ebredhawk

wowwww.. can't even try to catch up from the 2 weeks i took off from the forum! i'm glad to say i got most of the stuff done that i could before work starts getting HORRIBLE for the next 2 months! my to do list is a little daunting, but there can't be much more at all that i need to put on in it since it includes packing stuff, scheduling dog boarding, all sorts of things like that. don't want to forget those tiny details! less than 100 days if i check my official facebook countdown i have... 114! not too shabby! i'll love when it goes to double days though! didn't we start this thread last april or may?? time certainly flies! meghan, don't feel bad.. my first requirement when i get pregnant is a new house AND bed!!! J has already been informed so there aren't any surprises!

holy moly... i took 2 weeks off from the forum and there's no way i'm going back to catch up!! i just read Carynlesniak's review and while i agree that it's discouraging, i have heard that dreams is more than happy to change your room if you don't like it when you get there and they have enough availability. i also heard that they are in the process of renovating all of the rooms, but have only gotten through half or so right now so some of the rooms are really nice and others need to be updated. i'm trying not to be discouraged only because i know we won't be in our rooms much. lesson learned though i guess... don't leave stuff on the floor i did manage to get done most of what i could by last night (my deadline). my to do list still looks daunting, but it includes everything from scheduling boarding for my dogs to using teeth whiteners and packing, so hopefully it's all i'll need!

toya, thanks for sending those menu prices. it seems a lot higher than what i thought it was before. as for your FI's ring... i'm very anti-"supposed to"... we are just kind of making up things as we go along. J sacrificed his entire tax return and then some for my e-ring, so i made a deal that he could get his bands and i'd get my ring (we have shared accounts and a credit card so it really doesn't mean much). i don't think it really matters.. whatever you guys decide to do will be perfect.

nat, i picked the time myself since i told her our wedding time and we'd need time for pictures after the ceremony and before we got picked up. toya, maybe if you do one of the app package choices they can do more than 50 people? sounds like that's what it is just for the dinner.

nat, sorry it took me so long to respond! my email is [email protected]... real original, huh? my price for la barcaza for 22 adults, 2 kids, the open bar - grill menu, a 30 person cake, and 2 extra bottles of wine is $1,450. right now they have a promotion going on where the couple is free though... have to check with flori to see if that applies to us or not. if it saves $110, super! she also said it takes about 45 minutes to get there from dreams and they can't set sail any later than 7 (they have to be back by 10). we're getting picked up at 6.

nat, i am all for the sweatpants thing! we're doing ours on april 1st (also J's bday) just to remind us to not take everything too seriously. if J's daughter gets to come to the wedding (we are taking her mom to court for it.. awesome) then it will just be J's sister and bro-in-law with us.. otherwise J's daughter will be an "honorary" flower girl that day. i am hoping that this is all just a big ole miscommunication with the dinner prices. i gasped when i saw the $800 for the gold dinner! it seems like a lot of the things we've worried about were just not communicated properly or weren't made clear in the price listing they put up on the site. (like the "no dancing") i'll be really curious to hear if anyone gets a response about the actual price. nat, did you say that the girl from tripadvisor got married on the beach? could you forward me her album? thanks!

definitely do a google image search of "huppa" or "huppah" and you'll come up with all sorts of options and ideas!

thank you all for your good thoughts.. it must have worked because we officially got the date for the catamaran!! the amazing event coordinator asked the other group if they would switch to a different day because she was trying to accomodate a wedding reception!! i am beyond thrilled now! i can finally take a deep breath and enjoy it without worrying about jinxing it! tracy.. i found these on the knot: Wedding Favors - Wedding Favor - Wedding Favors Ideas) they have a whole bunch of different options.. just search for "mints" in the wedding store. i'm not sure how their shipping to canada is, but they have great deals there and you can completely personalize the little container!!

i got a couple of those vague answers too... but i can't imagine how hard it is to work mostly with people who speak a completely different language! i love that we've all learned to number our questions and make them very clear! toya, i keep watching for you guys to get better buffet prices! for some reason it bothers me that with all those extra people they charge you so much more! i got my date confirmed on la barcaza last night!!!! the amazing flori asked the other group that wanted that day to move to the day before so she could accomodate our reception. i want the address of the people who changed so i can send them flowers!

call me crazy, but i'm not even doing a "table favor" at the reception. most of my guests aren't paying for their trips so i don't feel like i owe them a TON, but based on what i know from when my friends and family members have gotten married, a lot of time and money is spent coming up with something and then people either forget them on the table or don't end up using them. i think it you spent that extra money on the OOT bags. if you really want to have something on the tables though, i like tonya's idea. nice and simple and cute! so i had my reception plans all changed and everything and i just found out that someone had requested that date before me and the event coordinator didn't realize it. now i have to keep my fingers crossed until tomorrow that either the people don't respond to her or they want a day cruise and not a sunset one! i hate being nervous about this after i got all excited about it!!

i need happy thoughts girls!! i just found out from flori (the WC for la barcaza) that someone else had emailed her previously about having the boat on april 28th. apparently it wasn't recent because it seems like she realized she had that request and felt horrible having to tell me that. so right now i am waiting to hear back from her... she emailed them and asked when they needed the boat and if she doesn't hear back from them by tomorrow the date is mine. i am SO nervous... i had revised my mental image of the reception now to la barcaza and i don't want to have to rethink everything again! darn wedding planning...

and speaking of resort prices.. they are SKY HIGH right now.. the same package that we got for our guests is now almost $800 more right now. my TA said the availability is still good so it'll probably come back down, but i still need to book rooms for my photographer and videographer and i hate having to wait!

misty, thanks for sending that! tara, they pick you up in a bus at DPC and drive you (about 45 minutes) to the dock where the boat is and you cruise from there. transportation to and from the resort is included in the total price. i got an email back from deyanira and this is what she said: -beach WEDDING is $300 -beach RECEPTION has a set-up fee of $15/person -huppah price is $350 (i am asking her if it's still $150 if we just to the tulle with no flowers) that is something they definitely need to clear up in that information packet!

toya and misty, i just sent you the pricing info and some pictures!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jocy Does anyone understand the price of having your ceremony on the beach? (If it's not included in your package) I was originally told $300. but then this new pdf file says "$350 Flowers for the Beach Canopy"?? Is that instead of the $300 or as well as? Also, is it $350 for the ugly flower arch?? Or have the miraculously come up with a pretty one?!! ) Thanks! jocy - i believe the $350 is for the huppah, because i think the arch is included. nat, wasn't that the price when it is all decorated with flowers? if you don't want flowers and just the fabric it is $150. i asked deyanira about the price for the beach ceremony since i'm doing the free package. i told her how many people i'd have total and how many chairs i'd need to see what the actual price would be based on. i'll let everyone know when i hear.

erinleigh, thank you so much for your review! we had some stuff change at our resort and decided to change to having our reception on la barcaza! you're right, flori is amazingly responsive and has been a huge help so far! this may have been answered before (because i think i remember reading it somewhere) but do the "open bar" menus include more than beer and rum? i asked flori about this and she said anything like wine or vodka drinks will cost extra, but i get the impression that this isn't always the case? does anyone know? thanks!

tonya, that dress is a HUGE find... what a steal! it looks perfect for a TTD too! i think i am just avoiding thinking about the AHR all together! my photog is doing my invitations for me and i really don't want to think about the rest of it! we're just doing a real casual, bbq style party, but the thought of trying to plan all that with the rest of this stuff going on is slightly overwhelming!!

oh autumn... i saw your thing about rick york. i'm using him as well and as far as i know you pay him separately.. so the resort prices wouldn't affect that i don't think. unless you booked him differently of course? i booked him myself just through email and i'll be paying him directly.. i don't think it goes through the resort at all.

Quote: Originally Posted by nsbride2010 so you are going to get married on the boat, or just have the reception there? I wonder if they would do just the reception... that could be a cool idea too! we are still getting married at dreams... just doing the reception on the boat. i think that's their speciality and they just happen to offer the wedding on the boat as well. we had always wanted to get married on the beach so we're sticking with that. Quote: Originally Posted by PynkLemonade Yeah I am still not clear on this because the Ulitmate Package only covers up to 20 guests, so does this mean you have to pay the 15 setup fee for every chair after 20? i'm curious about this too.. even if it doesn't apply to any of the packages for the reception, it says the same thing for the beach wedding. we'll have 21 people, but we'll only need 14 chairs... which one do they charge for? it would seem silly to me to charge for the people who won't even be sitting down or anything. i emailed deyanira this morning to ask her about this. if it could be less than $300 since we have fewer people, that would be great!! Quote: Originally Posted by Tam I was up late last night adding up all the extras vs a package and for us it would still be cheaper to do the add ons. But questions like the chair cover pricing are good to know and I really like the idea of having the reception on the barcaza and then just partying it up at the disco afterwards.. going to look into pricing tonight for that. tam, this is exactly what we're doing. if you want to get in touch with flori (the wedding coordinator) you can email her at [email protected]. she is super responsive too.. i got 3 emails from her just yesterday. i can email you the pictures she sent me too. there are tons of good reviews on here as well. i guess this whole situation will just force us all to be very aware of everything they may charge us for. i think they need some constructive criticism on their information packet though. it's extremely misleading, even if you're just starting from scratch. you could rule it out just because of something you misunderstood.

does anyone know if meli122 and edrbride got the starfish? hopefully it's been passed on to tcibride! here's the updated list with our two new moon palace girls! dc22173's clear starfish line-up: 1 ) TCIbride - December 12 - Turks & Caicos 2 ) kpuckrin- January 12 - BlueBeard's Beach, St. Thomas 3 ) tonyandtricia - February 26 - Moon Palace, Cancun 4 ) futuremsmoulton - February 27 - Moon Palace, Cancun 5 ) ebredhawk - April 28 - Dreams Punta Cana 6 ) ldeavila - May 10 - Las Caletas, Puerto Vallarta 7 ) future mrs. kt ellis - June 5 - Scottsdale, AZ 8 ) *kerin28* - June 19 - Worcester, MA 9 ) breeze616 - December 10 - Iberostar Rose Hall Beach, Montego Bay

it is SO not worth it for us to switch to the ultimate package. $2k is way more than we ever expected to spend. our backup plan is actually the la barcaza boat. the price will be nearly identical to dreams with their set-up fees and everything, plus you get to make it more personalized. it seems like they are giving more information now for the couples that are researching dreams going forward, but even still, the information isn't totally clear. is there a $15/person charge for the beach wedding instead of the $300 or is it in addition to it?

there is actually a journal going around with dc22173's so brides can write about the whole experience! tricia, as long as the time between when kpuckrin gets back and when you leave is enough to get the starfish to you, i don't see why we couldn't fit in both you and futuremsmoulton! just pm her and if it works then we can add both of you guys to the list!

michele, i'm starting to think "stress free" is impossible!! tracy, i actually did exactly what you suggested and looked into both the jellyfish and the la barcaza wedding cruise. they have our date open for la barcaza and with the extra fees dreams is charging, it would be less expensive and even better i think! honestly, even if the resort will honor what was out there when i booked, i think i may go with the reception cruise! now i've got myself all confused!

has anyone asked specifically about music on the terraces yet? i bet they are just getting flooded with emails from everyone now. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything will be okay, but i do have a back-up plan thank goodness!

jodi, oh my gosh. i am so sorry all of that stuff has happened to you recently. when it rains, it certainly pours... although that seems to be an understatement for your situation! i truly hope that your wedding can be the celebration that it seems your whole family needs right now. i am so excited for everyone booking more people, that is really awesome!! why is it that when people post their to-do lists i always realize more things that need to go on mine?! a lot of my stuff is last minute things (list of pictures for the photographer, getting more sunscreen and aloe, etc.) and stuff other people have to do (my flowers, my makeup bags for my BM gift, my BMs getting their shoes). i still love the feeling of taking something off though! so today i got some not so lovely news about my resort... dreams posted their 2010 wedding information and it is more detailed than ever before. unfortunately it came with a few surprises like $15/person set-up fees for both the wedding AND reception. and my big deal breaker... no music or dancing at any of the private reception locations at restaurants. only inside locations are allowed music. we based our decision on information that was available almost a year ago and if they don't honor what was out there when we booked i'll be pretty upset. we'll definitely get married there and stay there, but as for the reception, i'm looking into alternate places right now. thankfully with this forum i was able to find out from other dreams pc brides that this is going on and we're all trying to get answers. all i can say is that i'm thankful i'm not getting married in january and just finding this out now!!