Riviera Maya: Planning and I don't know where to start!

[yesther]

Hi everyone! I'm new here and don't know really where to start. We are thinking Riviera Maya for our wedding and have narrowed it down to October '09 or November '09. We want to have the wedding and stay at an all-inclusive resort but I haven't really been able to narrow down which ones. There will be kids at the wedding for sure, so it has to be kid friendly.

 

Now what? LOL. Do I talk with a travel agent first and then narrow down the resorts from there? Do I book the resort, then talk to a travel agent? How soon do we send out STDs and invites?

 

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

[ACDCDCAC]

starting with a TA is a great place if you have no clue what you want to do. browsing thru the different threads in the riviera forums is also a great way to choose, you can read reviews and see pics.

 

have fun!

[**TIFFANY**]

I would say talk to a TA first. They will be able to give you different ideas of resorts you might like and pricing. You can then narrow it down from there and check out the different threads on here to get more information about specific resorts and which one you like best.

 

I think the TA will help you the best if you have a certain price range in mind for the airfare and resort. We were originally thinking about having our wedding New Years Eve but when we looked into pricing we realized it was not going to work because we don't want our friends and family to have to pay a lot of money to attend our destination wedding.

[JennyLynnLong140]

Hi!!,

 

I am getting married in July 2009 hopefully at the RIU RM..anyone else been there and have any pics of the reception and ceremony

[Mystic]

A travel agent can certainly help you out picking a destination if you really have trouble picking one on your own. I started by researching different resorts in almost every destination possible on this forum and tripadvisor. I spent a TON of time reading reviews and looking at traveler photos of different resorts with high ratings and eventually narrowed it down from there. We wanted adults only and all inclusive so that ruled out a lot of resorts.

 

From there, I emailed the wedding coordinators of our top three resorts for package and pricing info. I starting looking for a travel agent once we had a date booked at the resort we picked. We won't be seeing this resort before we go for the wedding so we're just trusting the good reviews!

 

That's just the way we did it and so far it's working for us. We are getting married next October so we are waiting to send out invites until flights and vacation packages for that time come out. We are thinking about skipping STDs and just sending invites with all the info around Feb?

 

You'll find a ton of information and different ways of doing things from brides on here. Good luck with the wedding planning!

[Corvette79]

I would say TA is a good start. get a mexico brochure from the TA, check out the ratings and pics of the resorts then go on this forum and do a search for the ones you are interested in. also another one I checked out was trip advisor ...i know a lot of people don't like it but its brutally honest which i like and need. also make sure you check out each resorts wedding packages first before committing to one, there are big differences with wedding prices from resort to resort. I suggest Bahia because you can play at all 3 resorts also they are very kid friendly with decent prices for different types of budgets for your guests. Good Luck! Ah, i remember those nights wheni was up till 3am reading reviews upon reviews

[Jessica&Adam]

I would advise researching this forum, and then consulting a TA. There are sooo many great reviews and resources on here that you will feel like you've already seen the resorts in person after looking around on here for a while. Then if needed, consult a TA.

 

I would send STDs 10-12 months out, then your formal invites about 3 months out.

 

After you sign the contract with the resort (which will likely take time), start working on getting your vendors lined up (if you are allowed to have outside vendors) like florist, photographer, dj/band, etc. Just remember to be patient, as this is all such a lengthy process!

[hanna]

All of the advice given above is great. Also, check out TripAdvisor for lots of honest reviews. You have to take them with a grain of salt, as someone will complain even about the most amazing place, but it is still a good resource. There are lots of traveller photos also to get a true idea of the resort, not the glossy photos the resort posts. A lot of the resort websites has their wedding packages posted, or you can easily request them. Picking the resort is def #1, then the rest sort of falls in place based on what is allowed at that resort. We are getting married at the Grand Palladium, Riviera Maya, about 80 minutes south of the Cancun Airport. We are allowed to bring in our own photographer, which is nice. There are 5 resorts included in the one resort, so it is very large. Happy planning and let us know if there is anything we can do to help! THis forum is an AMAZING resource!!!

[yesther]

Wow, thank you so much everybody! So, I started with contacting a couple of travel agents and threw out dates, possilbe locations etc. I heard Dreams is opening a new resort (Puerto Aventura) which I'm sure everyone already knows, LOL.

 

So now, i'm in the midst of doing my research on resorts! Yay!!! Moving on from crazed wreck to something else! Hahaha.

[adias.angel]

I felt way overwhelmed when we started but now I think we have a good idea.

 

1.) If you have not stayed in an all inclusive think about what you would want in one or if you even want an all inclusive. (I have a questionnaire my TA sent me that might help you with this. PM me and I will sent it to you.)

 

2.) Contact your TA so he/she can begin to narrow down your selections based on what you are looking for. We found there was just too many resorts to not have a TA help with this.

 

3.) When you evaluate have a checklist that you use. Use the same checklist if you do a site visit and compare the 2 when you come home. Here is one I created that you can edit: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t27020

 

Most importantly is to be flexible with the date. By moving ours back a month we are getting a much better deal and at a quieter time of the year. Good luck, can't wait to hear how it goes! Carla