Dreams Riviera Cancun - Brides post here (new thread)

[LindsayMichelle]

Did anyone have an outside photographer they really loved? Elizabeth Medina is booked on my day and Del Sol is out of my budget. Still waiting on a quote from Claudia Rodriguez. Looking for something pretty reasonable...

 

Thank you!!

[1106wedding]

Is Del Sol more expensive than Elizabeth Medina? Because she's not cheap!
 

Originally Posted by LindsayMichelle 

Did anyone have an outside photographer they really loved? Elizabeth Medina is booked on my day and Del Sol is out of my budget. Still waiting on a quote from Claudia Rodriguez. Looking for something pretty reasonable...

 

Thank you!!

[LindsayMichelle]

Not sure... she just told me she was already booked on our wedding day so I never got her rates. If she was similar to Del Sol, she is out of my budget as well.
 

Originally Posted by 1106wedding 

Is Del Sol more expensive than Elizabeth Medina? Because she's not cheap!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by LindsayMichelle 

Did anyone have an outside photographer they really loved? Elizabeth Medina is booked on my day and Del Sol is out of my budget. Still waiting on a quote from Claudia Rodriguez. Looking for something pretty reasonable...

 

Thank you!!

 

[BethAnne]

Check out Juan Navarro's website, he takes some amazing pics and I have him booked for my wedding in Jan.

I check the site every day, and have yet to see any pics I havn't loved. =)

[LindsayMichelle]

Does anyone know about any of the photographers on Claudia Rodriguez's team? Unfortunately she is booked for my date as well.

 

Thank you!

[LindsayMichelle]

Thanks BethAnne, I'll check it out!

[lsd203]

Thank you for the detailed review!  How did  you set up the boat trip?  Was it through the hotel and how much did it cost?

Thanks!

[Princess402]

 

 

Originally Posted by LindsayMichelle 

 

Did anyone have an outside photographer they really loved? Elizabeth Medina is booked on my day and Del Sol is out of my budget. Still waiting on a quote from Claudia Rodriguez. Looking for something pretty reasonable...

 

Thank you!!

 

Have you thought of bringing in someone with you from outside of Mexico? That's what I am doing, and compared to what I would pay for the same calibre of work and amount of coverage from someone in Mexico, it's very reasonable!!!

 

[lnf_munchkin]

NOVEMBER BRIDES

 

OMG, I've been patient.  I did the site visit, I've tried to convince you all that it will all be great and they will get it all taken care of once we get down there.  I setup things with Ana, and after meeting with her at the site visit was confident they would pull it off.  Then she left.  I started working with Magdalena . . . NOW SHE"S LEAVING TOO.  I leave in 10 days!!  and I still need some answers!!  UUUUGGGGHHHHH

[EmmaGaussoin]

I guess I should finally do a review!

 

My wedding was October 23, 2010. I arrived at the resort on the 20th.

 

Check-in  (A) : Went decently smooth. We were greeted with cool towels and champagne. Originally the wouldn't give me the upgrade that I was promised but after talking with them I was upgraded from the deluxe garden view to the preferred club ocean view room. I was very happy with my room. Everyone I arrived with decided to upgrade as well and we all loved our rooms.

 

Resort (A+) : BEAUTIFUL. The food was great (minus the Mexican theme night we did the first night we arrived), all the restaurants were wonderful. The drinks were good and the preferred club had great liquor just ask for the good stuff. My favorite drink was the watermelon mojito! I was always able to find an open chair or Cabana to that wasn't an issue when I was there. There weren't a ton of kids and the ones that were there weren't terribly loud. The beach was nice, no rocks to hurt your feet. There was a bunch or sea weed but it didn't distract too much from the beauty. The hobie cats were a blast to take out, I definitely recommend it. Overall I had a wonderful time.

 

Initial Meeting with Gaby ( : Went well she had everything printed out that I requested and told me to give her my decorations and they would set them up for me. I tried to hand her a hard copy of my ceremony script and she told me it would be better to email it to her so she could email it to the officiant. I was fine with that and did so as soon as I returned to my room. I was able to mix and match SLIGHTLY the menu because we had a food allergy. She seemed to be on top of everything and I was grateful. My only complaint here is that Gaby is pretty cold. I would think that in her profession she would be more personable and she really isn't. But she does get majority of the job done.

 

Hair and Make-up ( : I don't remember the name of the stylist but she was very nice. I brought a picture for my hair and tried to best explain what I wanted for my make-up. I am not super picky so I didn't care too much, but for those who do. BRING PICTURES!!! My hair was nice but not exactly what I wanted and I asked to go light on the make-up and she put more on than I have ever worn in my life and forgot the mascara! My bridesmaids touched up my makeup for me and by then I had already had an entire bottle of champagne so I didn't mind too much. ;-)

 

Wedding (B+) : The afternoon started out rainy so I was worried but Gaby called to tell me that I would still be able to have my beach ceremony. Gaby was supposed to meet me in my room to walk me down to the ceremony site. She was a little late but nothing to get huffy about. I brought down own own music system and had my uncle run it for me and so that worked out wonderfully. Everything was set up beautifully and the weather held out just long enough for my ceremony. My only complaint is that apparently the officiant never got my wedding script!!! She started to speak and I VERY soon realized this was NOT the ceremony I spend time piecing together. It turned out fine and she ended up adding a small sand ceremony into it which was nice, it was just much shorter than mine (which my DH didn't mind at all). Another complaint is that she was very hard to understand. I really still have no clue what she was talking about and neither my husband or I could completely understand our vows so we kinda messed up saying them, but it just added some nice humor to the ceremony. After the ceremony we had a champagne toast and we did pictures on the beach. This is when either my mother or Gaby approached me and informed me that the Mexican trio had been in a car accident and would not be able to make the cocktail hour. Well my Mom was not thrilled about that and told Gaby she needed to figure it out and she pulled together a Caribbean trio that turned out amazing.

 

I was supposed to have my cocktail hour on the Desires Terrace but because of the rain it was moved into the Desires Club. At that point I had drank plenty and was just having a great time. My guests got together and formed a limbo line to the Caribbean music and we had a great time. I didn't try all our appetizers but what I did have was good and everything was presented really nicely.

 

I was supposed to have my reception (small party of 20) on the Jacuzzi deck but again because of the rain this was moved to the Oceania restaurant which I thought was ever nicer! I was very happy about the change. But again here there was another mishap... My menu was all wrong! I specifically ordered the sea bass because a lot of my guests don't eat red meat...well somehow most of my guests were given lamb so nobody really ate much. Additionally we were supposed to have a chocolate mousse with dinner and that never showed up. We did however order the tres leches cake, which was AMAZING! I highly recommend it. The only thing is there was so much left after everyone had a piece that I wanted to save it but that didn't end up happening. 

 

Overall I was happy with the wedding. The few mishaps that did occur didn't bring down my day. I had a blast and my guests loved it. I just think Gaby should pay a little more attention to the details. 

 

Photography (A): I used my photography for a day of activities on the beach and at a rehearsal dinner instead of at the ceremony because I had brought down my own photographer. I had Anel for these and she was super sweet and great to work with. The picture turned out nice and were a lot of fun. The photographer I brought down was Orn Thang. She did an amazing job and was super sweet to work with. You can see her blog here: http://www.ornthangblog.com/?p=1503 andhttp://www.ornthangblog.com/?p=1743 for my wedding and TTD pictures.

 

Videography (A): Our video turned out nice. They didn't match up the songs I played during the ceremony but the ones they chose were very nice. It captured the feeling of the ceremony which I thought was great. It will definitely be something to watch and enjoy years from now.

 

Overall I had a great time. I do recommend this resort to anyone. While I wasn't too impressed with Gaby others have said she is great. My wedding turned out beautiful so I guess that's all I can ask for. Good luck with planning everyone. Don't hesitate to ask any questions!