Princess402

Allegra - what is your colour scheme? I know we talked a bit before about the possibility of sharing some things since our weddings are so close together... My main colours are going to be royal blue and aqua, with accents of yellow/orange and maybe green and pink (bright colours). I'm definitely thinking of bringing down overlays and chair sashes, and maybe also centerpieces and gazebo fabric.

Oh wow that dress is beautiful!!! Awhile back I had fallen in love with a Private Label by G dress and had the same problem: called around to every store I could think of and no one had it to try on. So frustrating! So I actually called the manufacturer and they were very helpful in locating the closest store to me that they had sent a sample of this dress. They know where they have sent all their sample gowns, and obviously they want to help you find one to try on so you will buy it, right? So my best advice would be to contact someone at the Watters/WTOO head office and see if they can help you track it down. Good luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by islandbride317 SO EXCITED!!! Just wanted to post this, as a Maggie Bride...well, actually, a Sottero & Midgley Bride: Christie Parris Pollick, Dallastown PA - Midgley Bride TO all of you other Maggie and Midgley brides, make sure you post your story on the designer's website, because it just might help another bride-to-be make her decision on a dress if she sees it on a REAL GIRL! This is so great! You were SUCH a beautiful bride - so happy for you, congrats!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by pineapplebride This thread is very helpful! I just looked on the Dreams website and it looks like they are still doing the 6th room free promotion. I have a question though... when TAs book packages for groups do they deal with the resorts directly, or just through tour operators? Our package is out of Vancouver Canada and is through a tour operator... would my TA have to negotiate the promotion with Dreams, or with the tour operator?? Thx! If you are using a tour operator then your TA would have to negotiate with them. Keep in mind that your promo will likely look different if you are booking packaged vacations (flight and hotel) with your tour operator since the sixth room free promo is on the room only. So what I mean to say is that you would likely not get the sixth package free, since that includes airfare. Maybe it would be more like the 12th person free, or something like that, in order to compensate. Make sense? These things change all the time of course, but what I found when I was booking for my group was that this sixth person free deal was way better than what the tour operators were offering in terms of freebies, which was part of the reason why we opted to book hotel and airfare separately for our group. Good Luck

Quote: Originally Posted by margin123 Hi Ladies! I was originally interested in Dreams Villamagna, but we are now looking at Dreams Riviera Cancun! I was wondering if you could all tell me "what" made you choose this resort over other Dreams properties? Thanks girls! For me: - it's a new resort (mind you, so is Dreams Villamagna) - on the Carribean side of Mexico (love the white sand and turquoise water) - good location, between Cancun and Playa del Carmen, and very close to the airport - great intro pricing available at the time that we booked - free golf - all of the rooms look great, regardless of room category - great reviews!

Wow, those look fantastic!

BEAUTIFUL photos, congrats!!! I have to tell you that I am so jealous that you got to have Michael AND Amber as your photographers! As you can see from my siggy, I've hired Michael Wachniak to photograph my wedding, but I gave Amber Hughes some serious consideration as well! Love their work P.S. Your dress is fantastic!

Quote: Originally Posted by ashley1316 going to use these as my table names. going to get a small tip black mark and write the name of the guest on the chair. long story short, my FI and i met on a lawn chair..... Aww that is super cute!!! Great idea!

Our colour scheme is FINALLY coming together! We are using royal blue accented with aqua and yellow/orange. Might also throw in a few pops of lime green and hot pink if FI will let me get away with it! Basically he loves the royal blue, which is fine, but then I want to accent it with bright beautiful tropical colours

Quote: Originally Posted by Laura22610 I'm not sure why she told him no. My reception was over at 10, so not too late, and she never approached me about paying for an extra hour of reception, which I probably would have done. The open bar for the 3 hours of reception is included with the package. So, I just had the 3 hours and didn't pay any extra. Maybe if you want extra, this has to be worked out prior to the day of the wedding. So, I am not sure about the prices of extra hours because I never looked into it (never even thought to ask)! So, just to be clear, did you have dinner and THEN a 3 hour reception with dancing to follow? Maybe you could share a brief description of your timeline? I guess I was assuming that the 3 hours of open bar that are included with dinner, started with dinner, and now I'm wondering if I have misunderstood. For example, I was thinking of having dinner at 6pm, so I was assuming that if I wanted the reception to go to 11pm then I would have to pay for 2 additional hours of open bar (6pm - 9pm included, and then 9pm-11pm cost extra) - am I wrong?

Quote: Originally Posted by Laura22610 The DJ played for us for the 3 hours of the reception. I would have loved for him to stay longer - he was so much fun! He told me that he asked Ana if he could stay longer than the 3 hours for us and she told him no But we definitely had a good amount of time to dance! Whaaa, why would she tell him no I was wondering about this also, how strict the DJ would be to his 3 hours of service time. This brings me to another question though for you Laura (or any other brides who have been): did you get extra hours of open bar for your reception? I'm pretty much thinking I am going to need this but hate the idea of paying so much extra for it. Will Ana at least cut you a deal if you purchase a number of extra hours? I know at some resorts I researched that if you purchased more than one extra hour of open bar service then the charge was half price, or something like this.

Quote: Originally Posted by allegraapple Congrats on the dress Angela. Very exciting! Looking forward to seeing you in it :-) We're arriving on 12/7.... so I might get a peek as you're hanging around the resort. Where are you having your ceremony and reception? Thanks Allegra Yes, I'm sure you'll see me in it both on my wedding day and for my TTD! I'll be parading around in it as much as possible, lol. We are having our ceremony on the beach and reception on the pool deck. To be honest, I wish I could use the gazebo for the ceremony, but I just hate how public the location is! Where are you thinking for yours? Quote: Originally Posted by sstryker I noticed that. I haven't seen anyone else on here with our date either. What time is your ceremony? We're going at 2pm. Our ceremony is currently scheduled for 3pm. I keep wondering if I should move it up a little, considering how early sunset is that time of year, but I also don't want a huge gap between the ceremony and reception. I think if we get started on time (fingers crossed) we should be okay. It's just that I'm bringing my fab photographer so I don't want the light to fade before we get all the shots I want! Lol, I think FI is going to die with all the pics I want taken...

I've got an aunt kind of like this, she gets SUPER obnoxious when she drinks. Like cries and gets mean, just ridiculous. At first she told me that she wouldn't be able to take the time off work to come to my wedding, and secretly, as much as I do love her, I was glad to hear this. I mean, we are going to an AI where she can drink her face off for free all day long! But just recently all her kids have decided to go so now suddenly she and her husband have decided to come too - just great! Anyways, I'm sure it will be fine, but I am a bit worried... I expressed my concerns to my brother who told me that he would be happy to run interference and make sure she doesn't ruin any of our time there. I feel bad that he has to do this, but he told me that really it's not fair if I have to be watching out for her on my wedding trip. If we are all hanging out at a certain bar or restaurant and she is acting ridiculous, she should be the one to go elsewhere, not us. I wonder if you have anyone that could help you "run interference" with your brother in law? We definitely have a few other "annoying" guests coming as well, but we're just trying to take it in stride and realize that these are a small minority compared to all the great people that will be there! I think it helps too that, annoying are not, these people are travelling a long distance and forking out for this vacation to come to our wedding, which is so sweet! So we will try and cut them a little slack as much as possible, and just try and all enjoy our time together celebrating

I don't see why not... I mean not in your carry-on of course, but I don't know why it would be a problem in your checked luggage.

Quote: Originally Posted by sstryker Hello! Another December bride here! We're tying the knot December 8th @ Dreams Tulum. Sounds like everyone is very busy! I've got most of the big stuff on my list accomplished. The only "big" thing left is ordering the guys barongs (my FI is Philippino) from the Philippines. Oh and shoes for the BMs. Congrats everyone! Yay you're my first date twin I've seen on here!

Quote: Originally Posted by kriztie707 That is so exciting you put your deposit down on your dress! I bought my dress last August and I put it on last night for the first time since then. I feel in love with it all over again. Aww Kriztie that's so great that you still love it so much!!! Half the reason I put off dress shopping for so long was because I was afraid I would find something early and then change my mind later, and I can barely afford to be a one dress bride let alone two, or three! Now it is too late to change my mind! I can't wait to put mine on again when it comes in and hopefully fall in love with it all over again too

For me, my TA was in touch with my wedding coordinator to book and secure our wedding date, but that was it. Other than that, she is responsible only for the travel needs of our group. And believe me, she has her hands full with that! All of my questions related to planning the details of the wedding need to be directed to the resort wedding coordinator. I *think* this is fairly normal, and seems fair to me!

Quote: Originally Posted by Kristin Loch I am new to this and just figuring it out. I am getting married at Dreams Riviera in November. Does anyone have any info.? I've never been there and I'm a little nervous! Congratulations Kristin! We have TONS of info!!! Take some time and read through this thread to get it all! I haven't been there either, but the resort has gotten such rave reviews, in particular from a few brides who have already gotten married there, so I don't think we have anything to be too nervous about

Quote: Originally Posted by gujarwala Thanks for the response, wouldn't it cost more overall to bring your own photographer once you include paying for his/her vacation as well? Also from your post did you mean that the local photographers in Mexico would not give you your photos on CD? (as you mentioned an advantage of bringing your own is that you get them on cd). Oh sorry, no I think most local photographers (ones you would hire locally but are independent to the hotel) would give you your photos on CD, but many resort photographers don't, or it is a surcharge to get them. Many resort wedding packages might include, for example, 50 photos with the option to buy more or get your photos on CD. If you want more than 50 photos, you should look into how much more you are going to be charged for the extras because it can get quite pricey! I think some people go with the resort photographer for the reason of cost, but if they buy more pictures it can be much more expensive than they thought. As for your first point, this is going to totally depend on who you are comparing. If I compare what I am paying to what I would pay for the resort photographer, then yes I am probably paying more to bring in my own photographer. But photos are a big deal to me, and I am just not happy enough with the work of resort photographers. So I am spending a little more to bring my own, yes. But compared to what I would be paying to hire someone locally, I feel I am getting a good deal, even with paying travel costs. There are some AMAZING local photographers in the Cancun/Mayan Riviera area, many of whom are vendors on this forum. And what they charge varies quite a bit. For what I am paying, I could afford to hire someone locally instead for sure, but the photographers I really love in Mexico I could never afford! That being said, there were also lots of photographers I inquired with from outside of Mexico that I could never afford to fly in either! So I definitely had to take some time and do my research so I could find the right person at the right price for me. Like I said, photography is such a matter of personal taste, but for the style I like I truly feel like bringing in my own photographer is saving me a bundle and allowing us pretty much unlimited access to a photographer for our trip. My best advice to you figure out what you want for photography and shop around! Good luck

There is certainly A LOT of discussion on this forum about photographers. Do some searching through the threads and you will learn a lot! I can't really comment about the quality of resort photographers in general because some are good and some are bad, but I think that most would agree in any case that there's no guarantees you will get a "good" photographer. I put good in quotes though because good or bad photography is really so subjective! Which route you choose to go for photography depends a lot on what you are looking for. Resort photographers can be cheaper, if you only want limited coverage and photos. I am bringing in my own photographer because I also value the quality of photography, and really love my photographers' style. But on top of this, I also think it is a good value money-wise. I get my photographer for my rehearsal dinner, full wedding day, and TTD the day after, and I get all my photos on CD. A local photographer would cost me way more for the same coverage, and particularly with resort photographers you get only a limited amount of photos and if you want more you will pay for it. I'm sure that others will have other points for you to consider, but I hope this helps you

how my mornings usually begin : yawning

Hi girls, I'm trying to find multi-colored/iridescent organza for chair sashes (or pre-made sashes would be even better!). I'm hoping to find something like this, that has some sort of royal blue/aqua/yellow combination, depending on how you look at it or the light hits it: (Apologies for stealing this photo from another BDW bride - she was actually selling these sashes on here awhile ago that her mom made, and I missed out! I've been looking for similar fabric ever since.) If you have something like this, or know where I can get it, please let me know! Thanks so much

Thanks for all the kind words ladies - I definitely spent more than I should have (eek!) but I really love my dress!!! Quote: Originally Posted by pineapplebride Beautiful dress!! It looks great on you!! What type of fabric is it? I love how flowy (is that a word?) and light it looks while still being a full dress! The material is called gaza (like an organza or chiffon I guess, but nicer, from what I understand). I think this is the same material that many Pronovias dresses use. When I set out dress shopping I did NOT want a "destination" dress, I wanted a proper wedding dress. So for me, this really satisfied the best of both worlds, giving me a proper structured wedding dress that is also soft, romantic, and light - perfect for the beach!

If I were going to an adults-only all-inclusive in the area I would definitely look at either the Royal Playa del Carmen or Secrets Maroma - both look absolutely amazing IMO, and almost make me wish I wasn't having kids at my wedding, lol!

Quote: Originally Posted by CamilleA You need to go to Alux Lounge - this is where we are having our wedding!!! It is amazing - the food is absolutely delicious and the staff is incredible!! WOW this place looks awesome!!! Can't believe you are having your wedding there, lucky you! I bet your pics will be amazing