Cassondra2009

Hey Jac~ sorry i never responded to this before!! I just remembered that you needed a slip...do you have any interest in this one? Let me know so I can get it cleaned.

oops sorry for the gigantic picture!

Sunitam~ I posted this for you in my review but just in case you didnt look there I figured I would post here too

My friend took this picture of my cake...its the best one I have at the moment

Hola...I'm back! I've already posted my wedding review. Please ask any questions that you may have. Everything was fabulous and I wish I could go back already!

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t46173

Centerpieces $60/table

Another picture of table with starfish placecards and MOH bouquet

Bouquet- included in package

Gazebo- we didnt pay extra for additional decorations

Awesome bartender

Getting bartender drunk

Balloons

Too much tequila

I love this one!

Ok thats all I have for now... I will annoy my guests for photos so I can post some more! let me know if there are specific things you would like to see..cake, buffet, etc.

Thanks to everyone on this forum! This wedding would have been much more difficult to plan without the help of the fabulous brides on here!

Cancun Airport

We only had 3 large suitcases and were carrying my gown and his suit. We pushed the buttons in Customs and both got green lights! No problems there! We arranged transportation with our travel agent before traveling and knew to keep walking until we found the guys with the orange shirts outside. We didn't stop walking and went straight outside and didnt have any problems with the timeshare people.

Check-in at Dreams

Check in was okay for us but most of our guests had to wait for their rooms in the hot lobby after traveling all day. They were not impressed by that to say the least. We were upgraded to a room on the 14th floor of the tower building. The man at the front desk called Claudia immediately and we arranged to meet the following morning to discuss final wedding plans.

Our room

Our room had an excellent view and we had no complaints. We did get some nice treats everday, I think it was part of the wedding package that we chose. Oh but I really really hated the pillows! I like really flat pillows and these were HUGE. So i put a throw pillow in a pillow case and used that for th week.

Dreams Resort

We had a great time! The food was pretty good, I esp liked Seaside Grill for lunch and dinner and Oceana for dinner. We only ate at the World Cafe for breakfast after eating lunch there one time. Is not terrible, but its cafeteria food. I definitely preferred eating at Seaside Grill for lunch or having food delivered right to the beach.

The staff at Dreams Cancun were amazing! We had great service and everyone there is so friendly! We left all of our servers tips and received even better service the next time around.

I really enjoyed the beach by the tower building. We all hung out there everyday even though only Scott and I had a room there. It was much less crowded and we got to know the servers really well on that beach. I stayed on that side of the resort everyday. The kayaks and other equipment are located on the other beach.

Spa

I got a 50 minute Swedish massage on the morning of my wedding and a pedicure. I was really happy with both! My mom and my maid of honor both got updos at the salon and they turned out fantastic.

Scott and I also got a couples massage that we really enjoyed. Overall, the spa is a bit pricey but definitely worth it in my opinion.

Swimming with the Dolphins

I had never swam with Dophins before and I loved it! We paid 119 per person, which was a discounted rate through Olympus Tours. The pictures/DVD are RIDICULOUSLY expensive $180 for both. I had alot of fun and really enjoyed the "footpush"..ladies wear a one piece bathing suit so you dont have to hold on to your bottoms!!

Claudia

We met with Claudia the day before the wedding and planned most of it in an hour. Please keep in mind that I am overall a pretty relaxed bride so this was perfect for me. I had only emailed her a total of maybe 5 times in 2 years. She kept copies of everything that I had sent her and we revised the contract right on her computer screen. We exchanged the photos in the wedding package for a video, which we received before we left. Overall the video was great considering we didnt really pay all that much for it or expect to have one.

In the hour with Claudia, we decided on menus, cake, flowers, centerpieces. I also gave her the CD for the ceremony which was clearly labeled and was played perfectly by the sound guy. We also paid the final amount on that day.

I also brought the chair bows, guest book, table numbers, placecards, etc to that meeting.

Wedding Day

Almost everthing was perfect on the wedding day. We dont have any big complaints. We told Claudia that we didnt want a rehearsal bc there wasn't a wedding party, but in hindsight it would have made everything a bit smoother. Scott and the Best man walked the wrong way to the gazebo (dont ask me how they managed that) and we didnt realize that the officiant was goin to ask "who gives this woman away in marriage " and we were a bit flustered. Overall, everything was great and minor things happened here and there, but no big deal. One thing that Claudia forgot was the stafish for my bouquet, but I called her and she brought it right up and took care of it quickly.

The actual ceremony itself was a symbolic ceremony and we didnt prepare for it in any way beforehand. We just decided to go with the flow and hope that we liked it. We loved it! It was sooo sweet and exactly what I hoped for. Unfortunately, we had a hard time understanding some of it bc of her accent, but overall it was great!

We had our reception on the terrace and the food was set-up in the lobby area of the tower building. it was perfect for us! Everything was set up just as we had talked about and it looked beautiful. There were defintely onlookers during the ceremony and reception but I didnt care at all. I actually ended up inviting a few people to dance with us and eat some cake bc there was so much left over!

Food/Cake

We chose the buffet and picked items from the Gold and Silver menus. I can't remember exactly what we ordered, but I loved everything that I tried. There was a TON of food. All of our guests commented on how much they liked the food as well. I know that lots of people liked the skirt steak with some kind of mushroom sauce. I absolutely loved the Chinese chicken salad (might not be the exact name).

We upgraded the cake and it was great! I didnt care too much about what it looked like as long as it matched the decor of the rest of the wedding...and it did. We orded the Tres Leches cake and everyone really liked it. There was a ton left so we asked for it to be available through room service the following day. Our guests were able to order it at any time...which was great!

Waiters/Bartenders

We LOVED the staff at our wedding. They were fantastic! They replaced my drinks just as I was finishing and got us anything that we asked for. By the end of the night, the bartender was pouring tequila in my friends' mouths and they were doing the same to the bartenders. it was so much fun and the pictures are fantastic!!

DJ Mannia

DJ Mannia was great. They made one mistake and played the wrong song for the mother-son dance but I ran up and had them change it and it wasnt a big deal at all. They played songs from our playlist and did the announcements as we asked. They also brought out some balloons toward the end which was a great hit with our guests. Defintely some funny photos with balloons. I would defintely recommend them to anyone who is considering a DJ.

Citlalli from Claudia Rodriquez Photography

We didnt get any of our pictures yet but we LOVED Citlalli and her assistant! Unfortunately I cannot remember her assistants name...but I do remember that it is her sister. We had so much fun with them. They are great to work with and make you feel relaxed. I would highly recommend them to anyone. I am almost positive our pictures will be great..I've seen her work before and loved it all!

Ok so thats all I can think of for now. Please ask me questions if you have them. If I dont answer, send me a PM. I have lots to unpack so I may not be on here often.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning! Good luck with packing and the move Rachel!

I'm leaving tomorrow morning! I can't believe its finally here!

So I'm trying to finish up my welcome brochure. We arent having cocktail hour. Whats the best bar to tell the guests to go to between the ceremony and reception? Our reception is on the terrace, so the one that is closest to there would probably be the best.

Also, do the restaurants close 2 times per week? I read that somewhere...just wanted to make sure it was current info.

My situation wasn't nearly as bad, but I "let" FI fold the ticket jackets for our Boarding Pass STD. Once he did about 10 I made him stop, threw them all out, and told him not to touch them again. I would have been devastated if he had done all of them and they looked the way he did the first 10! I'm so sorry that this happened...its a very stressful time. I can't believe you are also buying a house at the same time. I think I would have locked myself in my room and given up on life if I was getting married and buying a house at the same time! In my opinion, if this is your only bridezilla moment you are in a good place!

Thanks for the great review! My wedding is this Sunday! I can't believe it.

Quick question: Did you plan out your ceremony or did you leave that up to the resort? I haven't done anything yet and I'm not sure if it matters or not. What do you think?

Everything looks great! I cant believe you are done already...my wedding is in on week and I'm still working!

The forecast says rain for the next week or so!!! Past Cancun brides~ was the forecast usually right or do you think its more like 10 mins of rain? I will be so PISSED if it rains everyday!!

Most resorts have a wedding coordinator. Were you looking for an additional wedding coordinator?

I would honestly keep the appointment and tell her you already paid for it and people have arranged their schedules to come and it would be too much of a hassle to change it. With that said, I think its completely reasonable that they want to spend as much time as possible with Kyle. So if they decide not to come...oh well! You go dress shopping with your friends and make sure to spend another day with Kyle.

Make sure you have a box of tissues handy for my sisters keeper...its intense!

What I've done so far:

- STDs sent awhile ago

- dress

- FI suit & shoes (pant hem)

- my necklace and earrings

- wedding bands

- photographer for wedding and TTD

- booked DJ

- found pictures for hairstyle

- purchased OOT items

- music for ceremony

- dress fitting

- hair and make-up trial

- shoes

- attire for welcome "drinks"

What I need to do:

- ceremony wording

- undergarments

- centerpieces *I'm thinking of just ordering them at the resort

- brochures

- OOT tags *need to finish

- place cards and table numbers *need to finish

- email the DJ

I better get going..less than a week until we leave!

Did you try wedding linens direct home page ? I purchased mine from there and they are great! I ended up buying Azaela instead of fushcia bc I liked the color better. Good luck!

I'm so sorry. My maid of honor backed out as well. Her issue was financial as well as medical. Even when we offered to pay for her, she still said that she couldnt go bc of her health. I know how you feel.

My advice is talk to her and let her know how you feel. I honestly think that if it is truly bc of the travel time that she is definitely being selfish. I would travel for any length of time to go to my BF's wedding. Maybe she is embarrased about the money and doesn't want to tell you. I would definitely try to work something out with her though.

Good luck!