Dreams Riviera Cancun - Brides post here (new thread)

[Savs1027]

Where is your ceremony at? If it's at the gazebo, the Barracuda Beach Bar is the best place, I think. It's right by the gazebo and you'll take all of your pictures on the beach right next to there. That's what we did and it worked out great!! Everyone wanted to watch us take pics anyway so they were able to drink at the beach bar, listen to the mariachi band and watch us take pics. 

 

Our ceremony lasted about 15 minutes and took pictures probably for an hour or so. 

Originally Posted by Newbride2013 

Can anyone tell me the name of a bar my guests can go to after the ceremony as I need to put in the program so they will know. We are not having a cocktail hour so they need to gather somewhere until the reception starts at 6on the pool deck & the ceremony will be at 4. I'm not sure of the length of the ceremony and how long pictures will take? Any suggestions???

[KristiK310]

Any Dream brides out there have photos of neutral/cream/blush colors?  I am getting married in July 2013 on the beach and then reception on the pool terrace and looking for ideas for decorations and flowers.  Did ya'll have to pay more for more decorations and flowers than what is offered in the package?? 

 

Also, I purchased the Ultimate Package AND hiring Juan Navarro for photography, anyone else do something similar?? And, I'm looking for ideas for programs and wedding favors.  

 

Thanks!! 

[loripanori]

Savs, your pictures are fantastic.  I especially love the pictures with the mariachi band on the beach.  Did you basically have all of your guests gather at the Barracuda bar after the ceremony for an "unofficial" cocktail hour (i.e. unpaid for, lol) and have the mariachi band play there for a while, and then come down to the beach for a few photos?  Or were they playing on the beach?  Just wondering, because I think we'd like to incorporate the mariachi band into some of the beach pictures like you did, it looks fantastic.  We're also planning on having our first dance right when we arrive at the reception, I like that idea a lot.  Still not sure what to do about the rest of the reception/dance, as we're very much not dance people, and we'll be a fairly small group.  Anyway, still a few months to figure that out, haha.  Did you opt for a longer reception or just the 3 hours?  And how much time did you have between the ceremony start and reception start?

 

Thanks for all of your help.

[Savs1027]

sorry I can't help on the neutral aspect, but the only flowers that are included in the ultimate package are 2 bouts, 2 corsages and your bridal bouquet. Any extra flowers you want, you have to pay extra for. You'll have to get a direct quote from your wedding coordinator to find out prices. And make sure you keep that quote, because they might try to raise the price later on. It happened to me and luckily I had saved the email where Eva quoted me a price so Lorena honored it. I brought all of my decorations with me for the reception. 

 

For wedding favors, we had the maracas at the ceremony to shake at the kiss and then we also gave OOT bags to everyone with a survival kit, koozie, bubbakeg, etc.

Originally Posted by KristiK310 

Any Dream brides out there have photos of neutral/cream/blush colors?  I am getting married in July 2013 on the beach and then reception on the pool terrace and looking for ideas for decorations and flowers.  Did ya'll have to pay more for more decorations and flowers than what is offered in the package?? 

 

Also, I purchased the Ultimate Package AND hiring Juan Navarro for photography, anyone else do something similar?? And, I'm looking for ideas for programs and wedding favors.  

 

Thanks!! 

[Jendev]

Savs... Can you tell me where you purchased your maracas? They were beautiful! You have been such great help!

[Savs1027]

Thank you! 

yes, we did an unofficial cocktail hour and it turned out great and I'm so glad we decided on doing that. Did you watch the link to the video I posted. That might help you see how ours worked. Right after the ceremony we all drank our champagne they gave us and said our hellos and got congratulations from all of our guests, then we all went down to the beach bar/beach for our "cocktail hour." The mariachi band was there and played standing next to the beach bar while we started pictures with our families and the bridal party. We told the photographer before hand we wanted pictures with the mariachi band so she made sure to tell them when to get in the pictures. They played the WHOLE time we were taking pictures!! HA!! They were a huge hit with everyone. All of our guests enjoyed watching us take pictures too so I'm really glad we decided to do this instead of having a cocktail hour at the jacuzzi or something. 

 

Well our reception got poured on right in the middle so it got extended, but we didn't pay for it. We all moved to the lobby once we got rained on and while they were setting up the ballroom. Then we moved to the ballroom and they extended us an extra hour. If you're not much of a dancing crowd, I don't think you'll need to do an extra hour. We were done with our major stuff (first dance, cake cutting, dinner, toasts, etc) with in the first hour. So you'll have 2 hours for dancing. There is also Desires and I believe the music starts there around 10pm.

Originally Posted by loripanori 

Savs, your pictures are fantastic.  I especially love the pictures with the mariachi band on the beach.  Did you basically have all of your guests gather at the Barracuda bar after the ceremony for an "unofficial" cocktail hour (i.e. unpaid for, lol) and have the mariachi band play there for a while, and then come down to the beach for a few photos?  Or were they playing on the beach?  Just wondering, because I think we'd like to incorporate the mariachi band into some of the beach pictures like you did, it looks fantastic.  We're also planning on having our first dance right when we arrive at the reception, I like that idea a lot.  Still not sure what to do about the rest of the reception/dance, as we're very much not dance people, and we'll be a fairly small group.  Anyway, still a few months to figure that out, haha.  Did you opt for a longer reception or just the 3 hours?  And how much time did you have between the ceremony start and reception start?

 

Thanks for all of your help.

[Savs1027]

Here you go!

http://www.amols.com/catalog/large-maracas-assorted-colors

Can't beat that price! And I had them 2 days after I ordered them!! One thing that could be an issue, you can't pick colors. You just get an assorted but when I talked to the lady on the phone, she said they do their best to make the colors even so you don't have a bunch of 1 color. 

 

Originally Posted by Jendev 

Savs... Can you tell me where you purchased your maracas? They were beautiful! You have been such great help!

[loripanori]

Thanks for your reply Savs, that really helps a lot!  

 

Can someone explain to me how the credit works when you buy the love or ultimate package (silver or gold) but then don't use the cocktail hour?  I've heard a few people say they used that credit towards the fee for extra guests at the dinner, but what if you don't have extra guests?  Can the credit be applied to other upgrades/purchases (sound system, lighting, etc) that you add on to the wedding package, or straight-up refunded from the wedding package cost?  And is the amount of the credit equivalent to $26 per person (which is what they say they charge for extra geusts) x 20 guests, so $520?  Although that value is actually $32.76 per person after the tax and service fees, so I'm not sure if that is worked in somehow...

[Savs1027]

You can only put the money towards food. So if you don't have 20 guests then I would do the cocktail hour or downgrade your package. For some reason you can only do "exchanges" within the same category. Food with food, flowers for flowers, etc. 

Originally Posted by loripanori 

Thanks for your reply Savs, that really helps a lot!  

 

Can someone explain to me how the credit works when you buy the love or ultimate package (silver or gold) but then don't use the cocktail hour?  I've heard a few people say they used that credit towards the fee for extra guests at the dinner, but what if you don't have extra guests?  Can the credit be applied to other upgrades/purchases (sound system, lighting, etc) that you add on to the wedding package, or straight-up refunded from the wedding package cost?  And is the amount of the credit equivalent to $26 per person (which is what they say they charge for extra geusts) x 20 guests, so $520?  Although that value is actually $32.76 per person after the tax and service fees, so I'm not sure if that is worked in somehow...

[Jendev]

Originally Posted by Savs1027 

 

Here you go!

http://www.amols.com/catalog/large-maracas-assorted-colors

Can't beat that price! And I had them 2 days after I ordered them!! One thing that could be an issue, you can't pick colors. You just get an assorted but when I talked to the lady on the phone, she said they do their best to make the colors even so you don't have a bunch of 1 color. 

 

Thank you SO SO MUCH!!!