Excellence Riviera Cancun Brides?

[hapykat]

@@Sabes44 do you mean go out to the disco after dinner? How many will you be? And I know this might be a weird question but is there a bathroom close by? My future father in law will most likely be in a wheel chair by then, hence why we chose the pier

[Sabes44]

@@hapykat Yes, we plan to go to the disco after.  We are expecting 20-30 guests total.  Not sure about the bathroom, great question!  do you have to cross the sand to get to the pier?  There are beach wheelchairs, I wonder if Excellence has any...

[JenniferH114]

@@hapykat - So, we are doing beach gazebo (ceremony), pier (cocktail hour) and Las Olas (reception). We chose Las Olas for a few different reasons.

1. Probably the biggest reason is that we are getting married at a beach destination, so why not take full advantage and be on the beach as much as possible? That's great ambiance itself.

2. We booked the private fire and percussion show as a surprise to everyone (even our parents!). This takes place on the beach and we didn't want to deal with everyone traveling back and forth to different locations.

3. The breezes at night tend to be pretty nice on a beach in our experience, so hopefully that'll help with the heat in May.

4. We just liked the look of it and had definitely ruled out some other locations, so it just fit for us.

 

We will have about 30 guests, maybe 35. We did book the DJ. Jessica told me a while ago that Las Olas can handle up to 40 and still allow for a dance floor and DJ. We will likely be having one square table for all of the guests for dinner. Las Olas is not huge, but it is definitely big enough for those things, as Jessica originally described.

 

Let me just say that the Foyer is beautiful! I was actually really surprised, and the view (while it is still light out) is awesome. You see directly to the beach/ocean. We are having a private welcome party/dinner. We originally booked Garibaldi Square for it but I was not impressed, so I think we are switching to the Foyer. Yes, it may be hot, but at least for the welcome party people will be in more casual clothing.

 

@@Sabes44 - Have you spoken to Jessica about the x-lounge? I only ask because we walked by it and it is VERY small. She even specifically mentioned that they rarely use it for weddings and only for very small ones. Sorry, I am not trying to rain on your parade but just wanted to mention it.

 

I don't know about the bathrooms, unfortunately.

 

Yes, you have to walk across the beach/sand to get to the piers. You would actually have to cross less sand with the beach gazebo than going to the pier.

 

I took pictures of Las Olas but I don't have them with me. I found this, which is a pretty good picture (if it works). You can see the people sitting down to get an idea of the size. It's not huge, by any means, but picture the table taking up about half and then the dance floor taking up the other half.

 

<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g240327-d499896-i89018589-Excellence_Riviera_Cancun-Puerto_Morelos_Yucatan_Peninsula.html#89018589"><img alt="" src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/05/4e/50/dd/excellence-riviera-cancun.jpg"/></a><br/>This photo of Excellence Riviera Cancun is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Edited December 4, 2014 by JenniferH114

[Sabes44]

@@JenniferH114 I totally agree with you about Los Olas!  Are you adding the string lights??

 

Jessica is actually the one who suggested the X-Lounge.  I thought about doing the pier but also wanted to make sure we are able to take pictures on the pier.  I will confirm the space though, thanks for mentioning that!

[hapykat]

@@Sabes44 do you plan on going to the disco is your wedding dress? 

 

@@Sabes44 and @JenniferH114I

 

I like the idea of the welcome dinner in the foyer. Never thought about that... I would love to see pics of the table setting your planning. If you prefer to keep it private, my email is [email protected]. So what about lighting ladies? Lanterns? xmas lights? etc.. What have you chosen as a centrepiece? I prefer little vases along the table rather than one gargantuan floral focal point.

[JenniferH114]

@ Sabes44 - Jessica said they put up lanterns and string lights as standard decoration for Las Olas. I will definitely be confirming that with her again though.

Also, there are two piers and only one is used for the cocktail hour, so depending on what kind of pictures you want you could use the other pier. We decided we are doing our "first look" before the ceremony so we can get some pictures out of the way ahead of time. We really want to enjoy the night as much as possible, so we don't want to have to spend a bunch of time taking pictures during the cocktail hour. Obviously, that's a very personal decision but I think it will work very well for us. We have our photog for six hours, so I'm thinking 3:30 - 9:30pm. (Ceremony starts at 5pm.)

[Sabes44]

@hapykat-I am going to play it by ear, depending on how hot it is.  Honestly I want to wear it all night long, since it will be the only time I get to wear it out!!  But if I am just way too hot in it, I will change.

 

I was thinking about using the lighting they have (seen in picture below) Jessica said they do it for $60.  Minimal decor, haven't chosen the centerpieces yet and I think I might just add some of these tea lights.  I don't want just one huge one either, I haven't totally decided yet (need to get on that!).

 

 

@jenniferH118-I wonder if Jessica is talking about the same lights in the picture I posted, as she told me that is $60, but maybe its included (which is way better!).

 

I am thinking we might do a first look too, I haven't 100% decided (fiance doesn't care and I think would rather do one).  

[JenniferH114]

@@hapykat - I think the welcome dinner is worth it. It's only $25/person and you get a private bar for two hours and a four course meal. That's when we are going to hand out our gift bags. We are doing more of a colorful, Mexican theme for it. So we ordered tissue paper flowers in different bright colors and we are ordering colorful papel picado to hang as well.

[Sabes44]

We are doing more of a Mexican theme too, thought we might as well embrace where we are!  The bright colors are fun and totally different than anything I would have done at home.  I think it will turn out great in the pictures and hopefully not look like most weddings everyone has been to before.

[JenniferH114]

The Mexican theme is only for our welcome party. Our wedding theme is just a beach theme. Here is what we are doing for centerpieces (my mom is putting them together).

 

 

And then cake...our colors are a deep/bright pink and turquoise... (this is also being put together by my mom).

 

 

We are also ordering custom maracas in our colors with starfish on them and names/dates/location. We have small white starfish to lay around the table and then we'll be having menus printed.