Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya Brides??

[MRS2012]

Oh...I also have a question for any recent visitors to the Walmart and/or Costco that are apparently in PDC.

 

We were thinking of picking up some bar snacks and treats to put out the night of the wedding, and would really prefer to not have to bring them down with us.  Would we be able to find a good selection of things like mixed nuts, bulk candy, etc. in PDC for a reasonable price?  Between the appies and dinner served the evening of your reception, was there enough to feed the hungriest of guests?  We plan on serving the appies with the champagne right after the ceremony (our ceremony starts at 3:30)...then all of the pictures take place...then we return to the palapa after sunset for margaritas and mariachi...during which time I thought it might be nice to have some bar snacks available.  Would this be overkill?

 

Just curious also...does anyone know long a typical legal ceremony takes?

 

 

[siobhane]

I am booked for a symbolic package at GS on February 5, 2012!

Is there anyone on here who booked their package through Transat?  I wanted to know how your experience was...

Also, did anyone have their wedding dinner at the Japanese restaurant.  I wanted to have my wedding dinner there, but was concerned about the set-up of tables and the amount of time dinner will take.

Thanks!

[donnaalec11]

@ Mrs 2012

 

I wouldn't worry about your emails.  I was the same last year it took weeks for a response at first but as time gets nearer the emails will become more frequent.  you wouldn't believe how many hours they work and how many emails they get.  they just like all of us do i guess prioritise there work. we didn't have the presidential suite as i left it too late to decide which package i wanted and as there are only 3 they were booked, however our platinum upgrade was just as nice although the presidential is a lot bigger and the jacuzzi better.  I do have photos of the rooms and also the palapa where you can have your reception if you would like me to email them direct to you.  

 

I would try and book the presidential suite though as soon as you can.  everything else comes later.  They will email you a booking form where you will fill in all of your guests names and any special requests.  they will also email you a form to fill in with all of your wedding details, package, music, location, reception meal, and rehearsal dinner etc.  Apart from that there is nothing much else to do.  I was panicking myself as i felt like i hadn't done anything and i was flying over there.  But my mind was put at rest the following day when i met with the WC  she went through everything and they are based on site so any bits you might forget you can normally catch them in there office around 10 in the morning or 3 afternoon.  They did double book the italian, we had chose this for our rehearsal dinner and there was a wedding having a private meal there on that night so she offered to book the italian on a different night for us all plus the night we should have been there have rehearsal dinner in one of the other a la cartes.  so we had 2 rehersal dinners. plus we went for the brazilian and it was gorgeous food.  They will go out of there way to help you get whatever you want for your special day.  As for the spa if you have hair and make up as part of your package the hairdresser will already be booked for you on that day.  although i did put it in my guest form as a reminder. 

 

good luck with everything, 

 

Donna

[Shahlo]

Congratulations Donna! Sounds like everything went very well and it's good to know that you were happy and satisfied with everything.

 

Thank you very much for your review, I am getting even more excited now.
 

Originally Posted by donnaalec11 

Hi there

 

Just got back from the grand sirenis on wednesday.  Well what can i say.  One word.  Amazing.

 

Hotel  The Hotel is spotless. The rooms are really spacious.  Unless you have the presidential suites which there are only 3 of all the rooms are the same size.  the bath is huge and does take some time to fill but well worth it.  The grounds are really clean and the pools are too.  We were situated near the pool bar next to el rancho so we spent quite a lot of time there.  the cocktails are fab.  Miami vice a definate must.  

 

Food  The buffet restaurant has lots to offer and they do have themed nights which are really nice too. There is always pizza and pasta cooked fresh in your choice of sauce if you don't find anything else.  Also steak, chicken and fish cooked fresh as you wait.  The kids loved it because they could just eat what they wanted.  The a la carte's ,  el rancho(steak house)  I wasn't bothered about this one, my soup was cold and the steak a bit tough although the buffet starter was nice, didn't enjoy the mexican either i found it a bit bland.  the Italian, japanese and brazilian are a must they were really nice the brazilian being my favourite,  i tried to get in the second week but left it too late to book. 

 

Wedding  Absolutely amazing.  I had most dealings with Cecilia although i did meet pamela and araceli.  They are fantastic cannot do enough for you.  I met with Pamela the day after we arrived and we went through everything with her.  They really do know what they are doing.  The flowers i wanted were not in season so i had to choose another flower for my bouquet which they helped with as i wanted the leaves wrapped back so they told me which would look the best and they didn't disappoint.  flowers were stunning and the button holes were done the same way.  We got married on the private beach in front of the palapa.  It was rather a windy day the day we got married so we got a bit windswept down there but i'm sure if cecilia could have stopped the wind she would have.  She couldn't do enough for us.  we moved from the beach for photographs as i was worrying about my hair falling out because of the wind,  we had some more photos done down in front of the sirenis on the beach there as the wind did calm a bit after the ceremony.  From here we were took to the palapa which looked absoulutely stunning.  We had the beach menu salad for starter followed by soup then steak or salmon followed by chocolate brownie then wedding cake. The food was gorgeous, The cake was lovely too.  We did hire the dj and he did a great job. We had such a good night that we paid for an extra hour as we didn't want to leave.

 

Spa  My hair and make up was perfect.  I got married at 5 and we had to be at the spa at 10.  both myself and my sister (bridesmaid) had hair and make up done.  there is just the one lady that does both and she was amazing.  i was very impressed with what she did.  We thought that 10am was early but it worked just right for us it was about half 10 when she started and we were finished for around 3ish she also fixed my nail for me too. she takes her time she is a perfectionist but thats what you want on your special day.   we then got ready down at the spa and the photographer arrived at 4 to take pictures.  so although it might sound like a long time, as we though that too, it wasn't really it, was better as we didn't feel rushed, although i did leave my hoop for under my dress in the room so i  had to get someone to fetch it down to us,  still not sure who did that for me but it was down at the spa within 5 minutes.  

 

We did have an upgraded room as we had the platinum package and it was stunning.  four poster bed, 2  40" flat screen tv's and every games console you could wish for although we never used them  the kids did sneak in there at times for an hour out of the sun.  so wasn't a bad thing.  we also had a shelf of top brand full bottles of every spirit you could wish for as well as the well stocked mini bar.  We also had gourmet bites almost every day too. plus snacks such as pringles, chocolate bars and biscuits.  It was beautiful.  they went to town on the room on the wedding night too i'll not spoil your surprise but the room was stunning.  They really made us feel special.

 

Photographer   My photos are amazing.  you wouldn;t know it was windy looking at my pictures.  I was worried about this showing on the pictures but they are fantastic.  They took over 300 pictures and i wanted them all.  the dvd we had done is beautiful too although you can hear the wind at the ceremony it was hard to hear what was being said when we were actually there so i knew it would be like that on the dvd.  It was just unfortunate that i picked the windiest day out of the 2 weeks to be married on. although we did have a really bad rain one of the days we were there and there was a wedding too so mine didn't seem that bad i was gutted for the bride that day.   

 

I loved everything about the Grand sirenis, the people are so friendly. I would definatley return there and if i could i would get married all over again because i had such a fantasitc time and it goes by in a flash.  so all you sirenis brides to be,  enjoy. because i did.  every minute of it. xxx  Donna & Alec Lindsay

 

[Shahlo]

Hi Siobhane,

 

We were going to book transat package but our TA advised not to do so. Apparently, they have a lot of extras that are not included in the package so you end up paying much more and she also mentioned that the services that they provide are not as good as those of the resort. So at the end we went with the resort one, unfortunately we took too long (as we were doing transat) and missed on presidential suit.
 

Originally Posted by siobhane 

I am booked for a symbolic package at GS on February 5, 2012!

Is there anyone on here who booked their package through Transat?  I wanted to know how your experience was...

Also, did anyone have their wedding dinner at the Japanese restaurant.  I wanted to have my wedding dinner there, but was concerned about the set-up of tables and the amount of time dinner will take.

Thanks!

 

[Shahlo]

Hi Donna,

 

could you email me the pictures as well? I am getting married in GS on Jan 18th and would absolutely love to see the palapa and the area, that's what we picked too. My email is [email protected]

 

Thank you.
 

Originally Posted by donnaalec11 

@ Mrs 2012

 

I wouldn't worry about your emails.  I was the same last year it took weeks for a response at first but as time gets nearer the emails will become more frequent.  you wouldn't believe how many hours they work and how many emails they get.  they just like all of us do i guess prioritise there work. we didn't have the presidential suite as i left it too late to decide which package i wanted and as there are only 3 they were booked, however our platinum upgrade was just as nice although the presidential is a lot bigger and the jacuzzi better.  I do have photos of the rooms and also the palapa where you can have your reception if you would like me to email them direct to you.  

 

I would try and book the presidential suite though as soon as you can.  everything else comes later.  They will email you a booking form where you will fill in all of your guests names and any special requests.  they will also email you a form to fill in with all of your wedding details, package, music, location, reception meal, and rehearsal dinner etc.  Apart from that there is nothing much else to do.  I was panicking myself as i felt like i hadn't done anything and i was flying over there.  But my mind was put at rest the following day when i met with the WC  she went through everything and they are based on site so any bits you might forget you can normally catch them in there office around 10 in the morning or 3 afternoon.  They did double book the italian, we had chose this for our rehearsal dinner and there was a wedding having a private meal there on that night so she offered to book the italian on a different night for us all plus the night we should have been there have rehearsal dinner in one of the other a la cartes.  so we had 2 rehersal dinners. plus we went for the brazilian and it was gorgeous food.  They will go out of there way to help you get whatever you want for your special day.  As for the spa if you have hair and make up as part of your package the hairdresser will already be booked for you on that day.  although i did put it in my guest form as a reminder. 

 

good luck with everything, 

 

Donna

 

[MissAnnette]

Our date is Feb 8, 2012 at the GS so I'll see you there!

 

[donnaalec11]

@mrs2012  i have tried to email you over some pictures but it my email doesn't like your email address  .net??  i will keep trying or if you have an alternative email i will try that.

 

donna

[Lesleyf]

Hi Donna

 

Congratulations on your Wedding and am really pleased that you had a wonderful day.

 

My daughter is getting married at the Grand Sirenis on 15th July.  We actually arrive on 6th for two weeks - 40 of us travelling out of Gatwick with Thomas cook.

I just have a couple of questions.  Was most of the details to the wedding done when you arrived i.e. flowers, ordering the food, rehersal dinner ect???  Did you take your own decoration for the Palapa or did they do that for you???  Did you use the on site photographer if so did you book the package you wanted before you went or did you organise this with them when you were there???

If you have any pictures of the Palapa it would be great to see what they do and what it will look like.

Oh and nearly forgot - Can i just double check with you that you dot not need to get birth certificated translated.  Have asked Araceli and she has told me they only have to be translated if you have been previously married.  Can you just confirm this with me .

 

Thanks soo much

Not long now til we go and want to make sure we have everything we need.

 

Lesley

[donnaalec11]

@ lesley.  I have sent you a PM  i did send the same email to many so you have more pictures than you asked for.  I booked the wedding direct with the hotel and a few weeks before we went we were sent out forms to fill in with all the wedding details and guests staying. Have you not had these yet??  I did ask our guests be nearby and we were all in block 17 apart from us we were in block 18 as we had an upgraded room but it was very close to them.  those 2 blocks were actually in a good location for pretty much everything. 

 

the day after we arrive we went through the forms and i did alter a few things as i had changed my mind but it wasn't a problem. we had booked the italian for rehearsal dinner but the day we had chose was taken by a private wedding so we chose the brazilian and they did another for us all at the italian for a few days after the wedding to apologise for the double booking.  so we had 2 rehearsal dinners both gorgeous.   the food at the palapa if you're not having the lobster is a choice of steak or salmon which were just told to ask our guests and let her know 48 hours before the day.  

 

We did use the onsite photographer we were very pleased with the photographs they did a fantastic job, we also had an edited dvd.  I emailed photo carribean direct and spoke to the main guy there is name is francisco and he has been most helpful. we had cecilio take our pictures and he was fantastic.   we did choose a package before we went but we popped into the store they have on site to confirm the package although i'm sure if you change your mind after you see the photographs you could as we didn't have to pay until we collected the pictures. 

 

The birth certificate had me panicking too.  I didn't translate mine i just took a photocopy of it and they never even looked at it.  all they asked for was our passports and tourist cards but i'd take a copy just to be on the safe side. 

 

 

Good luck with everything.  I bet you're really excited now.  and i would be too it was everything i had dreamed of and more and i want to do it all over again.

 

 

If any of you brides are on facebook i do have all my wedding pictures on there so it you any of you want to friend request me.  Or facebook page photo carribean there are a few of my pictures plus loads of other weddings on there.