Excellence Riviera Cancun Brides?

[ampanda52]

Originally Posted by KayLynn Oliver 

 

 

Thank you Mandy!!  We did get upgraded from a standard junior suite!  Honestly, we were in a bunch of rooms that week and ours was no different.  The only difference was the private pool and private lounge area (neither of which I spent much time if any at because my guests weren't allowed).  But, if you get upgraded for free, why not!?  You are going to love it girl!  I will put up some professional pics when I get them back!  Good luck with everything!!

Thanks so much!  I absolutely cannot wait!  I can't wait to see more photos of you!  BTW, your hair looks amazing and not frizzy at all!

[Mayerlis]

Originally Posted by KayLynn Oliver 

 

Wow!  You are stunning!   So fun!  I miss it already!  Can't wait to get my professional pics back!  Y'all look amazing!  Congratulations!

Thank you KayLynn! You looked absolutely gorgeous as well! I love your pictures and I was actually on the beach during your ceremony and you all looked beautiful!

I can't wait to get all of my professional pics back either. Congratulations to you as well!!

[Mayerlis]

Originally Posted by TealMarie 

 

Wow, look at you. Love the dress, love the hair, love the makeup. You look amazing! I love the photo of you guys kissing at the end of the aisle with your guests in the background. We're also getting married at the beach gazebo and having our reception in the Foyer so it's so nice to see photos of it all. Your wedding looked beautiful.

Thank you TealMarie! Elias at the spa did my hair and makeup- it was amazing my makeup didn't come off all night. Considering I have very straight hair- my curls lasted too. We had a nice breeze in the foyer and they provided two large fans as well. I'm sure you're wedding will be beautiful!! Make sure you enjoy it- it goes by so fast!! Let me know if you have any questions at all :-)

[TrishaJ34]

Hi Ladies, I haven't had a chance to organize my thoughts yet, but meanwhile- Bring Bug Spray!!! We all got eaten alive by mosquitos even with bug spray. I had the skintastic stuff, but you may fair better with stronger spray. Two of my bug bites had bruises the size of baseballs around them, and i'm not allergic and don't normally have strong reactions to bites. The other thing is that they are like sneaky ninja mosquitos. You don't see them or hear them. Anyway, just a tip for the moment!

[ampanda52]

Originally Posted by TrishaJ34 

 

Hi Ladies, I haven't had a chance to organize my thoughts yet, but meanwhile- Bring Bug Spray!!! We all got eaten alive by mosquitos even with bug spray. I had the skintastic stuff, but you may fair better with stronger spray. Two of my bug bites had bruises the size of baseballs around them, and i'm not allergic and don't normally have strong reactions to bites. The other thing is that they are like sneaky ninja mosquitos. You don't see them or hear them. Anyway, just a tip for the moment.

Well ladies....I fly out tomorrow, wedding is Saturday!  I just want to thank everyone for all of their help!  I'll be sure to reciprocate with a review when I get back and I'll try to pop in while away! 

 

TrishaJ34, thanks for the bug spray tip.  I already have some packed!  Was the bug biting during the wedding or just in general?

 

Thanks again girls!!!

Mandy

[TealMarie]

Originally Posted by ampanda52 

 

Well ladies....I fly out tomorrow, wedding is Saturday!  I just want to thank everyone for all of their help!  I'll be sure to reciprocate with a review when I get back and I'll try to pop in while away! 

 

TrishaJ34, thanks for the bug spray tip.  I already have some packed!  Was the bug biting during the wedding or just in general?

 

Thanks again girls!!!

Mandy

Have a safe trip and an awesome time. I know your wedding will turn out amazing! Enjoy every minute of your vacation!!

[TealMarie]

Originally Posted by Mayerlis 

 

Thank you TealMarie! Elias at the spa did my hair and makeup- it was amazing my makeup didn't come off all night. Considering I have very straight hair- my curls lasted too. We had a nice breeze in the foyer and they provided two large fans as well. I'm sure you're wedding will be beautiful!! Make sure you enjoy it- it goes by so fast!! Let me know if you have any questions at all :-)

Really?? I have super straight hair and plan to have it curled so it's great to hear your curls lasted. Yay!

Originally Posted by TrishaJ34 

 

Hi Ladies, I haven't had a chance to organize my thoughts yet, but meanwhile- Bring Bug Spray!!! We all got eaten alive by mosquitos even with bug spray. I had the skintastic stuff, but you may fair better with stronger spray. Two of my bug bites had bruises the size of baseballs around them, and i'm not allergic and don't normally have strong reactions to bites. The other thing is that they are like sneaky ninja mosquitos. You don't see them or hear them. Anyway, just a tip for the moment!

lol- sneaky ninja mosquitos. I was hoping people were exaggerating about the mosquitos - too bad. But it'll be good to be prepared, so thanks for the warning. I think now I'll put bug spray in everyone's OOT bags and maybe bring some after bite or tea tree oil.

[zeman321]

Originally Posted by ampanda52 

 

Well ladies....I fly out tomorrow, wedding is Saturday!  I just want to thank everyone for all of their help!  I'll be sure to reciprocate with a review when I get back and I'll try to pop in while away! 

 

TrishaJ34, thanks for the bug spray tip.  I already have some packed!  Was the bug biting during the wedding or just in general?

 

Thanks again girls!!!

Mandy

Congrats! I hope your day is perfect!

[TrishaJ34]

Mandy- Congrats!! I hope it's all you wish for! When I've been down in Mexico in Feb/March/April, I've never had an issue with mosquitos, so it may just be a summer thing. Hopefully, by November, it won't be as big of an issue. It was bad in the evenings, as soon as the sun went down. 

[TrishaJ34]

Super long review ahead! 

 

I had my wedding on July 12^th at 5pm. It was an amazing experience. I don’t have pictures yet, but I’ll be sure to post some when they are ready. I do have one of me and my sister getting ready. I’m on the right; they did my hair and make-up at the spa to give you an idea of how it looked. I did bring my dress on the plane, in addition to a carry on and my purse and no one said a word to me. We flew American Airlines.

 

Pre-Ceremony Planning: Upon arrival, we received a note saying that we should meet with Gloria the next morning to finalize details. I packed lots of decorations, so I explained how I wanted them set up (very briefly). We picked out our cake, talked about how the next day would go, pretty easy.  Gloria is extremely friendly and personable.

 

Ceremony: We did our ceremony on the beach at 5pm. It was cloudy, which was such a relief. It cooled off a bit and we didn’t have to wear sunglasses or squint. I gave my Ipad to Gloria and they hooked it up to their sound system for the ceremony. My girls walked down to a Somewhere Over the Rainbow/I’m yours mix. It was super cute and beachy. I walked down to CannonD, but the steel drum version. After we were married, we walked back to Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

 

We had a lady do the ceremony (very sweet) and she stood in front of us for the beginning and behind us for the second half. I didn’t mind at all. I don’t think we were tiger striped from the gazebo thing (a prior concern someone had). We did the sand ceremony, I liked that and they did give us the vase/sand to take home.

 

Cocktail Hour: We had it at X-Lounge, which I liked a lot. The food was yummy and we went through lots of cocktails very fast, but they kept them coming. I brought turquoise, chevron patterned straws and they used this during for the drinks until they ran out. Service was excellent.

 

Dinner Reception: We had 4 different versions of dinner due to food preferences/allergies. They were very accommodating and got it spot on. The cucumber/avocado soup was my favorite thing that we had. We had our reception in the lobster house. Once Gloria got us settled in the reception, I didn’t see her again that evening (which was fine). She was most accessible and present during the ceremony. They provided great service regarding serving the food and drinks. They did cut us off at 9.30pm, so my party moved to the martini lounge then the club for dancing. It was warm at the Lobster House, but there was a nice breeze. I didn’t feel overheated at any point during the day or evening.

 

The cake- this seems to be a challenging area for some reason. It was not sitting out at the beginning of the reception (maybe because it would melt due to heat?). It wasn’t brought out at all until we asked for it many times. My photographers had to hound the servers who kept saying, another minute or two.

 

I selected the cheesecake and thought it was just okay. I chose the square tiers and they had ribbon around each layer. In the picture, the ribbon was orange, which was perfect. They did it in pink instead, which I didn’t like because my cake topper was turquoise. It certainly didn’t look bad; I just am reminded of baby showers when I see pink and blue together in those shades. If I would have asked in my meeting with Gloria, I’m sure this could have been avoided. I wasn’t super upset or anything, I just mention it so that you can be sure to specify if you have preferences.

 

Music: We brought our Ipad and a BOSE speaker. It worked great for the ceremony (used resort’s sound system) and for the cocktail hour and reception. So this was a great way for us to save money

 

Resort in General: We stayed in the Excellence club (same suites, ocean view) to get the discounted wedding package. I’ve stayed at the resort before (2010). It was just as good, possibly better this time around. All of our guests seriously loved it, no one complained about anything (which was one of my fears going in). The food has improved since 2010. The Indian restaurant is awesome!! French was also delicious. The only things that weren’t perfect (but again, not enough to upset us) were that they kept forgetting to re-stock our mini- fridge. In the heat, I found myself craving those salty lays potato chips at night and we rarely had them. Our key card stopped working a few times as well. Room service was good and very timely. The one ‘negative’ if I can think of one about this resort, is that they don’t accommodate large groups for dining (other than tepanyaki in Spice). If you go with more than 4 people to dinner, they do freak out.

 

The Beach: This seems to be an area of complaint on trip advisor because the water isn’t ‘as blue’ as Cancun and there is Seaweed. There is a reef right off the shore, so you do lose that crystal blue color pretty quickly. There is seaweed floating in the ocean, but it was not enough to bother any of my group. The water is gentler in this area than Cancun, so while it’s not as crystal blue, you don’t have to worry about getting swept away by waves nearly as much. There were people that got stung by jellyfish and one by a sting ray when we were there, so just be careful. (I’m your mom now apparently :0))

 

Hair/Make Up: The gentleman did my hair, I didn’t catch his name. It was super-fast, like an hour for hair and makeup. I have pretty fine hair, so that could by why mine was faster. He worked quickly and the results were amazing. I forgot to bring my anti-sweat wipe, but my makeup didn’t budge at all. My hair also normally goes straight immediately and it withstood the heat, wind, etc.

 

Decorations: I brought chair ribbons, Mr. & Mrs. signs that I made, my cake topper, lanterns for centerpieces, flameless candles, starfish for inside the lanterns, mini-sand dollars, burlap table runners and mason jars for the centerpieces that I decorated with lace n’ burlap. They set everything up just as I had imagined. It was perfect. We used the girls bouquets for the flowers at the dinner reception, so that we didn’t have to buy flowers twice and it was awesome!

 

My only ‘advice’ or tip, would be to make sure you carve out some time for you and the Mr. We only had 24 hours to ourselves at the end of the 8 day stay and I really wish we had changed resorts or encouraged people to come early and leave early (like a few days before us). While I dearly loved my vacation with family and friends, it wasn’t a honeymoon. We’ll have to schedule a delayed honeymoon down the road!

 

Let me know if you have any questions! Overall, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend getting married here. Best of luck ladies, it's been a pleasure sharing experiences and ideas with you!