Paige2010

If you wanna contact him its Playa del Carmen Wedding Photographer in Riviera Maya | Bluelenscaribe -

Hey Christy- I used Dennis with Blue lens Caribe- he is local to Playa which was super convenient- and he was Amazing!! I Highly recommend him- you can check out my photos (TTD and all) on facebook (Paige Chumley), and please ask if you have any questions.

Dennis the photographer was local in Playa Del Carmen- Playa del Carmen Wedding Photographer in Riviera Maya | Bluelenscaribe

First of all thank you so much BDW forum for all the great info and ideas! Here is my review for our wedding at Riu Palace Riviera Maya May 29,2010… Resort: A We chose the gazebo at the Riu Palcae Riviera Maya. Overall this resort was perfect for our group of 55. It is kid friendly, has friendly staff, a beautiful beach and the food is OK . I say not great but due to our big group we were at the buffets almost every night instead of the specialty restaurants. But that would be my only complaint for the resort. We ended up most nights having drinks at the theatre bar listening to the shows and then staying in the sports bar since it was open till 4AM. Our wedding coordinator was Pamela, she comes across as not too friendly but she got the job done. We did a grooms/rehersal dinner the night before at Don Manolos. They had the back room set up and it was perfect. After we headed into downtown Playa to the Blue Parrot ($5 cab ride). We had reserved a private area right on the beach- we paid $30.00 cover for each of our guests which included all their drinks. Our group loved it- It was so nice we had our own area and weren’t all just roaming in the crowd & they had an amazing fire show. The wedding was at 3:00- It was pretty hot! I had made raffia fans (and the Riu staff had set them on each guests chair) & when I looked out at the guests they were all fanning themselves like crazy- Which reminds me- having the cocktail hour inside at the lobby bar was the best idea- it gave the guests a chance to cool off and they had it set up really nicely. I also walked into town and bought really cute maracas that were hand painted- they were $3.00 for a pair- and had these set out on the chairs as well with a tag that read “ Please embrace the bride & grooms wish and shake me at their first kissâ€. You can ask the spa if you can wait in there b/f the wedding begins to keep you from walking a mile in the heat to get to the altar. Renova Spa- I had an appointment to get my hair and makeup done. I took a picture of my hair style- I feel like she got the general idea of it, but I was having trouble communicating with her just the little changes I wanted, needless to say I ended up taking it all down and doing it myself. I also decided then that I was gonna do my own makeup too- I mainly wanted her to apply false lashes but she didn’t know how to. I would suggest spending the money on your own make up and doing it yourself. But I think she is probably ok for a hair style- just don’t let her hair spray till you are sure you like it. The massages on the other hand were fabulous and reasonably priced. We also had a $25 vouvher that came through our travel agent. We had wedding dinner & reception at Chilis from 7-11:30. Chilis is an open air restaurant near the beach. We got lucky that it was a pretty windy night otherwise it would have been too hot to dance & be comfortable, however it is bigger than Boto Fogo & the way to go if you have more than 50 guests & want a dance floor. If you choose this restaurant b/t June and Sept. I recommend having a reception dress that you could change into. We paid an additional $9 per person for open bar during the reception which was definitely worth it. I did make OOT bags for the guests- they included a drinking mug which I ordered through a seller on ebay- these were a huge hit at the pool. A hangover kit with a few of the essentials (motrin, alka-seltzer,spf chapstick, emergen-C, cristal light, ), welcome letter and schedule for weekend events. I ended up handing these to guests as I saw them instead of paying the hotels $2 per bag delivery fee. Negatives: When planning the wedding the Riu was somewhat annoying because unless you have 60 people they only offer you dinner/reception from 8:45 till 11pm- which is the same price as if you had 60 people and could choose the 7-11. Also with an early wedding waiting till 6 is fine- it allows you to take all the bridal party and wedding grp pics but 8:45 is not as convenient. And even though I had booked a yr ago they upped their prices and changed several of their ‘fees’ b/f the wedding took place- so just have everything in writing and take all your emails with you. Photographer: A+ We used an outside photographer- Dennis with Blue Lens Caribe. I really cannot say enough good stuff about him, or the amazing pictures he took. He went above and beyond our expectations to provide great service from our first email months in advance, to driving to our honeymoon resort days after the wedding to do a TTD session. Dennis captured every aspect of our wedding day. I am still amazed at how the pictures seem like he was a million different places at once. Dennis gave us exceptional quality prints and DVD’s of all of our photos- and even though we were a 90 minute drive away, he made sure we had them in hand before we left Mexico. He was absolutely worth his price. I feel like this is a very scattered review- but there is so much I could go on forever. If I have left anything out please feel free to ask!

& lots of our wedding pics are on facebook- Paige Chumley

Wow after reading Samira's review I don't think mine is that good :/- I covered the big pic but if you need any details at all I'd be happy to give them to you! First of all thank you so much BDW forum for all the great info and ideas! Here is my review for our wedding at Riu Palace Riviera Maya… Travel: A+ We used Hayley with Beach Bum Vacations Travel agency- She was great! She was extremely easy to get in touch with, quick to respond to any questions and very patient when people wanted to change rooms, book, and back out at the last minute. She was on top of everything and was able to re- book our entire group at a cheaper rate 2 months before we left. I highly recommend her. Resort: A We chose the gazebo at the Riu Palcae Riviera Maya. Overall this resort was perfect for our group of 55. It is kid friendly, has friendly staff, a beautiful beach and the food is OK . I say not great but due to our big group we were at the buffets almost every night instead of the specialty restaurants. But that would be my only complaint for the resort. We ended up most nights having drinks at the theatre bar listening to the shows and then staying in the sports bar since it was open till 4AM. Our wedding coordinator was Pamela, she comes across as not too friendly but she got the job done. We did a grooms/rehersal dinner the night before at Don Manolos. They had the back room set up and it was perfect. After we headed into downtown Playa to the Blue Parrot ($5 cab ride). We had reserved a private area right on the beach- we paid $30.00 cover for each of our guests which included all their drinks. Our group loved it- It was so nice we had our own area and weren’t all just roaming in the crowd & they had an amazing fire show. The wedding was at 3:00- It was pretty hot! I had made raffia fans (and the Riu staff had set them on each guests chair) & when I looked out at the guests they were all fanning themselves like crazy- Which reminds me- having the cocktail hour inside at the lobby bar was the best idea- it gave the guests a chance to cool off and they had it set up really nicely. I also walked into town and bought really cute maracas that were hand painted- they were $3.00 for a pair- and had these set out on the chairs as well with a tag that read “ Please embrace the bride & grooms wish and shake me at their first kiss”. You can ask the spa if you can wait in there b/f the wedding begins to keep you from walking a mile in the heat to get to the altar. Renova Spa- I had an appointment to get my hair and makeup done. I took a picture of my hair style- I feel like she got the general idea of it, but I was having trouble communicating with her just the little changes I wanted, needless to say I ended up taking it all down and doing it myself. I also decided then that I was gonna do my own makeup too- I mainly wanted her to apply false lashes but she didn’t know how to. I would suggest spending the money on your own make up and doing it yourself. But I think she is probably ok for a hair style- just don’t let her hair spray till you are sure you like it. We had wedding dinner & reception at Chilis from 7-11:30. Chilis is an open air restaurant near the beach. We got lucky that it was a pretty windy night otherwise it would have been too hot to dance & be comfortable, however it is bigger than Boto Fogo & the way to go if you have more than 50 guests & want a dance floor. If you choose this restaurant b/t June and Sept. I recommend having a reception dress that you could change into. I did make OOT bags for the guests- they included a drinking mug which I ordered through a seller on ebay- these were a huge hit at the pool. A hangover kit with a few of the essentials (motrin, alka-seltzer,spf chapstick, emergen-C, cristal light, ), welcome letter and schedule for weekend events. I ended up handing these to guests as I saw them instead of paying the hotels $2 per bag delivery fee. Negatives: When planning the wedding the Riu was somewhat annoying because unless you have 60 people they only offer you dinner/reception from 8:45 till 11pm- which is the same price as if you had 60 people and could choose the 7-11. Also with an early wedding waiting till 6 is fine- it allows you to take all the bridal party and wedding grp pics but 8:45 is not as convenient. And even though I had booked a yr ago they upped their prices and changed several of their ‘fees’ b/f the wedding took place- so just have everything in writing and take all your emails with you. Photographer: A+ We used an outside photographer- Dennis with Blue Lens Caribe. I really cannot say enough good stuff about him, or the amazing pictures he took. He went above and beyond our expectations to provide great service from our first email months in advance, to driving to our honeymoon resort days after the wedding to do a TTD session. Dennis captured every aspect of our wedding day. I am still amazed at how the pictures seem like he was a million different places at once. Dennis gave us exceptional quality prints and DVD’s of all of our photos- and even though we were a 90 minute drive away, he made sure we had them in hand before we left Mexico. He was absolutely worth his price. I feel like this is a very scattered review- but there is so much I could go on forever. If I have left anything out please feel free to ask!

Hey girls~ I'm back! We got in late last night so I am not caught up on my sleep yet- but wanted to let yall know I will get started on my review later but if you have any questions ask away. It was perfectI! The resort is amazing and our guests and us couldn't have had a better time! The wedding/set up was just as I had imagined! I already wish we could do it all over again Im gonna make some coffee...wake up... & get started on the review!

Hah How did you guess?! I can't find you! Can you please add me-- Paige Chumley Did you bring what to read during the sand ceremony or did they have that? & how much were your BM bouquets if you don't mind me asking? I have off work today and tomm. so Im about to start making sure I have all my receipts together for customs- did you have any issues with them? Thank you so much for all your help!

Thanks so much for all the info & the heads up about Rebecca!! I am definiely going to try to pull the friend photographer thing. That would save us so much $! Im getting on fb now to find you

about photographer...I hate to say it but I can NOT find the email anywhere that said we just had the $100 vendor fee! So it lookis like I will be paying the day pass & $200 per camera person! OUCH!!! We are doing our legal ceremony tomorrow!

Sammysgirl Im gonna FB friend you:) I cant wait to see your pics! SOO glad to hear everything was great- that really puts my mind at ease! One question- Did you change into a diff dress for reception? Im just wondering if it will be really hot at Chilis since I think it is open air and I will need to get a short dress to switch into And what is with the forecast? There is a lightning bolt all the way through next sunday- Im hoping they are the kind of small tropical rain storms that last 10 min only?! I told myself I'm not going to look at it again- just hope for beautiful weather! We leave on Wed the 26th, our flight is at 9 Am so we will be there by lunch! Ive got most stuff done- I still need to put first dance and father daughter songs on a cd, as well as some special ceremony songs and fit the oot bags into some sort of suitcase/ crate thing. O and make maracca tags, I ended up ordering organza coral chair bows and Im also bringing raffia fans and sand ceremony stuff. If I knew how to put pics on here I would share them... Samira we will barely miss each other! We check out Sun the 30th and head to Excellence Playa Mujeres for our honeymoon! but you'll be running into some of my guests that are staying through the week. I can't believe you have 55 people and they won't let you have the earlier dinner! Why if you offer to pay do they care you are 5 people short?!

Ael first contacted me right at 2 months- but like I said she has been super slow lately- and according to my last email- it wasnt even from her. Do you have any questions you need me to ask her at our meeting next Thurs?

Samira~ Thanks for the info on the $2 fee- This is the first I had heard of it! Do they still charge it even if the bags are just left by check in and handed out as guests arrive instead of delivered to the rooms? Id ask Ael but she has been sooo slow to get back to me lately & then someone named Pam (I think) finally responded to me last time. We are doing dinner at Chilis @ 7, we have 60 people so I am so happy we got that time. We are not planning on a brunch the next day- we let everyone know we will be sticking around through lunch, but since we are doing a welcome dinner we want their complete free time to start after the wedding. Thanks for info on shipping- I will just take everything down with us.

I'm back- I am looking for the post that had a cute poem to attach to the maraccas and can't find it anywhere- I know it was t22800 but Im not sure how to search for that exact post...Does anyone know the poem or where I could find it?

Did any past brides ship their decorations/guest oot bags or did you bring everything to Mexico yourself? With Continentals bag fees Im starting to think It would probably be about the same price if it was safe and reliable to ship stuff. Also, anyone who did OOT bags, did you have the resort hand them out or just do it yourself as you saw guests? Thanks

Ill be thinking about you this weekend Sammysgirl! Does that mean I'm next! I'm waiting for Ael's response, but does anyone know if I need to bring the flower girls basket? And also for a DVD slide show, we have a portable projector, do you think we can just borrow their screen or will we have to pay for it? O ya, also for the DJ- how should we bring father daughter song, on an Ipod?

Erin your pics look great! Thanks for sharing your experience! How did you get all of your guests to La Parilla?

Any feedback on XEL HA, or do they have zip lining anywhere?

This is just what I needed! Thanks!!

I have also been going through the whole outside vendor talk- I have searched everywhere for the email which said it would only be a $100 fee for the vendor and can't find it- Ael has told me it is a $100 day pass per vendor and a $200 penalty fell PER PERSON!!! My photog package comes with 2 photographers!- were talking an extra 500- $600!! I emailed the photographer my concerns and he said tell the resort he was just a guest with a camera and pay the $65 guest day pass. But Im afraid at this point I have caused such a fuss Ael won't buy it. Linds- there is no way you should have to pay any sort of fee- they are your guests! I wouldn't even bring it up. Question: for those who did the group dinner at Carboncitos or Katie, I know you went to Alux- did the hotel have busses or how did you get all your guests there? We have about 50 guests and were thinking about having a bar tab at Alux after the Grooms dinner at the Resort--Would you recommend Alux for a group this big? Were drinks reasonable or expensive?

Jannae I loove that TTD dress- soo perfect! It makes me want to find one- I had thought about just wearing my actual dress but I do have some reservations about ruining it. Jessica That restaurant sounds great- would it be able to accommodate 60 ppl on the roof and would you mind sharing how much I could expect to pay? Also, is the going rate for Mariachi band around $570- I think thats what Riu wedding website says- or is this up for negotiation at all? and does anyone have a recommendation bt the Mariachi band or Mexican Trio for a cocktail hour?

OMG Kimmy I am loving your review! I have already laughed out loud & all the info is amazing!

Jannae those are gorgeous! Are you going to wear your hair up or down? Katie I'm gonna look for you on facebook

Katie you look soo gorgeous! Thanks for sharing your experience with us!!

Katie I cant wait to see any pics of the set up you had/ chair bows- I'm still debating on getting some to take with us.