My Paradisus Rviera Cancun Wedding Review

[yamille]

We had been planning our wedding at PRC for one year and had visited a place that had all the things that we wanted for our special weekend. It was an appropriate price point for our guests and was a quick drive from the airport, and only had one wedding per day. I will say that this review is very mixed we had an AMAZING time and really do love the Paradisus but due to the Swine Flu and low occupancy it was not what we were expecting - FULLY. So just know that this is my honest review of the week. I will be doing my vendor reviews in the vendor sections for all my outside vendors.

 

JETBLUE: A++

I heart jetblue so much. We each got one suitcase free checked and then paid an extra $40 for two other suitcases. FI had to do some serious shifting around at JFK when our suitcases were over 50lbs. Poor thing. We worked it out and each one was down to 50. Yay! Our guy was so patient and he was trying to help. Because we flew on a tue our flight was very very empty. I got a whole overhead compartment all to myself for the dress. They don’t have closets. I also knew one of the flight attendants and she was so cute trying to treat as all VIP- but really we just wanted water it was so early in the morning. It was a great flight both ways. No complaints.

 

Resort Staff: A+

When we arrived we were greeted by the awesome staff right away. This is a theme that will be consistent with my review. We were there for 6 nights and were treated very very well as were our guests. The grounds are immaculate and again the staff is very friendly and accommodating. We tipped- and we tipped a lot right from the beginning because we knew that we had 26 people coming that had the potential of being high maintenance. Honestly they deserved every dollar and more. I had several conversations with staff about how the flu has affected them. They all said that it was worse than a hurricane. Many people are out of work, shifts cut etc. We requested our favorite waiters and bartenders for our wedding because we loved them Miguel was our bartender and Tonatiuh was our waiter. They were awesome. I think we got preferential treatment because Miguel had a crush on my sister but whatever… we didn’t wait for drinks ever!

 

Rooms: B+

Our room was not ready and we had to wait 2 1/2 hours till it was. So maybe this goes with staff but I’m putting it here. I wasn't happy because I had let the wedding coordinator know that we would be there an hour prior to check in and thought she would take care of it - being that we were the bride and groom and it was a Tuesday. Not a huge deal we went and got some food and relaxed a bit. I only got annoyed when I was told that the resort was only at 10% capacity due to the flu drama (the room should have been ready then right?). We did get upgraded which our travel agent had arranged because we had booked a certain number of rooms for all our guests. I was hoping that they would have upgraded us once again since there was a low occupancy. I didn't complain because I wanted to start the week off on the right foot. Besides I didn't expect to spend all that much time in the room anyway. We were in room 410 which had a gorgeous view of the ocean and a hot tub on the balcony. It was perfect. I didn't mind the hardness of the bed- I know some people did mention it though. We always had a stocked fridge and turndown service every night. Room service was fast and easy. I don't think we waited longer than 20 mins for anything.

 

more coming...

[yamille]

Pool/Beach: A

The main pool is phenomenal and it was the perfect temperature- but I was there the last week in MAY and it was crazy hot. We loved the beach. The water was a little rougher than I remembered it in the afternoons but so beautiful in the morning after a run. Seaweed was not an issue. All our guests loved the beach too. PLENTY of palapas. It was quiet and peaceful. My complaint is that the beach bar wasn't open-so we had to walk to the pool bar- again to go with the everything closed theme because of low occupancy. It just wasn't fair because we paid rates from several months ago which included all these amenities.

 

Important

The big shock happened when we were told that ALL the restaurants were closed as was the fun pub and the theatre! We thought tbat it just was this way because it was a Tuesday but no. I'm sorry did you just say everything was closed due to low occupancy and we have 26 people coming for our wedding in two days?? No shows, no disco, and nobody let us know in advance? Needless to say we were distressed. I actually think we both went into shock for an entire day. What would we do with our guests and we didn't want to eat at the buffet every night but the wedding. What about all the cool things that we told out guests about? Where would our pre planned farewell dinner be? I will say that the buffet food is really good- but we wanted to change the ambiance a bit for some people that would be there 5 nights. We were told that the chefs were making all menus available at the buffet though for people to try. This was a half truth. There were a few items from each menu available once they opened the Capri restaurant on Friday. So the restaurant issue was the big problem for us but as I said Miguel rectified the situation as best he could by allowing us some private time with our guests at the Royal Service pool with a bartender which was also closed and he wqaved some of our wedding fees since we had already paid for everything else. Therefore there is no restaurant grade. I will say that the buffet food was really good. I was always able to get my egg white omelet and they have the bomb mango there. Mm So good.

Once my FI talked to Miguel he made up for it. It was actually really refreshing to have that happen. We didn’t complain initially to Perla either- just sat in shock but one afternoon while I was hanging by the pool T went for a “walk†and went and spoke to the director of services about how disappointed we were and how we had been waiting for this weekend for a year and should have been told of these things in advance and this guy really took care of us. I think he realized that we are good people and not trying to scam and get anything for free. My husband is very level headed and I had already cried twice about this so he knew to go without me.

 

 

Lobby area- this is where anything happened at night. It was pretty quiet though which basically turned us all into big lushes. I swear I drank more than in my fpur years of college combined. They have a great bar and had a karaoke one night. We didn’t karaoke and instead the guy just played music and people danced. There was another wedding that was celebrating and it was fun. It was better than nothing I guess. We sort of made our own party with our people wherever we went.

 

More coming....

[yamille]

The Spa: D

FI and I both had massages at separate times the morning of our wedding and were not impressed. It was just okay and I think their services are way overpriced. I also had my hair done which was great thankfully but my mom and sister had someone doing her hair who was not as experienced I think. She was going nutzo with the hairspray and I had to tell her to stop. We had her stop and had the girl who worked on me finish. In the end everyone's hair looked wonderful. I got a pedicure and it was not great either. She didn't use a base or topcoat!? They looked fine for the wedding. I had brought my own color- and annoyingly anough I left it there. Boo! An overpriced bad pedicure and I left my color too! She did do a good job on the makeup and seriously did it in like 10 minutes. There was a scary moment. I looked at myself and had SO MUCH silver all around my eye. My sister just looked at me and mouthed “scaryâ€. I had her stop, tone it down and I told her I would do my own eyeliner and mascara in my room. It certainly was not something I would pay a single dollar more for. Her products were some random brand that I had never heard of wither. So yeah, I had to fix a few things. I really only used their services because I had wedding day jitters and didn't want to have to do it myself. Also, I wanted to go more natural than dramatic cause I sweat like a fiend as you will eventually see in photos.

Wedding Coordinator- Perla: A-

Perla works very hard I think and while there were many things that were not in place prior to the wedding day- the actual day was wonderful. We ordered flip flops for our guests that were to be delivered to PRC that never got there and she helped figure out all the shipment drama. She even went as far as going to pick up the box that was being held in Cancun somewhere once she spoke to the shipper. It was amazing. I was so grateful. I brought her all my stuff and attached notes as to how to set it out and she executed it all perfectly. We did not hire a videographer because it wasn’t in our budget but brought down our new video camera and asked her if there was anyone on staff that might want to make a few extra bucks and video with our camera for 40 mins or so- we really wanted the ceremony. She arranged for it and we just tipped generously. It was great being able to do that especially after hearing how business has been hurting since the flu. I didn’t email Perla so much until I got close to my date. I think she appreciated that and then once I was there we just went through everything in detail. I am giving her an A- because she could have told us in advance what the situation was like at PRC and she didn’t – I think because she didn’t want to lose our business but honestly it caused us unneeded stress the 2 days prior to our guests arrival. Fi made it abundantly clear when speaking to director of services that this was not a staff problem- because we really did think Perla was sweet, patient and caring. She was the one who actually set up the meeting for FI. I think that says a lot about her. She totally understood where we were coming from.

 

Wedding day

It was perfection. Everything truly came together and I cannot complain about one single thing- except that there was no mic for the officiant. That was annoying, but as I said my motto was enjoy the moment. It was prefect. If you are thinking of having a wedding there do it. All forces in that place came together to make out day special. We had the ceremony on the beach and then cocktail hour and reception on the terrace overlooking the beach.

 

Ceremony: A

I didn’t give it an A+ because of the microphone issue. None of our guests heard the ceremony because if the waves and the officiant being at volume level 1. We wrote the entire ceremony from start to finish which was seriously time consuming and nobody heard it. Many of our guests were asking for a copy. T and I were really loud with our vows and people said that’s all they heard. The set up was just as I had imagined. We did circle seating and it was lovely. Perla remembered to close the circle too which was really important to us. We used white/ivory flowers throughout and I was very pleased.

I will say ladies- take it in cause there was a moment where I just looked at the ocean and took in a deep breath and told myself to remember this moment. It all really does go by so fast… as everyone before me has said.

 

more...

[yamille]

Cocktail hour

I can’t grade this because I missed the whole thing. I was hugging kissing everyone and taking pics with my new husband. I did hear the food was good. I switched out many of the apps from the fantasy package. We had a few vegan/veggie people so I wanted to make sure we had something for everyone. I think there was going to be an additional charge but they waved it after the meeting with Miguel. That was nice. People were having a great time though. We also paid for an open bar during this time and they totally forgot to do the champagne toast which was annoying. There are 8 btls of champ included in that package price which we never saw. I didn’t realize till the next day when I was replaying the events of the day. FI and I had a glass before photos but that was it. All my other guests were boozing it up at the bar. Ha!

 

Reception/dinner: A

We chose a buffet and chose dishes from different buffets. A lot of seafood and honestly I hardly ate. I was too busy partying. And when everyone was eating people were doing the most amazing speeches…. Everyone said the food was yums though. I was just too emotional the whole day plus I had eaten enough the 5 days prior to have stored amounts of food for the wedding day.  We partied a lot and unfortunately it started raining an hour or so before our reception was to end. We had paid for an extra hour because well what else would we do since the disco was closed?? Our Dj closed shop to save his equipment and we took the party to the lobby and then later jumped in the pool for a swim. It was amazing. We danced a whole lot and I’m a sweaty mess in most photos- I can’t wait to get my pro pics back – but it will be weeks. Agh! I’ll share what I have though.

 

*This has gone on way too long- and I feel like I have been babbling uncontrollably. If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

 

Shout Out to all the PRC women who I could not have done any of this planning without. Many Thanks!! I hope I can help the next generation of PRC brides to be...

 

When the paradisus is in full swing- it is awesome. This is why we booked our wedding there. I think the whole flu thing was a pro and a con- we had less amenities available to us but we were treated like royalty and never had to wait for much becuase there was low occupancy. Despite these issues our guests had a wonderful time. It was a beautiful venue for a wedding and I wouldn't change anything on the wedding day itself except the rain- but we got amazing light after that shower so maybe not.

 

It all happens as it’s supposed to right?

 

Photos in another thread. This is crazy..

[bumbles]

Thanks for the well-written review. Can't wait to see the pictures It's a torturous waiting period!

[Helen_S81]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review! I'm sorry that this trip to the resort didn't meet your expectations from previous visits. Congratulations on your marriage and I can't wait to see the photos!

[JOSIE]

Awesome review Yamille!! Thanks SO much!! Congrats on being officially married!

[tylersgirl]

Congrats girl!! Can't wait to see pictures!

[Soon To Be Mrs. Gomez]

Sorry about the resort low occupancy issues. I had similar issues at my wedding regarding low guest count, but I had a positive attitiude about it like you. It did sounded like your wedding day went perfect though and that's what counts. I hope you have a long loving marriage.

[KLC77]

Congrats Yamille! So quick with your review.