Riu Palace Las Americas wedding review

[amdecker]

Amy’s wedding review-Riu Palace Las Americas 9-11-09

I have to start off this review with a shout out to BDW forum. This website has been instrumental in my wedding planning and I can’t thank everyone enough for all the helpful comments and for posting the DIY projects. I especially want to thank Mrs. Martin, I took your advice and picked this hotel without ever having visited it beforehand and I couldn’t have been more pleased! (I’m also following Mrs. Martin’s review layout).

 

Hotel- I love this hotel! It was so nice and conveniently located in the hotel zone. It’s close to shopping, the clubs and bars and is right beside its sister resort, Riu Cancun. (In my personal opinion, it is also the nicest of the 3 Riu hotels in Cancun.) Like Mrs. Martin, we were upgraded to a bigger suite when we arrived which was so nice! That first day we walked around the entire hotel. Our trip to Cancun was at a great time of year because the hotel was not crowded. The grounds were beautiful and the cleaning staff did such a great job keeping everything looking shiny and new!

The pools were clean and so refreshing! The party pool was a lot of fun with activities and music but if you wanted a more peaceful setting there were plenty of chairs on the opposite side of the pool near the Jacuzzi. The only thing that was hard to get were the cabanas near the main infinity pool. There are only 8 and they are taken right away but there are plenty of chairs in so many different areas that it really wasn’t a big deal.

 

 

 

 

 

[amdecker]

Food- Fantastic! No one in our group ever got sick (at least not from food). In fact, most people raved about the food. Unlike Mrs. Martin, I was not able to get our entire group reservations for a “welcome dinnerâ€. I was a little irritated by that but that evening everyone showed up at different times so the buffet ended up being a good choice. For the wedding day, we reserved El Romero steakhouse. It was so beautiful to be outside for the dinner. It was a little warm at first but once the sun went down it was perfect. The food was great, especially the flaming dessert! We also had wedding cake which was excellent. After that night, most people made reservations for dinner in smaller groups. My husband and I ate at every restaurant but our favorite was Tio Pepe. You do have to make reservations ahead of time for the restaurants, but I figured out their schedule. Hint: one night there were 7 of us and we had no reservation and wanted to eat at Tio Pepe. We slipped them some money and they let our entire group in! It was worth it! There is 24 hour room service but we only used it once. I loved having breakfast at the buffet overlooking the pool and the ocean. It was so beautiful! (Shout out to Nicolas! He knew us and had the perfect spot waiting every morning!)

 

 

WC- I started with Lizette but was later changed to Pamela. I didn’t really ask her many questions before arriving in Cancun but at one point there was some confusion as to where I was having the cocktail reception after the wedding. It was all straightened out before I arrived though. When I arrived at the resort and met with Pamela, she seemed nice enough and went over all the details. Everything was fine except that she was trying to talk me out of having the wedding on the beach. That was one thing I would not budge on. No one in my group brought shoes! Pamela said they were concerned someone might trip on the rocks and fall and they didn’t want to be liable. It turned out completely fine.

I didn’t bring additional decorations for the wedding but I did bring the cake carving set, guest book, etc for the reception. Everything was set up on the terrace when Clint and I arrived.

One issue I did have was Pamela’s attitude toward the photographer, Cecilia I hired. I knew I had to pay for outside vendors but I thought it would be $75 not $100. Cecilia was a bit late and Pamela wouldn’t let her come to my room to take getting-ready pictures. Also, Cecilia was coming back the next day to take TTD pictures and I wanted to take them on the PUBLIC beach in front of the hotel. Pamela argued that I would have to pay another $100 for Cecilia to come back. She wasn’t even using the facilities! I was definitely irritated but thankfully Cecilia found another place for us to take pictures.

Overall, I would say Pamela was ok, she didn’t ruin my wedding or anything, but I thought she could have been better.

 

Wedding Day- It was awesome! It rained for a few minutes earlier in the afternoon but only out at sea. It made everything much cooler and made for some gorgeous pictures! The arch we ordered with the tropical flowers came out so gorgeous! A bunch of people hanging out at the pool stood around and watched but they were all very respectful. A few people from my wedding party made friends with them and got some great pictures from a different angle. The entire wedding could not have gone better. I absolutely loved the minister! She said the sweetest things. We didn’t get a professional videographer so our video is a bit hard to hear, but the guests heard everything clearly.

We took pictures for a bit after the wedding and then everyone headed to the terrace for the reception. We took some pictures cutting the cake before the photog left and she also took some pictures around the hotel with just me. Those pictures came out so awesome! I really can’t say enough good things about Cecilia Dumas. I loved her! Anyway, we didn’t have appetizers and it wasn’t necessary since we were going to dinner right after. Pamela did arrange for me to set up my iPod and dock which worked out nicely. The reception wasn’t private but there was no one else around.

For dinner, we ate at El Romero steakhouse which is outside. It was so beautiful to watch the sunset while eating dinner. We had both the flaming dessert and the wedding cake. Both were delicious! The dinner wasn’t private either, but this really wasn’t an issue at all. We had people give speeches and toasts and there was never a problem hearing them or other guests talking over them.

After dinner, everyone was pretty beat. Some of us did try to go over to La Pacha, the club in Riu Cancun next door, but at 11pm it still wasn’t open yet and we didn’t feel like waiting so we left. I guess in retrospect I could have paid to reserve the club, but I thought that was a lot of money and for our group, only 25 people, it wasn’t worth it. So we didn’t do a first dance or throw the bouquet or any of that, but let’s be honest, nothing about this wedding was traditional so who cares? We all had a fantastic time. My guests loved it, we loved it, and if I had to do it all over, I would still pick this hotel.

 

Let me know if you want any further information or have any questions.

 

 

 

 

[weddinggirl72]

I love your pictures!!! Thanks for the long review.

[jwilke5]

Great review and congrats!! You look beautiful!!

I'm planning to hire Cecilia for my wedding too, do you have any more pics you could post?

[super19]

Sounds amazing! Gorgeous pictures.

[Mrs. Martin]

Congratulations again!! You looked beautiful!! And they did a great job on arch, the flowers look great! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the hotel; it really is a great place. Did you post the rest of your wedding pics? I would love to see those!!

[*Meagan*]

Wow love your pictures! thanks for the review!

[michellemon]

Great review sounds like you had a great time cant wait till sept when we go ! Would love to see more pics! Thanks for great review it gives us a good idea of how our day will go . What time was your wedding ? Did you use the hotel salon for hair/make-up/nails ?

[mlabbe]

Congrats on the wedding! You two looked great

[baj]

great review and pic's thanks for sharing