Dreams Riviera Cancun - Brides post here (new thread)

[LindsayMichelle]

Great reviews ladies!!! Sounds like everything was wonderful and I can't wait to see your pictures! Congrats to both of you!

[Lupita]

Hi ladies! JD Hall thank you for your amazing review. I can't wait for our wedding. 

 

6 Kids & 17 Adults + Bride & Groom

[lcraney]

Hi Everyone!

We leave for Mexico tomorrow morning reeeeally early, and we are in good shape! It is easy to get nervous while packing everything and trying to remember it all, but we have list upon list of to dos and things to pack and information, etc.

 

We ended up with 62 people total in our party, including bride and groom. Pretty great group, so we are really excited.

 

Veronica has been super helpful, we had some last minute changes to our welcome/rehearsal dinner Fri night due to hotel occupancy being high this weekend (just our luck! haha).

She wanted us to move the time from 8pm to 6pm and I was worried some late comers would miss it. But honestly, dinner gets busy around 630-7pm usually, so seating 62 people in one area will be way trickier than doing it right at 6pm when they open up for dinner. So we appreciated her forethought. We just wish we had done the fix sooner, because we had to email all our guests last min and hope they got word. And some of my family will miss dinner. But it is all for the best, so I can't stress about it. It will all be fine, I am sure.

 

Otherwise, I am grateful for JD Hall and Carboholic;s reviews, it was nice to read some good things before we head down.

 

Our timing seems a little tight, but it is too late now. Luckily I have my best bud who has been a wedding coordinator a few times as my Man of Honor. He will keep things running smoothly I think.

 

Ok well I can't wait to be another bride that assures the ones behind her that everything works out great! Ha! I will post once I am back in later May.

 

 

 

 

 

[LindsayMichelle]

JDHall - Did you use Edgar with AVI?

 

Carbaholic - Did you use a DJ? I didn't see that in your review.. or maybe I missed it?

[SharonMydung]

JD Hall congratulations on being a Mrs..........

 

I enjoyed your review, I think you covered all the basis.  I was wondering did you and your hubby go on that mayan excursion?  Are we able to purchase that at the resort or do we have to buy it online?

 

How many guests did you have in total and how many tables were set up at the reception?  How many guests did you have seated per table? 

 

Regarding the tech for the ceremony, is there anything you can advise to do so he doesn't messed up?  Can we rent the system and have someone in the family work the music?  So you recommend a cd huh, did you give him a list of what songs to play and when to play it?

 

Did you guys do your own readings?  Did you write your own stuff for the officiant to say during the ceremony?

 

Thank you and congrats

 

 

[SharonMydung]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carbaholic 

Hi Ladies!

 

Congrats Mrs. Hall!  Since her review was absolutely perfect, I'll just post a list of things I wish I had done, was glad I had done, etc.

 

Setting: Wedding was May 3, ceremony on the south end of the beach at 5:30pm and the reception at 7pm on the deck.  We were 33 people total.

 

- Was glad the ceremony started at 5:30pm (5:15 would have been perfect actually - the sun set at 7:13 that day and for photos, 15 extra minutes of light would have been great).  Any earlier may still have been too hot for our guests.  As it was, they have you face all of your guests, which is nice except that it means you are standing facing west and the setting sun.  Our video is a lot of shots of us squinting! Haha.  We got some amazing

 

- Wish we had started our reception at 7:30pm.  By the time the ceremony was done (around 6pm) and we made it through all of our pictures, we were running behind and the reception only started at around 7:20pm so we lost 20 precious minutes!  Also, our party would have ended at 10:30pm which would have meant that Desires would already be in full swing after.  We had to wait 45 minutes for the hockey game to finish - it went into overtime.  No big deal!

 

- Was glad we did the sit-down dinner.  We chose the sea bass or gigot of lamb menu and everything was delicious and hot!  I wish we had known that we needed numbers for each meal, we would have included it in our response cards.  I had sent an email to Lisbeth explicitly asking her "Guests will choose their main course AT the wedding reception dinner, correct?" to which she replied "yes".  So at our meeting when she said that was incorrect, we had to start guessing who would order what!  I ended up guessing numbers then just asking them to serve our table and our parents' tables last because none of us/them are picky eaters.  It worked out fine!  The only downside to the plated dinner is that it takes longer (3 apps, main course and dessert) so there was less time for dancing.  We did all of our speeches during the dinner.

 

- Wish we had made our meeting with Lisbeth for the day we arrived.  When we checked in, we were told that Lisbeth may be upgrading us and to discuss it with her, so we had to wait a few days to unpack.  In the end, we didn't take the upgrade to a Honeymoon suite.  We had booked a plunge pool and really wanted to keep it!  So they gave us access to the Preferred Club instead of an actual room upgrade.

 

- Was glad that my parents had a suite on the same side as the ceremony on the beach!  We got ready there and luckily, we saw them setting up the chuppah and chairs - they were putting the teal ribbon that was for the reception on the chairs and tying LIME GREEN bows to the chuppah!  It looked ridiculous.  I called down and they removed the lime green bows and replaced them with white and took the ribbon off the chairs.

 

- Was glad I kept everything simple.  Garden chairs for the ceremony, no bows.  White cloth on the chuppah, white bows.  Multi-coloured floral arrangement on the table and that was it.  They put a runner down with starfish and conch shells on it. The view is truly spectacular and you really don't need to doctor it up.

 

- Was glad I kept the reception decorations simple, too!  White covered chairs with one stripe of teal ribbon, white tablecloths and napkins with a menu I had printed and glued to teal cardstock tucked in, teal & white candle holders with LED candles and the white bridesmaid bouquets as centerpieces in glass vases I had rented from DRC for $10 each.  I got the white flags (3x) and two sets of the hanging white lanterns (I paid for 6 on each and they actually put 16 on each!!).  I brought teal ribbon for the cake tiers and fake orchids for them to decorate it.  It looked absolutely stunning and highlighted the amazing view perfectly without trying to overtake it.

 

- Wish I would have paid more to keep the photographer (we had Frank) for longer.  We had 30 minutes of bridesmaids and I getting ready (which was complimentary with Ultimate package apparently), the ceremony, and 10 minutes of family and group shots and about 30 minutes of the two of us after.  It all felt incredibly rushed.  It would have been great to have him there for the reception/speeches/dinner and for longer with the group/family shots.  He took around 300 pictures and we had to narrow them down to 50!  We got it to 56 and just paid the $90US extra for those 6.  It was NOT easy!

 

- Wish I would have used some of the package perks earlier!  We upgraded to the Ultimate package and we got the eternity honeymoon thing for free (maybe everyone gets that or because we stayed for 2 weeks total, I'm not sure) so we had a 50 minute couples massage, 2 x 25 min facials and 25 min massage, champagne, fancy breakfast in bed, fresh flowers to the room, dinner on the beach, etc.  We kind of forgot to use everything so now we have 3 days left here and are doing all of it!  It's still nice, especially since everyone else is gone but I would have loved to do the breakfast the morning after, the flowers at the start and the champagne the day of the wedding.  Silly us!

 

- Was glad my brother officiated!  He did such an amazing job and it was so nice to have someone who knows us so well marry us.  We got legally married quietly before we left for mexico (just to make sure it was all easy and legit) but he got officially "ordained" or whatever it is online anyway.  It was so touching and beautiful.

 

- Was glad I started getting ready at 1:30pm.  I showered in my room at 1:10pm and met my friend/bridesmaid who is a hair and makeup artist at 1:30pm in my parents' room.  I was done by 3:30pm which left me time to help a couple of bridesmaids with their hair (kept me busy) while drinking champagne and chatting and snacking before Frank got there at 4:45.  I thought it would be way too much time but it was perfect.  I didn't feel rushed or bored!

 

- last but not least, WAS GLAD I DIDN'T STRESS!  I didn't do a ton of work before coming, I didn't do much while I was here and I didn't spend a fortune on extras I didn't feel I needed.  Nothing stressed me out and everything was amazing... the day and night are what you make them and DRC does a great job of pulling it all together! 

 

Ok, that's all I can think of for now!  I'm sorry if it was still long and boring...  Since I've been here I've seen all kinds of beautiful weddings.  There are sometimes 2 or 3 a day and each one still ends up looking different, all of them beautiful and perfect in their own way.  Congrats to all the recent and future Brides! 

 

 

 

 

 

[SharonMydung]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SharonMydung 

JD Hall congratulations on being a Mrs..........

 

I enjoyed your review, I think you covered all the basis.  I was wondering did you and your hubby go on that mayan excursion?  Are we able to purchase that at the resort or do we have to buy it online?

 

How many guests did you have in total and how many tables were set up at the reception?  How many guests did you have seated per table? 

 

Regarding the tech for the ceremony, is there anything you can advise to do so he doesn't messed up?  Can we rent the system and have someone in the family work the music?  So you recommend a cd huh, did you give him a list of what songs to play and when to play it?

 

Did you guys do your own readings?  Did you write your own stuff for the officiant to say during the ceremony?

 

Thank you and congrats

 

 

 

[LindsayMichelle]

So excited for you LCraney!! Enjoy every second!

[JD Hall Wedding]

SharonMydung-

We did do the excursion and it was wonderful!!! I know you can book excursion right at the resort thru Amstar, but it is cheaper to purchase beforehand online before you go.

We had a total of 3 tables and one sweatheart table, which we had 2 tables with 6 people and 1 table with 8, I didn't want anyones back to us and it worked out great.

I'm not sure if anyone can play with the sound system, but I highly recommend just having a cd ready with a print out stating what track number to play when!!!

I completely wrote our own script and we wrote our own vows we had no readings, the minister, linda did a wonderful job.

 

 

LindsayMichelle,

we did use Edgar with AVI and they were great!!! Highly recommend!!!

[JD Hall Wedding]

Finally got pics

 

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYtGLRm4cuGTl4

  don't have the slideshow from anel yet but i can't wait to see it