Dreams Riviera Cancun - Brides post here (new thread)

[loripanori]

We took the credit for the cocktail hour, the original plan was to have our guests and the Mexican trio mingle around the beach bar and have drinks etc while we did pictures.  This didn't work quite as well as we had hoped - The photographer ended up taking us a bit down the beach (not far really, but far enough that you couldn't easily grab the people you needed for the pictures if they were still at the beach bar), and so some guests followed, some stayed at the bar, and the trio didn't really know where to go or what to do, haha.  There also wasn't a ton of room around the beach bar for our guests - there were still lots of people in the swings and on the loungers with their bathing suits on etc., plus extra people hanging around from the wedding before ours, so a lot of our guests ended up spread out and sitting on the beach loungers, which I wasn't super happy about.  For the first part of pictures, we were doing different groups of people (families, parents etc), and it was kind of tricky trying to wrangle everyone and keep people there, because people kept wondering off.  So, it didn't work super well for us, but I have heard that it worked really well for other people.  I think if I were to do it again, I would make sure that everyone followed to the pictures area for the first half hour (so that everyone you need for the different combinations of people is nice and handy), and then I would just send them all away until the start of the reception, haha.  Just tell them it's "free time" until the reception, lol. There's lots of places to grab a drink, I'm sure no one would really mind.    

[JustNoelle]

Originally Posted by Savs1027 

 

We had 35 people. 

The dinner/drinks is 48/pp. We had the ultimate package which included it for 20 we just had to pay for 15. We also chose not to do the cocktail hour and used that credit towards our dinner so we ended up not paying very much for the actual dinner. 

The DJ was $900 for the 3 hours. I don't remember how much the light up dance floor was - I don't have our break down of price anymore. 2 centerpieces were included with the ultimate package so we only had to pay for 3 of those which were about $60 each.  We paid $4 per person for the cake for 15 people because 20 were included. And we paid $150 per bamboo pole for the lighting and I think $30 per table for the under table lights. We took everything else with us (table overlays, sashes, picture frames, decorations, etc). 

 

For our entire wedding at the resort it was about $8000. That didn't include what we brought with us or our trip there. 

Hi Savs,

 

Was your final costs including the resort's photography? I haven't seen my tentative invoice from my WC and its stressing me out. 

[Dominique 161]

For those that received a "credit" for not having a cocktail hour- What did your guest do while you and your hubby were off taking pictures? Also, based on previous posts, is it safe to assume the Seaside Grill is free IF your reception is after 6-6:30????

Hello.. We had our reception in the Seaside Grill. At first Gina wanted $800 to use the Seaside Grill, but I got it for free in the end because only the pool terrace was available and I really didn't want my reception there.. It took a lot of emails to get it for free. I didn't also tell her I knew past brides had used it for free!

[JustNoelle]

Hi Ladies

 

My FH and I will be getting legally married the day before we fly down. None of our guests know except for his mother and brother and my parents and sisters. Its Top Secret! Lol.

 

So my question is: Has any of you done or will be doing a symbolic ceremony? If so, does the resort offer a substitute for signing and finger printing the marriage certificate?

 

I know its misleading but I would like our ceremony to be as authentic as possible.

[loripanori]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustNoelle 

Hi Savs,

 

Was your final costs including the resort's photography? I haven't seen my tentative invoice from my WC and its stressing me out. 

 

We didn't get an invoice or tentative invoice ahead of time at all, but I had our final price figured out almost exactly from the various prices that had been given to me.  The only thing I was off on was the amount of credit given for not having the cocktail hour.  We also added on an extra hour of reception on impulse at the list minute, but I'm glad we did.  I stressed to Lorena that I wanted dinner to move very quickly, and she told me they would have it move as fast as our guests were eating, but it was sooooooooo slooooooooow.  Took pretty much 2 hours from start to finish (I was aiming for 1 hour!), and we only had 24 adults.  I'm sure it would be a lot faster with a buffet.  But anyway, because dinner was so slow I was happy to have the extra hour of dancing.

 

Our final cost was around $7650 (including photography).  It broke down roughly like this:

 

$3000  wedding package

$1100  photographer

  $620  flowers (3 bridesmaids bouquets, 2 extra centerpieces, 4 flower girl baskets, extra boutonnieres & coursages, flowers for the cake)

  $290  extra food & cake

  $450  extra hour of reception

  $400  sound system (2 hours - 1 hour for the ceremony, and 1 hour to play music during the first hour of the reception)

$1000  DJ (3 hours)

  $640  light-up dance floor 

  $550  extra costs for legal wedding

 -$400  cocktail hour credit

 

So this doesn't include our trip itself, or any of the stuff we brought with us, just the actual wedding items we were charged for by the resort. I think we may have been given a few small breaks in some of the prices when we decided to add on the extra hour, like I don't think we paid for the child's meal, or an extra bottle of champagne (for having 4 extra adults), small stuff like that.  But we also realized later that we didn't get one of the boutonnieres we paid for, and we didn't get any cake or flowers returned to our room.  I was mostly sad about this because they told us to just leave all the flowers and they would bring them up, and so I left my bouquet behind, and ended up losing my bouquet photo charm which was a real sentimental item for me.  

[LindseyM]

Originally Posted by JustNoelle 

 

Hi Ladies

 

My FH and I will be getting legally married the day before we fly down. None of our guests know except for his mother and brother and my parents and sisters. Its Top Secret! Lol.

 

So my question is: Has any of you done or will be doing a symbolic ceremony? If so, does the resort offer a substitute for signing and finger printing the marriage certificate?

 

I know its misleading but I would like our ceremony to be as authentic as possible.

We did that and yes you sign a marriage certificate!

[LindseyM]

Originally Posted by Mikecantarell 

 

Hello Brides to be:

 

Here you can take a look at some spots at DRC, this wedding was amazing!

 

Love this video, Mike!  But I like ours better.    I guess I am biased.  Kevin and I still watch it nearly every day!

[Sabrina26]

Beautiful video! Where is the reception location? Pool deck? Or is that called the terrace?

[JustNoelle]

Originally Posted by loripanori 

 

 

We didn't get an invoice or tentative invoice ahead of time at all, but I had our final price figured out almost exactly from the various prices that had been given to me.  The only thing I was off on was the amount of credit given for not having the cocktail hour.  We also added on an extra hour of reception on impulse at the list minute, but I'm glad we did.  I stressed to Lorena that I wanted dinner to move very quickly, and she told me they would have it move as fast as our guests were eating, but it was sooooooooo slooooooooow.  Took pretty much 2 hours from start to finish (I was aiming for 1 hour!), and we only had 24 adults.  I'm sure it would be a lot faster with a buffet.  But anyway, because dinner was so slow I was happy to have the extra hour of dancing.

 

Our final cost was around $7650 (including photography).  It broke down roughly like this:

 

$3000  wedding package

$1100  photographer

  $620  flowers (3 bridesmaids bouquets, 2 extra centerpieces, 4 flower girl baskets, extra boutonnieres & coursages, flowers for the cake)

  $290  extra food & cake

  $450  extra hour of reception

  $400  sound system (2 hours - 1 hour for the ceremony, and 1 hour to play music during the first hour of the reception)

$1000  DJ (3 hours)

  $640  light-up dance floor 

  $550  extra costs for legal wedding

 -$400  cocktail hour credit

 

So this doesn't include our trip itself, or any of the stuff we brought with us, just the actual wedding items we were charged for by the resort. I think we may have been given a few small breaks in some of the prices when we decided to add on the extra hour, like I don't think we paid for the child's meal, or an extra bottle of champagne (for having 4 extra adults), small stuff like that.  But we also realized later that we didn't get one of the boutonnieres we paid for, and we didn't get any cake or flowers returned to our room.  I was mostly sad about this because they told us to just leave all the flowers and they would bring them up, and so I left my bouquet behind, and ended up losing my bouquet photo charm which was a real sentimental item for me.  

 

Thanks Lori!!

[Dominique 161]

Originally Posted by Sabrina26 

 

Beautiful video! Where is the reception location? Pool deck? Or is that called the terrace?

 

Its on the Pool Deck .. The weddings i saw on the pool deck were all beauitful!