The Now Riviera Cancun

[Tracysab]

Lisa Continued...lol

 

2. Terrace outside of bamboo room.  Yes-there is a terrace that wraps around the room-but that part is not part of the private reception.  However, it's at the end of the walkway to the beach-so no guests other than your wedding group are likely to walk all the way down there in the evening.  There are a few tables and chairs.  I think it would be fine to bring your own decoration.  You'll have to ask Pilar exactly how many there are.  I'm not positive because I didn't go out there that much.  I know a lot of my guests would go out there to chat and smoke, etc...

 

3. Wait staff - There is no private bar in the bamboo room.  We had 2 or 3 waiters and they were somewhat slow in the beginning.  My husband went and chatted with one of them to make sure that everyone had full drinks and that seemed to help.  Also-the blue bar is right next to the room-so I think we had some guests going out there when they went to smoke.  I didn't notice it at all (my drink was always full...lol)-but that's what the hubby just told me.

 

4.  Welcome Dinner Charge - Yes- we paid the $22 per person to have the a la cart.  However, that does not guarantee you that the restaurant will be private to your party.  They only to promise to have a section reserved for you.  For the private party-they usually charge $500 (in addition to the $22 per person).  That is why I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out that they reserved the whole thing for us. 

 

5.  Welcome Bags-we had beach bags full of goodies for all of our guests-but we did not have them put in each room before the arrival.  We just had too many people coming on different days and times-it would have been too hard.  I do think they would do this for you if you asked though.  We ended up meeting up with all of our guests in the lobby the night before the welcome dinner to pass them out. 

 

6.  Ceremony Songs-I had 8 song that I designated as seating/waiting songs.  They played those until the wedding party was ready to get started.  I have no idea how many they played-I just put enough songs on there so they wouldn't run out.  I had 1 song designated for my grandparents, both mom, and bridesmaids to walk down the aisle to.  The song was slightly longer than needed-so the music guy faded it out so that it wasn't an abrupt stop.  He did the same for my song walking down the aisle.  I didn't need the whole song-so it was lighly faded out. 

 

7.  Video - The videographer was superfast.  We stayed at a resort in playa del carmen for our honeymoon and he delivered it himself to our new resort about 4 days after the wedding.

 

8.  We did not get the massages but we attempted the dinner on the beach.  Unfortunately, it was super windy so the tiki torches kept blowing out!  Not so romantic!  So we asked the waiter if he could do it in our room and they accomodated us.  The food was awesome and they even had some singers come in during the main course to sing for us.

 

9.  Hot Tub - could work depending on where your room is.  Our room was oceanview-but it was also facing one of the main walkways for the hotel.  I'm sure there are more private rooms for some hot tub fun-ours just wasn't one of them.  I don't think you could do the curtain-but you could try!

 

10. I don't remember the cake number-just that it was white with some kind of orange flowers on it.  They ended up using different flowers to match the ones I already had.  I got the marble with chocolate filling I think.  Honestly, the only bite of cake I ate was when we cut it and fed it to each other-it was decent.  We paid for the extra 25 people-but if I were to do it again and still have the buffet (which has desserts on it already) - i would just get the cake to feed 25. 

 

11.  Cocktail Hour - No signature drink.  There were several tables-some that were lower and sit down to seat 4-with no coverings.  Also a few bar level cocktail tables for people to stand around.  Those had some white linens on them tied around the middle part.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the cocktail hour alot.

 

12.  Signs - Yes!  They had very nice signs in front of the events that would have the name of the bride and groom and then say "Private Party" on it.

 

13.  Our reception was scheduled to go from 7-11.  It ended up starting around 6:30 though.  The dj stayed until about 11:15-so almost an hour later than what we paid for.

 

14.  Hair and makeup - I did not use the spa.  My hairdresser and good friend was at the wedding so she did my hair.  I hired Adrian Guerra to do the makeup for me, my bridesmaids, mom and mother in law (as a surprise).  I found Adrian on this forum and he was fantastic!  His initial quotes are kind of high-but he will work with your budget-especially if you have multiple people.

 

15.  Excursions - we didn't do any until our honeymoon.  I had wanted to plan something for our guests if they were interested-but I spent so much time running around making sure everyone was ok that I never did.  Also-with a big group-it kind of turns into a 24 hour hotel party.  I don't think anyone even wanted to leave the resort!

 

16.  Ironing Sashes - I paid the $1 for each.  There was just too much going on to have to worry about doing that the night before the wedding.

 

17.  After Party - I know a lot of my guests headed to the sports bar afterwards (we spent a lot of late nights there before the wedding) - but my husband and I didn't.  I, unfortunately, had a little too much to drink and did not eat practically anything the whole wedding day-so needless to say-it was time to go back to the room!  lol

 

18.  Coco Bongo - We didn't go out in cancun while we were there-but we have been to coco bongo on a previous trip and had a blast!

 

Ok-hope that helps!!!!

[21aholden]

Tracy - Thank you so much for the awesome review. We are having our reception in the bamboo room as well. I just got so excited when I saw your pictures, everything looked amazing!

[Tracysab]

Picture of the sign for a private event:

[lisadias]

Tracy you ROCK! Thanks for taking the time to fill out my questionaire lol

Helps alot!!!!

[lisadias]

oh and by the way, everything in the bamboo room looks awesome!!!!! I was thinking of bringing string lights for the bamboo against the back wall but I see there are lights set up there already behind the bamboo. One less thing to pack yay! Did you request the rectangular tables? I assumed they were round tables. Was the head table at the entrance with your backs to the ocean or is the head table in front of the buffet with both people on each each of the table? I can't tell from the pics.

[jystar13]

everything looked awesome!!! congrats! i'm getting married at the now sapphire and i still get just as excited when i see these reviews since they are the same owners! good luck to you all!

[1106wedding]

Question about #17

 

Is the sports bar the only late night bar? Do they play music and is there dancing? Thanks!! Your info has been SOOO helpful!

 

Originally Posted by Tracysab 

 

17.  After Party - I know a lot of my guests headed to the sports bar afterwards (we spent a lot of late nights there before the wedding) - but my husband and I didn't.  I, unfortunately, had a little too much to drink and did not eat practically anything the whole wedding day-so needless to say-it was time to go back to the room!  lol

 

 

[MPopp]

Tracey, thanks SOOO much for the review! So reassuring to hear such a great review- especially about the food! 

 

I'm glad to hear that they took the chair sashes off from the ceremony and put them on at the reception. Did they charge extra to do this? I mean did they charge $1 per bow to put on at reception and then $1 per bow again at the reception? 

 

I'm assuming Pilar hung the lanterns for you at the reception? We are bringing tissue paper poms and I was wondering if she would do it for us or if we would have to... I have been trying to envision how it would look and your pics help tremendously!!!

 

Thanks again for such a detailed review- you rock!!!

[lisadias]

1106wedding-yes the sports bar is the only place open late till 1am and they have music and dancing.

Mpoop- they don't charge you the 1$ twice, they just move the same chairs used for the ceremony into the reception is what Pillar told me. Also Pilar told me any decoration you provide her at the first meeting they will set up for you free of charge as long as you provide directions of how you want it. I would add it to my planning form if I was you so it is logged.

[Tracysab]

Lisa-

 

You can set up the tables as either rectangular or round in the bamboo room.  Specify round if that is what you want because I think they will default to rectangle if you don't tell her one way or the other. 

 

Head table-our table was set up in front of the buffet facing the ocean.  The picture on the previous page with the response about the lanterns shows it the best.  My maid of honor standing in the center of the room facing us with her back to the ocean.  We are standing up right behind our table and in front of the buffet.  Hope that helps!

 

And yes-the lights in the room were dimmed and they had backlighting illuminating the bamboo around the wall.  I think it would look great with or without the string lights.