olisa6

I had 6 votives on each table along with a candle in a hurricane vase for the centerpiece. I don't recall any of them blowing out. My wedding was in October and it was 97 degrees that day so there was not much wind, but I sure would have liked some wind!! I did bring all the votives and hurricane vases/candles down with me in my luggage. It was definately cheaper but such a hastle. I should have paid the extra money and have the hotel provide them for me but it all worked out.

I booked the sunrider sunset cruise for my rehearsal dinner but invited everyone that came down for the wedding. The scenery on the cruise was awesome. It was very choppy out there and numerous people were getting seasick. I grew up on a boat and I was getting nautious. They did grill on the boat. It was beef tacos, rice, fruits, chicken kabobs refried beans. Nothing special but nice to pick on stuff. It was a full bar of alcohol. The boat itself isn't that great becasue it is old looking. That was the disappointing part. I had a party of 31 and received a 10% discount for having over 30 people so it wound up being $40.60 per person instead of $45. Not sure what the 2008 prices are. You can have the entire boat to yourself but it was about $600 more. I didn't think it was worth the money, plus it is the smaller boat. How choppy it was the night I went, we all would have been sick on the smaller boat!! The cruise was definately worth the $40 per person and I would recommend it. Just get there early so you can get seats on the top. That is where the partying is at!! I got there late so my group was downstairs. It was OK but everyone wanted to be upstairs..

I had my wedding at La Cascada Terrace and I thought the lighting was OK. I still had luminares and tiki torches but that was more for scenerery than adding additional lighting to the reception. Juan, my photographer, suggested Cascada over Oceana saying there was more lighting at Cascada for pictures. My pictures from a regular camera turned out dark in the background. If you weren't more than 5 feet away from the person then the pics turned out decent. All the pics from Juans camera turned out awesome. Guess it pays to have an expensive camera!! But as far as lighting for having a reception, there is plenty of it. They hang spot lights from the palm treees so you can see. No worries!!

Yes, your taxes and gratuities are included in the price at Dreams. The 2007 prices were $22 per person for each set up and that is all I was charged. You can give the waiters a tip if you feel they did a good job. I had an envelope ready with money in it to give them, but I left it in the room when I went down for the ceremony and forgot to give it to anyone the next day. I'm sure they got paid something out of the $44 per person I paid the resort for the set-up fees:) At least I hope they did....

I had my wedding at Dreams and Yesica was my WC. At first I was hesitant on what to do because it took her days to respond to me. But in the end, I am glad I did not spend the extra money on an outside WC. It was alot more work for me but this forum helped me tremendously to pick my vendors. Honestly that is all you really need the WC for. The other stuff, I did myself and woudl have anyway. In the end it wasn't worth it to pay anyone $600 to pick a photographer, DJ, Trio, florist and hair/make-up person. If you are looking for assistance on luminares, centerpieces etc and don't want to bring them with you, then I highly suggest an outside WC because the inhosue ones don't assist you on items like that. Yesica at Dreams recommended florists, DJ, photographer etc but doesn't help set up appts etc.. This forum has tons of information and tons of girls willing to assist. You can totally coordinate your wedding without an outside WC at Dreams, I did.. In the end, you just have to be prepared with detailed instructions on how you want everything set up for the ceremony/cocktail hour/reception, who your vendors are and timing of everything and it should turn out beautiful.

Kim - I am so sorry to hear about your wedding dramas. I have been on this site for 8 months watching you plan your wedding. No bride needs to go through that on one of the most memorable days of her life. I hope you do talk to management and express your opinion. I would also call the corp office. Riu is a chain. Let them know you have posted your reviews on sites such as this and you plan to keep posting on the knot, tripadvisor.com etc. I'm sure even though you had all that drama, your wedding still was beautiful and you had a great time. This is a grreat review for all the other brides to be to read and be cautious. I had my wedding at Dreams last month and read an AWEFUL review on tripadvisor about the resort and her wedding. I was so upset, but the day came and went without any issues. So just as you said, this was your wedding experience and not everyone elses!!

Yesica was my WC at Dreams. It does take her about 3 days to respond to you but she does. I think in the beginning when I was just planning and not actully booked, it took her longer. But they are super busy this month. She said they had 22 weddings in the month of October alone. It was frustrating for me as well in the beginning but I read other review that she took jsut as long for other brides so I let it go. When it all comes down to it, she is such a sweetheart and got it all done for my wedding. I had NO issues with anything the day of. I put a 3 page list together of what I wanted and how I wanted it. I had what canapes I chose, how many of each dish etc. And who my vendors were for the wedding. As long as you have a paper trail with all that info, there shouldn't be any issues. I did not hire an outside coordinator and I am glad I didn't. Just e-mail Yesica again just in case she did not get it or accidently hit the message and went unread when she really didn't read it. I have done that plenty of time at work!! Or call her. I did call her once and she returned my call and we talked about the available dates.

I had my train down the entire ceremony and through pictures. I bustled it when I walked into the reception and had it up the remainder of the evening. It did not drag any sand behind or anything. The sand in Cabo is so dry and rocky that it jsut brushes off. I did get a little sand on my dress when I ran to the water and away from it for pictures(because the water came up to far and got my dress and the bridesmaids dresses wet), but it brushes off. But other than that no issues.

Quote: Originally Posted by NYJen Ok, just heard from my WC. It wasn't the arch, it was a building downtown. I was going to say.... I was just there for my wedding and went on the sunset cruise and the arch was there on October 2nd. Glad to hear it is still standing..

I had my rehearsal dinner on the Adventurer as well. I gave my review of it in the thread posted saying sunset cruise. The boat is big, but the night we went out, the waves were really intense and alot of people did get nausious. I grew up on a boat and I was even a little nausious. I negotiated $40.65 per person because I had over 30 people in my party. That included open bar and dinner buffet. They walk around at the end with a bucket/basket for you to throw tips into for the crew. The view was gorgeous. the open bar was awesome. Some people in my group got pretty drunk where others stayed away from the alcohol and food in fear of getting seasick. The buffet was nice. Nothing special but it was good. They had chicken kabobs, tacos, chips/salsa, fruit, rice, mixed vegetables, refried beans. A few other things but I can't remember off the top of my head. I definately recommend it. My guests loved the views and took lots of pictures. My sugestion is to get there early so you can get a seat on the upper deck where the music/dancing/partying is. We got there late so we didn't get first pick. Claudia from sunrider was very nice and actually blocked off the salon for my group. The salon is inside where the bar is. It was great when it was time to eat but other than that, all my guests including myself, wanted to be outside to take in the view. I can not comment on Baja Cantina but Sunrider was definately a good trip. Sunrider does do private tours on their smaller boat. I was quoted about $57 per person for that. The boat is smaller and with the way the waves were that night, I am happy we had the bigger boat on the public tour!! Lisa

I had my rehearsal dinner with Sunrider Tours. I was debating between the private and group tour as well. I had 31 people and for a private it would have cost me $1800 and the public tour cost me $1260. Both scenerios, I would have to provide transportation as well. So for a $550 difference, I decided to go with the group tour. I have my pros and cons to both. Pro's was definately price and the larger boat. The night we went out, the waves were really bad and alot of people were getting seasick that normally don't. I grew up on a boat my whole life and I was getting a bit nausious. The private tour has the smaller boat. If we would have went with the private tour, I think people would have really been sick!! The cons are that you are with other people who are getting drunk and seasick. Also it is not very private and my guests were all over the place on the boat. I was hoping we would all be in one area but that is impossible. That could be my fault since we did get there late. Suggestions if you do go with the public tour. Make sure you are there early so you get a seat on the top deck. That is where all the music and dancing and partying was. Also you can all definately get a spot together!! Claudia from Sunrider tours was great and she did reserve us the salon, which is the inside of the boat where the bar is, but everyone wants to be outside looking at the gorgeous views and the sunset. So no one remained inside the boat. I definately do not regret taking the public tour and I would go that route agian if I ever did something like this for my guests at another time/place. The only thing I do regret is not looking into a transportation company to take us all there. When I was in Cabo for my site visit taxi rides were $25 into town. So i assumed you could pack the taxi up with 8 - 10 people and it would be $25. I figured 3 - 4 taxi's, $100 each way. I did contact a tour company and it was more expensive than $200 round trip so I didn't look any further. Well, when I went to get the taxi's it was $6 per person becasue we had over 4 people in a taxi. So I wound up spending $200 each way, double what I was expecting. Needless to say I was not very happy but I should have known better than to think it was like the US and you can pack as many people in the taxi for the same price... So when you are looking at transportation companies, keep in mind taxi's will cost $12 round trip per person. Find a transportation company that will charge you less than $12 per person round trip!!! Hope that helps and good luck with your decision!!

I posted this same thread in the Cabo forum but am not getting many responses so I thought I would post here to see what assistance I can get since the marriage certificate applies throughout Mexico. I have a question for those brides that had a civil marriage in Mexico. I called the state of NJ to see how to get my marriage certificate translated into English and registered with the United States. The state told me that I can not change my name or do anything until I have an English version of the marriage certificate. She said I am legally married, but the DMV, credit card companies etc will not accept a spanich version. She then told me that they do not translate it and I have two options. 1) I have to get Mexico to translate it into English for me. 2) I apply for a re-marriage certificate in the state of NJ and get married again. The issue with that is in the eyes of the US, this new day will be my official marriage day in the US. She also said this may be a better option because if I ever lose the certificate or if it gets damaged, I have to contact Mexico in order to get a new one issued. I then contacted my wedding coordinator and she said they do not translate marriage certificates. She then sent me to a website that translates documents. Not sure if this is legal in the US or not. I wanted to know what other brides did after they had a spanish marirage certificate. Did Mexico provide you with an English version or did you go somewhere and get it translated in English? Please help.... Lisa

I just heard back from Yesica at Dreams and she said that they do not provide that sevice of translating the marriage certificate. She sent me to a website Ultra Translate - Professional Certified Translation Services for International Adoptions, INS, E-Commerce, and Government documents in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi and Urdu to get it translated. I'm not sure that this is leagal in the US or not. So girls, I really need assistance on this one. What did you do with the spanish certificate and how did you go about getting your name changed etc without an english version.

I have a question for those brides that had a civil marriage in Cabo. I called the state of NJ to see how to get my marriage certificate translated into English and registered with the United States. The state told me that I can not change my name or do anything until I have an English version of the marriage certificate. She said I am legally married, but the DMV, credit card companies etc will not accept a spanich version. She then told me that they do not translate it and I have two options. 1) I have to get Mexico to translate it into English for me. 2) I apply for a re-marriage certificate in the state of NJ and get married again. The issue with that is in the eyes of the US, this new day will be my official marriage day in the US. She also said this may be a better option because if I ever lose the certificate or if it gets damaged, I have to contact Mexico in order to get a new one issued. I wanted to know what other brides did after they had a spanish marirage certificate. Did Mexico provide you with an English version or did you go somewhere and get it translated in English? I e-mailed Yesica at Dreams to see if they will issue an english version, but I can't see them doing this since Spanish is their native language. Please help.... Lisa

Awesome!! Definately stop by the wedding. It is on the beach at 5:00. Hopefully we can meet up during the week before then. Its hard to see your pic and what you look like but I found Courtany we were there for our site visits at the same time... My group is heading to Cabo Wabo on saturday night and if you are still around you should go!!