Dreams Riviera Cancun - Brides post here (new thread)

[EmilyT]

Originally Posted by Newbride2013 

 

Looking for help with making up a program letter to give our guests? If anyone has a sample of what they used would be a great help! I am wondering what order to put the wedding ceremony in & what all I should include in it? On the one side I have a welcome note, in loving memory section & a meet & greet Info for a tour we are doing. On the next page I want to do wedding Day - order of ceremony with songs included but do not know the order they do it all in? Should I also include names of bridal party as well?

Thank you for any info you can provide.

i am going to put a welcome letter in my oot bags as well. i was thinking of one side just having the welcome note (but i like your idea of the in loving memory section) and i am going to copy that, and on the other side i am just putting a simple itinerary like locations and times. i am not going to make mine like an actual program with the songs but its your own preferance!! if anyone sends u any good samples please pass them along

[EmilyT]

Originally Posted by Rach0636 

 

Is anyone bringing down paper lanterns with them? If so, how many? Do they charge you to put these up?

the lanterns through the resort are $10 each.. i googled them and found some for about $3 each, but lorena told me they charge a 60$ fee to hang them. i remember hearing on here somewhere that they DONT charge to hang them so i was a little annoyed when she told me that. i am going to decide on either the string of lanterns or the lanterns hanging from those poles ( i like both ) and then decide whats cheaper, bringing my own and paying the 60$, or just getting them through the resort. i am also not sure how many i would bring, or how many i would need to purchase through the resort.... $10 per lantern seems a little steep if you ask me! but we'll see

[EmilyT]

okay i finally read through all the posts i missed and WHEW i am happy that some of you had great wedding experiences!! i am officially 2 months away from mine and realizing that I have SOOOOOOOO much to do and plan. it makes me feel better than i can pick a lot of things out once i get there because i am so scared of saying something now and then changing my mind. the set ups for some of your weddings that i just seen are amazing and i wouldnt know how to explain that to Lorena so your pictures are a huge help.

 

are there any other march 1st brides out here, or march 2nd? lol i know i cant possibly have the day all to myself!! lol

 

my times and locations are

 

430 north beach ceremony

 

530 to 630 cocktail hour at desires terrace ( she made an exception since i asked very early on ) also i put one hour in between to allow myself to take pictures and then still go to some of the cocktail hour. does this sound good ?

 

7-11 reception on the pool deck ( with dance floor and dj - i figure time will fly so i am paying for the extra hour )

 

WHEW i am nervous!!!!!!!!!!

[Savs1027]

Originally Posted by EmilyT 

 

okay i finally read through all the posts i missed and WHEW i am happy that some of you had great wedding experiences!! i am officially 2 months away from mine and realizing that I have SOOOOOOOO much to do and plan. it makes me feel better than i can pick a lot of things out once i get there because i am so scared of saying something now and then changing my mind. the set ups for some of your weddings that i just seen are amazing and i wouldnt know how to explain that to Lorena so your pictures are a huge help.

 

are there any other march 1st brides out here, or march 2nd? lol i know i cant possibly have the day all to myself!! lol

 

my times and locations are

 

430 north beach ceremony

 

530 to 630 cocktail hour at desires terrace ( she made an exception since i asked very early on ) also i put one hour in between to allow myself to take pictures and then still go to some of the cocktail hour. does this sound good ?

 

7-11 reception on the pool deck ( with dance floor and dj - i figure time will fly so i am paying for the extra hour )

 

WHEW i am nervous!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't ask them to set stuff up a certain way for the reception, they just did it! They really know how to make stuff look good!! 

 

I think the hour between the ceremony and cocktail hour is good. That's probably about how long we took pictures. 

[Savs1027]

Originally Posted by EmilyT 

 

the lanterns through the resort are $10 each.. i googled them and found some for about $3 each, but lorena told me they charge a 60$ fee to hang them. i remember hearing on here somewhere that they DONT charge to hang them so i was a little annoyed when she told me that. i am going to decide on either the string of lanterns or the lanterns hanging from those poles ( i like both ) and then decide whats cheaper, bringing my own and paying the 60$, or just getting them through the resort. i am also not sure how many i would bring, or how many i would need to purchase through the resort.... $10 per lantern seems a little steep if you ask me! but we'll see

I absolutely loved the way ours looked hanging on the bamboo poles! I had people come up to me later in the week and tell me that they thought that was so cool!! Especially if it's windy, they will blow around and look really neat

[Savs1027]

Originally Posted by kellykellz 

 

Savs,

Love your slide show! You looked beautiful! You have been a huge help to us on here with planning. I hope you have a great new year!! :-)

Thanks Kelly!! 

[Savs1027]

I also forgot to add that if you add me on facebook there is an album that I uploaded all of our pictures from our regular camera so you can see some of the restaurants, the rooms, the lobby, etc.  I know that might help some of you decide on locations for things. 

Originally Posted by Savs1027 

Ok, Here's my full review... I have no idea how to organize this. I want to make sure I touch on everything about the hotel and wedding so I think I'm going to organize this by days. I'll just go day by day and if you have any questions just let me know!! I'll make sure to check back for awhile to answer anything! 

 

Thursday - 

we flew United and they would not let me hang my dress up. The flight attendant was rude (which they will be getting a letter about) and I had to lay my dress down in the overhead compartment. Luckily the other flight attendance let me close the overhead once my dress was in there so no one else would put bags in it. Customs was easy! There were 6 of us without about 20 bags and no one got stopped! The hotel was about 20 minutes away from the airport. Check in was a bit unorganized. My husband, me, and my parents were in preferred club, and my sister and brother were in regular rooms... they were checked in before us being in a regular room. We originally booked a preferred club ocean view for 3 nights and then the master suite for 5 nights because the hotel said the master suites were full. My parents booked a honeymoon suite just to have extra room. We go to check in and they upgrade my parents to a master suite and us to a honeymoon suite. My parents ended up letting us have their master suite for the whole trip so we wouldn't have to change rooms and they just took our honeymoon suite. The ladies at the desk understood and changed all the reservations and said it was fine but I think it confused the rest of the hotel because we got things in our room with my parents last name and their room got honeymooned. It was fine, ours did too, but it was kind of funny. I highly recommend getting the master suite!! It was nice to have the extra room for getting ready and we would all gather in there during the week so it was nice to have the sitting area and table too. A note about the rooms you might want to tell your guests - if they are set on having an ocean view, they need to book a preferred club. One of our groomsmen and his wife who also used this as their honeymoon because they just got married, booked a regular ocean view room. They were on the 2nd floor and you could not see the ocean at all. They didn't want to complain so I went and complained and they wouldn't move them because that was considered an "ocean view" room. Their door was also broken and they still wouldn't move them. So, i think they give higher priority to the preferred club guests. Another note about preferred club and what you get - the wifi sucks. But you can go in the preferred club lounge and use the computer for free and print. It was nice to do this since we were there for 9 days. Other than that, you basically just get priority over the other guests when it comes to room selections. We had dinner in the buffet this night and it was not very good. It was pretty empty and they were able to sit about 10 of us easily together. I am a picky eater, but everyone said it wasn't very good. We didn't go back there for lunch or dinner the rest of the trip. 

 

Friday -

We ordered room service for breakfast - excellent! We were supposed to meet with Lorena at 10am for our appointment so we went to the wedding office with all of our stuff and she had no record of our meeting appt. I confirmed this with her several times! She had scheduled a rehearsal for the same time so she told us to come back in 20 minutes. We went to the lobby and waited and then went back to meet her. The meeting with her was fast and I felt like she was really rushing it. Luckily I had everything all picked out. But I had asked for examples of stuff and she didn't have any. So, I would have a good idea of what you want before you arrive. She didn't write anything down which really worried me. I had specific requests as far as table assignments and how many chairs at each table. She just kept saying Ok, no problem, but wasn't writing any of it down. After the meeting with her, we met with the DJ. Most of you know I was worried about this because he had been MIA for the last month and I didn't know if he had our music list. He was very nice but I could tell something was off. He was very quiet. he had our music already downloaded and made special notes about what we wanted. I felt good with him after meeting with him. We met with Linda after that and she was super nice and organized and we made our picks for the ceremony and we were done. As we were leaving the wedding office I confirmed with Lorena that our rehearsal was scheduled for Sunday at 11am (the time/date that SHE told me over email.) She looked confused and asked if we could do it Saturday because she is off on Sundays. She said she would come on sunday if she had to but asked if we could change it. 2 of the groomsmen had booked excursions and they had to change it to sunday because of this. It ended up not being a big deal, but was frustrating because she was the one who scheduled it on sunday. We had lunch at Oceana which was good and accomodated a large table. We had dinner at El Patio that night which was excellent and there was no wait but they will not accomodate large parties with out the reservation through the wedding coordinator. We had 13 people and we had to sit 9 and 4. The tables were close together though. We went to Desire after dinner and there were 2 other weddings that day and they were all there so it was good party!

 

Saturday - 

Breakfast at the buffet which was very good!! We had the rehearsal with Lorena which was quick and easy. We went to meet Anel after the rehearsal and I knew after meeting her she would be great! We had lunch at Barefoot Grill which had really good food. 

We planned our "welcome Party" for this night in the lobby bar and it didn't exactly go as I had planned, but I think it could work. Everyone ended up leaving to go eat dinner so it just wasn't what I had imagined in my head.  We ate dinner at Portofino this night and it was excellent too! But it's very small. If you want to have a dinner at one of the restaurants I would recommend going through the wedding coordinator. We had to sit 9 and 4 again. They had a Mexican night set up around the pools with shops which was nice since we didn't leave the resort at all. There were 2 wedding receptions going on this night (one on the pool deck and one on the terrace) and we could hear all the music from our room. It was good for us because we sat on our balcony with all our friends and drank champagne and had a free party, but for a family I could see how this could be a major problem! They delivered my dress and suit this night to us. John answered the door and there was my dress not in the bag hanging there for him to see. Luckily he didn't see much but I'm just wondering why they did that... 

 

Sunday -

This was our only free day before the wedding and nothing really exciting to write about! Breakfast at Seaside grill was just ok. Lunch at barefoot grill, good again. They didn't tell us this when we checked in, but someone else told us that you can make reservations at Himitsu for the hibachi tables. We got there around 4:45 and we were first in line for them to start at 5pm. There is 6:30, 8, and 9:30 seatings. And there are only 2 tables. So, if you want to do the hibachi tables, get there early for reservations! That's what we had for dinner that night and it was pretty good and a good show. It wasn't anything different than what we have here in Houston. John was able to check in to his separate room this night. 

 

Monday - Wedding Day! 

We had our hair and makeup appointments at 10am. Perla did my hair and makeup and she was awesome!! I loved it all! Everyone loved their hair and makeup so I think whoever does it you'll be safe with! Anel started with the guys at 1 and then came to us around 1:30. She was amazing to work with and made everything so comfortable. I got nervous because our flowers weren't there yet it was already 3:00. They delivered mine so Anel could do some pictures of them and then she left to go take pictures of the ceremony set up. I LOVED the flowers. They were way better than what I had expected. I brought my own ribbon and they didn't use the ribbon on the corsages or bouts. They used an ugly pink/gold ribbon. It wasn't anything anyone noticed but still frustrating. I also wasn't thrilled with the bouts and corsages. They were just pink roses... I thought they would be something to match the bouquets better. But really the bouquets were the biggest thing and I loved them!!! Lorena came and got us and everyone went down to the ceremony site and my, my mom and dad waited around the corner since it was at the gazebo. We waited for quite awhile and later my husband told me that the DJ was late and then the sound system didn't work. So non of the music played that I had picked to have while guests were arriving. strike 1 for the DJ... Other than that, the ceremony went smoothly. I'm glad we opted for the fake cocktail hour at the beach bar. We went to the beach to take pictures and everyone followed us to watch and the mariachi band was playing there so if we would have paid for a cocktail hour, no one would have been there! Everyone loved the mariachi band! The videographer that was included in the package was there (who I had no contact with before the wedding) and he was very friendly! Right after the ceremony Jorge came and told us he would come and get everyone for the reception so that's what we told everyone. He never came (that I know of) so everyone was really confused about where they were supposed to be. John and I finally had to tell everyone to go sit down. It was all kind of confusing.... No was telling us what to do as far as the introductions go. We just stood and waited and waited until we heard the DJ start calling our names. We had told the DJ that we would be introduced and then to go straight in to our first dance because we didn't want to stand there awkwardly having to dance to our introduction song (neither of us are dancers! haha) Well the music just went on and on awkwardly and then finally we did our first dance. strike 2... So after our first dance, my dad was supposed to pray and then dinner start. Well, the DJ forgot to announce that he was going to pray (which he needed the mic) for and told me and john to get dinner. It was just all a big mess and confusion... strike 3. The dinner was excellent! Some people said it was the best food they had the whole time they were there. We went with the Mexican buffet - so good! But there was SO much food. They could have cut everything in half probably and still had plenty. There were waiters for every table and they would bring your food back to the table for you. And they were great about drinks as well. We told the DJ that once everyone was seated from getting their food we would start the toasts. Well, people were done eating and starting to get their desserts and he hadn't announced the toasts yet. This is when we realized that Mauricio wasn't there any more and it was just 2 random guys. John went and asked them about the toasts and he just handed John the mic... strike 4. I was so angry at this point. We were not going to introduce our own speeches. So he went back over there and told them to introduce it and they did.... After the toasts one of the random guys came over to us and asked if we were ready for our cake cutting, which if he would have had the itenerary from the actual DJ he would have known that was next. Anyway, we did the cake cutting. We had 1 layer tres leches, 1 layer Vanilla and everyone said it was really good! Some even said the best wedding cake they had ever had. And I was really happy with the way it looked too. After the cake cutting we started the dancing and in the first song it started sprinkling. They came and asked if we wanted to move but we said it was ok and we kept dancing. Well, then it started pouring down rain. Jorge and the food manager (I can't remember his name but he was so nice and helpful) came and said they would move us inside and for everyone to move to the lobby. We all ran to the lobby and they got one of the ballrooms set up for us. I was so disappointed!!! I cried. The only thing they moved to the ballroom was the DJ and a bar. They set up bar tables and moved our centerpieces in there but that was it. All the money we had spent on decorations, the lighting, etc was kind of a waste. Lorena, Jorge, and the food manager made sure everything got inside and to the wedding office. They were all great. So, we finished the night in the ballroom and they gave us an extra hour. The stand in DJ did good. He followed our song list and took requests. Anel left at some point in there so she could go ahead and start uploading the pictures since she was only scheduled until 8:30. She sent in Santiago, who was also very kind and great to work with and he stayed until around 9:15. They extended us until about 9:30. Everyone had a blast, even with moving to the ballroom. I was really sad when we had to move, but after seeing that Anel captured everything in our pictures, I was ok. And, everyone still said it was the best wedding they'd ever been to. We went to Desire after the reception, but there was nothing going on. They were playing the Jets game which was good because all of my husbands family is from NY and are die hard Jets fans so we just hung out there with them for awhile then went to bed! They had our room "honeymooned" when we got back with rose petals everywhere. 

 

Tuesday -

We had our trash the dress with Anel at 9am. I highly recommend this! It was so much fun! After the trash the dress, we went up to our room and I went straight to the shower and planned on just turning the water on and running it over me for awhile to make sure all the sand was off, but we had no water! There was no electricity or water for awhile this day. So I just took my dress off and hung it in the shower until there was water. So since there was no water we just put on our swimsuits and went and ate lunch and then went to the spa to ask about our spa treatments we get with the packages. We got the 25 minute massage and the facial that were included with the honeymoon package that day. Excellent!! Everyone in the spa was so nice and all the ladies who did the treatments were great. We ate with my husbands family at Portofino this night and we had to wait an hour and a half for 9 people to sit together. That was even showing up right at 6pm when they opened to put our name on the list. Again, if you want to have a welcome dinner/party or rehearsal dinner, I highly recommend doing it through the wedding coordinators. 

 

Wednesday -

We scheduled our "romantic breakfast in bed" that came with the honeymoon package. Standard room service breakfast. But still very good! No other things to note this day

 

Thursday - 

Had another spa treatment - the full body scrub that comes with the ultimate wedding package. Great again! We went to the wedding office to ask Lorena about the video from the videographer and we happened to run in to Anel and she told us our pictures were ready. We ended up going back to the photo place with her and she showed us our slide show and then we went through all of our pictures and picked which ones we wanted. We got 250 with our package but there was no way we could narrow it down to that. So, we ended up paying for 50 extra pictures. We had to pay $500 for those!!! That's where they know how to take your $! That was even with a "discount" But I loved the pictures and I knew I would regret not getting all of them so it was worth it to me. Anel was so awesome!!! Her pictures were way better than I had pictured or dreamed. If you can reserve her for your wedding, do it!! She was by far the best vendor we worked with. We dinner at El Patio again which was great again! 

 

Friday- 

We went to drop off some stuff to Lorena that we didn't want to take home with us and our wedding video was ready so we took it back to our room to watch it. I had heard some bad things about the videographer service on here so I had very low expectations, but I am thrilled with our video!! it is great quality and there is only one cheesy part in there that I would cut out. haha. So overall, I am very pleased with that service! Then we checked out of our room and headed to the airport. We had a big UH OH  and lost John's immigration paper so PLEASE make sure y'all keep up with that!! It is a very long story, but because of that we ended up missing our flight and that was the last flight to Houston that day. We had to find a random hotel in downtown Cancun for the night and leave the next morning. It was crazy. So please make sure y'all keep that immigration form!!

 

Overall, I am so pleased with how our wedding turned out. The DJ was really only complaint and from what it sounds like they are starting to assign weddings to another DJ, so maybe there is something going on with Mauricio from Visual Sound. But, in the big picture, I doubt anyone else noticed that there was an issue with him except me and John. And it rained But the pictures still captured everything and we have those memories. And there ended up being a rainbow earlier in the day for our pictures which was amazing! DRC overall was a great resort. There were a few complaints from guests - the internet, the water pressure and temperature consistency in the showers, and the power going out several times, but other than that, everyone had a blast and said it was one of the best vacations they had ever been on! And the food was the best I've ever had at an all inclusive resort! The drinks were strong as well. You never had to ask for extra shots like I've had to do at some all inclusives. One thing I noticed, there were alot of kids. I don't know if it was the time of year we went, but there were ALOT! We won't be going back to Dreams until we have a family because of this. The Explorers club takes over 2 of the pools during the day with kid music and the infinity pool is so crowded with tons of kids swimming. You can't just stand there without kids hitting you under the water or being splashed. If you have a family, this is a great resort and we will be returning once we have kids!! But while it's just us, we'll do an adults only next time. 

 

Here is the link to our slideshow again:

http://171212ryan.dreamsriveriacancun.adventurephotos.com.mx/#/ryan/

 

And here is the link to my facebook album of all of the pictures that were taken by Anel that we bought. The slideshow is just a few of them!

 

If for some reason that facebook link doesn't work, you can add me as a friend and you can see all of them. My name is Savanah Ryan on there. Just let me know you're from the boards  

 

I'll make sure to check back here often to answer any questions. Or if you want, you can email me as well. [email protected]

[sunshinewine77]

Hello Ladies!

 

We got back from our wedding/honeymoon about 10 days ago and I finally got around to posting a review of DRC, where we got married on December 7th. The review is under the resort reviews section on this site. Everyone was so helpful on this forum, I really appreciated the advice, tips, etc. Thank you!! Like other recent brides on this forum, I'm happy to answer any questions- we had a small (20 people) wedding and didn't want to spend tons of money but have a nice and sophisticated beach wedding. And we planned all of it in less than six months all while undergoing a house renovation, leasing my house out, moving and being out of town for about a quarter of that time! ;-) 

 

Wendy Hicks with Wright Travel handled our reservations and travel for us and our guests and was fantastic. Couldn't have pulled this off without her! At the resort, we used Anel and she was great! Here is our slideshow: http://061212jekauc.dreamsriveriacancun.adventurephotos.com.mx/#/jekauc/

 

Want to also say 'hi' to Kelly (KellyKellz) - it was so nice meeting you and Matt!! Hope you had a great rest of your honeymoon! :-)))

 

And just to reassure future brides- as other brides have said- do not worry, you are in great hands at DRC!!

 

Happy New Year!

 

Kelly

[EmilyT]

can anyone share what they put in their welcome letter to their guests ? i thought it would be simple but im having trouble... i want to include a letter in the OOT bag but aside from a huge thank you i am not sure what else to say... suggestions ?

[Savs1027]

Here is the link to my OOT bags I shared on my blog. I put pictures of the welcome brochure I included so you can see everything I put. 

http://www.savanahsmiles.com/2012/12/wedding-wednesday-welcome-to-mexico.html

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger so you can read everything. 

Originally Posted by EmilyT 

can anyone share what they put in their welcome letter to their guests ? i thought it would be simple but im having trouble... i want to include a letter in the OOT bag but aside from a huge thank you i am not sure what else to say... suggestions ?