Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya Brides??

[denita]

Ok so I will start with check in. Rob and I went a week early so our check in was a breeze, but the groups check in was a nightmare.  I don't know if it was Air Transat fault, our TA's fault or the resorts fault but they had Robs 11 year old daughter with her own room, my sister had 5 rooms, my mom had no room and the list goes on but we did get it sorted out and everyone wound up getting a room.  It just took longer than it should have and after spending over an hour on the bus that is the last thing you want.

 

The resort itself is alright, it is clean but a little to contemporary for me.  The beds are terrible, the king we had the first week was hard and the double we had when our daughter came was soft.  The first room we couldn't get face clothes on a daily basis and the second room the a/c wasn't the greatest.  We tried to keep the king room and just have a cot brought up for our daughter as the hide-a-bed was not fit for sleeping on but they said they couldn't do that so we switched rooms but on our way to the other room we saw a single bed in the hallway.  But it worked out better anyway as we were closer to the rest of our group.

 

The service was good.  Breakfast alot of the time had no spoons to stir the coffee but it was a pretty busy place so you just roll with it. 

 

We had our meeting with the wedding coordinator, we met with Cecilia and Pamela both were great, I did take my emails but didn't need them because Aracely did remember the issues we discussed.  We are a pretty laid back couple so we had no huge demands and didn't do anything about having favors or anything like that.  We did want the Mexican Trio to play at the ceremony and this seemed to confuse them a bit but it all worked out.  We went over flowers and all the little extras that add up and then went upstairs to pay.  They did come get my dress to get steamed in Playa and it hung in the wc office until the day of the wedding.  Not once was photography mentioned and I didn't bring it up.  Let sleeping dogs lie right.

 

We went to the Italian, Cajun and Japanese and French for our ala carte choices in the first week.  The French and Japanese are longer meals so be prepared to sit and relax.  They were all good but we did have later seat times. 

 

We went to the spa for our massage and water circuit treatment.  I must say the massage was great both of us really enjoyed it, the water circuit however was freezing, you got used to it but it was cold but free with the massage so we did it anyhow.  I didn't bother with a hair and make-up trial as I didn't want to waste valuble vacation time.

 

Overall our first week was fantastic, very relaxing and enjoyable.

 

I will post more about the wedding later as I know that's whats important on here.

[MissAnnette]

To clarify: The WC made it sound as though our reception would be at the other beach location. Has anyone heard of a reception being held on the beach, NOT in the palapa?

 

[denita]

I did see them setting things up by the snack bar on the beach as well as in the snack bar we saw a reception.  To be quite honest they both looked private.  I mean by the time you have your reception it is dark and every one is off eating or in the lounge so it's not like they will be trying to join you.

[denita]

Ok so now on to wedding day.  It rained in the morning but thankfully stopped that was a little stressful as they want you to make a decision 4 hours before the ceremony whether or not to take shelter.  It didn't come to that for us.

 

Wedding day was pretty easy.  I went to the spa at 11:30 for hair and make-up and Rob met our photographer at noon, got him a wrist band and showed him to the spa.  The woman who did my hair was amazing.  She was very meticulous and took her time and it was worth it.  I didn't take any photos but she had magazines there to look through and my make up was fantastic, I took my own false eyelashes and she put them on perfectly, she uses MAC cosmetics as well as a few other brands.  The only complaint is that my flowers were late and so there wasn't one for my hair at the spa and by the time they arrived we couldn't put them in my hair as the lilly was huge and just didn't look right.

 

The ceremony was supposed to start at 3pm but didn't actually start until probably 3:30 after the flowers arrived and they got everyone shuttled to the spot ect.

 

The spot was beautiful.  The flowers were beautiful everything I wanted.  The mexican trio was playing softer songs for the guests and the wedding party down the isle.  My aunt actually thought they played some Beethoven.  They were definitely a nice touch and everyone enjoyed their presence.  We had a symbolic ceremony so there was no legalities in Mexico.  The ceremony was lovely except that the minister messed up Rob's name and called him by my last name so we had to correct her and it was even mispelled on the certificate which you can see in the pictures. They did send us a correct one a couple days later. The resort photographer was there even though I had requested them not to be but she stayed out of our pro photographer pretty good I think.  There were appetizers and champagne after and the Mexican Trio played a few party songs and we had pictures done.  Pictures had to be done fast as the sun goes down pretty quick so we hurried around the beach area getting family photos ect.  Then everyone headed back to the lounge to wait for the italian restaurant to open at 6pm.  We stuck around and had bridal party photos taken.  We then walked to the lounge as the shuttle was gone and it wasn't a big deal to me, I actually enjoyed walking through the resort looking like a princess.

 

The italian restaurant was amazing.  The food was amazing, the service was unbelievable.  We had an extra spot for the Photographer so maybe they thought he was a guest I  have no idea.  We had a problem with the projector for our slide show but Cecilia got someone to fix it right away and they didn't bring the cake server but again she went and got it right away.  I can't say  enough about the servers that night they were amazing.  Alejandro was our maitre'd and he was awesome, there was a fellow who was quite the entertainer and brought trays of shooters out on his head.  Every time I got up when I came back someone pulled out my chair.  We had the lasagna and it was amazing.  Even the pickiest eaters in our guest list couldn't complain about anything there.  The wedding cake was beautiful but we were all too full to actually eat all of it so I advise getting a smaller cake, we had a 3 tier and it was way too much.  The four hours goes by very quick and we had a very simple affair so there was just a couple hours to dance but by the end we were exhausted.

 

I am so happy I got an out side photographer.  Gonzalo Nunez is his name.  I haven't seen our pictures yet but after picking the ones from the resort I just know his will be amazing.  THe resort photog had some really nice shots but some of them the cropping and positioning was just off.  We did find 25 so that was good but once again they were nothing fantastic.

 

Over all it was an amazing day and I wouldn't have done it any other way.  If anyone has any questions let me know.  I will try to upload some photos.

 

[denita]

[denita]

Oh the only thing I really regret is we totally forgot to take off our wrist bands until AFTER the ceremony.  So we have lovely blue bands on I had mine turned to white at least but still ..

[MJKH]

The last time we were there, I also saw a reception taking place on the main beach (they used the snack bar for all the prep I think)...I know they hold lobster dinners/bbqs there too. As another bride mentioned, after the sun goes down the beach areas are deserted (other than couples like us who are out for a leisurely stroll)...what would be nice about that space is that it's easy for your guests to zip back to their rooms if/when they need to.
 

Originally Posted by MissAnnette 

To clarify: The WC made it sound as though our reception would be at the other beach location. Has anyone heard of a reception being held on the beach, NOT in the palapa?

 

 

[MJKH]

HELP...feeling frustrated that, with around 60 days left to go until we leave, my e-mails are still going unanswered...and now I really need confirmation of things like our request for the rehearsal supper venue being approved, etc. so we can put this in our paperwork to our guests.  This is where I'm sending my e-mails:

 

[email protected]

 

should I be trying another e-mail address?

[janette34]

That is the email address I have been using and usually get a response back within a few days.  Instead of doing a rehearsal dinner we are doing a welcome dinner and I was told that the location couldn't be confirmed until a week prior. 

 

Originally Posted by MJKH 

HELP...feeling frustrated that, with around 60 days left to go until we leave, my e-mails are still going unanswered...and now I really need confirmation of things like our request for the rehearsal supper venue being approved, etc. so we can put this in our paperwork to our guests.  This is where I'm sending my e-mails:

 

[email protected]

 

should I be trying another e-mail address?

 

[MJKH]

Thanks Janette, I hadn't heard that.  I guess it makes sense because the top priority for bookings in the a la cartes would be wedding receptions.