Excellence Riviera Maya

[bondgirl0072010]

Hi Jewels93!

 

We were married at ERC last June and had the following "organized" events"

 

Welcome Dinner Thurs. night (night before the Mexican Fiesta) at Agave Restaurant (the Mexican restaurant) in Garibaldi Square. It was great and the food was good. Ramon (the WC there at the time) provided a fixed menu with the exception of vegetarian and allergy preferences. This is also where we gave customized t-shirts out to our bridal party! It was an opportunity to welcome everyone since by Thurs everyone had arrived!

 

Friday night - Mexican Fiesta night - most of our guests went but we couldn't all sit together as the tables are spread all over in tables of either 6 or 8. Other guests went to different restaurants that night and we met up at the bar inside the lobby after dinner - and then went to the little discoteque on the property afterwards (always a great and hysterical time!)

 

Saturday - day of the wedding. Eric and I didn't see each other that day. He stayed with his groomsmen and other guests in the pool and at the beach while my girls and I did a spa day and I gave them their gifts. We had our beach ceremony at 5pm and cocktail hour on the pier at 6 (I've attached pics of all of this). Afterwards we held our reception in the foyer. One note, it was extremely hot - but this also made for some of the best pictures EVER. When else are you going to see a bridal party with them men either not wearing shirts or having their shirts go from white to clear?!  Hope this helps!

 

Getting ready after the spa - back in the room with champagne!

 

 

Ramon, the WC at the time, delivering our bouquets!!

 

 

Headed down to the ceremony on the beach! My girls all sang "Going to the Chapel" and I nearly cried

 

 

Switching into barefoot jewelry for my walk down the beach aisle!

 

My best friend walked me down the aisle - and cried the whole time

 

We took some pics on the beach while cocktail hr started on the pier!

 

They had a fully stocked private bar on the beach for us before you walked up to the pier and then waiters walking around on the pier with drinks & hors d'oeuvres

 

 

Pics on the pier with my bridesmaids & I!

It is Mexico after all!

 

 

We took some more pics on the pier next to our cocktail hr pier!

Beautiful reception in the foyer set up with all of my requests fulfilled!

 

My Maid of Honor and one of the groomsman's entrance!

We had the DJ play the James Bond 007 theme song as we walked in because well, I had just become a BONDGIRL!!

snuck down to the beach for a few photographs since we missed the sunset!

Yes, it was EXTREMELY hot, but well worth it!!

 

Originally Posted by Jewels93 

Thanks so much for the pictures, they were very helpful! I am still trying to see if I can have the reception at The Lobster House. Nayeli said we can do it there if we have a max of 12 people ( we have 14) & no plans to play music. So hopefully they can make room for 2 more if not I think we'll have it at Garibaldi square. Where are you planning all your events at?

 

Thanks!!

 

 

 

[steph2011]

BondGirl,

 

Thank you for posting these photos!  Your bridesmaid dresses are the same color as mine and they look great!  I really like your idea of barefoot jewels for your walk down the beach aisle.  Where did you get those? 

 

It looks like your wedding was amazing.  Congrats!

[krmiller]

For the brides who have already married here...I am going to put a welcome letter in the oot bags, but haven't decided where the cocktail hour, welcome dinner & reception will be.  I want to look around the resort to decide that.  Is there a place like a business center that we can print these out on?  Also, for those of you who had 2 menu options for the reception, how did they know who ordered what?  I wasn't planning on doing place cards, but if that is the only way they can identify who ordered which meal, then I guess I will have to.

[bondgirl0072010]

Thanks steph2011! It was the time of our lives and I'd love to re-live it every year!! Thank you for your compliment on the barefoot jewelry! I'm actually a jewelry designer and created unique barefoot jewels for myself (as my Something Blue) and all of my bridesmaids. I also designed all of their necklaces & earrings (as their gifts If you're interested in more information, please feel free to PM me! In the meantime, here are some of my links:

 

 

Originally Posted by steph2011 

BondGirl,

 

Thank you for posting these photos!  Your bridesmaid dresses are the same color as mine and they look great!  I really like your idea of barefoot jewels for your walk down the beach aisle.  Where did you get those? 

 

It looks like your wedding was amazing.  Congrats!

[bondgirl0072010]

Hi Krmiller! 

 

We had our cocktail hour on the pier, but I know there's flexibility if you want to do it elsewhere - I would just ask the WC (I believe Nayeli is back there from what I'm reading). She was actually out and there was a substitute WC, Ramon, when I was married there last June.  There is a business center there, but my advice (to allow you to relax a bit once you arrive) is to print them out ahead of time and bring them in a carry on. I'm not sure how many guests you're having so maybe this isn't an option, but I didn't want to run into any issues with the printers while we were there and spending time with guests and meeting with the WC.  In order for the WC to know who should be receiving what meal, you'll have to give her your seating arrangement for the reception. We decided on one long table but you have the option of going with individual tables if you want as well.  We did also do place cards (my Maid of Honor did it with materials I brought down, the day before the wedding).

 

Hope that helps!

 

Chelsea

www.redibychelsea.com
 

Originally Posted by krmiller 

For the brides who have already married here...I am going to put a welcome letter in the oot bags, but haven't decided where the cocktail hour, welcome dinner & reception will be.  I want to look around the resort to decide that.  Is there a place like a business center that we can print these out on?  Also, for those of you who had 2 menu options for the reception, how did they know who ordered what?  I wasn't planning on doing place cards, but if that is the only way they can identify who ordered which meal, then I guess I will have to.

 

[krmiller]

Thank you!  Do you know how many people the long table or the U shape table holds?  We have 35 guests including us.
 

Originally Posted by bondgirl0072010 

Hi Krmiller! 

 

We had our cocktail hour on the pier, but I know there's flexibility if you want to do it elsewhere - I would just ask the WC (I believe Nayeli is back there from what I'm reading). She was actually out and there was a substitute WC, Ramon, when I was married there last June.  There is a business center there, but my advice (to allow you to relax a bit once you arrive) is to print them out ahead of time and bring them in a carry on. I'm not sure how many guests you're having so maybe this isn't an option, but I didn't want to run into any issues with the printers while we were there and spending time with guests and meeting with the WC.  In order for the WC to know who should be receiving what meal, you'll have to give her your seating arrangement for the reception. We decided on one long table but you have the option of going with individual tables if you want as well.  We did also do place cards (my Maid of Honor did it with materials I brought down, the day before the wedding).

 

Hope that helps!

 

Chelsea

www.redibychelsea.com
 

 

 

[Matt Adcock]

Sol and I were working on our presentation of images for our Excellence clients and posted a few of our favorites on our facebook page.... PHOTOS are a super visual, as you can see above from Chelsea's wedding.... wow, so crazy to see a story come alive and her wedding day was AMAZING.... thanks for sharing Chelsea!

Here is a link to our facebook set,  189 images from different weddings, showcasing venue, location and setting!    Enjoy: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.132569333485812.31901.115044671904945

[Moments That Matter]

Great photos Matt, in trying to help brides get another set of photos to help them understand the location and what to expect I thought I would pitch in with a wedding we shot there only 2 weeks ago.  Excellence is a great place to be married at.

 

https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10150191487559487.321236.18683524486

[krmiller]

Hey ladies, I recently got home from our wedding at ERC & wanted to give you a few tips.  The resort is amazing!!!  All of the employees are so nice & always have a smile on their faces.  My husband & I agree that they made the week & wedding great, especially Daniel!  We had our welcome dinner in the foyer, the wedding on the beach & the reception at the Lobster House.  Our wedding was on a Friday, so the Lobster House was closed.  It was PERFECT!!!  I'm so glad that we decided to have the reception there.  There was a breeze coming off of the ocean, so it was a little cooler than the Foyer.  I was pretty laid back throughout the whole process, but wish I would've been a little more picky.  There were a few things that were really disappointing, some a lot more than others.  First off, we didn't feel like anyone at the resort knew we were getting married there...from the time we checked in until the time we left.  You would think bringing in about $40,000 to the resort they would!!!  We had 33 guests with us.  We never got a banner on our door(very minor), but just little things like that.  The biggest issue for me was that they never cut the wedding cake.  We did our cake cutting thing and it just sat there for a while & then it was gone.  They asked us at the end of the night if we wanted it & we said yes, of course we never saw it again.  We had the Caribbean trio scheduled for the cocktail hour, but they never made it (flat tire or something). 

 

Most of the guests said that our wedding was the best one they had ever been to.  They all had such a great time at the resort & didn't notice all of the little things.  DJ Mannia was awesome!!  We would definitely recommend him.  Everyone was up dancing the entire night.  We used Juan Navarro & he was amazing!!  We had so much fun & can't wait to see the pics. 

 

We really did have such a great week at ERC.  The resort is the perfect size & always had fun activities going on.  I can't wait to go back!

 

Let me know if you have any questions & I will try to answer.  Good luck!! 

[Saydi1014]

HI, thanks so much for your feeback! So much appreciated! We are getting married there in less than 2 weeks!!! So getting very excited, but of course a little anxious So its a relief to hear everything went so well.

 

How was Nayeli to work with?

 

We are gettign married on Friday and plan on having the reception at the lobster house too We have 45 people coming with us.

 

Can I ask what you did for music during the ceremony? Did you have the cocktail hour at the lobser house too? Also what time was the ceremony? and was it too hot on the beach?!

 

also, did you wear shoes for the ceremony? or did you just go barefoot?

 

sorry for all the questions, just getting excited!

 

Thanks again for your messgage and feedback. Congrats!!!