lyndsay_h

The beef tenderlion was soooo good! I'm a pretty picky eater so it seemed like the most basic thing and everyone said it was great.

The time we'd been given for the judge was 7pm and we wanted pictures before so we did the symbolic ceremony at 5 which gave us just enough time to get all our pictures done. I think it should be enough depending on what you want to do, we got a few shots of our entire group so it took a few minutes just to find everyone and get them to pay attention. Plus when we were doing out beach pictures it started raining so we had to wait it out for a little. It was gettting dark by the end but we got all the pictures we wanted. While we were doing our wedding party pictures we had my brother in law (a photographer) take pictures of all the couples so we could give them as gifts later (since everyone was looking so nice!) Then the cocktail part started at 6, the judge came just before 7 so we went inside the bordeaux while everyone was still out on the terrace and had a little private legal ceremony. Then 7-11 was dinner & dancing.

1 - We got our hair and makeup done in the salon and it turned out pretty much like the picture I brought for mine. 2 - I made menus and put them on the back of the table numbers, they don't do it for you 3 - nope, sorry! 4 - I used HDC for the photography, video and TTD and it turned out great. Especially the video, I'd recommend it to anyone... it all goes by so quickly it's nice to have to remember, and for people who weren't there. you can see the pictures on www.hdcphoto.com then customer access. username is: adamandlyndsay password: dreams

Sherri I got my hair, makeup and nails done at the spa and it looked pretty good. I can't remember the name of the girl... someone had mentioned her name recently in a review too. But I brought pictures for my hair and makeup and both were pretty close to what I wanted. The only thing I was concerned about was how much hairspray was used to make curls, I thought it'd be really stiff instead of more natural what was what I wanted but then when I realized how windy it was outside (even around the gazebo) I figured they must know what they're doing.

Aww I love the paper lanterns! That's what I was hoping for ours to look like but we got moved to inside the Bordeaux because of weather, so they got placed kind of on walls and covering a few decorationy things on the walls. But we got them from www.justartifacts.net/roblpala.html and they shipped to Canada, and I made led throwies to put inside them. Actually the throwies came in handy, I had extra and the power for the entire resort went out for almost 2 hours on our bachelor/bachelorette party night so I carried one around to see where I was going. www.instructables.com/id/LED-Throwies/ I bought the batteries and lights from ebay so they were cheap and ridiculously easy to make.

I ended up using sephora's make up forever foundation, concealer, and liquid liner, and l'oreal volume shocking waterproof mascara. They stayed on pretty well for the beating we took from the waves. My skin is not great so I was happy to have something, and if it wasn't perfect it's nothing a little editing can't fix! I used both the waterproof liquid eyeliner and the aqua eyes eyeliner during the week neither of them really survived a day of swimming. The foundation was good but felt pretty heavy for daily use, I was happy not to worry so much about what I looked like for our honeymoon week.

We had 37 people, with 7 of us standing in the gazebo. So there were people in the chairs you can see in the picture, but there were also seats you cant see in a half circle around the gazebo for our closest family (parents, grandma). You could put the people there that you would definitely want to be able to see and hear. And I just realized the fountains were on, something I didn't notice at all that day.

We used DJ Mannia and they did a great job. We'd given him a cd with a few songs on it that we wanted to hear but it wouldn't work for him (my laptop has issues so it was probably not his fault) but he tried to find all the songs and got most of them, or at least a version of them. Everyone was up and dancing all night. Though an ipod might have worked just as well... my friends probably would have danced to the radio.

Erm not sure why it posted all that instead of what I actually wrote but I'll try again... it says "I take you to carry my key and tip money, for poolside or barstool, for soused or for sober, in heat and in humidity, until I depart." Another BDW bride came up with it and I thought it was cute.

Quote:Originally Posted by sarcrook Also..what does it say on the tags that are on your bags & your keycard/tip holders? Trip Info - letter.doc LT - Front.doc LT - Back.doc Brochure front.bmp Brochure inside.bmp OOT Bag - Welcome Letter.doc OOT Bag - Spanish Translation.doc OOT Bag - The Big Day.doc

The woman who took my bd pictures has a little tutorial on her blog about how to take your own. It seems pretty basic as long as you have a timer on your camera! http://marlenjames.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-do-your-own-boudoir-photography.html

They can provide chair bows and napkins but I'm pretty sure the price is $3 each... it was way cheaper for us to bring our own.

I think that's plenty of time as long as your wc is fine with it. We picked everything but the flowers ahead of time, then when we met with Yessica (took about 1/2 an hour) we just went over everything and explained what we brought to decorate for the reception and how we wanted it. The morning of the wedding we met quickly to do a run through of how it'd go at the gazebo, since it was pouring rain it was just a 5 minute explaination to the wedding party what would happen. Your clothes can be steamed in that one day so that shouldn't be a problem. It could be nice to do the wedding early in your trip, then you'll have less time there to be stressed about it.

http://www.caribbeanboatrestaurant.com/en/TheBoat.htm La Barcaza would be an awesome way to start of your vacation! The guy in charge of the boat was a lot of fun and even had my 86 year old grandma up dancing. And a good idea to do it earlier in your trip... we asked what would happen if the weather was bad and they said they'd reschedule it for another day, but since we planned it on our second-last day it would have been a mess if it had been stormy. Quote: Originally Posted by DRwedgal2011 Lyndsay, can you send me the booking information and pricing for La Barcaza? I'm thinking of doing a welcome dinner/lunch maybe with that instead of at the resort. Thanks for any informations! [email protected] La Barcaza - INFO.doc La Barcaza - Services and prices 2011.doc

Thanks! Starfish wasn't our theme but we used them for place settings (bought from http://www.hansonellis.com/beach-starfish-favor-of-love.html )) )) ) and there was one a pin on my flowers that my mom got for my something blue, but I don't know where it came from. One of the dresses was Mori Lee 735 and the other was 767. I told them to pick whatever dress they liked and those two ended up pretty similar. We each had to pay $10 to get in and $20 to leave. I'd put our $40 aside so I wouldn't spend it and found that half of it had been stolen from my bag in my room the day before we left. We were at Excellence then for the honeymoon, but still I'd warn everyone to always lock up your money... there's about $100 missing that I can't account for from the week we were at Dreams.

We didn't have a problem getting anything through customs, and we even brought starfish.

Thanks! Everything went really well and everybody had a great time. We had planned a Welcome Dinner for our first night outside the world cafe and were supposed to be paying for waiters for drink service then we'd eat from the buffet...but when we got there we were just sitting inside with everyone else, they just had 4 tables empty for us, and noone seemed to understand what was wrong. So at first I was really nervous that the wedding would be all screwed up too. But we met with Yessica the next day and we'd brought a lot of stuff with us to set up for the reception and she took care of everything. The day of the wedding was the worst day for weather, it poured all day then magically stopped an hour before the wedding and held off until the reception was over. Yessica called our room at 4 to make the decision of moving the ceremony from the gazebo to the hallway outside the lobby because of the rain but I wanted to risk it, I didn't go all the way to the dominican to get married inside! And because the time we got for the judge wasn't until 7 Yessica performed the ceremony at 5 then we had a tiny private one when the judge did come, right before dinner. I liked it better that way because the judge only speaks spanish so there is a lot of translating and repeating. I put the video on facebook (we used HDC), it's long but probably the easiest way to see what the resort and the wedding looks like. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=video#!/video/video.php?v=10150320024670075&comments The resort is so beautiful, especially the gazebo area. A few people had problems with their rooms, like major leaks, but we had none at all. Right now 3 of the buildings are closed for renovations so they must know there are problems and are working to fix them. And there are VERY large spiders that seem to only hang out on one half of the resort... everyone was talking about them but we didn't see any until the last night. Eating anywhere other than the world cafe with a group bigger than 4 was pretty much impossible, people tried and ended up waiting 1-3 hours for dinner because they don't take reservations but I didn't mind just going to the buffet. As a thank you to the guests we booked La Barcaza for one afternoon and I think that's the thing people enjoyed the most. Their bus takes you to the boat from the resort and they cruise to a natural swimming spot then serve lunch. The weather was perfect, there was lots of drinking and dancing and the food was awesome... it was basically a big floating party. Originally Posted by welljen Hey Lyndsay, Congratulations! Welcome back from your wedding. Hope you had a wonderful time! With the exception of the weather, did everything else go 'somewhat' according to plan? How was the resort? Did your guests have a good time? Any insights you could share would be great!

We had ours at the Bordeaux last week and we had a group of 37... but because of weather it was moved to inside (luckily the restaurant was closed that day.) We would have all fit but it would there would have been no extra room, like if you had a dj or wanted to dance. The terrace is big but it gets sectioned off. And actually I liked it better that the reception was inside. It's beautiful and there are windows everywhere so you still get the view but without the wind. Plus people still got to use the terrace to smoke their cigars or just get some air. So either way you could fit 5 tables but you'd have more room inside than out. But Bordeaux is in a way better location than Himitsu, so I'd try to get it there if you could.

We'll be there the 20th - 27th, and I feel like tomorrow is going to be the longest day of my life!!

sure, what's your email?

I looooved this series! For you guys who haven't read it yet you're lucky... I had to wait a year between each one for the next to come out!

Jackie I leave a week after you and I can't wait! I hope you guys have a great time!

This link tells the dress code for each restaurant http://www.dreamsresorts.com/drepc/dining.html and the site defines each one: Casual Bermudas (long shorts or capri pants), sneakers/tennis shoes or sandals. No sleeveless shirts for men. Ladies must wear a bathing suit wrap or cover-up. Casual Elegance Sneakers/tennis shoes or sandals, dress shirts with sleeves. No sleeveless shirts or flip-flops and long pants required for men. Formal For men, long pants and collar shirts; dress shoes. For women, blouses, skirts, slacks or dresses; dress shoes.

I originally ordered cheaper looking ones in silver/black, then later discount mugs sent me an email that they were out of stock of them, asking if I wanted them in white instead. When I said no (the white ones are ugly) she offered these ones. So I said sure, as long as the price stays the same! And we only got 50 as well, which is more than we needed but I've been using my leftovers for tea when I take the kids for walks and they work great.

Everything looks incredible! I hope you have an amazing time