Dreams Riviera Cancun - Brides post here (new thread)

[normajeane77]

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Originally Posted by DorothyAnn0403 Hey Everyone, I suppose this is how wedding planning goes, but i'm starting to get worried and frustrated. :-( I'm having a hard time getting answers from Ana, i know she's busy and takes some time to reply, i'm perfectly okay with that. But it seems as if she doesn't really answer my questions. I don't know if it's the English and Spanish writing difference? I'm worried about music and walking down the aisle, how to get that set up. I don't think we can afford a DJ with everything else, we are going with the Ultimate package. I'm also not sure about where to have the reception dinner. I heard that they can put a cover over the jacuzzi deck? Is this true, and does anyone have any pictures of this? We have maybe 20 people coming, will this be big enough, or would it be too small? Sorry for all of the questions, and thank you in advance for all of your help! I guess this is what they call the stress of wedding planning!

I know it can be frustrating waiting on Ana's replies..she gets better the closer you get to your wedding date I think. She seems to be a very busy person! However, I have heard nothing but good things about Dreams weddings, if that offers any reassurance to you.
I can tell you what I do know so far, and I'm sure others have information I may not have yet
1. As for music for your ceremony, I believe you have to rent the sound system to play your music if you want to bring ipod
2. You can have your reception dinner on the beach, the pool terrace, or indoor location if you choose. I think the jacuzzi deck is offered for the cocktail hour, not the dinner
Do you have a travel agent working on your trip? She may be able to help you get answers from Ana more quickly.
There is SO MUCH info on this site that will help your planning!
Good luck!
Sarah

[soon2BMrs.Prince]

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Originally Posted by Laura22610 Fireworks would be awesome! DJ Doremixx gave me a list of equipment that they bring to the reception and one of the things listed was cold fireworks (not sure what that is, I think maybe just huge sparkler-like things). It didn't say that these were extra. I agree about the DJ getting the party started. I was a little worried about that too with the ipod.

Oh crap...was it Doremixx that I read about I'm confused now, but happy for you...one less thing to worry about. I love the idea of the large sparklers. I saw them in one review and think it look so nice, especially at night.

[soon2BMrs.Prince]

I got a message from Ana today regarding the kids policy for the reception. It is as follows:

 

0 to 3 year old free

3 to 12 year old 50 % as an adult

12 years to up as an adult.

[soon2BMrs.Prince]

What are you ladies doing for your invitations?

[SDbeachgirl]

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Originally Posted by Laura22610 So, I got an email back from Ana today and I learned a few new things... I had asked her about the sound system that you could play your ipod in and how much it would cost for the reception. She said that for the reception it would be $200 (taxes included) and then $35/hour for the technician. So, $305 total plus the $180 for the reception. Yikes!! So, I had emailed a couple of DJ's that I saw on here...DJ Mania and DJ Doremixx. The first emailed me back and said that I could get prices from Ana. The second told me that it would be $650 for 1-4 hours (which includes all the music stuff plus a few fun extras). I am definitely going to go with this. I was starting to really stress about the music thing and to have someone totally handle it for an extra $150...sealed the deal for me I can give him a playlist if I want and he will come meet with me at the resort a couple days before the wedding if I want, which I thought was nice! Second, she sent me a photo of a beach ceremony set-up. I am not sure which "location" this is... I also asked her about a rehearsal and rehearsal dinner and I wasn't really too happy with her response to this. She told me that since you can't make reservations at the restaurants, we would just have to show up to a restaurant at 6pm and get tables near each other. Hmm...I would think that they could be a little more accommodating when you are having your wedding there and bringing guests to the resort. She didn't offer any other options either. I had also asked her about flowers. I know a few of you were thinking of going with orange as an accent color. I asked her if there were any bouquet options with orange flowers and she sent me this picture. It is not at all what I had in my head but I really like it a lot! I am not sure if this costs extra - Ana didn't say - I am going to ask her when I email her back. Oh and one more thing...I asked her about the lights under the tables and the star lights around the deck. She said the lights under the tables are $45 each and the star lights are $200.

First of all, I love the flowers!!! I have a stupid question, how is the bride's bouquet supposed to differ from the bridesmaids' bouquets?

2nd, now you are making me want a DJ. I originally thought I would have a DJ and then looked at the dynamics of my group. half the group are my parent's age and half are my age (with probably more girls than guys). We will have approx 35-40 people. Would a DJ seem awkward? How many guests do you have? Also, I thought we did not have a choice on the DJ. I think we have to use the DJ that the resort uses. I don't know who that is though.

[SDbeachgirl]

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Originally Posted by soon2BMrs.Prince I got a message from Ana today regarding the kids policy for the reception. It is as follows: 0 to 3 year old free 3 to 12 year old 50 % as an adult 12 years to up as an adult.

Thanks for asking this! I didn't even think about it. Good to know!

[Laura22610]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl First of all, I love the flowers!!! I have a stupid question, how is the bride's bouquet supposed to differ from the bridesmaids' bouquets? 2nd, now you are making me want a DJ. I originally thought I would have a DJ and then looked at the dynamics of my group. half the group are my parent's age and half are my age (with probably more girls than guys). We will have approx 35-40 people. Would a DJ seem awkward? How many guests do you have? Also, I thought we did not have a choice on the DJ. I think we have to use the DJ that the resort uses. I don't know who that is though.

I think that the bride's bouquet is bigger than the bridesmaids' flowers. I was thinking about having my bridesmaids carry small bouquets of orange roses or orange calla lilies.

I am having about 30 people (STILL waiting on a couple of RSVP's, believe it or not!). Most of the people are our age except for maybe about 10 family members. I don't think that a DJ would seem awkward. Do you think your guests would want to dance? If so, I am starting to think a DJ is the way to go. When i started to try to compile a playlist of songs, I got really overwhelmed. So, I am not sure on who the resort uses for a DJ. I had seen on here on a thread about DJ's that some girls from Dreams Cancun had the choice of DJ Mannia or DJ Doremixx. I would think that if both of these were options at Dreams Cancun, they would be at DRC too?? Since Ana is sometimes difficult to get responses from, I decided just to email the DJ's to see what they offer. DJ Mannia told me I had to go through Ana. DJ Doremixx gave me a price quote, then told me I had to go through the wedding coordinator. So, I am confused as to how this works. I just emailed Ana asking her if I could use DJ Doremixx. I will let you know what she says about all this.

[wisconsinbride2010]

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Originally Posted by soon2BMrs.Prince What are you ladies doing for your invitations?

We are sending our invites as messages in a bottle. We are having parchment paper burnt on the edges for our invites and also our wedding planners information and information about the resort all rolled up in the bottles. We are scenting the paper to kinda smell like coconut, so it smells beachy. I bought bottles that had shipping boxes along with them. I am planning on shredding paper in our wedding colors and having that as the "padding" in the shipping boxes. So each person we are inviting will get a package in the mail instead of an envelope. We are requesting our guests respond by May 1st even though our wedding isn't until the end of October. But I need to get a handle on a budget. We are hopefully sending them out by the end of January.

[ebernard4985]

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Originally Posted by soon2BMrs.Prince What are you ladies doing for your invitations?

I am making my invitations. I ordered pocket folds from cardsandpockets.com
and also invitation mats. I made my own invitations on my computer from plan white cardstock and will cut it to size. (I scrapbook and make cards already so I have a lot of experience doing these things) My inspiration for the invites came from an invitation from the Martha Stewart magazine ad for Envelopments. My favorite thing about the invites is that is reflects our personality. The response cards are really cute..... "Please reserve ____ loungers by the pool" indicates that they are joining us. As my inserts I added one card about the Mexico wedding and also one card as a mini-invite to our reception back home. On the response card they RSVP to the Mexico wedding and Chicago wedding. It makes it much easier since everyone is invited to both (we are inviting 150 people knowing only 40 are coming to Mexico and the rest will be in Chicago... I wanted those that cannot make it to Mexico still feel very much included). The front of our invites has our monogram on it. I really just googled pocketfold invitations and took some ideas from various invites to create ours. For 100 invites it only will cost me $150-200. I am really picky about these things and cannot imagine having someone else make them for me because I want them to be perfect. I will be sending the invites out at the end of March. I have only made one so hopefully I have them done it time!

[ebernard4985]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soon2BMrs.Prince I got a message from Ana today regarding the kids policy for the reception. It is as follows: 0 to 3 year old free 3 to 12 year old 50 % as an adult 12 years to up as an adult.

Thank you! This is excellent to know. I am so glad they do not charge for the younger kids!