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antonia321

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Everything posted by antonia321

  1. My wedding was in March which is high season and the busiest month so the resort was completely booked. Also, there were some airline issues so some of my guests arrived late and lost their rooms. BUT they ended up get free upgrades! The Royal is a 5 start resort, all my guests were very happy and extremely comfortable. The location of the Royal is so perfect, too. Its not like all the guests stay trapped at the resort, too. They wonder into town during the day, etc.
  2. my pleasure! they said we could only have the reception on the beach and music until midnight. That part of the beach wasn't next to people's rooms. Maybe it just looked that way in the pictures??
  3. thanks! the bridesmaids dresses are from JCrew and the MOH dress is from Nicole Miller
  4. I say, just send it! That's what I did. The less said the better. And now a days people know about the A and B list, right? Weddings are so expensive now and especially in this economy!
  5. i love Bare Escentuals! I have been using the foundation for 6 years. my mom recommended it to me and I have recommended it to many friends who are very happy. I have sensitive skin, too. I have broken out using their primer so I just stick to the powders now.
  6. I love the show! Alexis is the cutest and just brightens my day! My mom loves the show, too and my sister just started watching. My family had 3 kids but some of our cousins came from families from 6, 9 and 13 kids! But my mom says to have 6 kids at all the same age is tough. When you have a big family, like our cousins, the older kids end up helping with the younger ones to keep the parents sane. My mom owns a daycare now in her retirement (I think secretly to get ready for my babies - talk about pressure!) and she has no more than 6 kids at one time with two caretakers. Its fun to go visit but its exhausting!
  7. if your fiance is a good dresser then you can just say, "my dress is ivory" and he'll do his best. my husband is a good dresser, too and I gave him free reign on what he wanted to wear. In the end, I went with him and gave him input with his linen suit that he had made. I would worry if your fiance didn't really care about clothes and wanted to wear a tank top and cut offs! Its sounds like he's not that guy!
  8. I picked a 5 star all-inclusive for my wedding. My dad had brought up that some family member had time shares in the area, would probably stay there to save money. Some friends told me the same. When it came down to it, we negotiated such a good deal with our resort that it was hard to pass up staying with us. There were still a small handful of people that didn't stay at ours but we payed for them. They are our guests and traveled a long way to celebrate with us. That's like, if we were getting married in our hometown and they stayed with a relative or friend to save money instead of our designated hotel, I wouldn't make them pay for their own dinner. It ended up being a smaller fee than the day pass so the damage was not as bad as expected. I'm sure you can negotiate that, too.
  9. Quote: Originally Posted by Kits55 Antonia: I loved reading your review, thank you so much for posting it. I do have a couple of questions that I'm not sure if you'll know the answers to or not. 1: do they only perform one ceremony per day at The Royal? I know you had yours off the resort but thought you might know in speaking with the wedding coordinators 2: If a couple had their ceremony on the beach, is it roped off or separated in any way so that randoms won't show in the picture? Thanks! Kelly Hi Kelly, Thanks! I know they can have more than one ceremony a day but I don't remember actually seeing it happen. There aren't really that many weddings at The Royal in general, you can probably even see that from this forum. They don't have a one wedding a day policy but at the same time, I have never seen more than one wedding, if there even is a wedding, per day. There is a really nice Royal bride on here named Becky. She was a bride before me and got married on the beach. She even has pictures on here. I'm sure if you found her and asked her she could probably give you the best advice about a beach wedding ceremony at The Royal. I messaged her a couple times before my wedding and she was super nice. a
  10. my wedding dress was silk and silk chiffon. PERFECT for the beach. my bridesmaids were also all in silk chiffon. Light, breezy and comfortable. Good luck!
  11. Quote: Originally Posted by msam007562 Antonia, first off your pictures are amazing!! You and your husband make such a beautiful couple and its so easy to see how joyous you both were on your special day ~ congrats!! I am also a Filipina bride so looking at your pictures totally resonates with me - seeing the men with barongs (spelling?) on and all the Philippine made dresses ~ its wonderful!! And of course it seems like with all Filipino families, we really know how to enjoy a party I wanted to ask you...where did you get your wedding dress and your bridesmaids dresses, including your maid of honor's which I noticed was a little different? They are all really beautiful and look perfect for a beach atmosphere. And, where did you get those wonderful little lanterns? I love the idea of doubling up candlelight with place cards!! Congrats again and many blessings for a lifetime of happiness together Thank you for the super nice comments! It was hard not having my filipino side dominate everything but I think by now my husband has gotten used to it! I got my dress at this funky bridal store in the DC area called Promise...for the Savvy bride Promise...for the savvy bride Its a Carolina Herrera from her spring 2006 collection. I LOVED wearing it. It was so light and flowy yet to me, still sexy and classy. BM dresses were a steal on sale from JCrew wedding collection. I think they were only $89-$99. MOH's dress was a Nicole Miller from her Spring 2007 Mayan collection. All of our dresses were silk chiffon which I think looks and feels perfect for beach weddings. The laterns are from here : Jamali Garden Supplies The guests took them home as favors, too. Good luck and congratulations!!
  12. 3 of my girls got their dresses from JCrew on sale. No need for fitting if you know your sizes in JCrew and the have great sales. Women's Wedding Dresses - Bridesmaid Dresses & Women's Shoes - J.Crew J.Crew - Search and my MOH/sister got hers from Nicole Miller. good luck!
  13. if you don't have organic at your grocery store or a farmer's market nearby, check out this site Community Supported Agriculture - LocalHarvest you can support local farmers that grow organic food.
  14. YAY!!!! Great review, Heidi and FABULOUS pictures!!! Thanks for mentioning me, too! he he Your review and pictures took me back to March when we got married and further confirmed that we both made such a great decision with The Royal! Isn't Zulma just the sweetest? All the staff there is so wonderful and very accommodating. They really just make you feel so special there. I just read my husband that part where you mentioned the Mango Tangos. And we started laughing. That was the popular drink at our wedding, too and I think some of our guests had them for breakfast daily! The lounge furniture looked great and your pictures are amazing. Go del Sol photography!! Wasn't the location so perfect? You can be lounging at a 5 star resort then just a block away is downtown Playa del Carmen. Our guests loved it. Anyway, congratulations and I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review. Hopefully, we can help out more future "Royal" brides!! antonia
  15. hi Shay, my reception was on-site but the ceremony was off-site. The Royal is really helpful and doesn't have those strict outside vendor policies that other places have. You can use their people or not, they won't give you a hard time at all! I saw pictures from the company that the resort used and its just not what I wanted. They weren't bad but I wanted something extraordinary. I used the videographer that they provided though!
  16. Hi Amanda! I'm so excited for you!! The buffet had a lot of options from what I remembered. Meat, Fish, Chicken, Veg. We had some vegetarians and picky eaters so I thought this was the best option. The set menu you can only have one option with just 3 exceptions. I also wanted a social atmosphere and people not confined to their table. Elizabeth Medina is awesome! I wanted her originally but when I made my final decision, she was booked. Matt Adcock from del Sol Photography is AWESOME but I think they just raised their prices. I can relate to the filipino family situation! We are a fun bunch, relatives and cousins galore! We love weddings because we love to party! I really do think I saved a lot of money by having my wedding at The Royal. I had a beautiful 5 Star wedding for more than half as much as the same wedding in US. I had 100 guests, which is still a lot I think for a destination, but a lot less than the almost 300 guests at my cousin's California wedding a few years back. In fact, every time I would freak out about costs piling up, my cousin would call me and say, um - our reception was more than double per head, we had more than double the guests AND alcohol wasn't included. I hope this makes you feel better! If you want, you can talk to my cousin, too! LOL antonia
  17. I read the title of this post and I laughed my head off and had to read this thread! I have to say, I am guilty of being on Facebook, keeping in touch and having fun on there. We even have a Facebook group for our wedding, actually requested by some of our guests. Our guests, some that hadn't even meet yet, wanted to communicate before the wedding about arrivals, sharing rides from the airport, doing activities, and just overall wanted to express excitement and introduce themselves. And then after the wedding everyone became actual friends, not just "Facebook friends" and were sharing pictures, funny memories, uploading videos, and making comments. And for those friends that couldn't make it, they were able to see lots of photos from different guests that attended, not just our photos. BUT as Facebook-friendly as we were, we definitely DID NOT get one RSVP via Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.... Even though, I do know I even asked friends for addresses via Facebook. We sent STD postcards, had a very informative website where you could RSVP and we sent out funky yet traditional style wedding invitations with RSVP stamped cards as well as another card directing them to our website again. Our reply date was 30 days before our wedding. Probably 80% sent us back the reply cards, some used the website, some even did both. We got some reply phone calls, early gifts with explanatory notes and a few apologetic e-mails. A couple people just told us in person. I'm not sure why we didn't get these kind of replies since now I'm seeing that its common for the DW. And I think I gave my guests every opportunity by even having a Facebook group! I would even send out e-mail postcard updates from our website. (gotta love Wedding Windows) I think that sometimes DW have such a laid-back style that people respond in a laid-back way also? Your guess is as good as mine!
  18. I read the title of this post and I laughed my head off and had to read this thread! I have to say, I am guilty of being on Facebook, keeping in touch and having fun on there. We even have a Facebook group for our wedding, actually requested by some of our guests. Our guests, some that hadn't even meet yet, wanted to communicate before the wedding about arrivals, sharing rides from the airport, doing activities, and just overall wanted to express excitement and introduce themselves. And then after the wedding everyone became actual friends, not just "Facebook friends" and were sharing pictures, funny memories, uploading videos, and making comments. And for those friends that couldn't make it, they were able to see lots of photos from different guests that attended, not just our photos. BUT as Facebook-friendly as we were, we definitely DID NOT get one RSVP via Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.... Even though, I do know I even asked friends for addresses via Facebook. We sent STD postcards, had a very informative website where you could RSVP and we sent out funky yet traditional style wedding invitations with RSVP stamped cards as well as another card directing them to our website again. Our reply date was 30 days before our wedding. Probably 80% sent us back the reply cards, some used the website, some even did both. We got some reply phone calls, early gifts with explanatory notes and a few apologetic e-mails. A couple people just told us in person. I'm not sure why we didn't get these kind of replies since now I'm seeing that its common for the DW. And I think I gave my guests every opportunity by even having a Facebook group! I would even send out e-mail postcard updates from our website. (gotta love Wedding Windows) I think that sometimes DW have such a laid-back style that people respond in a laid-back way also? Your guess is as good as mine!
  19. welcome amanda! got married at the royal playa del carmen and LOVED it!! have fun planning!
  20. I was so nervous at the start of my wedding day. I'd have to say that our photographer Matt Adcock and his assistant Diego made everyone relaxed, especially me and we got amazing photos. He was already familiar with the area, resort, etc., knew the best lighting at what time and in what area. If your friend's son already has those people skills and can confidently give direction to a unsure bride, her family, bridal party, etc. then it would be worth it. But if he didn't, then I'm nervous just thinking about it! Two of my guests are professional photographer/videographers and they were also taking pictures/video but knew I wanted someone like Matt, he's a professional, knows weddings and the area.
  21. omg!! so fun! i did cooking classes and wine touring in that area years ago when i was single. what a great area for a DW!
  22. i def. like #3. but i'm that practical person that would spend more money on a pair of Kate Spades that I could use again. when i saw those, i imagined several other dresses that i could wear them with. BUT if you already have your shoes, the girls are right. Stick with them. You will make yourself crazy looking for another pair.
  23. wow. i think i got stressed out just by READING this thread! I do not know the history of your friendship with your BM and how you came to chose your BMs. I am not really one to complain about BMs as I had four and they were wonderful. But I do have two very close childhood friends, one is in med school and the other doing their residency. Both are completely stressed out, cranky from lack of sleep and proper nutrition from 36 hour rotations in different hospitals, getting 20 minutes of sleep at a time. I know they love me to death but it would have been definitely hard for me to get to do much. Only one of them could even make it to my wedding, so I felt lucky for that while the other called me so guilty at the very last moment saying she couldn't come. Wedding planning is stressful for EVERYONE. My mom and my sister got into a HUGE fight one afternoon about wedding planning. It was actually over something very stupid now that I think about it. My dad got involved, my sister's boyfriend, then me and the drama got bigger over something so small. Its an emotional time. But at the same time, my mom didn't disown my sister. Everyone got over it and the wedding was awesome. remember STRESS + STRESS = MESS I think its really important to vent, which is what is great about this forum. And let me tell you, if I had discovered it soon rather than 3 months before my wedding, you would have heard every story! I am in no place to judge or give advice but I guess I would be sad to lose a good girlfriend, if that is what she is, since they are so rare. And a future doctor friend at that for samples and advice!!! LOL! Good luck!
  24. i LOVED it! My girlfriend and I laughed, got teary and had a lot of fun with with the 7 gays guys next to us. It was def. a party in the theater.
  25. They block off the beach area for Royal guests only. That's where the beach bar, beach beds, waiters, chairs are, etc. Its not like you'll be sitting next to family picnic on the sand. But anyone can go in the water or walk along beach because its a public beach.
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