lilly129

Quote: Originally Posted by bsf&jpg We should plan a GT sometime in May. We can meet in Midtown, maybe the Coffee Groundz (my boss owns the spot so we can get a nice disc) heheehe. Or somewhere else, either way is fine with me. If anyone needs help with thier jewelery, I work at Zadok Jewelers off of Post Oak and San Felipe. Im not in sales, I am the owners personal assistant. But if I can help, I will be glad to for my BDW fellow brides! I'm up for a meet and greet in May! I have a site visit may 6th and 7th but the rest of may is pretty much wide open. No way! I bought my fiance's wedding band at Zadok! I think we need to go back and get another one - he has big knuckles and little fingers so finding the right size has been sooo hard!

I looked through and I didn't see a thread already for Houston Brides so I thought I'd start one! Anyone up for trying to set up a happy hour/get together?? I'm in the Heights and I'm getting married September 2010 at Dreams Riviera Cancun!

Ladies - I'm going to attach a few templates for y'all - I had a pm requesting them and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to attach files to a pm...hahaha so I'm attaching them here. These are just a few of my little diy projects so far Welcome Letter (I haven't figured out how to attach the pages to eachother yet...haha) Tag for OOT / which is also my template for my maracas tag Good Morning Newsletter - which I copied from Martha Stewart I've also created a table card template and a ceremony program template. All my supplies have been ordered from paper presentation and I also bought white shimmery card stock from micheals. Wow...I have waaaaayyyy too much time on my hands...well actually I'm not a huge fan of my job these days so I'm pouring all my free time into wedding planning projects OOT Bag Hang Tag.doc Welcome Letter Tempalte for Forum.doc Good Morning Newsletter.ppt

Boo - I'm sorry that totally stinks - I actually sent her an email last week because months ago I told her I wanted to reserve a dj and then I figured I'd better double check that she actually did get me a dj...of course it'll be a while before I hear back ahhhhhh!!!

Shhhh!!!! Don't mention the H word...hahaha I'm getting married on September 18th on the beach and I'm just going to roll with it - my resort has a really nice indoor location if we need it...but fiance and I refuse to mention the h word

Thanks for your help Stephanie!! I'm soooo excited for you!! You're wedding's almost HERE!!! YAY!

Quote: Originally Posted by RCBlondie Hello everyone, looks like this thread has been a great source to many of you and I am happy that so many have planned to have their wedding at the Dreams Riviera Cancun. Our wedding is in just over 2 months and I realise that there must be some last minute things that I need to do. Does anyone have any points for me to do? People keep saying that I may have so much to do and I feel like I have no idea what I need to do. I have the dress and the location, plus just got our bridesmaid dresses, but that's about it! Help!!! Thanks! Rachelle Hmmm are you doing welcome bags? You can order stuff for that and put them together. Finalize your ceremony order and readings - I don't know if you're doing a legal or non legal ceremony but you can request the script from Ana and then make changes to it. Are you doing ceremony programs? You'll want to make or order those. (If you want to make them, I'm happy to give you my templates and where I ordered my supplies, it's super easy and I'm printing them off my own printer - so they're inexpensive) Any extra decor that you're bringing with you? Start making a packing list Are you going to do a pre-travel brochure? There are tons of templates for that in the DIY section too. Send your bridesmaids an email letting them know what shoes/jewelry to wear for the wedding day. Send your bridesmaids/groomsmen a "day of timeline" - also templates in the diy forum...or I can send you mine. Can you tell I've spent way too much time in the diy forum? I've come up with 12 new ideas to do before my wedding hahahaha. Just remember, the flowers, cake, decorations...all that stuff is going to be done once you get down there so you really don't have much to do - just some small stuff!

Ohhh Stephanie! I have a question for you!!! How far in advance does Ana need your final count of guests? I'm planning to order our invites this weekend or next and I've been waiting 2 weeks for Ana's response but if you know that'd be awesome. I was planning to have the guests rsvp by August 1st - my wedding is September 18th - is that enough time? Ohh I'm on facebook too ladies - Casey Myers (Houston TX)

I have that Bose - love it! That's a super good idea to bring it with me and use it for our welcome party yay thanks! We're using a DJ for the wedding - it was really a personal choice. I know a lot of people use ipods, there are always articles about it being a growing trend in wedding magazines and it's a great way to save money. I have panic attacks, mini melt downs and sometimes really big meltdowns hahaha so for my sanity, we decided it was worth the extra money. That way I absolutely don't have to stress out about technical difficulties and making sure we have the right music, enough music etc. I left the music up to my fiance and he had to put together an entire playlist...I'd be terrified about what would be playing...hahaha Thanks for the phone number!

I'm on week 2 of no response...so perhaps in 2 more weeks she'll answer my ONE question... On a sidenote - question for you wonderful ladies - how many weddings can Dreams have in a day? I thought I had been told two but I think there are three weddings on my day...and I was going to email Ana but I don't really want to wait 4 weeks for a response... Do any of you have a phone number for me to call her? Thanks! Casey

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Stephanie~ I signed up for a free trial at: Floral Images, Floral Accents, Floral Graphics - WeddingDNA got some cool graphics and cancelled my membership before it changed it after the 7 day free trial. Worked great! Hi I really want to do this!! Quick question - how do you change the color once you download the image??

Quote: Originally Posted by Megan24 Ladies I have no answer either. I went to go try on wedding dresses today did not find anything. My wedding is very soon MAY!! I have no dress, no answer, no decorations, and people dropping out of the wedding. I am really regretting my choice of a destination wedding. I know in the end it will all work out it is just hard to stay positive when everything feels like it is not working. I wish I was in Mexico swinging at the bar drinking a very strong drink. lol Hang in there! Group hug! I'm so sorry you're having so many issues! I know in the end everything is going to turn out so well for you - but hang in there. What kind of dress are you looking for? Do you have an image in your mind? maybe we can help you find a designer!

Quote: Originally Posted by rscherle Oh, and another issue- I really don't know where to start as far as getting everyone to the wedding. I have ppl coming from Iowa, NY, and Philly. Did you guys go with a TA, call the hotel, have ppl book online? This is my main priority right now and the source of much anxiety...any help would be appreciated! I highly suggest using a TA - it's sooooo much easier! Mine keeps me updated on who booked, who requested quotes but never got back to her etc... We set up a website as well - and we have a section on there for "Travel Information" Under that we wrote - there are two ways for you to book your travel to our wedding: 1. Using our Travel Agent - then we listed her contact information, what she'll need to get you booked, her price match information and payment information (no fee, but a deposit is required, full payment due 60 days before travel) 2. Book on your own - we stressed that if something were to go wrong (flight cancellation etc) you'd be on your own (although we said it nicer then that!) but here are a few websites the help you - then we listed the Dreams Website. Be sure to remind people that it's Dreams Riviera Cancun NOT Dreams Cancun...that's my biggest fear for people people booking on thier own. Then on the response card for our invitations we have line that says: Arrival Date: Arrival Time: So we can keep track. does that help?

Quote: Originally Posted by ebernard4985 Hey girls! It has been over 3 weeks now since I emailed Ana.... she has never been this slow at returning my emails! It is VERY annoying. I know that many people on here say give her some time, but I am so frustrated now. I get it, she has other weddings and on the day of my wedding I would not want her emailing other brides instead of helping me, HOWEVER, I am still paying a good amount of money to go down there and at the very least I expect some professionalism working with a large chain that has thousands of weddings a year! They need to get it together down there and higher this girl an assistant!!! We all know they have enough money (where else is the extra $$$ from the DJ services, photography, ect going? ha ha). I think I have decided to give up on planning all of this. I am going to just wing it and show up in Mexico with my fingers crossed! At the end of the day it does not matter about the decorations or music, right? As long as you are happy and marrying the man of your dreams! (yes, that is my attempt at justifying the situation and making light of everything ). Hang in there girl! I agree with you - though, I've been pretty relaxed about this up until two weeks ago when I emailed her and she never responded and now it's holding up me ordering my wedding invitations - I'm very frustrated as well. It's been her lack of response that has pretty much forced us to do a site visit...I was having too many panic attacks. Your wedding is going to be amazing! The two of you are going to be so happy and everything will come together so well once you get down there! So far we've only seen very positive reviews of the weddings, the pictures all look amazing so you should have total confidence that your day is going to b AMAZING! Maybe you just need a week where you don't do anything wedding related? A mini vaca from the stress?

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo he is on itunes and on amazon - the good thing though is you book directly with him its the same price and you get the mp3 of all the songs also - I got them with my confirmation of shippment email, which gets big props from me Oh and here is a brain pickle - we finally booked our flight and hotel (woot woot) half of the family booked via expedia.ca and the other thru westjetvacations.com the booking confirmation thru westjetvacations.com actually mentions the golf promotion!!! why does nothing stay the same? anyhow just thought it was super funny so I would share Oh girl I'm with ya on that! All of my guests that have booked have on thier confirmations that they get complimentary golf...so this could be entertaining...my TA hasn't been able to get anything else from the resort other than the fact that they're switching courses...which brings up a funny point...cause all our confirmations say the first course that was posted on the website and it's changed twice already. ahhh lovely.

Hey ladies! I saw this in the Martha Stewart magazine as well! When you download her template it's a pdf and I didn't have a pdf writer but I managed to create my own in word - I also did this with her good morning newsletter - I'm attaching them here in case anyone wants to use them! Good Morning Newsletter.ppt Door Hangers.doc

YAY CONGRATS!!! Laura thank you so much for your awesome review!!! I can't waiittttt to see your awesome pictures! You two looked amazing and so happy! Congrats!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by cathyandchin Is your hotel charging you for them putting the newsletters under the door? I've heard that sometimes they won't do these types of things if it's a big resort... DRC will do it - but they charge. I might delegate the task to my dad since he wakes up at 5am anyway...hahaha.

Welcome back Laura! So excited for your review/pictures!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by samnicolerangel Thanks for the advice!!! I'm waiting to hear back from my TA and hoping she can work her magic!!! If not, I was an event coordinator for several years...and I have no problem speaking with upper management...sometimes that's what you have to do. You learn that when working with hotels all the time for conferences, etc. I want to try to keep this as affordable as possible since my guests are going to another country just to attend our wedding! We'll see...I'll keep you informed. We actually live in Meyerland and are moving at the end of April for me to be closer to work. Looking in the Heights and Memorial area. Is your TA here in Houston? I would have really liked to work with someone local. My TA has been difficult to get a hold of at times. My TA is actually through Berman Travel - she's located in upstate NY which works well because the majority of our guests are in the eastern time zone. Berman travel does it so thier agents only work on one wedding at a time ...so Heather's been amazing and she answers my emails at all hours of the night, calls me back at 9pm when I'm having a mini panic attack...so no issues at all. We felt the same way - wanted to find a place that was affordable for our guests...I noticed last year when I booked my wedding they were having crazy sales in July and August so we picked September since it's the shoulder season and we think our guests should get some deals. With Berman travel they'll do one price match for you - so we booked months ago but if the resort posts a sale in July, Heather will rebook us and all our guests at that lower price. She only does it once but I thought it was fantastic. I have no idea if other travel agents do that because she was the first one I talked to. We moved to the Heights about a year and a half ago, we were in the Galleria before that and then Boston before that! Memorial and the Heights are both great areas!

Quote: Originally Posted by bridetobe1515 I'm doing a "bride and groom tracker". It basically tells them where we will be on certain days at certain times. Like Monday-5pm we are eating dinner at...join us if you like. No pressure there, just if they want to know where we are on certain days they will. Hello! I'm doing something similar - I copied a "Good Morning Newsletter" from Martha Stewart - and we're going to have the hotel put them under our guests doors in the mornings - I'll attach it for you. But essentially it's got a space for "suggested activity" and then "Today's big deal" - which would be where you'd remind guests about the welcome party or any other group activity you may have had planned. I've attached it for you - it's a powerpoint so you can easily customize it for yourselves. Good Morning Newsletter.ppt

I believe that reception is in the Wine Room - which can hold 18 people

Quote: Originally Posted by samnicolerangel Let me start by introducing myself! My name is Samantha and my fiance is Joseph!!! We go by "Sam & Joe" here in Houston, TX!!! We have been great friends for 13 years and it became much more 4 years ago!!! Now here we are ENGAGED and planning to get MARRIED on June 11, 2011 at Dreams Riviera Cancun!!! We are sooo excited!!! I am currently working with a Kim Mallory of Destination Weddings.com and we both had the same trouble contacting Ana. I think she has all of our best interests in mind...but, she seems to be terribly overworked! I'm being patient and plan on getting everything situated during a site visit 6-9 months before my wedding. It seems to be easier to do it all in person! One thing I know I do need advice on is ROOM RATES for my guests!!! I have read so many different things...and I am not sure who to talk to? Ana? Group Department? Etc.? They have a WINTER PROMOTION and I asked Ana if she could do that rate and she replied that if we wanted to we would have to book online, but that she could not guarantee that rate!!! PLEASE ADVISE!!! Thanks in advance!!! Sam - Welcome to the forum! I'm in Houston as well! I'm Casey - my fiance is Ron we're getting married on September 18, 2010. I agree with you - I hadn't originally planned on a site visit but the slow communication made me nervous so we booked a site visit in May. For room rates - I went with a travel agent. The rates the group department sent me were not great. As a matter of fact, the group rate was higher then if my guests just went on the website and booked. Also, my understanding was to do a group rate you have to put a deposit down on all those rooms...and once your guests booked them all then you get your deposit back. Made me a little nervous. My TA is amazing, she's found really great prices for all my guests so far (we have about 30 peopled booked and I haven't even sent out the invitations yet!) What part of Houston are you in? I'm in the Heights.

Quote: Originally Posted by jfazzina LILY, Can you send that to me? I will be bringing my own photgrapher as well!! thanks! [email protected] I'm so sorry I didn't keep that one from her because we decided we'd use the resort photographer for the welcome party. I have been so careful about keeping every email she's sent me...except that one. I'm really really sorry ladies.

Quote: Originally Posted by rdsjcr I have gone back and forth with Ana for a month or so ... telling her that I hear she will sub out video for photos and so forth and she insists that she cannot and will not and has not told anyone that she will... I told her that I heard on here that she has done for people and she basically told me that the girls are either misunderstanding her or lying. She says b/c the resort directly works with a company -- that Dreams has no control over it. See- I am bringing my own photographer and wanted to do the Ultimate Pkg and sub more video for the photos-- or do the other pkg and do video instead of photo and she says NO. UGH!! Anyone else heard different? Have document to prove it? I am tired of us all being told different things. I feel terrible!!! I totally had an email from her but then I deleted because we decided to use the hotel photographer for the welcome party so I didn't need the execption to get more video. This was ages ago though...so management might have had a fit and she had to stop offering that. Or maybe I really did misunderstand her?