welljen

Hi there, Not sure what fees you are talking about. We paid by credit card, it was the easiest option - not to mention the fact that if there was an issue you would have the credit card company able to advocate on your behalf.

Hi Webbie, Unfortunately, they have already been sold - otherwise I would have totally sold them to you separately. Sorry. Jenn

Hi Bride2012, It was only supposed to be active for 60 days after our wedding, which was May 5th. I've sent a message to Arnaud at HDC and asked him to extend the availability of the gallery. I'll let you know once it's been done. J

You might be able to choose the colours for the flower petals, but I didn't really ask. It was a mixture of white and pinks - and to be honest with so many other things to worry about I figured this was the least of my worries. As for the bouquet options, I think I had the same 2 page Word document from my wedding coordinator, but when we got there they had a book with tons more options. As for the centrepieces, we decided to maximize things and just reused the floral decorations for the gazebo as our centrepieces. There were like 6 or 7 floral arrangements and we only needed 5 for our centrepieces. I only found out about this when I got there, as we had planned to make our own centrepieces, using sand, seashells and glass beads; thank goodness another bride that was waiting to speak to her WC told us about this option. Again, one more thing we could cross off our list! J

Hey Amber, I also wanted to wear heels with my dress, so that was also a big reason for me to do it in the gazebo. Also as a bit of a control freak, I just didn't like the unpredictability of a beach ceremony, although I was all for our photos being taken at the beach. Since I think the relaxed vibe and beautiful scenery helped us relax, and helped make our photos turn out great - or at least we thought so! The fabirc was already up the day we arrived so I think it was there for all of the weddings that week, although we did pay for the gazebo decorations which included the flower arrangements, chair covers and flower petals down the aisle. J

No problem, I'm happy to help out. Goodness knows that this forum was a huge help during my planning. So I am more than happy to spread the wealth! J

Hey Amber, That isn't all that strange. I really wanted our ceremony in the gazebo as well. We had been at another destination wedding and they were married on the beach, although nice I knew that I didn't want me (or my guests) for that matter having to be barefoot and in their wedding day finest! As an aside, when we were down there for our wedding there were a few brides that changed their minds from the beach ceremony to the gazebo, since they didn't want to have to contend with the wind down by the beach. Happy planning! J

Hey Melissa, I had some of the same concerns as you did before my wedding on May 5, 2011, but mine were more about the ceremony itself. I had read the negative reviews on TripAdvisor and the like, but I find that most of the reviews are quite polarizing, or just from people that have unrealistic expectations of what their vacation will be - they are typically people that don't travel very much so they have no frame of reference (and this may sound a bit elitist, but I don't think that travelling to an all-inclusive vacation once or twice a year qualifies you as an experienced traveller.) As for the food it was excellent. So many options for everyone at the buffet and the a la carte restaurants were good, with the Seaside Grill and the Mexican being two of our favourites. Now I don't know what the AC issue is, but when we were there we didn't hear any complaints about that. The only issue that I had been aware of before we went, had to do with a musty odor in some of the rooms - although our feeling was that it was likely the typical musty odor that is usually found in a humid, tropical climates. There was only one guest that had a complaint about a musty smell in the room - but it was someone that is a known complainer and once they raised the issue to the staff they were moved to another room the next day. As soon as we arrived our minds were quickly put at ease. We were fortunate to have 42 people, plus me and my fiance that joined us so we had the private reception following our ceremony - we just figured that with people paying at least $1400 per person, the least we could do was treat them to a private dinner (yeah, I know you'll read posts from people that believe they should have to pay, since they already paid the all-inclusive - but we just felt it was the decent thing to do). After our dinner, we didn't have too much time for a lot of dancing, but rather than pay for the extra time we moved over to the disco, which was great since it gave those that aren't big dancers, or were just tired, the opportunity to head back to their rooms without it being a big deal. We ended up using an outside photographer, HDC, but you may want to check with your WC to see if the resort will still allow you to do so, since there was some talk a few months again that they weren't going to allow brides to do so unless they had booked their photographer before the end of February. If they do, I can't recommend HDC enough - their work was amazing!! Hope this helps! J

Hey spaterson, We used HDC, and besides the fact that their prices are fantastic! Only $775 for 340 high-res photos, 100 5x7 prints and slideshow (which we showed at our at-home reception last weekend) We were really, really happy with our photos and our friends and family are still raving about them. We didn't really want the super staged photos either. We only had them take photos of the bride and groom getting ready, the ceremony and then photos of us and the wedding party. We decided not to have them also stick around for the reception, speeches and dances - primarily because we knew that with 42 of our family and friends there we'd be covered (Not to mention, that generally I find those photos to be some of the least interesting ones. Anyway, if you would like to take a look at our photos they also set up an online portal on the HDC website for you to view your photos and to share them with your family and friends. Here is the information if you would like to take a look at our photos: website: http://www.hdcphoto.com/ username:ngaiandjennifer password:dreams When you get to the website home page, you will need to click on the heading that says: 'Customer Access'. There you will see a login screen where you can enter the username and password above. It will take you to our page and then you can click on the Photo Gallery link below our photo. If you have any more questions, just ask! J

Hey deanna, Just wondering when are you planning to show your slideshow. I am finalizing the timeline and trying to determine when is the best time to do this. Thanks! J

Hey letluva, We simply said had reception to follow ceremony, so it was pretty open J

Hey letluca, I had a late wedding ceremony as well, it was at 6 pm. We were thinking of having a cocktail hour to entertain our guests, but decided against it a few months before. Also, just wanted to preface that we are not particularly cheap people, so that wasn't our only reason for not having the cocktail hour - just practical ) In hindsight, I am so glad that we did, because our ceremony was delayed by about 10-15 minutes because the groom in the 5pm wedding had a panic attack and fainted!! Fortunately, we had a civil ceremony so we made up a bit of time, but in order to take advantage of as much sunlight as possible we had to motor down to the beach for our bride and groom photos (we had thought we would do our pics with family and friends first and then take our bride and groom pics afterwards). Our pictures only took about 30 minutes and then as the light disappeared we headed back to the lobby to take some great shots with family and friends, using the grand staircase in the lobby as a backdrop. So all of that was to say, that because of the sudden change in plans we were very glad we hadn't paid for the hour of cocktails, which our guests probably only would have had about 20-30 minutes of. Also, I think that most of the guests welcomed the mini break as an opportunity to freshen up in their room or to grab a drink from one of the hotel bars. I guess the reality is, that unlike a wedding at home where guests likely don't have enough time to go home after the ceremony and before the reception, the rationale for a cocktail reception is really there. Happy planning, Jenn

Hi there, Sorry the sashes have been spoken for. I ordered them from this website and even with the ridiculous shipping costs to Canada, they were still a lot more reasonable than renting them from the resort: http://www.efavormart.com/index.aspx Good luck with the rest of your wedding planning. I

Hey Angie, Not sure where you may have heard that from, but Dreams has a max of 3 weddings per day. That's way they have 3 locations (and 3 ballrooms if weather doesn't cooperate). Jenn