We know this is going to sound like a fake review but its not! We had our wedding at Privilege Aluxes hotel on May 28th, 2011. Words cannot describe how perfect of an experience it was. Our families were initially reluctant about the idea of a destination wedding and we were also worried about planning a wedding at a hotel (and island) we had never even visited. We're frequent travelers and from Los Angeles so standards for weddings were pretty high. We began planning with the hotel team in November, 2010 (Elba the wedding planner and Osmany the sales manager). Through the entire process they were nothing but kind, gracious, tremendously helpful and really just a dream to work with. We had a surprising 130 guests attend (the largest destination wedding Privilege Aluxes, and most other hotels, had ever had). The staff handled this challenge with complete professionalism and poise. We thought it was an amazing wedding just cause it was ours but we were surprised when several of our guests told us it was the best wedding they had been to in their lives. The most commonly used word to describe the wedding by our guests was "epic" and recently someone said it was "the wedding of the century". Really these are not my words, but it gives you an idea of how much everyone loved it.

We arrived one week prior to the wedding as our guests trickled in. My husband and I had the presidential suite which I HIGHLY recommend. It had 2 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, a heated swimming pool, panoramic views of crystal clear turquoise ocean, 2 balconies, and sparkling clean from top to bottom every single day. It is SO well priced. The decor is absolutely beautiful, sexy and contemporary so if you're more into classical/old fashioned hotels it may not be for you. Since I was a bride with half the hotel occupied by my guests, I got to see every single type of room this hotel has and you SERIOUSLY can't go wrong. Every room is really pristine and beautifully designed with stone floors, marble countertops, white leather couches and most of them have hot tubs on the balconies overlooking the ocean. Even the standard room that doesn't face the ocean but overlooks a colorful cemetery that looks like a piece of cultural artwork (I know it sounds creepy but you have to see it to understand). Our guests would literally be excited to have a view of the cemetery because it was so beautiful. During the week leading up to our wedding, with our guests, we swam in the 2 (new) pools, took naps on the poolside (or beachfront) cabanas, ate and drank all we wanted (with all-inclusive package), then spent every night on our HUGE presidential suite balcony with our guests laughing, drinking and listening to music till 3am. It was undoubtedly the best week of our lives. We pretty much never left the resort and spent such precious time with our closest family and friends on this blissful paradise of a hotel. It was also amazing to see friends and family who we would never have expected become such close friends by the end of the trip.

So about the hotel: it has 3 restaurants, sabor has a delicious buffet that I would highly recommend. Cafe del Mar (the outdoor restaurant right on the sand) seriously had some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life. There is also Satay which is okay in terms of food quality, although the service can be a bit slow. One night, though, the Satay staff went completely out of their way to arrange a specialized 3 course meal menu for our dinner party with our names on them which I loved (we didn't even ask for this). These are examples of the high end, personalized customer service we came to expect from the management of this hotel. Roxanne at the front desk! I love this girl, she had to deal with so much drama from our arriving guests and was SO SWEET, helpful (and calm) through it all, I wish I could give her a hug. Goran (I hope I got his name right, he was the manager at Cafe del Mar, flown in from Europe for this position), pulled me aside the first day and said that anything my fiance and I wanted for our guests, it would be done, period. Even the housekeeping staff was so darn nice to us it was crazy! We really felt like royalty that week :) The staff was consistently courteous and always helpful to us and our 130 guests, I really can't think of anything else I could have asked for. Room service is delicious and available 24-7, great for late night snacking (we ordered "two of everything" from the menu many nights for all the guests partying in our room and they handled it beautifully. The only teeny tiny problem was that the minibar didn't get refilled some days (but always would if we let the front desk know). I'm serious, that's the only complaint I had!

The wedding: ELBA I LOVE YOU! This is the wedding planner who holds your hand through the entire process. SHE IS SO GOOD. Sweet, patient, always accommodating and creative, she handled the 100 or so changes I made to the program with nothing but grace. For every question I asked her and for every request I made, she seemed to do everything in her power to accommodate me. She even planned an entire night for us and 40 guests to attend a bachelor and bachelorette party at a high-end Cancun nightclub after I simply asked her a question about it!!! She would not allow me to hire vendors from Mexico unless she had met them, if not, she would contact them and arrange a meeting at the hotel all on her own. I can't say enough positive things about this girl she is amazing, if I said everything, this would be 10 pages long. Osmany, my poor Osmany (sales manager). This guy had to help with all the less glamorous work (money exchanges, transportation for guests, room reservations for guests, complaints, etc). This man genuinely cared and looked out for our best interest and its rare to work with a vendor like that. He handled all the mini-crises that come up in every wedding and NOT ONCE did he not fully and completely resolve them in the most fair, calm and reasonable manner possible. He made our lives so much easier. I can't say enough about these amazing people.

The ceremony and reception were breathtaking. We did everything right on the sand and used an events planning company (Alquimia Events) to make the place really dazzle. There was fancy lighting, a lit-up dancefloor (courtesy of DJ Alan Alexandre) and all sorts of other cool stuff. I've attached some photos.

So, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts to the entire Privilege Aluxes hotel staff for helping make the best week and best day of our lives what it was. You are all amazing and I will be forever grateful to you!

Ellie :)

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Ellie Mizani, MD
Posted on TripAdvisor on June 24th 2011