RIU RM Palace Brides??

[Jez111213]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jez111213

 

Maggie Mae and Elissa you both were gorgeous brides! It's nice to see two different approaches to the wedding and what can happen when it rains!

Thank you - it was an amazing day!

 

I have lots of questions sorry:

 

Can either of you tell me if there was anything you purchased that in the end you think was not worth your money? Nothing comes to mind as of yet. I think everything worked out well!

I'm such an over thinker, your response makes me laugh because no matter how perfect something is I will find something that I did wrong.  You have such a great attitude!

 

Or anything you would have done differently now that you're back? I would not have changed a thing.

 

Although - maybe 2 things & they are minor & silly. The first being, maybe I should have added small Aloe bottles to my Survival Kits - only because I had one friend who never wore enough sunblock & he got very sunburned & one of the nights he woke up in the middle of the night searching through his Survival Kit for some and there was none. He mentioned to me the next day (busting my a$$ of course), because I had everythimg in the kit except the aloe he needed. Although I did travel with a bottle for myself so I shared some with him. The 2nd thing I wish I did was get a Syracuse Orangemen (SU)garter to wear under my dress. We did not throw a garter or a bouquet...that's why I did not buy a garter. Although I was contemplating getting one since my FI was a huge fan of Syracuse.

 

Ironically they made it to the Final Four (who knew? lol) while we were down there so it would have been cool for photos and to surprise him with it....oh well - no biggie!

Lol, good to know your efforts on the survival kits paid off for the most part!  I don't plan on doing the bouquet or garter toss either, I feel like we're already pretty unconventional so what the hell.

 

I'm planning on getting the mariachi band (which from everyone I've heard is worth it) and am still on the fence about using the resort photographer? We hired the mariachi band for the cocktail hour & it was AMAZING. Best decision we ever made. We hired the resort photographer, Adventure Photos and they were spectacular!!!! We loved them so much, we are buying all our pictures and we made friends with them on FB! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Excellent to hear again how good the mariachi band is, they will be a must!  I've also emailed Adventure photos to get some more info on pricing from them as well!

 

 Decorations, I'm wanted to keep it minimal only because I don't want to pay the extra baggage fees, but when I look at your pictures I feel like what I'm planning won't be enough. The resort & it's surroundings are beautiful on it's own so you do not need to go overboard on decorations although if there are some things you want - bring them or ask Erika if she can supply them,

I think I'll definately bring some light decorations such as hanging paper lanterns and hopefully I can get away with not having to pay extra baggage fees (although with the stack of stuff I've already accumulated I'm not sure how long that will last). 

 

I did want to pass along some information to the other ladies.  Last years pricing had chair bows listed for $4 each which if find outrageous!  This years pricing has no mention of chair bows but I thought I would let you know that weddinglinensdirect.com has bows for $0.55 each and come 10 in a pack so $5.50 per pack.  I think its a small price to pay to add a little extra color for the ceremony.

 

Additionally I ordered my personalized stadium cups from cups and napkins.com (copasy.com) and found they were the cheapest pricing then any other site.  The cups came with a lid for an extra $.15 each.  Most sites I found had a minimum of 50 or 100 but I was able to order the exact amount I needed with them.

 

 

And can you tell me about the timing of your day? Did you find you had gaps of time that you needed to find entertainment for your guests?

 

Our day went seamlessly:

 

4:00 wedding

 

4:30 wedding group photo & wedding photos

 

5:15 cocktail hour (our guests headed over earlier than this & it was all set up and ready for them. There was a cigar roller there when they arrived

 

5:45 Mariachi Band started

 

7:00 Dinner Reception

 

What about the planner too? Was she able to get everything set up how you described or should we bring pictures with lots of detail? Erika was MAGNIFICENT! She got all my details perfect! Loved working with her. We went through everything in our meeting when we arrived at the resort.

Thank you Elissa for being so detailed with everything on here!  I'm so happy to hear it all went well with your wedding!

 

Shes, we'll be waiting to hear from you too! I'm sure you're having a fabulous time!

 

Thank you all for sharing your experiences through this site!

 

[AnaSteele58]

Hi ladies!

 

Questions about the semi private dinner included in the wedding package: 

 

(1) Is the per person fee ($50) for a private reception in one of the restaurants (The steakhouse for example) an additional fee for the ENTIRE group or only the amount of people over the number of guest included in the package?  (Caprice includes 40 ppl)

 

 

(2) If this $50 fee is an additional fee for EVERYONE since its private, can I use the semi private dinner included in the package for a "welcome dinner" or "farewell brunch"? If we can't use the semi private aspect of the package, it seems as though we are wasting money.

 

 

(3) If we decide on the Royal package (includes 20 people) will we have to pay an additional fee to set up chairs for the extra 20 people?  If we have to pay additional fees, I'm trying to see if its cheaper to go with the Royal package instead. I'm only interested in the Caprice because it includes more people.

 

Am I making sense?!? Please advise!

 

Thanks

[tcipriano]

Anasteele I had the same questions! I originally booked the caprice package but ended up lowering it to the Royal.  We are sticking with the semi-private dinner on the Mezzanine of Chillis.  The $50 is for EVERYONE at the wedding for the private dinner.  So it just wasn't in our budget to do.  

 

Yes you will have to pay for the extra chairs/cake for however many over your package you are.  so if you have close to 40 I think the Caprice is best for you, because you will have to pay for chairs and private reception anyways. 

 

They offer a sectioned off part of the buffet the night before the wedding at no additional cost (I havent heard of any so far atleast!) for the "welcome dinner".  

 

Hope that helps!

[AnaSteele58]

Originally Posted by tcipriano 

 

Anasteele I had the same questions! I originally booked the caprice package but ended up lowering it to the Royal.  We are sticking with the semi-private dinner on the Mezzanine of Chillis.  The $50 is for EVERYONE at the wedding for the private dinner.  So it just wasn't in our budget to do.  

 

Yes you will have to pay for the extra chairs/cake for however many over your package you are.  so if you have close to 40 I think the Caprice is best for you, because you will have to pay for chairs and private reception anyways. 

 

They offer a sectioned off part of the buffet the night before the wedding at no additional cost (I havent heard of any so far atleast!) for the "welcome dinner".  

 

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the clarification!  I have to look into them sectioning off for a "welcome dinner".

[elissae]

Originally Posted by AnaSteele58 

 

Hi ladies!

 

Questions about the semi private dinner included in the wedding package: 

 

(1) Is the per person fee ($50) for a private reception in one of the restaurants (The steakhouse for example) an additional fee for the ENTIRE group or only the amount of people over the number of guest included in the package?  (Caprice includes 40 ppl)  It's an additional fee for the entire group.  So if you have 40 people - it's an additional $2,000

 

 

(2) If this $50 fee is an additional fee for EVERYONE since its private, can I use the semi private dinner included in the package for a "welcome dinner" or "farewell brunch"? If we can't use the semi private aspect of the package, it seems as though we are wasting money. Yes, you can!  We used it as our Welcome DInner the night before the wedding. 

 

 

(3) If we decide on the Royal package (includes 20 people) will we have to pay an additional fee to set up chairs for the extra 20 people?  If we have to pay additional fees, I'm trying to see if its cheaper to go with the Royal package instead. I'm only interested in the Caprice because it includes more people.  Yes, if you go with the Royal Package, you pay an additional $20 per person for chair set up as well as the additional cake/sparkling wine.  We had 65 people and went with the Royal Package for 20 people.  For us it was only like a $450 difference in cost and we opted out of the Caprice because I was not going to use the Spa for my hair and makeup.

 

Am I making sense?!? Please advise!

 

Thanks

[AnaSteele58]

Originally Posted by elissae 

 

Thanks for your reply to my questions...and the menu via PM!

 

Questions about the semi private dinner included in the wedding package: 

 

(1) Is the per person fee ($50) for a private reception in one of the restaurants (The steakhouse for example) an additional fee for the ENTIRE group or only the amount of people over the number of guest included in the package?  (Caprice includes 40 ppl)  It's an additional fee for the entire group.  So if you have 40 people - it's an additional $2,000.  I just received an email full of goodies from Riu with menus and such.  It mentioned that a private reception is on 1.5 hours.  Is that a typo?

 

 

(2) If this $50 fee is an additional fee for EVERYONE since its private, can I use the semi private dinner included in the package for a "welcome dinner" or "farewell brunch"? If we can't use the semi private aspect of the package, it seems as though we are wasting money. Yes, you can!  We used it as our Welcome DInner the night before the wedding. Good to know! I would no longer feel cheated out of something...lol

 

 

(3) If we decide on the Royal package (includes 20 people) will we have to pay an additional fee to set up chairs for the extra 20 people?  If we have to pay additional fees, I'm trying to see if its cheaper to go with the Royal package instead. I'm only interested in the Caprice because it includes more people.  Yes, if you go with the Royal Package, you pay an additional $20 per person for chair set up as well as the additional cake/sparkling wine.  We had 65 people and went with the Royal Package for 20 people.  For us it was only like a $450 difference in cost and we opted out of the Caprice because I was not going to use the Spa for my hair and makeup.  We are thinking of doing the same.  It seems to save us a few pennies.

 

 

 

 

[elissae]

Originally Posted by AnaSteele58 

 

Thanks for your reply to my questions...and the menu via PM!

 

Questions about the semi private dinner included in the wedding package:

 

(1) Is the per person fee ($50) for a private reception in one of the restaurants (The steakhouse for example) an additional fee for the ENTIRE group or only the amount of people over the number of guest included in the package? (Caprice includes 40 ppl) It's an additional fee for the entire group. So if you have 40 people - it's an additional $2,000. I just received an email full of goodies from Riu with menus and such. It mentioned that a private reception is on 1.5 hours. Is that a typo?

 

 

It must be a typo.  Our private reception was 4 hours.  7 - 11 pm.

[shes2013]

Home, ready to go back!! I just want to tell you girls don't sweat the small stuff, everything turned out how it was supposed to, and erika is great! I worried all the way up to our wedding day, but worrying was all for nothing. Tell Erika exactly what you want and how you want and she will get the job done for you. Our wedding was just the way we wanted it, but then again we are overly simple people! & Adventure photos was amazingly awesome, sergio, & his gf bernice were great at their job! Just wanted to just write a quick note to let everyone know everything will turn out perfect!

[Shay4966]

Geesh! I have not been on this site too much... just so much going on.. I leave next week and I am super nervous, You guys are really ensuring me that things will go great, so thanks for that!

[Shay4966]

Hi Elissae -

 

I am having a private reception at Botafogo, but now i'm on the fence on having there verse Chilis.  Did you see Botafogo? How big was it? I have 51 guest including photographer, and we are using the dj. is the place big enough?

 

Thanks in advance!