Review from Royal Playa Del Carmen..May 2nd wedding. LONG!

[StephanieandMichael]

We were just married on May 2nd, 2010 at the Royal Playa Del Carmen.

 

As soon as we arrived we were swept away to our romance concierge who checked us in and gave me all the info I needed. She had an appointment card waiting for me from our onsite w/c. We arrived on a Thursday and my appointment was on Friday at 10 am. I had previously set up a trial run for my hair on Friday as well. I was nervous so I needed the peace of mind. The trial was $45. The day of the wedding it was $60. More on hair later....

 

Our onsite w/c was Lilia. She was great! She eased my mind and made me relax after arriving. I had been working with Doreen before hand out of the Michigan office and she was terrible. Let's just leave it at that.

 

We had 18 guests. All stayed at the resort, which helped.

 

We did not have a welcome dinner. It actually was not necessary. We all met at Pelicano's and they put tables together for us. However, my main complaint about the resort was that we had to wait FOREVER at all the restaurants. The food came very slow. Drinks were always free flowing though. If your not in the mood to wait then go to Spice. That was the buffet. We thought it was very good. We ate breakfast there everyday but one. We ordered room service a couple of times and again...very slow! If you have access to the Chef's Plate try to go as often as possible! You have to have booked a master suite or higher room category in order to go to this restaurant. We waited and went on our last night there and we were BLOWN away! It was amazing! I wish we would have went a couple other nights. It has a fixed menu so you will be served whatever they are making that night. Your romance concierge can tell you what's on the menu daily. You MUST go!

 

We took beach bags down for all our guests. We included, 2 beach towels, sunscreen, aloe, spf lipbalm, sudoku and crossword books, playing cards, and gum. We saw ALL of our guests use the bags, towels and most of the products in them. They went over well!

 

We had the "free" wedding because we booked a master suite. I just added on the extras I wanted. I personally think that it's the cheapest option. There were many things in the packages that we simply would not use.

 

We had a private beach reception that we paid $25 pp for and it was so beautiful.

 

CEREMONY: Started at 6pm. At the gazebo.

Beautiful! We had a windy day. I was concerned but it turned out well. The judge spoke english and she was very warm and touching. We used our Ipod for music. They had a sound system and it was great. They had a tech run our Ipod for us. Lilia and the staff do this all day every day and they know what they are doing and will have it just as you asked for. We had a champaign toast and our guests hung out at the bar while we went and took photos for about 45 minutes. We didn't have a cocktail hour. Unless you have a big party with you it really isn't neccessary. There are plenty of places for your group to hang out at while waiting for you to finish photos etc. (We brought our own photographer from home)

 

RECEPTION: On the beach at 7:30- private

I took down my own table runners and chair ties in teal that I had made. As well as my own centerpieces. Which really were not needed. The tables at the reception were so beatiful without them. We also went downtown Playa and bought Maracas for each place setting. Everyone loved them and would shake them when they wanted us to Kiss. The reception was so stunning! It was lit up perfectly and they surprised us by giving us the lighted dance floor at no additional charge!! It was so cool! We loved it!

The food was great! Our guests were very happy and the wait staff at the reception were beyond amazing! They catered to us all night. If my drink was half full, I had another one right away. They did an excellent job! If you have an ipod with a playlist there is NO NEED for a Dj. We didn't hire one and we were glad we chose our Ipod. The sound system they have is great and they have a tech that helps with it all. You don't need to even worry about it. It was very windy that day/night. I had been thinking about moving everything indoors earlier that day but my guests all said no...and we were glad we didn't. The wind turned out to be a blessing and kept us cool.

 

Hair:

I NEVER wear my hair up. I hate updo's. period. I have long thick hair. It does not hold up well in humidity either. As soon as I got off the plane all my pretty curls I had in were gone within minutes. So, I knew I had no choice. I had to get an updo. I was so upset about it. Between the wind and the heat I knew I was making the right choice. After my trial I was happy with it...about as happy as I could be with an updo. It did turn out nice. Alicia did my hair. She was great. However, the girls at the spa speak little to NO english. I speak No spanish. So I had several pictures. That is very important! Take pics with you! If they have them, you will be in good hands.

 

on another note...not many people at the resort speak english. But it still works..somehow Also, some of the bartenders were not real friendly. The waitresses were great though. In addition, most of the food was great at all locations. The 24 hr snack bar comes in handy

 

Flowers:

This was my biggest dilemia. My wedding theme was based around peacock feathers. My girls had teal dresses etc. I changed my mind on flowers 3 times! I just wasn't liking anything in the catalog. I sent pics of other flowers that I liked and they wanted $350! No way was I paying that.

I chose an arrangement that i kinda liked (B20, I think) and took down peacock feathers to be added to my bouquet, my bridesmaids and the groomsmen bout's. I also took my own matching ribbon for the stems and some jewels for my bouquet. Let me tell you, when I saw my flowers...I was ELATED! They were so beautiful! They were better than I ever expected.

 

Cake:

If you have a private reception you will get dessert and after that nobody really wants cake. My cake was beautiful but not too much was eaten. So, I wouldn't go all out on that unless your not having a dessert with your menu.

The cake was good. Not great. It was a 2 tier cake, vanilla with raspberry.

 

Another piece of advice...when you arrive I would get a list of all your guests with their room numbers written down. It can be hard to locate others and if you call the front desk to have them connect you they have a hard time understanding you if you don't speak spanish. Most of guests did not use their cell phones down there. It's expensive unless they have an international plan on it. Our room had free international calling so many of our guests would come to our room to call home to check on kids etc.

 

Upon arrival you will also be asked to attend a "meeting" it's a sales pitch to become part of there "gold club" if you are not interested then don't do it. It takes 2 hours and they will push...making the deal sweeter every time you say NO. Unless you plan on returning to the resort often then just say no. They will offer you "free" items to attend but it still wasn't worth us losing 2 hours of vacation over.

 

Overall, I would say our experience/wedding/vacation was an A-

I am extremely picky and have expensive taste (I am pageant queen and fashion model, make-up artist and esthetician) and my husband can tell you that I am hard to please sometimes, so if I was happy, I am sure most other brides will be happy with the Royal as well. If you have any questions just let me know. I am glad to help. I am on facebook where some pics are already posted. I will have more soon.

 

Stephanie Piller

(from Illinois)

[Mrs.B]

Thanks for sharing!

[Mere]

Great Review-thanks so much for sharing. I am getting married at The Royal Cancun-I hope they have a tech to run our iPod for us as it will be just the two of us.

[LA923]

Great review, congrats on the wedding.

[Nicyx]

Lovely review.... Thanks for sharing x

[Future Mrs. M]

Congrats! Great review! Can't wait to see pictures

[Jenny310]

Great review, thanks for posting. Can't wait to see the pics!

 

You said the tables were already decorated and you didn't need the the centerpieces, what did they already have?

[jaynreneewed]

thanks for sharing

[dimax21]

Thank you for sharing. I am getting married at the Royal in Playa del Carmen May 2011. I have been trying to decide on what package to go with and private reception vs. semi private (we will have about 15 guests with us). This has helped a lot. thank you

[82turtles]

Gerat review, thank you for sharing!!! That's helpful to know that you don't really need to have a DJ since they have the iPod sound system