cancunbride2be

Hey Ladies, I recieved my ebay after sun care and I don't have an expiration date on any of the bottles. I did try one and it went on very nice and has a nice faint scent. It was a great buy at $0.99 for the case!! Thanks for posting the listing!! FYI - Target has a lot of great name brand $0.99 travel items. I picked up some of my after sun care (fruit of the earth aloe) there before I found this post. they also have sun screen and hand sanitizer and a bunch of other stuff. Oh and for all the Dreams brides....they provide spf 8 sunscreen in each room (which we used and really liked). If you still want to put sunscreen in your OOT bags...go for the high spf! We decided not to do the sunscreen and put the after sun care instead.

My girls are wearing Jim hjelm as well, in the mocha. I told them to pick any tea length and they picked out these two for all 6.... Jim Hjelm Occasions Jim Hjelm Occasions It was funny because we all went together to try dresses and between 6 girls we were able to narrow it down to two. I thought they would be much more diverse...but I'm not complaining! I love the color you picked but I must say that the one heavy chested girl in my party did not like any of the strapless and the fourth one you picked is definitely too low cut. She was just spilling out of it. It might be different for your girls though....

Thanks for the review Courtney!! I am also honeymooning at EDR and really appreciate it because tripadvisor can be a bit intimidating. I really think that a lot of people on there are the type that just love to complain.

I think we are going to do different tropical drink names (ie...Pina Colada, tequilla sunrise, Mai tai, etc). I want to find some sort of frame that is shaped like a drink or paper with trpoical drinks on it....i haven't really gotten that far

No, there is no charge for outside vendors. Claudia seems top be very flexible with that.

I say definitely go fake...I have friends that did the exact same thing and they got their "real" bands for their 1st wedding anniversary. Anything that reduces stress (money and travel) is a good idea!!

Hi Ladies! Does anyone know if there are any complications with traveling to Mexico with the goodies for your OOT bags? I've purchased individual travel size advil packets and after-sun care and my Fi is paranoyed that we aren't going to get through customs with them. Is there any laws prohibiting bringing that sort of stuff? Any ladies that have already had their DW...how did you deal with this?? My fi has got me all worried now...please help me calm him (and myself) down. Thanks! Kristin

Ok...here we go Jilly...do you know that if you have 5 rooms or more booked, you get the Wedding in paradise package for free? That way you don't have to worry about staying longer than you really want at Dreams. That's what we are doing. We just didn't need a lot of what was offered in the larger packages and we are going to have ~80 ppl, so we went with the "free" one and customized it from there. Susan - I just got my contract for the wedding and Claudia charged me $1000 for the dj for 4 hours (and the cocktail hour if it was going to be held in the same location as the reception). I wonder if it is the same company and she just automatically gave us the lowest package. Did you get a website from the company that you have the price quotes from? Also...any of you girls have the prices for the lower level bouquets. I have prices for the VIP ones, but none for the others. I was wondering what the price difference is (VIP bouquets are no where near the $60-90 Claudia originally quoted)

definitely the second dress. I think it is soo flattering and I love the back!! the first is nice but the second is wow!

that was just what I needed! I am struggling with flower choices right now. thanks

I think we are going to honeymoon there, like jilly Jilly: It seems as if you and I have the same taste and are going to have the same wedding experience! Dreams wedding, then off to EDR. The casitas look amazing and everything I read says they are the way to go! Has anyone gotten any prices for them?

Dreams Cancun, just like all of you!

we are hoping that everyone stays at dreams. we are not offering any other suggestions, in hopes that people will choose dreams. A huge part of why we wanted the DW was to have the chance to hang out with the friends and fam for a few days!

very cute! I am doing a flip flop theme with the OOT, so these will go perfectly! Thanks

Not that I want any of you to experience the frustration that I have...but I am glad that I am not the only o ne over here, bitching away!! I am so grateful that my TA takes care of everything, because when I was doing it myself I was pulling my hair out! We finally got a contract and will be placing the deposit down this week. woohoo!!!! Finally!!!

I had the same problem until I found my TA. She really gets a quick response. I have no idea why Claudia responds so much faster to her than I but it works! Find a TA that specializes in destination weddings, so they know the ropes of getting these WC to respond!

I agree...Claudia should just post on this site. I don't know anything about the "ultimate" package, so I can't help there. The sound system (for $180/hr) does come with a tech that runs it. Claudia said that we could bring our own music or she had some stuff there. I would suggest bringing your own though...because you never know what they keep as a "stock" music selection. Better safe than sorry. When we did our site visit we watched two weddings and the guy played music as people were seating themselves, during your entrance, and everyone's exit. You won't have to worry about having a "tech savvy" friend for this one!

I'm lucky because my friend is my hairdresser so she will be at the wedding and doing my hair and makeup. I don't know what to do about my BM's hair and make up though. I don't want to ask my friend to do everyone (i have 6 girls in the bridal party) but at the same time I would like to take care of my girls. Are we expected to pay for the BMs hair and makeup anyway

I'd have to go with the majority on this one and say definitely get YOUR dress first!! I had a "vision" of what my wedding dress was going to look like and I ended up getting something TOTALLY different. I know a couple of other brides that had the same experience. What I was orginally thinking for my BMs would have looked odd with the dress I actually got. Plus...the color you pick for your girls could totally clash with your dress. Oh and dont forget the fact that sometimes the color you think is sooo pretty can look just awful on one of your girls. I loved orange but when some of my BMs put it on we were all like NO WAY!! So...you can (and probably will need to be) flexible on their dresses but you can't compromise on your dress!! It would be awful if you put on a dress fell in love and then realized you couldn't get it because it wouldn't go with the BM dresses.

I looked into this awhile back and I've sent sooo many emails to the WC and events coordinator and never heard back from them. If you go to Claudia Rodriguez's site (Claudia Rodriguez, Photographer, Cancun & Riviera Maya) she has a video/pictures of a wedding there. The reception hall is a cave!!! It looks amazing and I would have loved to do my wedding there BUT it's impossible to get anyone to get back to you! I figured that was probably a foreshadowing of how planning the wedding would be and I dropped it. Not that Claudia at Dreams Cancun is much better...but at least she writes back eventually!

Ok...my fi and I decided to go with the smallest wedding package, which doesn't include any coktail hour or reception. somehow it ended up working better for us because we are having ~80 people and the larger packages include so much stuff we don't need (like photographer videographer, etc...). Claudia told us that we could mix and match the silver and gold menu options. Did she tell you guys that too? Since we wanted to have a sit down dinner, she is letting us pick two entrees to put on our invitation for our guests to choose from. She said that as long as we got the number of each meals to her in advance, it would be fine with her if we offered two choices, instead of just giving everyone the same thing. Did any of you also get this option? Sometimes it seems like all of us Dreams brides are talking to totally different WCs there. She doesn't seem to be very consistent in what she tells/gives any of us. I know that one bride had posted a "vip" bouquet options that I was never given (ps that's for posting it because I found what I want in that ppt) and different cake stuff, etc. Any of you girls feel the same way

When we did our site visit with Claudia, she told us that the World Cafe was available for private receptions on Tuesday and Fridays. Apparently they shut down the buffet and offer themed dinners outside near the pool on those nights. We will be paying per head for the reception, just like you would at any of the outdoor sites or the ballroom. Like I said before, we are getting married in January and it does get chilly at night, so we really wanted to have an indoor reception so our guests were comfortable and could really enjoy themselves. We weren't crazy about the ballrooms (I must say that we saw them set up for a buisness meeting so it might have influenced our opinion a bit) and we thought the World Cafe was really nice. At night they have white lights around the palm trees and it was a really nice set up. If you haven't been there....it's a two level resturant, so we think are going to have the tables set up on one level and then do a little lounge area with the dance floor on the other. I have pics of the terrace and spa reception set up (as well as tons of site pics including the world cafe). PM me with your email if you want to see them! The spa set up is really nice...very private and beautiful. But it only holds 50 people (we have 80) and it isn't available until 7, so you need to have a late ceremony or a big break. We also noticed (when we spied on a wedding reception in the spa) that they turn on the tennis court lights after 8 so the flourecent light lights up the spa too. It was ashame because it really had a romantic candle lit look before the lights turned on. Hope this helps!

I can't imagine wasting someone's time like that!! You should totally tell her you aren't interested in working with her if she asks for your availability!

When I did my site visit I saw a wedding set up on the terrace and I thought it was even nicer than the garden for a few reasons... 1. There is protection from the wind and if it gets chilly at night, people can move inside. 2. The lighting was soo beautiful in the lobby....they had all these candle looking lights and it just looked soo romantic. 3. Any of your ladies in heels can easily walk around without worrying about sinking into the grass 4. There is a full bar right there in the lobby which is really convenient. I think we are going to have our cocktail hour on the terrace and our recpetion in world cafe. Its soo nice in there with all the lights on the palms and I am getting married in January and the nights are just too chilly to have a beach reception. Plus...weather does not become a factor, which means less stress for me. I figure that all of my guests will be able to enjoy the grounds all week...why make them freeze on the beach for the reception!

Target has travel size sunscreen and after suncare for $1.00/piece. I can't find anything that beats that online