Gran Caribe Real 2011 Brides

[Vanessa C]

Kylashep2: How were the prices with Maya floral? Were u better off going with them or do u think the resort flowers would have been just as beautiful and priced reasonably? Also, what did you do as far as welcome bags, and favors?

Originally Posted by kylashep2 

Hey guys, I had my wedding at the GCR 7/22/11this is just a tid bit for you wonderful ladies to get yet another idea of a GCR wedding-Royal Catholic wedding and the reception on the green carpet terrace and the cocktail hour, I had the rehearsal dinner as well. Had DJ doremix w/ the light up dance floor-fire dancers during dinner and tents over the tables which BTW looked great. For the flowers I used Marvin from maya floral and for photography- photos in cancun, and for make-up & hair the Royal which was included in the package.

The rehearsal dinner was AMAZING they catered to you hand and foot and the food couldn't be any better. Everyone raved about the food.

We chose the green terrace b/c we could do both the cocktail hour & reception there (52 people were at our wedding)-we used the tents which I was a little iffy about-but they really tied everything together nicely-plus having some shade was nice. The ceremony was at 4pm cocktail @ 5pm and reception @ 6. Food again was good...ohh I had the tres leches cake-delicious. Since it was hot & the problem with tres leches is that it melts I asked them to keep it in the kitchen till it was time to cut the cake. I actually chose a couture cake 4 layers- and the included cake in the package for the rehearsal dinner. Only thing bout the cake was I wanted it very simple all white box layers and black strip at the bottom of each layer and flowers at the top just b/c I didn't get around to getting a cake topper- I know I know how do u forget a cake topper...I was allover the place in the months leading to the wedding and it totally slipped my mind. But they put these fake flowers-that looked cheesy not only on the top but on the side as well. These are one of the things you just say oh well and move on.

Can't say anything that hasn't already been said about the DJs they use-great!!! They're worth every penny.

The fire dancers were great too-only thing was we had them during the beginning so it wasn't all that dark yet-One of the guys used some type of glow stick so it looked a lil funny haha-so of course his "part" would've been a lot better in the dark LOL

The wedding day coordinator-Diana, beautiful, sweet and just don't have enough nice words for her. Andrea was the one I dealt with the whole year and she deserves just as much praise. She got back to me ASAP all the time. She stayed on top of everything.I was actually assigned to Flora at first but b/c of her reviews I didn't want to risk it so Andrea w/o a problem switched it.

The cocktail hour was beyond amazing-there was a ton of choices for everyone-I didn't know that you don't choose the foods at the cocktail hour out of their "hot and cold canapes" they have it all!

I had great communication with Marvin up until he dropped off the flowers-which my mom met with b/c I was doing hair & make-up. I asked over and over if he could get me white peonies and to make their bouquets full, I wouldn't have minded paying extra-his  response- that's not a problem we get ours from Holland. And he knew that my colors were pastel pink and white. He told my mom THE DAY OF THE WEDDING AT DROP OFF TIME he couldn't get me white peonies so he had something else AND had purple peonies in my 2 of my bridesmaid bouquets..seriously...purple!!! That's not what I wanted...so needless to say I was pissed but had to move on. I did use the bouquet from the package for my maid of honor, and it was beautiful and full. I got my bouquet, 4 bridesmaid bouquets and rose petals for the chapel from him. He did lower the price b/c he couldn't get the peonies but in my opinion you just don't choose what he wants and not let me know about it.

The make-up HORRIBLE-it was like caked on-she tried her best at fixing it but I was already late and was like whatever. My saving grace was my photographer's partner who is also his girlfriend, I knew she did make up but didn't want to pay more thinking "it's already in the package" She whipped out her mac brushes pouch, took out all her make up from sephora and some eyelashes and did a 360 on me...wish I would have payed for her in the beginning AND she touched me up when I needed it...couldn't have been anymore convenient-they didn't even charge me.The photographer was GREAT, the prices were unbelievable and he gave me ALL the pictures at the end of the night bout 3000 photos I just have to go through them and pick the ones I want edited.I've looked at them briefly and love his style. My nephew is actually getting married next year in NY and wants him as their photographer as well.

If anyone has ANY questions please let me know I'll be happy to respond...I unfortunately don't know how to post pics here But I'll try

 

[Vanessa C]

Yeah you're right. It kinda sucks also that I also have to pay for my photographer's flight and stay because he lives by me. If you'd like I can ask him about doing your wedding as well. He's giving me 3 days of coverage though
 

Originally Posted by nadennec 

Ugh Vanessa! I wish we would have known sooner that we were getting married on the same day at the same place! We could have split costs! I hired an outside photographer as well! And it would have worked out perfect with your wedding earlier in the day, and mine in the evening!!

 

 

[kylashep2]

Marvin's flowers were... nice, I can't say they were bad..BUT I know you read about my dilemma-the bouquet I used from the resort was full and perfect.I wish I knew how to post pics- you can tell by the pics the difference in bouquets-the fullness of the resort's and Marvin's. I guess it all depends on how important flowers are to you. If I could do it again, I would go w/ the resort. The prices for the bridesmaid bouquets range from 45-65 and my bouquet was 225-but he did take off like $40 b/c he couldn't get white peonies. My bouquet was all white...white carnations and large white orchids that surrounded the carnations.(Not as full as I would've wanted)

My OOT bags & favors were a hit...again, I wish I could post pics-I'd fill up pages LOL I got drawstring bags which had a logo on the bottom right hand corner-I didn't personalize the outside b/c I wanted them to be used again... and put the usual in there w/ the oh shit kit, puzzle books extra drawstring bags inside for families-so each one could have their own bag, underwater cameras, key card holders, waterproof card holders, playing cards, aloe vera, zipp-fizz, tylenol, ring pops that said "don't be jealous of our bling you can also have a ring"....I can only take credit for putting everything together but ALL the ideas came from all the wonderful gals on this site! (I'm crafty but I wish I were that creative to come up with the ideas haha)

My favor was a picture frame that I matted w/ an actual map of Cancun with the street names-which I printed off google maps-the frame was a chunky square...so it wasn't cheesy-I got them from IKEA for 3.99 each-gotta love IKEA And just printed out a mini note that said thank you for sharing our day and place a favorite Cancun memory in the frame-something along those lines, on card stock...people asked if I had extras LOL I did one per family.

 

 

[kylashep2]

U'r going to love the photographers...they're the type of people that you want to be friends with LOL and there pics are great. We had the rehearsal at the chapel and the dinner at the albatros b/c I loved the windows,so they set us up along them in a long table, now the food was good both nights but the choices for the rehearsal dinner were a bit better-we had beef fillet w/ pink pepper sauce and the jumbalaya rice w/ shrimp for the rehearsal dinner- we had 30 people for the dinner and they ALL raved about the appearance and the taste. For the wedding we had chicken casablanca (stuffed w/ seafood) and beef fillet w/ mushroom sauce. Again the beef w/ the pepper sauce was a bit better than the one w/ the mushroom sauce.

In my opinion the seafood taste was a bit to overwhelming, so you really didn't taste the chicken. There are no choices for the cocktail hour-you get everything under the "hot and cold canapes" menu. Another bride offered to post pics...so I'll try PM'ing her with them and hopefully she can post them.

[kylashep2]

 EVERYONE loved the resort...my sister-in-law bought a timeshare with the Royal..haha I have to say that the customer service was great and if I could turn back time I would still do it there. Let me also add that they are all about having a clean resort-they were always cleaning...late night they took carpets outside, cleaned the floors...we were amazed on how much cleaning they did.

I just posted info on the menu choices-on the next page-if you have anymore questions let me know.

I will definately PM you with pics...thanks, I would love to give everyone a "vision" of the wedding

The million dollar question LOL-drumroll.....$12,000-that is with DJ & light up dance floor,fire dancers, cocktail hr, rehearsal at chapel & dinner after, of course the wedding reception which we also did the extended hour and the royal catholic package, ohh and the ouside vendor fee for the photographer.That doesn't include the photographer price or the flowers. If you'd like I can get u a more detailed break down. The rehearsal dinner was 30 people and the wedding was actually 50...I had posted 52 before-forgot 2 people didn't make it.

 

[kylashep2]

The tents were not from the resort itself but they work with a vendor...there's no outside vendor fee BTW-LoL-it seems they want charge for everything. The price was about 1200 for two tents...we had 7 tables so one wouldn't have worked. They were really nice, I'll def PM you.

[nadennec]

Kylashep2 -

 

I would love to get a breakdown of your costs as well. I had the royal catholic package and am trying to decide if it is worth it to upgrade to the luxury package. It sounds like you got alot of what I want, so am just wondering. Please PM me as well with costs and pics, and I will love you forever!! Of your flowers too, because I am using Maya Flowers

Originally Posted by kylashep2 

The tents were not from the resort itself but they work with a vendor...there's no outside vendor fee BTW-LoL-it seems they want charge for everything. The price was about 1200 for two tents...we had 7 tables so one wouldn't have worked. They were really nice, I'll def PM you.

 

Originally Posted by kylashep2 

 EVERYONE loved the resort...my sister-in-law bought a timeshare with the Royal..haha I have to say that the customer service was great and if I could turn back time I would still do it there. Let me also add that they are all about having a clean resort-they were always cleaning...late night they took carpets outside, cleaned the floors...we were amazed on how much cleaning they did.

I just posted info on the menu choices-on the next page-if you have anymore questions let me know.

I will definately PM you with pics...thanks, I would love to give everyone a "vision" of the wedding

The million dollar question LOL-drumroll.....$12,000-that is with DJ & light up dance floor,fire dancers, cocktail hr, rehearsal at chapel & dinner after, of course the wedding reception which we also did the extended hour and the royal catholic package, ohh and the ouside vendor fee for the photographer.That doesn't include the photographer price or the flowers. If you'd like I can get u a more detailed break down. The rehearsal dinner was 30 people and the wedding was actually 50...I had posted 52 before-forgot 2 people didn't make it.

 

 

Originally Posted by kylashep2 

U'r going to love the photographers...they're the type of people that you want to be friends with LOL and there pics are great. We had the rehearsal at the chapel and the dinner at the albatros b/c I loved the windows,so they set us up along them in a long table, now the food was good both nights but the choices for the rehearsal dinner were a bit better-we had beef fillet w/ pink pepper sauce and the jumbalaya rice w/ shrimp for the rehearsal dinner- we had 30 people for the dinner and they ALL raved about the appearance and the taste. For the wedding we had chicken casablanca (stuffed w/ seafood) and beef fillet w/ mushroom sauce. Again the beef w/ the pepper sauce was a bit better than the one w/ the mushroom sauce.

In my opinion the seafood taste was a bit to overwhelming, so you really didn't taste the chicken. There are no choices for the cocktail hour-you get everything under the "hot and cold canapes" menu. Another bride offered to post pics...so I'll try PM'ing her with them and hopefully she can post them.

 

[nadennec]

I would, but I have already booked a photographer!

 

If you think of anything else though, that we could possibly split costs on, definitely let me know!! I need to save money wherever I can! lol!

 

Originally Posted by Vanessa C 

Yeah you're right. It kinda sucks also that I also have to pay for my photographer's flight and stay because he lives by me. If you'd like I can ask him about doing your wedding as well. He's giving me 3 days of coverage though
 

 

 

[Bride2B22]

I'm so excited for all you future brides!! I should be getting my photos within two weeks (fingers crossed) so i will share them with you all! Please dont hesitate to ask any questions =)

[happygal]

Hi Ladies,

 

I just wanted to chime in about the vendor fees.  My understanding is that if the vendor lives in the Cancun/Playa and surrounding area then you have to pay a vendor fee even if you get them a hotel room.

 

We are bringing our own photo/videographers from Canada.  I just told them we have friends that are traveling with us who will do it and they confirmed we do not have to pay the fee.

 

I am using Marvin for my flowers.  They are about 1/2 the price of the resorts for the bouquets (the ones I chose anyways).  He's been very attentive and I can't complain about the wonderful customer service we have received so far.  I am confident he will do fine with my order since it is pretty simple.