lorijfletcher

Hello ladies! Just got back from our wedding at the Dreams and will be posting a review soon! For all that are worried about anything - DON'T!! It is amazing and beautiful and all the details will be handled. One bit of sad news, yesterday was Gaby's last day Our last day at the resort, was also hers! So, I know you may be panicking about this, but don't. She was amazing but she has been working with 3 other wedding coordinators and I have confidence that you will all be well taken care of! I will be posting more information and photo's in the next few days. Our day really was a "dream"!

Some questions for you ladies: 1. What fabric is everyone using for the Chuppah? Chiffon? Organza? How many yards are you getting? 2. How are you all getting all of your wedding stuff down there. I am not going to ship, I am going to take it with us on the plane but am trying to figure out what to pack it in. I am thinking just like plastic tubs (like you would use for storage). Then if I didn't want to bring them back, it wouldn't be a big deal. What are YOU doing?? Thanks!

For anyone who has been to the resort, or did this, I want to coordinate a "welcome" cocktail party. I don't want to pay for an organized party, I am just going to tell everyone to meet at a certain place at a certain time. My dilemma is that I don't know which bar to choose? Any suggestions? There will be 37 of us and we will likely want to say a few things and give out some gifts but we certainly don't need anything totally private. Do any of the lounges have a sort of separate area? Kind of off to the side...or is maybe set up in a way that if we are all there together and we want to say something to our group or give out gifts, we won't be intruding on the other hotel guests? Maybe it would FEEL private?? I know, I'm probably crazy! I am just trying to work on my welcome letter and I wanted to include an invitation to this welcome party. I was hoping to get it figured out before I get there! Thanks ladies!

I need to know this too!

 Chelsey & Travis - 11/05/10 Lori & Jason - 11/29/10 Tara & Andy - 02/10/11 Melissa & Michael 04/22/11 Dawn & Jimmy - 04/30/11 Lisa & Andrew - 05/06/11 Winter & Stephen 05/10/2011 Leanne & Adam 05/14/11 Lauren & Brian 05/25/2011 Ivelisse & Steve 10/28/11 colleen and clint 7/19/11

I'm not bringing too much in the way of decorations. But, I will have the following: 1. Orange and Teal organza chair sashes 2. The raffia fans (with orange and teal ribbon on them) 3. Fabric for the Huppa - but I don't know exactly what yet and that is really it for the wedding part. At the reception I am going to get organza overlays for the tables and then each place setting will have a maraca on it. And that's it! I decided to keep it simple because A) I don't want to have to take more stuff down than I have to, and I feel like the whole point of getting married on the beach its enjoy the natural beauty of the beach! I personally feel like "less is more". But that is just my thinking. Teal is awfully close to aqua. If there is anything you think you can use, let me know. There has to be a way I could mark it and have it waiting for you when you get there.

Awww bummer, we are leaving on the 4th. What are your colors? Mine are orange and teal. If you think you can use any of my stuff I can leave it for you.

11/29/10. When is your's??

I put in the paperwork for the deposit over 3 months ago and it STILL hasn't been taken out of my account. But, my date is still confirmed. So, I would at least attempt to put in a deposit but it takes them forever to actually get to it. If you did lose your date for some reason at least there would be SOME kind of paper trail to back you up. Â Â

Yes, I just e-mailed with him a few days ago. He was very responsive to me. I'm sure he will get in touch soon. FYI, Gabriela told me they aren't allowing any outside vendors for a DJ and that we have to use the resort DJ. I contacted Ivan and he contacted Yazmin who told him that yes, he is allowed to do weddings and that our date is confirmed with him. She also told me no outside photographers but I don't think this true either. Don't get too alarmed if anyone gets a message from Gabriela that has information that is totally different than what you have been told. Maybe she isn't up to par yet?? Does anyone have Yazmin's e-mail address? I think it would be more productive to communicate with her. Â

I got all my hangover kit contents at http://firstaidmonster.com/ Very happy with everything! Good luck!

Gabbymac on e-bay is great too! That is where I got my real touch gardenia. Very fast too!

Do any of you ladies know how much fabric to bring to drape the Huppa? Are you using tool or some other fabric?

Most brides that I have seen and myself are taking everything with us. It is a lot of extra baggage and expense but I bet it will be cheaper to pay for extra luggage that whatever the shipping costs would be! Also, the resort recommends you don't ship because sometimes packages don't get there on time, or at all. I think it is an issue at customs. I'm taking with me so I know it will all make it!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Princess402 My understanding is that the pool deck is the wooden deck between the infinity pool and the beach. The pool terrace is a concrete patio area up by the pools somewhere... though I'm not exactly sure where. I know that the pool deck is definitely the wooden deck between the infinity pool and the beach. That is all I know for sure

Quote: Originally Posted by beachykeen I was planning on having the reception in one of the closed restaurants. We have around 40 people. Since they don't decide which restaturant to close until a few days before the wedding, I wonder if they would take in consideration which one I would like to have it in. We'll be there 2 days before the wedding and I would love to have it at the Seaside grill or El Patio. Anyone asked Ana this yet? One of the last posts said that if the resort is less than 60% capacity, or if it rains, is the only way they let you use the closed restaurant. Have you already talked to Ana about this?? I don't really think using the closed restaurants is a "for sure" option. You better make sure!!

Quote: Originally Posted by lilly129 You have two options really for your reception - you can choose a private reception or a non-private reception. For a private reception - you pay per person for the food and drink (I think it's $32 plus tax but don't quote me on that - the contract is on my laptop). You have your own bar and buffet or waiter service. So the per person fee that you're paying is really to cover the cost of the set up, take down and extra staff needed for your event. You can choose to have your reception on the pool deck, the pool terrace, the beach and probably a few other locations. IF the resort is less than 60% occupancy (or bad weather), they will let your private reception move into the closed restaurant. Still costs per person and you still have your own wait staff/bartenders and you pick the menu. But there is no extra charge on top of the cost of a private event. If you choose not to have a private reception, you can have your wedding dinner in one of the OPEN restaurants - along with other guests from the hotel. You'll have to talk to Ana about having tables reserved close to each other, or having a portion sectioned off - she would be able to put you in touch with the restaurant manager to do this. You can also choose to have your dinner in the wine room between the italian restaurant and the french one - it fits 25 people and you have to buy bottles of upgraded (not included in the all inclusive package) wine in order to use the room. Does that make sense? My understanding is that a semi-private reception is not really an option at all unless you have 20 (maybe 25) or less people. Ana will not reserve tables together for you, or rope off an area. It would be a first come first serve at the restaurant and you would just have to work around the other reservations that have been made. I wanted to do the semi-private in one of the restaurants and had my TA talk with Ana about it and that is what she told us. If you have a smaller group, you are in luck and can do the semi-private reception. Otherwise you just have to wing it in one of the restauraunts, or do the private reception. We are having about 40 people so we are kind of forced to do the private reception. Seems like such a bummer since we are in an all inclusive resort!!

Quote: Originally Posted by BethBride1 Hey girls, I'm still a bit lost with my flowers & my wedding is in 9 days! So I wanted something really tropical for the bridesmaids & found a bouquet of ginger & bird of paradise that I love.....but it's really too much for my dress. So I was thinking of doing all white orchids for myself. ....but then there is no consistency between my flowers & the girls Are you allowed to do this Then what will the boutonnieres be?? Originally they were going to be bird of paradise. Now everyone will flow together but me. Are you allowed to do this?? Any ideas on how to tie us all together?? First of all, I say you can do anything you want to do, it is YOUR day! I personally like to tie things together a bit more. How about adding a few white orchids to the ginger & birds of paradise bouquets - just as accent flowers?? This would tie them to your orchid bouquet. I love single orchids for boutonnieres - that is what I will be doing. Just my thoughts!

Quote: Originally Posted by WestBacaniWedding Thank You Lori! We are have symbolic & I'd planned to be there 3 days early....one question down...50 million to go! haha! SO true! Just keep reading this forum (daily if you can because otherwise you get WAY behind). I have had SO many questions answered on here. It has been a savior to have this. I have been planning for a few months so if you have any specific questions, I might be able to help. Good luck with all the planning!

Quote: Originally Posted by michelle14 Do you need to do these for all your travelling guests? I was just going to do them for my bridesmaids! if so how big are these bags? It is really all up to you. I am doing bags for all my guests and the wedding party will receive some "extra's" in their bags, or we might present them with some personal stuff at our rehearsal. I, and many others, seem to be doing beach bag size bags. Some are doing simply paper bags, some are doing no bags. I would say let your budget be your guide. It is really easy to get carried away with these bags. Once you start shopping it is so fun you just want to buy more I don't think there is a right or wrong, here.

Quote: Originally Posted by WestBacaniWedding My wedding isn't until May 10, 2011..but I'm trying to make travel arrangements. How early should we arrive to meet with Ana & make last minute decisions Has Ana given this advice to anyone? It depends on if you are having a symbolic ceremony or not. If it is just symbolic, I believe Ana wants you there 2-3 days before the wedding. If it is civil (a "real" ceremony) you need to be there 4 days before, for blood work and paperwork. I am pretty sure these are right.

Quote: Originally Posted by cindyshininger We just got back yesterday from my daughters wedding. Do not worry about things, Ana is amazing. We met with her the day before the wedding and picked out all the food. We had a cocktail hour which I do not feel we needed. It was good, but our guest were ready for dinner. We used their DJ, we should have also skipped him. He said nothing all night and just played songs. We could have done the same with our ipod, which we took so that we were sure we had the right songs. So $300 an hour, the $900 was not worth the $ at all. You just need to rent the sound system and play your own. Exspecially since the DJ did not speak. Not for the cake or dances, NOTHING. The cake is pretty ugly. They said it was just white frosting, so we assumed there would be some type of edgeing or something, NOTHING So we took the BM bouquet apart and put the flowers on the cake for pictures. But no one ate it because you are so full and had dessert for dinner. So I would not pay to upgrade, just bring artificial or taking our bouquet apart worked. The flowers were pretty dead by the end of the night anyways. You can't take them home, so double use them. The table decorations were glass with rose petals and candles in the middle. If you are outside the candles blow out, it is real windy. We had our inside because of the air conditioner. We also took our own chair sashes and colored cloth napkins. The The had everything set up just like we asked. We took maracas to sit on the napkins and that gave the guest a little extra favor. Shake for a kiss. We used fushia napkins and put an orange ribbon on them and then the maracas. Added alot of color at a low cost. We got the sashes for $1 a piece. The plain white chairs looked pretty stark by themselves. The sashes really look pretty there. Our ceremony was on the beach. It is off to the side and gorgeous. The gazebo is right in the middle of everything. NOT private at all. Exspecially if you have it during the day. Lots of people floating around the pool right next to it. And walking all around. It was pretty, but to much going on for our taste. We used the photographer from the resort. The pictures were amazing. Our package includes 50, but there is not way to only pick 50. They also did trash the dress which they could use as part of their 50. They were all so good that it is impossible to pick ones. The bride and groom are still there and still are trying to dwindle the pictures down. As far as hair and makeup, they did a perfect job. Their hair stayed all night. Lots of product and LOTS of makeup, but they know what they are doing. I had a visor on the few days before the wedding and it is so windy when we were taking pictures that my hair blew off my WHITE forhead. I never even thought about it, so make sure you tan your forhead too. The service is wonderful, but it almost seems like you have to tip. They were very accomadating, but you do have to consider quite a bit of extra $ for tips. They upgraded the happy couple to a master suite. It was bigger than an apartment. They covered their room with roses and candles the night of the wedding. Their is NO privacy on any of the balconys. We never saw anyone in them. And the plung pools only were used by a few people that had little kids. There are kids there, but mostly they were fine. There were two boys around 10-11 and they were terribly obnoxious. We along with others told them we were taking them to their parents. They finally left the infinity pool and went to one of the others and bugged people over there. Alot of kids crying in the restaurants, but we would go to dinner between 6 -8 pm. And remember they are on Mexican time. Evertyhing runs late, so don't frett. Our wedding was first set at 7, we moved it up to 6:30 when we met with Ana. It still did not happen until 7:10. Sunset was at 7:30 and we had to hurry to get pictures, We did not get group shots on the beach because we only had enough light time to get the bride and groom. If we would have known, we would have bumped it to 6. We watched lots of weddings, on day they had 3. They never ran into each other, it is very well organized. So do not worry if there are others on your same day, we had two others and it was just fine. We did not even see the other ones. Any questions that you have, just ask, I will be happy to try and answer. Do you mind sharing who your DJ was? I have Doremixx booked and I have heard good things about them. I'm hoping you used someone else?!?!?

Quote: Originally Posted by Princess402 Whaaa, why would she tell him no I was wondering about this also, how strict the DJ would be to his 3 hours of service time. This brings me to another question though for you Laura (or any other brides who have been): did you get extra hours of open bar for your reception? I'm pretty much thinking I am going to need this but hate the idea of paying so much extra for it. Will Ana at least cut you a deal if you purchase a number of extra hours? I know at some resorts I researched that if you purchased more than one extra hour of open bar service then the charge was half price, or something like this. This is an excellent question. Guess I hadn't thought about this. My crew will definitely want drinks throughout the reception. I think I assumed that would all just be included in the total reception price. I am curious to see the answer to this!!

I thought it might be a problem because aren't they are technically "flammable". Don't they ask you that when you check a bag??

Holy crap......these are amazing!! I wish I was one of your guests