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April's Riu Santa Fe Review 01.10.09

Beach Bride 80
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Beach Bride 80

Beach Bride 80

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Our wedding was really beautiful and everything that I could have ever asked for. To preface this, I am not a super picky person, but I had specific things in mind for our wedding. So, things that I thought were perfect, may not be what the next bride has in mind.

There was a total of 46 people that attended our wedding, from Wisconsin, Alabama, Alaska, and Texas. So there was a variety of travel arrangements, most stayed for 7 nights and a few stayed for 4 nights.

NWA Vacations: (A)

Those of us that flew from MSP used NWA Vacations through our local travel agency and everything went smoothly. Our travel agent did a great job of communicating transfers and what to expect when we get to Cabo. The transfers were easy to recognize at the airport.

Northwest Airlines: (A-)

The majority of us flew out from Minneapolis on a non-stop flight to Cabo, which we had no delays or problems with on the way there or on the way back. The only thing I was a little peeved about was that they wouldn't let me hang my dress in the closet, which I know is not a given, but I was kind of expecting it. It really wasn't a big deal because there wasn't much to my dress, so I just carefully folded it in the overhead and it was fine.

Navigating through the airport was actually quite easy, surprisingly enough not one timeshare representative tried to talk to me, perhaps it was the frazzled look on my face after keeping track of 8 suitcases!

Riu Santa Fe: (A-)

When our group arrived at the resort, we were greeted with drinks and a short orientation to the resort and to the excursions available in Cabo. All of our rooms were ready when we arrived. Our travel agent arranged for everyone to have rooms in the same building, except for us, because we got upgraded to building 7. It was nice for everyone to be in the same building as the resort is enormous, which is sometimes an advantage and other times a disadvantage.

The resort is gorgeous and the staff works very hard to keep it neat and clean and they have a very friendly staff. They have a nice food selection for breakfast, lunch and dinner and you can eat at the a la carte restaurants as well. If you get tired of the selection, you can always head into town to switch it up a little

We decided to upgrade to the outdoor Jacuzzi suite for the last 4 night of our trip and that was the best money ever spent! The rooms are gorgous and it is great to watch the sun come up outdoors in your jacuzzi. I would highly recommend it.

Everyone in our group seemed very satisfied with the resort and would come back in a heartbeat.

The Wedding (A)

Erika is the Santa Fe's wedding coordinator, however she was very ill and in the hospital for our wedding, so Nelly took care of us when we arrived in Cabo and did an excellent job. Prior to arriving I had communicated a lot through e-mail with Erika and she was always quick to answer any questions I had.

When we met with the wedding coordinator we selected the cake, decorations, etc.

The Ceremony

The ceremony took place on the beach and was beautiful. I provided the chair bows and azalea tulle for the decorations, sand ceremony stuff, and programs and music basically I just brought Nelly a suitcase full of decorations and she did the rest.

Keep in mind if you are having your wedding here, it will not be private. The weddings take place right in front of one of their infinity pools, so you have quite an audience. It didn't bother us, as everyone was very respectful and it was actually kind of fun to have the additional cheers, but I know this is not for everyone.

The only thing I wish I would have done differently was have a small rehearsal before the wedding because we didn't really know what to do. It wasn't a big deal because everyting turned out great, but it would have eliminated some confusion.

After the ceremony we did group pics and family pics and then had cocktails at the pavillion bar.

Dinner at Torote Steakhouse

I made menus for the dinner and Nelly used my decorations to decorate the steakhouse. We had a semi-private dinner, but we had our own area and did not even know anyone else was there. The food was fabulous there.

The Cake

We selected to have a 3 tiered square cake, vanilla with strawberry filling. It was surprisingly delicious! I was not expecting much after reading reviews of the Riu wedding cakes. I brought my own cake topper and cake knife set.

The Disco

We rented the disco out from 8-11 for our dance. I am so glad that we did this because everyone had a blast. I brought my own music from home which was a big hit. For our size group it was perfect.

Florenta Flower Design (A)

I had them do my bouquet, moh bouquet, and flowers for the ceremony decor. I sent them my design on e-mail and it came out beautiful. I think their pricing is very comparable to others.

Alberto Misrachi Photographer (A)

I did a separate review on him in Cabo vendors.

Overall everything went really well and I was very impressed with resort itself and our wedding.

Here is a link to some pics

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