Rick949

What The HEYYYELL!? LOL I haven't stopped by this thread in a while but I see DRC has made some enhancements with this fantasy island setup.. crazy!

Hey Latinive, Congrats! - it looks like it all worked out for you! Great photos! I agree with your legal part at home and symbolic there. We did the same thing and feel the same way. Symbolically getting married in front of friends and family is far more meaningful. Handling the paperwork/legality here makes much more sense. Less cost, less hassle and no blood test! lol Don't stick me with a needle in Mexico! One thing that should be noted to all future brides is that even in the symbolic ceremony (the one Dreams provides) there was a certificate that they had us sign.. which looks like a real certificate - it was a surprise to both of us - but I guess that gives the impression that there is some legal power behind it. A few people who knew we weren't doing the legal part there thought it was kind of funny and everyone else had no clue. See me here signing my life away

I also made a Video Slideshow using iMovie - in case you guys wanna see more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qngz0PDvuc

Hi Sarah, I paid a couple hundred dollars (I think... as my memory is fading) for the gazebo decor.. Originally I wanted to have one solid color on all 4 sides of the gazebo (arches) - but the price came back like $500 or so dollars - so I asked if they could just do the front side and twist up the 2 colors (puriple/white) and they did it. As for those small bows - I didnt ask for that or choose that color they just put them there.. I didn't know there would be bows but I just rolled with it. After the ceremony they took it down and re-used it for the entry way for the reception which I had no idea they were going to do. As seen here For the ceremony table we used one of the centerpieces that were going to go to the reception afterwards - Part of the package included the ceremony flowers and also one for the bride and groom table - we chose this style for the ceremony table and our table and simply had them make a few more of these for the other tables - For the extras they charged an arm and leg - I want to say something like 180 each extra (I know right - get the vase, throw some flowers and water in it) - but they also laid down petals and stuff on the table. We really liked this style but didnt have any interest in trying to bring down these glass vases - worried that they could break - so in this case - I paid for the convenience. One very important thing I should say to all the future brides is that in this type of destination wedding situation you kind of have to roll with the odd "misses" that occur and roll with the punches - Expect to pay more - they pull it all together in one day and some things may not play out exactly how you want. When the show starts - that's it - you will be on cloud 9 and all the small details go away. I hope that helps.... ALSO for anyone who wants to ask me any question please PM me because I am not paying such close attention to this thread and questions for me might get missed.

Hi GCR, Yes I tipped Jorge and Gina 100 bucks each... and all of the other staff members/servers $20 - I also tipped our fire dancers $100 split 4 ways ... adds up

Congrats Latinive! The Mayan gods knew you were getting married and they made some adjustments... I just looked at the live web cam... Is this your wedding getting setup? I know it will all go well!

I mean I gave each photographer a $50 tip each

@ tkb08 - Thank You - I designed the logo from some artwork I have seen on photostock - I am a graphic designer so it was easy for me to "borrow" the line art but the fonts, little symbols and layout all came from me. I paid $2500 for La Luna - Not including the extra cost (approx 80 for their day pass x 2 + $50 x 2 tip - split between the 2 photographers) - I would budget $2800 total @jkhowell - Thank you too! See answer to La Luna above - the small sand ceremony was provided by Dreams - when we returned to our room at the end of our night the small sand filled vase was on our coffee table with a bottle of champagne. I am assuming they have all the colors you want - just let them know ahead of time.. So no need to bring down your own unless you want a bigger sand ceremony.

Your So Welcome! Thanks for the compliments I will pass that along to my wifey...Hit me up with any other questions you or any else has and I will do my best to respond... One thing I want to add to all of this is have fun! - your wedding day will come and go so fast! so live it up! try your best to enjoy the process and soak it up on wedding day. There is definitely a void of "what do I do now" after the wedding is over. I wish I could do the wedding over in slow motion Cheers to all of you future brides!

Hello Everyone.... As I am sure many of you have been eagerly waiting for my DRC review and finally I am done and have uploaded to the website here. One thing I would like to pass along to future brides who write reviews - to serve this community best I would recommend writing your reviews on DRC in the Vendor review section because it's quite painful to scan through all of these pages to read reviews... and with no further delay here are links to my 2 reviews Dreams Riviera Cancun Review http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/dreams-rivera-cancun-resorts-and-spa/reviews/5127 La Luna Photography Review http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/la-luna-photography/reviews/5126 I hope my review helps you and your wedding plans as this community helped us... feel free to send me emails here and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Cheers! Rick (former DRC Groom)

On its way! Just putting the final touches on it

We expect to receive a Disc(s) with all hi-res images. I think we are not allowed to use our photos for commercial use

@CKNMVS In terms of Del Sol/La Luna - here is their contact- Melissa email: [email protected] - She can give you all the pricing and availability for that time frame. Originally we set out for Del Sol - (not knowing there was a sister company) but they weren't available in August because its their off season - La Luna was and we had the option to pick from their available photographers - they are also a little but less expensive. I think we paid $80 per photographer to enter. Dreams has all these extra fees and taxes so I cannot be accurate but that's pretty close. Play it safe and budget $100 per. We did not end up doing a TTD session - We were going to try and get the photographer/service who was part of the package shoot that for us the next morning but we just lost interest with everything going on. Perhaps if we tried hard enough we could have had that applied but we didn't pursue it. In our agreement with La Luna - we were not supposed to have any other photography or video services at our wedding as part of their "Right of Competition" - so that photographers aren't competing with each other for placement angles etc. I had to cancel the photographer that was part of the package. Strangely enough I thought I had canceled the videographer as well. But apparently I didn't... as I was getting ready I saw him at the gazebo with his camera and got worried that this could be a problem. Luckily Jonathan our photographer made sure he stayed clear. He did shoot the video and we got it back a couple weeks ago. It's a nice to have but I personally don't like video and would much rather let the photojournalistic photography tell the story on its own. The video isn't in HD and I really hate hearing my voice but I would say it's worth having to share among family members. The video is about 30 mins long and it's cute.

Hi CKNMVS, Our TA/WC - took all of our requests - which I provided her with a word doc filled with pictures that I downloaded from other people's weddings and passed it along. She retrieved pricing for us ahead of time and answered a bunch of our questions. I believe she "Planted the seed" of having our reception at the Seaside grill. Originally the Dreams Wedding staff was recommending having the reception on the deck which looked real good - my only concern was the possibility of rain. I was watching the webcams the week prior to our wedding and I noticed a couple times it was raining. Plus after we saw the seaside grill it just felt so right and private - we wanted our guests to feel like they are in a private venue as opposed to out on the deck. Denise Canon our TA/WC is located in Kansas City - but she knows Dreams like her own backyard. We paid $300 for her WC services which gave me and my wife a peace of mind since we were way too busy. There was still a lot of work on my end in terms of conveying the information. We booked Del Sol/La Luna photography outside of Dreams - they are very responsive and their email communication is top notch but there will be a fee to have them enter the resort to shoot your wedding. We did not get a DJ, instead we hired the AV soundsystem for our ceremony and then to play our 1st dance song, and bride/father groom/mother dance and that was it. We also hired the Caribbean Trio to do set while it was dinner time for some backdrop ambiance. hope that helps

Yeah Lindsey, Real good work on the videos - that's a fantastic contribution to the thread. When we arrived last month and I met Jorge - I was like "Hey I saw you on the video!"