Dreams Riviera Cancun - Brides post here (new thread)

[Savs1027]

Originally Posted by DWB2B2014 

 

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. 

We only had 35 people on the pool deck. I think that the 60 person limit is a new requirement and if you booked before a certain date they are still allowing the pool deck. 

[elsa s]

Hi brides... 

my wedding is 20 days away.... I need some major help please... does anyone have any idea how they arranged their ceremony music? I'm not sure if i should put it on a cd or ipod and take it and how will I know how long it should be played for since my entrance song will be different then bridal party and etc... will Lorena control the music or will I have to hire a DJ??? any feedback ladies? I'm so confused about this 

[Savs1027]

Originally Posted by elsa s 

 

Hi brides... 

my wedding is 20 days away.... I need some major help please... does anyone have any idea how they arranged their ceremony music? I'm not sure if i should put it on a cd or ipod and take it and how will I know how long it should be played for since my entrance song will be different then bridal party and etc... will Lorena control the music or will I have to hire a DJ??? any feedback ladies? I'm so confused about this 

are you using the DJ for your reception? 

If so - he can be your "tech" for the ceremony as well. You just tell him your music before you leave and he'll have it ready for you. 

 

If not - the sound system fee comes with a "tech" You can bring your music on a CD or iPod and then give him instructions on when to change it. 

 

I would have 3-5 songs for before the ceremony, bridal party song, bride song, sand ceremony song, recessional. 

[elsa s]

Originally Posted by Savs1027 

 

are you using the DJ for your reception? 

If so - he can be your "tech" for the ceremony as well. You just tell him your music before you leave and he'll have it ready for you. 

 

If not - the sound system fee comes with a "tech" You can bring your music on a CD or iPod and then give him instructions on when to change it. 

 

I would have 3-5 songs for before the ceremony, bridal party song, bride song, sand ceremony song, recessional. 

yes I am using a DJ for ceremony... should I just contact him ? I guess they will charge another $300 for the ceremony for him to be the tech... but seems like the easiest way to go 

[Savs1027]

Originally Posted by elsa s 

 

yes I am using a DJ for ceremony... should I just contact him ? I guess they will charge another $300 for the ceremony for him to be the tech... but seems like the easiest way to go 

Nope, it's just the $180 Just contact the DJ and ask if he can do it for you. He offered it to me. Are you using visual sound? 

[elsa s]

Originally Posted by elsa s 

 

yes I am using a DJ for ceremony... should I just contact him ? I guess they will charge another $300 for the ceremony for him to be the tech... but seems like the easiest way to go 

oops i mean I'm using a dj for reception 

[ashley822]

Originally Posted by kerrimaxwell 

 

I am starting to get furious. I posted on here a couple of days ago. Eva was our wedding coordinator and now with her being gone I have no one responding to my emails. It has been TWO weeks not two days. I cannot believe how unprofessional this resort is!! If it wasn't for the glowing reviews of everyone's wedding I probably would have backed out of this place! HORRIBLE with responding! My wedding is in 3 months and I have nothing but a date, ceremony, and reception location. Literally nothing else done! Does anyone have a direct email for one of the other coordinators? I only have the main email from website which is the one I was dealing with Eva at.

 

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!!

 

I know how frustrated you feel! But after reading all reviews and getting my questions answered from girls on here, it was actually way more helpful than the actual wedding planners because the communication is so choppy and delayed! I did not have anything but my times and locations 3 months before our wedding either. They told me they would send over all the info, choices, etc... at the 3 month mark. I luckily got it from a girl on here so I knew basically what I wanted (menu options, cake, etc...) but I did have to email them twice asking for the documents and help planning at the 3 month mark. We still got everything done and decided on. You can also change pretty much anything you want while there!

 

We actually did not have to request or pay for a microphone for our ceremony. They just had one there waiting for us. We did, however, rent the sound system for the ceremony so I'm not sure if that's why they had the microphone there for us. The DJ ran the sound system for us at the ceremony. 

 

The officiant read the script for our sand ceremony but I'm sure if you'd like someone else to read it, they can. 

 

We ALSO did not have our cocktail location confirmed with our original times and locations. We ended up going with the Jacuzzi location but the day of our wedding, it looked like rain so they moved us to outside the entrance of the Desires nightclub. This location was awesome and it was also covered by a clear glass ceiling but you get the outdoor feel at the same time (it ended up not raining but I still liked this location better). I loved both the location and the cocktail hour. We used the mariachi band for this part of the night but I think even a sound system with iPod would be fine. I think guests would most likely hang out at the Lobby Bar if you decided not to use the cocktail hour - especially since you are having a small number of guests. We have 25 people total so it sounds pretty similar to us Our guests actually hung out at the lobby bar between the ceremony and "official" cocktail hour because I spaced out the times so there would be time for our couple photo session and time for us to enjoy the cocktail hour. It worked out great and when the cocktail set up was ready, Gina and Jorge went to the lobby to get all our guests

 

If you were offered and confirmed the Seaside Grill for your reception, it is closed down for your event. We ALSO had our reception at the Seaside haha. And like I said, we ended up with 25 people total and we fit perfectly. A few more people could have even fit. It was the perfect venue for the size. We had the DJ - we also couldn't decide if it was worth it since we were only having a small number of people but then we thought "well, it is our WEDDING so we don't want to regret or miss out on anything." We ended up having the DJ, dance floor, and buffet style set up for our menu and it all fit in the Seaside Grill along with all our tables. Since there won't be other people in the restaurant, the DJ will just be there for your guys and he will announce everything (cake cutting, introduce you, dances, anything you want really!). If you do decide to go with the DJ, you will meet him beforehand and go over everything when you get down there. For us, it helped keep our party on track and moved through the speeches and dinner nicely so we had more time for the party. We didn't add on anytime so we ended up having about 1 1/2 hours for dancing and surprisingly every single one of our guests was on the dance floor so we were so happy we splurged for the DJ cost, dance floor, and everything. 

 

Hope this helps and if you have any other questions, I might be able to help since it sounds like we had similar locations and guest count! Good luck!! It will all be worth the stress in the end! 

[bgarcia1026]

Originally Posted by DWB2B2014 

 

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. 

 

Hi DWB2B2014,

I had always told my coordinator that I was expecting 40-50 people to attend and it wasn't an issue.  I don't know if it is because we are having a late reception on a Friday and no one else is booked?

[kerrimaxwell]

Thank You SO much Lori, Savannah, and Ashley!  I contacted my travel agent today to get a handle on the having no planner thing! I know they are bad about responding...but I really think we might be lost in no mans land! LOL! Since our planner left, I'm just not sure we have been taken over. I am happy to have those other two emails and will try one of them directly and hopefully that will work!

 

I DO have a confirmation letter that our reception with the Ultimate Package is at Seaside Grill... so I will assume it is shut down.

 

I also want to have a buffet... I didn't think I had enough people but hopefully that is something I can request if I ever get a hold of them! We HATE everything on our offered Gold menu.

 

I am wondering... where did everyone else use their Mariachi Trio? I liked the idea of them for the ceremony mainly because I don't want to miss them at the Cocktail Hour. It looks like we will be "forced" to have the cocktail hour since with our small group we can't exchange it for much. it does seem like the perfect place and amount of time for the trio is the cocktail hour.. though I have sen people say they used them for ceremony and loved it.

 

Did anyone use Mariachi for ceremony, sound system for cocktail hour, DJ for reception? Can you get away with no music at all for the cocktail hour since I assume there is a lot going on around you?

 

 

 

Ashley... do you feel the dance floor is a necessity in the Seasde Grill? We had no intention of getting it... I just have read SO many positive reviews about it that is making me wonder if we should go for it. It's a lot of money right?

 

Thanks again SO much girls... you've helped me take it down a few notches!

[ashley822]

Originally Posted by kerrimaxwell 

 

Thank You SO much Lori, Savannah, and Ashley!  I contacted my travel agent today to get a handle on the having no planner thing! I know they are bad about responding...but I really think we might be lost in no mans land! LOL! Since our planner left, I'm just not sure we have been taken over. I am happy to have those other two emails and will try one of them directly and hopefully that will work!

 

I DO have a confirmation letter that our reception with the Ultimate Package is at Seaside Grill... so I will assume it is shut down.

 

I also want to have a buffet... I didn't think I had enough people but hopefully that is something I can request if I ever get a hold of them! We HATE everything on our offered Gold menu.

 

I am wondering... where did everyone else use their Mariachi Trio? I liked the idea of them for the ceremony mainly because I don't want to miss them at the Cocktail Hour. It looks like we will be "forced" to have the cocktail hour since with our small group we can't exchange it for much. it does seem like the perfect place and amount of time for the trio is the cocktail hour.. though I have sen people say they used them for ceremony and loved it.

 

Did anyone use Mariachi for ceremony, sound system for cocktail hour, DJ for reception? Can you get away with no music at all for the cocktail hour since I assume there is a lot going on around you?

 

 

 

Ashley... do you feel the dance floor is a necessity in the Seasde Grill? We had no intention of getting it... I just have read SO many positive reviews about it that is making me wonder if we should go for it. It's a lot of money right?

 

Thanks again SO much girls... you've helped me take it down a few notches!

 

My first contact was with Evangelina as she was the wedding manager and then I was assigned one of the specific coordinators at a little past the 3 month mark. Since I understand Evangelina is gone now, I'm guessing they are just running a little behind assigning the upcoming weddings. A few times my TA was able to get a hold of them before I could - I think they have a relationship with the group department down there. 

 

We were able to have the buffet no problem. We just told them we were interested in that over the plated dinners and Gina sent me attachments with all of the buffet options. They all sounded good and our food was delicious. The guest number was no issue at all so hopefully it won't be for you either. 

 

We actually had a "welcome cocktail hour" the night before where we used the sound system. We had one of our friend make a beachy/love song playlist and we just put our ipod on and it worked out great. For our wedding day cocktail hour, the mariachi band got held up in Cancun and showed up 45 minutes into our cocktail hour (I actually didn't notice there was no music until about 15 minutes prior to them showing up - there is so much going on and everyone is talking and having fun anyway!). They ended up showing up and we got extra time added on to our cocktail hour but it was totally fine without music before they were there, too. 

 

The dance floor was another thing I was torn on because it was a lot of money - it was $580 I believe. I loved the way it was used in the setup in the Seaside because it was at the center of everything. There is a nice big area of floor people can dance and that is why were originally going to skip it, but then we also saw great reviews and photos so we got it. We are pretty simple and didn't have too many flowers/decorations around the restaurant so I loved the extra colors and ambiance the lights on the dance floor gave off. We had one younger guest (3 yr old) who LOVED the lights and the changing colors. It was worth it in my opinion only because it was a little nicer to dance on than the concrete floor and it really brought everyone out to have fun and dance, but I def think the Seaside Grill would be fine without it, too.