Laura22610

Quote: Originally Posted by lilly129 did you try Wedding Invitations, Bridal Shower Invitations & Announcements by Wedding Paper Divas - might be able to find some cute ones there! Oops! Guess I should have kept reading first

Quote: Originally Posted by colleenandclint anyone have any suggestions for a good website to get save the dates or wedding invites? they all see so cheesy to me. any help would be great I love Wedding Paper Divas. I got my AHR invitations here. They have great customer service also! Here is the website: Wedding Invitations, Bridal Shower Invitations & Announcements by Wedding Paper Divas Hope that helps!

I have the Blackberry Storm and I wish I had gotten the Curve. The Storm is the touch screen bb and it freezes on me a lot plus the touch screen is not easy to use. I wouldn't recommend the Storm but I like having the features of a bb.

Quote: Originally Posted by Princess402 I actually emailed Ana about this a couple of weeks ago because we've booked a preferred oceanview room, because it was the room we wanted and because we wanted to get the honeymoon package. But now I see on the website that it says you need to book a preferred oceanFRONT room to get the package for free I'm sure it used to say oceanVIEW... I'm hoping maybe she'll be nice and give it to us anyways. So I would also be interested to know what, if anything, other brides have received! I booked a preferred club oceanVIEW room (for 7 nights) when I went and I received the honeymoon package. Let me try to remember what we got with it We got champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, a beautiful bouquet of flowers (that stayed beautiful the whole time we were there), a couples massage and either 2 facials or 2 body scrubs, a private dinner on the beach (although with this, they called us the day of the dinner and said that there was a wedding reception on the deck so the dinner on the beach wouldn't be very private and they suggested we have dinner in the wine cellar instead. We agreed to switch and for a little bit, we were in the wine cellar by ourselves, which was very nice and romantic but then a party of like 20 people came in. Ha! We just laughed!), we got breakfast in bed one morning, they decorated our room the night of the wedding with rose petals and turned on romantic music and I think left a bottle of champagne. There might have been more but I don't remember Although, you don't get the package automatically. When you get there, talk to Ana and remind her about the honeymoon package. She gave us a paper and we had to take it to the concierge to schedule the dinner and breakfast in bed. We had so much fun with all of the things from the honeymoon package!

Quote: Originally Posted by pineapple princess OMG - that is a GREAT IDEA!!!! i think i am going to use this one. I am having a baby shower for my sister this summer and I am going to use this game too! Also, along the same line as the diaper cake, I am going to make onesie cupcakes (I think they are so cute and you can find instructions to make them yourself if you don't want to buy them!)... GIRLS Onesie Cupcakes by BabyDeary on Etsy[]=tags&includes[]=title And also washcloth lollipops...! Cute Baby Shower Craft Idea : directions for making washcloth lollipops Baby shower planning is fun...so much cute stuff!

I was just at a baby shower with a cute different game... It was The Price is Right and they had a table with diapers, baby wipes, dreft laundry detergent, and other such baby items. Everyone (all of the guests) had to guess the prices of the items and submit a total price. The person who came closest to the actual price, won a prize. And...the mom-to-be got all of the baby stuff!! I thought it was a good idea for a game!

Quote: Originally Posted by Princess402 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. 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)!

Quote: Originally Posted by echo2_62 I think they should have had a top 20 dancers from the start and still eliminated one b/g per week, but then they could have brought in the all-star dancers when they got down to the final 10 or something. That would have been a great idea! I like being able to see some of the dancers from previous seasons but I really don't like that there are only 10 new dancers. Plus I really liked Anthony too and I was shocked that they cut him!! Hopefully he comes back next season! Also, it was so nice tonight to watch the show and not have to listen to Mary Murphy's screaming!! The dances on tonight's show were really good!

Quote: Originally Posted by AlisonJimmy Thanks so much Laura for the pics of your tables! How many did you have? I just ordered overlays and ordered 5 to be safe because the other pic showed 4 buffet tables. What do you think? I think that you will definitely have enough! I think that we had maybe 3 or 4 buffet tables but they were all pushed together (so it looked like one long table). And then there was the other table where they were cooking chicken and something else (I can't remember). So, yeah, I think you are good to go with 5 overlays

Quote: Originally Posted by t1219 Laura, Thank you for all of your feedback from your wedding!! Has been very helpful! Another question. How long did the dj play for you? Was it long enough and could you have him stay longer if you wished? 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!

Quote: Originally Posted by lilly129 Ohh Laura - I have a question for you! So I'm looking at your set up and I see the buffet set up along the back, and the tables in front and the dj in the back corner next to the cake... Where was your dance floor? Was it in the middle of the deck or off to a side? I'm trying to remember the configuration I saw when I was down there and for the life of me I can't remember! Thanks! The dance floor was in front of the DJ. The bar was next to the DJ (on the opposite side of the DJ as the buffet table). And we walked in from that side too.

Here is a pic of the buffet from my wedding...sorry it's not a great shot of the whole buffet, but you can kind of get an idea. There was also another station off to the side of this one where there was another table... And here is a pic of my wedding cake. This is the one that came with the package... I did absolutely no upgrade. I am so glad I didn't worry about the cake at all because nobody even ate it! There were great desserts on the buffet and everyone was pretty full from the cocktail hour and dinner...

Quote: Originally Posted by lilly129 For those worried about montezuma's revenge...first of all...my disclaimer: my fiance and I were there in May and drank the water out of the faucet (I was hungover and thirsty), brushed our teeth, drank drinks with ice cubes, ate fresh fruit AND had tons of Sushi and never experienced so much as a tiny stomach ache...HOWEVER...everyone reacts differently and I told my guests this and suggested that if they have weak digestive systems that they eat a lot of yogurt (naturally high in probiotics - they have it at the world cafe) or bring pro-biotics which are sold over the counter at cvs, or for the older people I suggested they talk to their doctor about antibiotics. Coloradobridesmom - I'm sorry you guys experienced that and I hope you guys feel better soon! Yes, that really stinks that you all had to deal with that, Coloradobridesmom, when you got home from vacation! We also did not have any trouble when we were there and neither did any of our 30 guests. We all drank the water and frozen drinks and ate fruit. We also brushed our teeth with the water from the sink. I guess it all depends on the person and maybe we were all just lucky

Quote: Originally Posted by JD Hall Wedding Does anyone know if they do a "test" hair and make-up application days before the wedding, just nervous that DRC salon might not be able to do it the way I want it done. I saw somebody getting a hair trial done in the salon at DRC while I was there... My suggestion is to bring lots of pictures! Maybe have someone at home do it for you the way you want and then take pictures. Hope that helps!

Quote: Originally Posted by nadams314 Laura, your review is so useful! Our wedding is at DRC next week and I would love to pcik your brain! Is there a place to print things out at the hotel Yes there is... we stayed in a preferred club room and there was a separate lounge/bar/lobby which had computers and printers. Any other questions, let me know...I am happy to help out

Quote: Originally Posted by pbjwed In my contract kids that are 12 and under are free at the hotel.. Kids are free at the resort only at certain times of the year...when I was there in February, kids were NOT free. I had originally thought that they were free all year long too!

Quote: Originally Posted by AlisonJimmy Laura...what size overlays did you order for your reception tables? I am having such a hard time figuring out which size to get. I found 72'' and 90". I know the tables are 5 ft in diameter but not sure how much extra I need. What did you do? I actually didn't have overlays for my tables. I just went with the white linens and then I had chair sashes. The buffet tables were decorated - Ana did that without me even asking and they looked beautiful! She had some of the big shells here and there and then the star lanterns. I was very pleasantly surprised! Quote: Originally Posted by ebernard4985 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 The beach bar does close early - I think maybe 7? Except that a couple of nights there were things going on that the resort planned so the beach bar was open later for those things. I did not see any armed military at all near the resort and my husband and I went on long walks along the beach off the resort and we didn't see any military there either. You can definitely walk around the resort late at night. I am not sure about swimming in the pools or the ocean though at night. It was chilly at night when I was there so we weren't really too interested in night swimming. Trip advisor was most definitely the cause of ALOT of stress for me before the wedding and I found a lot of the comments to be inaccurate when I actually got to DRC.

Quote: Originally Posted by EmmaGaussoin Thanks for the info. That is good to know that they do play the songs you like. I'm sure everyone would love a DJ too but I just can't afford it. I am stretching just upgrading my wedding package. I do love the idea of the fireworks. We will see, maybe I will fall into some money randomly. Haha! I hope some money falls on me randomly too!! Now that wedding stuff is over, I am finding a million things to do to my house

Quote: Originally Posted by jennyandmatt Do you have any suggestions for the wedding location? I'm hoping for the beach but haven't been able to confirm this with Ana yet. Also, do you know what the options are for reception locations? I'm so relieved to hear what you said about how busy Ana is.....I was starting to worry that I haven't heard back from her in so long! Congratulations! If you check around page 50 or so of this thread, there are pictures of the reception locations. Hope that helps!

Quote: Originally Posted by EmmaGaussoin I would also like to have a DJ but I cannot find that sort of money in my budget. It is nice to know that they provide the cold fireworks. I thought that was an additional cost. I have read some reviews that the DJ often does not provide the songs that you request. My FI is picky with music so I'm sure he doesn't want to pay for something that he won't enjoy. Good luck to everyone. Just wanted to add ...DJ Doremixx (Ivan) is very good about playing songs that you request. I think he also can download a song that is requested during your reception if he doesn't have it. He is very good and professional! Our guests are still talking about the great music that he played! I originally was going to use my ipod and bring a sound system but with all the other stuff I was doing, I started to get really stressed about picking good music, making sure there were transitions between the songs, and then how it would be played. I am not super good with that stuff though . I was really happy in the end that I chose to have a DJ! Oh and the cold fireworks are AWESOME! I had the technician and sound system for the ceremony and the technician just played the CD that I provided. He also faded the songs so that they transitioned nicely. Not sure how involved he would be at the reception though?

Hi Angela! I think that you will be absolutely fine staying at DRC for 2 weeks! We were at DRC for 7 nights (got there 4 days before the wedding) and it didn't feel like a long enough time. We were so busy the first few days finalizing the wedding stuff (met with Ana, the DJ, etc) and then all of our friends and family came, that we didn't really have a lot of time to relax and enjoy the resort. We went to Excellence Riviera afterwards for 5 nights and we wished we were back at DRC. The resort was just not as nice and we were kind of disappointed. However, we didn't spend a ton of time there because we were out exploring and going on excursions so we still had a lot of fun. So, long story short ...I would vote to stay at DRC for the whole time! Hope that helps you!!

Quote: Originally Posted by dee414 I can't believe that our wedding is coming up in 25 days!! Time surely flew by. I have some questions for the brides that have already gotten married at DRC. We are having the cocktail hour before the reception. On the wedding contract, it says to pick one cold and one hot appetizer. There are 3 categories of the cold one's and 3 of the hot one's. Ana is so vague on answering my questions as usual. Does that mean I get to pick only one cold and one hot appetizer? Or do I get everything listed under the hot and cold appetizer category? Also, we have about 39 guests coming to the wedding. As far as the menus go..can we get the buffet menu if we have less than 40 people. I understand that it is mandatory if we have more than 40 people. Or do we only get the sit down dinner menu. If we choose the buffet, do we get everything on that menu or have to choose items under each category? As far as the cocktail hour menu...you choose 1 of the categories and get all of the appetizers listed under there - hot and cold. For example, we chose Mexican (which was soooooo good) and we got all of the hot and cold appetizers listed under Mexican. You can have the buffet if you have under 40 guests. I had 30 guests and we did the buffet. And same with the cocktail menu, you choose one category and get everything that is listed under it. We did change out the desserts though with desserts from other menus and Ana was very accommodating with the switching. We chose the Caribbean buffet and it was really good! Quote: Originally Posted by ursula Can anyone tell me the options for the reception sites? if anyone has any pictures could you please post or email me [email protected]. Thanks!! Starting on page 51 of this thread, there are reception site pictures posted and I think there are more posted after that but I am not sure where. Although this thread is long, there is TONS of information that was already posted. It might take you a while but you could definitely benefit from reading through it! There might even be answers to questions you haven't even thought to ask Quote: Originally Posted by Megan24 Well I am all packed and ready. I will be in Mexico at 4 pm tomorrow. The sad thing is the forecast calls for rain wednesday thur sunday. I am so bummed. NO RAIN VIBES PLEASE ************* I will be taking lots of pictures and writing a review for all of you when I get back. If any other brides are going to be there this week maybe we can run into each other. My wedding will be on May 21 at 5:00 pm so feel free to come and hang out with us all lol Megan! Congrats and good luck with everything!! Your wedding will be beautiful!! Hope you have a great time!!

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl Hi all, We got married on May 7th and I wanted to share some photos with you. I used an outside photographer and I think she takes a while to finish the photos, however she posted 4 teasers on Facebook. Check them out. Welcome to Facebook | Facebook Here are some amature photos that one of my guests took. Shutterfly | View share Also, for those of you using an outside photographer but have the package that includes the resort photographer, make sure to schedule a separate session during your visit. Here are some photos that they took the day after the wedding. Our Dreams Honeymoon I'll try to post a review soon. Basically everything was beautiful. Wow! Congratulations!!! Your dress was beautiful and it looked like you had the perfect day! So glad everything went great for you! Beautiful pictures too!

Thank you!!

Love this show...can't wait for the new season!! I love Twitch too - I am excited to see him again! And, I think that it will be nice to get a break this season from Mary Murphy's screaming too