Generations Riviera Maya 2015 Weddings (And 2014 Too)

[ChiTiff]

@@girlinthecity97  You have been MORE than helpful, thank you!

 

On the Sky Deck thing - my WC assures me that we can have the ceremony and dinner completely set up at the same time without an issue (but you are making me question this).  Because of this, we chose to just have everyone stay at the roofdeck for cocktail hour.  But instead of having to pay for an extra cocktail hour, we chose to make our reception 3 hours, and took the time for the cocktail hour out of the 4 hours that was alotted for the reception anyways.

 

Ok, BIG Question - BUGS?  ON THE SKY DECK? On the pier?  Please elaborate.  My FH and I are both terrified of creepy crawlers (we make a wonderful pair when there is a spider in the house).  I also heard a horror story about a friend's DW and a mosquito attack, so I'm a little on edge about this issue.

 

Our ceremony is at 6pm, sunset is at 7pm.  I'm also now a bit worried that it might be too chilly up there at night, but I'm not sure if that can be helped at this point (because the Pier is already booked for another wedding).  

 

Ok thank you, again! 

[girlinthecity97]

@@ChiTiff - ok so unless they are doing the dinner set up at the very far corner of the dinner/food side of the roof, they will see your set up before it's time for the dinner. My WC did mention that this same far corner I am referencing is where they set up dinner receptions so I think you will be fine.  The caveat though is that you don't have full ocean views from that corner. It's still lovely but I just want to make that point clear.  Given you are combining both your cocktail and reception times, I think you will be fine and it will make for a lovely transition. 

 

Bugs - it was on the pier. The "Romantic Candlelight Dinner" offered in the package is on the pier and it's you and your boo schnaps with a waiter.  There is no candle light loL other than the sconces that are on the pier and they set up a two rows of LED votives w/ rose petals in the middle of the pier floor for you to walk to your table.  The dinner was GREAT the bugs that joined us, not so much. After awhile, everyone learned to stay in their own swim lane but it definitely gave us cause for pause.  With the reception on the pier we didn't notice bug issues maybe because we were too busy to focus on it and also all the people and noise. 

 

Since you are in late April, I don't think the roof deck will be too chilly but I WOULD check your ceremony time with your photographer especially if you want any beach pics.  Our wedding was at 4pm with dinner starting on the pier at 6pm. We had just enough time to get some good daylight pics as well as some sunset pics on the beach with just the two of us.  Had we done it later we wouldn't have gotten much from a beach pics perspective. 

 

I wish I had taken better pics while on my tour up there so you could see what I'm talking about. Let me go through my web favorites and see if I can find the good pic I came across that shows the dinner area from the ceremony area. 

Edited February 19, 2015 by girlinthecity97

[ChiTiff]

@@girlinthecity97  Thank you for answering all of my questions so thoroughly!  I feel reassured and a LOT clearer on my random crazy lady concerns and will be following up with WC about some things.  I think it's time to just have a glass a wine and relax!  

[girlinthecity97]

@@ChiTiff - again no thanks needed. Ask your WC for pics and I will look for the one that helped me visualize things up there and post it asap. Xox!

Edited February 20, 2015 by girlinthecity97

[kfracassi]

@@girlinthecity97

 

So, my fiancee and I are going to have one of his friends get ordained online to marry us. From my understanding, even if you are ordained in the US, you cannot perform a ceremony in Mexico and have it be "legal". Is this true? I have been trying to figure out the logistics for this and no one is really answering my questions. Did you "legally" get married in the US before/after the wedding or were you legally married there by the ordained minister from the US?

Thank you

[rtscent]

@@girlinthecity97 did the hotel throw any shade at you for bringing in outside flowers? How did you get around the $800 outside vender fee. My WC keeps flip flopping on this...

[girlinthecity97]

@@kfracassi - We secretly married in the U.S. at the courthouse before heading down just to avoid issues. While my cousin (ordained minister) swore out it would still be recognized, I didn't trust it. Several other brides on here that I have become friends with did the same. I am not comfortable giving up blood etc...then the fact we married on a Sunday when legal ceremonies are not allowed took that out of the equation altogether.  In the end this served us well given the last minute cancellation.  I found having someone who knows us and could as personal touches made a huge difference.  Initially I didn't care but am glad that we had someone who could tailor make our vows perform our ceremony on hand. I say let your friend get ordained to do it and go to the courthouse. No one but you, your fiance and Jesus will know!

 

@@rtscent - our coordinator Marisol made a big old note that we should be charged if anyone came to deliver flowers to the lobby. Given that Generations lobby requires a golf cart ride (as opposed to the Azul Beach), we just rented a car for a couple of days (initially $80/day then knocked down because we paid cash).  The came in handy to make a mad dash to Office Max for place card fixes and then again to pick up the flowers. 

Edited February 20, 2015 by girlinthecity97

[CnBWedding]

@@girlinthecity97 I would love to see pics of sky terrace if you have them.  We booked the pier for the ceremony and sky deck for the cocktail/reception.  Since we were expecting closer to 80 our WC convinced us to go this route as the deck is more spacious.  I feel like I need a floor plan or something lol I'm having a hard time visualizing the terrace setup.  She sent a couple of pics but I still find it hard to visualize.  In some of the pics there looks to be a wall or structure in the middle, i'm assuming the one side you are talking about would be for the cocktail hour.  I don't want the guests seeing the reception before hand either so maybe I will ask to have the cocktail at the pier.

Edited February 20, 2015 by CnBWedding

[calgarybride2015]

@@girlinthecity97

 

I could above written a lot of post myself

Thankfully I pre assembled my OOT items but the ladies and I got all the other stuff ready for the WC. Use anyone you can - they also love the time to catch up with you

 

I agree about the airport. I even did a write up about it in my review. Glad you remembered the bags. With carry on I had 11 so totally can relate.

 

You hit the nail on the head - I feel ripped off too. Haha I remember walking with my dad trying to soak in all of the location and my decor. I haven't seen my taped ceremony yet but can't wait.

 

You said so much more I can relate too. It's the best thing ever isn't it? I can't wait to see your pics and I'm sooo glad you had the wedding of your dreams

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[girlinthecity97]

@@calgarybride2015 - thanks so much! I truly cannot believe how fast it flies and you were smart to get a video. I cannot stop kicking myself for not pushing DF for this! LOL It really was rewarding to see what has been in my head and to a certain extent pinterst board for over a year come to fruition! 

 

Ok Ladies, here are a few more things that came to mind that I thought I would share:

 

• CASH - if you are picky and prone to changing your mind on things, make sure you and/or DF bring at least $500-$600 in cash on you (hopefully you will need less but I thought I would share.  We had a few instances where we were asked to pay for things in cash and had to schlep over to EDR after a visit back to the room to get our bank cards. Before leaving we took out $300 for tips and incidentals but this was far from enough.  So you might be like  what for?!  Well, initially, I requested and paid for LED votives but switched to real flame votives with hurricanes, I had to pay the difference for the hurricane pricing in cash (close to $120 USD).  They also told me I needed to have bows on my cocktail tables to keep the linens from flying around like crazy for both the Welcome & Cocktail hour.  You guessed it, that price had to be paid in cash.  We did a catamaran that was part of our package and the confirmation sheet said to bring $120 for "reef tax" but really it was for a discretionary tip.  Then there are the tips for the event staff, photographer, florists etc...the money we took out before leaving was for the photog and event staff but we forgot about the DJ, waitstaff (who went above and beyond at our loud rehearsal dinner) etc.  We also had to rent a car and it was cheaper to pay in U.S. cash than by credit card, not to mention they want to take an $800 deposit on your card until the car is returned. Given our fraud alerts and the price difference we paid in cash.
  
  I would also recommend having about $100 - $150 usd in pesos if you rent a car.  Thankfully I exchanged some before we left the US where the rate was better than in Mexico and this came in handy for gas to refuel our rental & when I had my Office Max emergency.  Since I didn't need them the rest of the time, I used them for tips at the resort.  
   
• Planning Binder, Questions, Rehearsal - I am sorry to say but the current wedding staff needs a bit of work.  Generations does not have their own team despite having signs up saying their office on the 4th floor. You have to go over to EDR and that team covers both Generations and EDR.  The person assigned to cover Generations (and also does EDR) is not the most experienced so things that you think would be a given are not.  
  
  For instance, during our meeting, I had to ask for:  a tour of all locations for our events, a copy of the seating chart for the pier so I could number the tables to make sure it worked with the draft I created on WeddingWire.com and label where the cigar rollers were going to go etc...,samples of the LED votives, real flame candles, hurricanes to ensure they looked the way I wanted them to and well, you get the idea.  Had I not come armed with my planning binder that had copies of the final spreadsheet, draft seating chart I created and checklist of other points I wanted to make sure were covered these things would have been missed.  
  
  Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day she was great in that everything was where it was supposed to be and looked awesome, this is something I want to prep you for. 
   
• Receipts & Paperwork - I asked for copies of everything, especially any paperwork noting additional payments rendered on the spot (e.g., Hurricanes, Cigar Rollers etc.) and put them in my binder.  I would also make sure invoices/receipts for all items you are bringing to Mexico (including copies of your wedding contract and/or invitation) are in your binder in case you are stopped by Customs and they question the items you are bringing.  Having copies of everything we put on our credit card also came in handy when dealing with a fraud alert we received.  Although we contacted our back to let them know we'd be traveling they notified us of suspicious charges that started to occur after we arrived!  Thankfully, I had the print outs of all things I charged on the card so it was easy for us to let them know what was fraudulent and what was not immediately.

Rehearsal - I think I covered this already but cannot remember...just in case I did not, plan to do your own.  They may say "yes, we will try" but it doesn't happen. Also they will say "oh we will have someone there to tell everyone where to go" and that is NOT entirely true.  You can access most locations at any time so pick a time where your location will be empty/not in use and have your party meet you.  The WC will go over the order of the ceremony processional and the reception dinner but did NOT keep things moving or keep people well informed of who goes where and when.  

• Ceremony Example - my FIL was supposed to walk MIL in.  Instead he was off doing his own thing and my MIL kept asking "who's walking me down? who's walking me down?"  My BIL (who was walking my mom) had to step in and ask DF what should he do - walk both or one at a time and if so who should go first.  Post-ceremony it was really awkward after we walked back up the aisle.  We just stood there staring at our guests - my photog stepped in and asked if I'd like to receive guests or jump into pics. I told him let's go back up to the gazebo and start group shots etc..the WC did not help. 
   
• Reception Example - my sister had to step in and request champagne be brought for the toast when she noticed most people were finishing up their meals and just chatting.  Things started to feel as if they were dragging until she sprang into action and requested that we get the toasts, cake cutting, garter and bouquet tosses knocked out. Again, the WC was just standing around and didn't help keep these things moving. My photog was appreciative as well. 

Edited February 20, 2015 by girlinthecity97