ebernard4985

Quote: Originally Posted by colleenandclint I too love the escort cards. It looks like it is from a magazine. so beautiful. please let us know more about them. Thank ladies! I bought all my starfish off of ebay... i can't remember the vendor though, they were from Florida. I then bought the raffia from Michaels for the chair decorations. If you go to shorechic.com you can get all sorts of ideas! You can also buy them from their website, it is just MUCH cheaper to do it on your own. For the escort cards.. I bought the 4-5 inch finger starfish. I will attach the word document I used to print them out. I then just cut those out and put them on two different colors of cardstock, punched a hole in them, and tied them on It was very simple! I bought a 12x12 wooden box from Michaels and added sand from the beach... that was it

Just a note... we used their overlays, but honestly, they did not really fit the tables. The tables are all circular and the overlays are all squared... so they looked a bit odd. The overlay on our sweetheart table was too large! Not sure what size they were but the tables sat 8 comfortably and I think they were standard sized banquet tables.

Here is the pool deck setup in the day. At night they add spot lights for lighting and the infinity pool light was also on! Here is our sweetheart table. The overlay was much too large for the table though. Here is a table setup. We went really simple in the end. I had more vases for each table but the wind prevented any candles from being lit, so it was pointless to use the other vases. It provided the simple touch we wanted. My husband loves Family Guy so I made these table numbers and bought seashell photo holders from Kohls to hold them up. Luckily, they were able to survive the wind. Instead of chair sashes I made these decorations for the aisle chairs at the ceremony. They were perfect! It was the simple touch we wanted!!! I loved them!!! And here are our escort cards!

Quote: Originally Posted by jstock311 Hey Ladies, I've emailed Ana four times I think and she still hasn't gotten back to me so......I'm hoping one of you can! I'm going to have my invitations printed up very shortly but before I order them, I needed to know if I have to put the entree choices for my guests on the response cards. We are doing a sit down rather than the buffet with the Ultimate Package, and I know you have a choice of two entrees. Do they ask the guests at dinner which they would like or do I need to include it on the response card so the resort has that information ahead of time? I've been to weddings where it has been done both ways so I'm not sure!!! Thanks girls! When I met with Ana she told me if we did a sit down dinner you need to pick ONE of the choices and everyone gets the same choice. They guests do not get to pick between two. We ended up doing the buffet because it gave the guests more choices because they would not let us do split menus.

Quote: Originally Posted by ap070680 Your review was so helpful thanks. Could you tell me what wedding package you did? We had the love package

Here are some of the professional pics and the slide show they put together for you 19-06-10-drerc-hopp - hopp

Quote: Originally Posted by WestBacaniWedding Oh yeah...questions: How many days in advance did you arrive to meet with Ana? And did she charge you to get the large group reservations at the El Patio? I arrived on Monday, met with Ana on Tuesday, and the wedding was on Saturday. There was no charge for El Patio... I cannot say enough about the service and entertainment at El Patio, it was unforgettable!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by AlisonJimmy Thank you for the amazing review Erica!! I can't wait to see your pics!! You made me feel more relaxed about my wedding in August! Did you have to ask for the upgrade or they offered? The package also says that the groom gets a room the night before the wedding. Did you get that? Ahhh.. I forgot to add that! Yes, he did get a room, but they gave it to him the day of the wedding... very pointless if you ask me! And, we had to ask for it so he had a place to get ready! I think had we asked the day before he would have got it then... so just ask. I also asked for the upgrade... I told them that I was told I would get an upgrade... little white lies never hurt

I should add one thing... I can't believe I forgot this... the one MAJOR ANNOYANCE during the wedding..... When my husband was walking with our guests to the ceremony site, 5 minutes before the wedding, he was approached by a Dreams employee and was given a wine list. They were trying to sell him upgraded wine for the reception! BEWARE OF THIS!! I can see a groom so anxious to get there that he just picks anything and does not notice it is an ADDITIONAL charge. I understand that they need to up sell things, however, in not way do I think it was acceptable for them to do this to him 5 minutes before the ceremony!! Just a FYI.

Hello ladies! I am back from the GREATEST WEDDING EVER!!! Anyone doubting this resort... DON'T!!! I know Ana is a pain to get in contact with but in the end she really comes through!!! I have posted an insanely long review for all of you, and if you have any questions let me know on the thread! Now that the wedding is over I don't have time to spend on here going through every post to answer questions so if they are all on that thread I will be sure to answer them! I HUGE thank you to all you ladies who have made this experience easier because of your help and advice! I don't think my wedding would have been possible without this forum! LOVE TO ALL YOU FUTURE BRIDES! Can't wait to see all of YOUR pictures and I truly hope all of your "DREAMS" come true, just as mine did! Here is my thread http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...5/#post1337164

Here is my review for Dreams Riviera Cancun  I have been waiting to right the review… it is almost as exciting as the planning! Ha ha!! Wedding Date: June 19, 2010 Flight to Cancun: We flew American Airlines from Chicago to Cancun and everything went very smoothly. I originally put my dress in the overhead bin and the flight attendant came by and told me that this was unacceptable for a wedding dress and she gladly hung it in the first class cabin… I thought that was very sweet of her!! However, traveling with a wedding dress is a definite pain in the a** when you already have so much luggage!!!! Cancun Airport: I carried all of our items for out OOT bags with me, and with my luck, I was stopped in customs. I did not even have a chance to push the button to see if I got red or green. I guess when my bag went through the machine it looked suspicious so they went through my things. I had about 50 Old Navy flip flops and the beach bags in a large duffel bag and the concern was over the flip flops. Luckily, my sister had the receipt with her for the flip flops that showed I paid $1.00 each for them. Even though it said 2 for $5 on the flip flop tag the customs officer still gave me a hard time. When it was all said and done the officer laughed and told me that in Mexico flip flops cost $30 each! BRING ANY RECEIPTS WITH YOU AND YOU WILL AVOID THIS! You can only bring in $300 each, so split up any items. The funny thing was that I had my Swarovski crystal toasting flutes in my carry on that cost $300+ and they didn’t care about those, but they stopped me for Old Navy flip flops!!! Once you make it through customs keep walking through the airport until you get outside. This is where you will find your airport transfers. There are several people inside the airport that try to sell you stuff. My mom came in by herself at night and one many told her “I am the supervisor and you need to come with meâ€. Luckily my mom knows better but I am afraid some of your guests might actually listen to them if they are uncertain where to go. TRANSFER TO AIRPORT: We booked through Apple Vacations and the transportation was great! There were 8 of us together and we went straight to the hotel. It was only about a 20 minute ride. CHECK-IN: Immediately upon arrival the waitress in the lobby greets everyone with champagne and water. I think this is for every guest, not just groups. We booked a Ocean-View Room and we were upgraded to the Preferred Club Ocean-View Room. We were originally put in room 2403, but this faced the outside of the resort and when we asked to change rooms there was no problem. They changed our room to 2304 and the view was AMAZING! There were some Honeymoon Suites and Master Suites available but they would have been an extra $140 or $170 per night and we did not think it was worth it since our view was awesome already! When you check in mention you are the bride and groom and see what they can do for you. You can also upgrade for just the wedding night if you want to be in one of those rooms to get ready. They also contacted Ana right away and she came to greet us in the lobby. We then set up a time to meet with her the next morning. HOTEL: Words cannot describe the hotel. It is amazing! The grounds are absolutely beautiful! The first day we saw an employee on her hands and knees picking weeds (very extreme for me, but this is how serious they are of the appearance). The first view of the ocean is simply breathtaking as you walk down the stairs from the lobby! The service was unbelievable! Everyone in our group enjoyed themselves and several of our guests are used to the service of top hotels, such as the Ritz-Carlton. HOTEL ROOM: The hotel room is gorgeous. They are awkwardly laid out but you get used to it. If you are not comfortable with your mate, you will be by the end of this trip due to the lack of privacy  This was not a problem for us, but be aware. POOL: The infinity pool is gorgeous. The bar in the pool gets very crowded and the service is slow because they only have 2 bartenders down there. There are also a lot of kids in the pool and they sit at the bar ordering virgin drinks, which gets a bit annoying when you are waiting 20 minutes for a drink. Other than that the kids were not a problem. I just felt children should not be at a bar, but that is just my opinion. The kids did not in ANY WAY ruin anyone’s trip. Everyone enjoyed the pool and had a great time. BEACH: The beach is swimmable, but it is not like the crystal blue waters of Cancun. The water is very turned up and there is a lot of sea grass. The trampoline in the ocean sucks! There is not tension on it and it is hard to jump up and down. Honestly though, this does not affect your trip! There are kayaks and sail boats available for all the guests at no charge and several of our guests used these amenities. It is especially good for those who cannot afford the extra excursions but still want to do something in the water! FOOD: The restaurants are all great! The resort was not very full in June so we never once had to wait for seating. We also were able to eat in some rather large groups. At Portofino there were 20 of us and they put us at two longer tables. We also ate at 7:00 at Bordeaux and had no trouble getting in with 15 in our group. We sat at 3 tables right next to one another. You must do the Hibatchi tables at HImitsu!! The food was great and the show was amazing!!!! ACTIVITIES: The resort gives every room a newsletter the day before called the Sundial. It lists all the day’s activities and the hours for the restaurants. This was very informational and it helped all of our guests. It also listed the newlyweds for the day and is a nice little keepsake  Several people also went on excursions. We took a cab into Playa del Carmen to shop one day. It was $70 each way for a large van that seats 9, or it is $35 for a regular cab. The van driver then waited for us in Playa and drove us back to the hotel. We also did the dolphin swim at Dreams Cancun. This was my gift to my niece and nephew who were in our wedding and they loved it! Some other guests went snorkeling and 2 went to XEL-HA. The two that went to XEL-HA said it is a definite must! However, it was about a 2 hour drive from the hotel. REHEARSAL: I spoke with Ana during our meeting and asked her what would be available for a group of 45 to eat for the rehearsal dinner on Friday night. She did not get back to me so I had to call her on Thursday to find out. She was able to set up dinner for us at 6:00 at El Patio for all of us, we just had to pick out a menu. This was awesome! The service at El Patio was amazing! They were so much fun and entertaining. It was my favorite dinner the entire time we were there! At the end of the dinner they brought out shots of Sprite and Tequila and everyone took a shot… including grandparents! It was a riot! Everyone had a phenomenal time. I would recommend this instead of setting up any private events. OK…. ON TO THE ACTUAL WEDDING!!!!!! CEREMONY: Our ceremony was at 5:00 on the beach. It was perfect. There were very few people on the beach and I did not notice anyone while the ceremony was happening. You will be so wrapped up in the moment you will not even notice! We gave our CD to Ana and the technician knew when to play every song. I did see some people get married at the gazebo while we were there and they used the BOSE sound system and the quality was amazing. I could hear the music in my closed hotel room! However, you would need to have someone in the wedding or a guest change the music from the different tracks. OFFICIANT: We used our own script and the officiant received it 2 minutes before the wedding… I watched Ana hand it to her! I met the officiant about 5 seconds before the ceremony! The officiant was great! She spoke pretty clear English and she did exactly what was on the script. We had to family members to readings as well and she introduced them before they spoke. I would not worry about getting your script to them; they are professionals and did an amazing job. I was concerned as we walked to the ceremony about this but by that time I had to accept whatever fate would bring, luckily, it went off perfectly! RECEPTION: We had our reception on the pool deck… it was awesome! They set up the buffet very nicely and they label everything for you. There is no need to make food labels or even menu cards. I ended up doing turquoise overlays without chair sashes and it looked great. Other weddings I saw used the chair sashes with no overlays. I would not purchase any overlays for the buffet. They use their own tables and already put overlays on them. I saw one wedding where they used blue, pink and red overlays for the buffet. I did not want this and asked for only pink and white, which they did. The food was amazing. We went with the Caribbean buffet because of the rave reviews it has had on the forum. It was a good choice! We also had the chocolate cake. They did not bring it out until my mom went asking for it. Even with the delay it all worked out just fine! My family is from New Orleans and we do the cake pull tradition with the bridesmaids and single ladies (in place of bouquet toss). Ana made sure they made the cake correctly and put the pulls in for me! I was very happy with this! She also set up my centerpieces exactly as I explained. Do not worry, Ana comes through in the end! SOUND SYSTEM: We opted to use their sound system and our iPOD for the ceremony and the reception. This option ended up costing $198 for the ceremony and $303 for the reception. The reception costs $303 NOT $198 time 3 hours which would be $594! It is $198 for all 3 hours of the reception PLUS $35 an hour for the technician which is $303. I had my entire playlist on my iPOD and the technician was very nice and let us change anything we wanted. When we were ready for our dances my brother went over to him and asked him to stop after the next song, which he did. The good thing about the technician is that it comes with a microphone. You need this for the ceremony. If you do not have it your guests will not hear you and they will have then traveled all that way to miss all of your vows and everything else! Unless your sound system had a microphone I would suggest using theirs. PHOTOGRAPHER: We went with Adventure Photos at the resort. I originally had Juan Navarro and was going to pay the extra $250 an hour to have him stay for the reception to get pictures of the dances. Ana told me if I used Adventure Photo I would not have to pay the extra and they would stay all night, so I went with Adventure. Well, Ana lied. The photographer had another appointment that night and did not make it to the reception  Our photos came out great but I really wish they would have been at the reception! Luckily, we had some guests with some really nice cameras at the reception  FLOWERS: I used the bouquet with the Love package and it was GORGEOUS!! I also opted to not have a ceremony centerpiece and Ana gave me 3 bridesmaid bouquets instead. The final cost for my wedding was ONLY $3011 and it was perfect! Overall, I would not change my wedding for anything! We had such an amazing time and Dreams Riviera Cancun was the perfect choice for us! I know this review was long, but if you have any other questions please ask! I will post the professional pictures once I have the link!

Quote: Originally Posted by jpcmartin Relax, Relax, Relax. My FI and I just returned from a site visit during Memorial Day weekend. We were able to meet with Ana for 2 hours. Yes, we did have an appointment but she was extremely flexible. We ran into her several times while we were there and she gave us all the time we needed to ask questions. We also had difficulty with her responding but keep trying. While we were there we got to see 3 weddings and each were beautiful. In addition, we got to meet with several other couples recenlty or soon to be married there. It is a common complaint that Ana does not respond in a timely fashion but in the end everyone was happy with the results. Ana knows what she is doing. Exactly when is your wedding- September 2010? Actually, our wedding is in 4 days and I was freaking out because we had not heard from here and time is running out. However, we are here now and have already talked to her and everything is perfect.

Oh... and the sound system for the ENTIRE reception is $303.... not bad at all, in case some of you are debating over the DJ. It is also an additional $198 for the ceremony, so $500 instead of $1200 with the DJ.

Hey ladies! I am here at the resort and wanted to let you all know it is perfect!! All the stress over the last year was not worth it!!! I met with Ana this morning and everything is set for Saturday!!! She is amazing, she knows what she is doing. It is surprisingly slow around here, which is good for us. The best thing is the weather.. it is perfect, the breeze off the beach makes this place paradise!!! Just an FYI.... we did the Love package, are having 38 guests with no cocktail hour, using the resort photographer and iPOD, have 3 bridemaid bouquets and table overlays and the total was just about $3000. MUCH cheaper than we anticipated! After it was all said and done I decided to keep everything simple, afterall, that is why we picked a destination wedding! I will let you all know how it goes after Saturday!!!

UPDATE..... I leave in 6 short days for Mexico! I have the vases all packed up in one carry on... just a small pull suitcase that fits under the seat or in the overhead bin. I can fit 15 of the small vases in one suitcase and I simply packed them with clothes around them... it seems pretty safe! I will let you all know how it went when I return!

Ok, so I emailed Ana over a week ago to make an appointment with her... I leave in 7 days!! I haven't picked anything out yet... I have no idea what the menu will be... and I need to make menu cards.....!!!! Is now the time to start freaking out since SHE WILL NOT EMAIL BACK I know she is busy, and I have respected that for the past few months and have not emailed her, but honestly, over the course of this planning, I have only emailed her about 7 or 8 times in a year... I DO NOT think that is unreasonable, and half of them were repeated emails because she didn't answer my question!!! WTF!!

One week from today I will be on my way to Mexico!!! The past year has gone by soooo quickly!!! Those of you who are a year or so out still, do not procrastinate like me Reality has started to sent in and I have realized I do not have everything I need done!! Does anyone have a good list of reminders to bring with to Mexico? Any suggestions would help, I feel like I am going to forget EVERYTHING!!

FYI... this is what I was told by the resort: Pools are open from 9am to 6pm Sugar Reef Bar - 10am to 11pm Manatees - 9am to 5pm Rendezvous - 9am to 1am Barracuda Bar - 10am to 9:30pm Desires - 6pm to 1am

For those of you who have already stayed at the resort.... is it true that the beach bar closes pretty early? I was hoping to have my guests hang out here while we take pictures instead of paying the extra money for the cocktail hour. Also, I read on trip advisor ( i know, i need to stay off that site ) that there are armed military patrolling the beach at night, and you are not allowed to walk around the resort after dark.... how accurate is this? I know my family members were hoping to swim at night... is this not allowed

Quote: Originally Posted by JD Hall Wedding My TA got back to me with my group rates, are wedding date is 4/30/11, so most people will be going thurs-mon or fri-mon, but some of my family is making a vacation out of it and staying 5-7 days and me and my FI will be there 4/27-5/6: For the Premium Deluxe Garden View Room, including taxes and transfers: 3 nights double/triple occupancy is $615 per person; each additional night will be $190 per person. Children ages 3-12 are $250 for 3 nights; $75 each additional night. That includes $100 in resort coupons per person for individual spending; a private check-in area with a welcome cocktail *6th room booked is complimentary based on the double occupancy rate. 10 rooms booked 1 free room upgrade* (I still have questions about this to ask my TA) My TA said that if most people book 4 nights with the garden view room, we would get that rate taken off of what room we book, and then when 10 room are booked for let's say 4 nights we would get a free room upgrade for those 4 nights. I'm a little confused about this so when I have time I'm going to call my TA with all my questions. My TA said that she will help with airfaire too, but she not going to do a group "package" rate with air/resort, because we have people coming from all over the usa: boston, chicago, phoenix, new york, wisconsin...but she said she will find them the cheapest airfare at the time they put there deposit down for the room and if they don't want to go with her airfare at that time they can check back later or search themselves. We received a free room because of the 6th room free promotion and this is how our TA did it.... We had guests coming for several lengths of time, some 7 nights, 5 nights, 4 nights, ect. In the end we had 2 - 5 night rooms free and 1 - 4 night. It came to a total of 14 nights. Our TA simply figured out the dollar amount of 14 nights, which was $4452. My fiance and I have booked the ocean front room and it was around $2800 I believe for both of us. They subtracted that from the $4452 and cut us a check for the remainder. I then used that to divide it up among the bridal party, several of them are tight on cash and I am thrilled they are coming, so it was a nice surprise for them when they got about $250 back each. I am not sure how other TAs do this, but giving us the check to then split was so much easier than saying "Take this night off this room, and this off that room" that would have been way to confusing! The best part of doing it this way was we got our entire stay free. I felt bad at first, because I received a free room and my guests were paying, but the money I saved from the room is definitely going to make everyone else's experience better because I can use that money for other excursions for everyone

Quote: Originally Posted by beachykeen I would really like to know all of this too. We're in the same boat! We originally thought we would have 20-25 and now it's around 40-45. I really hope you can sub the cocktail hour for an extra 10 guests. I am going with the Love Package and Ana let me substitute the cocktail hour for an additional 20 guests at $20 a guest (so basically $400 extra and no cocktail hour). This certainly beats the extra $1500+ you would pay for an additional dinner and cocktail for $20 more guests. From there, she said any additional guests would be the resort price ($48pp or whatever it is). Hope that helps! We opted to get rid of the cocktail hour and have our guests gather at the Barracuda Bar or Desire's lounge. The drinks are free so you might as well take advantage of that and not pay for a private cocktail hour!

Ok... need suggestions. I was not going to do the chair sashes at the ceremony because I did not think they were necessary, but now I am second guessing myself.... any thoughts? Is the beach beautiful enough without the sashes (that was my thoughts) but I DONT KNOW!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by 21aholden Our wedding is June 16th 2011. The group rate we got was outrageous! Our TA said she is going to start negotiating the rate with the resort. I thought it would help to get specifics from other brides to move the process along. Fingers crossed it goes down. Thanks so much for the info!! Are you from Chicago I am in the suburbs and we are getting married this June. Our travel dates are the 14th to the 21st. We booked last August before the resort opened, so I am not sure if that played a role in my prices, but this is what we got based on double occupancy in deluxe garden view rooms: 7 nights = $1078 per person 5 nights = $775 per person 4 nights = $636 per person We did the resort separate from the air fare. Everyone booked their air on their own and we all got it pretty cheap from O'Hare. I paid $294 round trip on American for non-stop flights. The most anyone paid for airfare was $388 round trip. Again, this is for this June, but I would imagine it would be pretty similar next June. If you haven't done so already, contact Hagen Sommer at the resort to get quotes. He is the group sales manager [email protected]. Hope this helps!

For those already married that used the resort photographer.... did you upgrade from the package? All of the packages say the photographer is there for 1.5 hours.... there is no way that is enough time. Did you add extra hours? Ana told me it would be $250 per hour to add time.... is this what you did THANKS!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by tsgnatko Don't you feel as if your day isn't special if there is another bride getting married on the same day as you there? This can happen anywhere. Even in the states most banquet halls and resorts can have multiple weddings a day. When it comes down to it you most likely won't even notice any other wedding that day!