Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya Brides??

[corbeil]

Hi Ladies! We got back a couple of days ago from our wedding and 2 week stay here. I am working on a review right now to share so I can try to answer some of your questions. If you have anything specific let me know.

 

We book the palapa for the wedding and it was wonderful. I am so glad that we splurged and got it!

[suemun]

Could someone tell me if the Presidential or Platinum ceremony, that includes a private dinner on the beach, is that at the palapa?  Did anyone get this package and how was it. 

[Melaina]

We did the four hours (6 to 10 p.m.), but since our DJ was 45 minutes late, it was actually more like 7 - 11 p.m. We didn't go anywhere after, we were POOPED! I think some of our wedding party went to the disco there and they had fun (we went to the disco earlier in the week and shut it down... hahaha).

 

I hate to say it, but I chose the Italian JUST for the decor. It was beautiful and the food was amazing!! 
 

Originally Posted by denita 

Thanks for the info Melaina.  How long did was your reception for and did you go anywhere after like the disco?  I think that private is the way to go, just a bit more intimate right. I think I like the decor of the Italian restaurant the most out of the pictures I have seen, and you seem very happy with it so we will probably go with that one I assume.  The palapa is nice as well tho oh the decisions:)

 

[Melaina]

Welcome home and congrats!
 

Originally Posted by corbeil 

Hi Ladies! We got back a couple of days ago from our wedding and 2 week stay here. I am working on a review right now to share so I can try to answer some of your questions. If you have anything specific let me know.

 

We book the palapa for the wedding and it was wonderful. I am so glad that we splurged and got it!

 

[corbeil]

 

Hopefully this information will be helpful to someone

 

Hotel

There is wonderful snorkelling and diving right at the resort. There was always something to eat in the buffet and no one got sick, if anything people probably ate too much and felt off from that. Unfortunately the all of the heads in the shower don’t work anymore and the tub would have taken forever to fill if you tried. Did that ruin the stay, not at all but it was just some of the features that are missing now. This was our second trip there so we didn’t need to get acquainted with the resort; it was pretty much the same.

Al a Carte Restaurants

Surprisingly we really enjoyed the Steak House. I was born and raised in Alberta and I still enjoyed it! I don’t think that anyone had any real complains about the restaurants; most I heard was that the Mediterranean and Cajun were just OK. We were told by the concierge that we were only allowed to book 1 Japanese dinner for the 2 weeks that we were there. We pretty much told him too bad and to book it anyway. The people that were only staying for 1 week couldn’t even get a reservation here which was unfortunate because we always have a lot of fun.

Spa

This is the first time that I have been to the spa here. We really enjoyed the Water Circuit, some people even went multiple times. I had a manicure before the wedding and it was a bit scary for me. They were very quick with the scissors and cutting around the nail, enough that I had to actually look away because it was easier than watching! I had a manicure the week precious so I wasn’t sure why they were taking so much off. My husband booked a moonlight couples massage on the beach. It was really nice, but it was pretty pricey so I highly doubt that I would do it again. The one thing that they don’t tell you is that when you get a spa treatment you are able to eat lunch at the spa. They make you a custom stir fry and it was sure a nice change. If you don’t have an appointment you can eat there so make sure you give it a try.

Sirenis VIP

I personally feel like this is a waste of time. We weren’t treated any differently just because we had ‘gold’ wrist bands.  We did get flowers in the room, but this might have been because of the wedding I am not 100% sure. You are supposed to get 10% discount on hotel charges, diving, shops, etc. but we didn’t receive any of this. I guess this is partly my fault for not pushing it, but if you are a VIP it would be nice not to have to ask for everything that you are promised. We didn’t get the beach towels in our rooms and the mini bar was refilled daily anyway so I am not sure why this is on the list. We didn’t get the option of room cleaning hours and definitely no personalized concierge service. My parents used the free Gourmet Restaurant dinner and they enjoyed it. The one thing that I did like was the free Water Circuit at the spa. I don’t think that we would have tried it if it wasn’t free, but we ended up going again because it was so nice.

Wedding

We booked the palapa and had the ceremony right on the beach in front. It was amazing. We really didn’t get any other location options, but I am sure that we would have chose this anyway because it was so private. We had the ceremony at 3:00pm and the palapa was open at 5:00pm for us with dinner at 6:00pm. That left time for photos after the ceremony but not too much time that people were looking for something to do. I booked the Bliss package with Air Transat and that had everything that I was looking for. The bouquet was a lot smaller that I was thinking, but it was still beautiful. The original flowers that I picked out were considered exotic so we just made something up in our meeting. It seemed that I still had a lot of unanswered questions and things that I forgot to ask when I left the meeting. I think because there is just so much stuff to go over I got overwhelmed. I would recommend writing stuff down and make sure you bring all of your emails when you go (not just the coordinator but photographer as well). There were quite a few incidents where the emails clarified things and I didn’t have to get upset. Araceli was always helpful when you spoke with her. I think that there were 3 wedding on the same day as mine so Cecilia was there in the evening if we needed anything.

The dinner was great. We had to pay for the beach menu for everyone and then additionally for those that ordered the streak and shrimp. We didn’t know about that cost, but people already chose their menu so we just covered it. Araceli didn’t tell me that it was only the entree that people could choose, but we got it straightened out and I don’t think that anyone minded having the same soup.

Photographer

Well I didn’t speak with the photographer before the wedding which I guess I should of, but I didn’t know how it worked. He was only there for the ceremony and short period after (maybe 1hr total). We just took a few shots in the immediate area and that was it. There was no option of doing anything else. The photos were OK, but it wasn’t hard to just pick a few; we were definitely OK with not paying for all of them. Also make sure that you barter with them. They originally were only going to give us prints for the photos and we wanted the digital images. After negotiating we got the digital images and the addition images we wanted for a lower price then what was listed. We thought that the photos were very expensive and we told them as much.

Blood Tests

Well this was kind of interesting. We spoke with Cecilia as soon as we arrived and book the blood test for the next morning. When we went for our appointment and we were told that there was an emergency and they were not able to do it right now and we were told to come back in 1 hr. So we came back later and waited in line. When it was our turn we spoke to the lady there and she said that it was actually the paramedics that do the blood test and that there were not there and to come back later. So again we went back later and waited in line again (don’t worry it was air conditioned building) and the lady in line before us needed to be transferred somewhere and the paramedics were going to take her. So we spoke up and asked if blood work could be done quickly before they left. So we went to the back of the building in the ambulance to get the blood taken. It was all fine and sterile. They said to come back later to fill out the paperwork (aka pay them). Well we went back a couple of times and the right people were never there so we gave up. We figured that if they wanted our money that they could contact us because we were staying for 2 weeks. We never heard from them. I don’t know how this will affected the legality of our marriage because we do have the marriage licence, but you can only try for so long and I wanted to enjoy my holiday!

Well I think that is all that I have for now. Please let me know if you have any specific questions.

[corbeil]

I also added some templates for the welcome book and other stuff that I did if you are interested. Hopefully this link will work.

 

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/70887/templates-for-mexico-wedding#post_1567119

[Melaina]

Congrats! Sounded like you had a great week.

 

I laughed so hard about the blood tests... it was a gong show for us, too, but we ended up paying them. They never got back to us on the results, so we're just assuming that everything was fine...

 

[corbeil]

I actually saw you at your dinner in the itallian restaurant and you looked beautiful! I would have said hi, but some random stranger banging on the window might not have gone over so well!

[Melaina]

Ah, that's awesome! You totally should've come in... we had a few drift in, thinking that the restaurant was open for business

[MJKH]

Hi there!

 

The one question I still haven't found the answer to is:

 

When you book the platinum or presidential wedding package thru GS, does that include the reception in the palapa...or is it an additional charge of 11050 pesos to have your reception there?

 

The recent information package I have obtained from GS indicates the following:

"Photo Caribbean is inside the resort.  They have the exclusivity.  Penalty fee apply if you bring an external photographer ($300 usd)."  I'm hoping by the time our wedding happens that enough couples will complain about how ridiculous that charge is, they'll have no choice but to drop it.  Regardless, I would pay the penalty to bring someone in.  I would be so disappointed to have only a handful of decent photos from my wedding.