LSUangel25

Quote: Originally Posted by allison&kevin Has anyone used the hotel DJ? I am sure someone has talked about it, but don't recall where?? Allison - Here is a post specifically on Ivan/DJ Doremixx from the Royal. Good luck planning! http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t42645 Michelle

Quote: Originally Posted by aerazo Michelle - your photo of you and your hubby on the beach is gorgeous! Can you please tell me who you used as your photographer? Did you use a Videographer too? I'm getting married at the Royal on April 23, 2010 and i'm so excited! Hope you had the wedding of your dreams! Adriana Adriana - Thank you! We got Cesar with Funever Photos (through the resort). He was awesome! We chose not to use a videographer and had a friend video the ceremony instead. We plan on making a slide show to music once we get the digital copies of the professional photos from Funever. Best of luck to you and your fiance!

Quote: Originally Posted by JoLo908 I just had a guest call and say they are still debating and making their final decision regarding our June 27th wedding.... can someone tell me, are there even swine flu cases in the RM?? Joanna - I strongly believe that there is no reason to worry. We just got back last Wednesday from our beautiful, swine flu free wedding! The article below is from 5/8/09, but it's all I could find. Only indicates 3 confirmed cases in Quintana Roo and I know 1 was in Chetumal, which is 200+ miles south of Cancun. Hope this helps...and best of luck to you! http://dangers.cancuncasa.com/?p=50

Quote: Originally Posted by kimmy44 Hello brides & grooms! How is everyone's planning going? I went dress shopping the other day and I was so set on what I didn't want, no strapless and nothing with a puffy skirt! But then my mom & sis started making me try on those styles and darn it they look good! So I'm down to 5 possibilities of all different styles (even a lace dress and I usually hate lace!) and I'm just wondering if former brides who wore real wedidng dresses were uncomfortable & hot? I was really set on the evening dress style but now I'm torn... Kimmy...I just got back and I had a "real" dress with a train and all, although I didn't get the extra poof underneath. I was a little warm under the skirt at the reception (when I was dancing), but I wouldn't have changed anything. What's nice about Mexico in April and May is even though it gets to the low 90s during the day it's usually in the 70s at night with a nice breeze. I just lifted up my dress a little while I was dancing...classy!

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl Michelle, Your wedding and reception sound really nice! I can't wait to see photos! It sounds like the type of wedding/reception that I would like. Who was your guitarist? Did you find an outside vendor? Were you able to hear the guitar well with the waves in the background. i had heard that sometimes string instruments are not good for beach weddings. I love the guitar and think it would be beautiful. Was the garden setting for your reception private? Is there a minimum number of guests that you must have in order to reserve this space? I think we should have at least 30 or 40 guests...but at this time it is so hard for me to know exact numbers. I think his name was Max although I didn't get to talk to him at all. He did have a microphone so we were able to hear him over the waves. I've watched the videos and he did a fantastic job. We really wanted a live guitar player over a CD player. The garden reception was private, although I'm sure any passer-by could have come up and crashed it! We didn't even notice anyone walking by. I don't think there's a minimum number of guests. The main reason we picked the garden is so that we didn't have a wait between the ceremony reception. We took one group pic and sent everyone over to start drinking! Quote: Originally Posted by allison&kevin Michelle- Thanks for your reply! So you did not have any reservations at the Blue Parrot beforehand and just got the WC to help you plan once you were there? That is a good option. Thanks for being so helpful! I had talked over email with the party planners months ago, but decided instead of having a private party to just pick up the tab for our guests...that's what the WC helped us figure out. This was more affordable than the open bar option they provided and it saved us a little bit of money.

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl Hi All, I am new to this forum and have been reading through this thread for the Royal Playa del Carmen. One of the earlier posts mentioned a loungy reception on the sand. Does anyone know if that is still an option? If so, is there a minimum number of guests required? I'm having a small wedding (30-40 guests) but it sounds so nice? Any info you have on the different reception choices for a party that size would be helpful. We had 40-ish guests in the garden and loved it (see my earlier/lengthy post)! When I get my pictures I'll post them to the forum. Good luck!

We used DJ Doremixx (Ivan) for our wedding at the Royal PDC. We were so happy with him and so were all of our guests! My FIL wasn't sure what to expect with a DJ (he's old school and thought he'd be spinning rave music or something), but Ivan had a great mix of quiet, slower music when everyone was eating, 60's and 70's tunes for the baby boomers and plenty of hip hop and rock for us! I had prepared a reception playlist on my iPod with songs for our first and last dance as well as any other songs he wanted to use. He knew exactly what to play and when to play it. They also provided fun party favors like balloons, masks and neon bracelets that they passed out while we were dancing. They were a big hit! If you have any questions please let me know or you can email him at [email protected]. Thanks again Ivan!

Quote: Originally Posted by allison&kevin Thanks for the great review Michelle - much appreciated! Can I ask you average price/head at the Blue Parrott and what it included? Sounds like a possiblity, but I would need to budget for it. So glad your wedding was fantastic! Allison - All we did at the Blue Parrot was pay for everyone's drinks on Friday night. Since we didn't have a rehearsal at the Royal we decided to do a "rehearsal party" at the BP instead of a dinner...half of us are staying at an all-inclusive anyway! We considered doing a private party at the BP with open bar, etc, but opted for just picking up the tab instead. My biggest concern was opening a tab at the bar. I wanted some control over what was put on our credit card. Anna (the concierge at the Royal) helped us figure that out after her call to the BP. When we arrived they had a big table reserved for our group. We had a waiter that was super nice and handled everything for us. I told him who was in our party and could order drinks (I've been to the BP several times, but have recently heard some bad news regarding overcharging for drinks). Overall we paid approx $25/per person for 20-ish people for 3+ hours of drinking, but most everyone was drinking beer. I hope that helps! As for staying longer, 8 days/7 nights was perfect. I do have to say I wanted some home cooked food though! Good luck with everything and let me know if you have anymore questions!

Quote: Originally Posted by EmenGeeRoxx Congrats Michelle! I need to see pics of this swim up suite. I think I need to get that and host my own party when I am there How was everything on 5th avenue? Was it quiet or were all the establishments open? Trentlaw you are gonna have one kick ass party! Can't wait to hear all about it!!! Here's a look out our sliding door! 5th was quieter than what I'm used to, but everything was open! We didn't do any excursions (lame!), but from what I was told everything is back up and running. Coco Bongo is not open...not too happy about that. Schools opened back up on Monday.

Quote: Originally Posted by IvanG Hola Michelle I just want to say hello and thank you for your preference in our services. Ivan...I am so sorry I got your name wrong in my post! Thank you for everything...you did a fantastic job and everyone was to pleased with your choice of music! We all especially liked the favors you gave out.

Hey All! Alan and I are finally back and we had the BEST TIME EVER! Leah - It was so good to meet you! You looked AMAZING! Here's my review of the Royal (sans swine flu comments...so over it!): 1. We arrived on Wed 5/6. The reception (Armando) knew exactly who we were and whisked us off to Anna, the concierge. We were welcomed with champagne and Anna told us right away that they would be upgrading us from a beach-front walk-out to the swim-up suite...yay! After discussing the details of the resort (which we already knew since we stayed there last year) we were off to our room. We walked in and we had a letter waiting for us with champagne, fruit and chocolates! 2. The swim-up suite was awesome! We had about 16 other guests staying at the resort and it was the perfect location for some tanning, swimming, volleyball and the swim-up bar! 3. We met with Lilia on Thursday morning to go over all the final details of the wedding. I also met Zulma and had heard so much about her (all good)...they were all so sweet and cute! We confirmed with Lilia when the photographer would be arrive on Saturday, the cake, the flowers and I gave her all the favors and decorations that I wanted to be set out at the reception. 4. Friday night came around and we had planned a "rehearsal party" at the Blue Parrot. Anna was so great in helping us coordinate this! We had 20-ish people coming to the Blue Parrot and we wanted to pay for the tab without starting a tab at the bar (so random people wouldn't put drinks on our tab). She called the Blue Parrot and organized with them how many people would be coming, at what time and who we needed to speak with. It worked out perfectly! 5. WEDDING DAY! Pre-Wedding: I had my appointment set for 1pm on Saturday. Alicia did my hair...I brought some photos for her to go off of. The back (low bun) looked beautiful! The front was a little too slick looking for me...but with the wind and heat it ended up holding all night so that's a good thing. I also got lilies to put in my and the BM's hair...they looked awesome. Lilia brought all the flowers to my room just after my hair was done. They were perfect. I asked them to add some light purple roses that were in the BM's bouquets to my bouquet and it turned our beautiful! All the girls were in my room getting ready when Cesar (the photographer) showed up. He was AWESOME! He took well over 1000 pictures for the 5 hours we had him. He showed us some of the pictures to make sure we liked what he was doing. I can't wait to see them! We had a full moon the night of our wedding and we were lucky enough to get some photos on the beach. 6. Ceremony: We had a religious ceremony in the gazebo and decided to do the JOP when we get home (we have one friend that is a judge and another that is ordained...online!). Pastor Kiko Flores was amazing. We hadn't met him until the ceremony, but he acted like he'd known us forever. He was very sincere and the ceremony was beautiful. We also got a guitarist for the ceremony and from what I remember (and the video I've seen) he did a great job! After the ceremony we had paid to have a champagne toast...that was worth it because everyone loved it! We took two group photos...1 in front of the gazebo and 1 on the beach. Let everyone leave to go to the reception except family and wedding party. Took another 30 minutes of photos. Then it was off to the reception! 7. Reception: We chose the garden for our reception. I love the beach, but also worried about dancing around in the sand for hours. The set-up was awesome. We had 5 tables surrounding the dance floor, bar in one corner, cake/guest book in another corner, buffet (RB2...) off to the side, DJ to the other side and we had a small/sweetheart table to ourselves. I was worried that we'd have to end by 10pm (technically those are the rules), but I wasn't told that when I booked the garden. We started the reception immediately after the ceremony at 6:30pm, dinner around 7:30pm after we arrived and did our last dance at 10:30pm. The DJ was there until 11:30pm...we had Issac and he was so great! We brought our iPod with a reception playlist including our first dance, my dance with my mom (the swine flu kept my dad home) and our last dance. Our cake was delicious and beautiful (we got the Tres Leches). 8. What else do add? We left too early and Funever Photos is just going to email us when the proofs are ready. Then we'll pick our 100+ photos to keep...digitals and an album. I'll post again when they're ready! If you have any questions let me know! Michelle

Hi All! We are back from Playa del Carmen and I can't tell you how much this has been blown out of proportion. I think I saw maybe 2 people wearing masks. They are taking your temperature when you arrive and leave the Cancun airport to help stop the spread of the swine flu. As for the resorts, they are at about 20% capacity across the Riviera Maya and although some have closed due to nearly no one there, others are doing whatever they can to make the guests they do have happy. The Royal in Playa offered 50% off of all spa treatments and bottles of wine. All of the attractions are now open. We talked to our driver on the way to our resort on Wed 5/6 and he was so frustrated with how this is effecting Mexico. He said that the climate in Mexico City is totally different that the beach areas. Good luck to all of you leaving for Mexico for what I hope is a beautiful wedding in the coming weeks and months! Hopefully your travel is not still banned. But I will say that if you are considering canceling due to the swine flu...DON'T. We couldn't have asked for a better, more beautiful wedding! I am going to post my overall review of the wedding on the Royal Playa del Carmen forum. Feel free to ask any questions you may have! Michelle

Quote: Originally Posted by jls62081 We are supposed to be getting married May 18th in Cancun (leaving May 12th). I am sooo upset about all this flu stuff! I want to just continue on and just go but my mother in law's work will not let her go back to work for like 2 weeks if she goes (same with my best friend). My fiance really wants his mother there and so it looks like we are postponing everything. I am soooo upset right now! I have been crying all day! I would think as long as she is going to take some maintenance tamiflu it shouldnt be that big of a deal!!! aaaahhhh! soooo upset! Janet Napolitano has officially reneged the US Government's stance on the swine flu. Hopefully your FMIL's employer will see the light in the next couple of days and change their policy before you come up on your "last chance to cancel" day. We leave on Wednesday and unfortunately some people had to cancel last week due to their cancellation policies. Sucks for me, but hopefully that won't be the same with you...I would suggest waiting just a couple more days if you can. Good luck! Swine flu no worse than regular flu, Napolitano says - CNN.com When a pandemic isn't a pandemic - CNN.com

Quote: Originally Posted by mummergirl i agree it was seeming like it would be impossible to move the location and i'm honestly just SO done with it. so we are still proceeding as planned, unless now our stupid flights end up canceled because they are empty (wouldn't that be a b*tch?)! anyway, you have to keep your wedding as planned ... how else are we going to meet up for a drink on the beach? update on MOH: she got her doc to prescribe tamiflu, and he also told her that in light of the fact that there's swine flu now in philadelphia & bucks counties PA (where she lives) she might as well travel to mexico. that's exactly what i was trying to tell her ... thankfully her doc finally backed me up, and she'll listen to him! That's great! If only every doc had the same outlook...my MOH and dad would be on a plane.

Soma - I got my girls a necklace and earrings to wear for the wedding and flip flops to change into after the ceremony that matched their dresses. I gave them to them at the bachelorette party so I didn't have to travel with them. They all loved them. I did add a small picture frame to my MOH's bag. Good luck! Etsy :: RESERVED LISTING FOR MICHELLE Four (4) Sets of White Coin Freshwater Pearl Earrings with Necklace on Goldfilled Chain

Quote: Originally Posted by Jacilynda So we have a confirmed case a couple hours from my house. Its in Northern Idaho in the same town as our lakehouse! Its this poor 60 year old lady. She just returned from a trip to texas The good news is since she returned home she's only seen a couple people and has been in her home recovering. See...just as easy to get SF in Texas as in Mexico! But that is no good for her. Every day there's a new school closing here. Luckily Mexico just downgraded the health alert from red to orange. And Mexico's health secretary says most businesses will reopen Wednesday nationwide...woohoo! Mexico to allow most business to reopen

Thanks H&F! I love WebMD! Are people really stupid enough to be avoiding Mexican restaurants...OMG!

I can't wait to be there in just two days! FU swine flu! The Royal Playa del Carmen Webcam, The Royal Playa del Carmen Live Video|Mexico

Quote: Originally Posted by mummergirl mine is my niece (she's my matron of honor ... i was her MOH 4 years ago). she has already cancelled TWICE. once when she thought she was pregnant (she wasn't) and then later when she decided she "couldn't afford it." mind you, my mother and sisters knew how important it was to me that she be there, and they all have chipped in to pay for her (and her husband's) ENTIRE TRIPS. so she and her husband, by crying poor, are getting a totally free trip, and now they might cancel? when it's not even their money that might not get refunded? are you effing kidding me?!?!?! going to take some lexapro and pour myself some of jaimelynne's anti-swine wine in preparation for the dreaded phone call. My heart goes out to you...I'd be so frustrated. Especially since this is the second time! On a side note, I think JaimeLynne needs to trademark the term "anti-swine wine"!

Quote: Originally Posted by MarieSam Girls I'm so sorry to all those who have guests who are backtracking I haven't had any yet, but I think that's cuz the wedding is still about 50 days away. Do your guests know yet that the flu is really starting to die down especially in MX? There are tons of new articles, and I anticipate many, many more that will come out this week that stress that this flu isn't as bad as they thought it would be. Maybe a mass email blitz to your guests of all these new articles will help? Thanks for the suggestion. Most of mine that have canceled are either pregnant, have a small child at home (in my MOH's case) and/or are going on the advise of their doctors not to go. I personally think they made the judgment call too early (last week) and they have already canceled. What can I do? I'm just trying to focus on those that ARE going to be there than those that aren't. They'll regret it when they get the wedding photos and they aren't in them.

Quote: Originally Posted by mummergirl and yet another panicked email ... this time from my MOH. she wants me to call her ... i haven't got the strength. Oh Mummergirl...been there done that...and she canceled on me. We've been friends since we were 11. I'm so sorry, I know what you're feeling.

Quote: Originally Posted by ltl_leah Hello, it's Leah, reporting from the Royal in PDC! We arrived on Friday and it's been wonderful and perfect. Anyone who is coming here soon has nothing to worry about. The resort is absolutely gorgeous!! My family can't stop gushing about it. My parents were already planning a trip back here next year, the morning after we arrived!! We met with Zulma yesterday to go over our plans. She is the nicest, cutest thing ever. She took care of everything. Girls, if you were planning on getting one of the "new" wedding packages, I suggest bringing a copy of the package from the realresorts website. It helped her to figure out what was included and she took a photocopy of it. I suggest getting one of the new packages, you get so much more. Plus, the judge or minister fee is $100 less than previously posted. When you have your scheduled meeting with your WC, make sure that you bring your witnesses and their passports/tourist cards to the meeting. They have to sign paperwork, as well. We have no complaints so far. The staff is wonderful, food is great, and the resort is not even near full capacity. It's nice to get a section of 8 chairs by the pool without any problems. I was still nervous on the flight here, with the the whole "outbreak" thing going on, but once I got here, I felt as ease. They have hand sanitizer stations at every restaurant, which is such as good idea. No one is wearing masks. There were quite a few people wearing them at the airport. The airport appeared very slow and there weren't swarms of people everywhere. No worries! We had reservations at ME Cancun for our honeymoon and I just got an email saying they will be closing due to low capacity. We have to find somewhere else to stay. On the bright side, we can probably find great deals at fabulous places because of the cancellations they are facing. I'll check in later in the week to give you a progress report. Take it easy, girls! Leah - Thanks so much for the update...you have inspired me so much! Good luck with everything on Wednesday! My FI and I will be arriving around 1pm and will try to find you at some time to introduce myself! Yay Royal brides!

Quote: Originally Posted by Summer&Nicholas My Grandpa was just here visiting and I have been looking, but cannot find anything to back this up...but he said that they are doing autopsies on the people that they say have died from this flu in Mexico City and so far only 10 (not sure how many they had done for sure) were confirmed to have died from "Swine flu" and they've been claiming that all these 150ish people have died from it. I think we need to stop watching the news, and relax! I hope your guests will do the same, and their places of employment grab a brain! From the WHO: WHO | Influenza A(H1N1) - update 10 "Mexico has reported 397 confirmed human cases of infection, including 16 deaths. The higher number of cases from Mexico in the past 48 hours reflects ongoing testing of previously collected specimens. The United States Government has reported 160 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death." From Mexico's confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu rise to 443_English_Xinhua: MEXICO CITY, May 2 (Xinhua) -- "Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said on Saturday that until Friday night there have been 1,105 tests to detect the influenza A/H1N1, among which 443 in the country were positive. Out of the positive cases 427 patients are alive, while 16 died. Among the total of the deaths, 12 were women..." FYI...this means that approximately 38% of people that are suspected of having swine flu (or H1N1 as they want us to call it ) actually have it! I'm so over this! BTW...I officially had my first breakdown today. Don't know how I waited this long. Since we're leaving on Wednesday this was the weekend that people were going to cancel if they aren't going. Count today: 18 people have canceled including my dad, my brother (who is a GM), my MOH and 2 other GM. I'm so bummed...

Quote: Originally Posted by Gail has anyone been experiencing this? my guests were told by employers if they go they can't return to work for week after returning Gail - Some of our guests are getting that to. Most of them are saying that if they have any signs of the flu not to come in. Some have even got the email saying that the company is recommending them not to travel to Mexico. Some are choosing to listen...some aren't. This is so ridiculous...don't they understand that by now it's just as likely that someone get the SF from a crowded mall in Texas than they are at an airport in Mexico?!?!

Good Morning fellow Royal brides! I got this email from the Blue Parrot yesterday. I heard the Peter Greenberg interview again this morning. Looks like we're still set to leave on Wednesday...woohoo! Greetings to All Friends of The Blue Parrot! First off, thanks for all of your thoughts and wishes directed to us during this crisis. We truly appreciate it. "Its Not An Epidemic...Its An Infodemic." After saying that today on CNN, travel authority Peter Greenberg announced that he was heading to Cancun this week, citing some of the lowest airfares in history, including $150 USD (pre-tax) Round Trip airfares to New York-Cancun! This has been one of those "good news--bad news" scenarios. The good news is that--hour by hour--the recent Influenza outbreak is appearing to be much less threatening than has been endlessly speculated in the press over the past week. The bad news is that the travel and hospitality industry has been devastated by the doomsday scenarios discussed ad nauseum in the tabloid news media. It was particularly bad coming on the heels of the last media drama--the threat to tourists posed by the Mexican Crime Wave. Needless to say, no tourists were harmed during that round of media hyperbole either. The reality is that Playa del Carmen--and for that matter the entire Mexican Caribbean--is healthier, safer and more affordable than ever. There are no "epidemic" face masks, there is virtually no crime and people are still kissing on the street and partying the night away on the beach at the Blue Parrot. So, if you've been hesitating about following through on a trip, or considering booking one, we'll give you an additional 15% off of our already low Low Season rates--just to give you a little more incentive. Write to or call Angela at [email protected], or call Toll Free from US or Canada: 1-888-484-0161 to check availability and qualify for this Blue Parrot Insider discount. Hope to see you! Tom