KarenM

Sorry you girls are so frustrated and not getting the answers you're looking for! I found some of my emails were really wordy so putting questions in numbered lists should help. And if you don't get a question answered, just email her back letting her know. Just to put you at ease, we emailed back & forth w/ Rebeca for months and, like many of you, weren't thrilled with some of the responses/partial answers we got. But, we did have a meeting with her several days before the wedding to go over everything. We chose the final menu, cake type & shape (square or round are included & she has samples to show you), flowers (she has a book of selections to choose from & we sort of designed our own), and gave her the decorations we brought with us, a printout of the ceremony & tables (# of tables & how many people per table), disc of songs for the dj & the OOT bags to be delivered to guests. We talked about all the details, such as times for getting hair/makeup done, when my dress would be picked up to be steamed (& delivered), when the flowers would be delivered, whether we wanted a signature cocktail at the reception or the Dreams photographer, etc. We opted not to do a rehearsal, but she would've been available if we wanted one. In short, Rebeca was very thorough & we felt totally confident about the details after that meeting. And her office (the wedding room) is in the hallway between the Preferred Tower & the lobby so we could stop by if we had questions. She did request our menu & play list a few weeks in advance (we used the dj) and I think it was just to have an idea of what we wanted down on paper so that when she met with us she'd have something to go on. I know it's frustrating when trying to plan, but it actually worked out fine. What was really helpful for me was to print out inspiration pics of details I liked to give Rebeca. I brought pics of bouquets & chuppah styles I liked and we planned it all during the meeting. I have to say she made all of it happen beautifully. Saraheya, if you're having a reception outside it'll end around 10:30 (unless, like Lauren, you get your dj to stay longer; lucky girl). I'm attaching the dinner menu options I received from Rebeca. It may have changed in the last several months, but you can mix & match. DREAMS DINNER MENU.doc71k .doc file And here is a word doc with info about a lot of the options they have. It's from 2009 so I'm sure prices are different, but it might be helpful for general info. WEDDING INFORMATION 2009.doc1,077k .doc file

You guys will absolutely LOVE the bonfire!! It was so much fun & everyone had a great time! You won't miss not having a rehearsal dinner at all. And depending on what night you're having it, people can either eat together or separately at the theme night & then come to the bonfire after. I know some people are considering having music - we didn't, which turned out to be fine b/c it was pretty loud on the beach. At one point we tried to make a short speech thanking everyone for coming, but no one could really hear us over the waves.

Congratulations Allyson! you looked beautiful & I love all the details!

thanks, we found the tile vector & I made a border & changed the colors in Illustrator. I can email it to you if you'd like, but it's an Illustrator file

Hooray Maria! We can finally see your wonderful pics! You looked gorgeous! Your brother did such a great job capturing the emotion of the day & he got some beautiful detail shots. Congratulations!

I don't think it'd look weird at all - it'll just be fun & colorful. I also don't think everything has to be matchy, but some people prefer a very coordinated look so it just depends on your preference. I loved having the talavera tiles & guests really liked that they each got a unique tile. And if you wanted, you could put votive holders on the tables in your colors. in case you're interested, this is where we bought the tiles for the place cards (they had really good customer service) http://www.tilesandtiles.com/talaveratiles/catalogotalavera.html and for the table #'s (also great service - it looked like they were out of the #1 online & when I called they searched around & found one to send me) http://www.mexicantiles.com/mexican-decor-ceramic-house-number-tiles.html We bought the little stands online, but I've seen them at Michael's for cheap. While we were in PV we bought a talavera vase to use in our sand ceremony which helped tie things together, but even without that I would've still used the tiles as place cards/table #'s. Hope that helps. Good luck deciding & let me know if you have questions!

Hey Maria, Â You might already be doing this, but just to be sure... Â To upload photos in the Reply box, click the icon at the top right that looks like a picture (when you hover your mouse over it, it says "insert image" & I put a red box around it below) Â Â Â Â Then when this window pops up, you need to click "browse" to search your computer for the file where your pics are saved (they need to be in jpg format). After you select a pic, then click submit at the bottom right of the window. It should come up then. Maybe try 1 at a time to see if it works. Â Â Â hope that helps - we want to see your pics!

Congrats & welcome, Kristy! As a former Dreams PV bride I can tell you you will not be disappointed with your choice! It's a wonderful place! Have fun planning & let me know if you have any questions. Â

   Hey, we didn't actually rent out a lounge/bar, though that would be great! What we rented was lounge-type furniture to be set up at the reception (cost was $500).  like this:   and this  This is a pic from Rebeca, not our actual reception. Looks like this reception had a buffet, but if you look straight back that's the standard bar set-up on the Las Palmas Terrace.   sorry for the confusion!

We had our cocktail hour & reception on the Las Palmas Terrace and the full bar was set up in 1 location for all of it. There were also 2 waiters (in addition to the bartender) who were around all night & took drink orders. Â Â Not sure if anyone's thinking of renting the lounges, but we did and those were set up for the whole night as well.

 You can have tables for 8 or 10 (we had some of each & had one table of 6). I set up a seating chart on weddingmapper.com & gave it to Rebeca. If you're having assigned seating it's really easy to do. (just have to register & then add all your guests) http://www.weddingmapper.com/wedding/register?tools=1   We had the steak & chicken w/ pepper sauce and it was really good. Since it's offered together you may just want to go with it - that way it gives people the choice of eating one (or both) since they're on the plate together. That comes with mashed potatoes & mixed veggies, which were also good.   We had: Chicken fingers for the kids Mini tamales Guacamole, salsa & chips Acapulco shrimp ceviche on tartlets Sopes with Mexican sausage  DH & I really didn't eat any of the appetizers (just the guac & chips) but they looked good & all our guests said they were really good.  For dinner we had the poblano soup, which was excellent, then the steak & chicken, also really good. For dessert we had the vanilla cake & had them add strawberries in between the layer. It was soooo good, surprisingly good actually! They use a whipped cream icing, which was so yummy, & the cake was moist & super good.    We loved our vanilla cake! It was one of the best cakes I've ever had at a wedding actually. But, yeah, overall the desserts at Dreams aren't the best. Â

 That's crazy! We were the ones who bought the 2 bottles of wine & used the wine cellar (over Memorial Day weekend). It was a spur of the moment thing & my brother-in-law arranged it with the head waiter the same night we were interested in having dinner. He just stopped in around 5 to ask if there was any way they could seat around 12 of us near each other later that night (since they only seat like up to 6 or 8 together). The waiter who he spoke with suggested the wine cellar and told him we would need to buy 2 bottles of wine to use the room (even though glasses of wine are free at the resort if you buy a bottle you have to pay for it regardless of the restaurant). Seems kinda ridiculous that they'd all of the sudden charge $200 for that, but I think we actually ended up ordering 4 bottles so we probably spent about that.

Great job! Really like the graphic you used! congrats on getting them done!

gorgeous gorgeous photos! Congrats Jannae!

 We did. Most of them were the same, but one was for a single guy, one for a family of 5 (with toys) & we had some extra stuff we threw in our parents' bags so we wanted to make sure the bags were given to the right people. We tied tags I made on the bags & wrote names on the back of the tags. We grouped the bags together by date of arrival & gave them all to Rebeca. She arranged for them to be delivered after each guest checked in & it worked out perfectly. DH & I were both very glad we forked over the $ to have them delivered b/c it was one less thing for us to worry about.

  One of my best friends just wore these for her wedding. So cute & sparkly! love 'em!

Actually I just checked & sunset was 8:36 pm. how's that for exact? Â http://www.mobilegeographics.com:81/locations/5150.html?y=2010&m=5&d=29 Â if you scroll down on the left you can change the date to find out when sunrise/sunset is.

Yep, the wedding was 5.29 at 6 and it was light out until almost 8:30. So our ceremony was 6-6:30, then pics w/ family/bridal party while everyone else went to the cocktail hour. I wasn't wearing a watch so can't give exact times, but cocktail hour lasted til like 7:30, then dinner til around 8:30. We did cake cutting & our first dance around then. I can't remember if we sat back down after cutting the cake or just went right into the 1st dance (leaning towards remembering cutting the cake & then having 1st dance) but I'm pretty sure it was around 8:30 & it was dusk then so the sun wasn't quite down yet. Then dancing til 10:30-45. It did seem a little short to me, but overall it was actually fine. Around 10:45 we went & took over the sports club (which is really more like a dance club anyway), plugged in ipods & danced the rest of the night away. We didn't do father/daughter, mother/son dances or garter/bouquet tosses so if you're planning on having those then it definitely would be too short. Â I think in retrospect I would've picked 5 or 5:30 for the ceremony. We ran short on time for pics, which is the one real regret I have about the whole thing, so a little earlier reception would've been better. Â Hope that helps!

 Um, I just saw your avatar pic! WHERE did you find that sock monkey? So freaking cute!  Thanks Teira! The converse were actually for FI. I designed them at converse.com & he wore them for the reception.   And yeah, he was a pretty happy boy with the BD book. I gave it to him on the day of the wedding (I wasn't around to see his reaction) & by a happy coincidence our photographer got there just in time to catch him opening it so we have some great pics of that!    Nice!! They're great shirts and I think the guys all really liked them. DH bought one too & wore it to dinner one of the nights so they could totally be worn again in summer or on tropical vacay. And Tammy is terrific so I'm glad she's getting more business!    I love those too. They're really nice quality and super reasonable price-wise. And Hope was great to work with. She gave me a ton of fabric options & was really responsive. I still wish I had bought one for myself! Â

 aww, thanks Ayslinn! I had so much fun planning & putting it together.

Thanks girls! Yep, I had to have 'em & I'm really glad we bought them. They now have a prominent home on display in the living room.

Hey girls! I haven't been on for a while, but thought I'd check in & see how all the planning's going. Â Â We also had the ultimate pckg - 1 hr for cocktails (though the Mexican trio played for more like 45-50 min) and then like 3 hrs for the reception. They close down everything outside around 10:30 or so (we were there a little later) but our ceremony didn't start til 6 so all the timing worked out fine. Â And for those of you having/considering the bonfire - it is so much fun! Super relaxing & just a great way to spend the evening. We had ours Fri night after the Fiesta Night (which is on the main pool deck) and it was one of the best decisions we made about the whole week. Everyone loved it! Â Jenn, I would check with Rebeca (or your WC) to find out the cost for the DJ for the extra hour. I have an old price list & it was like $170 per hour like a year or 2 ago.

Wonderful photos! Congratulations!!

Thanks girls

awww, Congratulations!! Welcome little Delilah!