karielk

Hi gals,

 

I just wanted to chime in.  I'm going to do a more thorough review later, but I wanted to jump in here and put up something quick about our experience with Diana at our wedding a little over a week ago.  She was an absolutely amazing wedding coordinator.  She was super nice and went well above and beyond what we expected.  We went over everything with her before the wedding.  They had everything in her file correct, there were no surprises.  There were no hidden last minute fees.  We gave Diana all of the things that we brought from home for her to hand out, put on the tables, set up for the cocktail hour, etc and she did exactly what we wanted.  We could not have been happier.  It was a perfect wedding.

Thanks for the review and information!  It's very helpful.  Can you provide some more information about the tents that you used?  Who provided them?  Did the GCR provide them?  How much extra were they?  If you could PM me any of your pictures, I'd be happy to post them.  Thanks so much!

Originally Posted by kylashep2 

Hey guys, I had my wedding at the GCR 7/22/11this is just a tid bit for you wonderful ladies to get yet another idea of a GCR wedding-Royal Catholic wedding and the reception on the green carpet terrace and the cocktail hour, I had the rehearsal dinner as well. Had DJ doremix w/ the light up dance floor-fire dancers during dinner and tents over the tables which BTW looked great. For the flowers I used Marvin from maya floral and for photography- photos in cancun, and for make-up & hair the Royal which was included in the package.

The rehearsal dinner was AMAZING they catered to you hand and foot and the food couldn't be any better. Everyone raved about the food.

We chose the green terrace b/c we could do both the cocktail hour & reception there (52 people were at our wedding)-we used the tents which I was a little iffy about-but they really tied everything together nicely-plus having some shade was nice. The ceremony was at 4pm cocktail @ 5pm and reception @ 6. Food again was good...ohh I had the tres leches cake-delicious. Since it was hot & the problem with tres leches is that it melts I asked them to keep it in the kitchen till it was time to cut the cake. I actually chose a couture cake 4 layers- and the included cake in the package for the rehearsal dinner. Only thing bout the cake was I wanted it very simple all white box layers and black strip at the bottom of each layer and flowers at the top just b/c I didn't get around to getting a cake topper- I know I know how do u forget a cake topper...I was allover the place in the months leading to the wedding and it totally slipped my mind. But they put these fake flowers-that looked cheesy not only on the top but on the side as well. These are one of the things you just say oh well and move on.

Can't say anything that hasn't already been said about the DJs they use-great!!! They're worth every penny.

The fire dancers were great too-only thing was we had them during the beginning so it wasn't all that dark yet-One of the guys used some type of glow stick so it looked a lil funny haha-so of course his "part" would've been a lot better in the dark LOL

The wedding day coordinator-Diana, beautiful, sweet and just don't have enough nice words for her. Andrea was the one I dealt with the whole year and she deserves just as much praise. She got back to me ASAP all the time. She stayed on top of everything.I was actually assigned to Flora at first but b/c of her reviews I didn't want to risk it so Andrea w/o a problem switched it.

The cocktail hour was beyond amazing-there was a ton of choices for everyone-I didn't know that you don't choose the foods at the cocktail hour out of their "hot and cold canapes" they have it all!

I had great communication with Marvin up until he dropped off the flowers-which my mom met with b/c I was doing hair & make-up. I asked over and over if he could get me white peonies and to make their bouquets full, I wouldn't have minded paying extra-his  response- that's not a problem we get ours from Holland. And he knew that my colors were pastel pink and white. He told my mom THE DAY OF THE WEDDING AT DROP OFF TIME he couldn't get me white peonies so he had something else AND had purple peonies in my 2 of my bridesmaid bouquets..seriously...purple!!! That's not what I wanted...so needless to say I was pissed but had to move on. I did use the bouquet from the package for my maid of honor, and it was beautiful and full. I got my bouquet, 4 bridesmaid bouquets and rose petals for the chapel from him. He did lower the price b/c he couldn't get the peonies but in my opinion you just don't choose what he wants and not let me know about it.

The make-up HORRIBLE-it was like caked on-she tried her best at fixing it but I was already late and was like whatever. My saving grace was my photographer's partner who is also his girlfriend, I knew she did make up but didn't want to pay more thinking "it's already in the package" She whipped out her mac brushes pouch, took out all her make up from sephora and some eyelashes and did a 360 on me...wish I would have payed for her in the beginning AND she touched me up when I needed it...couldn't have been anymore convenient-they didn't even charge me.The photographer was GREAT, the prices were unbelievable and he gave me ALL the pictures at the end of the night bout 3000 photos I just have to go through them and pick the ones I want edited.I've looked at them briefly and love his style. My nephew is actually getting married next year in NY and wants him as their photographer as well.

If anyone has ANY questions please let me know I'll be happy to respond...I unfortunately don't know how to post pics here But I'll try

 

I just received this e-mail message:

 

Anybody know anything about Elvy Arroyo?

 

---------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you once again for choosing us to hold one of the greatest days of your life!   It was a pleasure to meet and greet you and at the same time I just wanted to thank you for the oportunity you gave me to assist you with the planning process of your wedding!.....with a great deal of sadness I regret to inform you that I´m leaving due I´m starting a new project and I will not be able to continue helping you with your wedding plans & I would like to inform you that your wedding has been assigned to Elvy Arroyo who will be your new Wedding Consultant since now on! please notice that she has been provided with all of the wedding information such the wedding services and all of the wedding details & agreements that we have reviewed/ confirmed for your wedding and I´m sure she will carry out as requested.   Elvy will make everything run smoothly. She is fantastic and I know you will be delighted and happy with her job and you would enjoy working with Elvy. Her email address is [email protected] I’m sending a copy of this message to her so you can be in touch, please remember to subscribe her every time you post a new message through our wedding system.     It has been a pleasure working with you, and I wish you both the very best and a life full of happiness, trust and love!.   Thank you for your comprenhension in advance   Angie Silva -----------------------------------------------------------------

No prob.  Really nice of Cassie to share her pictures of the Albatros Terrace.

 

Vanessa, I thought I remembered you saying you were holding your reception at the Villas Terrace, did you change it?  What time is your reception?

 

If anyone else has reception pictures they would like me to post, just PM me.  I'm happy to do so.

 

Hi All,

 

Cassie323 sent me these photos of the Albatros Terrace to post for everyone to see.  I think the Terrace looks like a beautiful spot.

 

Thanks, Cassie!

 

 

 

Congrats!  Dreams Tulum looks great. 

 

Next November will be here before we know it.  =)   

Just FYI: this forum is run by a travel agency that specializes in destination weddings, so from what I've heard, out of courtesy to them,  we are not supposed to publicly promote our TAs.  I would strongly recommend sharing any advice on those matters in private messages.

 

I know!  It's so exciting that we are now under a year!  =)  We just got our save the dates printed, so now we just need to address them and send them out. 

 

Originally Posted by sascolo 

Quote:

Originally Posted by karielk 

Excited to be a Maggie bride now too!  The sample was a size or so too small, but I just love it!  Can't wait for mine to come in.  =)

 

love it! It looks great! What is the name/style of it? So pretty!

Thanks!  It's Vanessa.  I liked it in the picture on the website, but it wasn't my favorite.  But when I put it on, I just knew it was the one!  It's super comfortable too.  =)

Excited to be a Maggie bride now too!  The sample was a size or so too small, but I just love it!  Can't wait for mine to come in.  =)

 

Vanessa C: you need to have at least 150 posts before you can open attachments on here. Until that point, your best bet if you really need to see something is to PM people and ask if they're willing to email you the attachment.

 

LChavez: To post photos in messages, you have to first upload them to a site like Photobucket. I think other image hosting sites (flickr?) might work too. Here is the link to the thread explaining what you need to do:

 

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...ok-here-16832/

LChavez, I don't know about whether the Chapel works differently, but we're having ours in the gazebo at 3 pm. We just asked for a different time from the ones they listed, and they said yes. And we don't have to pay the $400 charge.

If one person isn't Catholic, they will need to get a waiver from their local Bishop. When they sign up for Catholic pre-Cana preparation, they will be able to learn about that. It's really mostly just a formality....

 

Then, once they have met the requirements of their local diocese, they have their priest send the info to the Cancun bishop, and he okays it.

Cindy, that's a beautiful dress!

 

I'm still a bit confused, though. Did you order the dress in a size to fit the bust and then still add inches on the neckline? Or was it the size to fit your waist/hips etc.?

 

It sounds like a great option--thanks for the tip!

A quick response, then a bit of a vent for myself:

 

I'd recommend dresses with a corset back, which give much more freedom to customize the size to the body part. Alterations can also help I'd guess, but if you have a corset back, you won't need as much. I tried on corset backs, and they give a lot more support too.

 

As for myself, I just went on my first wedding dress shopping trip. I'm a bit frustrated because I'm much bigger on top too. I'm a 36 H bra size and wear street size 10 dresses; in bridal; I'm around size 10 or 12 at waist and hips and size 16 or 18 on top. The problem is that with the dresses in the store (usually sample size 12s), I can get them on, but I have no idea how much cleavage I'll end up showing in a size that really fits. I just want to make sure I'll feel comfortable on my wedding day! Any ideas?

Wow, glad to see so many GCR folks! Who are you all working with at Real Resorts? Our wedding coordinator is Aja, who is very responsive.

 

Vanessa, I wrote in the other thread too (on November 2011 brides), but I just wanted to say again how exciting it is that we'll be getting married there the same day!

 

We're currently booked for the wedding in the gazebo and the reception on the roof top terrace. We haven't taken a look at the photographers there because we knew we wanted to hire an outside one, since photos are a big priority for us. We also haven't tasted the reception food, but it all sounds delicious. With the 3 course meal, you have a choice of 1) shrimps with jambalaya rice, 2) red snapper stuffed with seafood & black caviar cream, or 3) beef fillet with mushroom sauce. There's also vegetarian and kid options.

 

Soon-to-be-McRae: Cancun high temperatures in November are around 83-85 F, and lows are around 70-72 F. You might note that it's the tail end of hurricane season, though they are very rare in November. Still, we're planning on getting travel insurance, just in case.

Hi Vanessa, super exciting that we'll be getting married in the same place on the same day! =)

Yeah, the villa terrace looks like such a gorgeous spot! We just can't seem to decide where we want the reception. We're not going to be able to do a site visit. =(

 

Did you (or anyone else!!!) by any chance see the "Real Club" room? Aja says it's a potential spot, but the only pictures she has come from one of the other resorts. She said it's in the Sunset Grill?

Kristen, have you visited Gran Caribe during your trips? We are considering the villa terrace too, but we're a little concerned about wind. Any thoughts on that?

We're working with Aja. She seems very organized and responsive.

Haha...that's funny! Well, it's good that you have lots of freedom to choose. =) My fiance is pretty helpful, actually. He's especially interested in the budget.

I'm super excited because we finally picked a resort (Gran Caribe Real), and we're close to getting a photographer. Break time is coming!

We're planning on going with the Eternal Romance package and upgrading several features (like musician for the ceremony).

 

My fiance did the math and figured that we can get all the elements we wanted from the Luxury package for less by taking the lower package and upgrading just the parts we care about.

 

Kiwicorreo, the Catholic chapel is gorgeous!

Hi All,

 

When we were deciding between resorts, I made a chart of various resorts in Cancun and Riviera Maya comparing some of the stuff we cared about. Don't know if it will be helpful to anyone, but I thought I'd share it. We compared:

 

Riu Cancun, Caribe

Sandos Riviera, Playacar, and Caracol Eco Resort

Barcelo Maya Beach, Costa Cancun, Tucancun Beach

Gran Caribe Real

Dreams Cancun, Riviera Cancun, Tulum, Puerto Aventuras

 

We weren't able to fill in all the blanks. After we did it, we also started looking at whether they had a maximum percent of guests who could stay at other resorts (the Riu Resorts did, which ruled them out for us because we didn't want to stress over that).

 

Hope this upload works--it's my first time, so bear with me!

 

 

Resorts.xls

I wondered if there are any other 2011 Gran Caribe Real gals out there!

 

I know there is a Royal PDC thread that sometimes mentions the other Royal and Real Resorts, but Gran Caribe Real tends to get lost in the shuffle.

 

I thought it would be nice for those of us planning weddings here for next year had a place just for us!

 

I'd love to hear where you are holding your ceremony and reception, who you are dealing with from the resort, etc.

 

Also, does anyone know if they ever allow a private reception at the Albatros restaurant?

Tahiti! Definitely...it's so gorgeous there (at least the pictures I've seen make me think so).

 

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Thanks so much for this! Very helpful (not to mention thorough)!