clgriffi7

I haven't heard anything either...sorry. Trying to be patient..... I think the paper lanterns would look nice, but I am not sure if it is worth the effort. Since my cocktail hour will be after sunset, I would feel the need to put the LED lights in the paper lanterns and that seems like it may not be worth it..... What are you thinking? Your wedding is getting close

We did a group rate (which requires a minimum of 10 rooms booked) for the rooms and airport transfers only. We did not include flights in the price because different airports would be used and guests would be staying different lengths of time. Here are the details (minus the price because at different times of year I am sure they vary widely): - the cost was presented as a price for a 3-night stay plus a per night price for any additional nights - this came in handy as one of the couples is only staying 3 nights, the rest are staying 4, 5, and 6 nights (fiance and I are staying 8 nights) - the price includes round trip transfers to/from the airport - $100 per person in resort credits - one VIP room upgrade (I am sure pending availability) for every 10 rooms paid - 6th room complimentary (only counts for double occupancy rooms) We managed to get 12 double-occupancy rooms so hopefully my fiance and I will get an upgraded room and we should get some amount of credit for 2 free rooms. The free room bit is somehow calculated based on the number of nights rooms are booked. Our group rate has closed but our travel agent hasn't heard back from the resort yet on the free room credit so we will see what we get. Hope that helps!

JBean - Hardly anyone RSVP'd to us. We basically knew who was going to come based on who would talk to us about the trip versus those that would avoid the topic. I considered a plane ticket/room reservation as the only true RSVP for an event like this. Our group rate closed on August 15th and there are still 3-4 people that may come. However, I am assuming that if they let the group rate close then they aren't going to come but they just have a hard time telling us they aren't coming. However, if people book at the last minute, then I will do my best to have enough OOT bag items, programs, etc. for them, but if I am a bit short then "oh well" that is what they get for waiting until the last minute. I think a friendly email reminder is the best thing you can do. I would just add in some wording explaining that you understand many people won't be able to make it...blah, blah, blah. I tried to word things that way to allow people to say they aren't coming without any guilt. I ended up with considerably fewer people at the wedding than I had originally thought would come. (We will likely stay at 26 adults and 3 kids) And all I can say is thank goodness - I am stressing enough about the people that are coming...I can't imagine if it were the 50 or so that I thought would be coming. Good luck getting a response one way or the other!

We only have 3 nieces (3 yr, 2 yr, 12 mo - and all have the some mother/father!!!), so we will have 2 flower girls and 1 ring bearer. The two older girls will be the flower girls and they will hopefully walk down the aisle on their own - I am hoping the fact that their father will be standing at the end of the aisle as a GM will help. For the flower girls I bought metal pails at Michaels and will tie starfish to where the handle meets the pail with thin ribbon in one of our wedding colors. One of the reasons I chose this path is because the metal pails should survive the flight quite well and the starfish can be packed away and tied on once we get to Mexico. The youngest girl will be the ring bearer and her mother will carry her down the aisle. Instead of a pillow, she will be holding onto a stuffed animal that looks a bit like our dog (who is beyond loved/spoiled) - the rings will be attached to a collar around the stuffed dogs neck. I have seen quite a few weddings where the ring bearer pillow has become an object of importance to either the couple or the ring bearer. Some friends recently had the rings attached to a football for the boy to carry.

I know I complain about my finace not helping out - but he really isn't that bad. For some reason the addresses have just been a problem area. The cute thing is he is really excited about getting married - not so sure about the wedding part - but definitely the married part. Can't wait until tomorrow when it is September - just sounds so much closer to November....

They do take quite a while to get back to you. Often you can get a slightly quicker response through your travel agent (especially if they have had previous Dreams Cancun brides) - but even then it still isn't a quick response.

I am in complete agreement with all of the other ladies - I would be offended if asked to pay for my meal at any wedding. I would be even more offended if I were asked to do so after spending so much money to travel to a DW wedding. Hopefully you can show your fiance all of our replies and convince him that the tradition he and his family are accustomed to is not the norm and could offend some of the guests attending - especially your parents!! It sounds as if you have not sent out your invitations yet - so I would seriously take into account how many people you invite based on the per person cost. My fiance and I had originally intended to invite anyone and everyone to our DW until we realized it would cost us $100/pp for the cocktail hour and dinner at our resort over the 20 ppl included in the package we purcahsed. At that point we decided to cut a lot of people off of the list to make sure we could afford the wedding. I do think this is a good opportunity to tell your parents that if you were to invite those aunts and uncles that you haven't seen since you were a baby, that it would be entirely for your parents' benefit. And as your parents think that guests shouldn't pay for their own meals, then your parents need to pay for those aunts and uncles if they end up coming.

Guys just don't feel the pressure with this wedding stuff because they know we will take care of it. And we feel the stress because we know they won't! Tonight I literally took the remote and muted the TV in an effort to get him to send facebook messages for the last of the addresses. I still couldn't get his complete attention (the pretty pictures were still flashing in the box ) so I had to turn it off completely. He gave me a "look" to which I replied, "It isn't my fault you have so many friends...you could always cut them from the list if you don't want to get the addresses." That motivated him...

Another example of how in love my fiance is with his dog....here are the post cards we ordered from Vistaprint:

Ours is almost 4 years old and he still won't behave. But that is part of the fun...our legal ceremony is going to be very informal. I plan on everyone meeting in the parking lot of the park and walking to the site together - there will be no walking down an aisle or father giving me away or readings or anything for this ceremony. I want to save all of the good stuff for the wedding in Mexico. So I am almost hoping that our dog (Presley) acts up in some way so we can get some cute pictures. It would be perfect if he decided to jump up on one of us to be held the whole ceremony.... As long as he doesn't run off with our legal rings we will be alright - though chasing after him in a dress and heels would make for a good picture too... I would suggest getting as much of the DIY done early so you can save the less stressful stuff (like picking reception music) for closer to the wedding. I am currently frustrated with my fiance - we have gotten our post card invites in from Vistaprint for our AHP (At Home Party: beer, wine, DJ, cupcakes, no seated dinner) and we are inviting a larger group of people than we invited to Mexico. The reason we needed to do a DW is because my finace has way too many friends for us to be able to afford a nice wedding for that many people (let's just say he still keeps up with his friends from elementary school). So most of these additional people are on his side and it is like pulling teeth to try and get him to get addresses for them. I shouldn't be surprised...it was like pulling teeth to get the ones for the invites too. Let's just say that I have resorted to stalking people through county property tax records to get addresses!

Joanne - Your projects look really good. Now you have me reconsidering about doing a menu card....hmmmm. I guess it would be nice for it to not just be a surprise to see what the waiter drops off next. One day's notice for an international business trip? Wow...glad your family is there so you can get excited about it. My company just made a decision to pull up a very large project due date from March of next year to the end of this year. So later this week they will announce a "no vacation" rule through the end of the year...luckily my boss talked to our Senior VP yesterday about my wedding and I have been given a pass. WHEW! If they hadn't, my boss would have been getting a sick call from Cancun each morning....

I think I will probably try and get a group together for CocoBongo on another night of the trip. (I vacationed in Cancun back in 2004 and loved CocoBongo) The day after our wedding we are offering everyone an excursion and we will need to leave around 7:30am...so I think we may have to stick to Desires for after the reception. Did you visit any other clubs/bars while you were in Cancun that you recommend? (I bet most of the ones from when I first went are not longer open...)

Ladies - Who is getting legally married before they leave for the DW? I am getting married at a park on Sunday October 9th - so that is now less than 6 weeks away :-) I am excited because our photographer will be there taking pictures - and I think the pictures are what I am most excited about for the whole process (other than actually being married of course). I started thinking how close we are to the legal wedding this weekend when the bow tie for the dog came in the mail (he will be the ring bearer). Those pictures will just be too adorable. OH - a couple of weeks ago I snuck around while my fiance was working late and took this picture that I made into a greeting card that I will write my wedding day (DW wedding) message to my fiance in. Please note that my fiance is IN LOVE with his dog - thus why we are doing our legal wedding outside in a park (paying an officiant, etc) instead of just the courthouse. Sarah - I am sure your pictures will turn out to be gorgeous. I am sure your photographer took a ton of pictures and you will be able to choose the best of the best for your fiance.

We may be using chinese take-out boxes as cake boxes. Our resort includes another dessert with the reception meal, so it would ne nice to offer guests a way to take the cake with them back to their room. My fiance is Chinese-American, so I think it would be a cute touch.

How did you get the group discount?!

I agree about not missing your own cocktail hour - another great thing about a destination wedding! Is anyone else looking forward to the mariachi trio at their cocktail hour? I will be doing a TTD session with my photographer. I am looking forward to those pictures almost as much as my wedding day pics.

I am proud of you for being able to do a BD shoot!! I don't think I would have the cajones to do either the shoot or present my fiance with the book. Can you say insecurities? :-)

Congratulations on getting your dress in and still being in love with it. My ceremony location is dictating my hair a bit. We will be at a very windy gazebo - so my hair will be fully up and I will have a hair flower instead of a veil. After deciding fully up I had to choose either a tighter style or a more voluminous style. Because I have a strapless dress and a long neck (my mother used to call me her "giraffe") I think I need a style with a bit more volume to keep it from looking too severe. So here are pictures I have found that I like:

We are already starting to see some of the rain from Irene here in Central NC - we should start getting the wind this far inland early morning. I am taking my dress to an independnet seamstress, so I hope to get a better "deal", but with all of the things I want done I think $300 is still the better bet. Oh well :-(

Thanks for the link. I jsut bookmarked it so I can check for patterns...

Eun-sil: Your dress looks beautiful. When is everyone getting their dresses altered? I think I may be doing mine a bit on the early side - I am taking it in on September 12th and have been told I will get it back no later than October 4th (the lady scheduled 3 appointments with me and I should have the dress back on September 27th - and a 4th appointment just in case to get it back on October 4th ). I am doing this all a bit ahead of schedule because I plan on having a bridal portrait session in mid-October. How much should I expect to pay in alterations (ball-park)? My dress is a heavily-boned mermaid dress with pleats & ruffles (but no beads or lace) and I will have the top made into a sweetheart, have the side taken in, and have it hemmed. Am I looking at $100 or $300 here?

Thank you so much for the directions and the info on Desires. My fiance LOVES karaoke - you said it was the night of your rehearsal dinner, was that a Friday night? Random question about the resort: how do you find out theme nights for the club, entertainment, etc.?

Thank you for this info! Are there particular directions to this market or a name we should ask for? $0.50 is what I am talking about Glad to hear you think 3 hours is enough - that will save us some money (and save me the hassle of having to try and justify it to my fiance). What I love about a destination wedding is that you have already spent a few days with your guests, so you don't have to waste your reception time "meeting and greeting" everyone - you can all sit and eat a full meal and then party together. Is there something special about entrance fee or drink tickets or something like that to Desires? For some reason I feel like I read something about free entrance and a free drink per night for Dreams guests or something like that. We will be using the beach for the reception so the garden was an option for the cocktail hour. But I am definitely in favor of privacy (as much as that is possible at a resort) so I think the Terrace is the best option. Question for you: my fiance and I will be staging "first look" photos because we want to take pictures before the ceremony (so we can have a ceremony closer to sunset) - where do you think would be a good place for this? I would like it to be somewhere pretty so the pictures turn out well but I would also prefer it to not be somewhere crowded where my fiance and I will be a spectacle. I have seen one set of pictures like that on this thread from a previous Dreams Cancun bride and she did hers on the pier. The setting was very pretty but you could tell in the pictures that it was very windy out there. Any suggestions?

Meghan - How much are you being charged for the extra hour of the reception? I think the per person open bar price might be worth it, but not sure when you add on more money for the DJ. I have definitely been thinking about adding an hour because our reception will start so early (unfortunate result of picking a date when the days are shorter). However, I wonder if it will be worth the money for our group of only 26 adults. May just be worth it for us to all go out afterwards... Does anyone know what Desires is like and if that would be worth a try? I too plan on doing maracas and having them at each place setting at the reception. However, I decided to forgo the transport fees and take a risk on being able to buy them once I get to Mexico. That means that on the day we arrive we will have to leave the resort and head to a market in hopes of finding some. Adventure.

Joanne - I am so happy for you! More than anything I am happy you don't have an unfortunate event hanging over the rest of your wedding planning. To me it makes perfect sense that you feel better after venting to us. Who else could understand the stress you are under better than us?!