Laura22610

Quote: Originally Posted by kymkymkym How many people are you all planning on having at your wedding? Including us, there will be 30 all together. We invited about 80. Although we knew when we sent the invitations that at least half would not come, we did have some surprise "no's".

Quote: Originally Posted by Ashlynn039 Thanks Laura & Boo, I really want an outside photographer and don't want it to break the bank with the cost plus the extra surcharges! My TA never mentioned anything about a per person charge - yikes! Boo - that is insane about the cost markup of the DJ!! I guess this destination wedding idea isn't going to be as cheap as my fiance thought I have definitely learned the hard way that the DW isn't as cheap as I originally thought it would be! The problem for me is that I want all the extras I guess if you can stick with the basics, it could be cheap. However, even though I am spending more than I thought I would, it is still way cheaper than a wedding at home would have been!

Quote: Originally Posted by Ashlynn039 Just a random question to brides who are farther along into planning their wedding at Dreams.. I saw a post in a different Dreams thread about surcharges for an outside vendor coming on site (not just a day pass charge) - is this something ALL dreams are doing for 2010 or just that one? I copy & pasted what was in the other thread because I'm not really sure how to link to it: My guess, from reading that quote, is that this surcharge applies if you are having outside Wedding/Event planners. I am not sure what the policy on outside wedding coordinators is for DRC. I am having an outside photographer and Ana did not tell me that there would be a surcharge or any other fee.

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo please see attached for the back up location - Ana just sent me this morning, it actually doesnt look that bad to the lady who tried to attach it earlier, jpeg is not a format in which we can attach - I just had to copy it into word and attach it that way also finally got a responce from Ana regarding the fire dancers, its USD 1,000 again not sure what we get for that - so that will be another email (jeez eh?) Happy planning! Thanks for posting the pic...that looks pretty nice..not bad at all!

Here are the dinner menus.... There are also buffet options that were posted earlier (not sure on which page??) Dinner a la carteé (SILVER MENU FOR LOVE PACKAGE) No 1 Portobello in a puff pastry shell with balsamic vinaigrette Smoke salmon salad with endive and fresh asparagus Mediterranean fish soup Red snapper filet over ratatouille and beurre blanc sauce “OR” Individual beef Wellington served with charon sauce Chocolate mousse cake No 2 Raviolis filed with spinach served trees cheese sauce Carpaccio of scallop and Salmon served with lime and Shallot vinaigrette Cream of Asparagus with roasted almond Sea bass fillet served over fresh Spinach and Hollandaise sauce “OR” Gigot of Lamb served with Provenzal sauce Tulip of strawberry with grand Marnier sauce and ice vanilla ice cream Dinner a la carteé (GOLD MENU FOR ULTIMATE PACKAGE) No 1 Tropical Martini shrimp cocktail served with brunoise of Avocado Puff pastry field with Salmon and wild mushroom served white wine sauce Cream of mushroom with baby shrimp Beef tenderloin filed with vegetable julienne served in red wine sauce “OR” Chicken breast filed with spinach and provolone cheese served with saffron sauce Peach cheese cake served with strawberry Couli No 2 feuillete of escargot served with doble cream bordelaise sauce Spinach salad served with duck confie and balsam vinaigrette Cream of broccoli with parmesan cheese Chicken breast filed with spinach and provolone cheese served with saffron sauce “OR” Penne with Provencal sauce serve with shrimp and grill scallop millefeuille of wild berry served with Irish cream No 3 Mussel sauté with champagne serve with threes cheese sauce Snow crab cake served with avocado and tomato dressing Cream of leek served with fish quenelle Sea bass feuillete served fresh asparagus and Portobello mushroom and beurre Blanc sauce “OR” Lamb Wellington served with mushroom duxell and demi armaniac sauce Timbale of with and dark chocolate served with vanilla sauce

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl I know I posted this question before, but I don't think I got any responses and figured I will ask it again since there are some new brides. Is anyone going to use the cocktail hour at DRC? If so, where are you planning on having it? I had thought we might do the garden area because it would be a change in scenery and this way the guests would not all be watching us take our photos...ha! But I am having a hard time picturing how it would be set up. Just wondering what everyone else is planning on doing. For those of you who have chosen to use it towards a welcome dinner instead, what does that mean? Will you have a set up similar to the cocktail hour? I was hoping to have my cocktail hour at the jacuzzi area if they could put the cover over it. I just emailed Ana with the question about the cocktail hour and asked if she had any pictures of a cocktail hour that has taken place. I like the idea of having it in the garden too! I will let you know what she says.

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo hmmm yeah I only thought of doing the signature drink during our reception at DRC, I believe there is an extra charge for it at Secrets Marom during cocktail hour, although that would be nice because during our cocktail hour its only going to be white linen with bows. The blue overlays will only be used for dinner reception set up at DRC. With blue I think this is kinda cool Those blue drinks look awesome! That's what I was thinking with oranges on the side of the glass. Although I have no idea what kind of drink that would go with!

I have been absent for a few days because we got 2 puppies and they are needing constant supervision for housebreaking right now! Kind of a bad time to get puppies with all of the wedding planning but they were just too cute to pass up! Anyway, it is nice to see lots of new brides getting married at DRC!! I noticed a lot were asking about photography. I am using Claudia Rodriguez. I love her work and she was reasonably priced. I searched on here and then emailed a few of the photographers for pricing. They were all very quick to reply and very nice! This thread has great information on a lot of Cancun area photographers: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...raphers-35088/

Quote: Originally Posted by ebernard4985 I love the signature drink idea! I too am having turquoise and pink for my colors. I think I am going to go with a pink drink because that is the accent color. The guys will just have to deal with the pink!!! ha ha!! Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl Ana said the resort can do a signature drink for the cocktail hour, at no additional charge. I guess that makes sense, since it is open bar, but just thought would be extra cool if they would walk around and hand out "blue" drinks or whatever type of tropical drink I come up with. I might just have to start a new post to see what drink others have used as a signature drink! I asked Ana, but she didn't answer all of my questions (shocking!) Yes, that sounds like so much fun to have the waiters walking around with a bunch of the same color drinks at the cocktail hour. I was thinking a blue drink with an orange in it or something like that I guess this is something I could just work out with Ana when I get down there before my wedding. I will be there 4 days before my wedding

Quote: Originally Posted by Chelsey & Travis Hi Everyone! I'm planning a smaller wedding (around 20 guests). I'm hoping to just go with the free Paradise package and then add on extras. Does anyone have any information about reception options for this? I'm wondering if it is possible just to have a dinner together in one of the restaurants instead of paying to have a full reception. Does anyone have any information/advice? Thanks for your help! Quote: Originally Posted by lstaff i am doing the same! since we are having a reception back at home after Mexico, i had my TA ask Ana if there was a way to arrange a welcome dinner at no additional cost. it just seems silly to me to pay for food and drinks at an all inclusive resort. but i have never been anywhere, so who am i to say?! Ill let you know if i hear back from Ana though! Quote: Originally Posted by Chelsey & Travis I know, I'm hoping that there is an option to just eat together instead of having a formal dinner. My friend just got married at another resort and they simply set aside a section of a restaurant for her with her cake everything preset. I'm hoping for something like that... I will be interested to hear what you guys hear back from Ana about getting a section of a restaurant for a welcome dinner or reception. I asked her about this for my welcome/rehearsal dinner and she told me that since they don't accept reservations at the restaurants, that I just have to "show up" with my group of 30 to one of the restaurants at 6pm and get tables near each other. Hopefully, if a lot of brides are asking about this, she will try to make accommodations.

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl Has anyone decided on the menu? I can't decide on the plated dinners vs the buffet. The plated dinners look a little more gourmet but a buffet might be better so that there is something that everyone will like. I'm just thinking that everyone might be buffett'ed out from being at the resort all week. I am going with the buffet. Personally, since I don't like seafood, the plated dinners, although sounding a little more formal and fancy, really didn't appeal to me. Luckily, everyone is arriving at the resort on a Thursday and my wedding is on Friday, so hopefully they aren't sick of buffets by then

Quote: Originally Posted by Megan24 Not sure if anyone has seen this slideshow of a a wedding and reception. Ana just sent me this slideshow DREAMS RIVIERA CANCUN Thanks Megan! This wedding looks so nice and privacy doesn't seem to be an issue at all!

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl Hey guys, Just wondering if any of you had thought of having a signature drink at your reception or cocktail hour? I saw some really cool photos of a wedding where the guests were all drinking this bright blue drink. It looked so cool! Anyhow, I sent an email to Ana asking if the resort has a signature drink. I'm sure most of my guests would prefer wine or something a little less crazy, but I think it would be fun to start them off with this. I love this idea! Has Ana responded to you about this? It does sound like a fun way to start the evening!

I will definitely be watching! It will be interesting to see how it all works out with Ellen there and Paula gone (I was never a huge Paula fan, so I probably won't miss her too much!)

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo We finally have November 19, 2010 booked for our reception! Whew it only took 2 months of COUNTLESS emails with Cecilia at Secrets and Ana at Dreams, but we are there! woot woo Congrats!!! That sounds like a lot of planning!

Quote: Originally Posted by rdsjcr I am going to have about 40 guests.... and I am bringing my own photographer... I can't decide which package would be the most affordable for me?? I mean the $799 would be free (and doesn't come with much) but I dont need the photos- which is part of it.... What do you guys think-- especially you guys that have already gone through this process. Thanks sooo much When I was trying to figure out which package to choose, I compared all of the packages with extras that I wanted added on. Even though I don't need everything in the Ultimate Package, it still worked out to be cheaper in the long run to take that package. If you are having 40 people and want to have a private reception, it is by far more economical to go with either the Love package or the Ultimate package. The dinner and cocktail hours really add up and with those 2 packages, at least you get 20 people included! Maybe you could start with the Love package and then add up all of the other "extras" that you would want and come up with a price and then do the same with the Ultimate Package. That is how I decided. I am also having my own photographer, so I won't be using that part of the package but I was told that I could have the videographer for 30 more minutes instead. Hope this helps!

Quote: Originally Posted by Princess402 So I emailed Ana back and told her that Doremixx told me they charge $650 for up to 4 hours, and using her price structure that same 4 hours would cost me $1320! I told her there was NO WAY I was going to knowingly pay double to the resort what I know the vendor actually charges, and that this was totally unfair. She emailed me back in literally like 5 minutes and asked if I could send her the price quote that Doremixx gave me, and that surely they could "work something out" for me. So, I sent her the info, and will let you know what I hear back... I guess I will be happy if they will honor the $650 but it kind of makes me mad at the same time because it's like if I didn't have this quote directly from the vendor you would happily rip me off and charge me double?!?!!! I just sent Ana a similar email a couple of hours ago, however, I have not heard back from her yet. She had sent me an email saying that the DJ would be $330/hour also. (And did you notice on the Dreams website, it says that DJ's are $300/hour??) It does make you wonder what else they are charging us double for!?! On a better note, I am very happy because I had asked Ana if the bouquet that I posted before was included in the Ultimate Package, and she replied that it is!

Quote: Originally Posted by ebernard4985 The brides bouquet is larger than the bridesmaids. Some of the bridesmaid pictures that I saw were actually very small bouquets (3 calla lilies). I am having a hot pink calla lily bouquet and Ana told me there would be an additional charge for it (surprise, surprise.... an additional charge!). She also said that my bridesmaid bouquets would be $100 each for hot pink calla lilies. Is the $100 for 3 calla lilies?? I love call lilies...they look great in pictures!

Quote: Originally Posted by Princess402 I also emailed DJ Mania and DJ Doremixx last week and got back the exact same responses from them. I was thinking too that DJ Doremixx sounded like a great way to go. SO, I emailed Ana to make sure that having an "outside" DJ was okay and told her that I was interested in using DJ Doremixx. She emailed me back yesterday and here is what she said: "If you are checking with dorremix, since they work with us the price and reservation is must to be trough us, I do not why they are giving price to you, the price of the dj is $ 330 USD per hour. And the minimum is 3 hours." Seriously?!? That is so annoying to me! Basically, they are charging us an extra $650 for the DJ. Where does this money go to? It's not like they have to do a lot of extra work to have the DJ there. I would be perfectly happy making all of the arrangements for myself. All of the "extra" costs are so aggravating. This one especially because I *know* how much I am being over-charged! So, what are you going to do about music?

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl First of all, I love the flowers!!! I have a stupid question, how is the bride's bouquet supposed to differ from the bridesmaids' bouquets? 2nd, now you are making me want a DJ. I originally thought I would have a DJ and then looked at the dynamics of my group. half the group are my parent's age and half are my age (with probably more girls than guys). We will have approx 35-40 people. Would a DJ seem awkward? How many guests do you have? Also, I thought we did not have a choice on the DJ. I think we have to use the DJ that the resort uses. I don't know who that is though. I think that the bride's bouquet is bigger than the bridesmaids' flowers. I was thinking about having my bridesmaids carry small bouquets of orange roses or orange calla lilies. I am having about 30 people (STILL waiting on a couple of RSVP's, believe it or not!). Most of the people are our age except for maybe about 10 family members. I don't think that a DJ would seem awkward. Do you think your guests would want to dance? If so, I am starting to think a DJ is the way to go. When i started to try to compile a playlist of songs, I got really overwhelmed. So, I am not sure on who the resort uses for a DJ. I had seen on here on a thread about DJ's that some girls from Dreams Cancun had the choice of DJ Mannia or DJ Doremixx. I would think that if both of these were options at Dreams Cancun, they would be at DRC too?? Since Ana is sometimes difficult to get responses from, I decided just to email the DJ's to see what they offer. DJ Mannia told me I had to go through Ana. DJ Doremixx gave me a price quote, then told me I had to go through the wedding coordinator. So, I am confused as to how this works. I just emailed Ana asking her if I could use DJ Doremixx. I will let you know what she says about all this.

Quote: Originally Posted by soon2BMrs.Prince I looked into DJ Mannia because I've read really good reviews on them. They seem to get the party started and I feel like if I use an IPOD/docking station then I'll have to depend on my guests to get the party started and man the IPOD and unless they have alcohol in their system, lol, sad to say...it will take some time and 3 hr reception is not long at all so I'm planning on having a DJ. I emailed them just this week and they said I have to coordinate with the WC (Ana). I saw on their website that they also have fireworks...hehehe, how cool would that be after the first dance. I wonder how much that cost?! Fireworks would be awesome! DJ Doremixx gave me a list of equipment that they bring to the reception and one of the things listed was cold fireworks (not sure what that is, I think maybe just huge sparkler-like things). It didn't say that these were extra. I agree about the DJ getting the party started. I was a little worried about that too with the ipod.

So, I got an email back from Ana today and I learned a few new things... I had asked her about the sound system that you could play your ipod in and how much it would cost for the reception. She said that for the reception it would be $200 (taxes included) and then $35/hour for the technician. So, $305 total plus the $180 for the reception. Yikes!! So, I had emailed a couple of DJ's that I saw on here...DJ Mania and DJ Doremixx. The first emailed me back and said that I could get prices from Ana. The second told me that it would be $650 for 1-4 hours (which includes all the music stuff plus a few fun extras). I am definitely going to go with this. I was starting to really stress about the music thing and to have someone totally handle it for an extra $150...sealed the deal for me I can give him a playlist if I want and he will come meet with me at the resort a couple days before the wedding if I want, which I thought was nice! Second, she sent me a photo of a beach ceremony set-up. I am not sure which "location" this is... I also asked her about a rehearsal and rehearsal dinner and I wasn't really too happy with her response to this. She told me that since you can't make reservations at the restaurants, we would just have to show up to a restaurant at 6pm and get tables near each other. Hmm...I would think that they could be a little more accommodating when you are having your wedding there and bringing guests to the resort. She didn't offer any other options either. I had also asked her about flowers. I know a few of you were thinking of going with orange as an accent color. I asked her if there were any bouquet options with orange flowers and she sent me this picture. It is not at all what I had in my head but I really like it a lot! I am not sure if this costs extra - Ana didn't say - I am going to ask her when I email her back. Oh and one more thing...I asked her about the lights under the tables and the star lights around the deck. She said the lights under the tables are $45 each and the star lights are $200.

What is everyone doing for music? I was planning all along to use my ipod but now that I feel like I have so much to do and not much time, I am considering looking into getting a DJ. Has anyone looked into DJ's or got prices on them?

Quote: Originally Posted by ebernard4985 Hello ladies. I was able to book with Apple Vacations and receive the every 6th room free promotion. I am not sure how but I did receive the promotion and it has allowed us to get 3 free rooms so far. If more people book then we can potentially get even more free rooms. Apple Vacations is also letting us apply to free rooms how ever we want. We have decided to total up the amount saved and apply a discount to all of the rooms. It will only be about $150-$200 per person but it is better than nothing! I thought that this was the only fair way to make sure everyone benefited from the promotion. We are also receiving coupons of some sort... not really sure about those. We booked our rooms in August before the resort opened so maybe that is why we received the promotion? In fact, I originally started inquiring about group rates with Hagen Sommers, the resorts group representative and he was the one who told me about the promotion knowing that I was planning a wedding. Why would the group sales rep offer it to a wedding party if it did not qualify? I believe I still have his original email with this in writing..... I talked to my TA about all of this yesterday. He told me that because my wedding is in their peak season (February), I probably wouldn't be offered a lot of promotions. He also said that we booked everyone individually instead of doing a group booking because it ended up being $200 pp less to do it this way. So, I guess that is why I didn't get a group promotion. Everyone who booked also got a $200 resort coupon. I am not sure what those can be used for?? We also booked our trip in August and then most of our guests booked in October and November.

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl For those of you doing a sunset wedding, how much time prior to sunset are you giving yourself. The sun is supposed to set at 7:15 at the time I am getting married (May). I was going to get married at 5:30 (20 min wedding) which would leave over 1 hour of photos before sun sets. Ana said that she usually would suggest a 6pm wedding. I'm just wondering if that leaves enough time. What is everyone's opinion on this? I just want to make sure that we leave enough time for photos. Sunset will be around 6pm when I am there and Ana suggested my wedding be at 5pm so that's the time I chose. I have been wondering the same thing about there being enough time for photos. My ceremony should only be 20 min so that should leave enough time. I might decide to get some pictures with my FI before the ceremony (that would be okay with me).