*JillD*

Quote: Originally Posted by JuliaR I feel bad because I just got a bit upset (but rightfully so) with Aja. She is telling me and my guests the Gran (my wedding location) is booked. However, when I go online to the Gran's website, i can book a room no problem! Here's the deal.....apparently, the girls in Michigan only have a limited number of rooms they can book at their special rates, so when that books out they refer people to the sister resort 10 minutes away and book them there instead of referring them to the Gran's Hotel Reservations line or hotel website! Argh! It must be a commission based booking for them. I mean WHY wouldn't they understand that all my guests WANT to stay in the same hotel as us? Grr...... So be forewarned. Just because they say the rooms are all booked, doesn't mean the ENTIRE hotel is booked. Check online first or call the 1-800 number for the Hotel itself and book under your wedding name. Basically, the WC office almost like a travel agency. They only get a certain number of deals and they want the credit for all the rooms they can book. No wonder they are sooooo adamant that ALL your guests book through them. You definitely do not have to book through the WC's in Michigan. TA's have many different suppliers that they work with and even if one is sold out, there may be another one that is not, so unless the resort was completely booked, a TA would more than likely be able to find you a room through one of their suppliers. Quote: Originally Posted by Lady_Di just some advice, here is what my TA told me regarding online travel agencies wih our guests looking to book with online travel agencies. From her: You really want to warn them that if they book with the onlines ( Travelocity ect) that there is a strong likelihood that they will be bumped and that they can move them to somewhere else entirely and that it can be anywhere in the Riviera maya /Cancun area! The guests will then not be with everyone and will have to pay the cost to get to the wedding. The online companies suck people in by offering lower rates as they do not have to honor every room that is booked at the resort where the client thinks they are booking at! It is stated in the onlines terms & conditions. Exactly what I was going to say! Be very careful about booking online, the royal overbooks quite often, and you may be bumped!

I did day 2 of week 2 today and wanted to die. I'm going to attribute that to several things: 1) I didn't have a whole lot of time to eat today, so I was very hungry when I got to the gym 2) I chose a treadmill where no fan ever blows, I was SO DAMN HOT! 3) The podcast I chose for today sucked! I didn't like any of the songs, so it made things go by really slow. I did the whole thing, I think I did one extra interval and walked for a little bit afterwards but I didn't do the extra intervals today, like the other day. I just couldn't do it! I hope everyone else had a better day than me!

Quote: Originally Posted by Andi oh I thought of doing the same thing too because 30 mins just doesn't seem long enough to me! I think i will try getting to 3 miles when I go next time! I was glad I did it. The first week I kind of felt like I wasn't working out enough and I didn't have enough time to do a class and the running. So I was glad I did the extra time. I'm sure its different for all of us depending on the pace we're running at, but I think when I finish the program right now, I'm usually around 2 1/4 miles, so it's about another 3/4 of a mile that I keep doing the intervals. And then I walk for a few minutes to cool down. I think it took me about 45 minutes total the other night. Quote: Originally Posted by cathyandchin I might try this! Week 2 was tough but i'm really worried about week 3!! I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep it up in week 3, but I'm going to try, lol!

Quote: Originally Posted by Andi oh me too! we are on the same schedule I think! How did you do? Quote: Originally Posted by Erika J OH Andi and Jill- I am just 2 days behind you (tomorrow I will finish week 1)!! It is going really well so far, much harder than the first time I did it 2 years ago for the obvi reasons. **for those that dont know, I had a serious bicycle accident in Sept, Surgery to repair my nose and sinuses in Oct, and due to the risk of hemmorage, I could not elevate my heart rate until mid January. So basically I am just starting to build my endurance back now. However, I did find that day #2 was much easier on me than day 1, so we shall see! Oh good, I'm glad we're on close to the same schedules! I did good with the start of the second week. I actually went longer than I was supposed to because I'm used to doing hour classes and I felt like 30 minutes wasn't long enough. So I kept doing intervals until I hit 3 miles. I'm supposed to do day 2 of week 2 tonight, but I'm getting a massage this afternoon and I don't know if it will be a good idea for me to run afterwards. I guess I'll see how I feel.

Started week 2 today, woohoo!

While I do agree that the view has changed, those pictures are both taken from different angles. And I think you can position yourselves so that you have the water in the background for your ceremony & pictures.

Did your TA explain to you how room blocks work? You can't just say "hey, hold 50 rooms for me, I MIGHT want to book them" You have to have a contract in place to hold those rooms and you have to pay a deposit to hold them. If you didn't pay a deposit, then no, the resort is not going to hold rooms for you, with the hopes that your guests will book. I understand that you may be frustrated if your TA did not explain to you how a group block works, but if she did and you chose not to do a group booking, then that's your choice, but not her fault that the resort is booked to capacity. Have her check with other suppliers to see if they have availability at your resort for the dates.

Quote: Originally Posted by samnicolerangel Let me start by introducing myself! My name is Samantha and my fiance is Joseph!!! We go by "Sam & Joe" here in Houston, TX!!! We have been great friends for 13 years and it became much more 4 years ago!!! Now here we are ENGAGED and planning to get MARRIED on June 11, 2011 at Dreams Riviera Cancun!!! We are sooo excited!!! I am currently working with a Kim Mallory of Destination Weddings.com and we both had the same trouble contacting Ana. I think she has all of our best interests in mind...but, she seems to be terribly overworked! I'm being patient and plan on getting everything situated during a site visit 6-9 months before my wedding. It seems to be easier to do it all in person! One thing I know I do need advice on is ROOM RATES for my guests!!! I have read so many different things...and I am not sure who to talk to? Ana? Group Department? Etc.? They have a WINTER PROMOTION and I asked Ana if she could do that rate and she replied that if we wanted to we would have to book online, but that she could not guarantee that rate!!! PLEASE ADVISE!!! Thanks in advance!!! Your travel agent should be able to provide you with rates. A lot of times the rates on the hotels website are higher than what is available through tour operators. You also get extra perks when you setup a group booking, which your travel agent should also be able to help you with. Good luck!

We had P90X and it was a great workout, but I really want insanity, I like cardio more than strength training. I just can't get myself to spend the money for insanity!

Quote: Originally Posted by cathyandchin So I finished week 1 and I'm soo excited! When I was doing my runs yesterday I was able to go up to a 5 and go the entire 60 seconds without thinking "OMG, when can I start to walk again?!" When I started day 1 I could only go like 15 seconds before wincing! I found these podcasts with some GREAT music and it's timed for the Couch to 5K program. It will start to count down over the music when it's time to switch it up. Go Nicole Yourself!: Couch to 5k Podcast Page Happy running girls!! I downloaded Nicole's too! I also downloaded Suz's, but the first couple weeks of Suz's the music is a little too hardcore for me. I thought I would alternate between the two each day to mix it up a little bit. Quote: Originally Posted by Ana I haven't done the program, but I wouldn't think you would have to worry about the speed so much in the beginning. Your brain always thinks it can go faster but your body should tell you what's good and what's bad. The one thing they always I learned in running clinics and also what my trainer now says, is for the comfortable runs you should be able to carry on a conversation, but still be a little winded. For your workout runs though, you shouldn't be able to do any talking. Thanks for the tips! Quote: Originally Posted by carolina24 are you just doing it on the tredmill? Yes, just using the treadmill, it's still too cold to be outside, lol! I also thought it would be easier for me to start off on the treadmill, so I could actually see what speed I am going at, if that makes sense. Sometimes when I'm outside I think I start off going to fast, not realizing it, so the treadmill helps to keep me at a manageable pace. But I think in a few weeks I might start outside when it's a little warmer. I finished day two of C25K, my shins were a little sore when I started out, but by the end they seemed to work it out. I made sure I stretched out afterwards. I'm so used to doing classes at the gym and they have a built in stretch at the end that I completely forgot about stretching out on my own before and after.

Just so that everyone knows, the symbolic ceremony you have in mexico looks real. We got married at the town hall a month or so ahead of time, but we just did a quick ceremony, no vows, literally about 2 minutes. For our ceremony in Mexico, I wrote the ceremony, chose the vows we would use, had our daughter do a reading, and incorporated the hand ceremony. It was very nice and they have you sign a certificate at the end, a few people knew we had gotten legally married beforehand, but you really couldn't tell that it wasn't a "legal" ceremony. I was very against getting married beforehand because I felt like it wouldn't be the same, but I think it was worth not having the extra headaches. And honestly, I don't even remember the date of when we got legally married because to us our wedding date is October 19th. I understand why some people choose to do the legal part if Mexico, but just wanted to reassure those that are doing the legal part at home.

I just saw this story on the news and was remembering going to one of my friends houses and looking through teen bop and the whole thing was about the two cory's. License to drive was one of my favorites!

I started today and it went by surprisingly fast! I didn't even look at the clock until I was at about 15 minutes and with the music changing it really helps to keep you distracted. I ended up starting out at 5mph for jogging and by the end I was up to 5.5mph on the jogs because I felt like I could go faster. We'll see if I still feel the same way when the jogs get longer, lol!!

Quote: Originally Posted by astreit Hey Ladies, I have a quick question I was hoping somebody could answer for me. All of my guests have just booked the round-trip transportation that the resort offers when booking a room. Do you know what they should expect when they fly into Cancun? There will be 18 people all arriving on the same flight. Will there be somebody with a sign that says, The Royal Playa del Carmen? Or their names? I'd like to give them some guidance on what to expect so they don't get swarmed with private transportation companies and end up going with the wrong people. Thanks so much! It depends which company your travel is booked through, but usually it is explained in your travel documents. For example, Lomas Travel does private transfers and they always tell you to look for people in white pants with teal shirts, and obviously the lomas travel name. Travel Impressions has transfers through American Express. There are lots of transfer companies outside the airport when you come out of the doors, but it's not a very large area. If they just look around for the name of the transfer company, they will be fine. It's really a fairly easy process. Just make sure you tell them to keep going until they get outside of the airport and not to stop and talk to the people selling time shares.

I'm planning to start this tomorrow, but I have a question for those of you that have done this. How do you know what speed you should go at when you're supposed to run? Is it just the speed you feel comfortable at? and should it be a fast paced run or like a jogging pace that you feel like you could do comfortably for a long time? I printed out the program and thought maybe it would give an idea of pace, but it doesn't and I suppose it's different for everyone, but was wondering everyone's thoughts on this.

Quote: Originally Posted by PhillyBride09 The video that comes with the Wedding package is really good. I LOVE mine. It was perfect. He shot the whole Ceremony and he was shooting the whole time we were taking pictures and then he set it all to music. The only thing I wish i would have done is asked him to include our First Dance song (Then-Brad Paisley)..Other than that, it was so great! I used the Resort photog that came with my package and I really liked my pics. I used to have the link but once they all got wiped out I never put it back up. If I can find them I will post the link Jen, that was the same thing I wished I would have done! I didn't realize the video would be set to music, he used our songs from the ceremony, but then the last song was just random, I wish I would have known and I would have had him use our first dance song to.

Thanks for posting Mo, great tips!

Quote: Originally Posted by Mischaka I'm working with TA Jill and she's awesome. I live in NY too and she's on the east coast. We haven't gotten down to the payments yet but she has been very responsive. Just click that banner up there. Quote: Originally Posted by carolina24 all of you who've had TA issues should definately try the BDW TAs!!! I had a local TA for a bit and it was horrible to work with him!! so i emailed TA Jill and she has been wonderful, i love her!!! besides the TAs here are obviously experienced with DWs...i love how Jill was married at Dreams (same resort we are using). It makes me feel like she's been in my shoes and she'll be there for me even though i cant physically go see her. Anytime I have a question (no matter how silly) she answers me right away. can't say enough! awww, thanks ladies, you're both very sweet!

As Tammy mentioned, the best gift is a nice review or referrals. I really like it when I have someone contact me and say "so & so gave me your name" it makes me feel like I must have done a good job because someone was willing to give my name out

Carly, I've been looking at it for awhile too and am thinking about starting it. Keep us posted on your progress!

Quote: Originally Posted by peterpanpixiedust hmmm, I just emailed her again today and put "Urgent" and she got right back to me! She send me two attachments about payment. One was two options, the first being a certified check and the second... well, actually, i have no idea what it meant (maybe about wiring it directy to their bank?) and the other attachment was a form meant for a credit card... with no instructions as to where to send it or how much. So I printed the form and signed it , scanned in my license and credit card (both sides), allowed them to charge $500 (the deposit amount specified for the ultimate package on the website), and put a side note that we will finalize the details at a later date, scanned it again and sent it to Claudia as an attachment. Hopefully this works. And apparently according to Claudia, the 20 guests includes the bride and groom (not bride and groom plus 20)... did everyone know that? And I'm kinda sad about all the rocks on the right of the gazebo. Are they on the other side too (the pic only shows the right side because they were showing off the new beach)? Andim - apparently Himitsu beach (i think that's the small one) is located where the sun sets (or at least thats where Claudia said it does, and the sun rise is by the gazebo) so if you pick that beach, it will be very picturesque...i'm starting to think about that one. and it's by the lighthouse! Oh are any Dreams Cancun girls doing/or did a TTD at a cenote? If so, which one and do you have pics? Yes, Himitsu beach is where the sunsets, that's usually where the photographers will take you for pictures, the lighthouse is on that side too.

Quote: Originally Posted by rdsjcr I do understand all of the above BUT maybe they should consider getting more help.... like more than one Ana. I mean I always email her One email with all my ??s on it and even then, I am not getting answers. I am still waiting to hear from my ??s last week. I know people say rest assured everything will be fine and work out and etc etc but when you are the paying bride you dont feel like that AT ALL! Its not about being a bridezilla, its about we are paying a lot of money and just want to know what is going on. I'm sure they will eventually get another coordinator, but because they only opened about 6 months ago, they are probably just starting to get really busy now, with the weddings that have been planned over the last few months. I know how stressful it is, I was a destination bride too. Quote: Originally Posted by Princess402 Jill, you beat me to the punch! I was just about to write a message reminding us all to "breathe"!!! Not to say that it's not frustrating, not to say that we're not allowed to feel tense about this whole process, because that's the way it is... But, Jill is right I think in saying that this happens at all resorts, and that the wedding coordinators are unbelievably busy between planning and actually putting on weddings daily! I can't even imagine the number of emails Ana is getting right now. And I think resending emails just clogs up her inbox even more... I mean maybe if you don't hear back for a couple of weeks you could send her a note to make sure your original message was not lost, but other than that just think of this as an excercise in patience! lol. Also, what I hear from most brides on the forum is that the response time gets better as your wedding draws nearer. Again, makes sense that WCs needs to prioritize immediate upcoming weddings over ones happening later this year. We all need to have some faith that everything will come together beautifully in the end. Another thing that I think many brides on the forum would attest to! Thank you!

why can't they do a payment plan through your TA?

Quote: Originally Posted by rdsjcr Gosh- I am so frustrated... it honestly scares me... that I am going to get my guests to put all this $$ in and then we put all this $$ in and things not go smooth. Not trying to be mean but how hard is it to answer emails? If I didn't have so many people already booked, I would consider changing resorts, but then what if other places are just the same?? It makes me so much more mad to see a lot of you just as frustrated. I am still waiting on an email from Friday to be answered, that I have now resent her twice and nothing. have you guys told her the packages you want? flowers you want? decor you want? etc? i cant even get her to open my emails to see those things! Honestly, it's like this at almost every resort. I know it's frustrating, but try to be patient. You have to remember that not only is Ana answering the emails from every bride that is considering getting married there, she's also answering the emails of every bride that has already confirmed a date, meeting with brides that are there for site visits, and attending to the weddings that take place daily, sometimes multiple times a day. On your wedding day, would you rather Ana was taking care of just your wedding, or in her office answering emails?? I know it's frustrating, we've all been there, but rest assured, dreams does lots of weddings and they do a great job, or they wouldn't be so popular. The best thing I can suggest for everyone, is please try to put ALL of your questions in one email, don't email her a couple of times every day with a couple of questions in each email, can you imagine how many emails she probably gets in a day, it has to be very overwhelming! And my other suggestion would be to get your TA involved. If you're not getting an answer from Ana or you're unhappy about something, ask your TA to help. They may not be able to change the outcome, but it's worth a shot! Good Luck!

Jess, they came out great!! Nice Job!