Cancun
Overall it was a great experience
This is a review of:
Gran Caribe Real Resort & Spa All Inclusive
Detailed Ratings
Accomodation Value:
3.0
Communication:
5.0
General Location:
5.0
Wedding Sites:
5.0
Wedding Value:
5.0
Pros: Wedding process was easy! I did not have any issues planning and everything went great on the wedding day!
Cons: Hotel check-in was a pain for some of my guests. Rooms that were reserved were not available
Gran Caribe Real (all 40 guests stayed here)
We truly enjoyed our stay, there was always something to do and the service was great.
The only issues we had were in checking in (though we did get the complimentary upgrade). Checking in took a long time and our room wasn't ready till 4:30 pm. Checking in for our guests was just as bad for some even worse. Some of my guests had to stay in different rooms (not the ones they had reserved) for one night because the rooms they did book were not available, so it was a hastle for them to be unpacking and packing. Which doesn't make sense since we blocked out the rooms months in advance.
One of my aunts and I argued with the manager until they actually gave her the room she had reserved. So my advice is to fight them until you get what you paid for!
Other than this our vacation was amazing. My guests kept on telling me how much they loved it there.
Food & Drinks: The food was good! The waiters and bartenders provided great service.
Wright Travel: Wendy Hicks was our travel agent! We went with room blocking! She was awesome and got us a good deal. She was also very quick to responding to emails and phone calls. I did not have any complaints from any of my guests in paying for their rooms.
Rehearsal Dinner:
We didn't want to pay extra for a semi private dinner for our rehearsal, so we just had everyone meet by the bar in the lobby. Then we went outside (pool area next to sunset grill) and discussed wedding plans and who was doing what. After business was taken care of we ate at sunset grill. We didn't all get to sit together but the restaurant did a good job in accommodating our party. They just sat about 8-10 ppl per table. It worked out great.
Ceremony 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Royal Catholic Wedding package::::::::Our onsite Coordinator was Diana Rodriguez (she was amazing, the process was extremely easy)
I was informed that the meeting with the priest was optional when I had my meeting initial meeting with Diana. We did not have one. Diana took our transfer letter and also made a copy of our baptismal certificates.
We did not have a rehearsal in the chapel but everything still turned out great! Diana did a great job at organizing everything the day of the wedding. She requested that the bridal party and guests arrive 30 mins early to the chapel. She told everyone where to sit such as parents, sponsors, and etc... During the ceremony the priest discretely asked me what sponsors I had or what needed to be blessed (We had Lazo and Bible sponsors).
Music: We has the violinist, loved the music. He chose the songs.
Flowers: I loved my bridal bouquet (it was the standard bridal bouquet included in the package). The alter centerpiece was also beautiful. I ordered my bridesmaid bouquets from the following website. They were real touch flowers, the looked and felt real! They were $43.50 each.
Hair & Make-up: My cousin/moh is a stylist so she did my hair and make-up!
Cocktail Hour 5:00-6:00p.m.
Location: Beach (below Chapel)
We took pictures during this time. I did not get to tastes the food, but my family said the food was good. During our meeting with Diana she informed us that we get to have signature drinks (you just pick the color of drinks you would like to have, ours were blue and orange). It was a nice touch!
Reception 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Location: Private Reception on Beach (below chapel)
Centerpieces: We brought them, my maid of honor/cousin made them. We brought 5 vases and just distributed them among family members so they wouldn't take up that much space. They vases were about $6.00 we bought them at Ross, and the flowers, candles, and rocks from hobby lobby and Michaels.
Food: We had the option of salmon or fish filet (RD-3 & PE-4). I tasted both dishes and they were good! I was responsible of letting the wedding coordinator know ahead of time how many dishes of each were needed. I was also responsible for making labels so that the waiters could know where to place each plate. I bought starfish from Michaels and used teal ribbon for my guests having beef and orange ribbon for my guests having salmon. It worked out great!
Cake: We went with the basic cake included in our package and the flavor was chocolate. The cake was really good but we were so busy dancing that I don't think most of my guests ate it all. (Glad I did not pay extra for a bigger and fancier cake).
Overall we had an amazing time! The waiters kept the drinks coming (especially shots, after we took the first one I told him to keep them coming and they did, I don't think anyone remembers how many we had) Our guests definitely enjoyed themselves!
When the reception ended we all went to the lobby! There was live music and we just continued the party and kept on dancing and drinking! It was soooooo much fun! After that was over our guests went to the pool and to the beach!
Chichen Itza trip: When my husband and I arrived to Cancun 4 days prior we went out looking for a good deal for Chichen Itza. We ended up getting a good deal! $40 per person, this included the trip , visit a cenote, buffet lunch, and our visit to Chichen Itza. My advice is to not buy from the vendors at the resort because they are extremely overpriced. They were charging us about $120 for this same deal! All of my guests definitely enjoyed the trip (it was also rainy and cloudy this day so it was perfect because we weren't burning up)
DJ
We hired Hits Band for our DJ, we also paid extra for the light up dance floor. Hiring Hits Band was more affordable than hiring the resort DJ (even including the $350.00 outside vendor fee, it was still cheaper). Not only were the DJ services more affordable but so was the dance floor! The DJ played good music and kept our guests dancing all night!
Photographer
We hired Octavio Montes! He did a great job, he was professional, easygoing, and had a sense of humor. His prices are also really affordable. He also did our TTD session, he picked us up from the resort and dropped us off. We were supposed to go to a cenote to take our pictures but I changed my mind since the drive was going to be quite long and we wanted to hang out on our last day with friends and family. He was understanding and drove around and found the perfect place to take pictures at! Octavio also had our pictures ready in one week!
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