chirorach

this hasn't been posted in a while so made some updates--feel free to make some as well. hope christine and brandy had an amazing wedding! can't wait to hear your reveiws :-) Christine & Brandy - 11/2/2009 Laura & ? - 2/26/2010 Carina & Ari - 2/27/2010 Pam & Kevin - 3/9/2010 Ashley & Perry - 4/4/2010 Kcgcristyn - 4/17/2010 Stephanie & Jamie - 4/24/2010 Jennifer & Michael - 5/7/2010 Margaret & Matthew - 5/15/2010 Megan & Jason - 5/21/2010 Ashley & ? - 5/30/2010 Rachelle & Randal - 6/3/2010 Nancy & Bruce - 6/11/2010 Erica & John – 6/19/2010 carlychristine - 6/22/2010 Allison & ? – 7/24/2010 Casey & Ron - 9/18/2010 Vix1383 – 10/16/2010 Emma & ? - 10/23/2010 wisconsionbride - 10/28/2010 Rachael & Alex - 10/31/2010 April & Reggie – 11/6/2010 Tracy & ? -11/26/2010 lnf_munchkin - 11/27/2010

Quote: Originally Posted by Megan24 Where have you decided to have your cocktail hour and reception at? The chooses are beach, pool terrace, deck, desire terrace. I just can not decide if you have decided on where please let me know and why. I still haven't decided that either. I am waiting to hear from either people who have done site visits or brides who have had their wedding there. I am curious to hear which ones are the most private and have the best atmosphere. Good topic though. What has everyone else been hearing

Quote: Originally Posted by ebernard4985 I am also just using my IPOD. If you do this make sure you have a back up plan just in case something happens to the IPOD. There are 4 IPODS I am bringing with a playlist for the reception, just is case! Ana told me you can rent a sound system for the IPOD for $198. I too am only having 30-35 people so I figured an IPOD would be just fine, plus I would rather not waste money on a DJ and spend it on other things, like photography. I was planning on going the IPOD route as well. My understanding from the price list though was DRC charged you $180 per hour for speakers (which seems pricey and not much less expensive than the DJ). Am I confused?? Other brides on this forum have also bought Boze docking speakers... which I hope will be loud enough?

Quote: Originally Posted by Tifuhhknee I have been bombarding the poor facebook people, haha. Saw that at 11:30 each day, a boat takes you 5 minutes out for great snorkeling. I asked about the price and how long you are out for. Waiting to hear back. great tidbit!!! keep us posted:-)

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl Hey good news! Dreams Riviera has made it to #2 out of 26 hotels in Puerto Morelos on trip advisor. I think that is awesome! hahaha glad to know i am not the only one checking this daily :-)

we were thinking about doing a reception before the wedding as well--we are getting married 10/31/10 and don't want to have a party when we get back during the holidays. to the brides who are having their reception before their wedding i was wondering a few things: 1) how did you phrase the prewedding reception on your invitations? or stds? 2) i was also curious who you guys invited to the party? did you only invite people who were invited to the DW or other guests as well?? 3) did you have an engagement party on top of the pre-wedding party?? thanks so much ladies!

i'm having the same problem as everyone else! we are only having about 50 people at our DW (family and close friends only). we aren't having a bridal party to boot. my aunt and best friend (both on the east coast) have mentioned a shower. i clarified that it really wasn't PC to invite people to the shower that weren't invited to the DW. considering that does not leave an extensive guest list, and the guests are scattered all over the country (my FI and I are in Portland, OR, his family in Kansas City) i don't really feel right about having people travel and spend money again just to come to a shower? one of my friends here wanted to throw one as well... just not sure what to do! its hard to say no when you have friends who want to do nice things for you! we are having the same problem with the whole engagement party situation? my parents really want to have one on the east coast and are hoping to include their close friends who weren't invited to the DW as well. does this mean i have to invite everyone invited to the wedding to this party? should i have one on the west coast as well?? help! so confused!!

the prices everyone put on their website--were they just for a basic room? or did you include info on upgrade? also, did you clarify that they prices were only available through your TA and/or had a specific date they were valid for? i don't want to put too much pressure on my guests.... but at the same time if i get a great deal for them i don't want them to miss out on it!

Quote: Originally Posted by sweetiecat How about having a celebration of your wedding in early Spring 2010? That way the holidays have passed and you will have had some time to accumulate more vacation days. It doesn't necessarily have to be a full reception, just a fun party so that your parents can celebrate your recent marriage with their friends. Do you mean the spring of 2011? Does that seem kinda long after a Oct 2010 wedding? I don't want people to think I am having a party so long after the ceremony just to get gifts...

Quote: Originally Posted by Tifuhhknee Got some feedback from people on Facebook who have stayed here. ONLY downside I have found to this resort is that there is no snorkeling really on site. When I stayed at the Catalonia RM, the snorkeling was AMAZING and I want my guests who have never left the states to have that experience on site. ( I guess it comes with the location. bummer! the dreams website implies otherwise and that is one of the reasons i picked this resort!! hopefully there is some close by!

So my FI and I live in Portland, OR and my family lives in the Washington DC area and his family in Kansas City, KA. We are having a destination wedding in Cancun 10/31/10 and hoping to keep the guest list small--around 50 people (only family and very close friends). My parents mentioned that they would like to host some sort of celebration at their house pre or post wedding which would allow them to include some of their close friends who will not be invited to the wedding. Based on everything I have read it seems it is not "PC" to invite people to your engagement party who are not invited to the DW?? If this is true then it seems we have to have an at home reception? This would mean we have to have an AHR during the 2010 holiday season which my FI and I would both like to avoid. We just aren't sure we are going to be able to use more vacation time so soon, $$, etc. What would you do Did people have engagement parties? Bridal showers? AHR Who did you invite?? HELP!! Thanks :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl I'm not too worried about the service. I have been reading the reviews on Facebook and Tripadvisor daily and most people have raved about the service. I've only read a couple of negative reviews about the resort. There are always going to be exceptions at any resort. I'm sorry that you, Laura, did not get the service that others have been raving about! That is such a bunmer! But it doesn't worry me. What worries me about your review is the ceremony sites. I can't understand why when they are designing a new resort that they know will have hundreds of weddings a year, they can't create a separate secluded area off to the side for the ceremony. That really bums me out I will be there in 2.5 weeks and will take photos from all different angles. Hopefully they will have weddings there over Thanksgiving. I imagine they will. I have also been reading about the lack of privacy in the rooms and that concerns me too. I hope that they will do something about it. I saw a post from Rod (on FB) at one time where he said they planned to fix that. But I don't when. I hope it is soon. Why would they design the bathrooms with such little privacy?! Anyways, thanks Laura for your review. i agree about the reviews. i too have been checking facebook and trip advisor... seems like on the whole everyone is very happy. i was just so surprised to hear about the poor service Laura received since that is something every review i have read so far has RAVED about. i guess the lesson to be learned is sometimes you have to be a little aggressive to be noticed if necessary. i will save that for my fiance and my dad :-) i am not as worried about the bathroom privacy. mostly because most of my guests are couples--the only exception being two small children. my goal was to cater to couples anyway since i didn't want to include kids to begin with (long story). several people have complained about the lack of storage for clothes in the rooms, but i saw a post from Rod on facebook that they are planning changing that as well. as a whole though the rooms look very beautiful and that is one of the reasons i picked this resort. (i was reading lots of complaints about the rooms at dreams cancun) i am worried about the lack of privacy for the ceremony. that was a very big surprise for me. i posted a few days back regarding a photo that showed the weird alien gazebo right in the middle of the pool area. like other brides i was planning to go with the beach. not sure how the beach can't be private?? i am hoping SDbeachgirl will be able to scout that out.... i'm so jealous you get to visit! i'm sure you will put us all at ease :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by lauren hi ladies - dh and i just returned from the resort and i've written a review. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...7/#post1054683 yikes! now i'm kinda worried... hope some changes are made soon! thanks for the review!

great information ladies! i hadn't heard of westjet and i will def check them out! happy planning :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by Tifuhhknee Decided to just repost that link for everyone. Figured it would be useful to those that missed it way back when. Dreams Riviera I'm not sure this link is working anymore... at least not for me :-(

Quote: Originally Posted by mmontgo Hi everyone! Its been such a long time since I was on the forum. School has kept me very busy lately. I wanted to take a minute to break away from my hectic lif to share with everyone some photos Ana sent me of the deck and the pool area for the reception. Has anyone decided what location to have their ceremony at? There is another wedding on the same date as mine so I originally nervous I wouldnt get the deck (thats what I wanted all along) and now I'm nervous that if the other bride chooses the pool area her party will be right next to mine. Ana has assured me that everything will be perfect but I worry too much. Any way hope everyone enjoys the pics. would love to see the pictures as well!!!! welcome back :-)

awesome find! thanks so much :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl Here is another video that was taken and placed on You Tube: YouTube - Dreams Riviera Cancun Resort Footage! awesome find!!! great footage of some areas i hadn't seen yet :-) I found this on youtube as well. it is just a bunch of photos though--may be the ones from bookit.com? YouTube - Dreams Riviera Cancun

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl Hi all, So I have 3.5 weeks until my site visit at Dreams! I'm getting so excited to see the resort and meet with Ana in person. I'm going to start putting together a list of questions for her and some things that I want to make sure to check out while I am there. Please let me know if there is anything in particular that you want me to try and get answers to or take pictures of. I am so jealous you doing a site visit!!! I was looking at one of the photos of the weird wedding gazebo on bookit.com and it looks like it is REALLY close to the pool and not very private. If you could let us know about that it would be great. I am assuming we will have the option of having the ceremony on the beach? Haven't heard anything about that from Ana yet. Also I am dying to know what some of the restaurant menus look like. I can't find info about that ANYWHERE! Thanks so much!! Have an amazing time :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by wisconsinbride2010 I just put a request in to have our wedding on Oct 28 2010. I am just waiting to hear back from Ana to make sure this date is okay. I am super excited and very nervous about not seeing the resort first! We kept going back and forth with our dates and decided to go with 10/31/10. Halloween! Looks like I will see you there :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by wisconsinbride2010 We just got our confirmation for October 28 2010. I'm so excited. We just had to copy the front and back of the credit card and also the drivers license of whose ever card it is. Ana also sent my wedding planner here the form for me to fill out. got the form from Ana... did you mail it? email it? fax it??

just put a hold on 11.1.2010!! so excited!! for those of you that put a deposit down how did you do that? did you just email a credit card (not sure i REALLY want to do that) or call or what?

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl Here are a couple of slideshows posted on Facebook: Smilebox Playback Smilebox Playback Check them out! great links! the top one has tons of great photos of DRC. many of which i have not seen yet!!!! the bottom one is all food... looks amazing! some of the captions though make it sound like the photos are from other hotels as well... i recognize the zoetry one.

Quote: Originally Posted by lnf_munchkin I'm a super lucky bride that got the Saturday after Thanksgiving 2010 I think a great deal of my guess will be going Sunday to Sunday over the holiday, it's one of the few times of the year that flights are actually more expensive mid week. And they only have to take a couple of days off to get a whole weeks vaction . . . just wish it wasn't over a year away! me too! i am trying to put a hold/reserve fri nov19th but can't say i am thrilled about the date. way too far away for my liking! had no idea things filled up so far in advance!

i seem to have forgotten about facebook since i am now addicted to this forum :-)