mpeter81

Hi ladies! I got married at Dreams 6 months ago and it was great!! RESORT: I was worried about the resort since we booked it without ever visiting, but it turned out to be fabulous! The wait staff was so great there and our guests (15 family members, 20 friends) all raved about the resort and how friendly and accommodating the staff was. Food was also really good there – especially the breakfast buffets (the Mexican scrambled eggs, and chiliquiles…delish!), a lot of people were fans of the breakfast. The weather was also perfect – sunny 6 days and high-70’s, low-80’s; and 1 day was overcast, but still high-70’s. GAZEBO: We had the ceremony at 4pm in the Gazebo (I’m vertically challenged so wanted to be in heels ; ). FYI – the walkway from the edge of the restaurant to the steps of the gazebo is only 13 feet (or it may’ve been 14 feet, can’t remember the # off the top of my head) so keep in mind it’s short if you’re thinking of a runner. We just did rose petals instead. I loved the look of the gazebo and everything, but it was still pretty windy and I was fighting w/ my veil. If I had to do it again, I’d still wear the veil, but I’d have it pinned down a little better. Also, even though you’re under the gazebo, where the bride normally stands on the left side is pretty sunny. I don’t think the sun was directly in my eyes, but it was still really bright and I was squinting quite a bit at first. The groom being on the right has the better angle w/ his back to the sun. The other thing to keep in mind about the gazebo is the PILLARS. I didn’t find out later, buy I was really bummed when my mom told me she couldn’t see me b/c of the pillar b/w us. That can be avoided though: just make sure when you stand in the gazebo, you can see everyone over your husband’s shoulder, and he can see everyone over your shoulder. If you can’t see someone b/c of the pillar, they can’t see you. We simply forgot to really make sure we did that. Also, at 4pm on Oct 21, the position of the sun makes it so that the chairs on the left side of the gazebo (the bride’s side) is in the shade, and the chairs on the groom’s side are in the sun. Everyone disregarded bride or groom’s side and went to sit on the shaded side. No big deal at all, but just FYI. : ) Regarding where the wedding party stood, we had 4 people on each side and they lined up on the 13-14 ft walkway of the gazebo, which worked out well. Overall, the gazebo was great and I'd do it there again. Oh - and the Dreams staff also close off part of the restaurant patio near the gazebo so you don’t have a bunch of strange onlookers. The restaurant is pretty empty at that time anyway. REVEREND MARCO: AMAZING!! He was really fantastic and so many people complimented us and said how great he was. We had a SNAFU with the rings where nobody had my husband’s wedding band during the ring exchange. (Some mixup and it was left in a drawer in the hotel room.) But, Reverend Marco improvised and made it great. He didn’t skip a beat. He really recovered well, made a joke of it, brought our mom’s up to honor them while someone was looking for the ring, and it turned out to be our favorite part on our highlight wedding video: (http://vimeo.com/32120992 , videographer was Angel Zapien who was fantastic!) We ended up not getting the ring in time, and borrowed Guillermo’s wedding band. It only made it half way onto my husband’s finger, but it was enough to get us through the ceremony. ; ) To be honest, I was really worried at first when nobody had the ring, but then thought to myself ‘I’ve got 4 wedding coordinators – this is their job so i'm not going to worry about it. I’ll never be in this moment again, so I’m just going to stand up here, look pretty, and try to soak in every bit of it.’ The 4 wedding coordinators part… one was Guillermo, one was the external, day-of, coordinator I hired (Kym Salafranca of Bliss Events in Cabo), and the other two were assistants to Kym. I’ll have to come back and add more in the next week or so, but for now, I need to get back to work. ; ) Congratulations and hope this helps so far!

If we had been more toward the center of the gazebo, closer to Rev. Marco, I would've been able to see all of the guests on my groom's side and vice versa... but I didn't think about that at the time, lol. ; )

Had our wedding at Dreams and it was amazing!! One tip I especially want to put out there is about the Gazebo. When you walk down the aisle and into the Gazebo, make sure you're standing in the Gazebo where you can see the guests over your soon-to-be-hubby's shoulder. And make sure your hubby does the same. If you can't see a good chunk of the people becuase of a pillar, they can't see you. I wasn't thinking clearly about that and it turned out my Mom couldn't see us at all during the ceremony b/c of the pillar. : / And the other thing, if you're planning to use a runner, the walkway distance is only 14 feet. To get to the walkway you walk through El Patio restuarant, but the walkway up to the Gazebo itself where you'd have your runner is only 14 feet long. Happy planning ladies!! : )

LIFESAVER! Thanks for that link! I'm looking for a sarong for my Mom so that'll be perfect. Btw, I'm getting married at Dreams Los Cabos just 2 wks after you... too bad I'll miss ya. Congratulations and good luck!! : )

I did try calling the NY flagship store directly, but they were closed due to Hurricane Irene. I doubt they would give me the contact info to their distribution center since I'm not their direct client (the bridal store) calling, but who knows.

Thanks anyway girls. I think my plan will be to have them call Pronovias with me 3-way on the phone so I can hear for myself where the dress is, or to give me a tracking number. If they're uncooperative or continue giving me a run-around, I'll be IN their store next week to make a scene and warn the other brides. We'll see how it all goes down!

Hi Ladies! Any idea what I can use as leverage or pull to get the bridal salon to hurry my dress along? I ordered a Pronovias Fauna dress and it's almost a month late. I ordered the dress end of March...obviously it can take dresses take 4 - 6 months, but the bridal store said Pronovias dresses ordered that week were scheduled for delivery in 4 months - end of July. (Another bridal store told me the same delivery timeframe so at least the info jived.) The dress is almost a month late, and I leave for Mexico in 6 wks (Oct 10). The bridal store (Eva's of Orland Park) has been giving me a run-around the past few wks saying they were trying to get a hold of the designer in Spain; then the story changed to they were trying to get a hold of the designer in the NY office; then they said it would be here by now... and still no dress. I don't know how to get an honest answer out of this bridal store, and I don't know what leverage I have. The dress is paid in full so it's not like I can say I won't give them the remaining amount, and I'm not sure how much weight it would carry if I said I'd give them a bad review. Is there a tracking # I can demand? Or make them give me the # that they try calling? Ideas? Thanks!

My wedding is in mid-Oct and I was thinking to include mini bug sprays in the Welcome Bags for guests, but my WC at Dreams said they really don't have a probelm w/ mosquitos and it wouldn't be worth it. Hope that helps. : )

Haha, love the ideas. I heard the guy "disappeared" after his wrong prediction in May, lol. Highly doubt it's the end of the world, but if it is, at least we'll be going out w/ a bang! lol

My dress is the Pronovias Fauna. I looked EVERYWHERE for a dress I liked, and nothing wow'd me - guess I have high expectations. Bought the Fauna dress and I'm going to jazz it up by: - adding a rhinestone belt under the bust - making it strapless - lowering the back a little (although a little worried I'm going to have to compromise on support -- however, i've seen other strapless dresses w/ lowered backs so i guess it might just take finding the right alterations place. Right now the back goes straight across and I don't think that's very flattering.) - making the dress detachable after the 2nd or 3rd ruffle (ideally, i'd love to dye the dress after the wedding and be able to wear it again, but I hear it's hard to find someone to dye dresses, plus the dye process can shrink it a little. Even if I don't dye it, I'll at least be able to wear the short version again. : ) - some other minor changes, but I don't remember off the top of my head. And, since you can never really tell what a dress looks like when it's on a model, here's a pic of me w/ the dress on (strap hidden). The back - which i think is too high.

Checkout Jorge Ibarra - his work is fantastic for the price!! I wanted to go with him for my wedding, but someone booked him before I could.

I'm sure my fiance has always thought his life would be over on our wedding day, but now it apparently applies to the rest of our guests too! lol Some guy has incorrectly predicted the end of the world twice now, and admits his 'calculations' were off again and that the *real* date is now Oct 21. This has been the running joke in Chicago on our news channels for a couple of days, and I'm assuming others have heard of this? Any other brides getting married Oct 21,2011 - aka the end of the world? I thought it would be fun to make a small joke out of this... maybe have the groom walk around the day-of with a tshirt that says "Wedding day: Oct 21, 2011... end of my world, and apparently everyone else's too" - although much more creative. ; ) Or, maybe giving guests tshirts/tank tops saying they survived our wedding and the end of the world? Not sure... but I'd like to do some sort of little spoof. Anybody else getting married this day and thinking to have a little fun with it? Would love any ideas!

FYI, supposidly there's a store called Todos de Bizarre or Bizarre de Todos (spelling suspect) in San Jose which is about a 5 minute taxi from Dreams Los Cabos resort. Supposidly they have everything there from tires to shot glasses. I'm going to double check w/ my WC at Dreams that this store still exists, and will hopefully get some gifts for the Welcome Bags from this place.

Sam Perches work is AMAZING. I wanted to hire him but he said he no longer does weddings. : ( Angel Zapien is my runner up, but he's more expensive than I'm willing to pay ($3,000 for the min of 4 hrs). He doesn't seem flexible on price since he offered to send me a list of other videographers less expensive... though I haven't heard back from him in a week now. So the search continues... if anyone has good recommendations, let me know! : )

His work is AMAZING from what I've seen on his website. He was definitely my #1 pick, but when I contact him he said he no longer does weddings. : ( My runner up is Angel Zapien, but his prices are more than I'd like to spend so the search continues.... If anyone has good recommendations, let me know!