Princess402

Quote: Originally Posted by Ashlynn039 Hi Amanda, It may help if you work with a TA and have your TA contact Ana, she seems to respond a little faster that way. I agree. Although I have been contacting Ana myself for for the details and arrangements regarding my wedding, in terms of getting the date and time confirmed I have left this to my TA. Quote: Originally Posted by Ashlynn039 Just be flexible about the day, like you we knew what month we wanted. Unfortunately we weren't able to get a Friday or Saturday date so we settled on a Monday since it was still close to the weekend for our guests who can't take much time off of work. Hang in there! Ha! We purposely plopped our wedding day on a Wednesday so that people who come will hopefully stay with us for the week! I guess we are mean, lol.

I know, too many good options, right? I had such a tough time picking a location also! Bummer, but The Royal PDC is adults-only for sure, and I am pretty sure the Excellence PDC is as well. If you are looking for a modern, new, stylish resort that allows kids you might be interested in Dreams Riviera Cancun (although Dreams Tulum also looks amazing and has such good reviews; it's just that DRC is brand new - just opened October 09) or maybe the Ocean Coral Turquesa by H10. In terms of decor, these are two that I recall being very stylish and contemporary when I was doing my research. Good Luck

Just sent you an email about the world traveler stamps and one packing list! Thanks

Hi Sharon, welcome to the forum!!! I'm also getting married in early December! The great thing about destination weddings is that the rules are not set in stone and you can throw tradition out the window (if you like) and do whatever you want! lol I think most people do all stay at the same resort. I know that for me, part of what I am going to love is having a week long celebration with my family and friends, rather than just a day. As well, many resorts charge a day pass fee for those not staying at the resort to come in for the wedding, and this can be up to almost $100 at some places! I think this is why many of us struggle so much with picking a place - because we're trying to find somewhere that is going to work well for everyone, so that everyone will want and be able to afford to stay together. If this is an issue, you might want to consider some of the larger resorts that have different areas/resorts within one complex (like the Riu I think?), or different types of rooms and price levels so that those looking for luxury and those looking for thrift can be satisfied in one place. Good luck, hope we all can be of some help

Hi Sally, welcome to the forum!!! Dreams has such a great reputation for weddings on here (I know I'm THRILLED to be a Dreams bride!), so I'm sure you will be happy with whatever one you choose. Maybe I'll see you around on the Dreams Riviera Cancun thread

What a nice sister you are!!! Seriously, there's a lot of great info to plow through on here so your sister is VERY lucky to have you - good luck to you both

Welcome to another Vancouver bride!!! Sorry you are feeling overwhelmed - I know, you think doing a destination wedding will make things so much easier, but there are a lot of decisions to be made and it can be totally overwhelming all of the information out there and choices that you have! Thank goodness for this forum!!!! I found choosing a place to be the hardest and most confusing part, so I really wish you the best of luck. Obviously I'm biased, but I am having kids at my wedding too and so chose Dreams Riviera Cancun. It looks absolutely beautiful, and they are offering some pretty good rates and group promos right now because they are still new (just opened last October).

Welcome to the forum Crystal! Do you know what part of Mexico you're thinking of going to yet? I look forward to seeing you around on the boards

On behalf of all of us Dreams Riviera Cancun brides, I just want to wish Laura a very happy wedding day today! Laura is really the first BDW bride to get married here, so we are all so excited and anxiously awaiting lots of photos and a lengthy review... no pressure or anything, lol. Congrats Laura - hope you are having a fantastic time

I'm so grateful for this thread, and thanks so much ladies (Tammy, Megan, rdsjcr, etc.) for info on that 6th room free promo! I bugged my TA and she was able to get the resort manager to apply the new promo to our exisiting and future bookings - yippee!!! P.S. Megan, you asked earlier whether it was usual to have to pay for all the rooms up front and then get credited back for your free rooms at the end - this is also what I have been told by my TA. I've also been told that the amount you get discounted back might be slightly less than you think because it is based on their wholesale room rates and not necessarily the rate you and your guests are paying (?).

Probably you should pay for it (in terms of etiquette) BUT I think it's so nice that you are treating your guests to an excursion! That's really above and beyond, I think. If I were your guest and was told that the excursion was paid for but I would have to buy my own lunch, I would be totally fine with that.

Quote: Originally Posted by rdsjcr Hey Ladies- one of my bridesmaids mothers is doing our invitations for us I am trying to get them out ASAP... I wanted to ask all of you- who have already done them and are in the process an IMPT. ?? Are you doing anything special with your invitations? I am just wondering as well, destination weddings are not like at home weddings, so do we need to add things in them? I am going to put a little note card or something saying "Look for details for a Welcome Home Party to follow" (or something) as we will be having a welcome home party a couple weeks after for all the family and friends who could not attend. But in addition to the standard invitation and response card... what else are you guys doing?? Sounds like you haven't found the invitations subforum yet! Invitations, STDs, photos & website - Best Destination Wedding Forum ~ The Ultimate Destination Wedding Resource

These are so cute!!! I was thinking about sending my guests a "thanks for booking" card with a luggage tag or something, but was thinking about going rather simple for the card... seeing yours though is making me want to step up my game!

Glad you were able to sell your chair sashes, but I am so bummed I can't buy these anywhere!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by buehler.allison Where did you get the sashes? They are gorgeous! Problem is I think I might need what you have and some more... Same here! Can you tell us where you got these? And do you still have these ones for sale? Thanks

I think that many of us are used to instant responses, but when it comes to planning a destination wedding it seems like you just have to accept the fact that you will have to be patient and wait! Or don't accept it and go crazy. lol. I have been planning my wedding for a little while now (as you can see my join date was back in 2008 but I didn't decide on DRC until over a year later!). So I can say that I have seriously considered a great number of resorts and been in touch with many wedding coordinators. Through this process, I've gotten used to having to wait for responses. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to wait "too" long, but sometimes it happens. Also, when I think about the fact that for every bride that books, there are probably a handful more that are emailing with questions still trying to decide (like I used to be), I start to feel like the wedding coordinators job is pretty overwhelming! That being said, I agree with you that it seems like Ana needs help! I wonder if it would be useful to email resort management with this suggestion? Also, Ana is still relatively new (as is the resort) so hopefully things will get better as she continues to get weddings under her belt, so to speak. I also hate to say it, and this comment does not apply exclusively to Ana but actually to most WCs I've corresponded with, but a lot of the trouble stems from vague or partial responses that we get back to our questions, which leads to us having to send more emails! I often think that if questions were answered fully and clearly the first time around, probably their email traffic could be cut in half!!!

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!

Quote: Originally Posted by ebernard4985 So, maybe I am just confused, but I thought that you could not have your wedding reception in one of the restaurants..... it looks like several of the recent weddings were indeed in the restaurant Anyone know the facts about this? I am still having the pool deck, but I am thinking about my plan B. Quote: Originally Posted by Laura22610 I was wondering the same when I saw those last pictures... Me too! I asked Ana about having my dinner in one of the restaurants and she said they would never do this! Geesh. I wonder if the dinner would still cost the same as if you had it on the pool deck or beach, etc.?

Quote: Originally Posted by Cindy* I agree with the other comments. You should either pay for the lobster or not offer it at all. The cost is not that much (certainly far less than having it at home) and your guests will probably be impressed that it's an option. Alternatively, leave it off the menu and have it with your FI another night. I would have to agree with Cindy and the other posters. P.S. Sounds like your wedding dinner is going to be delish!!!

A lot of girls on here have given boudoir pics, but if you are not comfortable with that, what about some type of "experience" or activity? Could be something just for him, or something you do together. I read about one girl on here who gave her husband a helicopter ride as a wedding present - I thought that was pretty cool!

Quote: Originally Posted by rdsjcr Angela-- Has Ana let you substitute things from the package? This is my ONLY hesitation from going with the package.... I do not need a minister, photograher or the mexican music set. Will she let us take that out? I haven't actually sorted out all the details of my package with Ana yet. Actually I think I'm still just booked with the free package, but will upgrade this. Just not sure yet whether I will do the Ultimate package, or the middle one. But, I've heard that you can: - substitute the photographer for a longer video - substitute cocktail hour for additional people for dinner (or reduced rates for "extra" people for dinner) I think it really is at her discretion though, so it needs to be something similar in nature (and equal or less than in value). There are a few things I would like to scrap also and just put the value towards food and beverage, but I'm pretty sure that won't happen! I'm not sure what you could substitute for the minister, but you should be able to get a longer video instead of a photographer, and maybe you could get some DJ service instead of the mexican music set? Not sure about that tho... Quote: Originally Posted by ebernard4985 I believe her general rule is you can substitute it for a similar service. You cannot substitute hair for food... but you could substitute hair for another spa service.... does that make sense? We were able to substitute the cocktail hour for additional guests at the reception because they are both food/beverage items. She also has said that I can substitute a bridal bouquet for a centerpiece, but it has to be the same service provider (salon, florist, photographer, ect) This makes sense to me, and this is the impression that I got also.

For you ladies that got this sixth room free, were kids free for your group? We did get kids free and so my TA is saying that this helps to make up for the fact that we are getting less people/rooms free... unless of course you all are getting both these perks!!! I think we have something like 18 rooms booked so far, so these details make a big difference to us. It's so tough cause I know that these contracts fluctuate and that you can't always compare your contract to everyone else's... but I truly am a frugal princess and want it all for less!

Laura I can't believe it's 11 days until your wedding!!!! Just want to wish you the best of luck, and of course I can't wait to hear all about it when you get back

PM'd you

Quote: Originally Posted by saza175 I just read through about 60% of the posts. ALOT of helpful info and pics on here! I'm thinking about doing the ultimate package, but I wanted to know if anyone knows... if i was to forego on the flowers from the package and bring my own, would they subtract that from the price, or substitutue something (maybe more people for dinner) ? Also, it seems like alot of money to rent out the speakers for the reception. ($180/hour??!!) I was going to make a playlist on my ipod and connect it to their speakers, but if it costs that much, I might as well get a DJ! I'm pretty sure that they won't subtract the cost, but you might be able to get something else substituted... however, as a general rule, they do say that the packages are not subject to change. So if you don't want something that's in the package then it's your problem! But really I think it just depends on what specific thing you are asking about, and also whether you are asking for one change to the package or many. If you ask Ana real nice though you might be able to get something for not using the flowers - typically it would be more of something that's already in the package rather than something totally new.