jenc8060

Hello, I recently got married at RPRM in November of 2012. Since I used the boards so frequently during the planning process, I thought it was only fair that I complete some sort of review. I posted my review in my travel blog here. Additionally, I posted a review of the resort here. Overall we were satisfied with our wedding experience at RPRM but were frustrated with the many costs that were associated with the wedding that we hadn't expected in the beginning. And yes, the wedding coordinator will email you 1-2 months prior to your wedding to confirm the major details. Additionally, after arriving at the resort you will have a meeting with the wedding coordinator to finalize the last minute details. The only other things I think it's important to nail down prior to your arrival is the following: Appointments at the spa (on the day of my wedding between myself, bridesmaids and my mom we ate up more than half of the available appointment time at the spa. They only have two chairs in their spa so they can't accomodate more than two people at once). DJ: If you want to have music at your reception, it's important to reserve the DJ ahead of time with the resort. Private reception: If you are opting to go for the private reception option, make sure to let the resort know as far in advance as you can. Typically there were at least two weddings every day, and sometimes as many as three so if you really want a private reception at Chili's for example, you must book it before someone else does! Cocktail hour: In between your ceremony and reception the resort will offer you the option of using one of their bars for your cocktail hour. We specifically wanted to use the outdoor bar area (Lyrico) so we made sure to reserve this several months in advance. There was another wedding that occurred immediately after ours and they had to use the lobby bar since we had already reserved the outdoor bar. That's all I can think of right now! If you have any questions let me know! Jennifer

Hello all, I recently got married at Riu Palace Riviera Maya in November of last year and had 40 guests in attendance. I used this board quite frequently when planning my wedding so I thought it was only fair that I give some sort of review of our experience. I posted the review in my travel blog, which you can find here. Additionally, I had a separate review of the resort here. Overall, we were satisfied with our wedding experience at RPRM but at the same time we were both quite frustrated with some of the pricing and costs associated with the wedding. And yes, it's true that the wedding coordinator will email you about 1-2 months prior to your wedding to confirm the major details. Additionally, you'll have a meeting when you arrive at the resort to finalize the last minute details. I would recommend making your appointment in advance at the spa, especially if your bridal party or family wants to make appointments as well. There are only two chairs in the spa and on the day of my wedding between myself, bridesmaids, and my mom, we ate up more than half of their available appointment time. If you want a DJ at your reception, you'll need to request that ahead of time as well. Also, if you want a private reception at a specific restaurant, request that far in advance as there tends to be multiple weddings every day at the resort. Aside from that though, most everything else can be handled after you arrive at the resort. Happy planning! Jennifer

We have booked Fine Art Studio for our photography. He was the cheapest I could find for the quality I was looking for. We are doing the $2800 package but instead of doing the TTD session we are adding two hours of photography onto our wedding day for a total of 8 hours. I was told that for the private reception at Chili's it must begin at 8:45. Good point about the DJ...that is only about 2 hours. UGH! I wonder if they could extend the reception until later or if we could get into the restaurant earlier.... Great job on the cups! They are super cute! I too am worried about transporting all of the stuff for the OOT bags down to Mexico. We are going to have SO much luggage with us! Quote:Originally Posted by elissae  Nix - feel free to LURK anytime!  We love having you still here with us!!!  xoxo  Thanks for all the su!pport & helpful information   Hi Jen!  Welcome back - I remember seeing you on the boards a few months back!  Your wedding is right around the corner!  You must be so exited.  Quick question - did you book a photographer?  May I ask who?  This is my next decision to make.  I, too and hoping to do a private reception at Chili's with the resort DJ.  Although I am concerned with the mixed information I've read about what time your private reception can begin.  7 or 8:45?  It would seem ridiculous to have a DJ for 2 hours...since they make you shut down music at 11 as a courtesy to other resort guests.  Have you received any information in this at all?  My FI and I are doing OOT bags.  1 per couple or 1 per person if friends are sharing a room.  As far as plastic cups - I bought acrylic tumblers at the Christmas Tree Shop this spring.  This should be interesting transporting these - I may have to break seals and remove straws so nothing breaks.    Quote: Emily - I am sure this will be fine.  When you firm up details with them 2 months prior to your wedding date - that is when you have to supply a full list of your guests so they can make sure that 80% of them are booked at the resort.  But Nix is right!  Doesn't hurt to keep them in the loop.  More information is always better than less!

I haven't been here in months but I am so happy to see that there is so much activity again! We are getting married on 11/17 of this year; only about five months away! We are currently trying to decide if we are going to bring in our own DJ and where to do a cocktail hour. Anyone have recommendations? We are probably going to have 35-40 guests and are planning on doing the private reception at Chilis. Also, we are in the midst of trying to decide what to do for our OOT bags. Are you guys doing one bag per room or one for each person? Also, does anyone have any recommendations for plastic cups? We were told it would be a good idea to include a really large plastic cup with our OOT bags as the ones used at the resort are smaller. We are probably going to do beer koozies as well!

Hi Elissa, Congrats on your engagement! We are getting married at RPRM on November 17 of this year. We are not getting legally married there (will do it at the courthouse when we get home; we didn't want to deal with all of the paperwork and stuff in Mexico). We are arriving on Friday the 9th and then our wedding is 8 days later on the 17th. We are encouraging our wedding guests to spend the week with us prior to the wedding so that by the time the wedding comes around everyone should know one another! :-) I have heard the the 3 day rule is strict and that you do have to follow it. Jennifer

Glad to see there is another possible Riu Palace RM bride here! We are anticipating about 40-50 guests for our wedding in November. If you haven't already done so, I would recommend visiting Riu's website on weddings (http://www.riu.com/en/weddings/) to request information and look at package prices. Since we are having more than 40 guests, we are going with the Caprice package, which costs either $2570 (civil ceremony) or $2425 (religious). Additionally, we want a private reception at Chili's, which will cost an extra $20 per person. If you have at least 50 people, you can get a private reception for free at the Brazilian restaurant, and if you have at least 80 people, you can have a private reception for free at the steakhouse (Chili's). Otherwise, you will have to pay an additional $20 per person for a private reception. While I don't like this added cost, having a private reception with music is very important to us! Speaking of music, the cost of using their DJ is $1200. This seems much too steep, so we are probably going to bring an I-Pod and sound system of some sort. We opted not to use one of the resorts photographers and have instead hired our own (Fine Art Studio). Additionally, there will be other small charges along the way (i.e. bridesmaids bouquets) that aren't included in the wedding package. In the end, the entire price for our wedding (wedding package, private reception, 10 nights hotel/airfare for the 2 of us, photographer, bridal gown/accessories, grooms/groomsmen/bridesmaid attire (we are paying for their outfits), save the dates, invitations, his mother's hotel/airfare for 7 nights (since she can't afford), will be about $15,000. Originally, we thought we could do it for under 10k, but we opted to spend more on a few items (like photographer; 3k and paying for our bridal party's attire; about $700) than we originally anticipated. Let me know if you have any other questions!

I am getting married at RPRM on November 17th, 2012...it doesn't appear as though there are many other RPRM brides out there at the moment. I hope that changes soon!