gowiththeflow

Hi ladies! It's been so quiet around here.  Merve, congrats! I'm glad everything worked out.

We sent our invites out last week - the second one we got back was a decline, but with NO NAME! so the hunt is on! It's really driving me nuts.

How is everyone's planning going?  I have been busy helping people book. FI's mom is driving me insane! She keeps asking for help, but then once I find stuff, she's like "oh I still have to talk to so and so" even though this back and forth has been going on for months!  We did get a TA to help avoid all this, but she kinda sucks, so once again it's on us!

Originally Posted by simplnsweet 

 

I learned that there are a few staff that are being assigned to oversea weddings so Samantha may or may not be the person you need to connect with. I would email the conseirge of the hotel to get some answers.

Jenn

do you have that email address? thanks!

Oh man! Now I'm stressed about that! I know, Im sure everything will be fine. But it's annoying because Im sure Samantha has no idea about anything we have discussed with Rebecca and even though I have my email, it will be a pain to re-explain and confirm everything! Boo!!

So I should have my invites ready to send out next week - we won the invites from Dazzling Details and we are so happy with them! One of my BMs does calligraphy so she offered to address them all for us! very nice, huh?

ugh...I sooooo agree! I have had many moments of "why are we doing this?! who do they think they are?!"

what makes me the maddest is that if they try and force you to use their vendors (to avoid a hefty fee) the vendors should at least be quality! I have heard so many complaints about the provided DJ at my resort that it makes me so mad! Apparently they are using a new one, but who know if he will be good? Also, I can't believe they want to charge extra for the DJ to MC?? I mean, isn't that part of their job? Considering I have to give him all the music I want (doing that part of his job) already!

Ok feel much better! Glad I got that off my chest!

Originally Posted by krawles 

 

Hi everyone,

 

This question is for any Dreams PV brides who have already had their wedding there:

 

I am in the middle of choosing my wedding dinner at Dreams PV and was wondering if any of you had any recommendations on something that you loved or disliked?

 

Any advice would be great!

 

Kara

Hey Kara! So i guess you decided on PV over other towns? I remember seeing your post asking about them.  

I have seen that chicken with marrow sauce and steak is popular, along with the crab salad as a first course. The tres leches cake has gotten mixed reviews. We decided on the crab salad, steak and chicken (we lied and said it was a pepper sauce, so no one would be freaked out! lol) and the fish stuffed with peppers and cheese.  I wouldn't worry too much. The way I look at it, people who don;t like dinner can order room service later!

Im not a past bride, but remember reading that most brides felt the dreams photogs did get in the way a little.  I don't know if they would use them again though. Those ladies will have to have to answer.

Allyson - the pro pics are awesome! your dress is gorgeous.  I love the first look shot - so special!

Originally Posted by allyson779 

 

We are leaving dreams today to come home after an amazing wedding 10-09-2010 .... review and tons of helpful information to follow..... but in the meantime feel free to check out our shutterfly account with non pro pics...you can get a good idea of the bonfire, welcome cocktails, and of course the wedding.  Our wedding was at oceana.

http jasonallyson.shutterfly.com

 

Also a few of the pics from our photog is at www.imagesbyaaron.com

 

You do not need a password or login.... if you do not have an account with shutterfly than sign up and you can view all the pics from our page.

 

 

 

 

congrats! I hope you guys had a wonderful time and everything worked out.  I tried to find your pics on shutterfly - i have an account, but that address does not work.  Is it www?

Originally Posted by lauren 

 

 

 

 

this was posted less than a month ago - page 121.  and yes, they put a daily newsletter under your door.

thanks, Lauren!

Originally Posted by ChicagoPT 

 

When I asked what restaurants were open, they told me they wont know until the week before.  There could be 1-2 restaurants closed every night dependent on capacity.  Dreams does give out sheets and they also post them.  Here is the email I received....

 

Following  you find the restaurants schedules:

 

BREAKFAST:

Oceana from         8:00 AM to 11:00 AM

World cafe            7:00 AM to 11:30 AM

 

Co co cafe:            7:00AM  to 7:00 PM (only for coffee)

 

LUNCH:

Seaside Grill            12:00 PM to 4:30 PM

Barefoot Grill           1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

World cafe              12:30 PM to 3:30 PM

 

DINNER:

Theme nights       6:30 PM to 11:00 PM

Seaside Grill         6:30 PM to 11:00 PM 

Porto Fino            6:30 PM to 11:00 PM 

El patio                5:30 PM to 10:30 PM

Oceana                5:30 PM to 10:30 PM

 

Unfortunatelly at this moment I can not know if some of the restaurants will be closed for that date, according to the occupancy can be one or two of them closed.

 

We can give you more exactly information 7 days prior to the arrival date. 

 

Thanks for that. I have found other sites around the internet with restaurant times, but who knows when they were posted? Ill assume this is the most current.  vistaprint is having a free sale on 25 brochures, so I want to take advantage.  I guess a few things may change, but oh well, it's free!!

Hey ladies - I need help!  I know this has been covered - I tried to search the thread and really can't find it!  I'm trying to make my welcome brochures (yay vistaprint - free!) and I would like to include daily activities or theme nights as well as what time the bars and restaurants are open/closed.  If anyone can point me to the correct post, or just has the info, I would be grateful!

Also, if no one know the daily themes and activities - where can my guests get that info once they are there? IS a daily sheet put under each door? Is there a big activity board somewhere on the resort? Thanks everyone!

@coolashellmel - that's a week after mine! How fun.  Yeah, Im really excited to have found her.  We might even do the photobooth and give a picture and frame as our favors.  

I have only been working with Rebecca - sorry.

I just checked my emails from Rebecca - the fiesta starts at 7.  We are having a bonfire at 830 that night. Also, if you are planning on going to the fiesta for dinner, Rebecca said they can reserve enough table for the entire group if you tell them ahead of time. 

Originally Posted by pilotchica 

 

Thanks everyone for all your great input. I have always loved Elizabeth Lloyd (but she may be a bit out of my budget) so that figures that I like Nathan's work too. I will definitely let you all know which direction I go. Thanks for all the fabulous input!

I don't know if you found anyone yet (probably) but if not, you can look into Elizabeth's assistant, Kiersten.  We actually booked her through Elizabeth. Her style is of course very similar to Beth's but cheaper.  Just an option!

Well, after hearing about this day pass option, I emailed Rebcecca and she confirmed it! yay! although, even her response was slightly confusing - she said it's $90 pp not including meals. But then in the contract she attached, it clearly says it's $90 INCLUDING the dinner at the function.  Whatever, not a huge deal!

So I emailed a few photographers for quotes. I included Elizbeth Lloyd, even though i pretty much was sure she would be out of our budget - but I love her work.  Well, she has an assistant, Kierten Rowland, that you can also book. She was the Knot's former editor and shoots wedding in NYC in the winter and comes to PV during wedding season.  Her work is seriously good and very affordable (well more so than Elizabeth).  So that's who we are getting! Check on the photographer issue!!

Originally Posted by AngelaH 

 

I am still considering bringing an outside photographe (I just signed my contract last month).  Rebeca told me if the photog is from PV then I'll only have to pay the day pass, but if it's a photog from somewhere else then I would have to pay the $500 fee.  That seems pretty steep to me, especially since you don't get any kind of discount on the wedding package if you decide not to use their photog.  Anyone have any insights??

Well that information is actually very helpfull. Im going to ask Rebecca about that as well (using the day pass option - the photog we want is in PV).

I also asked Rebecca a few questions.Hope this helps someone else.  Here they are with the answers:

1) What is the name of the DJ you provide? Do we need to supply him with all the music we want? Is there a way to contact him prior to the wedding?[Rebeca] his name is alejandro. For the music, you will have to send me the list of the music you want and I will forward it to him, and all the contact will be through me.

Does he act as an MC to announce things as well?[Rebeca] no, he does the DJ part only, if you want an Mc this will be $50 usd more and the MC will announce things.

I have read some concerning reviews about the Dj that Dreams provides - that he plays old music, is unable to announce things, and does not bring the specific songs requested by the couple.  This has me worried a great deal.[Rebeca] yes, I have heard that before and those are all comments, as I have been saying my brides lately, we changed the DJ and he will play what you provide, that is why it is very important that you send me the list, also, the past DJ’s weren’t MC’s as well as this isn’t, if you require a DJ and an MC you will have both, if you just require a DJ, you will have just the DJ, but you need to be aware that he won’t do MC work.

2) What is the name of the photography company that Dreams provides? I would like to see some examples of their work before making a decision.[Rebeca] you can contact them at: [email protected] they will be able to send you some samples  

well I checked and my sunset is around 8 pm. Well we're not waiting that late for the ceremony! I did get a response from Rebecca - an extra hour is $7 per person renting the ipod speakers for dinner is $100.  We did change the ceremony to 5pm. 

Originally Posted by simplnsweet 

 

the renos were done a few years back. I don' t know of any renos currently underway. I have been in contact with our WC at Dreams and she did not mention anything about renos.

 

Gowiththeflow- I can say that i am thinking along the same lines with timing of the ceremony etc. We want to have our pictures done when the sun is setting so that means a 5 pm ceremony time. We are getting the latin band to do the cocktail hour and we are getting the dj for our dance time. The DJ will have his equipment and  it is part of the cost of getting him for so many hours. I think the dj is 250 per hour or close to 600 for 3 hrs. I have not heard what the extra hour for service is after the 4 hr total.  let's keep in touch.

Well i figured the equipment was included for the dj, but what if we use an ipod for dinner? I forgot we have the mexican trio for cocktail hour, so that's good.  I will email Rebecca again about all this. I did ask her the cost of an extra hour, but she did not answer that question in the email. 

Thanks Karen! I think you got married May 29?  How was the light at 6pm? Right now we are scheduled for 4 - I wonder if that is too early and we can move it.  I just don't want the reception over at 9!

 

How long did you guys have to dance after dinner? Did it seem too short?

where did you hear this?

I have the Ultimate Package and I just double checked with rebecca - it is 1hr cocktail and 3 hr reception now.  I did mention that the girls on this site said something different and she said they must have meant total.  Well I wonder how much an hour extra is? Dinner will take AT LEAST an hour - mexican time and all HA! 3 hrs just does not seem like enough time. I mean we want to have a father daughter and mother son dance, plus our first dance, plus plenty of time to party! If the ceremony is at 4, cocktails probably start at 5.  So the whole thing would be over by 9? Maybe we can push the cocktail hour to 6 so we can take pics for an hour and we could actually enjot cocktail hour with our guests.

 

 I wonder if the dj can wait to dj until after dinner and we can use an ipod for cocktails and dinner.  Would we have to pay to rent equipment too? I have to say, I am getting frustrated with all the "extra" costs.  I wish we had a bigger budget to have a wedding off site.  I wouldn't even know where to begin looking and we can't afford an outside WC. Plus, the whole photographer thing annoys me to no end! I knew it going in, but it still irks me.  I know Dreams does a great job....sorry for the vent - just frustrated!

I have some exciting news! Dazzling Details will start to offer handmade invitations this year, and to promote them, they were holding a contest to win 50 free! We won!  You can see the invites at http://sealitwithspice.blogspot.com/  They are the natural elegance.  There are more contests, so if you still need invites, check it out!  This is an awesome start to the weekend. We still have not received our engagement pics (they are past due per the contract), but at least we have invites!

Ok, the deadline was yesterday. I need to email him and I really don't want to! this sucks!

I was able to pick the reception spot when I booked. That was actually the prob.  Every date I wanted at first only had reception availabilitu for beach receptions, which we did not want.  So when you ask about dates, specify where you want both the ceremony and reception.

 

As far as the photographer, from what I can see, if they are a "guest" at the hotel, you can get around the fee.  Im not 100% sure, but that's how it seems.  I don't plan on asking - just doing it!

 

We did decide to go with a TA to book people. Basically, it seems a few hundred more.  BUT, and this was what made up our minds, people can put down a deposit, rather than paying in full like when you book online.  We don't want people to wait to book til they have the full amount, and then its fully booked! April is high season.  We still have friends that have the cash who will book themselves online, and that's fine.

 

We went between feb and april.  we found april to be cheaper actually.  Just be careful because easter is the 24th next year - that will be expensive and crowded. May gets even cheaper, but WAY more humid.  We really wanted to save people money, but I also did not want to be dripping with sweat on my wedding day cause of outrageous humidity.  I tend to sweat a lot as it is (i even get my armpits botoxed for sweat! I know, TMI!)  so that was important.

 

oh and my WC is Rebecca, who I have had good luck with so far

Thanks everyone for the decoration tips.  I have a feeling I will bring most of it.  She did email a few centepiece pics, so I know the vases I want are available.  I will definitely get pics of anything specific.  I hate to pay, but oh well. Im more worried about the silver stones I want in them.  That will be pretty heavy to bring down!!

 

Allyson - I can't wait to hear how the dj was. DO you remember his charge? And is Dreams making you pay a vendor fee? What photag are you using?

 

I personally think the included videographer will be enough for us for the ceremony.  I wouldn't pay extra, but I figure it will be nice to show anyone who can't come and want to see it. 

 

So my latest worry is our engagement pics.  We got them done in the end of June in Playa del Carmen.  The contract says he has til the 25th(2 days) to get them to us.  I emailed him twice just to find out progress and the responses did not make me feel better.  He has good reviews on this website, so fingers crossed!  I just really want the pics! Now Im getting worried that they are super ugly and that is why it is taking so long.