ROYAL PLAYA DEL CARMEN BRIDES: were kids allowed for the day? ...and other questions

[JHarris]

Is anyone having their rehearsal dinner at the resort? Any good rehearsal dinner suggestions? I saw somewhere on here a restaurant that looked like a cave but now I can't find it. hm..

[NorPuis]

Alux is the only cave restauraunt Ive heard of....looks FAB

[NorPuis]

restaurant! lol

[JHarris]

 

Originally Posted by NorPuis 

restaurant! lol

That's it!! Thank you so much!!
 

[JHarris]

 

 

Originally Posted by Heidi82 

 

 

Hey JHarris - She still quoted me the $350 vendor fee, so no luck there.  " class="bbcode_smiley" height="1" src="http://files.bestdestinationwedding.com/images/smilies//sad.gif" title="" width="1" />  But at least the on the other things we will save a few hundred dollars.

I still haven't decided which package to use; I guess when the time gets closer I'll know exactly what I want and need! 

 

 

 

 

Well darn!! At least you got to save on some items. I think we're expecting around 35-40 so we just chose the Luxury Package. The great thing is that you can down size your package. So if it turns out you have a smaller guest list - they'll let you switch.

 

Thank goodness I have only 2 vendors - my flower guy - unless I decide we get the flowers and setup the centerpieces ourselves and our makeup person - whoever that will be. LOL....

 

[JHarris]

 

 

Originally Posted by randi.renstrom 

 

i've gotta say i am SO happy with whoever mentioned marvin for the flowers!!! i contacted him two days ago about flowers and he gave me an awesome quote....and just sent me some pictures of the flowers i mentioned i liked!!! i couldn't be happier!! thanks

 

Randi -

 

Marvin is the best!! His costs are way less than having flowers for a wedding in the US. I just told him what flowers I wanted and it's as if he saw what I envisioned in my head and made it.  =)

 

[JHarris]

 

 

Originally Posted by JoZee84 

 

 

 

hey, I'm using him also and for center pieces we're doing these tall orchid bamboo things, it looks really cool.  Once I have him price everything out i'll let you know.  I know he's doing lots of Royal weddings right now but he does get back to you really fast. 

 

 

 

JoZee - WOW!! That sounds really beautiful. Let me know how they turn out. I'll try and post some pics of what he put together for me. I think you're getting married the week of June 12-18 2011? My WC just told me there was a concert on the 15th - Thursday night. So if your guests are being wishy washy about booking early you might want to let them know. I believe there's a couple of more weddings besides ours as well. Unfortunately I'll be sharing part of the ballrooms with this concert. I'm hoping she'll let me know what kind of concert and when it starts.

 

[JHarris]

Ladies!!!

 

Here's the link for Alux Lounge & Restaurant. This place is amazing!!! I love it. I just emailed them for pricing for a family dinner and or rehearsal dinner.

 

http://www.aluxlounge.net/FTP-ingles/index.html

 

[Lisa DSO]

 

 

Originally Posted by JHarris 

 

Ladies!!!

 

Here's the link for Alux Lounge & Restaurant. This place is amazing!!! I love it. I just emailed them for pricing for a family dinner and or rehearsal dinner.

 

http://www.aluxlounge.net/FTP-ingles/index.html

 

OOH that looks awesome! 

 

[Juliet1]

Just got back from our wedding (9/17)!!!!  After the weeks (months?) of stress, all I can say is that it was PERFECT!!!!

 

I’ll try to keep my write-up fairly short (but detailed)…

 

We met with our wedding planner, Lili, on Tuesday and she was so on top of everything.  We were even able to make changes at that late of a date – we had a couple of less people coming to the welcome party, so she credited that money right away to the reception centerpieces (this was the only item I hadn’t paid for up front).  We also changed the menu for the cocktail hour, as we were having hot and cold hors d’oeuvres for the welcome party and Lili didn’t want our guests to have the same cold hors d’oeuvres 2 days in a row – she pulled out some old menus and told us to pick any 4 that we wanted.  I was really glad/surprised she suggested this.

 

Our welcome party was Thursday evening and was supposed to be on the beach at the Gran Porto Real (we had a few guests staying there).  The weather was horrible (rain storms all day), so Lili had already planned everything for a small ballroom inside.  We had planned for a full open bar and hot and cold hors d’oeuvres (10 different types) – this was all great.  They arranged for specialty margaritas to be given to people as they arrived and the food was really good.

 

On Friday (our wedding day) the weather was perfect!  I was such a nervous wreck about this since the weather the 2 days before had not been good.  I had my hair and make-up done at SpaZul (I did my trial there on Wednesday) and they did a really good job – I was very happy.

 

We had the luxury wedding package.

 

Ceremony at the wedding gazebo (3:00) – The gazebo was beautiful – white flowing fabric, white chair covers, turquoise chair bows.  We had a solo guitarist instead of our own music and from what I remember, he did a good job (parts of the ceremony are a bit of a blur).  He played different music while guests were being seated, when I walked down the aisle and then when we walked back down the aisle as husband and wife.  The wedding planner asked us before if there was anything specific we wanted played, but we just told him he could play whatever.  We had a symbolic ceremony and had any mention of religion or god removed.  We also had the religious readings replaced with something about love and marriage.  And a friend came up to perform the sand ceremony with us.

 

We did our pictures between the ceremony and cocktail hour.

 

Cocktail hour in the garden area (4:00) – We used our ipod with the sound system they provided.

 

Reception moved inside to the “crystal†ballroom (5:00).  We were originally planning to have this in the garden area, but moved it inside that morning since we figured it would either be too hot or it would rain – it was really hot and our guests appreciated the AC (Lili had already reserved the ballroom since we were unsure about the weather – they needed 4 hours notice to change location).  Specialty champagne cocktails were given as guests arrived.  We had the mariachi trio play for the first hour – they were so much fun and everyone loved them.  They moved the sound system inside from the cocktail hour and we used our ipod for the rest of the reception.  The food was really good – better than what we had at the tasting a few months before.  There was a lighted dance floor set up (it’s not that big, so some danced on the floor next to it).  We actually ended up adding an extra half hour to the reception since everyone was having so much fun – we did this on the spot and just had it charged to our room.

 

We used Funever Photography (from the resort) and she seemed to do a really good job – she took a ton of pics and would grab me and my husband from the ballroom when the light was just right in the marble hallway or coming through the windows.  I guess we’ll find out for sure in a few weeks.

 

Other thoughts….I found that it was easier to work with the onsite planner, through direct email – not basecamp.  We didn’t have any problems paying with cash anywhere.  There was a slight police presence – a few here and there carrying machine guns, but nothing scary or even that noticeable.

 

The one thing I can say is that I realized that a good part of the stress I felt, I put on myself.  Everything went so smoothly and I feel a little silly for getting so worked up about things.

 

After it was over, my husband and I decided that there was absolutely nothing we would have changed – it really was perfect.

 

I’ll give one piece of advice – it all really happens so fast, so try to pick that one moment you want to remember forever and try to focus on that.  For me, it was seeing my husband - at the first moment we made eye contact - waiting at the end of the aisle for me.

 

All of you ladies were so helpful during the planning process, so let me know if you have any questions I can help with!