Dreams Riviera Cancun - Brides post here (new thread)

[DWB2B2014]

Originally Posted by bgarcia1026 

 

 

Hey JustNoelle,

I'm not sure about the minimum/maximum but I have 45 guests (including me and my FI, photographer & assistant) for the pool deck with a sit down dinner.

 

I was able to get three options for dinner, (chicken, beef and fish) from the ultimate package and I have to provide meal choices to Gina 30 days beforehand.  I included the options on the RSVP (I included a picture).  I also numbered each RSVP with a guest specific number to help me keep track.

 

 

 

Hope this helps!

bgarcia1026 - are they allowing you to use the pool deck with only 45 people? It is a 60 person minimum requirement. I have about 35 guests and unless it happens to be free that day when I get there,  I have to book another location. My wedding planner confirmed it with the onsite planner. 

[JustNoelle]

Originally Posted by bgarcia1026 

 

 

Hey JustNoelle,

I'm not sure about the minimum/maximum but I have 45 guests (including me and my FI, photographer & assistant) for the pool deck with a sit down dinner.

 

I was able to get three options for dinner, (chicken, beef and fish) from the ultimate package and I have to provide meal choices to Gina 30 days beforehand.  I included the options on the RSVP (I included a picture).  I also numbered each RSVP with a guest specific number to help me keep track.

 

 

 

Hope this helps!

 

Great! Thank you!!! I will also be including the chicken, beef and fish option in my RSVPs. By the way... Cute RSVP card!!!  

[loripanori]

I will try to help where I can!  I understand your frustration.  I am getting married on April 18th, and last night I finally had to email Lorena to ask for some immediate answers to questions I sent several days ago.  Whenever I start to freak out, I just remind myself that everyone here says that it all falls into place when you get there.  You can sort almost everything out, and add, change, and move things, when you meet with the wedding coordinator when you arrive.  

 

I have contact emails for two coordinators - 

Gaby: [email protected]

Lorena: [email protected]

 

I believe if you use the mariachi trio for the ceremony, or one of the other musicians (saxaphone etc), it costs about $50 to rent the microphone for the ceremony.  I don't have any specific info on the sand ceremony, but I think that the officiant usually reads the script.  You may be able to ask to sub in a family member, if you'd like to do that.  

 

We are not having an official cocktail hour.  If you don't have a cocktail hour, you can only exchange the credit for other items in the food category - usually people use this to cover some extra guests for dinner.  I think it can also cover other food items such as cake & menu upgrades.  If you don't have more than 20 guests, you probably won't be able to save much money by cashing it in, and may as well just have one.

 

The DJ & reception is where I struggled the most as well.  We have 24 adults, and 6 children.  Originally we were just going to play an ipod, and if people wanted to dance, then they would dance.  But...  Renting the sound system by itself is quite expensive!  The DJ ends up being an extra $120 per hour (sound system is $180/hr, DJ is $300).  So we decided to have the DJ for 2 hours, and will play a playlist for the first hour during dinner.  That way there's someone (other than us) in charge of changing songs and trying to get people to dance.  I don't know if we have enough people to have a real dance (probably not!), but I've heard lots of people say that they had 15 - 30 people and had a lot of fun with the dance part of the reception.  So we'll see!  

 

I'm not totally sure about this, but I think weddings only have a DJ and dance if the restaurant is shut down for the wedding.  I think I read somewhere that if you simply reserve tables in a restaurant (rather than the full restaurant), you can't play your own music etc.  I've heard of lots of people having the Seaside Grill for their reception at no extra charge (although we weren't given this option!), and I don't recall ever seeing any other resort guests present at the receptions.  If you were offered the Seaside Grill for your reception (vs reserving tables at the Seaside Grill), then you will probably have the whole place to yourselves.     

 

Originally Posted by kerrimaxwell 

While I am at it... I still have many questions and I would love some input! Especially since who knows if I will ever get answers from a planner or how long that will take!

 

Our ceremony is on the beach and I think we have decided to use our Mariachi Trio for the ceremony. We do need to request a microphone for the ceremony as well right?

 

If you had a sand ceremony (as we are with our 4 kids) who read the script for it? A family member or the officiant?

 

Cocktail Hour... we still have not picked a location or decided if we want to have one or try to swap it for something else. If you had one wher would you recommend the location be? If you didn't have one.. were you happy with that choice? What did you exchange it for? Where did guests hangout in lieux of having one?

 

Here is my biggest gray area....  DJ and reception. Okay, so... we have chosen to have our reception at Seaside Grill, I love that it is sort of indoor/outdoor best of both worlds. What I don't know is if the restaurant is shut down soley for us? Are we right in the restaurant with other people? We have about 20 guests right now including 4 kids. As far as music goes... do we gt a DJ for 20 people or do you think that is overkill? Should we justs it down and have dinner and not even have a reception? If we have do have the reception and they don't give us Seaside Grill to ourselves... how do you have a DJ with a restaurant full of other people.

 

So as you can see I have a MILLION things in my head and no coordinator helping! UGH! Any help would be SO appreciated!!

[Dominique 161]

Hello ladies!

 

Today is my last day at work, im flying to sunny Mexico on the 12th!

 

I think im all ready

 

I will let you all know how it went and ill post my slideshow when i get back

 

loripanori i might see you there; i get married on the 19th!!

[RobynKelly]

Originally Posted by Dominique 161 

 

Hello ladies!

 

Today is my last day at work, im flying to sunny Mexico on the 12th!

 

I think im all ready

 

I will let you all know how it went and ill post my slideshow when i get back

 

loripanori i might see you there; i get married on the 19th!!

Hi Dominique,

 

I know I haven't been on here in such a long time but I hope you have the most fantastic wedding!!!!!

Looking forward to seing your photos.

 

Only 13 days to go for us! Very excited.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Robyn x

[bgarcia1026]

Great! Thank you!!! I will also be including the chicken, beef and fish option in my RSVPs. By the way... Cute RSVP card!!!  

No worries! Just confirm with your coordinator as we all know you have to confirm multiple times 😃 to get things done. Thanks! It was helpful to perforate the RSVP portion so they can return it easily. I will most likely give our bridal party and family an opportunity to change their selections right before I send it to Gina.

[Vika Yakovleva]

Yes you will be there in my wedding day, I hope our paths cross. Maybe we can grab breakfast or lunch and you can give me some pointers. I hope your wedding goes without a headache and I'm sure you will look stunning. Can't wait to see the pictures!

April 19th... Flying out on the 11th, leave on the 28th ... i might get to see your wedding! We both dont have long!!

[loripanori]

Hey Dominique!  Hope to see you there.  What is your timeline for your wedding?  It's the last thing I'm struggling with, as I've been talking to both Lorena and the photographer about the best times for pictures etc.  Right now we have the ceremony scheduled for 4, and the reception for 6:30.  We can't do the ceremony at 4:30 but could move it to 5 or 5:30...  but the photographer said we should plan to be done all pictures by 6:45, in terms of the catching all of the good light on the beach.  So I'm not sure what to do.  I would be interested to hear how you're scheduling it all!

Thanks, Lori

[Savs1027]

Originally Posted by daneli 

 

Does anyone have any advice on a farewell brunch? I am thinking of setting something up but was wanting to maybe here from someone that has and how they went about it!

 I am getting married July 21, 2013. Also my reception is on south beach and my ceremony is in north beach if anyone had those same locations I would love to here what you did for decorations and lighting!! Maybe see some pictures! My email is [email protected] or pm me on here. Whatever works!

 

Thanks so much !

 

I think the only ones that serve breakfast are the buffet and seaside grill. Seaside grill I don't think is big enough to do a brunch unless you paid to shut it down. the buffet is packed at breakfast so I would ask the wedding coordinator about reserving a table if you want to do that. Otherwise you wont all be able to sit together. 

[Savs1027]

Originally Posted by kerrimaxwell 

 

While I am at it... I still have many questions and I would love some input! Especially since who knows if I will ever get answers from a planner or how long that will take!

 

Our ceremony is on the beach and I think we have decided to use our Mariachi Trio for the ceremony. We do need to request a microphone for the ceremony as well right?

 

If you had a sand ceremony (as we are with our 4 kids) who read the script for it? A family member or the officiant?

 

Cocktail Hour... we still have not picked a location or decided if we want to have one or try to swap it for something else. If you had one wher would you recommend the location be? If you didn't have one.. were you happy with that choice? What did you exchange it for? Where did guests hangout in lieux of having one?

 

Here is my biggest gray area....  DJ and reception. Okay, so... we have chosen to have our reception at Seaside Grill, I love that it is sort of indoor/outdoor best of both worlds. What I don't know is if the restaurant is shut down soley for us? Are we right in the restaurant with other people? We have about 20 guests right now including 4 kids. As far as music goes... do we gt a DJ for 20 people or do you think that is overkill? Should we justs it down and have dinner and not even have a reception? If we have do have the reception and they don't give us Seaside Grill to ourselves... how do you have a DJ with a restaurant full of other people.

 

So as you can see I have a MILLION things in my head and no coordinator helping! UGH! Any help would be SO appreciated!!

the minister does the sand ceremony. It's coordinated in to your ceremony. I'm sure you could have someone else read it if you wanted though. You meet with the minister when you get there to pick everything you want so you could talk to her about that then. 

 

We swapped our cocktail hour for extra people at dinner. That's all you can swap for. We took pics right after the ceremony on the beach in front of the beach bar and all of our guests stood around there with the mariachi band playing. It worked perfectly and I'm glad we didn't pay for a cocktail hour after seeing how it turned out. All of our guests enjoyed watching us take pics. 

 

Seaside Grill is not very big at all so if you're having your reception there, yes, it would have to be completely shut down. Especially if you want to dance, have music etc.  They gave you the option to have it there? I know some people have gotten lucky to not be charged for it, but some people have had to pay. 

If you're just going to have dinner, then I guess they wouldn't have to close it down, but I wouldn't recommend that in Seaside Grill.... It's not one of the more "dressy" restaurants so I don't think it would be good for a reception unless you had it all to yourself.