Our entire group had a wonderful time at IRHS.  Hubby and I plus 7 guests were there from 10/7-10/15.  Some stayed 4 days, some 5 and some the whole time with us.  Everyone LOVED the resort.  They thought it was the best place they've ever stayed.  Our guests ranged in age from 12-61 and never were bored. 

Check In: in a word, EASY!  We were dropped off at the entrance by the shuttle, our luggage (and wedding dress) was neatly packed on a cart and we were greeted with Miami Vice's while we checked in.  There was no waiting: even when going thru the lobby during the week I never saw more than 1-2 people waiting. 

Reservations/Guest Services: We went to make reservations the second day we were there (late afternoon).  There was no availability that evening but we were able to make reservations for the next 4 days for our whole group.  The employee was easy to get along with but didn't seem like the happiest of all the people there.

Restaurants: We ate at Aunt Ruby's steakhouse (for lunch buffet and dinner), Japanese Restaurant, Buffet Restaurant (for lunch and dinner), Gourmet Restaurant, Mexican Restaurant and room service.  We had excellent service all week except for dinner at Aunt Ruby's; which happened to be on our wedding night.  It took over half an hour to get drinks.  We ended up walking out with our cake before dessert, we'd been there for over 3 hours.  We discussed it with the supervisor on the way out and she apologized.  The server even brought the cake to our room and apologized as well.  Very frustrating that it happened on our wedding night but one night of bad service out of 8 is pretty good.  We had good food (one person's was way undercooked) but tasty despite being VERY slow.  Be prepared to take at least 1.5 hours at the specialty restaurants.  The food was terrific the whole time.  I LOVED the curried goat, jerk chicken and rice and peas on the buffets.  The room service was average but handy on wedding day and late at night. 

Bars: We frequented all the bars, our group loves a party!!  The drinks were TASTY and free flowing everywhere we went.  We experienced the slowest bar service at the theater but after a nice tip, service sped up… She even followed us around to the different bars the rest of the week.  The swim up bar wasn't busy most of the time but did get busier later in the week. 

Room: we were upgraded to an ocean view room and had a very comfy bed.  The room was spacious with a sitting area, desk and patio.   There is complimentary (wired) internet access in the rooms, you need to bring a cord or get one from guest services as well as an access code for internet.  We used our laptop and didn't have the fastest connection speeds but it was far from slow. The room has the standard amenities, hair dryer, iron/ironing board, LCD TV, DVD player, and CD player/clock radio.

Wedding: WONDERFUL.  Nicole was great to work with.  We met her our first evening there and picked out our wedding location (and back-up in case of rain), music, cake, vows.  We opted for the huppa on the beach with the steel pan band.   Note that the band expects payment (CASH BEFORE THE WEDDING DAY), we were prepared for this, it was mentioned in  an email from Nicole.  We took pink organza to decorate the huppa as well as silk orchids (strung to hang behind the huppa).  Due to the wind, the orchids were not used (they were in knots) and the fabric was wrapped around the huppa in a nice manner but not exactly what we wanted, it worked well with the wind so no worries.   Just a word about Nicole, she is very hard working and is in the office from noon until at least 9:00-10:30pm.  She was always working at her desk so if you don't get a reply from her, please be patient, she is swamped!!!!

We had the complimentary flowers; I had a tropical bouquet in pink and orange and it was BEAUTIFUL.  I wanted to take it home and did sneak one flower pressed to remember the event.  We added boutonniere and corsage for my parents and flowers for my hair.  Everything was fresh and very pretty. 

The wedding went off without any problems, just a few minutes behind schedule thanks to the minister being late.  We just kept taking pictures in the room until time to leave.  The minister had a nice non-religious program (our choice) and everyone enjoyed it.  We found vows online that I really loved and seemed perfect for a destination wedding.  The minister actually commented on how nice they were.  

We hired our own photographer so I can't comment on that aspect of the wedding package.  We opted for the couples massage instead. 

Spa: Hubby thought it was a very nice massage, he's never had a professional one before; I thought it was average.  The spa is very nice.  Several of our guests used it and had good comments although one of the guys thought his massage therapist invaded his personal space.  Hair and nails looked good although I didn't use either service.   Just a note that anyone can use the pools in the spa even if not getting spa services; husband loved the "rustic" shower… a bucket with a rope attached.

Entertainment: The Star Friends (entertainment crew) were very energetic and were always around the pool/ocean during the day and then around the bars before the evening show, which they performed most days of the week.  There is a pro dance group that rotates around the three resorts; we saw them twice during our stay.  Six of the seven shows were very good (one show per day of the week), the comedy show, not so much.  We needed MUCH MUCH more to drink for that one to be good.  A girlfriend and myself competed on the battle of the sexes night, my FI and I competed in the ideal couple night and were also on stage for the Jamaican night.  The star friends were always around and kept everyone informed about what was going on.  If you enjoy people talking to you on the beach/by the pool, make sure to keep your earbuds in. They seem to respect that earbuds mean do not disturb. 

I'll try to upload some pics soon.