Now Sapphire Weddings Formerly Paradisus Riviera

[meganwitt]

Hi ladies, I have posted my review of my recent wedding here, hope it's helpful!  http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/now-sapphire-riviera-cancun/reviews/7853

Jen, Your wedding sounded perfect! How wonderful, I can't wait to take a look at pictures too. It makes me so excited. We are getting married in June and we have 43 people coming now so very similar. I am thinking about having a welcome dinner, but in a restaurant. How was the beach dinner and the cost? Did you have to pick one meal? You said you used the speakers they provided and used your ipod. Do you happen to remember what it was? I might be bringing a laptop down and want to know what I"m working with. Glad everything was great. Thanks,Megan

[vanessav53]

Meg I'm getting married in June as well!! June 7th.

[Jenbd817]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meganwitt 


Jen,

Your wedding sounded perfect! How wonderful, I can't wait to take a look at pictures too. It makes me so excited.

We are getting married in June and we have 43 people coming now so very similar. I am thinking about having a welcome dinner, but in a restaurant. How was the beach dinner and the cost? Did you have to pick one meal?

You said you used the speakers they provided and used your ipod. Do you happen to remember what it was? I might be bringing a laptop down and want to know what I"m working with.

Glad everything was great. Thanks,Megan

Hi Megan!

The private beach dinner cost us about $2,000. It was around $35 per head which included 2 hours open bar + tax, service fees, and also they charged us for lighting as well. We had a buffet which had a set menu with a lot of choices, and even someone working a grill cooking meat to order. I can try to find the menu if you'd like to look at it. Generally the buffet is for 50+ people but since we were very close they let us do it anyway.

 

For the ceremony, I never actually got to see what was used - it was the groom's job to deliver the ipod to Ramon and the technician and set that up prior to the ceremony. The speakers were great though and I think you had the option to use a CD too so it may just be a regular stereo system. I think other girls on here may know if they used this for the reception as well.

[meganwitt]

Vanessa - I'm getting married June 20!!! It will be here soon!

 

Jen, Thanks for the update. I'm not sure if we want to do a beach dinner. We were thinking about having it one of the restaurants and I think we have to choose a set menu for that as well. Did you just tell Anel and Ramon you were interested before heading down to finalize that separate gathering? 

We were thinking of a ipod, but thought maybe a laptop as another options. 

Also how was your seating chart? I have an idea, but never know where to put us. heeheee

 

Thanks ladies!

[Jenbd817]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meganwitt 
 

Vanessa - I'm getting married June 20!!! It will be here soon!

 

Jen, Thanks for the update. I'm not sure if we want to do a beach dinner. We were thinking about having it one of the restaurants and I think we have to choose a set menu for that as well. Did you just tell Anel and Ramon you were interested before heading down to finalize that separate gathering? 

We were thinking of a ipod, but thought maybe a laptop as another options. 

Also how was your seating chart? I have an idea, but never know where to put us. heeheee

 

Thanks ladies!

I would tell them you want to have a private dinner and let them know when day. Some of the restaurants are closed some nights so it would be best to figure that out now so you're not bummed out when you can't reserve the one you want.

 

I ended up giving Ramon a copy of our seating chart with our guests' entree selections since we did assigned seating which wasn't too hard with just the 2 tables. We did our own sweetheart table which was set up close to our bridal party so we didn't feel completely secluded. It's definitely hard to keep everyone happy with seating but do the best you can!

[GingerJ228]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanessav53 

Meg I'm getting married in June as well!! June 7th.

I'm getting married on June 8th.  It's right around the corner!!!   I'm so excited!!

[Riviera Bride14]

Quote:

Originally Posted by janders8 
 

Hi everyone! I have my wedding there on Feb. 6th 2014! We are very excited to be there but I have read that the communication sucks as I am having the same issues. I have been asked to change wedding planners as well. I have been emailing for 2 months without any communication back. I then wrote on their facebook page which kind of helped. I got an email from Anel finally and sent back 15 questions and it has been a week now with nothing. I understand they are busy but they are also running a business. I have now written back on their facebook wall and see what happens now but according to their calendar they have ( 3-6 months you do this, 2-3 months you do this) I am supposed to have known half of the check offs and I don't. I am hoping that if I stay on top of them they will do something about it! Is anyone else besides a couple of people had the same problem? Does it get better the closer you are to your date? I am slightly freaking out here!

 

Hi There! Nice to see another February Bride! I will be there the 12th-19th of February and getting married on the 14th! I have also had a lack of communication through this process in which seems to be completely normal.

 

Ive gotten alot of responses and questions awnsered on this forum thanks to many ladies and for the details that are stilll  "grey" and well I have realized that I chose a destination in the first place to keep things simple and just go with the flow. I would advise to start asking away  on the forum its been a huuuge help!

 

 

I have started filling out my wedding planning form and am going to try and make my requests as specific and detailed as possible.

[janders8]

I have put a high priority on my emails and that seems to help. Anel has been VERY good getting back to me now but I had to get on their butts for 3 months. A few things that I have asked and found out is:

 

-You can only use real petals for the flower girl and/or your family & friends to throw at you while coming down the aisle as husband and wife

- We have the moments package (the free on) and the minister is included with no extra cost. If you are doing a legal marriage then you must pay the judge 500$!

-They have timeshare agents on the resort. If you are prepared to sit there from 1.5 - 3 hours and hear about this awesome deal and get this free coupon, then go have fun. Otherwise I wouldn't go. That is 3 hours you are wasting that you are in Mexico and it is a high pressure meeting to get you to buy a timeshare! They will call it something else but know what is what it is!

- You can go to Dreams but you have to pay the fee for the day- 85$ which includes food, drinks and pool. Does not include water sports. Check before you go because if they are at full capacity, they will not let you in with a day pass. Also you must find your own transportation there and back! The hours to go are from 9AM to 11PM! Not really worth it to me but hey everyone is different.

- Ask for the Wedding Planning Form to help you get more organized. This is the form that ask you what kind of cake, flowers, etc.. you would want that day. It will make you feel like the communication is a lot better!

- Bride and bridesmaids will arrive at your ceremony location on a golf cart but the groom and groomsmen usually will just walk there.

- Ask for a map of your ceremony location! They have a map with all the info and location of them! It will be a breeze if you give these to your guests before they arrive or when you get to the resort! I have it so if you email me or reply back I can give it to you too!

-You will receive the free package if you turn in everyone's name as the guest list to your wedding planner. Your guest can use any travel agency or website but just need to stay at the resort in order for it to count!

-You can request a room but they will not guarantee it. It is worth a try! There are no elevators so think of anyone that has trouble climbing stairs! There is only 3 floors but that might be enough for some people.

- The resort is in a horseshoe shape so everything is close to everything but the pool, lobby, restaurants etc.. is closer to building 1, 2, 3. If you don't like some noise then the higher you go for numbers the farther you are away from the noise.

-We heard that in building 6 there are ocean views without paying the ocean view price! (you pay tropical. 611-618 is what we heard!)

-They can call you to answer your questions if you just ask them to. Maybe this is when you are 3 months until the big day but they have called me!

- You can bring your own decorations and have someone that came with you put them up for free! Otherwise they charge you for them to do it!

- They have an app now that allows you to call long distance on your cell phone for free. I haven't tried it yet and the link on the website wasn't working but they have sent me a document on it. This helps your wedding party to keep in contact there without paying large bills. You always could write down everyone's room number and call that way too!

-The champagne toast with cake is right after the ceremony on the front of the beach.

-I also read if you are bringing down decorations or any knick knacks BRING YOUR RECEIPTS! Customs can take all your hard work in a second. Also we were thinking about doing a sand unity thing instead of a unity candle for obvious reasons in the wind by the ocean, but we have to make sure we bought the sand and we aren't importing sand back from Mexico. Big no no in Mexico! Just make sure you have your receipts and you should be all good!

- I also asked for the ministers contact info- email - so I can figure out what he is going to say! I want to add our own flare to it and make it more like us so I have asked for the agenda from him. Still waiting on that email!

- When I had asked what is the day of the wedding like, this is what I got in response: THE CEREMONY WILL BE AT 11 A.M., YOUR GUEST NEED TO BE THERE 20 MINUTES BEFORE THE CEREMONY, THE BELL BOY WILL PICK THE BRIDE UP 5 MINUTES BEFORE THE CEREMONY, AS SOON AS EVERYBODY IS ON THE CEREMONY PLACE, PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE ON SITE WEDDING COORDINATOR WILL CALL THE BRIDE FIRST TO LET HER KNOW THAT THE GOLF CAR IS ON THE WAY.

- You also have to request to have a rehearsal the night before. I highly recommend this as all they have to do is arrange a time for you to do this and it can take a matter of ten minutes! Just to get the timing right for everyone walking down and who is walking with who.

- Since we are having the free wedding, we are just going to the disco that night for our reception!

- If you need more chairs like I do, they are $5 a chair extra plus tax.

-If you want anything delivered to your guests rooms it will be $4 a room.

-They will set up a fabric runner so your dress isn't full of sand.

- This is what the moments packages ceremony will look like:

 

If anyone has any questions PLEASE feel free to ask me. I have been bugging them for lots of answers and it does help to be on this forum to read what other brides hear or experienced! As you can tell, I have to know a lot of the answers just to make sure I can answer any of my guests information and I would like to know now so I don't panic or become a bridezilla on the day of the wedding!  Hope this helps everyone!

[nlh1227]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amandab563 

I just returned from our wedding at the Now Sapphire. It was absolutely perfect!

My overall review:

Checking in: we had a group of 48 people so the check in was kind of frustrating with a lot of us having the same last name. Some rooms weren't ready and some people had to switch rooms as they were leaking and had standing water. There was a huge rainfall the first day we were there so that wasn't really the resorts fault.

Timeshares: the people from the preffered club are really annoying and will try and suck you into a "thank you" meeting with free gifts. They say it takes two minutes of your time but a few of our guests did this and it was 90 minutes but they did get free gifts. Your choice if you want to sit there for 90 minutes or not.

The preferred club lounge and pool are very nice.

The overall resort was clean, very well maintained, and the food was good.

Food: I didn't like the no reservation policy as you had to get in line by 6 to eat a restaurant. One night we had to wait till 10:00 to get min. The restaurants change everynight do you have to pay attention to the sheets they slip under your door everynight. The buffet food was very good if you do not want to wait at a restaurant. Room service was great! The waiters were awesome and so friendly.

Maids: the maids literally clean your room all day long, we had to put our lock and sign on our door because they constantly check you room. One day they made our bed, we took a nap and went to dinner, came back and the bed was made again. They are very on top of cleaning and stocking your refrigerator.
They were very friendly and made sure we always had what we needed.

Rooms: rooms were awesome, no complaints at all

Staff: all of the staff were awesome we had so much fun with them

Beach: there is a lot of seaweed and they just grind it up in the sand. It's still pretty but nothing like the sand and ocean in playa del Carmen. The water is not clear or crystal blue . It was fine with me but for people looking for blue turquise water it is not there.

Wedding: Ramon and Anel we great! Barely even met with them an hour and they had everything set up perfectly for us!
They are right there along side of you the whole time.
Our wedding was on the tequila terrace and so was our dinner...we moved it from our original location of the beach terrace. It is much more private and we did not have the crowd from the pool nearby.
We used our own Bose player for the dinner and it worked great, it went so fast the dj expense was not worth it to us.
We used our cocktail party the night before, we used it only for our wedding party and parents. It was so fun and I'm glad we had it the night before instead of the night of the wedding.
Dinner was great for the wedding!
The ladies at the spa did an excellent job on all of our hair At the spa. I did not like my makeup though so had to re touch it up.
Take advantage of the massages in your package, they were amazing!

Photography: we used their adventure photography and paid for an additional hour of photography which is $99. Once we met with the photographer we decided to buy all 451 pictures on a disc and nice photo book for $500. She also made us an awesome slides how with music. I was very impressed with her work for the minimal cost. We didn't want to spend thousands on a photographer and she captured everything we wanted!
Your can view my whole album on Facebook under Amanda Norris.

Overall all of our guests, ones who travel a lot and ones who have never traveled we're very impressed. Everyone had a great time!

Hello again! A few more questions:

 

What were your food options for dinner? What was the favorite?

What hor D'Oeuvres did you go with?

What was your timeline from ceremony to reception, in regards to pictures? Did you take break after ceremony to take group pictures or do it while the cocktail hour was going on?

[amandab563]

Hello again! A few more questions: What were your food options for dinner? What was the favorite? What hor D'Oeuvres did you go with? What was your timeline from ceremony to reception, in regards to pictures? Did you take break after ceremony to take group pictures or do it while the cocktail hour was going on?

For dinner we chose the ceaser salad the chicken fajita soup the chicken Alfredo dinner and the tiramisu. It was all excellent and everyone commented how good it was! We choose of the eternity menu. For the cocktail hour and appetizers we did that the night before the wedding. It was so much fun and we had tacos, quesadillas, shrimp, and ham rolls. It was all excellent also. Our wedding was at 3. The photographer did pictures from 2:30-4:30. As soon as the wedding was over so like 3:20 we started pictures on the beach and everyone watched and joined in the pictures while having champagne. Then we headed to the main lobby bar around 4:30 and had drinks there till 5:30 and took a few more pics then headed back out to dinner around 5:30-6. It was the perfect amount of time, I couldn't imagine adding the cocktail hour in between. The dinner is so much food people were stuffed so I'm really glad we did the cocktail party the night before.