Generations Riviera Maya 2015 Weddings (And 2014 Too)

[Christinagiovanni]

I don't think i ever shared my trailer from my wedding .. We hired Sarani to do our videography, we haven't received our video from them yet but my husband owns a studio so we got the raw footage from them and put together this video of our own

[CnBWedding]

@@ErinSullivan I used Flores Riviera Maya.   www.floresrivieramaya.com/eng/  They are very responsive and happened to have a fall sale.  I got about 20% off bouquets and centerpieces so that saved quite a bit.

 

@@Christinagiovanni beautiful video!  I'll be happy if it is not sold out as they say but it would also suck if that's not really the case as they turned away guests that wanted to book

[biesea81]

Hi!!!!!! 

 

Thanks to EVERYONE that has been so kind to post their experiences with GRM. We have just locked in our dates for May 1-4 2016 and are super excited! Anyone else that is lurking around that has an upcoming wedding!? Share your dates!! 

 

We are having an indian/sikh wedding. So our actual wedding dates are 2nd and 3rd of May. We have a prewedding sangeet/mehndi on the 1st. We are hosting our reception on the 4th.

 

Given its a south asian wedding, I have some challenges from that point of view. I'm wondering if anyone else on this thread has seen or been or actually done an indian/sikh wedding at GRM!?!? Would love to get your opinion on preparation/organization!!! 

 

I get the sense they have done a few, and so it feels like we are quasi-wedding planners with Lomas and our TA. I appreciate everyone's input on the wedding photographer, DJ and videographer!!! Shout out to @@ChiTiff, @@CnBWedding, @@rtscent, @@girlinthecity97, @@Christinagiovanni. Thanks to you ladies we now have a BETTER sense of what to expect!   I'm sure I am forgetting a lot of people on this thread, so I apologize in advance. I'm just so excited that I just cant hide it! 

 

But I want to know about makeup - did you ladies get it done at the spa? would you recommend it?? what were your thoughts of the place?? Were you satisfied?  

 

OH - and can someone comment on the beach situation?? I know @@rtscent did not like the beach and I totally respect her (actually I think I love you for being so amazing on this thread!). But since the stones are supposed to sink, and I have always wanted a hindu wedding on the beach in the evening, I am still kinda set on doing that.... 

 

Ok thats a lot of thoughts.

 

Thanks so much ladies for your help. I look forward to your replies!!!!!

Edited November 26, 2015 by biesea81

[VictoriaVanDyke]

Hello ladies!! 

 

It is so fun to look at the feed and learn more about the resort.  I am curious though how much it is actually going to cost me!! Can anyone lead any insight of their cost. My fiance and I would want the wedding in the sky view pier and maybe even the reception there as well.  I would love to have a DJ as well as food and drinks--however I do not know how much it will actually cost me to do so.  

 

Have you found your guest to be happy with your decision to have the wedding in Mexico? Also, has it been semi affordable for them? 

 

If you had one piece of positive and negative advice what would it be? 

[zoeyjane]

@VictoriaVanDyke 

 

I'm planning my wedding in August 2016 at GRM!  

 

You can visit this site to get a general idea: http://www.weddingsbylomastravel.com/

 

Pretty much the weddings come with the chairs and tables but everything else you have to pay for.  The biggest difference is the cost of food/drinks at the wedding is significantly cheaper than back 'home' (the US for me).  DJ is about $1,500.  If you want a dance floor it's about another $500 and lights... Those would be the 'necessities' for me but other things will add up.  

 

The site has a lot of info and will help you if you haven't already got the info.  Also, we have to cost of reserving rooms up front for $100 a room (which comes back to us of course but another cost).

[Jacquelyn05]

Hello Ladies! My wedding is set for October 8 2017 at Generations. So I may be on the wrong thread but I haven't seen one started for us 2017 brides yet. I've read through a TON of these posts and they're all great.

 

Anyways...I'm SUPER freaking excited.     All of our deposits were due last weekend June 5th and I believe we had about 43 or so people pay. We used a travel agent that I met through a bridal Expo here in Northern VA and shes been amazing. We have guests staying at Generations and El Doradao Royale. We liked that it will give guests the ability to basically get 2 for the price of 1 given that they can freely access both hotels. But we wanted people who weren't bringing kids to be able to stay somewhere without kids. lol.

 

We are having our ceremony on the Pier and the Reception on the Sky Deck. We took advantage of a promotion where we got both locations free ($1000 savings) 

 

We're planning on doing a welcome dinner for our guests Saturday night when they arrive. The wedding on Sunday at 5pm. And then possibly an excursion Monday. Everyone will go home Tuesday.

 

We're having our cocktail hour from 6-7 on the sky deck. And we're going with the BBQ Deluxe for our reception dinner and I have read nothing but great things about it. I haven't come across recent pictures though, so if anyone has anyone or knows of a thread that has some...PLEASE point me in the right direction. I read a few mentions of a DJ All Music but not sure where to find info on him. The Lomas site only has a DJ Mix and DJ Max. lol.

 

A couple questions...is anyone doing welcome bags for their guests? If so what kind of items are you putting in them? I was thinking of a simple tote bag with sunglasses, sunscreen, a tumbler, Advil, some type of favor, a weekend itinerary, and maybe some other odds and ends.

 

Also are you guys still doing formal invitations? My travel agent mentioned that it's just an extra expense because people are confirmed so it's kind of a given that they'll be there. I'm SUPER non-traditional so I'm beyond ok with that. Especially the saving money part of it.

 

I thought about doing a fire show for my guests after our welcome dinner the night they arrive. Has anyone else experienced them? And how was it?

 

Does anyone recommend any particular excursions? I saw someone rave about a catamaran cruise. I was thinking ziplining, ATVs, a cruise or snorkeling. Something fun to do on everyone's last day.

 

Thanks in advance ladies! I'm SOOOOOO excited. And feel free to ask me any questions. I'd love to see pics of those that are good and married by now. 

[Stacsoontobeegan]

Hi all!! Just googling info on this venue for a destination wedding, and came across this thread, to those who have been married here can you send me some info? It's hard to find stuff online. Thank you!!

 

Stacey

[girlinthecity97]

@@biesea81 - CONGRATS!! What did you decide about the beach.  I took pics on the beach after our ceremony and the photographer did a great job getting us from angles so you don't see the giant rocks at all.  If you do an evening wedding, I think you should be fine. My guests loved the beach at both El Dorado and Generations. 

 

@@VictoriaVanDyke - I think the cost will ultimately boil down to discounts/deals you are able to get via your travel agent and Karisma and the size of your wedding.  It is important to lock in as early as possible as well because the rates do go up. For instance, we locked in for our February 2015 wedding in 2014 so they honored all rates from 2014 since that is when we locked in our date and contract.  

 

Initially, I wasn't 100% sold on the destination idea because I always envisioned getting married in my hometown where all of my family could attend. However, I LOVED having our wedding in Mexico and wouldn't change a thing. I would do it again and have encouraged others who were on the fence to go the destination route.  Our guests LOVED the resorts and have planned trips to return to Mexico and the resort because they had such a great time.  You will hear some complaints but ignore them. Everyone who is meant to be at your wedding will be there and it will be perfection! 

 

@@zoeyjane is right, re the cost and the food being significantly cheaper. I did the family style dinner that had lobster, steak, fish etc. and at the time it was $35/person which is a steal. CONGRATS to you @@zoeyjane!

 

Note to All - when you are going over your paperwork, make sure all rates are accurate as I had to request adjustments on my menu and decor selections because they reflected 2015 rates but we were supposed to get 2014. 

 

@@Jacquelyn05 - CONGRATS to you as well!   I got caught up and ended up doing letterpress invitations b/c I was really struggling to find ones that I liked that I also felt set the "resort chic" theme I was going for.  Some others that I have become friends with did the passport style and one did a really cute booklet style she found on minted.com  What's your theme? That's the beauty of a destination wedding, you can be as formal or relaxed as you want to be. There are no rules.  

 

Bags for guests - yes, I did beach tote bags that had packets of advil, alka seltzer plus, emergen-C, bandaids, Nauzene, and Dramamine (for the catamaran/snorkeling cruise) and baby bottles of Skin So Soft (for bug repellant) in them.  I also included a welcome note and itinerary as well as a little packet that represented our roots and Mexico.  Everyone loved them and put the bags to use especially on the cruise.  The bags also ended up being ice breakers in that guests would go up and introduce themselves to each other when they saw people with the bags. 

 

Catamaran Cruise - that was probably me and it was a blast. We scored one free as part of the promotion we locked in on. We asked them to stock it with snorkel equipment so it was a cruise and snorkeling trip in one for those who wanted to go snorkeling.  Those who did not just had fun on the boat. 

 

@@Stacsoontobeegan - welcome and CONGRATS!  what type of info are you looking for. 

[Stacsoontobeegan]

I'm actually reading backwards to see what was posted, my wedding planner sent me over a beginning proposal last night, with information, she said I could save 800$ using GRMs dj, but I can't seem to find reviews on them. Also, decor wise I'm trying to go minimal with it still looking beautiful any suggestions? Who did yalls hair and make up, and how much did the rooms on average cost your guests? Since we're doing destination even though it's all inclusive I don't want them spending an arm and a leg.

 

Clearly as you can see I'm a scatter brain. Trying to get everything down and organized. I haven't fully decided on GRM yet, I'm actually trying to decide between GRM and the royalton.

 

Any suggestions would be more than appreciated , if there's a place for me to post (I'm a 2018 bride) that's not on your board let me know. Thank you

[girlinthecity97]

@@Stacsoontobeegan - Ah! no worries I totally understand.  I think depending on the size of your wedding party and how much you want to take with you etc. the cost for let's say 50-75 people can range from $5K over $10K. I have fellow destination bride friends who opted to source just about everything and take it with them in their luggage for the resort to set up up ($5K or less) and folks like me who tweaked the Karisma decor package to fit my "vision" without having to go the pricier a la carte decor route.  

 

I used the Lomas DJ at the last minute because I was concerned about folks not hearing the music too well if we just went with the speakers and was glad I did!! Ahead of time, I went on ITunes and found all the "safe" versions of songs we wanted played and labeled what music should be played when (e.g., music during dinner, 1st dance with dad, his 1st dance with mom, song for bouquet toss etc.) and he stuck to the list and blended everything nicely.  We opted for Mega DJ who was cheaper b/c he didn't do any announcements but he had lights which made the pier dancing area much more festive.  

 

Room rates will vary depending on what time of year your wedding is being held.  We got married over President's Day weekend in February which turns out to be a peak time so the rates and airfare was much higher than others I know who got married in October, April and May. I would ask your agent for a wholesale rates list, though they may not have 2018 rates available yet.  I ran into that issue when planning so get the current rate list so you can get an idea for times of the year.  Some guests had concerns about the rates but when they realized that they could pay it down over time and also would be completely done and not have to really bring money for food/drinks etc. while there they loved the idea. 

 

If you haven't done so, I would consider doing the Brides Dress Rehearsal weekend and maybe adding a couple of days either ahead of that stay or on the end to visit the Royalton for comparison.  The Bride's Dress Rehearsal deal Karisma offers is really great and will help you get a sense of the food, decor, properties etc. 

 

As for hair and makeup - I'm african american so I flew down my hair stylist because I didn't think the resort salon would know how to style my hair.  I am a makeup artist so I did my own makeup. 

Edited August 24, 2016 by girlinthecity97