2013 Gran Caribe Real/ Royal Cancun Brides

[txbrideinmexico]

Hey girls, we got our video and photos back from the resort and I'll just say that I highly recommend you use an outside photographer. Our package included 25 photos so although we booked someone else to take pictures, we still had some from the resort photographer. The snap shots our guests took were much better and I didn't even bother to pull them off of the CD.

 

We also got the video and it could be the circumstances behind our wedding but we didn't think it was worth the money, and the videographer was sort of a jerk. He was very in our faces when my husband was sick after the ceremony and I was clearly upset and trying to take a moment away from the crowd to compose myself. I had to actually ask him to give me some space at one point. I get that's his job, but he was blatantly rude to us at a couple of points, kind of as if he was laughing at our situation...

 

Anyway, there were parts of the video they clearly should have edited out where we look terrible. My husband is clearly trying to keep it together at one point and not be sick, and instead of showing me, the priest or the crowd, it's just zoomed in on my husband looking like he is about to pass out or something. Instead of editing around what happened, they built up the drama of it. Clearly that is not how we want to remember our wedding. Obviously had our wedding not gone so horribly, the video wouldn't have shown this, but besides that the quality was just kind of so-so. My advice would be if you really want the lowest cost video, and just the basics, the $500 package is fine but adjust your expectations. If you are thinking about going to the higher packages and spend $1000+ anyway, and the video is important to you, I'd probably suggest going to an outside videographer.

 

Hopefully this is helpful.

[MOrdonez]

Originally Posted by kwink 

 

No kids. I've also thought about blocking rooms at both and allowing my guests to choose but I am not sure about that either. 

That a great idea, then they can choose.....and besides the hotels are right beside one another so everyone will still be close.

[txbrideinmexico]

We had almost 70 guests, and only one couple chose to stay at the Royal. A few others upgraded their room so high at the GCR that they had full Royal access which I would have done if we weren't trying to spend so much time at GCR with our guests. The food at the Royal the one night we ate there was amazing! Giving guests both options is definitely the way to go. Anyone who can afford to and prefers a nicer hotel can stay at the Royal. Even our parents chose GCR though, because they felt that they would be there anyway acting as hosts. I really like the idea too of upgrading to the room level that gives you the Royal wristband. The Royal pool is much nicer, and the food was excellent. Again, maybe not worth it for the wedding couple unless a lot of your guests are at the Royal and you want to have 'access' to them.

 

Another thing that I wish we'd done was figure out what level room the family all had and tried to make it the same for folks who want to be together. My husband and I, his family and several of our guests were all on the 6th floor. It has a little concierge lounge that we would always run into people at which was great, becuase almost every time we went by the elevator we could pop in and see someone. (Also it was a great place to snag a bunch of bottled waters for your room.) But, my parents had chosen a different room level and were not on that floor. I think they felt a little left out. If they had known they would have just booked it from the get go, but it was too late once we all arrived and the floor was booked. Same if you DONT want to be around everyone, try to figure that stuff out in advance. I.e. it might have been awkward if we were right next door to our parents.

 

Last thing while I'm thinking about it, in our welcome bags we included those foam disposable ear plugs and they were a huge hit! The sound echos in the hotel, and people are sharing rooms, etc.

[hclibby1982]

Originally Posted by MrsWilletteToBe 

 

Same here! We are expecting about 80 and the luxury package definitely had all of the extras I would've wanted to have anyway. oh and it looks like your big day is the day before mine--yayyy! are you getting married at the chapel or gazebo?

There will be lots of weddings that weekend!  I found one person getting married the same day as me and another who's waiting on the paperwork but supposed to be.  80 people that is a good size! We're inviting about 70 but I'm guessing we'll end up closer to 40 when all is said and done since a lot of our friends have very small children that aren't invited.  We are getting married in the gazebo and our cocktail hour and reception is going to be at the Villas Terrace. How about you? 

[kwink]

Originally Posted by txbrideinmexico 

 

We had almost 70 guests, and only one couple chose to stay at the Royal. A few others upgraded their room so high at the GCR that they had full Royal access which I would have done if we weren't trying to spend so much time at GCR with our guests. The food at the Royal the one night we ate there was amazing! Giving guests both options is definitely the way to go. Anyone who can afford to and prefers a nicer hotel can stay at the Royal. Even our parents chose GCR though, because they felt that they would be there anyway acting as hosts. I really like the idea too of upgrading to the room level that gives you the Royal wristband. The Royal pool is much nicer, and the food was excellent. Again, maybe not worth it for the wedding couple unless a lot of your guests are at the Royal and you want to have 'access' to them.

 

Another thing that I wish we'd done was figure out what level room the family all had and tried to make it the same for folks who want to be together. My husband and I, his family and several of our guests were all on the 6th floor. It has a little concierge lounge that we would always run into people at which was great, becuase almost every time we went by the elevator we could pop in and see someone. (Also it was a great place to snag a bunch of bottled waters for your room.) But, my parents had chosen a different room level and were not on that floor. I think they felt a little left out. If they had known they would have just booked it from the get go, but it was too late once we all arrived and the floor was booked. Same if you DONT want to be around everyone, try to figure that stuff out in advance. I.e. it might have been awkward if we were right next door to our parents.

 

Last thing while I'm thinking about it, in our welcome bags we included those foam disposable ear plugs and they were a huge hit! The sound echos in the hotel, and people are sharing rooms, etc.

 

Thank you very much for your perspective and insight! I have relayed a lot of this to my travel agent to see what she can work out. Very helpful!

[MrsWilletteToBe]

We had almost 70 guests, and only one couple chose to stay at the Royal. A few others upgraded their room so high at the GCR that they had full Royal access which I would have done if we weren't trying to spend so much time at GCR with our guests. The food at the Royal the one night we ate there was amazing! Giving guests both options is definitely the way to go. Anyone who can afford to and prefers a nicer hotel can stay at the Royal. Even our parents chose GCR though, because they felt that they would be there anyway acting as hosts. I really like the idea too of upgrading to the room level that gives you the Royal wristband. The Royal pool is much nicer, and the food was excellent. Again, maybe not worth it for the wedding couple unless a lot of your guests are at the Royal and you want to have 'access' to them. Another thing that I wish we'd done was figure out what level room the family all had and tried to make it the same for folks who want to be together. My husband and I, his family and several of our guests were all on the 6th floor. It has a little concierge lounge that we would always run into people at which was great, becuase almost every time we went by the elevator we could pop in and see someone. (Also it was a great place to snag a bunch of bottled waters for your room.) But, my parents had chosen a different room level and were not on that floor. I think they felt a little left out. If they had known they would have just booked it from the get go, but it was too late once we all arrived and the floor was booked. Same if you DONT want to be around everyone, try to figure that stuff out in advance. I.e. it might have been awkward if we were right next door to our parents. Last thing while I'm thinking about it, in our welcome bags we included those foam disposable ear plugs and they were a huge hit! The sound echos in the hotel, and people are sharing rooms, etc.

Great info!! Which room level at the GCR is the one that gives you Royal access??

[MrsWilletteToBe]

There will be lots of weddings that weekend!  I found one person getting married the same day as me and another who's waiting on the paperwork but supposed to be.  80 people that is a good size! We're inviting about 70 but I'm guessing we'll end up closer to 40 when all is said and done since a lot of our friends have very small children that aren't invited.  We are getting married in the gazebo and our cocktail hour and reception is going to be at the Villas Terrace. How about you? 

We might end up having fewer people too because of the kid thing so we'll see lol at this point we have the chapel booked, cocktails at Villas Terrace and reception at one of the Royal's ballroom. I'm struggling with trying to figure out whether to use the resort's pricey floral services or just do an outside vendor and pay the fee. For photographer though we are definitely getting an outside one because the reviews are so bad. What about u? Also, I am stumped on how I'm going to decorate the tables at the reception without having to bring breakable/hard to pack things--have u decided any of that yet?

[txbrideinmexico]

I'm not sure but I know you can find it on the website. We had the the grand ocean view suite and it had the access to the "Concierge Lounge" on six, but our travel agent worked it out so that all our guests who booked through her had access to the lounge, regardless of what floor. This was denoted by black wristbands. The loung was nothing that special. just a room with a pool table, snacks, liquor and a fridge with mixers, but since we had so many folks on that floor it became a good accidental meeting spot. It was kind of by accident that so many of us ended up on this floor, but like I said it worked out great. With that level of room we also go to eat one dinner at the Royal. We went to the patio restaurant and I can't remember the name now, but it was delish! They just brought out round after round of appetizers for us to enjoy. The main courses were so-so -  most of us ordered steaks forgetting that in Mexico most steaks are cut really thin. But, it didn't matter because of all the other food they served us.

 

Two of our groomsmen shared a room and had the clear Royal wristbands that gave them full access next door, which is how we found out about it. It was a pretty high level suite I think. I didn't see it but I heard it was very nice and I know the boys hung out there drinking at late hours a few times. Everyone kept joking that it was the honeymoon suite. Especially after they came back from a night of drinking to find rose petals everywhere. That was actually a pretty common occurance... My uncle traveling alone had a romantically decorated room, and two of my girlfriends recieved chocolate covered strawberries decorated like little grooms. =P

[TinkerSofi]

Hey guys. I thought I had read this somewhere but I can't seem to find it anymore. How much is per person for one extra hour of reception? Also, what is the outside vendor fee? 

 

Thanks as always

[Kelly718]

The outside vendor fee is $350