Cheri

Quote: Originally Posted by violetvixen Thought you guys might like to see our pro photos that Sascha Gluck just posted on his blog: Wedding Photographer for Cancun an Riviera Maya Those shots look amazing!!! Good for you! You chose well with your photographer!

Quote: Originally Posted by violetvixen Hi Ladies! We leave for Mexico in one week and I have some last minute questions for the already-marrieds! 1) we've hired an outside photographer who is bringing one assistant. We have to purchase half day passes for them. What is the etiquette around providing the photographers' meals? Do I need to pay $55/ pp (silver menu, more than 20 guests) for their meals and set a place for them at our table? or will they eat at the resort once done working since they can access the all inclusive amenties with the day pass? 2) did anyone do a ceremony rehearsal? I'm feeling like we're all going to show up at the ceremony and be clueless about what to do... will the wedding coordinator verbally walk us through it ahead of time or something? thanks, trying to manage my anxiety I decided last minute to add on dinner for my photographer because he was working with me all day and didn't really have time to break away for food. I did pay the Gold menu pricing which was $76 with taxes and all. As far as rehearsal, we didn't have one and everything went just fine. Your coordinator will be there with you making sure everything goes perfectly. The only glitch we hit was not knowing exactly where to walk after the ceremony was over. We walked back the same way we entered and stopped to see if we should be going that direction and it just sort of turned into a receiving line. Which was fine, but it was a tight spot and my photog had trouble getting shots. It will all go perfectly. No worries!!

Quote: Originally Posted by taranyc Hi. I'm using Dorimixx as well. How do I pay for his day pass and food/drinks? Do they just lump it in to the bill? Thank you, Tara Hi Tara! I didn't pay for a day pass at all because I was never asked to. Our reception started later in the evening so I didn't need to pay for dinner either. But I did add on dinner for my photographer last minute and paid for that upon checkout. Hope that helps!

Quote: Originally Posted by mexico102 I'm getting married a Dreams Puerto Aventuras. How does it work with hiring your own DJ? Do they make you pay the one nights stay for the DJ? No, I didn't have to pay anything. They were very flexible with DJ's at Dreams Tulum. I just told them who I'd like to hire and they gave me the okay!

Quote: Originally Posted by Cheri Sold The Mon Cheri gown, but still have the Disney Kirstie Kelly. Sells new for $2300. Make me an offer!!! $650 and it's yours!

Quote: Originally Posted by clinicalgal can anyone estimate how much DJ Doremixx charges to DJ a reception? I paid $600 for 4 hours.

Quote: Originally Posted by BrideBarbie You looked smokin in that dress! Congrats! Thank you!!!! My groom thought so to!

Quote: Originally Posted by taranyc Cheri, thank you for the review. I am so happy to hear that you had such a wonderful time! I can't wait to see photos. Xoxo, tt Hey tt! Having trouble getting pics on here but if you want to find me on Facebook, I have tons of photos posted. Look for Cheri Hettinger. It's such a beautiful place, you're going to love it!

Quote: Originally Posted by krista.baird Hi Cheri! Thanks so much for giving your review. I'm so glad you had such a good time. Did you have the symbolic ceremony or legal ceremony? I'm having the legal one and I tried to write some stuff to have added, actually I wrote A LOT! to have added, but they won't approve it. They said I can just add my own personal vows and if I want a hand ceremony, one of my guests can do it Hi Krista! We went symbolic. There are more rules when it's legal. Good luck with getting your vows approved!

Okay girls, here comes my review! Let me start by saying I had the time of my life and my wedding day was a dream come true!!! Take your worries off the table; it's going to be great! I was thrilled at first sight when I saw this resort. It's gorgeous and every employee I encountered was pleasant and there to help. My room was all I could ever want. I stayed in room 8240 and it was perfect. Ocean-front room that overlooked wedding site but still could see action at pools so it felt like you weren't missing anything that was going on. Resort restaurants are all great! We had 41 guests and not one complaint. The only one I didn't personally try was the Asian, but I was told it was great. Even the buffet was great! I thought all the drinks were great too. The bars have a great list posted of all their specialty drinks. Good stuff! Tons of kids activities! All the kids had a blast at the kids club and at beach/pools. Put sunscreen on -- alot! My older son got burnt so bad he had to stay indoors for a couple days. Ouch! Grounds are beautiful with lots of iguanas, crabs and birds cruising around. Beach was gorgeous. There are some rocks and seaweed but nothing worth complaining about! I never had any trouble finding a chair to hang out in. The ones that filled up quickest were by the kiddie pool. We all had a blast on the trampoline and snorkeling. There was tons to see. Lots of stingrays and bright-colored fish. My brother even saw a Sea turtle! Okay now for wedding stuff. Anabel was my coordinator and she was great. Very sweet and kind. We met twice; once to finalize details and another to give payment. At this time I gave her a CD with my ceremony music on it and a tiny bouquet charm and a cake topper. She took care of everything. On wedding day, Trinidad did my hair and makeup which I think came out great! I did bring pictures of both and I think that helped! Flowers were delivered to my room at 3:30 and they were perfect. I told Anabel the colors I liked and she took it from there. They were stunning! I had a crown of flowers made for my flower girl and they turned out perfect too! My actual ceremony was perfect in ever sense! The weather was calm and everything went so smoothly. My flowergirl walked down the isle to The Temptations, "My Girl" (our daughter), and our ringbearers (sons) walked down to the Star Wars theme music. I then walked down to Tom Petty's "Here comes my girl" and I had background music play during the ceremony "Feels like home" (recommend this because it comes out nice in the video) and finally exiting music was "lucky" by Jason Mraz. Oh, I forgot, I played "Somewhere over the rainbow" by Israel Kamakiwowo (sp). Music was perfect!!! I didn't choose my ceremony wording, just went with the flow. It was a little religious for me, but I was happy! After ceremony we had a short break for pictures, followed by cocktail hour and reception, all on the beach! The Mexican Trio played for cocktail hour and they were great! Reception: Dinner was great but a little long. I just wanted to dance. Me and husband got up to get a picture and when we got back our dinner was gone. Be careful, they clear stuff fast!!! We didn't even get dessert because we weren't sitting in our spot at the time. No big deal, there was too much food anyway but it would have been nice to try it since we paid so much for it. We had the Surf and Turf and the 3 milks cake --yum!! All and all, it was my perfect day!! But if I could do some things differently, here's what I would change. Or not change.. After the ceremony we weren't sure where to go. We stopped halfway down the path to figure out where to go and it turned into a receiving line. Which is fine, but the space was tight and I could see my photographer having a hard time getting shots. I didn't add any extra decor at all and I'm glad I didn't. It was beautiful all on it's own! I would have put together a stronger playlist for my DJ. We hired Doremixx and he was great, but I wish I had given him a full playlist. The reception goes by so fast and some of the songs I didn't like at all and when you're short on dance time, I wanted all great tunes played. I did give him some songs to play and he played every one of them, the rest he just filled in. He handed out balloons and glow-in-the-dark necklaces and bracelets which everyone loved. He also did cold fireworks during our first song which is awesome. I didn't rent the dance floor and I don't think we needed it at all. Everyone kicked off their shoes and danced in the sand. I would have also asked what happens to the rest of the cake. There was tons left, but it just disappeared. Again, they clear things fast, so if you want the rest of your cake, set it up ahead of time. We also left some things on the table (son's dress shirt and flower from my little girls dress) that just went away. I think it just all got tossed. It was dark by the end of the night so nothing was in obvious sight. We didn't even realize it until a couple days later. So be aware of your things at the end of the night. My dress was steamed perfectly, but they do deliver them outside of their bag, so you may want to deliver your dress to a guest's room if you don't want hubs-to-be to see it. Massages: we had massages included in our package and weren't given any real instruction so we just assumed it was on the beach (they have massage tables set up.) After waiting there a while we called the spa to find out we were supposed to be in the spa. Because we were late, we only had 1/2 hour massage instead of an hour. Not a big deal, but if you want your full hour, be on time! They do give the male a female masseuse and the female a male. Husband did not like that! So state your preference beforehand. My photographer was Samuel Luna. I won't see my pictures for 6 weeks, but he's a nice guy and always showed up on time with a smile! I have to say that the resort photographers are awesome!! They are everywhere around the resort snapping shots. They got great pics. I think we spent $250 in candid shots of us around the resort. They have monkeys, parrots, and iguanas to pose with too! As I was picking up my snapshots I saw several wedding shots on the computer monitor. I was truly impressed! I spent days researching photographers because I thought resort ones wouldn't be so great, but from what I saw, they were extremely talented! As you can probably tell, I am extremely pleased with my wedding and I would certainly recommend this place to anyone. Your wedding will be great. No need to stress. Please ask if you have any questions. I know this review may be a little scattered--sorry about that!! Still smiling from my experience there!! I had the time of my life!!

Quote: Originally Posted by ourvm Ladies, I had a question for brides who got married using the 2010 Dreams of Love or Ultimate wedding guide prices. When it lists 20 people staying on the resort, or 20 guests, does this include the bride and groom? If we have 20 guests (excluding bride and groom); therefore, 22 people in total, do you know if we will need to pay the extra per person costs for dinner or is it included in the package prices? Thanks! Yes, the 20 people count does include the bride and groom. So you can have 18 guests plus yourselves. I had the same question

Sold The Mon Cheri gown, but still have the Disney Kirstie Kelly. Sells new for $2300. Make me an offer!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by CND_Redhead congratulations, it's beautiful dress and whoever bought it will love it! Thank you!! I think so too!

I am happy to say that the dress is sold!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by MnM2Mexico thx for posting this! I'm a month away, and realized this morning I didn't know how many songs to pick for before during and just after the ceremony. and i love your non-traditional picks. So cool. !!!! Thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by aubry Do you still have this? Hi Aubrey! I do still have this gown and it's boxed up and ready to go!!! Email me at [email protected] if interested or if you have some questions. Thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by jaynreneewed OMG – I’m starting to think this whole destination wedding thing was a bad idea. Is anyone having trouble with their travel agent? The whole reason why I choose Tulum was because it has an amazing kids club and I was told kids under 12 stay free (just pay for their air fare). Now my travel agent is telling me that this promotion ran out. I am going to have some very angry gusts- most of them already booked flights. Is anyone else running into this problem? Not good!!!! We chose this resort because of the kids club too, and the kids stay free promotion. Are you sure your agent didn't lock in this promotion in your contract. Most of my guests have already paid for their stays in full so I'm hoping there won't be trouble once we get there. I hope it all works out for all of us!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by taranyc Cheri, I love your music!!!!! How much fun is that going to be for all of your guests! The kids are going to be so cute and I love the Star Wars Theme at the beach..awesome! I was smiling just reading your post. Are you going to have a wedding favor cd with those songs and others on it? xoxo, tt Thanks Tara!!! I never thought about doing a CD for guests as a favor but that's a great idea! Hmmmm...

Quote: Originally Posted by taranyc Hi Cheri. Regarding wedding music, I think that I will just have something chill for the other parts leading up to me walking down the asile. We are going to have three different sets on our iPhone for the ceremony...mix, march, recessional. What songs are you doing? We are not that traditional, so we are doing 'Sleepwalk' by Santo & Johnny for my processional and David Lee Roth 'Just Like Paradise' for our recessional. Seriously, I am so excited about our music. For cocktails/reception, we are doing the same as joanna and taking the photo break in between. Our ceremony is at 4p and reception at 6:30p. My spin is that we are doing the ceremony, group photos (20 mins) and then while we do family/couple photos our guests are free to get a drink and/or go back to their rooms to freshen up. xo, tt ps. thank you Joanna...I love my save the dates. They are from Etsy vendor Kneeknockers. Hey Tara! We are not traditional either. As music goes here's what I'm thinking: While everyone is being seated, Over the Rainbow by IZ, Flower girl walking down to My Girl by the Temptations, my 2 ring bearers walking to the Star Wars theme music, me to Tom Petty's Here comes my girl, Chantal's Feels like home as background ceremony music and as we're exiting Jason Mraz's Lucky. What do you think? I'm pretty excited about the music too. The flower girl and ring bearers are our kiddos so it should be fun!

First $250 can have it!!

Quote: Originally Posted by jerzygirl85 Cheri - We are having the guitarist play during our ceremony. I never gave it much thought as to how many songs he would play. I only care about the song I am walking down the aisle to. As for the cocktail hour, we are having the cocktail hour start around 6pm. Our ceremony is at 4pm so we are leaving enough time for us to have pictures taken before sunset and we are also planning on attending the cocktail hour. Thank you Jerzygirl85!! I think we're going to use the live music for the cocktail hour, but I like your idea of using it for the ceremony! I appreciate your input!

I have a music question. Are you girls counting on your wedding coordinator to handle the music for your ceremony? I am going to rent the speakers as that was the advice from past brides, but am not too sure how the music part plays out. I am thinking of having 6 songs total; one when everyone is being seated, one for my flower girl, one for my ring bearers, one for me walking down the isle, one as background music during the vows and one as we're exiting. How in the world is that going to work? Do I need to bring shortened versions of the songs or will the coordinator know what to do?? I' m so lost on this subject, would appreciate any input! On another subject, are most of you planning on going straight into your cocktail hour or are you leaving a gap so you can get pictures without missing the cocktail hour yourselves? These last minute thoughts are creeping up and haunting me!

My email address is [email protected] if anyone has any questions! Thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by L&A2010 Sorry that I have to keep coming back to the room topic... Can anyone confirm that all rooms have showers? I noticed they say all rooms come with a TUB OR SHOWER and bidet. I had assumed that meant rooms that are not upgraded would not have a jacuzzi tub, but one of my guests just emailed me and they thought that meant that there is a possibility that they would ONLY have a tub, which would not be very convenient. Thanks to anyone who might help me clarify this. My understanding is that all rooms have showers; however, only the Dreams rooms have bathtubs. The Hacienda side is showers only. That's from my TA.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mel4983 Does anyone know if this dress zips or if it has a corset back? I can't find a picture of the back... It's a zip back.