Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya Brides??

[ChristieG]

Here are some pictures of the  inside of the palapa and wedding location in front of the palapa....

[Shahlo]

@ Christie: You are amazing!!! Thank you so much. I am getting excited now

[MRS2012]

A few questions for the recent brides:

 

1) I'm assuming there is NOT a special meal offered to the children in the group...that if you pick steak, the children get steak too.  Is that right?  Anything on the beach menu that was a real hit or miss with your guests?  I'm trying to figure out if we can take advantage of the 10 lobster meals that come with our package...would that mean we have to do steak and lobster for ALL of the guests, even though probably half of us wouldn't eat or enjoy it?  For the other half of our group though, it would be such a treat!

 

2) Has anyone done a pinata in the palapa for the kids?

 

3) Any advice on bringing decor, favors, etc. with you on the flight down or sending them ahead of time?  I'm thinking I'll have to pay to take a whole extra suitcase at this point!

 

4) Any feedback on the DJs on site?  We want to have a family-friendly DJ who will make the kids feel a special part of the party...

[Melaina]

Hey Mrs2012,

 

I'm only partially helpful as I didn't have my reception in the palapa... For decor, we sent an extra suitcase down with my MIL. She was flying first class and got extra baggage allowance. Check your travel itinerary, too. My husband and I were each allowed an extra 10 kg each -- we used every last bit of it. It can get quite expensive for extra baggage (my photographer got dinged with a $150 bill coming back, going there was no issue).

 

The on-site DJ sucked for us. He was actually just a daytime pool boy: showed up 45 minutes late, in his pool uniform (hello short-shorts!) and played every *important* song wrong (first dance, dinner music, etc). Please note that he had all the tunes on pre-burned CDs, clearly labeled. All he really had to do was push "play" on his laptop. Very disappointed. We had to pay around $300 for his services.

 

We were asked if we had children in our group who needed special meals during our first meeting (we didn't, but I imagine this means that it is a valid request).

 

Cheers,

M

[ChristieG]

@MRS 2012

 

We just packed out decorations in our suitcase on the way down. Some of the guys hadn't planned on taking carryon suitcases so we packed some and had the wedding party carry them down. We ended up paying $60 each way for additional lugguage but that being said I made no effort to keep within my weight limit.

 

We didn't have any kids at our wedding but the palapa is certainly big enough to have a pinata. And in terms of meals, they weren't flexible on the meals when I was emailing but once I got there they were very accommodating. I am sure they will make you something special for the kids. I have a gluten allergy and they even made me my own dessert with cake mix I brought down for free in addition to the cake.

 

In terms of the dj, once we heard we had to pack our own music we decided not to bother with the dj. We brought and Ipod for the ceremony and a laptop for the reception and the sound guy from the resort ended up staying the whole time anyways  and he took care of turning the music off when we wanted to use the microphone and helped our friend who was in charge of music. I felt more comfortable having a friend do it since there wasn't much to be done and I was more relaxed since we had the opportunity to go over everything with him before hand rather than just see who the resort sends. If you do decide to do your own I would highly recommend a laptop, it allowed us to change things around and get rid of songs as the night went on since our speeches went a little longer than expected.

[MRS2012]

Oooo boy...I do appreciate your honesty about the dj...I think I may be expecting waaaay too much from the guy. I guess what I was hoping for was someone who could really keep the crowd engaged, kinda lead the kids in the pinata activity...but what I'm picturing is someone who would have a role more like the entertainment coordinator at the resort (i.e., really good with people!).  

[corbeil]

We had a couple of kids at our reception in the palapa. We just ordered them chicken fingers for dinner and they even brought them ketchup. Everyone was allowed to choose their entree for the dinner and we only paid the upgrade for the people that choose the surf n turf. We had to have the same salad and soup for everyone, but we got both desserts 50/50. Everyone really liked their meals, no complaints.

 

We didn't do anything special for the kids, but there would definitely be enough room if you wanted to. We found that there wasn't a whole lot of extra time either; we had cocktail hour 1st then the dinner and wedding cake a while after the dinner. We just brought our ipod and a speaker for it and had it playing the whole time we were in the palapa. It worked very well. We weren't worried about a dance though, so you might want a DJ for that.

[MRS2012]

Oh that would be great...so guests could just select between the surf and turf, steak OR salmon that night...or do they have to decide ahead of time?  I thought for sure we'd all have to have the same thing!  I got a super deal on some stationary that I could use as menu cards...and pre-print them before we leave...as long as I was fairly certain what the options would be.

 

From what I've read, the wedding cake is always the same flavour.  Did anyone take pics along of how they wanted it decorated...or do you just go with whatever the chef feels like doing with it?

 

 

[ejstrike]

I got married at Grand Sirenis August 21st 2010 if you would like any other info, opinions etc then let me no

[email protected]

Emma

[Kbodchill]

@Shalo: Hi Shalo!!! Congrats!! We're there for two weeks so I'm sure we'll run into each other! What sort of package are you looking at?