jlerv

My wedding is next week (4/1) YAY!!!!! Samuel Luna is an approved outside photographer and I only have to pay the $80 day pass fee. He has been a dream to work with! Originally when they changed the policy I was going to have to pay the $500 fee but then they discussed it with the photographer and magically it worked out! I'm using the resort photographer for a "Trash the Dress" session the next day. This has been quite the process considering I've been through 4 wedding coordinators already. I currently have Veronica and she's been great to work with, even calling me one evening to work out details. I don't plan on working out the decor for the ceremony and reception until I get there as I'm hoping to work out a deal. We went with the ultimate package but I'm not using a lot of it so I'm not sure if it's worth it. We're bringing our own officiant and I'm doing my own makeup. I think I may have chosen food off of the silver menu instead of the gold menu also. If I could do it over again I may have went with the love package. No biggie though and I'm sure it will all work out well! I'll let you know all of the details after the wedding!

So sorry Lauren it's under Visual Sound "Music for your Eyes"

The DJ's email is [email protected] His name is DJ Mauricio Neri and you can look at his pics on Facebook at "Music for Your Eyes" (corny I know but he has a light up dance floor similar to DJ Mannia. From what I understand his pricing is $300/hr but I'm waiting to find out if that includes the dance floor. I'll keep you all posted.

My fi just ordered a linen suit set with vest from jcrew. It was a bit expensive but the quality is great. If you go to the JCrew site and enter Irish Linen suit vest I think you'll find it. Good luck!

volosikj-1/15/2011 Beth Anne & Mathew 01/17/11 Steve and Amy 2/04/2011 Tara & Andy 2/10/11 rscherle- 2/19/2011 saymyname74- 3/5/2011 L'Oreal & Mike 3/26/11 Jessie & Mike 4/1/2011 Brooke & Rasheed 04/03/2011 Ashley & Cole 4/7/2011 Kerry & Gary - 4/8/2011 Melissa & Michael - 4/22/11 Dawn & Jimmy - 4/30/2011 Leah & Jamie - 5/3/2011 Lisa & Andrew - 5/6/11 Ursula & Matt - 5/7/2011 Melissa & Nathanael 5/8/11 Winter & Steven - 5/10/2011 Leanne & Adam 5/14/2011 Lauren & Brian 05/25/2011 BROOKE &MIKE 06/18/2011 Deanna & Christopher 7/6/2011 Colleen & Clint 7/19/11 Lindsay & Frank 7/23/11 Ivelisse & Steve 10/28/11 I just added our date (4/1)

My fi just ordered kahaki linen slacks and a vest for our 4/1 wedding. Just got them in and they look great on. Here's the link: http://www.jcrew.com/mens_category/suitinganddressshirts/linensuiting/PRDOVR~91045/91045.jsp I searched all over looking for others and this was the only suit set I could find--a tad expensive but great quality!

Would you mind sending me the buffet menu as well? my email is [email protected] My weddding date is April 1, 2011. (BrookeAshlea--it looks like we'll be there the same weekend! Have you had good communication with Gaby? I can't seem to get a response from her but I figure I'll work it out when I get there!) Thanks!

I'm getting married 4/1/11--Would you mind sending me the bouquet, decor, menu options...I still haven't heard anything from Gaby! My email is [email protected]. Thanks a million!

Thao & Triet: 9/3/2010 Nikki & Tyler- 9/17/2010 Casey & Ron - 9/18/2010 Sarah & Joe – 9/18/2010 Mindy & Joe - /10/4/2010 Toni & Jake – 10/8/2010 Vix1383 – 10/16/2010 Adrian & Peter 10/17/2010 Kym & Brian – 10/19/2010 Emma & ? - 10/23/2010 Robyn and Chris- 10/24/2010 Reagan & Brent – 10/26/2010 wisconsionbride - 10/28/2010 Rachael & Alex - 10/31/2010 Chelsey & Travis- 11/5/2010 April & Reggie – 11/6/2010 Jannine & Pete- 11/11/2010 Ashley & Mark- 11/15/2010 Kate and Cam - 11/19/2010 Tracy & ? -11/26/2010 lnf_munchkin - 11/27/2010 Lori and Jason- 11/29/2010 t1219 – 11/30/2010 Heather & Braden- 12/6/2010 Angela & Craig - 12/8/2010 Melissa & Evan - 12/10/2010 allegraapple – 12/12/2010 majimart – 12/17/2010 volosikj-1/15/2011 Steve and Amy 2/04/2011 Tara & Andy 2/10/11 rscherle- 2/19/2011 Rachel & Kevin - 2/20/2011 saymyname74- 3/5/2011 L'Oreal & Mike 3/26/11 Jessica & Mike 4/1/2011 Ashley & Cole 4/7/2011 Kerry & Gary - 4/8/2011 Melissa & Michael - 4/22/11 Dawn & Jimmy - 4/30/2011 Lisa & Andrew - 5/6/11 Ursula & Matt - 5/7/2011 Melissa & Nathanael 5/8/11 Winter & Steven - 5/10/2011 Leanne & Adam 5/14/2011 Adele & Anthony 5/17/2011 Lauren & Brian 05/25/2011 Colleen & Clint 7/19/11 Lindsay & Frank 7/23/11 Maria & Terrance 7/30/11 Ivelisse & Steve 10/28/11 I added my date: 4/1/2011

Registered Thanks Tammy!

Quote: Originally Posted by rach2011 You may want to try emailing Yazmin. She reached out and emailed me first and she responds fairly quickly (within a week) so far. I have read through many posts here that Ana will be more responsive the closer it gets to your wedding date. Just take the time to read through here, I have really learned a lot just through the posts. Everyone is very friendly and open to share ideas and experiences. Congrats on selecting Dreams. I am getting more excited by the day! Thanks so much--do you have Yazmin's email address? I absolutely love this forum. I've already learned so much from reading the previous posts!

Hello everyone! I just switched resorts from Secrets Maroma to Dreams Riviera Cancun. I'll be getting married there on April 1, 2011. We had many complaints from family and guests about the price of Secrets and it not being family-friendly so my FI and I decided it would be in our best interest to switch. Love the resort but am concerned about the lack of a response from Ana. It appears to be a common problem based on past posts. I just want her to acknowledge my existence--everything else is already planned because my contract and deposit transferred directly from Secrets since the two are related resorts. Has anyone found an effective way to get her to respond? I've written emails to her in both English and Spanish at multiple email addresses but she only appears to respond through my destinationwedding agent...

Quote: Originally Posted by Tennyt1 Are any of you sending out thank you for booking letters or anything like that. I was trying to find a thread on this topic, if you know of one please send me the link. I just booked our photog--his name is Samuel Luna and his work looks great (plus the price was lower than some of the others I was looking at. Initially I wanted Claudia Rodriguez but she was booked.

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo Hi, for those ladies who have gotten married already, I just sent a deposit for the hair/make up guy, only to find after the fact that when he said that he has no other weddings that day that I misunderstood and infact, he has already booked another one some time ago. Now my ceremony is at 2 pm, the other lady is on this forum and her ceremony is at 3:30. Mine is at Secrets Maroma and hers is at The Royal, PDC. We are both freaking out, I called him and he had indicated that this Saturday he has 3 and that this is typical. I just don’t know what to do, I thought I would splurge as hair is super important to me and now I am worried its going to be a rush job for multiple of what I would have paid else where. Yikes this is just too stressful. I'd ask him exactly how much time he's planning on spending on you to do your hair and makeup and at what time he is coming. If you don't think he has enough time to take care of your needs, you may want to look elsewhere. Also, is he planning on doing a trial run through with you before the wedding? If so, it won't take him as long the day of. (BTW, I'm not married yet--I just do makeup for wedding parties here in the States)

Quote: Originally Posted by celestial419 jlerv- where on the riviera maya are you getting married? I was planning on sending invites even earlier. I'm getting married at Secrets Maroma Resort in Riviera Maya. What about you? I'm having a hard time finding decent rates (similar to everyone else it seems). I sent out save the dates on April Fool's Day of this year (giving everyone exactly a year to save!) so I figure I'd wait until January to send out the actual invites. We're also having a local reception in June of 2011 so I figure I'll include the save the dates for that date in the actual invites.

Thanks Jaccat15! My dinner options aren't set in stone, but we're doing the Ultimate package and I was debating between the silver (sweetness and passion) and gold (house surf and turf) entree selections. Both include shrimp and beef so I figure that will give our guests some variety. Trying to figure out entrees ahead of time seemed like too much work and the potential to mess it up seemed quite high!

jaccat15, I would be interested to hear what Cecilia says about your questions. I'm also planning on adding a bottle of sunscreen to our welcome bags--did you order yours in bulk? I believe that you can bring an ipod docking station because I let Cecilia know that that's what we'd be doing for music at the bonfire and she didn't oppose it.

Quote: Originally Posted by roxmysockz I was thinking probably around Jan for the invites cuz thats when all of my guests final balance is due! Or is that quite alot too early?? x I don't think that's too early--That's when I was planning on sending my invites out--better too early than too late!

Hello everyone! Good to see some other April 2011 brides--I was beginning to think I was way ahead of the game (and that would be completely out of character seeing as I'm the biggest procrastinator ever!). We're getting married on April Fool's Day next year at Secrets Maroma Resort in Riviera Maya. I sent out my save the dates and have been looking at photographers, invites, and dresses but mostly just browsing. How far along is everyone else?

Hi Stacey! I'm also a Wisconsin bride (Beloit) getting married in Riviera Maya Congrats and good luck with the planning!

Quote: Originally Posted by mellyrobert hello everyone! i decided today that i am having my wedding at secrets miroma in jan. 2011. theres one problem, the rates for 2011 are not going to be out for awhile. i have secured the date w/ cecila, but i am having a hard time asking my guests if they can attend if i don't even have a price range! to everyone who is plannning or has been through the process did most people use a TA to deal with the room and air or book it directly through secrets? i apperciate any info you can provide! saza175 I am from massachusetts also! I am having the same problem as I'm getting married there in April 2011. I'm going through a travel agent and he thought that I could tell my guests that it could be between $300-$350 per person/night with flight so that's what I'm telling my guests to budget for; however, I'm hoping it will be less! Please let me know if you hear anything else regarding this. Thanks!

I LOVE YOUR PICS! Thanks for the review--it was very helpful!

Quote: Originally Posted by jaccat15 Hi everyone! I JUST got back from SMB for my site visit I am so excited to have our wedding here on 10/30/10!!! The resort is AMAZING - from the lobby to the beach and everything and everyone in between. We are going to do a welcome bonfire after dinner on Friday night for everyone - but after dinner since the restuarants are amazing and we want our guests to enjoy the resort. Cecilia said we can do cocktails and desserts (s'mores to be exact) and we will bring our own i-pod speakers to play music. For the day of we are getting married under the gazebo at sunset and going to do the cocktail hour on the lawn behind it. We are thinking of doing the reception in the ballroom since we have some older family members and the humidity and heat may be too much. This all depends though on how many people end up coming too. We are Jewish so we have to work on finding a Rabbi to come and do our ceremony from the states since there really isn't one in the area. The morning after the wedding, we are going to have a farewell breakfast in the World Cafe and will have our section for our group. I also met with Mannia and Juan Navvaro (the photog) while I was there. We are definitely using Mannia but not sure about the photographer yet. I wasn't that impressed by their work and the book they give you is a regular photo album with sleeves of pics so we are going to look more into this. Cecilia is so nice. We have a lot to still work out but since we have so much time, we can work on it all gradually. She said they have a lot of weddings in April and May (almost one everyday) so she is getting 2 other people to help her which will be great. She wrote down all of the things we spoke about - but I am keeping fairly simple since I like the white table cloths and place settings and we are going to use Tiffany chairs instead of the white ones. Boo - I know you want to know dimensions of tables and the gazebo but she was unable to give them to me as she didn't have the specs on her. BUT - If you really want to bring your own stuff, I would try and make a site visit before hand so you can take your time to check EVERYTHING out. I went on this trip with my mom and will be back in the area Memorial Day weekend (we have another wedding at the Paradisus - which is gross btw compared to SMB, too bad we booked our rooms for that!) and I'm going to show the resort to my fiance' and plan a few things with Cecilia if we can. I didn't want to make this too long but if you have any other questions, let me know p.s. We got upgraded to a swim out room and it was really nice - except the mosquitos! I guess this time of year they are bad so bring bug spray. The hotel also gives you little repellent towelettes in the bathroom but bring your own too. Thanks for your post! Have you guys planned any activities for your guests? If so, do you have any recommendations? Thanks again!

Hello everyone! My name is Jessica and I will be getting married on April Fool's Day, 2011. I'm planning on getting married at Secrets Maroma Resort; however, this is not set in stone yet. Please feel free to offer any suggestions, comments, tips--whatever you can think of because I could use the advice!