KimmyG

Whew! I'm on a roll... more general words of wisdom from a married lady: Regarding the welcome bags, the guests seemed to really like them. I saw a bunch of people using the bags (from forever 21) and the mugs (made me happy, those were a PAIN to transport!) and barely anyone using the pashminas (they were nice but i think it was too hot) Regarding packing: I wore a different bathing suit every day since it's so humid things don't dry well. During the day I wore bathing suit and cover-up and at night I wore dresses (like polo dress or sun dress) or skirt/top. I never touched my shorts, khakis, sweaters/cardigans/clubbing tops/heels. Bring comfy shoes. 5th avenue is about a mile, or 15-20 min walk. We walked there, bought 50 maracas, shopped some more, then took a cab home ($5). I didn't touch my socks or undies more than once, hehe. The hair dryer in the room works. It's probably not as good as your one at home but it works well enough, so don't worry about bringing your own. Bring a plastic bag to pack your wet/dirty stuff for the trip home. I'm glad I bought my own conditioner for my hair: after all the hairspray they used it was a wreck getting my fingers though it in the shower. The beds/blankets are not the most comfortable thing in the world but there isn't a whole lot you can do about it, so don't let this bug you. Keep the AC running and the room won't feel damp. The rooms are pretty quiet but I still wouldn't have wanted to deal with dragging an ipod dock along. If you have a small one or a groom that's willing to carry it then great, otherwise, don't worry about it, we were hardly in our room. If you have 50 guests like us then be prepared to have your phone constantly ring, your door constantly being knocked, everyone come to you with their silly issues (how to make dinner reservations, etc). Take a shot of vodka and politely tell them how great it would be if they could find someone else to help them rather than you or your groom

There were PLENTY of goof ups: The cake was nowhere in sight for the first 30 min of the reception (the cake topper was sitting on a table all by itself), They served dinner to the guests 45 Minutes before they served the head table, They made the wrong flavor of wedding cake (not what we'd requested), sent the chocolate covered strawberries to FI's parents room instead of us, forgot to charge us for a certain part then later told us we owed more money, only served wedding cake at the reception and not the desserts that were listed on the menu... You have to go with the flow. None of the above made the day any less special. The welcome dinner was actually a spectacular night and blew away all of my expectations: there were ice sculptures, chocolate fountain, etc... I think my best advise is don't Overplan. When I arrived at the resort I felt like I'd been there before because I'd seen so many pictures and read so many reviews. I'm sad to say this but it took away some of the excitement. If you overplan then you'll freak out when things don't go exactly as planned. I know we all want to map out every detail in advance, but it really took some of the fun away from being there. It was all lovely, but there was no surprise element. I wouldn't have minded the wedding cake being the only dessert except I read too many reviews that said "the wedding cake is barely average but the OTHER desserts are amazing" - so I was so bummed when we didn't have the other desserts. Don't overplan. Don't stalk TripAdvisor. Leave some of the fun for you and your groom to explore on your own

As part of the Caprice wedding package i got my mani/pedi before the welcome dinner (it took about 45min for each one, so give yourself plenty of time: 5pm appt, before 7pm dinner was perfect), hairstyle at 2pm before 5pm wedding (also worked out well), then couples massage 3 days after the wedding (we planned it for the next day but moved the appointment so we could spend more time with guests, do our TTD, etc). Massage was amaaaazing! For the sand ceremony I didn't want to carry vases/frame from home so i winged it: the night before the ceremony I got klepto and hid 2 champagne glasses and one hurricane glass in my purse. I sent them with my groom in the morning and instructed him how to set it all up. We used sand from the ground and changed the words in the ceremony so it didn't say anything about "2 different colors of sand." It worked perfectly. His brother and my sister read the poem that went along with it and it was perfect.

Quote: Originally Posted by samira26 Welcome back Kimmy! so glad to hear that you had a great time can't wait to read your review. Two questions did you have a private reception, if yes where and what time. also hoe many ppl did you have in ur wedding? another question how was the weather? is it alreday too hot? I did NOT have the private reception. From everything I had read, if your group is large enough then you essentially get the private reception without paying for one. This was exactly true: we had 50 guests, at Chilis (the best choice), and the entire restaurant was set up and reserved for only us. The only difference with having it "private" would be the DJ. I decided I didn't want to pay $1700 for the DJ, instead I got both the harpist (ceremony) AND mariachi (cocktail), and I'm glad I did it that way. ALTHOUGH, when we got to dinner it was VERY quiet. No background music or anything. I asked the waiter if he could provide some music and he offered the DJ. I said no, I just wanted any form of background music because it was so quiet. My dad gave him $20 and he said he would see what he could do. 20 minutes later we had a DJ setting up and started playing jams! The DJ stuck around until 11pm, it was perfect. He was playing techno and I didn't want to rock the boat so we just had fun with the techno. If you're easy going then this is a great way to do it... $20 for 2 hours of DJ Don't stress about the 8:45 dinner time. Yes it's late, but our ceremony was at 5, cocktails at 6:30 and everyone danced/drank/chatted at the cocktail party right up until 8:45. Time went by so fast, then we all walked over to dinner together. There was another wedding party at Chillis at the earlier seating and they were all leaving before we went in. I'd hate to be the wedding party that's being booted OUT, I'd rather be the later seating with no pressure to get out on any time schedule! I highly recommend the latest wedding possible (5pm). It was HOT AS BALLS!! Any earlier would have been even hotter. Our guests loved the raffia fans that we put on each seat. Also- DON'T read the weather forecast in advance: I did and it called for 30% chance thunderstorms for each day we were down there. That'll make anyone nervous. Let me tell you- there was not a single cloud in the sky for the entire week we were there (except for the last day). Be ready to roll with the punches but don't stress about things beyond your control! The meeting with the wedding coordinators goes Fast. Come prepared: make a list of all the things you want to communicate so you don't forget anything. I gave them my raffia fans, guest book, cake topper at that meeting. I told her we wanted to add in a sand ceremony (ask me about that later!). There's no pressure, no sales pitch to add on things, so know exactly what you want going into the meeting. She'll ask about ceremony location, decoration, chairs/covers/bows, cake flavor and decour, bouquet and flowers, live music, etc. No surprises if you've read through this RPRM thread! It is down the street Riu Palace Mexico. Not far, but give yourself 15 min to walk. Don't sweat it, it's really not a big deal. On the way there we walked on the street, on the way back we walked on the beach and checked out the other resorts. (ours is the NICEST!!) You'll get a bill sent to your room for the wedding which you pay at the front desk, but you pay the photo/video directly, when you pick up your finished products after the wedding. We got the video but haven't watched it yet. The video people offered to let us put some songs on their flash drive, so my groom ran up to the hotel room and loaded some songs from his computer. Im glad we had that opportunity but it was a waste of his time with guests, and put us on the spot to quickly choose a few songs. Might not be a bad idea to burn 5-10 songs on a cd to give to them. Photo/video people request to be paid in Cash, but all we had was credit card and that was okay too. We had to walk to Riu Yucatan (across from Riu Palace Mexico) to pay & pick up our video, a few days after the wedding.

Sammysgirl- I'm moving to Indy in June, I'd love to meet up!

Hi everyone! I'm back and had a wonderful time. Happy to answer all your questions, post them here! We havent even uploaded our pics yet but I know they're going to be great. The resort is lovely, the gazebo was the perfect place to get married. Sorry to hear of the family drama- we had our share of that as well, but when you're standing at the alter you won't remember any of that! I can't wait to write my review, I have so much to share!!

Seems like there are a lot of inconsistencies with the resort telling people different things. Keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly! Paige, save your email communication where they told you $100 for the photog, and bring it with you. Glad you got the 7pm, but I've never heard of that 60+ person rule.

Tracy, we travel home on YOUR wedding day!! Tomorrow I can say we are leaving TOMORROW!

Happy Easter everyone!! We leave on Tuuuuesday, 2 days away!

Everyone has that one thing that's important to them. For many of us here it's photos, since we're all so photo crazy. I would never want to rely on my guest photos. My fiance proposed to me in front of 12 friends who KNEW what he was about to do, and not one of them brought a camera! I grabbed my camera and said "someone PLEASE take a stinkin photo already!" For me, photos are super special. That being said, I wouldnt rely on my crowd to capture the moment. For chicas who know their photos are gonna be in a dusty album, it might not be worth the splurge for you. Just bc it's important to me doesn't mean it has to be for you too. We're all on a budget so you have to figure out what tops your charts. If you really want to go DIY on your photos, I'd designate one person to be in charge and give them a list of specific photos you want so they don't get missed. Don't waste your $ on disposable cameras. Go in with fairly low expectations so that you might be pleasantly surprised. If you think you'll be saddened if your friend's photos don't rock, then this might not be the way to go. Just my $0.02!

Bug Spray? Hair Spray?

I have the clear starfish!!! He's going to have a blast in Mexico

Welcome home and Congratulations, Katie!!! Your new pic is gorgeous!!! I can't wait to see all of your photos! I leave on Tuesday early morning. We're excited. FI is all packed, I still need to start. We are doing welcome bags, nothing major but a lot of ideas from this forum. We scattered the goodies between my parents and his parents to help us transport everything down there. Any sense in creating a playlist of songs, since we aren't planning on hiring the DJ? I have no idea what I want to walk down the isle to, anything by the harpist sounds nice

I love seeing everyone's photos. It's APRIL and time to rock this party boat!!! Our wedding season is in full swing Congrats to the other legal girls, hehe! Erin- it was the Mayor of Montgomery County, not Mallory although that would have been interesting. My *husband-ish* is all packed and is bugging me to pack my bags! I take forever to pack b/c I analyze each outfit for each day. I bought starfish necklaces at the mall today: gifts for my sister and mom, who are my bridesmaids Still trying to figure out gifts for MIL and Step-MIL. hmmm. It's Friiiiiiiiday!!!

Hi everyone! I've been super M.I.A... Had my legal day at City Hall last Friday so I'm a married woman! We're packing and getting ready to leave for RPRM. Our wedding is next Friday, so I guess that makes ME next! Wow Can't wait to hear back from Kate and keep following the rest of you. The last couple months of planning have been the most fun!

Hi everyone! You all are so sweet for thinking of the girl whose legal day was last friday (3/26)- that was ME! We went to City Hall, the Mayor performed a lovely ceremony and we exchanged rings, said sweet words, then kissed! Our parents came into town to join us. Then we all went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was fun! The next day we went to my parents house in Columbus to open the wedding gifts that had been sent there (hey, we're legally married!) and my bridal shower was on Sunday. I've been working since I got back to Cinci so I haven't been able to get online much, sorry for the late update! Overall, I thought the legal day was fun, but the bridal shower was stressfull. Mine was just lunch and gift opening... aaawkward. Would have been better if there were some activities/games planned. Use that info for your own showers, plan your own activities if you have to!

Erin, I missed the stripping part of the night! Sorry to hear your photographer dreams are continuing. Lots of catching up to do on this thread! Our legal day is Friday!!!! Eeek!!!

Paige, keep us posted on the 6:45pm dinner time. I'm curious how flexible they are and if there's an extra charge for that. Thanks!

You'll hate your life if you save them all for later. Get a head start and keep up on everything you receive in advance. You'll likely still have an overwhelming amount to deal with after the wedding!

Quote: Originally Posted by sammysgirl Ok this may be silly, but for you lovely ladies that have already been to the Riu....is the shampoo, conditioner, lotion that is provided at the resort decent? I really don't want to pack this if theirs isn't too bad. Also, is there a hair dyer in the room Thanks! GREAT questions I was wondering the same things (shampoo/condit/hair dryer). Thanks for asking!

Hi everyone, I wanted to report that Erin's Bachelorette party is a success!! I had the pleasure of joining them this evening and we had a blast. The girls got a pink limo, went out to dinner and got a little rowdy with a gorgeous view of the city in the background! Erin had the cutest outfit on and a crown and sash that her maid of honor made for her! Awesome night out, thanks for letting me join in!! Congrats bachelorette!! :-)

Thanks for all the chatter about live music. You guys are very persuasive! Katie- have a wonderful trip!!! Don't sweat the small stuff :-)

Hi everyone! Sounds like you guys are keeping busy. I wrote thank-you notes until my hand hurt for shower gifts. Glad to get them done, but can't imagine how writing the actual wedding gift thank you's will go! Erin, that rocks that you have 2 bags squared away already. That'll make your life so much easier. It stresses me to think how I'm getting the giant boxes of STUFF down to MX (mugs, pashminas, hangover kits, cake topper, etc, etc) The count down is ON!

Hey guys! Can I request the clear starfish for my April 9 wedding in Playa del Carmen?! I'll be back in time to pass him on to Erin for your April 24 date!

Frenchie and Chloe, thanks for all your tips! I don't want the private reception but I do want to have a first dance. Maybe I'll just do it to the live music? Did anyone see the Caribbean Trio play? I thought about having them during the ceremony. Would the cocktail hour be too quiet without live music? Is the Mariachi cheesy? I think I'd like it but I'm afraid it might seem a bit cheesy?? Everything I've ordered has been received, so now I'm just putting things together (hangover kits, keycard holders, etc). Lots of fun things left to do! A bit concerned about how I'm getting the bulky mugs and everything down to RPRM, ahh! Time goes by so fast, don't let anyone tell you otherwise hehe