Jen's Royal Playa del Carmen wedding review 12.12.08

[miko802]

Hi! I just got married at the Royal in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and I just wanted to share my wonderful experience with you so any future DW brides may consider having it there as well!

 

Planning: My hubby and I got engaged about a year ago and we first started our planning with www.destinationweddings.com. You just have to pay $50 fee to get started and they set you up with a travel agent who contacts you immediately. My travel agent Joan was very helpful, she actually suggested that I choose Riviera Maya (vs. Puerto Vallarta, where I was originally interested in, but from where we live there were non-direct flights). She recommended a whole bunch of resorts in Maya, but based on our requests (adults-only, close to the airport, nice beach, night life, shopping, etc), we decided to go with Royal. She not only helped with booking flights and hotel, she also was the middle-man for initiating the planning process with their wedding coordinator and finding a perfect rehearsal dinner place. We also took a trip there first in October to pre-arrange things (and I HIGHLY recommend this especially if you have a decent number of guests coming, I had 60) and we absolutely loved the place!

 

Royal: Everyone there is SOOOOO nice! Front desk, bellboy, concierge, servers, managers… literally everyone is extremely hospitable and they try their best to make you feel at home! Their beach is beautiful and is full with chairs and beds, and they have beach servers getting you anything you need! And as I mentioned earlier, the place is right by 5th Avenue, which has all the restaurants, clubs, bars, and shopping places so if you are looking to be “stuck†inside the resort then this is the place to go!

 

Rehearsal Dinner: We could not have chosen a better place than Sur (check out their website www.restaurantesur.com.mx) to hold our rehearsal dinner the night before. We were originally considering a few places including Casa del Agua, but they were way too expensive. Sur is conveniently located on 5th Avenue between 12th and 14th and has two open (no windows!) floors. I had been emailing back and forth with their General manager Luis, and he couldn’t have been more helpful than he was. We were able to rent out the entire top floor, and Luis had given our guests three menu options to choose from (chicken, filet, and fish), and decorated the entire floor with candles, flowers… it couldn’t have been more perfect! Their prices are extremely reasonable and they give you a whole bunch of options to choose from (i.e. 3 different open bar option) and their food was absolutely amazing! All of my guests still rave till this day how awesome the place is!

 

Ceremony: We decided to have our wedding ceremony on the Gazebo beach, cocktail hour in the garden by the Gazebo, then back to the beach for our reception. Everything worked out absolutely perfect! My wedding coordinator Micaela, could not have done a better job. She was always on top of everything and was extremely patient, I must have called her about 10 times from the States to make sure everything was set to go and she was always friendly and so accommodating! Zulma, who was not my wedding coordinator, was also very helpful, she worked with Micaela side by side for my wedding as well, and they both did a fabulous job! I had so many of my guests tell me that this was the best wedding they had ever been to, and I know I owe it all to Zulma and Micaela!

 

Reception: Our reception dinner was amazing. They give you a few different options to choose from and only downside to this is that you can’t choose more than one (well, you can, but it doubles the price). The biggest hit from our reception is probably the dance floor, which lights up in different colors! You want to make sure you ask them in advance to have it at your wedding though, and make sure it’s big enough for the number of guests in your party because mine was a bit small.

 

Okay… I think that about sums it up! If any of you have any questions just let me know since I’m sure I missed a lot of things…. I just wanted to say I had the most fabulous time at my own wedding and if you are looking to do a DW in Playa del Carmen, Royal would be a good choice!

[missdanelle]

I cant wait to see pictures!! It sounds like you had a wonderful time!

[miko802]

Oh, I forgot to mention my wonderful photographer Becky. I hired her from Chicago after seeing her work from my brother-in-law's wedding and her portfolio online. She's so professional and is awesome at what she does and if any of you are looking to hire an awesome photographer, she's the woman! You can check out her website Becky Hill Photography

[Erika J]

Wow everything looks amazing. Congratulations! Can't wait to see pics!

[athena]

Congrats!! Can't wait to see your pics too!!

[jen_trev]

Sounds like everything was beautiful! Congrats!

[Marianna]

congrats and thank you for sharing your review with us. i am getting married at the royal in may. i had a question to you in regards to the menu. did you have more then one choice for your guests? i got the impression that you can only have one thing for everyone. if you can tell me more about that i would really appreciate it. thank you again and i cant wait to see the pictures!!! congrats!

[miko802]

you can do two different choices for your guests, but that pretty much doubles the price, which in my opinion was not worth it. you can also do a buffet-style dinner which i think gives you more choices, but i did a seated-dinner. i did however, had two guests who did absolutely did not eat meat, so i requested to have two plates of grouper instead and they were completely fine with that without any extra charge. hope this helps! let me know if you have any other questions and good luck with everything! Royal did a fabulous job with my wedding and i'm sure they will do the same for you. congrats!

[dcheung1111]

Hi Jenn,

 

Would you say having the rehearsal dinner at Sur was cheaper or about the same price as having a group dinner at the Royal? I heard Royal charges you same prices as reception plates if you decide to have large rehearsal dinner there (that's like $50 per person). Can you send me Luis's email address?

 

Thanks!

Donna

[BC Bride2be]

sounds like everything went amazing! Can't wait to see the pics!