Teesha

Quote: Originally Posted by evtalbot Thanks for the review! I love the pictures of you and your hubby! Your colors are the same as mine so I enjoyed looking at your ceremony set-up! I would also like to know where you got your DH's suit and bridesmaid dresses! Congrats! Hi there...my husband actually just googled Linen suits and found that one, I can't remember which site he got it from, but I suggest ordering from J.Crew...I had been eyeing a linen suit on there for a while but they didn't have his size. We also got all the bridesmaid dresses from J.Crew (which were last year's colours) for only $69 US! All the groomsmen clothes were from J. Crew too as well as my husband's shirt. If you're from Canada, you can order through airmilesshops.ca and earn AIR MILES reward miles too. There is also no duty on J.Crew orders to Canada which is a huge bonus. Hope that helps.

Quote: Originally Posted by jennyatk ok for girls that have been married. I sent a pic of my bouquet of cally lilly with ribion wrapped around it. Very simple she emailed back saying they are very expensive. Is this true? and how much extra did she charge you? Hi Jenny, This is true. I had originally asked for all different coloured Calalillies. Apparently they only grow white calas in Mexico and the florist explained that they could import the colour ones from Holland $$$$$. So I then switched to all different colour lilies with white calalillies mixed in. My bridesmaids each had a small bouquet of whitel calas for $35 each. Here is what the florist told me they had available in terms of flowers and colours as the standard: WE HAVE ROSES, YELLOW, ORANGE, WHITE, PURPLE, IVORY, PINK, RED. LISIANTUS, WHITE, PURPLE AND PINK. IRIS, WHITE AND PURPLE. GERBER DAYSIS, YELLOW, ORANGE, WHITE, PURPLE, IVORY, PINK, RED. LILIES, WHITE, YELLOW, ORANGE, PINK. ALSTROMERIAS, RED, ORANGE, WHITE, PINK, YELLOW, DEPHINIUMS, WHITE AND BLUE. BIRD OF PARADISE, ORANGE. GINGERS, RED AND PINK. MINI-ROSES, WHITE, RED, YELLOW, ORANGE, PINK, IVORY. WHITE CALAS,

If you're planning on doing a welcome dinner, there are two fiesta nights in the week - Tuesday and Friday. I recommend doing your dinner on one of these nights as the tables are set up in either 10 or 12 seats. If you get there right at 6pm you can take as many tables as you want and it's free!

Quote: Originally Posted by wahmsuzanne Ladies ... I was just reading a review of DT on another site and the gal mentioned all of the topless women on the beach ... Have any of your seen this while there? We will be traveling with our kids and I'm not sure how I feel about my kids (especially my boys ages 13 and 11) viewing this. Not the end of the world but I would like to know if it's common there. Thanks! Suzanne Hi there...Dreams Tulum actually doesn't allow topless women on the beach, there are signs posted as it is a family resort. If it makes you feel better, I was there for 2 weeks and didn't see any!

Hi ladies, my apologies for taking so long to write my review. Here is the link to my review...enjoy. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...185#post793625 You will also find a sample of my professional pics from Del Sol Photography in there, but here is the link if you don't want to go all the way through it. 04.09.09 Teesha and Martin | Dreams Tulum | Photos by Vincent I am also going to try and add some non-pro pics...can someone tell me how to do that?

Resort 10/10 The resort is absolutely beautiful. For those of you, like me, who can not afford to do a site visit prior to your wedding, have no fear!!! Dreams Tulum is perfect for anyone who wants their wedding at a smaller Mayan resort (although small is not quite how I would describe it). To put it into perspective, we had 6 guests stay at the Grand Bahia Principe resort, which is 5 or 6 resorts all attached and you have to take shuttle buses to get anywhere on the resort. They also told us you could easily get lost on the way to dinner or a show. This does not happen at Dreams Tulum. Beach 8/10 I had read a lot of reviews about the beach, so was completely prepared for what we were going to get. All the girls who have written about the beach are right, it is rocky and there is a lot of seaweed. However, as I am not a salt-water person anyway, this didn’t make any difference to me. As a warning for anyone who is excited to jump on the trampoline, we had 3 guests get injured. Apparently, once you jump on the trampoline there is no guarantee it will still be under you when you come down LOL!!! So 3 different people landed, feet first, in the water on a rock and ended up limping for the rest of the trip. Service 10/10 The service at the resort is impeccable. I have never been to a resort where all the staff was sooooo nice. You can’t pass anyone without someone saying “Holaâ€, so be prepared to be saying it to everyone you see. During dinner, all the wait staff says “It’s a pleasure†to anything they do for you. It was the nicest sentiment I’ve ever heard and makes you feel very special. The staff does work extremely hard and completely depends upon tips, so if you have a good experience please be sure to show your appreciation by tipping. Any amount is appreciated by them and we usually left a couple of dollars after every “fancy†dinner we went to. Food 10/10 I give the food such high ratings because of the great selections. There is something for everyone! Our favourite restaurant was probably the Asian, Himatsu. However, my husband tried sushi for the first time and fell in love with it. The sushi is super fresh! My only recommendation is not to order the sushi with cream cheese in it. For some reason they put a ton of cream cheese in the sushi that overpowers the whole experience. You’ll see what I mean if you order it Since we were there for 2 weeks we were able to go to all the restaurants a couple of times. At a couple of the restaurants, French and Italian, the portions were smaller so we would sometimes visit another restaurant right after LOL! It was very convenient that the resort does not take reservations and it was first come first serve. Lunch – the grill on the beach is very convenient for a lunch time snack, especially if you’re not ready to leave the sun just yet. They usually had BBQ pork, chicken, ribs or hot dogs with tortillas and salsa and salad. It changed everyday. A lot of our guests really enjoyed the Sea Side Grill for lunch or the Mexican. Both restaurants had similar food, but the Mexican had more fried pub type of food – good for a hangover! Breakfast – We went to the buffet almost everyday for breakfast, but if you want a change, like to be waited on and would like to enjoy the scenery, try the Sea Side Grill – very relaxing. FYI – Every Tuesday and Friday the resorts have a Mexican and Caribbean Fiesta (respectively) in the big open area behind the coffee café. It is just a huge buffet and the food was fantastic. If you are thinking of doing a big group dinner and don’t want to pay the private event fee, this is the perfect venue for that. You just need to get there right at 6pm to get tables relatively close together (they are all tables of 10 or 12 – I think). Rooms 9/10 After reading Rachel’s review, we took some advice from her and emailed the resort to ask for a room upgrade. We had booked the cheapest room, which was probably a hacienda garden view suite. After much back and forth with Javier he double upgraded us to a Dreams Suite and offered to give us the honeymoon suite for $40 or $50 a night. We stuck with the free upgrade to the Dreams Suite and the room was gorgeous! Our only complaint about the Dreams suite is the location. The new section is close to the pool and all the other amenities. The problem is the noise. One day we tried to take an afternoon nap and had no luck. You can here music playing, kids screaming and doors slamming all day! The noise actually starts at about 6am everyday with the wait staff carrying dishes or pushing carts to and from the restaurants. Hacienda rooms – all of our guests were in these rooms. Do not worry if you are put here, these rooms are really nice as well. The bonus is that they are quiet. There is a hammock on the balcony of every room and the patio opens up to a shared area with a fountain in the middle – it reminded me of Melrose Place LOL! Wedding – Dreams of Love package (Silver – 43 guests) 10/10 Like many of you on here, I was super stressed about the wedding beforehand. I would like to alleviate your fears. The wedding was perfect!!! Landy was our coordinator and went above and beyond for us. There were a couple of hiccups along the way, but once you’re there you completely relax and take everything in stride. I had read that upon arrival you would have a letter in your room setting up your first meeting with the coordinator. There was no letter! We didn’t get the letter until the day of our meeting. When you meet with your coordinator, she goes over the entire contract with you and shows you all the prices for the items you are paying for and you have to pay for everything upfront at that first meeting – so bring your cash or your travellers cheques!!! She also tells you when you need to go for your blood test. Most of the items are exactly what you agreed on and what is in the wedding guide, some are not. We were quoted $45 for bridesmaid bouquets and only paid $35 for them, so sometimes it works out in your favour. Yes, you do have to pay a fee twice for the music, this is their policy and there’s really no point arguing it. There is also a fee for setting up any paper lanterns you bring, we didn’t argue. Overall we were very happy with what we paid as we had guesstimated more than what the actual cost was. There is a second meeting that you will have that you need to bring your witnesses to (they will need their passport and tourist card) to sign documents. The coordinator will also take any items that you need set up. We met with Landy again the day before and passed over everything – menu cards, shot glasses, place cards, starfish, tulle, paper lanterns – and she took notes of where everything was to go. Everything was in the right place for the reception! We had downgraded to the silver package prior to leaving after going over the packages with a fine-tooth comb. All you really get extra for the Ultimate package is the mariachi band, the different menu and the couples massage. We agreed the band was not a necessity and instead downloaded Mexican music to our iPod that we played during the cocktail reception. We also liked the Silver menu better than the Gold and were very happy with the food. Actually our guests were still talking about how good it was days later. You can actually see the menu in our professional pics…link below. So we saved $700 US by going with the other package. I also had asked about switching the photographer for the videographer months earlier, as we had booked our own photographer. Landy had agreed, but when I confirmed with Anabel just before we got there, she claimed that switches were no longer allowed. I sent her Landy’s original email and she quickly said they would allow it this time, but it is not allowed moving forward. So ladies KEEP ALL YOUR EMAILS!!!! Wedding Extras – we decided that we wanted our guests to have a full Mexican experience so instead of flowers for the centrepiece we opted for a bottle of Tequila on ice. Landy got us the bottles of tequila for $25 each to save us from going into town. We probably could have bribed the bar staff but went this route to avoid the hassle  She also had salt and lime wedges set up in margarita glasses – we were pleasantly surprised by this. During our first meeting with Landy, we discussed where everything was to take place. We had originally wanted everything on the beach – ceremony, cocktails and reception. Landy then told us that the Sea Side Grill would be closed that night and asked us if we wanted to have the reception in there instead. At first we were suspicious and asked about the cost, but Landy told us that we could have it for free because it was going to be closed anyway. Not sure why the Grill was closed on a Thursday evening, but we were very happy to save the $750 private event fee. We checked the following Thursday to see if this was a regular occurrence, but it was open. My husband thinks they closed it specifically for us due to the number of guests they would have to serve on the beach from the Grill. I don’t know if this is true or not, but we were very grateful to have the restaurant as it was very windy that night and I’m sure people would’ve had sand in their food if we were still on the beach LOL!!! Photography – Del Sol Photography When I first booked Del Sol, I was told that I would get associate photographer Diego, however, Vincent and Paco showed up. BTW – I only paid for one day pass ($55) and didn’t get charged the additional pass; I also didn’t know I was getting 2 photographers . I was very happy to have Vincent after reading Rachel Martin’s review. She was right, he was fantastic!!! He totally put us at ease and was very professional. He’s from France, but his English is very good. When he couldn’t think of the English word, my husband and him spoke French and just translated for me! I completely recommend Del Sol to anyone who thinks pictures are important. I wrestled with the cost for a while but do not regret the decision at all. Vincent and Paco stayed for 4 hours and took amazing pictures! Here is a sample, I haven’t received them all but love most of what is here: 04.09.09 Teesha and Martin | Dreams Tulum | Photos by Vincent All in all, our wedding was everything we hoped it would be and more! Feel free to write me if you have any questions and I will do my very best to answer. This forum was fantastic leading up to my wedding day and I would love to give back wherever I can!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by MajikDreams That's so funny - you looked beautiful. Your mom actually warned me that you weren't 100% thrilled by the way they did your makeup, so we actually taught Trinidad how to do it when it was time for mine the next day. My MOH and I are both cosmetology teachers =) You looked beautiful - loved your dress =) You probably saw us too! Hey MajikDreams...I think you might actually be talking about my wedding on the Thursday LOL!!! My mom ran to the salon right after she fixed my makeup!!! Trinidad did a terrible job...I don't recommend anyone getting their makeup done there. The quality of the makeup was aweful as well...everything was oil based.

Quote: Originally Posted by Blkatz I am walking down the aisle to somewhere over the rainbow-the one that is in 50 first dates. there is a thread on here with everyone's list LOL Blkats...I'm walking down the aisle to the same song!!!! It's my fiancees favourite song!!!!

Hi Rachel...you mentioned that you emailed the hotel and asked for a complimentary room upgrade. Which email address did you use? I sent a similar email to [email protected] and they responded saying they would forward my request to the wedding coordinator, which is pretty ironic because when I asked Landy this same question, she told me to email the hotel. I'm getting super frustrated!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Teesha Rachel your pics so far are beautiful!!! Can't wait to see Del Sol's work. I also booked an associate photographer with Del Sol...we're using Diego. I'm hoping he's as passionate about his work as Vincent was! One quick question - did you bring down the overlays yourself; if not how much did the resort charge you for the overlay? I think you mentioned $10 each in your review but I'm not sure. Thanks! Rachel - ignore my question...just read your post about the fabric store on Queen Street. Which store was it? I might take a walk down there on my lunch break.

Rachel your pics so far are beautiful!!! Can't wait to see Del Sol's work. I also booked an associate photographer with Del Sol...we're using Diego. I'm hoping he's as passionate about his work as Vincent was! One quick question - did you bring down the overlays yourself; if not how much did the resort charge you for the overlay? I think you mentioned $10 each in your review but I'm not sure. Thanks!

Hi ladies, Quick question...what is the etiquette on tipping now? I would've had no problem tipping anyone and everyone if we weren't being charged 10% tax and 15% gratuity on everything we are booking for the wedding. That's a 25% mark up whereas before there was none. Please help!

Hi Ladies...so I know I've been MIA lately (super stressed), but I have been reading all the posts as they get forwarded to my email account. I do have a question though, does anyone have a good sample of a welcome letter. I'm having a hard time writing mine and am lookin for some inspiration. Any help would be great!

Quote: Originally Posted by jawedding I can't believe it's Neen's wedding day! I wish we could be there to see it! Good luck BC bride!! can't wait to hear all about your days!! I might have asked this before - but can anybody tell me how much your guests had to pay for their trips? ours will be leaving from Toronto mostly.. but any quotes would be good! The best we have is 1775 pp.. we are hoping to find something slightly cheaper (planning to get married in Jan 2010), but not sure if that is a totally rediculous hope!~ thanks!! Hi there...we are also leaving from Toronto and booked back in September 2008 for April 2009. I got a group rate with SunWing for $1259 + $267 tax. I also spoke with multiple travel agents to get the best price and toggled back and forth asking who could beat the price of the other one. I found that itravel2000.com was pretty competitive and at that time we could have taken advantage of the "Let it Snow" promotion. We actually went with Red Tag Vacations only because they gave us the cheapest price. If we had gone with itravel, our guests from Halifax would actually be travelling for free in April - they were the winners of the promotion . I would wait a few months for prices to go down before booking for January 2010. You will also get to take advantage of an early booking bonus and be able to watch the prices go down if you wait a bit. In the current economic climate, I believe less people will be travelling and you'll be able to save some money when the price drops.

Hi Ladies, I'm just wondering about the cost of sound system rental and set-up. I sent Landy an email asking about the price as we are having everything on the beach (ceremony and reception). This is the email I sent and the one I received back: Hi Landy, Thank you for the quick response. I just need something clarified; are we required to pay $150+$240 ($390 total) for music equipment set up for the ceremony and the reception? Wouldn’t the music already be set up for the ceremony and can just be moved to the cocktail and reception location (our reception is on the beach)? I’m just wondering what the extra cost is for? Dear Teesha: In relation with the equipment for ceremony this is just for play during the 30 minutes ceremony and is the service and the equipment rent it. For rent the equipment for the 3 hours reception the price I give to you is not per hour it is for the reception event and the price is extra 240 usd, they would set it up and leave it ready for you play in the reception. Doesn't this seem very expensive just for sound system set-up? We were planning on playing music off our iPod and don't want to pay almost $400. If anyone could help me clarify this, it would be really helpful. Thanks!