Riu Palace Riviera Maya All Inclusive

We got back from our wedding in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico at the Riu Palace Riveria Maya a couple of weeks ago. It was the most amazing and perfect wedding, although I may be biased ;)! I would like to thank this forum for giving me so many great ideas and advice over the past year. Especially all the girls previously married at RPRM! Here is a review of my wedding, let me know if you have any other questions:

Resort A+++

The resort was everything we could have wanted and more. It really made you feel like you were in a palace as you stepped into the lobby. We traveled from 12/15- 12/25 and they had a bunch of holiday decorations set up, which my group absolutely loved since some of us were leaving Christmas day.

As soon as we walked in, everyone was very helpful. We got to Mexico pretty early, was at the resort by 11 AM, so unfortunately not many rooms were ready. But they gave us our wristband, and offered a hospitality room for changing in. The manager called me and my FI (now husband J) up to the front desk thought right away though and let us know they had a Suite ready for us. Free upgrade with the wedding package, and we didn’t even have to ask. This was pretty cool because the resort was full, I had guests book the week before and couldn’t get into RPRM because it was full!

The pool bar= awesome. Be ware of sitting in the booths all day in the sun and having too many drinks. It took a couple of my guests as victims one day. They always seemed to have music playing around the pool bar. But, we did get up early to claim seats!

Restaurants: I thought the food was great. My guests who have stayed at other all inclusive said this was the best food they’ve had. Mimosas and bloody mary’s at the breakfast buffet was great. Oh yea, reservations for the specialty restaurants were fairly simple to. Yes, it required leaving the beach/pool for 10 minutes any time between 12-3, but you can always just send a different person each day (only need one person). The buffet was great too, so no need to make reservations if you didn’t want to.

Welcome Dinner A+

We arranged with Nancy ahead of time a welcome dinner at the Buffet the night before the wedding. They even included it for 2 of our guests staying at a sister Riu (through emails, Nancy made it sound like they weren’t going to be able to come at first). They sectioned us off a more private (as private as you can get in the buffet area) of 3 tables of 10. They even added simple decorations on it to make it feel more special.

***This is one of the three tables they set up for us!

Ceremony A+ (3pm)

We bought the royal package because we had 36 people attending (so under 40). Included in the package were two fresh flower decorations for the gazebo. Since I brought down real touch flower for my bouquet, she changed my bridal bouquet into another bouquet for decoration no extra charge. I also brought fake flower petals for my FG since we had 3, so she took the rose petal bag included onto the cake table.

We met the minister right before the wedding, and he did a great job. Mexico being so catholic, he automatically inserted prayer and bible versus without us asking. We are both more spiritual then religious so it wasn’t something we anticipated being apart of the wedding but didn’t bug us  (it was actually a really nice passage). But if you for some reason don’t want prayer apart of the ceremony, I would make it known ahead of time. He also introduced our readers and our name at the end without hesitation and good pronunciation!

We did have some music issues with the Riu’s CD. The bridal party song, cannon in d, jumped around and skipped, etc. But it was really no biggie.

All in all it was absolutely beautiful! I wouldn’t change a thing. We even had random person come up to us and told us they watched our whole wedding and it was perfect ;) (Randoms will watch, but it felt a lot more private then the beach location. I didn’t really notice anyone watching)

Cocktail Hour A + (5:30-8:30 pm)

We did this outside the Lyrico Bar. We also had the mariachi band play from 5:30-6:15. I would recommend, having the band start at 6 if you are doing the cocktail hour at 5:30. Some of our guests were a little late, so missed the beginning of the mariachi band and even our first dance. (Our flower girls were down for quick nap between the ceremony and reception ;))

We decided not to do appetizers, but for our group this was just fine. People grabbed a snack following the ceremony at the snack bar. And then we danced so much and socialized during the cocktail hour that it didn’t seem like were missing anything. That being said, we brought down a sony stereo system for our ipod (like a bose, my dad just liked the sony better). We had a wedding playlist set up, but were able to browse through songs when wanted. It was perfect!

Another tip: make friends with the staff, they are soo much fun! Also, treating them with a little $$ to show gratitude for what they do goes along way. Santos, one of our favorites, came in on his day off to serve our cocktail hour reception! We got the best tequila they had for one of our toasts ;) (it didn’t even burn going down!)

*** I didn't really have any good pictures that show how they set up the cocktail hour. But here is the Lyrico Bar. They set up the cocktail hour on the far left side facing tables inward creating a rectangular-ish shape.

***Here is our first dance with the mariachi band during the cocktail hour. They were great!

Reception B (8:45pm-11pm)

We had a semi-private dinner at Chilli’s for our reception dinner. Unfortunately with the size of our group, the only time we could have was during the second seating at 8:45. It worked out just fine for us, and no one complained about the late dinnertime.

For dinner they provided the two appetizer options on the table for everyone. There was chicken caesar salad and a seafood plate (it had crab legs, shrimp, smoked salmon, calamari). Everyone got to order his or her own dinner option.

So we had a group of 36, so they had 4 tables of 8 and a head table of 4 (which was sort of awkward since our bridal party consisted of 6+ us two and we had 2 MOH and 1 best man). They took our order first, and had brought out just our appetizers before anyone else had really ordered. The last table didn’t even place their orders until we had already ate which was really weird. We knew with a big group the odds of us all getting food at the same time was slim, but we thought they could have done a better job. Also the servers never came around with wine or soda options for any of our guests. That being said we were fairly disappointed by the service we received (there was like no one else in the restaurant either, so it was not like they were busy)

 All in all, it was such a great day that I don’t think my guests were too disappointed by the poor service. We were all chatty and in such a great mood that we made the best of it. We had really great service at all of the other restaurants, so I have to guess they were having an off night there.

**Here is the setup for dinner... You can see the head table in the background!

Wedding Cake A+

We got the wedding cake included in our package. We chose vanilla cake, with strawberry filling and vanilla icing. Was going to go with chocolate, but when I wear white I am prone to spills. I thought vanilla would look better on my dress ;). It was REALLY good. Although we were full and couldn’t enjoy it fully, I am still really happy with the job they did.

** our cake.. they brought over flowers from the gazebo and my BM put their bouquets there as well.

Wedding Coordinator A

Nancy was our wedding coordinator. She did a great job at responding in a timely fashion. We communicated through emails until our on resort interview a couple days before the wedding. That being said, I was not all that needy so really didn’t see her much or have any big requests she couldn’t handle.

 Photographer A++++ Alan Johnson

We flew our own photog down and he is absolutely amazing. He did all my family’s senior pictures as well as my sister’s dw in Jamaica 2 years ago, so calling him a “family friend” that is apart of our wedding guests really wasn’t a lie. Nancy was really cool about us having one of our guests take photos and no questions were asked during all day pictures or the TTD session a few days later. Alan did amazing job, anyone in Northern MN area definitely should look into him! He took 71 gigs (I think that’s the term) of pictures for us J!

***First picture Alan sent us the day after we got back. Still waiting to get more :)

*** sent us our family photo early so my mom could use it for a christmas card!

*** He sent us one more sneak peak of the pictures! Can't wait for the rest!

Renova Spa A

Included in our package we got a couples massage. It was only 20 minutes so it was kind of a teaser but they did a great job. We were very pleased.

My sister and I also got our hair done there… I had done a hair trial at home and brought pictures. My hair turned out exactly how I wanted it. It was perfect! My sister’s hair turned out great too, although it wasn’t exactly what she wanted. But she hadn’t brought a picture down so had to look through their pictures and describe what she was thinking. I would definitely recommend bringing a photo! 

**Me and the sister on the right had our hair done at the resort spa.

Well that should be it… please let me know if you have any questions! JRPRM was an amazing resort and we had the best 10 days there ever. Everyone was very happy with the wedding and the entire week. 

Wow, what an amazing wedding we had at the Riu Palace Riviera Maya (RPRM) I am a very happy bride and I highly recommend this resort to other brides. The planning stages worried me a bit when emailing with the wedding co-ordinator but everything worked out perfectly, I couldn’t have asked for anything better! Thanks again to Tammy for the BDW forums, everyone has been amazing and so helpful!!!

Accommodations- Riu Palace Riviera Maya (RPRM) – A++++++

The resort is beautiful, the grounds were constantly being maintained and the staff was amazing. The hotel is only 3 ½ years old but you really do feel like you are staying in a palace!

We did not splurge for the 2 storey suite (however I kinda wish we did) we were just hoping we would get it as a free upgrade but that didn’t happen.
All the rooms were suites however ours looked out into the courtyard and it was beautiful. We were in room 1051 and it was close to the pool and spa which was awesome and farther from the theatre and lobby so it wasn’t loud at night.

View from our room:


The shows they put on were really good. The whole 2 weeks we were there we never saw the same show twice which was pretty cool.

Here’s my thoughts on the restaurants…

Chili’s – Steak House – Favorite!!!

The sea and land (lobster and steak) was delicious!!! I always got 2 lobster tails! I like my steak med-rare and it was cooked perfectly every time!!

The baked Alaska desert is also delicious here and I am not a desert person. It is ice cream covered in meringue. The staff will light it on fire too, it’s really cool.

Miguel was our server every time and he was fabulous!!!

Krystal – Fusion

The pumpkin soup was amazing!!!
We had the beef and the salmon here and both were excellent.

Agave – Mexican

I loved the chicken fajitas but the appetizer is a buffet so careful because most of the time I was to full for my main course!!

Botafogo – Brazilian

I was not a big fan of this restaurant, I think the meat could have been cooked better. The turkey was dry and all the meat also needed spices.

Yashima – Japanese

I had the salmon, it was alright. Doug loved the sushi tray!! I am not a big sushi fan.

The main buffet was also very delicious!!! The ribs were amazing. My fav. thing at breakfast is the omelet station..yummy. We also made BLT’s for breakfast which were really yummy. The guacamole and Pico de galo were so fresh and so delicious!!! The pizza and pasta at the lunch buffet by the pool was good too. Oh and the pasta station in the main buffet…awesome!!!! I am getting hungry!!

Room service was excellent, we had pretty much everything on the room service menu, my fav was the chicken toastadas.

Late at night when you are hungry the sports bar has awesome sandwiches, which Doug had pretty much every night!

My fav. drinks were, pina coladas, Miami vice, champagne, mimosas, chocolate martinis and rum punch!!! The cappuccinos there are good too.

The beach and pool were spectacular!! The ocean was as warm as a bath tub!! The pool water was a little cold sometimes but when it gets really hot it was nice!

Santos, Gus and Javier are fabulous servers down at the theatre, say Hi for me!!!

Wedding Coordinator- Ael – B+

She was really great, when we met with her she answered any questions we had and helped us make informed decisions based on our needs and group size. The only bad thing is once you sign the sheet at the end of the meeting you cannot change anything or ask any questions.

Spa – A+++

I got my hair done at the spa and it turned out amazing!! The lady who did it could not speak much English but I had brought a photo with me and she did a great job!

I also got a pedicure and aroma therapy message with our wedding package and it was spectacular!! It was so good I went back and got the combination message with was also fabulous!!

Gazebo Location – A+++

Beautiful…what else can I say. It is a perfect location.


Flowers- A+++

Our flowers were amazing!!! I was blown away at how beautiful and perfect they were.



Photographer – Calypso Photography - B

They were alright. They sprung it on us that we had to pay cash for our photos though which we were not to pleased about. We got them to let us pay half cash and half credit card. We got package 8 that is offered and the pictures turned out great! The photographer we had though seemed to be new at what she was doing and didn’t have many ideas for poses and things so from looking at all the photos on here I had some ideas of what I was looking for and did that.

Cocktail Hour – A+ (5pm-7pm)

Every one mingled and had a great time. It was held in front of the theatre and an area was setup just for our group. This is also when they served us our champagne that was included in the package. We did not pay extra for this as it was semi-private and we did not get any snacks.

Reception – A+++ (7pm-12am)

We had our private reception at Chilis and it was great. We had a head table and then 6 others tables of 8-10 people. We had dinner which was a Mexican buffet that had tons of stuff and it was delicious! After dinner we did speeches then a slide show and dancing!!! We never ended up cutting the cake because there everyone was full from the buffet which also had deserts so they delivered our cake to our room the next morning and we ate it with forks and anyone who came by the room had some too!! It was really funny!

We also paid to have cocktails at our reception and I think it is totally worth it. They are setup the whole time but most people didn’t really get drinks until after speeches were through.

Oh, we were also only suppose to have the space from 7pm-11pm but Ael said if we talked to Diana, the head of PR at the RPRM and she said it was okay we could pay $100/hr to have it longer. We never ended up talking to Diana but my hubby the sweet talker just paid them under the table and we got to stay later.

DJ -

From what I remember, not because I was intoxicated but because time went by so fast and I was really sick is that the DJ was good. Everyone was up dancing and having a great time. We requested a certain song for Doug’s and I’s first dance but we let him pick the rest. We also rented the slide show equipment from him and it turned out great.

The service at this hotel is outstanding; I highly recommend tipping the maid service, bell boys, serving staff…everyone!!! They work so hard to ensure we have a perfect vacation and it is greatly appreciated!!

Please PM me if you have any questions!

Here’s a few of my favorite photos…





 

We stayed at this resort from Nov. 6-16 with 35 of our family and friends for our wedding.

It was my first time in Mexico, so I was unsure of what to expect. From the moment we arrived we were blown away by the exceptional service by the resort staff and the cleanliness of everything. We enjoyed all of the restaurants, but thought "Krystal" restaurant had the best food. The breakfast every morning at the buffet was pretty amazing too.

For our wedding, we chose the gazebo location and "Chilli's" steakhouse restaurant for the dinner reception. We had a cocktail reception on the beach between the ceremony and dinner and had dancing, appetizers, and a bar set up for the 2-3 hours around sunset. After dinner we rented the "Daiquiri" bar and had drinks and dancing until 11pm. The bartenders were so much fun and really added to our experience.

We had an amazing day, and wouldn't have changed any of our choices. Everything was set-up exactly how we wanted it and everything ran smoothly without any input form us. Our wedding planner, Nancy was amazing and took care of everything! She discussed options with us so that we were able to have everything we wanted in our wedding and still stay within budget.We were able to be relaxed and stress-free the entire week at the resort, including our wedding day because we had emailed back and forth with Nancy and had planned the whole wedding before we took our flight to Mexico.

The only aspect of our wedding that we decided to out-source was the photography. We chose to have Del Sol Photography come in to capture our wedding day. We think these photos tell our story for us!

Riu Palace Riviera Maya

Travel Agent = A++

I found Wendy Hicks on this site (BDW) She was the first TA that truly knew the answers for a destination wedding.  Before finding Wendy, I spoke with at least 5 different agents and none were as attentive and knowledgeable about my location/resort.  She was very accommodating and quick to answer any questions that we had.  Everyone from our party ended up using Wendy to book their trip.

Airline = A

We flew Continental.  The flight attendants let me put my dress in the 1^st class closet even when the flight was fully booked.

We arrived at the Cancun airport around 6pm and there were no lines in customs.  We were so surprised how fast the process was since my sister warned us that she was in line for about an hour the day before. 

Leaving Cancun, we had the opposite experience.  Lines were out the door and waited over an hour just to check in.  Luckily we arrived 2 hours prior to our flight and just had enough time to walk to our gate and board. 

Airport Transfers = A+

Olympus Tours booked by our TA.  They were easy to find at the airport by their bright orange shirts & were very friendly.  They communicated clearly the transfer process & who to contact with any information.

RIU Palace Riviera Maya= A++++

This was truly a palace… absolutely beautiful!  Our first reaction to the resort was WOW! The lobby was grand and magnificent.  The front desk attendants were welcoming and gave us drinks during check in.  Our room was on the first floor close to the gazebo (wedding area) and pool…couldn’t have asked for a better location.  Our guests were also in the same area of the resort.

Staff = A+++++

Amazing staff at the Riu!  They were friendly, helpful, very attentive and also had great sense of humor.  We got to know our servers and some even knew what drinks we wanted before asking.   There was always someone to help you or get you something.

Food = A++

Don Manolo – breakfast & dinner buffet

I think this was my favorite!  Located by the plaza and had tons of selections.  Breakfast included: omelet station, eggs station, bacon, sausage, fruits, desserts, cheese/meats, salads, cereals, pancakes, smoothies, soups, breads, soo much more.

Dinner- there was usually a theme.  Our first night was lobster night.. which was awesome!

Chilis- Lunch/snack buffet & Steakhouse for dinner

Open and airy restaurant.  Great location since its close to the beach and pool area.  Lunch pretty much consisted of salad bar, meat/cheese selection, pastas, pizzas, fries, burgers & hotdogs, nachos, salads, etc.  (will review dinner below)

Agave-Mexican restaurant.  Was okay.  This is where we had our welcome dinner which my sister had set up.  They greeted us with margaritas and had a good appetizer buffet. 

BotoFogo-Rodizio restaurant.  I really liked this one.  My new hubby and I went here the night after our wedding and had a really great dinner.  They brought out different rotisserie meats throughout the meal and we were soo full from eating so much.  The turkey was nice and  juicy and the cinnamon pineapple dessert was superb!

Krystal- did not try

Japanese-did not try

Chilis-Steakhouse (wedding reception location)        

Started out with salad and mixed selection of appetizers (mussels,calamari,)

I chose the sirloin steak… really good.  Dessert was our wedding cake, just enough to serve our small group of 15 ppl.

The morning after our wedding, room service came with a full breakfast spread, our wedding flowers for our room and also our leftover wedding cake. 

Entertainment = A

After dinner, there was always something going on at the plaza…from a saxophone player, singing band, dance group, etc. 

Around 930pm, the evening show would start at the stage area by Lyrico Bar.  The “Broadway Show” and “Michael Jackson” night were great!

Club Pinata at Riu Tequila- didn’t really care for.  They didn’t open until 11pm and music was not that good.  They mostly played out of date music..nothing new.

The resort had plenty of activities to join during the day.  The entertainment staff coordinated  horseshoe, ping pong, beach or pool volleyball, bingo, pool aerobics, sand castle building for kids, etc. 

Wedding Coordinator = A+

Nancy was our coordinator and she definitely knew what she was doing.  I didn’t hear from her until about a month before the wedding but once we got the initial email… contacting her was pretty easy.  We met with her 2 days before our wedding to finalize our plans.  She explained what to expect the day of and how the ceremony was going to go.  I made special requests for our ceremony and she made sure the minister was informed.   We left all of our ceremony/reception accessories with the front desk and she coordinated our setup exactly how we wanted it. 

We requested our Minister to be Roberto Gomez. (thank you Virginia & Dana)  He spoke very clearly and just had a great ceremony.  I highly recommend using him.

Music= no rating

Since we only had 17 ppl, we didn’t want to spend $1200+ for a dj for the reception.  We did bring a small IPOD player for our first dance, father daughter dance, etc.  My sister ended being the MC and everything was perfect.

We gave a CD to Nancy for our ceremony which they had a sound system set up by the gazebo.  You need to have 4 songs if you want to use your own music:

1. processional
2. bride entrance
3. certificate signing
4. recessional

Flowers= A++

Flowers were beautiful.  I gave Nancy a picture of the bouquet I wanted and she made it happen.  The staff moved our ceremony flowers to our reception area for decoration for the bride/groom table and cake table.

Bouquet and bouteneire were included with our package but we ordered a bridesmaid bouquet and 2 corsages for moms.  (cost was extra $100-$130)

Renova Spa = A+

My hubby didn’t really care about using his free massage so I gave his voucher to my FMIL.  We had a little bonding moment the day before the wedding which was a nice gift to her. 

The day of the wedding, the spa’s AC was out of order so they asked if I minded getting my hair and makeup done at my room.  I actually preferred to have it done at the comfort of my own room...which was nice since my room was soo close to the spa and gazebo.  I brought a pic of how I wanted my hair and makeup, and the girl did a great job.  I was very happy with the turnout.

Photographer = A+++++

Sascha Gluck.  What an amazing photographer!  I found Sascha from this site and saw all the many great reviews.  Not only was he great but also was reasonably priced.  We had him and his assistant for a total of 4 hours.  Sascha and his assistant came early for our session and went straight to work.   He was truly a professional and had such a great eye for amazing photography.  He gave us direction and wasn’t in anyone’s way during the ceremony & reception.  Since we were using an outside photographer, we were charged an extra $200 for their access to the resort. 

Wedding= A+++++++

Exactly what the previous brides said.. there really isn’t anything to worry about.  Enjoy your day because they take care of everything for you. 

The day of the wedding, I started my day eating breakfast and hitting the pool and beach.  I had a chance to read my book and play with my lil’ nephews in the pool before the wedding.. stressfree and not rushed  

2pm- hair/makeup appt for bride and MOH.

4pm- photographer arrives

5pm- ceremony starts

5:20pm-pictures with family

5:45pm-bride/groom pictures & family goes to the lobby bar for cocktails (Nancy set aside some tables for us)

6:45pm-  dinner at chilies for reception.  They set up the upper level for a semi-private dinner- which was perfect.  We had 1 long table and a bride/groom table facing our family. 

8-9pm- reception ends and everyone heads to the plaza for more drinks/entertainment

After the night show, I felt very sick and retired to our room for the evening. 

All in all- we couldn’t have asked for a better wedding day!