Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya Brides??

[bettyuff]

First of all, sorry if my english is not the best.

 

My wedding Review:

 

Drama before the wedding:

 

I got the Presidential package from a travel agency ( the worst thing i could do), two days before my wedding my guest was calling me to said tan they would be change to other hotel because the angency didn´t pay on time and the hotel cancel their room, and now the hotel was full. WORST nightmere come true...Well at the end my houseband resolved that but he was 2 days in the counter solving that with the hotel staff. (the hotel staff was very nice). It was a problem of the agency not the hotel.

 

Wedding day:

 

 First thing we get breakfast in the room, it´s really good, later i went to the Spa and have my make up and hair done, the girl is awesome, maybe i didn´t love my make-up at 100%, but i never do.

I loooove my wedding, i was afraid because you never know how its going to look all the decoration toghether but the staff do a great job.

 The ceremony it´s too fast, for my was ok, but since i´m mexican, some of my family would like more time in the church ceremony.

I Hire a external Dj DOREMIXX, it´s ok.

The food was really good, every body loves the lobster cream.

The cake it´s delicius

I hire a external photographer not cheap at all (lucky photography) but i love for much more the pictures than i got from the hotel photographer.

 

Any question just ask me!

[Jo52may]

Hello brides to be, I have booked our wedding for may 2015 via Thomson UK. I have booked the gold package as I have been reading on here, that you can upgrade via the wedding co-ordinator out there. I have asked to upgrade to presidential package as I believe the palapa is included in this. I have had a reply and been told I can only upgrade via my travel agents and the highest package I can go to is platinum which I don't think the palapa is included in this? I am concerned as I have a party of over 40 people and it would be great to have a private reception. Anyone can give me any info if it is included in platinum package or how much extra would it cost to upgrade the palapa reception? What it is per head if we do have palapa beach BBQ ?

 

Thank you

[calgarybride2015]

I don't know about having to upgrade thru your travel agent?  I booked thru the hotel myself, and my travel agent just did our packages.  I have booked the free wedding but paid to upgrade to the palapa/private beach and never had any issues, or haven't been told there are any (IE I said I wanted it and wasn't told otherwise).

 

As far as I am aware from other brides, if the space is available you can pay for whatever you want!!!!

 

In Canadian dollars the upgrade from the free package to have the palapa was $980.  That is for 3 hours.  You pay for extra time over top of that, and you pay for the DJ, etc.   The beach bbq menu was approx Canadian $31.    That's what I chose.  The reason I chose the free package is because I didn't want all the extra fluff in the gold or higher packages. So this way I get more of what I actually want and it is actually cheaper.

 

You should email the wedding coordinators to get all their info, they sent me pages and pages of extras, costs, etc.

 

Good luck!

Edited June 19, 2014 by calgarybride2015

[saskbride]

I am thinking about upgrading from the free package too- I am like you there is not a lot of things that I really feel that we need. Now that the deposits are due and know how many people are coming I am feeling excited and ready to really start planning!

 

Hayley- do you know how many guests you are going to have? What day do you get there?

Calgarybride2015, congrats on your date too. Just give Maria a quick email to check she has everything. I sent all the paperwork back quite quickly which she agreed and haven't heard anything in ages but I'm sure it's all OK. I think it's natural when communicating from a distance to worry that things aren't all in order. They do encourage you to skype them so if that would help too, you could maybe do that. As for the time, I'm doing 3.30pm so it's getting slightly cooler but still time for some daylight pics - I'm getting married 10th Dec so won't be too disimilar to your daylight hours.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2014 by saskbride

[hayley82]

 

I am thinking about upgrading from the free package too- I am like you there is not a lot of things that I really feel that we need. Now that the deposits are due and know how many people are coming I am feeling excited and ready to really start planning!

 

Hayley- do you know how many guests you are going to have? What day do you get there?

 

We are arriving on the 1st December (Monday) and we have 14 guests coming too. Glad you are excited now! I'm getting very excited too - even with 5 months to go!!

[calgarybride2015]

Our group booking deposit deadline is July 18, so I plan to send some reminder emails out as alot of people haven't responded.  We sent out invites to 56 people, and I think we have about 20-22 people RSVP'd (but not everyone has put their deposit down)  I also put my general RSVP for that date as well, even just for an idea of who may come but book alone, etc.

 

It can be frustrating because you need to get info to the hotel, you need to order favors, etc. and don't want to be too far off in your numbers, so I hope my sweet reminder email will help

 

I have 7 months and I am sooooo excited!!

Edited July 3, 2014 by calgarybride2015

[saskbride]

I have been talking with Maria by email for the last few days- and she has responded to my emails almost immediately!

I am a bit confused and going to clarify in the next email I send about what her name is! The email that shows up says its from Maria but then the name at the bottom in the signature line is Andrea?

 

Regardless whoever is answering my questions is doing so promptly and they are very friendly!

 

We have 33 people booked right now with the possibility of a few more.. so we have decided to go with the palapa with the BBQ menu. I haven't decided what I am going to do for cocktail hour. At first I thought it seemed silly to pay for cocktails at an all inclusive resort but since the wedding area is so far away from the actual resort will probably do a cocktail hour.

Hayley- are all your guests going for 2 weeks? I wouldn't be able to get that much time off work so we go on the 7 for a week. I don't think any of our guests have chosen to stay longer.

[calgarybride2015]

I have been talking with Maria by email for the last few days- and she has responded to my emails almost immediately!

I am a bit confused and going to clarify in the next email I send about what her name is! The email that shows up says its from Maria but then the name at the bottom in the signature line is Andrea?

 

Regardless whoever is answering my questions is doing so promptly and they are very friendly!

 

We have 33 people booked right now with the possibility of a few more.. so we have decided to go with the palapa with the BBQ menu. I haven't decided what I am going to do for cocktail hour. At first I thought it seemed silly to pay for cocktails at an all inclusive resort but since the wedding area is so far away from the actual resort will probably do a cocktail hour.

Hayley- are all your guests going for 2 weeks? I wouldn't be able to get that much time off work so we go on the 7 for a week. I don't think any of our guests have chosen to stay longer.

 

Andrea is using Maria's email.   Maria went on mat leave and she is willing in, that is what she told me anyways. Andrea is much quicker  

 

Awesome number of guests!  less than 2 weeks and I shall know for certain who put the deposit money down.

I couldn't stay the 2 weeks because I have my school aged kids and it's not really a honeymoon, so we plan to go elsewhere after (maybe Vegas!)  A few guests are staying 2 weeks and I know one couple is doing 1 week with us, then 1 week at another resort.

 

I am doing the cocktail hour because of the distance back to find a drink!  But I agree, seems silly you have to pay for booze at an all inclusive.

 

Sorry I answered and you didn't ask me hehe... Sounds like most of us are doing the same thing. Can't wait for your reviews.

 

 

Having a hard time picking songs??

Are you getting flowers for your bridesmaids? They seem pricey.

Andrea also told me that when you upgrade your location for the reception the 10 people are no longer included, so you pay the BBQ menu price for everyone.  Did she tell you that too?

We should all throw our questions out on the board to see if 1. we have different answers lol and 2. to see if anyone forgot to ask anything!!!

[calgarybride2015]

I wonder if over the years the resort photographers have changed?

Lots of people mentioning in the earlier posts (ie 2011) pictures were included and they don't seem to be now.

 

Photo Adventures is the place now and I was scared, but a girlfriend just got married there and she used them and LOVED them. She ended up buying way more photos then the ones that were included and I saw them and think they are fantastic.

 

 

[heather23faye]

Hi Jo

 

I have booked with Thomsons UK also and had originally booked the Gold package with the intention of upgrading via the hotel. After various email exchanges it turned out this wasn't possible and I ended up having to upgrade with Thomson direct (I did this about 2 weeks ago). They now offer the Presidential package too and so we have booked this. It is quite pricey in comparison to the cost of booking it direct with the hotel though. It does vary slightly to what is included in the hotels package too. I'm hoping it will be worth it.

 

In relation to the Palpa it says 30 guests minimum on the paperwork sent to me, but I haven't addressed this direct with the wedding co-ordinator yet. We have 27 booked on at the minute so will have to see what happens.

 

If you want to just add on the Palpa alone it is just over £525 (2014 prices so 2015 will no doubt increase) this is for 3hours service. I don't know if there would be extra costs involved regarding the food though.

 

Hope this makes sense. X

 

Hello brides to be, I have booked our wedding for may 2015 via Thomson UK. I have booked the gold package as I have been reading on here, that you can upgrade via the wedding co-ordinator out there. I have asked to upgrade to presidential package as I believe the palapa is included in this. I have had a reply and been told I can only upgrade via my travel agents and the highest package I can go to is platinum which I don't think the palapa is included in this? I am concerned as I have a party of over 40 people and it would be great to have a private reception. Anyone can give me any info if it is included in platinum package or how much extra would it cost to upgrade the palapa reception? What it is per head if we do have palapa beach BBQ ?

Thank you