We chose Excellence Riviera Cancun as our venue for our destination wedding and we couldn't have been happier.   We arrived on May 22^nd and left on May 29^th.  Our wedding was Friday, May 25^th. 

Resort/Room- The resort is beautiful.  The grounds are well kept and very clean.   We were very impressed the moment we had our site visit in October.  If you are considering any resort I definitely recommend a site visit to make sure you are comfortable with the grounds and the services offered.  Now I must tell you that we worked with a TA who helped us with all of our guests reservations.  This definitely helped and kept everyone organized.  We decided to book the honeymoon/roof top terrace suite.  This is the only room in the resort that is set up this way.  Although it was pricey it was WORTH every penny.  The terrace was on the corner of building 7 and overlooked the entire resort.  Even Alberto our photographer was amazed with the views when we were taking pictures.   The room itself had the bedroom portion but a private massage room and a large living room which was great when my party was getting ready before the ceremony.  The room was definitely the party room where we ended up after the disco closed. 

Wedding Coordinator-  Gloria was our WC and when we first met her on our site visit I knew that she would take care of us.  Unlike most brides I knew I was having a destination wedding and I knew that there would be A LOT of things that I couldn’t control.  From October when we first met Gloria to the wedding we communicate with Gloria a handful of times via email.  My recommendation is draft one long email with subjects of all of your questions.  It makes it easier for you to keep track of answers and I believe gets a faster response.  During our October site visit we met with Gloria and basically picked out everything… flowers, location, went over the food, etc.  After we got back from that visit she drafted up all of the information we discussed and that was our reference while planning the wedding.    When we arrived at the resort in May she called our room and requested that we meet her on Wednesday to go over the final details.  We talked about back up plan if it rained and all the fine details.  She was professional and personal.  I am so happy she was part of our special day. 

Day before the wedding-   So I must tell this story because at the time it was alittle stressful, but will be something that we will always remember.    The day before our wedding the wedding party and I wanted to go swimming in the ocean.  After 30 or so minutes I wanted to head back to the beach chair and relax before meeting up with Gloria again.  I was walking out of the ocean I stepped on something that felt like a sharp stick.  The pain was excruciating as I hobbled back to my beach chair I noticed I was bleeding.  So my fiancé carried me up to the resort doctor where she proceeded to tell me that I had gotten stung by a baby sting ray.  This is 24 hours before the wedding.  We were supposed to have a rehearsal and then meet up for dinner at Toscana.  Since our room had a rooftop terrace the wedding party had a make-shift rehearsal on the deck before the dinner.  After the meds kicked in everything was smooth sailing.   Everywhere we went the staff knew who we were and kept asking how my foot was doing.   It was a good story and something we will always remember.   

Wedding Day-  The day of the wedding we order room service and enjoyed breakfast on the rooftop terrace while the boys enjoyed the beach.  The entire day was planned to a prefect T.  The Spa was amazing (see below).   We had our wedding on the beach under the pergala.   We brought our own sashes which the staff tied to the chairs.  And rose petals were spread down the aisle.  My cousin married us which was very special to my husband and I.    After the ceremony we headed to the pier for cocktail hour.  We even got to enjoy a mango margarita and some appetizers which were delicious.   After some more pictures we headed to the Lobster House for the reception.  I HIGHLY recommend getting married on Friday night when the Lobster House is closed.  It was truly amazing having the breeze off the ocean and having everything open.  There were a few other weddings that weekend which the reception was up on the terrace next to the main lobby and although it was nicely decorated my guests were very glad that we had the Lobster House. 

Spa-  I had the Gold wedding package which included hair and make-up.  I had my ipad with my Hair Pinterest board.  My hairstylist was amazing and I gave him some creative freedom to add some of his style.  He also did my make-up which was beautiful.

Flowers- I loved my flowers!  Gloria dropped them off about an hour before the ceremony and the photographer had plenty of time to take pictures.  Mine bouquet had birds of paradise like the men’s boutonnieres.

Food-  The cocktail hour food was delicious and the mango margaritas were phenomenal.   The food we chose for the main dinner was very good.  Each course was delivered in a timely manner.  

Photographer- We used Alberto Aldana from Claudia Rodriquez studios.  Alberto and Tamara were AWESOME.  I will put up another review about their work.   It’s a bummer that we won’t get the pictures for another 6 weeks. 

DJ-  We had DJ Mannia who was absolutely awesome.  He played the songs we requested as well as took request from our friends.  I’ll do another review on their site later on.

Overall impressions/opinion-  Overall  we had an amazing time.  Our friends and family had a great vacation and were all very pleased with the accommodations, the food, the staff, etc.