Jump to content

smckinney22

Jr. Member
  • Posts

    351
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by smckinney22


  1. I was going to do this as well but I read that they give each guest a full blown map of the resort when they check in.  Sure enough, they were right!  So if you want to save money then don't bother with the maps since they're provided.
     

    Originally Posted by danielle6680 View Post

    Does anyone have a map of the hotel that I could put in our welcome letter?  Maybe I should contact my WC.  I saw the map on the hotel's site, but that is for all of Playa.  We are looking for something specific to the hotel.  Thanks guys!



    A few ladies have asked about reception locations.  My best advice is to go with the beach reception.  Especially if you're not having your ceremony on the beach & in the sand.  Give your guests a true "beach" wedding and go for feet in the sand :)  We had 40 guests and the best option was the beach in front of Pelicanos.  It was large enough for the whole party.  The other 2 beach locations are nice but are a bit smaller so if you have a smaller party they'll work too.
     

    Originally Posted by jorge&maritza View Post

    Good luck with everythin Jesmcan!

     

     

    Ladies, I know I don't get on here too often, but I am just doing a lot of reading and trying to keep up/catch up at the same time! So good luck to those with upcoming weddings. Wish you all the best.

     

    So here's a little about me and my wedding and how its coming along....

    June 3, 2011 is the date (I will add it to the list)

    As of right now (I keep changing it,lol) We have Pelicanos beach for the ceremony and coctail hour, and Central Gardens for the Reception.

    I am still debating the location of the coctail...can't decide whether to have it on the beach or the gardens?? Past brides, any suggestions??

     

  2. I got them from a bridal store here in dallas but the brand is Impressions and the sister company to that is DaVinci. They are the same company but each division has their own separate website. The girls loved the fit and the color was perfect!

     

     

     

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Heidi82 View Post

     

     

    CONGRATS!!!  Thanks for your review and pictures!  They are really helpful!  I'm glad to see everything turned out wonderfully!

     

    Just one question - Where did you get your bridesmaids dresses?  I love the material and I might use a similar color.

     

    Thanks!

     

    ~Heidi

     

     

     

     

     

    smile159.gif

     

     

     

     

  3. Michelle, about the Gran Porto guests...  You may have the guests who are staying there check with the concierge when they check in to see if they can get an upgrade.  FI's 2 aunts & grandma stayed at the GPR because they had his 13 year old cousin come with them.  Well when they got there the concierge told them if they upgraded to an ocean view suite then they could get bracelets that were good for all inclusive access to The Royal as well.  I'm not sure if it was free with the suite upgrade or if it was for a small fee but they were so stoked and said the price to upgrade and have access to both resorts was well worth it.  The 13 year old couldn't come over of course but they all took turns hanging out at the GPR beach with her while the others would come to The Royal.  May be something to check into.

  4. Runningbride you just reminded me of something SUPER important that I forgot to put in my review for all to see...

     

    Brides- when you meet with your onsite wedding coordinator the day you get there, remember to re-verify all of your appointments, reservations with the dates and times they are supposed to be!  We had a candle light beach dinner scheduled one day for 8:00 and when we got there they said we were supposed to be there at 7:00!  Luckily it went just like RB said hers did, they were super accommodating and kept apologizing to us and we were apologizing to them lol it was all great and super romantic but we felt bad because we caught them off guard and they had to rush to put a table out on the beach.  Also we had a couples massage for what we thought was 4:00 but the Spa had us down for 4:30. 
    So just remember to make sure you have all your dates/times right as soon as you get there to avoid any mishaps.  But if there are some hiccups The Royal is eager to keep the brides happy.


  5.  

    Originally Posted by msglave View Post

    OMG Smickinney! What an awesome review! I am so super excited now! Only 52 days left!!!!! Thank you so much for putting all of that in! I am so happy that we chose to book Ivan and the dance floor. One question, do you have a pic of the flower bouquets that your mom made that you don't mind sharing?  Thanks so much!


    Thanks msglave!  Here is a cropped picture of the bouquets for the bridesmaids.  There are some more on the review where the girls are at the aisle but I know their kind of far away. We got them at Floweria Iris.  It's on 30th Ave and Constituyentes.  If you just take the street that runs in between The Royal and Gran Porto you make a right on 30th Ave you'll see a store called Aguilar (my new last name actually lol we got a laugh out of that) and that is 30th Ave where you'll make a right.  It's about a 10 minute walk.  They just have a bunch of loose flowers and we got a ton of flowers for only $40 and it was more than enough to make 3 small bouquets, 3 bouts for the guys and 3 wrist corsages for the moms and grandmother.
    bm bouquet.jpg
     

    Originally Posted by kshows03 View Post

    Wow!  Great review smckinney!  I def. learned a few things.  I think it's great that your mom made the boquets!  What a great idea.  Did she just get the flowers around town or did you have to go to Walmart?  I know our Walmart sells flowers...anyone know if the Walmart down there does?

     

    I also didn't know about the lanterns.  I never saw them available on any sheet.  Do you mind sharing how much they cost you?

     

    I think its great you showed them little maps and examples - that is GREAT!

     

    Thanks for sharing everything!

     

    I actually brought the turquoise lanterns with me.  I bought them at Target back in the Spring when they had their outdoor type stuff in the dollar bin. 

    We didn't make it to the Walmart but it's right up the street from the flower shop I just gave directions too.  So if you go to the Floweria Iris and don't find what you're looking for then Walmart is just a block away.  Here's a map if it helps.

     

     


     

    Originally Posted by ChicagoBride2011 View Post

    Smkinney love your review!

     

    I love all the postive energy on here the past couple weeks!  It seems like everything is working out for everyone despite the minor bumps in the road we all were having!    smile03.gif


    Thanks ChicagoBride2011  All future brides have nothing to worry about.  Any and all questions you have will eventually get answered.  And the wedding coordinators are really accomodating even if you have to get answers or make changes when you meet with them a few days before.  And really, there's not going to be a problem big enough to ruin your wedding at such a beautiful place!  Once you get there and see how beautiful it is and how lucky you are to be able to have such a great location, you'll quickly realize how petty all those little details are.  Just enjoy yourself and your hunny and everything else is peanuts in comparison!

    playa_del_carmen_map.pdf

  6. We just gave Ivan a list of the main songs like first dance and father/daughter dance. Then for the reception general dancing we just told him to play good dance songs. And it is true about him being able to download songs right then and play them. During the time everyone was up dancing my husband requested some James Brown so we could get a soul train line going. He found it and downloaded it right then. A few others requested songs throughout the night too and there were no problems with him finding them.

     

     

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jesmcan View Post

     

     

    I am using DJ Ivan as well :) we locked out because Kool has their own DJ and services that you have to use. However we had already booked Ivan when we decided to switch from the Royal to Kool so thank fully they made an exception for us. I am so happy to reading such great reviews about him. We love music and everyone loves to dance to the DJ was important.

     

     

     

     

     

  7. My FULL review of my wedding is up!  Woah what a task to write everything and then find corresponding pictures lol  It's done though!  So bring on the questions  :)  I have a bunch of pictures in the review but have so many more saved in all different places on my computer.  My next task...organizing a million pictures from 30 different cameras  sad.gif  I guess that's a good problem to have though!

     

    Here's a link:  http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/the-royal-in-playa-del-carmen-all-inclusive-spa-resort

     

    If any newbies can't click on links then you can go to my profile and click on the thread that has the little pencil beside it cheesy.gif

  8. I just got married at The Royal in Playa del Carmen and honeymooned at El Dorado Royale.  I've never been to Dorado Seaside but I've been to El Dorado Royale twice now.  We actually wanted to have our wedding at the El Dorado Royale at first because it was our first vacation together but we didn't because of the kid issue.  Honestly I do like the El Dorado Royale but after having my wedding at The Royal PDC and then going to El Dorado, I wouldn't have liked a wedding at the El Dorado Royale as much, just my opinion.  I'm sure many brides have had beautiful weddings there but here's some of my downsides of a wedding there, these are not downsides to the resort in my opinion just for wedding reasons.


    The beach is very very rocky on about half of it.  The other half is ok and on that side (near Casitas) the rocks are more into the ocean rather than all over.  So yes, if my 40 guests would have showed up and had to feel crammed on one side of a resort with everyone else just to enjoy the sand, they wouldn't have been too happy.  But, for vacationing there, I don't really mind it.
     

    The resort is HUGE!  While we love this aspect for a honeymoon (basically you never see the same people twice and everything feels secluded) this would not have worked for our wedding.  We loved the Royal PDC because it was a bit smaller so all of our guests could easily find each other and not to mention we were constantly running into each other which was convienient since there were so many of us and we didnt use our cell phones.

     

    The resort is SECLUDED big time!  The El Dorado Royale is basically in the middle of a jungle.  Again, we love this for a HM location but not for our wedding.  Having 40 guests it would not have been a benefit to be all stuck in the middle of a jungle.  The Royal PDC literally has 5th Ave Playa del Carmen market for shopping right outside it's doorstep.  Many of our guests used the market to shop or just to give them something different to do.  Also we were close to the Cozumel ferry.  So 6 of our guests took a random day trip to Cozumel and rode scooters around the island and had a blast.  They loved it and I loved that they had the option to make our wedding trip an actual vacation for themselves.

     

    Thats about all I can think of for now.  I do love the El Dorado and it has a special place in my heart since it was our first vacation but honestly it wouldn't have met our needs for a wedding.  I tried to think of all the things I wanted in my wedding resort but also kept in mind the size or resort and it's proximity to things my guests may want to do on THEIR vacation.  I hope this helps if nothing else than to just give an outsider opinion :)

  9.  

    I'm a bone head and just realized I can upload attachments.  So here's a few.

     

    I'm trying to find the other templates we used for the name tags for the key card holders on the bags.  Once I do I'll post them here.  If you have any questions about anything or need any specific templates just message me :)

     

    First aid kit labels

    FirstAidKit.pptx62753k .pptx file

     

    "Find the Couple" Wedding weekend itinerary

    Wedding Itinerary.pub792064k .pub file
  10. When is your wedding?  I have 5 table runners (assuming they're all in the box that came back with us)  And the turquoise paper lanterns should be in there too.  My MIL is doing a small at home reception Nov. 6th and she has my boxes with all my stuff in them and I think wants to use the table runners.  After that I won't have a use for them.  Oh and I probably have a million rolls of turquoise ribbon lol  I was a little ribbon obsessed.  Oh and turquoise sand also, you can have all that.  If you're interested in any of it just let me know.  I'll just give you any of it that you want, I'll just have to let you know how much the shipping is if that's cool.  :)
     

    Originally Posted by risa1818 View Post

    Love this planning thread and love your pics!!!

     

    My colors are coral and turquoise..so if you have any left over turquoise decorations, definitely let me know cheesy.gif



  11. Ok ladies I'm just about finished with the full review...where the heck to I post this thing?  LOL  I tried to go where Lady_Di posted hers in the actual "review" forum but it's shut down.  It says something about to not post there and to post to a vendor site or something?  And then the top of this thread says to not post to this thread either?  So you ladies tell me where to post it and I'll do it wink.gif

  12. When did you originally book?  I booked back in July/August of 2009 and probably requested the Tres Leches cake about a year prior to the wedding when I turned in my initial checklist maybe?  I read other posts saying that they can't get the Tres Leches cake either which I find very strange.  It turned out great and tasted great, it didn't melt or anything so that's odd that they'd take it off the choices of wedding cakes.  If you do really want it I'd just send her a message asking what the reason is that it's off the list?  Surely there has to be an explanation about it. Let me know what happens with that.
     

    Originally Posted by Lisa DSO View Post

    smckinney,

     

    I read that you had the tres leches cake...did you have any problems requesting that? I asked my wedding coordinator last week on the phone and she told me that I couldn't have it. Should I insist? lol  Did people like the cake?

     

    Runningbride, what kind of cake did you have?

  13.  

     

    Originally Posted by natalie7 View Post

     

    AWESOME!!! How much extra was the light up dance floor??? Was it an arm and a leg??!?!?! lol I wonder if they can offer something like that in DR!

     

    It was 500 extra to have the light up dance floor.  I know that sounds like a lot but his price was so reasonable for just his DJ services that adding that wasn't a big deal.  I saw other people's pictures when I started planning and I knew DJ Ivan and his dance floor had to make an appearance at my wedding no matter what!  He's the nicest guy ever and is great at what he does.  I'm a fan of his now!

  14.  

     

    Originally Posted by Bride2B22 View Post

     

    So Beautiful!!! Did you have to rent the lounge furniture? and did the DJ provide the dance floor, included with his standard price, or did you have to pay extra? 

     

    Yes we rented the lounge furniture from Mayan Hospitality.  The DJ brought the dance floor and it was an extra charge but totally worth it.  It lit up the whole beach area and caught everyone's attention...at BOTH resorts AND the people on the pier!  We were the talk of the hotels lol  Stay tuned for the review wink.gif

    Here's one of the pictures of the dance floor after we all got crazy.

     

    Chaos.jpg

     

  15. Well ladies the planning thread is up!  Here's the link but if you can't open this I posted it in the "Planning Journal" section.  Or you can do an advanced search for my user name and find it that way.  http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/64771/smckinney22-s-planning-thread-for-the-royal-pdc-10-09-10#post_1459950

     

    Also, I have most of my wedding review all written out.  I want to try and get that posted tonight as well but it may be later tonight...I have GOT to go get food, I'm starving!  Also, being back to reality where you actually have to go BUY your food really sucks!!  Pooey sad.gif

  16. Yay I'm glad that was you and not some concerned bride that thought she had a stalker!  LOL  Well you looked so beautiful and yes we were all cheering as you walked by.  At first I was afraid to go say Hi but I'm glad I did :)  I figured if I let you know I was from the forum (since I called you by first name) that you wouldn't think I was a crazy stalker lady lol!
     

    Originally Posted by RunningBride24 View Post

    AHHHH I thought that was you!!! :) Yes you said hi by the pool! That made me smile! That was one of the most fun parts, walking through the pool!

     

    I think I saw your wedding on Saturday! :) I agree, get the extra hour at the reception for sure!

     

    I just used the resort flowers for less hassle. I thought they were beautiful. A tad expensive for roses, but it was less of a headache. 

     

    The map did help, thank-you!! I printed them off and gave them to our guests so they could see who was where. We had oceanfront (736) the last 3 nights of our stay. We had guests all over the place but it worked out nicely. 

     

    We didn't do the DJ and it did look amazing. Our guests drank enough to keep on dancing, lol. But I did see DJ Ivan at work and it was spectacular! 

     

    Lady Di, you and Heather Graham were my hair inspiration so I have to give you a shout out! 



  17. Here is a pic of our ceremony set up from the front and the side.  I bought the turquoise lanterns from Target dollar bin.

     

    Ceremony.jpg Ceremony2.jpg

     

    Here are our wedding programs.  Me and mom made these.  Our colors if you haven't guessed, were turquoise with pink accents.  There is a little heart charm on each one that says Love.  I got the charms at Hobby Lobby.

    Programs.JPG

     

     

    At the ceremony we gave the wedding coordinator our "memorial frames" in honor of my grandmother and my husbands grandfather both of which have passed but were a really big part of our lives.  She set them on the first 2 aisle seats.  Me and my mom made these 2 frames.  One of my little cousins and one of my husbands cousins (both granddaughters of each grandparent) put a rose on each chair. My cousin put a rose on the chair with the butterfly frame, my grandmother loved butterflies.  And his cousin put a rose on the chair with a fishing pole, his grandfather loved to fish.  It was a special way to include the kids of each grandparent who is no longer with us and to honor their memory.

     

    Memorial.jpgframe2.jpg chairs.jpg

     

     

     

    We did a sand ceremony and I found a frame that you can put a photo in but still pour the sand behind.  It's called Umbra Ether frame and here's the link http://www.amazon.com/Umbra-8-Inch-9-5-Inch-Picture-Nickel/dp/B000FHHAU6    Blue sand bought from OTC and the other sand was from the beach!  Shhhh!

    SandFrame.jpg

     

     

    We brought our own table decorations.  Believe it or not we fit everything in 5 small boxes.  We had 4 tables of 10.  We brought turquoise table runners, rattan charges with turquoise rocks and in the center were battery operated candles, 3 large piller candles with pink ribbon and a rhinestone and then 5 small tea light candles with pink ribbon.  Here's a picture of the table set up.  The centerpieces got a little jumbled but you get the idea.
    Tables.jpg Candles.jpg

     

    And we also opted for the lounge furniture and got turquoise and pink pillows.
    Lounge.jpg

     

    Here's a pic of the cake table and cake.  It was Tres Leches and it was GOOD!

    Cake.jpg

     

    And last but not least here is the picture right before the madness on the dance floor brought on by Mr. DJ Ivan with Doremixx.

     

    Dancefloor.jpg

     

  18. Well I'm not the best at these sort of things so I'll try this and hope it comes out decent.  I planned (ahh strange to put it in the past tense) for 18 months.  We got engaged in July of 2009 and was married 1 week and 2 days ago on October 9th, 2010.

     

    I got my Save the Dates from efavormart.com  They were luggage tags in individual plastic boxes.  We put a slip of paper in the back that gave details on how to book the vacation.  And on the inside where you'd usually put your name and address for the luggage tag we put a little message.

     

    STD.JPGSTD2.JPG
     

    For our Invites we wanted to keep it simple but relevant so we went with post cards.  They had the pictures from our Engagement shoot and were cheap to mail and everyone loved them.  Simple and sweet just like us lol  My cousin took the pictures and her husband is a digital editor so he made the post cards for us.  They say "Leave your life and ride"  It's a quote from a Carey Brothers song (our favorite song and also our first dance song.)  Also totally appropriate since we like to ride the motorcycle and also we're asking the guests to leave their live and ride to come to our wedding :)

    shannonaaron_invite_alt.pdf

     

    Here's a picture of my dress.  I'll just post only the dress here so I can post the other full pictures of me in the dress in my review.  It's a Mori Lee style # 6204 and I wore turquoise shoes as my 'something blue' and turquoise was also my wedding color.

    Dress.jpgShoes.jpg

     

    I'm a loser and didn't take a picture of my bridesmaid gifts.  But I got them all a pashmina, a pair of turquoise earrings to wear with their bridesmaid dress, a rhinestone purse hook, a luggage tag with their initial, and I got each of them a gift that was meaningful to them and their hobbies that way it was still personal to each girl.

     

    The OOT bags were a big hit of course!  We assembled them here and packed them in a box so they were ready to go when we arrived.  Here is a picture of the contents but we also added an underwater camera to each bag (purchased off ebay) but we took this picture before they came in.

    -Bags were actually the drawstring backpacks and EVERYONE used them.  I'm so glad we went with these instead of tote bags.  They were easier to use and people walked around with them and took them to the beach.  They were somewhat waterproof in the fact that you could put wet stuff in them and then just wash them out without them smelling like the canvas bags may have done.  We got them off Oriental Trading website. 
    -The mugs were given out to each guest and they loved those too.  They would take their drinks and dance with them without them spilling.  These were from Family Dollar and worked great.  They were in our wedding color too!
    -I got Cocktails for Dummies in the dollar bin at Target.
    -Purell hand sanitizer was from Office Max and it was .30 cents per bottle.

    -Mr. & Mrs. note pads and the Fiesta maraca ink pen were from Oriental Trading website.

    -Gummy candy in the shape of flip flops and the umbrella straws were all also Oriental Trading website.
    -As I said we added underwater cameras bought from ebay for about $4 a piece.

    -We included the Wedding Weekend Survival Kit.  I used a fellow BDW bride template for the sticker on the front.  The box came from Dollar Tree.  We included SPF Chapstick, 2 for $1 at Dollar Tree.  We included, Pepto, Immodium, Tylenol, Bandaids, Safety pins, Doublemint gum

    -We also included a Thank You note and a "Find the Couple" itinerary.  I had seen somewhere on the forum someone else who had done an Itinerary and loved the idea.  Our guests could find us throughout the weekend without having to use cell phones.  We gave them out before the trip so that our guests sort of plan ahead and could meet up with us if they wanted to but if they wanted to do their own thing that was cool too.  We wanted to let everyone have their own vacation, after all they paid for it themseleves, but at the same time we wanted them to be able to hang out with us if they wanted.  It worked out perfectly.  Some people met us for most meals and others we only saw a few times.  It was all about just letting everyone have a great time without roping them into 'required events'.  We gave out the OOT bags at the welcome cocktails on Friday, the night before the wedding.

     

    OOTbag.JPG

     

    More to follow...

     

     


     

  19. Hey ladies! I'm back from Mexico and I'm a Mrs. I have been trying to catch up with the forum and see how many answers I can give but I'm on my stupid phone and it's taking a while to load. So far here are some answers on a few questions on the previos pages...

    No you can't bring into or take out of the country any flowers or shells, well you can but if you get stopped they will throw them away. I brought fake flower petals and the resort used those.

    The tables at The Royal for our reception held 10 people comfortably.

    I used the resort for hair and makeup and it turned out beautiful and everyone said it looked "stunning" lol so I'll post pics and y'all can see what you think. But I'm so very glad I went with them.

    If you have to open up a new credit card, have a garage sale or beg, cheat and steal to raise the extra money for a DJ then DO IT. I would have paid him twice as much as he was asking now that I know how much it was worth it. Of course we all love to dance but we had such a party going on that the locals and other guests from the resorts were pulling up chairs to watch us. Our picture look like a night club. A iPod and speakers wouldn't have been able to keep up with us. We saw another wedding there that did have an iPod/speaker set up and hardly anyone was dancing. So we're so glad we sprung for Dj Ivan. Also, spring for the extra hour at the reception and make it 4 hours if you have a Dj. You won be sorry you did.

     

    I'll get the full review all written up, do my planning thread and post pics when I get home from work.

     

    Also, I saw runningbride (I think) and I said hi to her by the pool. I hope it was her lol. But she looked so amazingly beautiful! I'm sure she'll be back soon too.

  20.  

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lisa DSO View Post

     

     

     

     

     

    I just noticed you are in Dallas, too :-) 

     

     

     

    Hey fellow Dallas bride! Yup I'm in Dallas too! I work in Plano but live near Addison :) I'm at work (not working) just waiting for today to be over. I'm off work tomorrow to go get our marriage liscense and them our plane leaves Thursday! Getting excited!!

  21.  

    Autjo- When you say they "gave you a hard time" about the waterproof camera's and hand sanitizer what happened?  Why would those things be such a big deal at the airport if they were checked?  I'm assuming they eventually let you pass but what suggestions do you have for getting the camera's past them easily without them making a huge deal about them?
     

    Originally Posted by autjo View Post

    Sweet Lisa! We get in on your wedding day! If you are at the resort after the wedding I'll have to *buy* you a congrats drink. I just checked out your wed-site and it's the same one that I used :) DH and I both work in IT and met at work too... although we're more on the unix side of life #nerdy


     

     

     

    Ummmm.... I took real starfish, but they were all wrapped up in boxes and DH grabbed that suitcase and basically ran to the exit so it wouldn't get searched. The bag that did get searched had OOT junk and they gave me a super hard time over the waterproof cameras and hand sanitizer. So yeah, I'm guessing that they totally would have confiscated the starfish if they had found them. Probably better to not take them with you. Maybe ask your WC where you could buy them in town when you get there...
     


     
  22. Hi ladies!  I leave for Mexico in 10 days!  Ahhhhh it got here so quickly!  I want to do a planning thread but don't know the best place to post it?  Does anyone know where those are usually posted? 

     

    Runningbride and Fancy That- are ya'll about ready?  Can you believe our days got here so fast?  Exciting and crazy all at once!

     

    S.

  23. Yay!  That's crazy I think we're all at 4pm but just 3 days in a row!  I think RB's is 4pm on the beach too.  As long as my crazy group of family isn't pulling me in a million directions I'd love to sneak a peak at ya'lls weddings as well!  I'm in the gazebo at 4 on the 9th ;)  What are your colors?  RB said her peeps will have Pink tumblers.
     

    Originally Posted by Fancy That View Post



    Hey SMcKinney! yes, you me and RunningBride will all be there the same time! You first, then her, then me on 10/9, 10/10, 10/11 :) Very cool!!!!!

     

    I'll look for the fun bunch w/ the turqoise tumblers. also - since we arrive the morning of the 8th, I'll be able to see your wedding, too :) And then we can watch RBs :)

     

    You on the beach or gazebo or garden?  I'll be on the beach at 4pm on 10/11/10

     

    We only have 8 guests TOTAL...we were going to elope but the parental units, siblings and a couple friends wanted to come vacation :)   Having a huge wedding reception at home, on 10/23....invited 125 peeps! That is WAY more planning than this little wedding on the beach!


     


×
×
  • Create New...