Generations Riviera Maya

My sister did, it was amazing.

View Quoted Comment Oh nice! When did she get married? Where’d she have her ceremony and reception? My ceremony is booked on the rooftop terrace and reception will be in the ballroom.

She was married on the beach, I’m not sure what the area the reception was called, but it was the area off the restaurants area.

View Quoted Comment Oh ok. Glad to hear it was amazing since I probably won’t be able to do a site visit. We’re just risking it all lol. Good luck on your planning!

I am getting married at Generations in Riviera Maya, May 24, 2020. When is your wedding?

My FH and I are going on a cruise to Mexico in December 2019 and it stops in Cozumel for the day so we were thinking of doing a quick site visit while we’re if the timing is right.

Ahhhhhhh finally I found someone that’s getting married there!!! Hi Chandler 🤗 Our wedding is October 4, 2020. What coordinator are you working with? How has planning been going for you so far? That would be nice if you could do a quick site visit. We’re risking it and won’t see it until we go for our wedding but it’s far away so we may find time to squeeze in a visit.

View Quoted Comment Yay that’s awesome, venue twins! I can’t wait. I originally started working with a destination wedding coordinator from destinationweddings.com her name is Diane Monk. She already helped book all my guests rooms and what not we did that a few months ago and had about 125 people book before the time limit to get a huge discount, which is great! She helped me find the venue, then she got me in contact with their on site wedding coordinator/planner her name is Ana Maria Cruz. So far they have been super helpful about picking everything and they have a lot of stuff to customize to my liking. The only thing I’ve come across recently is I want to rent decor to spruce it up, but it is really expensive to rent through them! I have been reaching out to a couple vendors in that area that rent out decor and I am going to weigh the outcome to see if I would be saving any money by going through them, and paying the $800 outside vendor charge on top of that. Have you gotten any planning done yet?

View Quoted Comment Wow! Not only are we venue twins but we chose the same wedding coordinator too lol. I’m using destination weddings.com as well. My coordinator from there is Sheila Hyman. That’s awesome you got that many people to book before your 1 year mark. What time limit are you speaking of? The 30 days after the contract was signed with DW? What huge discount did they offer you? My 30 days just passed April 9th and I held 20 rooms to allow my immediate family and bridal party to book at the low rate. I want to wait until our engagement shoot is done to have pics for our save the dates and reveal our wedding website. Did you just use the digital save the dates from DW? I want to use Zola. As for the venue I’m working with Maritza Guzman Soto. She’s very nice and helpful but the response time has been like a week to hear from her which I know she’s busy with current weddings. I totally agree with you on the pricey side hence why I hopped on here to get insight. So far I’ve reached out to a outside florist Maya Floral and they seem cheaper than the resort. What type of decor are you looking to get? Where’s your ceremony and reception gonna be? Our ceremony will be on the rooftop and reception in the ballroom which is why I want a lot of decor and nice lighting to bring the room to life.

Oh wow, small world! Yes, we actually had pictures taken at our engagement spot the next day that my FH's mom took and they were so pretty I used them as our engagement pictures. We did send the online STD provided by DW.com, I really didn't want to because it wasn't my style and email is so hit or miss on if people will check it. However, it actually worked pretty well because we got so many people to book in advance and I used our engagement shoot photos attached to the email.

The time limit from the signed contract with the resort. I had a set amount of rooms and the more that got booked they had a list of discounts available. It's on their cash for your bash promotion with the resort. You get credit towards your dinner reception, cocktail hour, ceremony decor, etc. It's on their website. And the guests also received a bigger discount on their room for booking early. I did get STD's made from shutterfly though so I will mail those out, for traditional purposes, about a year out.

I have noticed that as well, they take their time responding, but I'm hoping that will improve the closer we get to the day.

I wanted to add a different alter, and some more flowers and centerpieces and twinkle lights. We are doing our ceremony on the beach and our reception on the sky deck. I wanted to add a bunch of twinkle lights to the sky deck if possible, but their website says it's like $2,000 which is crazy. I will probably end up bringing a couple of extra suitcases with me for DIY decor and welcome bags to save some money. I'm just worried to take on too much.

I agree with you on the STD’s. It’s not my style at all and because we didn’t have our shoot yet I just posted old pics of us and used our immediate family as the test subjects for it. I held 20 rooms and they all got booked in the 30 days so we succeeded with that. My coordinator is insisting that I send the rest now but I’m contemplating. Our shoot will be in June so I hope to get our official STD’s mailed in July and launch the website then too. What month did your guests book or are they still booking now? The discounts are the same. Maritza has sent me estimates and have the credits on there based off of how many rooms total I think we’ll have. Will your STD’s have a pic or no pic? I think I’m going to do a magnet since we’re sending it earlier than a year before so ppl can have a constant reminder on their fridge and not trash them. Are you still using a separate wedding website? I love your concept for the wedding. I’m not a beach person at all. I can’t swim and honestly just love the views lol. My FH loves the beach so we’ll probably do our welcome cocktails on the beach.

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Well, the only reason I reserved our whole guests rooms is that I thought you had to to get the discounts all included. Which I later learned that any rooms booked later up until 30 days out can be added to your room block to get the cash for your bash discounts. I would have just made my immediate family reserve if I had known that before. My guests booked in like January which is so early I felt bad asking people to book that far in advance, but my coordinator insisted like yours is.

I did no picture on the STD's because of our engagement party invites had our engagement pictures on them I did not want to reuse the pictures. We did a destination themed save the date and they turned out really cute and they are cheaper. I love the magnet idea I almost did that as well!

Yes, I did another website on The Knot, but I ended up linking our DW one instead because it has all the booking information. I wish they had more customization options on there, but oh well I feel like it's not looked at as much as I think.

That's a good idea, I like the pier for the cocktail hour also! I'm contemplating paying extra for the cocktail party though. What if we just send guests to any of the bars on the property to get a drink while we take pictures and say to meet on the sky deck at 7PM. Since we have to move areas anyway I feel like most people will wander off. What do you think? How many guests are you thinking will come?

View Quoted Comment I’m doing the same for our wedding website. I’ll use Zola as our main one and have the link to DW for booking purposes. I just hope my way will work as far as timing goes and that the resorts won’t be sold out but since there are 3 options I think we’ll be ok. I totally forgot about the pier! That is a nice location. I think your idea will work and I actually read that a bride has done that there before in the past. I was contemplating on paying extra for a welcome cocktail party and just having everyone meet up at a bar myself lol. Trying to save some costs anywhere I can. Our list is at 190 and I’m praying and hoping we’ll get 130 ppl max. We’re allowing plus 1’s since it’s destination so I’m estimating at least 30 ppl will say no which will really mean 60 but we’ll see how that goes. Luckily your guests booked already and you have that behind you. I was glad all 20 rooms we held got booked too. The hassle of answering questions in just 30 days and constantly reminding ppl of the due date was a lot of pressure but it all worked out. Now moving forward once STD’s go out ppl will just book when they’re ready and my DW coordinator will ask me if this person is ok to book and proceed that way. Have you booked any other vendors yet?

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Will you just share your Zola on social media and what not? I'm sure it will, there is definitely plenty of time and space. I think they just push to do it as soon as possible to benefit them. Oh good, I'm glad I am not the only one with that idea. I have thought about doing a welcome cocktail too, but I also saw a bride put itineraries in the welcome bags and there's a timeline on it

Itinerary

(I'll attach a picture) where it mentions meeting at the pool bar at a certain time to say hello to everyone. That may work to save some money on welcome cocktails!
It was definitely stressful asking people to book, and most booked the last day. I am bringing my hair stylist and photographer. My sister has friends in the wedding industry. The wife is a wedding hair stylist and the husband is a wedding photographer. It was cheaper to pay for their room and flight and let them have a free vacation down to Mexico than to book one of their stylists/photographer. I kinda lucked out on that one though since I just have to pay for one room for them. I've reached out to quite a few of other vendors for decor and flower rentals, I'll let you know if I find any cheaper ones with good reviews. Apparently, the vendor fee can be negotiated so if you are looking to outsource I would try to negotiate the fee if you can. Also, you should join this group on Facebook they have all sorts of tips and tricks for destination wedding brides in Riviera Maya. The group is called Cancun & Riviera Maya Destination Wedding Brides. People post about vendors they have used and lots of helpful things you wouldn't think of.

View Quoted Comment I don’t think I’m going to post it on social media. We’re going to mail STD’s after our engagement shoot. It’s scheduled for July 10th. Pics will be back in 2 weeks and then I’ll order the STD’s. Hopefully I’ll have them in the mail by early August 🤞🏽 That’s such a cute itinerary! I think I’ll leave those in the room or pass out welcome bags. I’m seriously thinking about the pool bar. Have you seen pics of the area? I wonder how many ppl can fit there? The coordinator just asked me if I’m doing a cocktail party after the ceremony and sent me the menu options. So many choices to make. It can definitely become overwhelming. I’m trying my best to be a cool and calm bride. I just joined the FB group. Thanks for the info! Hopefully that can help us find some good vendors. And kudos to you for knowing a dynamic couple! That was an awesome way for you to save money. I’m trying to find a person myself that can do both my hair and makeup so I’ll just have to pay for 1 room. We’ll see how that goes! Lol

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Yes definitely! I have talked to some people about welcome bags too, but they are getting expensive also. Someone quoted me $22 per bag so for 1 bag per 47 rooms it could get pricey. So I will probably just bring everything myself and go down early to set them up with my family's help and get a few local items to add in. I have not seen pictures of the pool bar, but that is a good idea to look up. I wonder if our coordinators could send us pictures of that area? I know it is overwhelming especially not being able to be there and picture it in person. I also want to know when they will set everything up for our weddings. I would like to see it before the ceremony to make sure everything is correct. I will be picking out my own decor from their options. I'm keeping it simple, but I want to make sure it is what I envisioned. Are you picking from one of their pre-selected decor collections or picking it out yourself?

I’m definitely having my family and bridal party fly in the same day as me to help me with welcome bags and any last minute details. I haven’t even thought about what I’m going to put in them yet besides stuff for like a hangover kit. I attached pics of the pool bar. I hope I did it right. The coordinator sent me 2. I think they set up the wedding the day of so depending on what time your ceremony starts you should be able to see it beforehand. I’m hoping the day before we’ll be able to do a rehearsal with everyone lined up so it won’t be any confusion the day of. I know they said that depends on if a wedding is going on or not which may be the case for me because the day before falls on a Saturday. For now I did select the Pure Glamour package. That was my fav decor selection but I am reaching out to other vendors to get quotes on flowers to see if it’ll work out cheaper than using their flowers but decor wise I love Pure Glamour and May tweak the colors a tad bit. How about you? Are you stressing at all?

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Very small world! I am also working with Maritza Guzman for my wedding at Generations. My wedding is May 22, 2020. We are having our ceremony on the beach and reception in the ballroom.

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Oh, I like the pool area hang out for a welcome cocktail that is very pretty!

I was going to order most of our welcome bag goodies off amazon so I can purchase them cheaper in bulk and put together when we get there. Maybe get a cute Mexican magnet from the resort to add to all the bags and you can add your wedding date to it. Oriental trading has cheap bulk beach bags with anchors on them that seem perfect for a welcome bag.

I asked my coordinator about when they set it up and she said it would all be set up the day of. So when we do a rehearsal they will be with us to walk us through on where to walk, but it won't be set up yet.

I also liked the pure glamour the best, she said you can definitely customize it how you want as well. My sister works part-time for a wedding planning company and her boss is letting us borrow a bunch of simple centerpieces so she is planning on setting up what we bring the day of. The coordinator just said we have to pack up all our decor after the wedding is over that night.

I'm stressing some because it's so hard to picture everything! I thought I would be able to see what it looks like before I walk down the aisle, so that has me freaking out a bit haha. What about you?

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Heyyyy, we will be there at the same time that's cool! We get in May 21, 2020 and marry on May 24, 2020.

View Quoted Comment Nice!!! What part of the resort are you getting married on?