Resort: The Royal Playa del Carmen A+++, hands down best all-inclusive I have ever been to. The people are so warm and place their hands over their hearts as a show of respect and love.  Tell them you are there for wedding at check-in and they will quickly take you to one of the two romance concierges who will give you special attention throughout your stay. We received nice little gifts throughout our visit like daily champagne or chocolates, fruit, etc.

I also liked their personal touches. My MOH brought my veil up to my suite while I was having pics done, and when we retired to our room that night, housekeeping turn down service incorporated my veil into their towel art (such a cute and thoughtful touch!):

My room was amazing- it was a junior oceanfront and Jill had previously asked that I be near the gazebo so I wouldnt have to walk far. It was perfect! I was in room 534 which was a corner suite on the 5th floor just above gazebo. The elevator was right near the room and when I exited, I was right there in the walkway before turning to walk down the aisle. An added bonus to this room is that it has a side window as well next to the jacuzzi which takes up most of the wall

Wedding Coordinator:  Zulma  B++  She was great in person and very sweet and attentive. The only reason I didn’t give her an A was because she never replied to any of my emails in the weeks prior to the wedding and I also didn’t see her after the ceremony (not sure if she was supposed to be at reception?) However she had a great disposition and accommodating :-)

Ceremony:   A+++ Everything was perfect and I could not have asked for a more perfect wedding. I hear the harpist was great (although I didn’t hear him out of nervousness lol) 

Cocktail reception:  A+++ Although we only spent about 5 min there, we hear that the hot canapés were amazing (upgrade) and the display was great. I had this in the garden area while the mariachi trio performed.  We were able to take a few nibbles at the end, but using this time for pictures provided a good flow for the guests before the dinner reception

Reception: A+++ 

Food: we chose the Caribbean salad and it was meh. We chose the beef filet and chicken stuffed with seafood and I was not to partial to the chicken, although I hear the beef was delicious. Soup was the princess cream soup and it was delicious. Cheesecake and the tres leches cake were scrumptious! The only piece of wedding cake I got was when we cut it and fed each other- everyone ate it with a quickness!

The server captain, Ivan, who was assigned to us (bride and groom) was so on the ball. I had asked for a quick turnaround between courses because well, we eat fast lol…they were accommodating of this. I swear they knew exactly what to bring at the right time! It was hilarious! They brought out tequila shots at the right moment, he walked up to the dance floor and brought me water when I was feeling a little tipsy and warm (how did he know?! Lol) When the reception was over, he had his people bring up all of my stuff like table overlays, sashes, etc.

The only thing I’m a bit sad about is that the lighting under the tables didn’t show up like I have seen in past pictures. They showed me they were on, but not sure if they usually use more.

Photographers/Videographer:  I was pleasantly surprised with the resort photographer photos. My package included 24 frames (hard to choose), but additional ones would have been 12 usd each (yikes)! My hired photographer was Ivan Luckie, with Willie as his assistant. He is definitely a perfectionist and I’m sure our pictures will be awesome. This photoshoot was probably a huge challenge because of my height difference with the groom 5’3 vs 6’6  ….harder than you might think, so I’m interested to see how they turn out. He says they will be ready in two months (how will I survive the wait?) He also shot my TTD session and was very fun to work with. I also have to note that Ivan Luckie was EXTREMELY quick with responses- a big change from most vendors in Mexico who follow “island time”.

I wish I would have told the videographer to shoot from farther back because he is in almost every shot of us in the ceremony, just chilling behind and to the right of the officiant :/ .  I just received an email from them saying they would email my dvd because I never knew I was supposed to pick it up. (same for the resort photographer- if I hadn’t been checking on something else, I wouldn’t have known to choose my 24 frames)

Here is an example of him being in most of the shots:

DJ: A+++  It was DJ Ivan and he played everything I wanted and kept the party going. He brought fun props like balloons, masks and glow bracelets + the light up dance floor--- definitely worth it. The cold fireworks at the end of our 1^st dance was cool too- hopefully someone caught this on film. He can be slow to respond, but really, after you pay, there isn’t much to discuss because he will meet with you the week of wedding at the resort and go over everything and let you hear clips of the songs you have chosen to ensure they are the right version.

Florist:  B+  Maya Diseno…communication was also pretty fast with Marvin and he quickly replied with pictures of what I wanted.  The reason I didn’t give them an A was because I sent several emails in the week leading up to the wedding asking how I could pay and to let him know I needed one less bridesmaid bouquet. I emailed  twice in the days before wedding to confirm and didn’t hear from them, so I was a bit stressed that I wouldn’t have flowers.  I was surprised to not get an email since they had been so prompt all other times. We wrongly assumed we could charge the florist with CC, but while I was getting makeup done before wedding, they showed up and said “we’re here- cash only” …I had to have my MOH call my FI, who had to call my brother and ask him to let us borrow 500 USD (not an easy thing to do, especially when already nervous and trying to get hair/makeup done). Had they replied in the prior week, we would have carried the appropriate cash. The centerpieces, however, were to die for…gorgeous!!!  I liked the bouts, the corsages, everything, except my bouquet- I ended up giving it to my MOH to carry and we just didn’t do anything with the one she was gonna carry originally. I went with the hot pink bouquet that came standard in my wedding package from the resort because it was so vibrant and pretty (saw Lady Di with that bouquet and fell in love) and my photographer thought it would photograph better.

Here is the pink bouquet I went with from the resort, and the bridesmaid one from Maya Diseno:

Maya Diseno awesome centerpieces:

Makeup/hair:  A+++  Fernando (makeup pros) was sooo funny and I had a blast chatting with him and his assistant (hair). He did a beautiful job with my makeup and it photographed soooo well. I must admit that when I first saw it in mirror, I kinda had a momentary freak-out because I’m not used to wearing so much makeup. My MOH assured me it was great (she wouldn’t sugar-coat lol). He knew I was nervous about it, so he had my photographer snap a shot so I could see. I instantly saw how well it looked on film, so I relaxed and thanked him for a great job. Well worth the money to relax in suite.

closeup of makeup:

Wedding package extras/amenities (Luxury Package):

Makeup: I decided to use the makeup session in my package the night before for the rehearsal dinner. I had heard it was hit or miss, and this is why I hired Fernando instead. SO GLAD I DID. I walked back from the spa with my head down and started laughing and showed FI. He said “OH…MY …GOD”. I looked like a drag queen lol. She was very sweet though lol.  Perhaps if I had been more vocal….

I declined the hair/mani/pedi

In suite couples massage:  They missed our first appointment because they scheduled it in the spa. After finally convincing them that the website said “in-suite”, they rescheduled no problem for later that week. WOW! I’ve never had one before it was amazing- I didn’t think I could feel so relaxed. We booked it for just before our nap time …it was perfect! Let your FI’s know that certain um..reactions are normal lol

Romantic dinner on beach:  sooo well….romantic lol. Food and service was excellent and they had a violinist play for us J. The food was excellent, but be prepared for all the courses to take about 1.25 hours.

Honeymoon breakfast- Better than I imagined! It took up two tables lol

Declined men’s face saver

Transfers:  Used Lomas Travel and it was great in Playa del Carmen. I flew with FI and 7 other family members, so we chose the sprinter van (holds 13) and it was quite comfortable.  We walked right outside the airport and we instantly saw the driver with our sign. We had coronas on the way to resort and it was awesome.

Lomas Travel in Cozumel left something to be desired, however. We confirmed pickup two days prior and he was to meet us at 6pm at the Cozumel side of the ferry pier. We waited half an hour and no show, so we just took a cab for 6 USD for the two of us (which is funny considering it we were charged 30 dollars for the private transfer to the resort which was only a few blocks away).  On the way from resort to Cozumel airport, the lomas guy told us to take a cab and he would pay (which he did, but ok?)

Travel Agent:  Used Sun n Sand/Travel Impressions and was pretty happy with my TA, Jill. She updated me whenever someone booked and was pretty good at responses.

I should probably put the following stuff in their own respective forums, but oh well...it will help some of my fellow Royal brides lol

Rehearsal Dinner at La Tortuga (El Bistro rooftop)

It was an easy 8 min walk from the resort (even for my parents in their 70s)

The hotel manager promptly greeted us and quickly rallied about 7 servers for our party of about 25 who had arrived early. We had a cocktail table setup which I liked a lot because people could easily mingle with each other and not be tied to a certain seat. We choose the canapes and open bar for an hour and it went perfectly. The servers were very quick with drinks and had a good supply on the rooftop. I don't know if it was nerves, but I wasn't feeling to great and they ran downstairs to the restaurant and brought me water and sprite to choose from to settle my stomach. Very sweet. The food was excellent and they definitely kept the drinks flowing- they even brought tequila shots to our parents which was hilarious.

It began sprinkling toward the end, so the manager had no problem letting us hang out by the gorgeous pools and still continued serving us and being festive. For fun, they brought out a surprise flaming "cucaracha" drink for me and hubby lol. We all had a great time dancing by the pool - the servers and manager even did a little impromptu dancing with us. Everyone enjoyed the boutique style of this hotel and it's gorgeous ambient lighting.

*****Cozumel Honeymoon*****

Cozumel Palace:  The cool thing about this resort is that they give you 1500 USD  to spend on resort stuff. We got there and instantly used 250 to upgrade to a concierge level room which was all by itself with oceanfront and hammock on balcony.  We also used remaining money toward a day trip to Chankanaab, a lobster dinner on the beach, swim with dolphin session, massages, and pedicure with a little money to spare on resort photos of our dinner J. The food was exceptional  here- really first rate.  Although it was not adults only, there weren’t that many kids. Their infinity pool was heated (a treat in winter, even in Mexico), and the resort had three locations at which you could snorkel out to the coral reef.