El Dorado Royale weddings: Playa del Carmen Forum

[Angie]

I would like to hear comments from anyone who has gotten married at the El Dorado Royale in the Riviera Maya within the past year specific to their experiences related to the same. My fiance and I are planning to get married at the El Dorado Royale in late August 2003 and I have read a wide variety of reviews about the resort but not many about how smoothely their wedding/honeymoon plans were carried out.

We booked a casita several months ago for 8/27 - 9/3 and are hoping to receive the "extras" promised related to getting married as well as spending our honeymoon on the resort. Did the resort follow through with the perks (wedding and honeymoon)? Did you have any problems coordinating with the wedding planner? I've read there are issues related to overbooking at the El Dorado Royale...any problems with getting the casita when it was paid for up front? Any difficulty with legalities and paperwork related to getting married in Mexico? Do you have any tips to help us in making our wedding plans more successful? Any recommendations re: where to get married on the resort? How far in advance did you have direct communication with Lomas Travel (apparently the agency with which the wedding coordinator is affiliated)?

I appreciate your help! Please indicate when you were at the resort so I have an idea if yours are recent experiences. Thanks!

[kim]

Hi Angie, My dad got married there last month. said he wouldn't recomment the property to anyone and was in no hurry to go back. said he had a very difficult time getting anyone to respond to his emails and when they did, they were confirming reservations for a large party when there were only 2 of them. he just kept getting the run around. everytime they thought they had all the legalities and paperwork set things changed and the price went up. he said they had double booked the wedding location/time they had confirmed before arrival and spent 4 hours the day before the wedding trying to straighten things out. i would suggest that if you go, have the ceremony but make it legal when you get home. that's what they did. he said the service is definately not that of a 5 star hotel. I just wanted to let you know. I would hate for you to have problems on your special day. Please feel free to email me at kimw1965_78766@yahoo.com if there is anything you would like me to ask him.

[Amy]

Hi Angie,
I booked this resort for next week (8/25-8/31) with an online agency. When I called, the man I booked it with said he was married there in November and couldn't say enough good things. His name is Tom Harper with resortvacationstogo.com and perhaps if you call the 800 number there on that website and speak with him he could help you feel better. He went on and on about how wonderful things were for him when he was there. Perhaps we'll see you there... when is your wedding date? Congratulations, don't worry! ; )

[Karolina]

Hi Angie,

When is your wedding planned for? I am getting married there in April/ May and would be curious to find out how your wedding plans went. The resort looks incredible and we are booking in the Casita suites. Any information or suggestions from you - or anyone else who has been there - would be greatly appreciated.

[Angie]

As a follow-up to my first message posted on 6-25-03, I thought I would write to say that we did get married at the El Dorado Royale in the Riviera Maya on 8/30/03 and everything went very well. To Amy who responded to my first posting, sorry we didn't have a chance to connect up but I just saw your response today...would have been fun to have you at our wedding(assuming you weren't)!

The resort is very nice and the casitas are unbelievable! It's an extremely laid back resort so it's probably not somewhere to go if you are looking for tons of stuff to do. It worked out well for us since we wanted a mellow wedding/honeymoon week. I would definitely spend the extra money for the casitas if you are getting married there...you get quite a few "extras" with the casitas along with "free" wedding services if staying for a min of 7 days. We hired a photographer and videographer and purchased extra flowers along with paying for some fees to get married but overall, the expenses were pretty low and it's hard to imagine a more beautiful place to get married. Spend the few extra dollars it takes to hire the photographer and videographer as ours did a nice job at a fraction of the cost we expected to pay compared to American prices. There are hoops (especially since Mark and I were both divorced) that you have to jump through to do a legal wedding in Mexico and sometimes it seemed as though people were out to get extra money through fees but the wedding coordinator through Lomas Travel ended up being very helpful. Do your research regarding necessary paperwork for marriages long before you go to Mexico so you can have everything in order - take copies of e-mails, info from web sites, communications between you and the resort as well as wedding coordinator to reduce frustrations and misunderstandings. It gets a little hairy if either party in the marriage has been divorced before so make sure you have a good understanding of their requirements. If you need some help with and/or tips for muddling through the wedding stuff, post again with your questions or let me know how to contact you.

By the way, the weather was crappy for us the week we were down there (8/27 - 9/3) but we later found out it was the "rainy season". The sun was shining on our wedding day so that's really all we cared about! Other than the weather, I would say it was a very relaxing week and a very low-stress way to get married. We are extremely happy we did our wedding this way! Good luck to you!

Angie

[Karolina]

Hi Angie!

Thanks so much for posting your reply about your wedding at the resort. I have too many questions than you can imagine, but perhaps I can stick with the basics:

1. How much does the resort do for you in regards to the wedding? Are they at all helpful, or not very?

2. I understand we need to get blood tests and a medical examine in Mexico. Does the resort handle this?

3. Does the resort and its staff go "out of their way" to make the day perfect? Or are they not very helpful?

4. What "extras" can we expect to get?

5. Bottom line: Is it worth it to get married at this resort, or is it a pain in the...?

Thanks so much Angie.... and Congratulations!

-KArolina

[Karolina]

Hi Angie - Got you message, thanks! I did have a few more questions for you, though... I hope you don't mind! Please check my posting lower down in this string from 10-21-03.. There are some details that I am curious about, and I was wondering if you could help. My fiancee and I are still trying to decide whether or not to book this resort, as some other sites have posted some pretty bad reviews... so it would be great to hear a recent perspective. Thanks again for all your help!

[dawn]

Ive booked our honeymoon at the edr, im a bit worried now as its in August, does anyone know just how bad the weather will be,??? if it is raining is it cold, also read a message stating not to leave things in the room safe, do they have problems with theving?

[Terri]

HI...To all.My name is Terri & my fiancee, and I are going there Feb.6-13th and getting married on the 11th. We have been communicating back and for the Wedding coordinators (they are wonderful!) We are staying in the Casita Suite, and have a cilvil ceremony booked. There will be 4 of us there..although we still need 2 witnesses...(anyone gonna be there around that time ). We are really excited about all the great things we hear, but any extra info. from those who have experienced their Wedding there would be wonderful!!!

Thanks & look forward to any responses before then!


Terri