mimi73

Quote: Originally Posted by christinak82 omg, I just got proof pics for my bridesmaids dresses and they are absolutely gorgeous... I am so impressed... gianinarbridal is so great to deal with... they did exactly what I wanted... they are only $80 (shipping included)... so happy... :-) what do you think, ladies? Gorgeous!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by SaraMexicoBride Hey ladies, I'm curious on a few things. I'm wondering if we should go through a TA or book seperately with the hotel and airline. It almost seems cheaper to go through them seperately and go straight through the hotel but that makes me nervous in terms of cancellation insurance and how I'm going to get my guests to the hotel since I won't have the tour company's busses from the airports if i book seperately. Any opinions? What did you guys do? And can you book your wedding date before you book your trip? Or do you have to pay for the trip and then pick a date? Thanks everyone! Much appreciated! We booked with a TA. Not sure about the cheaper aspect, but we booked early enough that we got a fantastic deal through AC Vacations. Using a TA and a charter also meant that we (us and our guests) were guaranteed to be on the same flights (the party will start at take-off!). This was important as my parents are bringing our kids back for us as we are continuing on to Belize the week after the wedding for our honeymoon It was far less headache for us, plus it is nice for the guests who don't have much time to web search to find the best deals, they could just call and give a credit card # and they were booked. We did have some friends book separately, some have used points for flights, some booked through expedia, etc. The majority used the TA though. Just a thought, the people who booked flights separately had to worry about transfers, baggage allowances (if they booked through certain US companies), it can just create a bit more work. As for booking a wedding date, we decided what week we wanted, and a general idea for date, booked our trip and then solidified the date.

Morning ladies! WretchedDeviant, my thoughts are, it's your wedding, so I think you should do what makes you happy! The dress will be stunning, the locations you are thinking about sound fantastic. Wear what you have always dreamed about. Make your day the most amazing day ever. It doesn't sound like you are being unrealistic at all. You have found the dress you have always dreamed about and we have the means now to re-create it for a fraction of the cost. I say Go for it! A J Mitchell: I was quoted $120 for the dress and $59 for shipping (I am in Canada). The dress from ebay (different producer, but still from China) was $150 incl shipping. Hope this helps

Quote: Originally Posted by imafoxx I have a question about "knock-off dresses" as I'm an obvious noob lol Are you ladies going to bridal salons and trying on dresses and keeping track of what looks good and you like and then looking for them online? I went and tried on dresses at a few bridal salons. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, but I did see what styles looked good on me. I found 2 dresses online that I loved, and ordered replicas of those. One would have been $2100 retail and the other $4200+.....Yikes! This way, I have only spent $350 between the 2 dresses, including shipping. I hope it won't be a waste, but I can stomach only losing that, opposed to thousands

Quote: Originally Posted by Preciousmi811 I got sample pictures of my moms and my second dress. If you remember I got my first dress from Landy and it was huge, so when I took it for alterations I ordered a second dress from Gianinar just in case the alterations couldn't save the dress. Gianinar made both dresses in 30 days but I emailed them every day with all correspondences and pictures. I think they were overjoyed to get rid of me. I paid extra for fast shipping so I am expecting the dress any day now. I took the initiative and sent them money most of the time instead of having to wait for them to request it. It was alot of worry so if you are unsure order several dress ahead of time and you can pick which one later. Here is mine: I hope it is as awesome as it looks, I'll let you know when I get it. Here is my moms: What do you think? Wow! Dresses look beautiful! I am excited to see them, I can't wait for mine..... and it's only been a week since I ordered them

Quote: Originally Posted by Lite I really am torn on what to do... Do it legal here or over there. We've decided on Dreams Tulum. Can anyone tell me what the cost was for the legal ceremony? I'd like to do the legal part in Mexico but if the cost is much higher I will do it here. The whole translation of the documents is freaking me out and the possible wait on changing my name is scaring me. Ack!! I am getting married at DT in Nov. I was originally planning to do the legal ceremony, but after lots of reading I think the paperwork issue may become a bit of a hassle. I am divorced, so that makes things a little more of a pain, but the thing I am most worried about is even though I am a Canadian citizen, I was born in Italy. My birth certificate is obviously in Italian, so I would need to get the translation from Italian to English and then English to Spanish....ICK! I think we may just zip off the day before we leave and get married by a marriage commissioner here. Start off the holiday with a bang! As for costs, I believe the ceremony will cost the same regardless of whether it is legal or symbolic, you would save the money on blood tests and translations. I felt a bit weird contemplating 'getting married before getting married', but I know that many places in Europe you get married at city hall before your wedding or it is not legal. As for getting married 'before' our wedding, we will celebrate the Mx wedding date as our anniversary.

Did anyone get married before going to DT? Do the legal stuff in your city and then have the symbolic ceremony in Mexico? I am thinking that is what I want to do now. Any thoughts?

Quote: Originally Posted by Meggan HI! I've just written to Dreams Tulum in hopes of booking an April 2011 wedding. Honestly, I'm frustrated at the lack of response from Dreams Riviera Cancun and this place looks great also. What is the average response time for the wedding coordinators here? (I still haven't heard back from the Riviera Cancun one after 3 wks!) You think they'd atleast get you to pay a deposit before deciding not to respond. ; ) Look forward to chatting with you all. This looks like a great website. Meggan I sent a message through their website and through the email address, I'm not sure which one they responded from, but it was the next day. Sometimes the responses to questions take a couple of days, but they are never more than 3 days. I can live with that!

Quote: Originally Posted by JanineA Ok so I think I have switched teams to Gianinar. I got a little suspicious since Gianinar told me that they couldn't make my dress in linen and lace cause linen is not readily available in China and would have to be imported (POB does have the exact same dress in satin and lace style 4506). So out of curiousity I wrote Duosheng to find out if in the best quality they would be using linen and lace and Wendy said they would try to match as close to linen as possible. I got very disappointed because at close to $500 I don't want to pay for something that isn't linen and lace. So I asked her what material it would be and she wasn't specific and said it would be close. When I asked her what material standard quality would be she told me it would be dress style 4506 satin and lace. Since Duosheng charges $297 for the satin and lace and Gianinarbridal $150 and many ladies seem satisfied with the quality of gianinar I am switching. What would have happened if I didn't ask about what material would have been used....wow, I would have ended up expecting one thing and got another. I kind of wanted the linen since it would have been easier to move in but the lace is just as nice. Here is a pic of it in satin and lace. Pam did you decide who you are going with? GORGEOUS Dress! I love it, can't wait to see the real thing!

Quote: Originally Posted by AmyandRich Hi ladies! I am leaving tomorrow for Dreams Tulum.... we are getting married Friday!!! We are both soooo excited! We will be using the resort photographer and will be sure to post pics and a review upon our return in the middle of the month. Yahoo and congratulations!! Have tons of fun! Can't wait to see pics and hear all about your special day

Quote: Originally Posted by Jacs77 Hi all! If anyone would like to see wedding photographer photos, or just photos in general, let me know and I will send along my photobucket link of the wedding I was in March 18, 2010. PM me, and I'll get to sending them! Resort photographer photos?

Quote: Originally Posted by KJT1985 Hey girls, my dress from Gianinarbridal was the poly taffeta since I couldn't see spending the extra money for silk taffeta either. I had NO problems with the material and thought it was beautiful. My dress is in this thread somewhere but I thought i'd post picts anyway so nobody has to search. proof photos: wedding photos: I tried to use pictures that showed the dress in all different kinds of lighting so you can get an idea of what the material is like. Sometimes it's a bit shiny, sometimes not. I'm really happy I didn't spend the extra money because i'm not sure how the silk taffeta could have been better. My biggest concern was that it would be like davids bridal dresses and be really loud with a tent/sleeping bag texture but it wasn't at all. Hope this helps! Thanks so much! You have made me feel much more relaxed

Quote: Originally Posted by pamphilia luciel - amazing dress, i think you totally sold me on Gianinar! Gianinar has been fantastic to deal with. The longest I have waited for a reply has been about 12 hours. Really great correspondence.

So I have ordered 2 different dresses from 2 different companies. One on ebay, and the other from Gianinarbridal. Is that crazy?! I am wondering what materials were used on some of your dresses. The one from Gianinar is the Maggie Sottero Sasha dress which is made of taffeta. Mine is being made of poly taffeta as opposed to silk taffeta (I didn't want to spend the extra $250 to upgrade). I hope that I am making the right decision! Any thoughts?? Help! I am starting to feel a little stress!

I love the idea of a beach Vegas wedding! MB is fantastic too.... it is where the love of my life proposed to me

Quote: Originally Posted by SunBride check out page 260 of this thread where I posted pictures of past brides' bouquets. Also on page 1 there is a list of the flowers (and colors) that are available as part of the regular package. Thank you SunBride! This thread is my newest obsession!

Quote: Originally Posted by krista.baird Hi Mimi, there are quite a few girls who got nice flowers from Dreams Tulum, and they have many more to offer than what they put in their brochure. Somewhere in the first few pages of this forum, Sunbride posted a pic of the tropical bouquet they did for her. I think they even used birds of paradise in it. You could email Aurora and ask her what types of flowers they have available (at no extra charge), and see if there's something from that list you like. Thanks I will definitely be emailing Aurora about my options. Thanks again

Can anyone tell me how the quality of the bouquets is from the resort? I am wondering if the one's supplied in the packages are very nice. Is there a flower store in Tulum that may be a more cost effective option? Thanks girls!

We booked at Dreams Tulum and are paying 1400 per adult and 775 per child. I thought that was pretty great. We booked with AC. Our guests are coming from mainly BC and Alb. Any overseas guests booked on their own

Hello ladies! I am getting married on November 18 at Dreams Tulum. We invited 55 people to the wedding. So far we have 37 people booked, with 10 more that have not booked yet. I sent out about 4 emails 'harassing' people to book early We did have a TA set up a deal for us, and at first I felt like I needed to 'help' everyone book their trips, until my fiance reminded me that they were all adults and could do it themselves! We figure that as long as the important people are booked, the rest are just icing on the cake. The frustrating thing was trying to dissuade people who weren't invited from booking. Kinda funny, but it all worked out thank god! I did not feel like paying for people who weren't on the list

Quote: Originally Posted by OceanWonderland mimi73: HI! I'm getting married at DT on Nov 15, 2010. You are the closest date to me so far (at least that posts on this forum). There is also a November 2010 thread that you should look for, of all the people getting married all over in November. What day will you be arriving to DT? If we have similar colors, maybe we can try to go in on chair bows and such. Have you bought your flight yet? We already booked the hotel, but we can't seem to find an affordable flight (except on orbitz/expedia/etc), but the direct airline route is $200 more per person! I'm almost about to book on one of those large travel discount sites like orbitz and just take the risk...it seems like it only affects those who need to change/cancel flights and I don't plan on that. What days are you going to be at DT? I think my color is going to be turquoise... at least so far that is the plan What are your colors? and what are you thinking of doing for your decor? I am still talking to my love about chair bows and stuff, but he seems pretty hesitant Who is your planner? I have only heard from Aurora so far, is that normal?

Quote: Originally Posted by luciel2820 My dress just came in It is absolutely stunning! The quality is great and the beading looks great as well. I ordered from gianinarbridal as well. She said the dress will be done in 30-45 days, I received mine exactly 10 weeks later (70 days) so try your best to order as soon as possible so you aren't going crazy a few days before your wedding. My dress fits me like a glove and it looks like it doesnt need any alterations. I did tie it up myself so its not the greatest but I can till it fits perfectly. I will post pics when ever my friend comes to do it up. But for now here are pics that she sent me when I ordered of dresses she had done before and it looks exactly like this, only in white. I am super excited to see your dress! I have just ordered a wedding dress from another seller on ebay, and I am also planning on ordering a dress from gianinarbridal as well. Two completely different styles of dress I don't know what I want!!! Now I just have to wait, I guess....

Has anyone recently ordered from Light in the Box? Any comments on service, quality? I appreciate any feedback!

Quote: Originally Posted by AchiCAp0547 Hi Mimi! I do not know about having the front desk give away your OOT bags, but I did ask Aurora on 7/22: "I would also like to know if, instead of using the bell boys to deliver welcome bags to our guests rooms, if we could deliver them ourselves? Yes it is possible that you deliver it by yourselves." Not sure if that helps, but maybe you could have some of your friends or if ANYONE is coming down with you before the rest of the guests, put them in the rooms for you before everyone arrives... ?? That may save on $$ ( I decided against the OOT bags due to the $ URGH ) Thanks for getting back to me. I will try that... I had just read on other review sites that DT doesn't give out room designations until the guests check in. I guess if that doesn't work then we can give them out some evening, or something. Super frustrating!

Hi there I have been checking out the Dreams Tulum thread for the past few days. I will be getting married there on Nov 18, 2010. The thread is HUGE!! But, there is lots of great info. Good luck in your planning!