SarahBen2011

Hello! 11.18.11 at Dreams PV for us! A little more than 6 months fellow Nov. brides/grooms!

Thanks for sharing and so sorry to hear about your experience! Just curious if you had a contract prior to going to Dreams or if they only gave you a final cost total?

Ohh you're right! I read Guadalajara Airport and thought PVR Airport. Nope... very far away indeed!

And Esmeralda just responded... her ears must have been burning LOL

Hmm I wasn't aware of the new warning but this paragraph concerns me for PV: https://www.osac.gov/Pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=10890 Nayarit and Jalisco: Official U.S. government employees are prohibited from traveling to Colotlan, Jalisco, and Yahualica, Jalisco, both near the Zacatecas border, because of an increasingly volatile security situation. Concerns include roadblocks placed by individuals posing as police or military personnel and recent gun battles between rival TCOs involving automatic weapons. You should defer non-essential travel to these cities. In addition, the border areas between Jalisco state and the states of Zacatecas and Michoacán, as well as southern Nayarit state including the city of Tepic, have been sites of violence and crime involving TCOs. You should exercise extreme caution when traveling in these areas. Due to recent TCO-mounted road blockades between the Guadalajara airport and the Guadalajara metropolitan areas, U.S. government employees are only authorized to travel between Guadalajara and the Guadalajara Airport during daylight hours. But really... reassure your guests that Dreams PV and all the resorts are secure. We were also planning on going downtown PV to bar hop... and we probably still will. Violence happens everywhere... you just have to be aware. Scary though!!!

Hey girls - how long did it take Esmeralda to get back to you? It's been about a week for me now... and I'm sure I overwhelmed her! Just curious :-)

Love everything about this! I'd love the template too.. does anyone have?? [email protected] Thank you!!

Great question about drinking cocktails while getting hair and make-up done! I've been assuming that of course you can!! It's all-inclusive and you can drink everywhere else... but you might have to have a runner to get drinks from the bar. And if you can order room service I'm sure they can order some snacks?? But let me know what they say!!! And glad to hear your details are getting nailed down. 6 weeks!!! I can't wait to hear you're review once you get back!

He didn't really ask for an email... but I did have proof from Louise that I forwarded on to him. Then he would reply with "okay, we'll honor that".

VollyDolly - When Esman took over and wasn't looped in on everything Louise and I discussed I sent him a laundry list email listing everything I wanted and the pricing I had gotten from Louise. I told him I wanted everything in a contract so nothing else got displaced (they had double booked my original wedding date of 11/11/11 which is how we ended up with 11/18/11... so I was NOT happy at the time). Is Esman the one you've been in contact with? He's been great so far... but you have to do some hand holding! Sarah

Sarahinlove: Have you gotten a contract yet? That's when all my issues came out with Esman... so I held my ground on things that Louise and I discussed in emails and got everything added to a contract via excel that he sent me. Fingers crossed I've flushed out all the issues before we get down there!!! I'm so excited to see how your wedding is in June - it's coming up!!! How are the "last minute" details coming together?

Mari15t - in order to get the free offers you have to sign up for the Vista Print emails. Then they start sending you a bunch of different offers and you have to wait until they offer the one you want (free brochures, free tote bag, etc). Then snag it and just pay shipping! It's addicting though!

Thanks!! Yeah it's hard to find linen vests and my FI LOVES vests for some unknown reason :-) So we snagged it and since it's from Macy's we can always return it. The 26 guests are ALL on my side hahahah, his family is definitely the procrastinator side! We're expecting about 45... so we'll see how it shakes out!

Thanks! I figured I'll start putting stuff on this thread now so I can just add as I go. I know the few weeks before the wedding will be nuts! Here's a bikini from Vic Secret that I just ordered And my rehearsal dinner dress (I think!). Calvin Klein at Macy's And I just got these mini maracas and playing cards from OT for the welcome bags - they are so cute! http://www.orientaltrading.com/mini-maraca-key-chains-a2-19_292-12-1.fltr?Ntt=mini+maracas http://www.orientaltrading.com/playing-cards-a2-8_260-12-1.fltr?Ntt=deck+of+cards

In replay to: Crystral1880 - Has anybody received a 4 hour time slot for the reception? Esman e-mailed me an excel sheet of everything and it says reception with wait staff for 4 hours (6:30-10:30).. I originally thought the reception was only three hours.. Confused..:-) Louise had initially told me 4 hours (6:30 - 10:30) and when I got a contract from Esman after Louise left it said 6:30 - 9:30. I explained what we had already discussed with Louise and Esman tried to charge extra for the 4 hours. I forwarded the emails and he's now granting us the 4 hour reception... so maybe he's doing that for you without the back and forth hassle? Or maybe they realized they were nickle and diming and stopped the madness? hah

My inspiration for flowers (our colors are light purple, dark purple and green): And our pre-wedding brochure, also from Vista Print I'll see what else I have! Hope this helps!

Hi there! So I'm still 7 months out from our wedding in November at Dreams PV, but I thought I'd share where I'm at so far! The dress, Allure 8815 Fiance's outfit - Perry Ellis linen suit from Macy's. $180 for all 3 pieces! Shown in white but we got "natural linen" OOT Bags so far: Bags from Vista Print (I used a $10 for $50 coupon!) Koozies from Barry Promos on Etsy (just ordered so I'll let you know how they turned out). 60 koozies for $60 plus shipping Welcome post card, also from Vista Print (free) Bridesmaid dresses from Bari Jay in Wisteria (each girl has a different style)

I've talked to a lot of our friends / family and they will want to see some of our "picture taking" anyways! Then they can mingle on their own for an hour - $30 per person is just nuts! And we are doing everything ala cart. We are bringing in our own local photographer (Michelle Turner) so it made since to NOT upgrade the package (we're doing the free package). It'll be $2,225 for 50 people to have the buffet dinner plus the extras (DJ, flowers, cake, etc). The package only includes 20 people so we'd have to pay a lot more anyways. The only thing you get in the "love' package for $2,099 that you don't get in the free one are photos and 20 people for cocktail hour and dinner. So it would have been $2,099 for the package PLUS the extra 30 guests ($1350) = about $3,500. Not worth it for us!

In reply to Dreams2011: We're having about 50 guests and Esman said it's fine that we don't have 60. And he directed me to the "wedding extras" web page as well and we picked International Buffet II for $45 a person. We are not doing a cocktail hour... $30 per person when everyone is already all-inclusive is crazy to me. We're doing a champagne toast after the ceremony ($3 per person I think) and then guests can either walk to one of the Dreams bars for cocktails or wait until dinner starts! Curios what others have done...?

We actually ordered our bridemaid dresses this past weekend. I ordered my dress in Jan and it comes in July. The BM dresses should arrive in August or September. They say wedding gowns can take 7-8 months to come in plus time for alterations. BM dresses take 4 -5 months. You have time still but I always get nervous so I got things done quicker! In case anyone is curious, here are the BM dresses. Each girl picked a diff style but chiffon material and Wisteria as the color: http://barijay.com/style.php?style=230 One more thing crossed off the list!

VollyDolly: We're paying $45 per person for the buffet. There is a cheaper sit down menu for $40 (Golden Dinner Menu). I'd love to hear what others are doing though and if my rates are the same!!! Kerrib: We held 25 rooms with Vacations for Less and have until September to release up to half of the room block. If we release after Sept we forfeit the deposit on those rooms... if we release after Oct. 2 we pay in full. And our block is Nov 15 - 20. Hope that helps!

We hired Michelle Turner. Photography was really important to us but she's a little under $3K... so pretty pricey. http://www.michelleturner.com/ kerrib those pics are hilarious! How is everyone's planning coming along?

I actually googled "how to make a circle wedding monogram" (I think) and found this blog: http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-wedding-challenge-how-to-design-your-own-monogram-in-microsoft-word It was pretty easy!!!! Just gotta play around with it. Thanks girls!

Ohh walmart photo book is a great idea! What all are you putting in about the guests? Did you ask for pictures or finding them on your own?

One more.... and I already like the one with green better just looking at it side by side!