Rick949

What The HEYYYELL!? LOL I haven't stopped by this thread in a while but I see DRC has made some enhancements with this fantasy island setup.. crazy!

Hey Latinive, Congrats! - it looks like it all worked out for you! Great photos! I agree with your legal part at home and symbolic there. We did the same thing and feel the same way. Symbolically getting married in front of friends and family is far more meaningful. Handling the paperwork/legality here makes much more sense. Less cost, less hassle and no blood test! lol Don't stick me with a needle in Mexico! One thing that should be noted to all future brides is that even in the symbolic ceremony (the one Dreams provides) there was a certificate that they had us sign.. which looks like a real certificate - it was a surprise to both of us - but I guess that gives the impression that there is some legal power behind it. A few people who knew we weren't doing the legal part there thought it was kind of funny and everyone else had no clue. See me here signing my life away

I also made a Video Slideshow using iMovie - in case you guys wanna see more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qngz0PDvuc

Hi Sarah, I paid a couple hundred dollars (I think... as my memory is fading) for the gazebo decor.. Originally I wanted to have one solid color on all 4 sides of the gazebo (arches) - but the price came back like $500 or so dollars - so I asked if they could just do the front side and twist up the 2 colors (puriple/white) and they did it. As for those small bows - I didnt ask for that or choose that color they just put them there.. I didn't know there would be bows but I just rolled with it. After the ceremony they took it down and re-used it for the entry way for the reception which I had no idea they were going to do. As seen here For the ceremony table we used one of the centerpieces that were going to go to the reception afterwards - Part of the package included the ceremony flowers and also one for the bride and groom table - we chose this style for the ceremony table and our table and simply had them make a few more of these for the other tables - For the extras they charged an arm and leg - I want to say something like 180 each extra (I know right - get the vase, throw some flowers and water in it) - but they also laid down petals and stuff on the table. We really liked this style but didnt have any interest in trying to bring down these glass vases - worried that they could break - so in this case - I paid for the convenience. One very important thing I should say to all the future brides is that in this type of destination wedding situation you kind of have to roll with the odd "misses" that occur and roll with the punches - Expect to pay more - they pull it all together in one day and some things may not play out exactly how you want. When the show starts - that's it - you will be on cloud 9 and all the small details go away. I hope that helps.... ALSO for anyone who wants to ask me any question please PM me because I am not paying such close attention to this thread and questions for me might get missed.

Hi GCR, Yes I tipped Jorge and Gina 100 bucks each... and all of the other staff members/servers $20 - I also tipped our fire dancers $100 split 4 ways ... adds up

Congrats Latinive! The Mayan gods knew you were getting married and they made some adjustments... I just looked at the live web cam... Is this your wedding getting setup? I know it will all go well!

I mean I gave each photographer a $50 tip each

@ tkb08 - Thank You - I designed the logo from some artwork I have seen on photostock - I am a graphic designer so it was easy for me to "borrow" the line art but the fonts, little symbols and layout all came from me. I paid $2500 for La Luna - Not including the extra cost (approx 80 for their day pass x 2 + $50 x 2 tip - split between the 2 photographers) - I would budget $2800 total @jkhowell - Thank you too! See answer to La Luna above - the small sand ceremony was provided by Dreams - when we returned to our room at the end of our night the small sand filled vase was on our coffee table with a bottle of champagne. I am assuming they have all the colors you want - just let them know ahead of time.. So no need to bring down your own unless you want a bigger sand ceremony.

Your So Welcome! Thanks for the compliments I will pass that along to my wifey...Hit me up with any other questions you or any else has and I will do my best to respond... One thing I want to add to all of this is have fun! - your wedding day will come and go so fast! so live it up! try your best to enjoy the process and soak it up on wedding day. There is definitely a void of "what do I do now" after the wedding is over. I wish I could do the wedding over in slow motion Cheers to all of you future brides!

Hello Everyone.... As I am sure many of you have been eagerly waiting for my DRC review and finally I am done and have uploaded to the website here. One thing I would like to pass along to future brides who write reviews - to serve this community best I would recommend writing your reviews on DRC in the Vendor review section because it's quite painful to scan through all of these pages to read reviews... and with no further delay here are links to my 2 reviews Dreams Riviera Cancun Review http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/dreams-rivera-cancun-resorts-and-spa/reviews/5127 La Luna Photography Review http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/la-luna-photography/reviews/5126 I hope my review helps you and your wedding plans as this community helped us... feel free to send me emails here and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Cheers! Rick (former DRC Groom)

On its way! Just putting the final touches on it

We expect to receive a Disc(s) with all hi-res images. I think we are not allowed to use our photos for commercial use

@CKNMVS In terms of Del Sol/La Luna - here is their contact- Melissa email: [email protected] - She can give you all the pricing and availability for that time frame. Originally we set out for Del Sol - (not knowing there was a sister company) but they weren't available in August because its their off season - La Luna was and we had the option to pick from their available photographers - they are also a little but less expensive. I think we paid $80 per photographer to enter. Dreams has all these extra fees and taxes so I cannot be accurate but that's pretty close. Play it safe and budget $100 per. We did not end up doing a TTD session - We were going to try and get the photographer/service who was part of the package shoot that for us the next morning but we just lost interest with everything going on. Perhaps if we tried hard enough we could have had that applied but we didn't pursue it. In our agreement with La Luna - we were not supposed to have any other photography or video services at our wedding as part of their "Right of Competition" - so that photographers aren't competing with each other for placement angles etc. I had to cancel the photographer that was part of the package. Strangely enough I thought I had canceled the videographer as well. But apparently I didn't... as I was getting ready I saw him at the gazebo with his camera and got worried that this could be a problem. Luckily Jonathan our photographer made sure he stayed clear. He did shoot the video and we got it back a couple weeks ago. It's a nice to have but I personally don't like video and would much rather let the photojournalistic photography tell the story on its own. The video isn't in HD and I really hate hearing my voice but I would say it's worth having to share among family members. The video is about 30 mins long and it's cute.

Hi CKNMVS, Our TA/WC - took all of our requests - which I provided her with a word doc filled with pictures that I downloaded from other people's weddings and passed it along. She retrieved pricing for us ahead of time and answered a bunch of our questions. I believe she "Planted the seed" of having our reception at the Seaside grill. Originally the Dreams Wedding staff was recommending having the reception on the deck which looked real good - my only concern was the possibility of rain. I was watching the webcams the week prior to our wedding and I noticed a couple times it was raining. Plus after we saw the seaside grill it just felt so right and private - we wanted our guests to feel like they are in a private venue as opposed to out on the deck. Denise Canon our TA/WC is located in Kansas City - but she knows Dreams like her own backyard. We paid $300 for her WC services which gave me and my wife a peace of mind since we were way too busy. There was still a lot of work on my end in terms of conveying the information. We booked Del Sol/La Luna photography outside of Dreams - they are very responsive and their email communication is top notch but there will be a fee to have them enter the resort to shoot your wedding. We did not get a DJ, instead we hired the AV soundsystem for our ceremony and then to play our 1st dance song, and bride/father groom/mother dance and that was it. We also hired the Caribbean Trio to do set while it was dinner time for some backdrop ambiance. hope that helps

Yeah Lindsey, Real good work on the videos - that's a fantastic contribution to the thread. When we arrived last month and I met Jorge - I was like "Hey I saw you on the video!"

Hi CKNMVS, The Seaside Grill is completely outdoors but mostly covered by the thatched roof. It's the restaurant right next to the infinity pool/bar. There is no AC or Fans - just the hope of a nice cool breeze. I would recommend (if possible) spend a few days before your wedding to get a feel for it. In terms of the cocktail hour they will give you options. About our reception site...We hired Denise Canon from Travel concepts to (http://essence.travelconceptskc.com/) to be our WC/TA and we asked her ahead of time that we wanted to have our reception at the Seaside Grill. I don't think they offer that location to everyone but I believe since Denise had made that request for us early enough we got it at no extra cost and site unseen as we have never been there before. Once we got there we confirmed it, something to keep in mind - the outside edge of the Seaside Grill is uncovered. We had a small group of 23 people and they positioned the guests tables on the outside. If it were to rain they would have been rained on as well as the buffet. Take a look at my image attached The brown area is covered - this is just an approximation how they set up the tables. Still waiting on my pro photos to deliver my full review… hope this helps. /R

Hi Aimeelaco28, Luckily for you we just got married 8.26.11 and we had the firedancers... We were originally quoted the same price for the 30 mins show. Here is what you do - ask for the 15 minute show which will cost around 480ish - this 15 min show will last much longer as it did for us. I think it lasted longer because that's how the performers time out their routine. It was very much worth the price, it was the grand finally to our wedding. here is a snippet from my review I haven't posted yet because we are waiting on the photos to come in "We had them do their performance over the water bridge which crossed over the shallow kiddie pool. They were only supposed to do a 15 minute show but they went on much longer (felt like 30 mins). There were 4 of them - 3 men and one woman and it was truly a spectacle as the fire reflected off the water while we all watched from the Seaside Grill. Everyone was thoroughly impressed and it offered our guests a big bang for their last night at the resort. The music they danced to was so loud and the spectacle was so neat we started getting attention from the looky-loo's as they sat around the pool watching the show." And now here is the bonus! Nobody has brought this video to forum until now! Video of the firedancers!!!! on our wedding night - watch the whole thing - my brother cut it up in snippets The video is low grade and it looked much better in real life.. and should look insane once the photos come back. Hope that helps! Rick (Former Groom)

@Sapper - The Desires Lounge stays open pretty late and kids can enter. They have a pool table and the music gets pretty loud. I can't recall how late it was when we left I want to say 12:30- but after the wedding and having fun at the lounge we were spent! There is no security guard and it's not treated as a club like you might think in the U.S. just a couple of bar tenders and a DJ. Laser lights and some fun music. I did see a small kid hanging out with parents playing pool... its very laid back. After spending a day in the sun, the wedding, photoshooting - 10-11 o clock feels like 1 or 2 in the morning.

We chose the Desires Lounge - because it has AC and it was really hot outside - all our guests sat in the lounge eating and drinking while watching the mariachi band do their thing on the dance floor. When you arrive your WC coordinator will show you all the spots you can do it. We didnt like the Jacuzzi so much because we were worried people would fall in the tub, the deck looked like a good possibility but you run the risk of weather conditions. You will also want to consider where your reception will be... We had our reception at the Seaside Grill so bringing everyone inside and then back out was cool - so they couldnt see the reception area until it got dark I am still waiting for my pro photos and I promise to deliver a very thorough review for all DRC community here on BDW. Rick (former groom)

Hi GCR, Don't worry.. it will all be handled when your times comes near... btw meet your team - guy on left is the audio/video guy (didnt get his name), 2nd right - video guy, in the middle Jorge - he is your your facilitator - he will be making sure everything goes down to plan! and he Rocks!!! Linda the minister anf finally to the right is Gina - but she prefers to be called Georgina. These guys delivered me and my new wife a most excellent experience! Still waiting for my pics to post review. Dont stress! your in good hands.. we never spoke to our coordinator until 2 weeks in, The only thing they need to reserve ahead of time are your flowers- everything else is easy access. Have fun, once its over you will miss it, even the process /R

Hi Everyone! We just got back from our Weddingmoon (8.26.2011) and reporting that everything went PERFECT! I am waiting for the photos to come in so that I can do one comprehensive review for all of you to consume... Everything went so well, the staff there is amazing! We had Georgina and Jorge on our team and they went beyond our expectations! Stay tuned for my review...I promise to deliver! Rick & Maile

Hey Sarah-Jane, Its a roll of the dice with the weather... I have been watching the webcams for the most part it looks good... I know that its HOT! HOT! not just hot!.. but here is the plus side of being late August - Most kids are going back to school and it is technically the off-season. As I mentioned before - we just found we are the only wedding that day and looking at the webcams now - it looks quite vacated compared to May or July.

Thanks everyone! I feel kind of strange being a groom on the "brides post here" - but my fiance is a full time nursing student and caregiver so I have to take the lead I will keep you all posted... talking about swapping out things... We decided to go with La Luna photography - and not use the adventure photo or videography. I am hoping that somehow when we get down there to use the photography session that is included in the package to be used towards a Trash the dress session the next morning, but there is no guarantee of that. Apparently when you decide not to use a service from your package - your 'electing' not to use it - so they don't have to substitute it for something or allow you to use that value towards something else. Perhaps we can swing a deal when we get down there. One thing that I am learning is that Dreams sticks to their packages and maybe sometimes they will hook someone up or do something extra.. but you have to go into this with the expectations of the preset package. We just found out that we will be the only wedding on our day, we also got the seaside grill for our reception! just like this couple had a year ago... I love this slide show http://delsolphotography.com/blog/content/galleries/?gal=290 - whats amazing to me is that this is a very small wedding but the photography makes it so rich you don't even notice..I have looked at this slide show at least 20 times now.

Hi All, Just to add to what others say - don't stress! We are leaving this Monday for our wedding 8•26•11 We were contacted just this last week by Gina our WC - its quickly apparent that DRC has this system down. We more or less put all our pictures and questions into a word .doc and she has responded with the the same word doc and included her comments and prices. The only thing that they really needed to know from us at this point was our flower selection and cocktail hour food choices - beyond that all of the smaller details we will handle simply 3-4 days before our wedding. We are bringing down our OOT bags and several decorations on our own in a couple of plastic crates from Walmart. After we get back I will write up a review and be available to answer any of your questions - This website has been very effective for us in terms of understanding what DRC has to offer and t would only be right if we contributed as well. As long as it doesn't rain - this should be fun!

Hi Everyone! Has anyone seen any examples of the gazebo decor with tooling or drapery that is twisted with 2 colors like this image? We are 3 weeks away and I can't find a photo that has something similar... I could swear I saw it somewhere on this thread.. and have been looking for hours. Thanks!