ready to just head back to the room! Diana had all of our boxes for our flutes, cake cutter, sand vases, etc. already in our room when we got back so that we could pack it all up.

Photography

We just went with the photographer included in the package, Funever Photos (the photographers name was Caesar) but we upgraded to a 4 hour package. He came around 5:30 to my suite to take pictures of us getting ready and all that and left the reception about 20 minutes before it was over. He was really nice and kept telling me how great I was in the pictures and all of that and he never made anyone feel uncomfortable or anything. I can't wait to see all of the pictures! He was also very accommodating because we originally decided to have 5 hours, but when we realized we had to be off the beach by 10 we decided it was pointless to have him there for 5, and he called his boss and got us a $150 refund for the extra hour.

Overall

The Gran Caribe was awesome! We had 30 people come down, ranging in age from 8-70's, and everyone said they had a great time and that this was a great vacation and the best wedding they'd been to. The service at the hotel was amazing, and we were floored with gifts and VIP service when we arrived. Our suite upgrade was stunning and I couldn't even believe it when we first walked in. I was sad to leave the resort to go on our honeymoon it was so great! I will definitely be back again one day to visit where we got married

If there's anything I left out or anything you want to know about just let me know and I'd love to help you out because I know how it feels to not be in the loop on some things and be worried as to how your wedding will go! My advice: whatever isn't going right now will go perfect on your big day and don't let those little things get to you.

Phew, that was long!

Thank you so much for your review! My wedding is at The Royal August 14th and I'm starting to stress! Angie was my coordinator and I know the office has been moved to Mexico. However, Angie has not emailed me back to let me know if she is still my coordinator or what is going on ( I emailed her over a week ago). So it's refreshing to hear that everything went perfect for your day! How was the weather at night for the reception? I am doing a beach reception too and am concerned it will still be super hot at night. Thanks again and congrats Mrs!!!

The weather was perfect at night...definitely much nicer than during the day when it's extremely hot and extremely humid. My WC thought we were going to have to move the reception inside because it rained all morning and was cloudy until about the time of the wedding, but we chanced it and it was perfect. It was still warm, but like I said, much more bearable than during the day. You should be fine And hopefully someone will get back to you soon...if you have a phone number to reach the office at I would try that, it gets a much faster response than email....or you might be waiting a longggg time for a reply. Good luck!

Thank you for the review, we are getting married at the Gran Caribe in November 2011.

Which wedding pachake did you choose? we are really struggling to make a decision on this because we want the cocktail hour and private reception but not sure weather to go for a cheaper package and just upgrade the things we want like cake, reception etc, what would you suggest?

We are hoping for a beach ceremony and a private reception on the villa terrace or cross winds beach so keeping my fingers crossed as i have come across a few brides that are already booked for November 2011.

It would be great to see some pics ;-)

Vicki x

Thanks for the review. We are getting married at The Royal PDC in December. We have yet to choose a photographer. Outside of the photos on Funever site, I've yet to see any actual ones they've taken. Would you mind sharing yours when they come in?

I'm not getting married in Cancun but I just read your review and I think ladies that are getting married there will be very grateful for it. Thanks for being so thoughtful and sharing. Good luck!

That is so relieving to hear! I'm getting married on August 7, and I have been extremely unpleased with the planning process. I feel like I ask for simple things and never recieved a real response from my wc. I have had 3 different wc, and now Rebekah has been working with me. Thank you for your review!

We went with the luxury package...but we also booked it last summer right before prices changed, so it was only $2250, and I know now it's somewhere in the $3000 range. I guess it all depends on your budget as to whether or not to get the package or do a la carte. I personally liked the package because everything was included and covered and so I didn't really have to worry about anything.

As for your locations I'd recommend getting in touch with them ASAP to reserve the spots you want and get it in writing/booking form because if you don't they may change it on you and say that someone else already has it reserved...it happens. Although I will tell you that the terrace looks like an awesome location, and it has a great view, but there are rooms right behind and above it (as in those rooms' balconies are pretty much the terrace lol) so just keep that in mind.

Have fun with the planning!

Yes, don't worry, things will work their course and when you get there all of your worries will go away

Oh, and if you want to see pictures I can't seem to upload them on here because they're too large or something, so you can add me on facebook to see them if you'd like. Just search for Amber Horton Lopez and request me