SunBride

Quote: Originally Posted by latinalocany im actually thinking of not getting the ultimate package since only 14 will be attending and 4 are children. i qualify for the free package. i had really wanted a beach reception. with the money im saving now i can afford my photographer and he will stay with us for 4 days shooting the wedding and TTD. im really excited about that!!! my question is, if i do the buffet will they still set up the tables pretty(like a reception) and if i decide on another restaurant a table for 10 and a table for 4 kids close to that table would they do that? also my wedding is at 5pm and if we decide on a restaurant they want us there by 6:30pm, will i have enough time for pics? Honestly I think the buffet restaurant is a fine option and a good way to save some money. They could set you up at one long fancy table. I was a group of 10 exactly (used the free package) and they set us up a special nicely decorated table at seaside grill. I'm sure they'd do the same as the buffet. My group ate at the buffet one random night (not a scheduled event) and we had a nice long table and great service. As for an a-la-carte, they will charge you for the people over 10, but you only have 4 people so that is pretty cheap if you use the regular restaurant menu it will only be 20$ per person so 80$. Since your group is under 25 you could choose from any of the restaurants (as the guide says, Portofino, Bordeau, Gohan/Himitsu are only allowed for groups under 25, becuase they won't want you taking over the whole restaurant, they want to be able to accomodate other guests too). As for photos, that will leave you one hour for photos after the ceremony ends so that is not a lot, but in my experience it is sufficient if you get some photos taken before. You said you'd have a photographer come for 4 days so obviously they will be there all day. You could do like me and do some group shots with your bridal party and with your families for like an hour before the wedding. If you don't mind seeing your husband before the ceremony you could do some with him too before, but I think an hour is plenty as long as you are only expecting to do photos the two of you. If you expect to do photos with bridal party (the whole thing, just the girls, just the boys), family (your family, his family, both families together) and just the two of you all after the ceremony, you will be super rushed.

Quote: Originally Posted by amy706 Random question- does anybody know if the town of Tulum has a liquor store to buy tequila, nice champagne? Or any place within cab distance from DT? My transportation company wont make a stop on the way to DT unless I switch companies which i dont want to do because the first transport co is included. Also- coming IN to mexico, can you buy duty free and take it and drink it in Mex? i can only really picturing it coming back in to the US. Anyone know? THANKS! I'm not sure about a liquor store in Tulum. Since many of the brides don't venture into town (and there are very few married ladies on this thread to begin with) you should post your question in Trip Advisor's tulum area forum. There are a few locals there as well as many Tulum diehards so I'm sure somebody will answer your question. There are a few gift shops at the resort and I'm 90% sure they sell liquor, but probably not a huge selection and probably no fancy champagne. Not sure about the duty free thing. Obviously the intention is for people to buy it as they fly out and not as they arrive but maybe you'd be able to. I think usually those stores are past the security checkpoint though so that you can only shop there as you are waiting for your flight to depart.

BC Bride2be - I will add you to the bride list in the next round of updates. For all the new brides - you don't need to copy and paste the whole list, just put your username and date here and I will add it to the list. Because I can't edit the posts on page 1 anymore (the forum settings changed a couple months ago) I am getting a moderator to make the changes once a week. Carly (moderator) just made a list of changes for me from last week (updated bride list, updated info about deposits under #11 of the unofficial wedding guide, short blurb about the closure in the last post for future brides who come here and are confused about what happened). So just post any updates you have here and I am keeping the info in a word document and submitting it to a moderator every week for updates. If you don't see your update posted within 2 weeks then send me a PM to make sure i didn't miss it.

Quote: Originally Posted by suntansam hi there- still one of those girls tyring to lock down my final choice of resort and highly highly considering DT!! trying to get all the details i can esp regarding cost. Can someone clarify something for me.... lets say i get the biggest package available.... do i still owe 750 for a private reception I really want to do a private reception on the beach but i really wasnt clear on if i need to pay this fee above because im trying to add everything up as far as sound system, dance floor etc, and were expecting 50+ people so its all gonna add up fast!!! If you book either the Ultimate or Dreams of Love package, you can have your reception on the beach for free (no 750$ fee) but if you want to have it in the El Patio or Seaside Grill restaurants you would have to pay the fee (but for those restauratns it's subject to the resort not being at full capacity, which you only find out I think 1 month before). Because the package only includes dinner for 20 guests, you will have to pay a fee for each guest over 20. The fee you pay depends on the menu you choose, your options are: 20$ - regular restaurant menu 55$ - silver dinner menu 65$ - gold dinner menu The only way you can have a group over 20 people without paying an extra fee at all is to eat at the buffet restaurant. They could put you in the section that is slightly off to the side (not closed off at all, but over to the side so that you are not right in the middle with the other guests).

Quote: Originally Posted by Melissa24 Hi Ladies- It has been sometime since I posted but have been trying to keep up wih everything the last couple of weeks. Very excited everything is back up and running and the knot in my stomach has finally gone away. I do have a question though and I am pretty sure it has been addressed before but I am going to ask again. We are not planning on having a DJ but are thinking of bringing our own music burned to a CD, does anyone know if they resort can supply a CD player and sound system for us to use, and the cost? Yes you can do that. For the ceremony the sound system is free (although for me, 7 months ago, they asked for a 5$ tip for the guy operating it). For the reception it's 150$. The system is just one big speaker that you can hook up a cd player or ipod.

can I make a silly little slightly irrelevant request? Can people update their information on the left column (below the avatar pic), specifically wedding date (although seeing where the brides are from is interesting too, and also put Dreams Tulum or "undecided" as your resort so we can remember if you are deciding or booked). I don't know about the rest of you, but I am constatly glancing over there to try to keep all your brides straight since there are so many on this thread and it helps to put things into context when reading your posts and replying to your questions. I am often shifting back to the bride list on page 1 but it would also be helpful if people put their dates under their username. Of course you don't have to, but if you want to, here is how you do it: -click "quick links" way at the top on the right -choose "user control panel" -click "Edit your details" which is the first link on the left column. -enter your info!

Quote: Originally Posted by neen I believe you have to pay the $250 set-up fee for the ceremony regardless of what package you choose. This set-up fee include chair covers for ALL your guests at the ceremony and then they will move them to the reception for you. So no, you don't have to worry about an additional charge for chair covers. You have to pay extra for the chair bows, unless you bring them yourself and in that case, they will put them on for free as part of the set-up fee. If you bring your own overlays, they will put them on the tables for you for free, as well. The COLORED napkins are (i believe) $3 each. We are going with the plain white napkins for no extra charge and will be bringing colored menu cards to add a punch of color on top of the white napkins. So for us the cost of adding colored napkins isn't worth it... Hope that helps!!! I have never heard of having to pay a 250$ fee before. I thought chair covers for the ceremony were always free with any of the packages. There has however been the question about chair covers for the reception before. Somebody asked the same questions as you, i.e. do you have to pay for the reception chair covers? Do they use the same chairs as the ceremony? I don’t remember if we ever got an answer to that. According to the price list on page 1, the napkins are 4$ each (I think they used to be 3$ in the old guide). Quote: Originally Posted by ida Hi everyone! I'm a newbie and planning my wedding at Dreams Tulum for June, 2009. I'm just wondering if you guys all faxed Landy your credit card authorization form with a pic of your credit card and ID for your deposit? I'm a little iffy about that cuz I'm a little nervous about sending pics of my creditcard both sides! And also did you email it to her or did u guys fax it? Please reassure me that this is normal and everything will be ok?! The deposit policy is new, they started taking deposits sometimes this summer. Only the brides who have reserved since then have had to put down deposits. There are a few brides on this forum who have mentioned they had to do it, but none of them mentioned how. So this is the first I hear of having to sent pictures of your credit card and id.

Okay ladies, I accidentally double posted last night and the one with the proper links was the one to get deleted and I can't edit the post anymore. Here are the links again: SunBride's full length wedding video - Part 1 SunBride's full lenth wedding video - Part 2 And the 3 minute wedding highlights video (the whole reason I hired playaweddings instead of using the resort videographer) is linked in my signature below.

Okay ladies, I accidentally double posted last night and the one with the proper links was the one to get deleted and I can't edit the post anymore. Here are the links again: SunBride's full length wedding video - Part 1 SunBride's full lenth wedding video - Part 2 And the 3 minute wedding highlights video (the whole reason I hired playaweddings instead of using the resort videographer) is linked in my signature below.

7:30ish sounds right as I got married April 1st and it was around 6:15 or something like that. Daylight savings time kicked in a few days later and that changed to 7:15ish, and since you are a month and a half after that the days would be longer so 7:30ish makes sense. This website confirms that. Sunrise and Sunset for Mexico РQuintana Roo РCanc̼n РMay 2009 I don't know why you are seeing discrepencies between websites. The only confusing times are when daylight savings time kicks in and ends. Then the sunset time can change by one hour from one day to another! This is what happened to me and I based my whole schedule on the wrong time (I had looked at April 1 2007 not April 1 2008, and it just so happened daylight savings time had started on April 1st in 2007 but wasn't starting until a few days later in 200,

Okay ladies, so 7 months later, here is my full length video!!! My husband had to do something to change the format so I could read it in Windows Movie Maker, and then I used that software to chop it in 2 since youtube only allows 10 minute videos (it's 14 mins in total, so that is the length of a legal ceremony with our own vows added which added only a minute or two to the length). Then I uploaded both halves to youtube. The video was done by Playaweddings. The sound quality is bad in the first few minutes because one of the sound sources (he used 2) wasn't connected, so when he did the editing he had no choice but to use the sound from Landy's mike. He explained that this is why it's beneficial to pay for 2 videographers so you have more footage and sound to work with when editing (a very good point that I had not considered before, not that it would have been in my budget to hire his assistant) So you hear Landy yelling orders as I walk down the aisle! You also hear the judge telling my husband he's suppose to stand on the other side, and he tells her we are doing the opposite so that the wind blows my veil backwards instead of in my face. Luckily the sound improves a couple minutes after the ceremony starts when he reconnected the other sound source. The image quality is kinda crappy because of the way I saved it when I split it. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

I wouldn't worry about being away from friends and family for a year. If it was permanent, that's another story (I am in that situation now and it really bothers me to know I'll always be away from my family). the year will fly by and when you are back you will appreciate your friends and family that much more.

Quote: Originally Posted by Callie Quick question- how much did you/do you plan to tip the wedding coordinator, hair and makeup artists, and so on? I'm not quite sure what is "normal" to do. I don't really think there is a normal amount, a guideline like there is in Canada/U.S. They don't make a lot of money so anything helps. I wrote about it in my review, if I remember correctly I tipped 40$ to Landy, 5$ each to the 2 guys who did the set-up, 20$ to the dinner waiter (we were only 10 so we had one main waiter for our table) and 5$ each to the hair stylists. I'm sure some other brides are way more generous (I've heard on here about tips in the 100$+ range for the coordinators) but also many who don't tip at all.

Quote: Originally Posted by SunBride If you want to do the whole aisle from behind the restaurant (your "hiding spot" as you wait to walk down the aisle) to the gazebo you'd need A LOT because it makes for a really long aisle. I'm really bad at estimating distances, but I'd say it's like 3-5x as long as walking down a normal church aisle (it still only takes like 1 minute or so to walk down if you are walking a normal pace rather than an ultra-slow wedding pace). So if I were you I would just pick any length and just put it part way, not all the way to the back of the restaurant. Okay I just watched my video, and I exaggerated about the aisle length. It's probably only about twice as long as a normal church aisle. I'm going to take a wild guess and say about 100-150 feet from back of the restaurant to the gazebo.

Quote: Originally Posted by ashjanbro For all of you girls who have already gotten married and brought their own decorations. About how long do you think the aisle runner should be, for a decent aisle. I don't know exactly where you start walking from (I plan to be on the beach next to seaside grill)? Also, I am bringing my own tulle and bows for the chairs. I would really like to know how much tulle would be enough to cover the arbor well (Sort of like Brooke's pics) and how much fabric for the bows should I use. Do you think tulle is okay for the bows too, or should I use a heavier fabric? I forgot to answer about the aisle runner. First, I advise against them as I've seen people walking uncomfortably on them in the sand. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it doesn't, I guess it depends on how firm the sand is. If you want to do the whole aisle from behind the restaurant (your "hiding spot" as you wait to walk down the aisle) to the gazebo you'd need A LOT because it makes for a really long aisle. I'm really bad at estimating distances, but I'd say it's like 3-5x as long as walking down a normal church aisle (it still only takes like 1 minute or so to walk down if you are walking a normal pace rather than an ultra-slow wedding pace). So if I were you I would just pick any length and just put it part way, not all the way to the back of the restaurant.

Quote: Originally Posted by neen I just ordered my organza chair bows and table overlays this morning. My colors are navy blue and tropical green, so i'm using navy bows and table overlays for the ceremony/reception (with a green overlay on the cake table) and then green overlays and bows for the handful of tables/chairs during the cocktail hour. I ordered a total of 85 organza chair bows and 12 table overlays (72x72 for 60" round tables) for $188...not bad considering if I went with the resort's option it would have been WAY more I ordered from efavormart.com I also just did my table seating chart and think it'll work out great...so excited! It's getting SO close and I'm starting to stress...still have to buy the shirts for the groomsmen, my dad's outfit, my jewelry and veil, FI's shoes, and the reception dinner menus. I'm shopping tonight for the shirts/outfits, shoes, and jewelry and will do the menus this weekend. Veil is another issue... Also need to figure out wedding party/parent gifts and what we want to do in terms of welcome bags, cigar roller, pashminas...and then also the seating cards (we're wrapping electric tealights with vellum with the people's name and table on the vellum) then it'll just be shopping for the wedding and honeymoon wardrobe oh yea, and lose 10lbs What are you worried about ? ? ? I planned my whole wedding in 3 months! haha No joke, I got engaged late November, spend December researching resorts, booked I think January 7th, and then married April 1st! So about 2.5 months between booking and departure date. And I still got all the essentials done (i.e. my dress & accessories, groom's outfit, bridesmaid dresses, wedding bands, photographer etc) plus a bunch of extras (newsletters, OOT bags, guest t-shirts, DIY travel mugs, and all my decor items) Seriously, you have tons of time to do it all. Remember the advice of all of us been-there-done-that-brides "I wish I had stressed less"

I got my starfish at Michaels for about 4$ each. If you are in the U.S. and/or buying large quantities you may be better buying them online (for me the price of shipping to Canada made it not worthwhile).

it depends what look you want for the chair bows, tulle bows is a very different look from regular bows. i.e. tulle versus normal bow material (silk or whatever it is) actual bow versus just the fold over look Tulle I think is the cheapest way to go as the small bolt that sells for under 5$ can do approx 10 chairs. I bought the large bolts (54"x40 yards) for the gazebo (I recommend getting 2, either the same color or different color) and the small bolts (6"x ?) for the chairs. To pack them I just pulled the cardboard out of the bolt. The resort cut the pieces as needed

Quote: Originally Posted by Callie Sister, Neen- thanks for the ideas! I am officially in crazy last minute planning mode! About bringing the dress on a plane- my sister called and arranged for hers to be hung up on the plane somewhere. I have also seen dresses in the overhead compartment- just make sure you get on the plane early enough to get some room Callie I forget your situation - are you and your sister getting married in a double wedding ? ? ? (I think you mentioned her recently in another post and it sounded like she was getting married so I'm confused if it's you or her or both) If so, is she a member here too?

I want to see JM's professional pictures!!! Where is he hiding out??

welcome! Jump right into all the discussion on our Dreams Tulum thread.

Bonita See this thread for all discussion on Dreams Tulum. Your question in particular has been discussed a lot there: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t25646

wow, so many questions in the past 2 days. Quote: Originally Posted by ashjanbro Hey Girls, Back to planning mode ladies. I was really wondering from people if they plan on carrying their dress on the plane and if you are going to call the airline ahead of time to discuss this, or just show up with your dress? Also, for all of you who are trying to be cost effective like me and are bringing their decorations are you going to have a "receipt" for your items. I read on here many moons ago, about how you cuold only have $200 worth of stuff and that the federal authorities had actually checked for someone's receipt to ensure her stuff was less than that. I could be wrong, but I also think SunBride said girls have even "mastered" their own receipts. And is there anybody out there who used the resort photographer and liked their pics? If so, which one did you use? Do you suggest meeting with the photographer ahead of time? Many ladies (like me) just laid their dress flat in one of the overhead bins. I laid it on top of our carry-ons, and then the bin was full so I closed it and didn’t let anyone else put their stuff on top. Yes I read a long time ago about a bride who bought a little receipt book from the dollar store and faked her own receipts to make it add up to 200$ (it was actually much more than that). For info on the resort photographer, why not go back to page 1, the detailed bride list, and look at all the ones who used the resort photographer and read what they wrote in their reviews. Many of them aren’t around this site anymore so that would be the best way, and also that is the purpose of the detailed bride list is to answer questions like that Quote: Originally Posted by savvyfashions Help… I can’t decide whether to have the ceremony in the chapel or on the beach… has anyone had theirs in the chapel and if so what was it like? Thanks!! Tracy Again, probably the best way to get an answer would be to look in the detailed bride list and find out which brides had their weddings in the chapel and look at their pictures and reviews. One the common complaints about the chapel is that it’s very hot because there are almost no windows. Also it only seats about 20-30 people (5 rows of benches on each side, each little bench would seat 2, maybe 3 people). Quote: Originally Posted by amy706 I havent gotten responses from anyone yet... I'm sure they're still swamped. Hopefully soon. In the meantime- question about the videographer from the resort-- is there an option to film and actually hear the words of the ceremony, guests etc or is it always dubbed over by musicI really want a videographer and dont want to pay for an outside one but I want to actually hear what is being said (vs just hearing the music and seeing the shots). Does anybody know? i dont expect an answer from Landy right away and if not i may want to book a videographer afterall... thanks!!! Quote: Originally Posted by amy706 Trisha- thanks for the info about the videographer. Would LOVE to see it. Do you know what the company's name was or the guy by chance? Any other girls have feedback on the DT videographer? Did you get actual words for the ceremony? All the info about the resort videographer (including a link to a sample video) is on page 1! I’ve copied and pasted it below. I remember asking a lot about the resort videographer as I was really torn between paying 400$ for him (since I used the free package) which really, I thought was too much money, or paying even more money for an outside videographer. I remember the girls who used him telling me that the whole video was approx 30 mins long. He film before the wedding covering the audio with a song, then for the actual ceremony he would leave the audio, and then for the stuff after the ceremony he would cover it with a song again. You could do a search for “videographer” in the old dreams tulum thread to find out actually what those brides said but that is what I remember. So based on that info, the link for the demo video on his website is not actually a good demo as it’s not the same as the product you will receive at Dreams Tulum. 7.2) Resort videographer The videographer’s website is: Oscar Video - Cancun - Riviera Maya. See a sample of his work here: Wedding on the Net! Video Filming 1hr , for 2-30 pax ( Ceremony and family shoots) $380.00 Video Filming 4hr , for 30-80 pax (Ceremony , video studio and reception) $690.00 Video Filming 8 hrs , for 80 or more (Ceremony , video studio and reception) $1200.00 Video Filming 10 hrs , 2 cameras $1650.00 Quote: Originally Posted by amesharpe Trish- I would love to see your video. I know Sunbride was able to post hers. Maybe she can post the "how to" the next time she logs in to the site and reads this. Your pics were amazing. You looked absolutely beautiful When I posted my link, it was directly from my videographer’s site. So I didn’t have to do the work. What you can do is upload it to youtube and post the link to it here. But youtube only allows 10 minute videos. So first you have to open your video in windows movie maker (or perhaps another software but this is what I’ve used for similar tasks) and break it up into a few 10 minute videos. Then upload them into youtube as part1, part2, part3… If your video is formatted to open in windows movie, it’s actually super easy to cut it up into segments and save them separately. You just move the line that is at the end of the movie to the 10 minute mark and then save. However if your video is not formatted to open in movie maker, you’d have to change the format and I don’t know how to do that. This is why I never uploaded my full length video from Playaweddings. I always had the intention to, but the DVD comes with different chapters and stuff, and so I couldn’t figure out how to open it with moviemaker. My husband needs to format it for me. Maybe I will try to get on this again. But my video is not as helpful for you ladies since it's from an outside videographer. It would be SO GREAT if we could get an example of the resort videographer's work at a real Dreams Tulum wedding. I know I wanted that so bad when I was deciding. I had begged the past brides to burn and mail me an extra copy of their dvd but I never got one.

Good job on getting a nice thread started! I'm sure future brides will really appreciate it.

I love your signature pic, it's beautiful and the colors are amazing.