MCree

We were married back in December, and I havent checked in on here in a while. Just saying happy planning to all of you future brides at Dreams!!   

Thank you so much ladies!  Best of luck and happy planning to y'all!

Originally Posted by EmilyT 

 

Past brides,

 

did any of you mail anything to the resort? i just got my maracas in the mail from amols and i love them, but i have no idea what i was thinking. i orderred 50.. one for each guests' chair and they are in a huge box. i either have to mail them or have different people take a few in their suitcases lol.... help ! also i am traveling with our 3 year old son so itsn ot easy to add on too many extra bags... we have him and his bag and his stroller so yanno

 The good news is that Im sure can pack light for your younger son and use his extra space for additional wedding items.  Between my hubby and I, we carried two 50 lb. suitcases a piece, each a large carry on bag, and each a personal item(they have people that can assist you with carrying all of your stuff at airports for a small tip or luggage carrier thingies you can use, lol). We also had a relative carry our last extra suitcase and jammed many other items in my parents suitcases and carried ons. 

P.S. I was advised by wedding coordinators and our travel agent not to mail things to the resort as they often get caught up at customs ultimately not making it through.

Originally Posted by EmilyT 

 

thank you for this advice i am going to ask for my suit to be on the north side! I want to see your review again if u dont mind and i always forget where to look if u dont mind posting again id appreciate it. i am looking over other girls reviews lately to see what i've missed

No problem! If you are unable to get upgraded after all, as long as you're on the left side, atleast you won't have to make that long walk across the resort in front of a big pool of people.  

Im sorry, besides just making my planning thread recently, I never got around to a full length review. If you have ANY specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them though!

Originally Posted by MCree 

 

We only had 13 rooms booked, but that is exactly how I felt Emily. lol!  My wedding was on North Beach so after they told me we could not upgrade rooms for the week, my next plea was if we could just use it for wedding day.  I tried to be very sweet and convincing, but that didnt happen either tho!

Overall, it wasnt that bad because atleast our honeymoon suite was on the North side so we could look down from balcony and watch the whole set up while geting ready(def request that your room be on this side if your wedding is on North Beach! we had to move from the south side and even that was tough task!) To get to the North ceremony site, you just have to go down the elevator or stairs in the building at walk past Seaside Grill. But im not going to lie, it would have been so nice to have used the room for pics and to walk straight to the site even if just for that day! From the research i did on this site in the past, it seemed as if about 60-70% of brides get upgraded, but I really just think its just luck of the draw!  Our wedding was absolutely wonderful overall, but not getting upgraded after spending so much money and bringing in 28 guests sucked! lol!

And thank you so much!  Overall, Im so happy we did the video! Its a super sweet keepsake!

Originally Posted by EmilyT 

 

 

Oh wow how dissapointing!! I booked 24 rooms for my wedding.... i deserve an upgrade LOL i guess we will see what happens. I am hoping to use the presidential suit on the day of the wedding to get ready however, i think thats typical but not guaranteed. i want to walk out from there, so if i don't get the room where would i walk from!?!?! ahhh and btw i love ur video u looked gorgeous and everything was soo nice.

We only had 13 rooms booked, but that is exactly how I felt Emily. lol!  My wedding was on North Beach so after they told me we could not upgrade rooms for the week, my next plea was if we could just use it for wedding day.  I tried to be very sweet and convincing, but that didnt happen either tho!

Overall, it wasnt that bad because atleast our honeymoon suite was on the North side so we could look down from balcony and watch the whole set up while geting ready(def request that your room be on this side if your wedding is on North Beach! we had to move from the south side and even that was tough task!) To get to the North ceremony site, you just have to go down the elevator or stairs in the building at walk past Seaside Grill. But im not going to lie, it would have been so nice to have used the room for pics and to walk straight to the site even if just for that day! From the research i did on this site in the past, it seemed as if about 60-70% of brides get upgraded, but I really just think its just luck of the draw!  Our wedding was absolutely wonderful overall, but not getting upgraded after spending so much money and bringing in 28 guests sucked! lol!

Originally Posted by EmilyT 

 

Girls... I booked the honey moon suit and i really want to stay in the presidential.... how good do u think these chances are ? lol

Emily,

We too booked a honeymoon suite in hopes of being upgraded! After reading about so many other brides who were upgraded to a master or presidential suite from their honeymoon suite, I realllly got my hopes up that we would too. Long story short, it didnt happen. Even though we were married on December 1st(technically low season). there were two other weddings on my wedding day, many the days before and after, and most upper suites were booked up.  I tried to politely ask the woman who checked us in at preferred club and even after that didnt work, I tipped our wedding coordinator $100 at our initial meeting, sweet talked her, then asked her as well! The woman at check in desk told me that they typically upgrade from lower levels rooms to the honeymoon suite, but not above. I was thinking yea right! She added that we could upgrade for $500.  I was like, "Uh, that's not he type of upgrade i was hoping for!" lol!  Hope you get an upgrade, but just giving a forewarning because this kinda started our trip sour because we wanted an upgrade so bad!

Thank you ladies sooo much!  

Thank you so much ladies! That means so much!

We had a few changes made to our highlight video, but I wanted to share our updated video with our new music choices, etc. It is a cinematography style wedding film by  www.mikecantarellfilms.com. It is of great quality, and I would absolutely recommend working with them to capture these special moments on your special day! This is our updated video! 

https://vimeo.com/58571996    

Password: Dreams

Monograms

I forgot to add these. I worked on several monograms when we first picked our date. I used the design you see in above posts on all of my projects. These are a few others I made on Microsoft Word and Paint that did not make the cut.

Highlight Video by Cancun Wedding Video

This is our highlight video by Mike Cantarell. 

http://vimeo.com/57546717

Wedding Music

This was by far the toughest part of planning for me. Sure, the most important part is and should always be marrying your one true love surrounded by those you love most. But to be honest, as detail-oriented as I myself am, I am more likely to remember a fun and unique wedding over all the small details at a reception if you get my drift. With this being said,  I was very picky when it came to music, and I knew I wanted my choices to really set the tone for our wedding. I basically went for "meaningful, yet non-cheesy" mood during our ceremony, "chill" during our reception dinner and "fun and upbeat" for our reception because hubby and I love to dance.

I chose all instrumental songs for our ceremony until the exit where it transitioned into a more upbeat mood. Besides that part, I wanted our wedding to be super relaxed and fun for guests.  We had a mariachi trio who guests really enjoyed play during our cocktail hour while groom and I were off taking photos. Next came the reception. Overall, even with only 27 guests, it was a blast, and I credit that to our wonderful DJ keeping up with the crowd, our light-up dance floor, and some fun song choices for all ages.  By the end of the night, we had break dancing, the alligator, soul train, limbo, waiters dancing with us, you name it. Lol! My advice is to really think about what kind of mood you're trying to set before choosing your songs if music is important to you too. 

Ceremony Choices

Guests Being Seated - Breathe Me by Sia (instrumental)

Groom and Bridal Party Entrance – Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Piano Guys

Bride Entrance – Wonderful Tonight by Vitamin String Quartet

Sandy Ceremony – Time by Hans Zimmer

Bridal Party Exit  - I Feel So Close to You Right Now by Calvin Harris (start at .31 seconds into the song)

Reception Dinner Music

Baby I love your way - Big Mountain

Somehow - Citizen Cope

Red Red Wine - UB40

4am - Kaskade

By your side - Sade

Fragile Bird - City and Colour

All or nothing - Mutetmath

Paradise - Coldplay

Mr Jones - Counting Crows  

Anything Bob Marley       

Reception Entrance of Parents and Bridal Party - I got a feeling by Black Eyed Peas        

Reception Entrance of Bride and Groom- Say Hey I love you by Michael Franti and Spearhead (Since we are from Louisiana, we chose this Mardi Gras beat and entered with the parasol)                 

Bride and Groom First Dance - We are Man and Wife by Michelle Featherstone        

Cake Cutting - Cut the Cake by Average White Band

Father/Daughter dance - My little Girl by Tim McGraw

Mother Son dance - Wind Beneath my Wings by Bette Midler

Bouquet toss - Single Ladies by Beyonce

Garter toss - Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake

Reception Dance Songs (I asked for edited songs as not to offend guests)

Get on Up - James Brown

Shots by LMFAO  (Awesome song to get a crowd going! I got our waiters to pass out shots to everyone during this song, and everyone was glued to the dance floor after.) 

Baby got back - Sir mix a lot

Say Ahh - Trey Songz

Party Rock Anthem - Pitbull ft Lil John

Hey Ahh - Andre 3000

We found love - Rihianna

Good times - Chic

You shook me all night long - ACDC

Don’t stop believing – Journey

Neon Moon - Brooks & Dunn

Browned eyed girl - Van Morrison

Marry You - Bruno mars

Krazy - Pitbull

A few picture from our reception.

Originally Posted by Mimi127 

 

Everything looked absolutely beautiful. Congrats and thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by carajoe08 

 

Everything looks great! Congrats!

Thank ya'll so much. Good luck ladies!

Originally Posted by shannonmarie 

 

Oh wow! I really enjoyed reading this thread! You did an excellent job!

 

Where did you get the fuchsia robe?

Thank you very much!  

The fuchsia robe came from seller Dolores Wilder on Etsy. 

Originally Posted by EmilyT 

 

wow everything looked great. i was wondering if u could tell me how much you paid for the lanterns..... did u bring them yourself or just do it through the resort. she quoredme something like 700$ and im just trying to figure out exactly what that is for!?!? also she siad i could bring my own but they would charge me 60$ to hang them, so im assuming i could find cheap ones and bring them down but i would not know how many to bring !?

 

also how much were your maracas ?

 

everything looked great i wish i could hire you and savs to plan mine lol

Thank you so much Emily! I paid $150 in all for lighting through the resort. The lanterns I went with were supposed to be $10 a piece through Dreams, and I only paid for 15. But in my case and in others I've heard before mine, the staff went ahead and hung 20 lanterns when it came time to set-up so I got lucky.

Amols charges $2.95 per pair of maracas. However, the site advertises that if you buy more than 12 pair, it goes down to $1.95 per pair.  I knew I would have around 30 guests so I ordered extra and paid $1.95 per pair. Can't beat that price!

You're getting close! Good luck my fellow Dreams Riviera bride!

Originally Posted by mstigger 

 

Wow, everything looks amazing!!

Congratulations and thank you for all of the information!

Thank you so much!  Happy planning!

MCree's Planning Thread - Long and Pic Heavy!!!

Sorry, forgot to post the thread.

Hey ladies!  Sorry I havent been on here in a while! I finally got around to posting my planning thread.  I just wanted to fill in my DRC brides since this thread was an insane help for me! Happy planning!!!  

Beach Santa Ornaments

I ordered these from Oriental Trading. Being that we were getting married in December, I thought an ornament gift would be a cute keepsake for guests to remember our wedding by.  I wrote our date on them with a fine tip permanent marker, and these were added to the OOT bag. 

Bride and Groom Chair Signs

These were placed on the back of our chairs at the reception. 

Whew! Okay guys, I think that is about it., but I will add if I remember anything else. I added a good bit of my projects though. If you want to see specific projects I didnt get to adding(tags, hanger or anything else that I am leaving out), let me know and Ill try to put it up. Also, I will add pictures of my menus and brochures soon once I am able to get in the attic and pull them out.  I dont have any pictures on my camera or from my photographers. 

If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask! Gooood luck and happy planning!!!!

Originally Posted by Dazeydawl 

 

Everything looked so amazing! Congrats on your big day!!!

Thank you so much! I see your big day is approaching!  Good luck and happy planning!

STD MIBS 

I found a few more pics of my MIBs to share. Forgot to mention earlier . . . I soaked the corks in  a beach scent(from BB and over night so when guests opened it, it smelled like the ocean! It still smells like it today!

Our Magnets from Vista Print we included in the STD package. 

Invites

Our personalized stamps we got from zazzle.com and envelopes seals I made on Vista Print.  

The second picture is the finished project.

Ceremony Fans

Thus is a better picture of my finished project.

Wedding Week Survival Kit / Oh Sh*t Kits Bags.

I Forgot to post a picture of the finished product earlier.  Our guests loved these.

Do Not Disturb Sign

Guest Book

This is a finished picture of our guestbook I made. 

Reception Welcome Table

I found a picture of the mock welcome table I set up before we left.  Sorry, I could not find any pictures from the actual wedding.

OOT Bags

Table Numbers

These are the table numbers and holders we used.  I made the numbers from cardstock and bought the holders off of ebay.  

Yellow Starfish 

These were scattered on our reception tables.  I bought white starfish at Michael's as well as yellow fine dust glitter and fabric glue to make them.  

Cake Topper

A picture of our cake topper up close.

Bachelorette Party

My friends threw me a Kentucky Derby-themed bachelorette party. We stayed at Beau Rivage in Biloxi.  The picture to the left is us all dressed up before dinner and the picture to the right is of the shirts my friend had made for the group. The last picture is of the goody bags my sis (MOH) made for the girls.  They came out fabulous!

Almost done. . .

Originally Posted by futuremrswarner 

 

Great planning thread! I love the colors you chose for the wedding. Congrats!

Thank you so much!

Hair and Make-Up

Hair

Although I would have loved to keep my hair down and curly, the wind just would not allow it.  These are two of my inspiration pictures I brought with me to the resort spa to get my hair done. I scheduled a hair and make-up trial on the day of our welcome dinner to have a test run. 

Make-Up

For make-up, I wanted soft and subtle.  I stuck to neutral browns and tans. Here is my inspiration picture. 

More to Come . . .

Originally Posted by Lori Granados 

 

Beautiful wedding!! Congratulations!!

Originally Posted by AndreaandAaron 

 

Your wedding looked so beautiful! Thanks for posting this thread!

Originally Posted by Marymack 

 

Very nice,thanks for sharing!!!

Thank you sooo much ladies! Happy to share!

Bride and Groom Gifts

For my groom’s gift,  I hesitantly did a boudoir shoot with a good friend of mine who is a photographer, and I then made a photobook for him on adoramapix.com. I researched books, and I found that their books are of great quality for the price! This is MOH presenting him with it on our wedding morning. He had no idea and absolutely loved it! Im so glad I did this after all.

My groom gave me my gift the day before we left  for Mexico. It is a cross that he had custom made. Pictures don’t even do it justice . . . it is sooo beautiful!

Bridal Party Gifts

MOH gifts

In addition to buying her dress for the wedding day, we gave her extra goodies in her OOT bag at the welcome dinner.  These included a grey getting ready romper outfit for day of, a fuchsia Robe with “MOH†rhinestones on back, a personalized compact Mirror from ebay, and a starfish wine stopper from oriental trading.com.  

BM/ FOG gifts

In addition to buying his outfit for the wedding day, we also bought groom’s BM a personalized tan leather toiletry bag from personalizationmall.com and a starfish wine stopper from oriental trading.com to add to his OOT bag. The bag was great quality.

(sorry, I don't currently have any pics of it.)

MOB and MOG

We gave our moms personalized handkerchiefs and a personalized compact (same as above) with their name engraved on it from ebay.  (This is the pic on the site)

Welcome Dinner 

We had our welcome in the wine cellar. We had was one long table decorated in rose pedals and candles. It was simple and elegant. 

I found my welcome dinner dress at Express.  I bought it while they had a 50% off sale.  This is me posing with Melissa with Bliss Photography.  She did our TTD, boudoir shoot and captured so many wonderful pictures of our special day.  She is an awesome photographer!!

Originally Posted by lgerry 

 

Congrats!!! Awesome thread so far!! Looks like your day was amazing, and you looked beautiful!

 

Just wondering what seller you used on ebay for the pashminas? We are looking for some decent quality but cheap ones.

 

Liz

Thank you so much!

NEW Solid Silk Pashmina Shawl Wrap Stole Cashmere Scarf Pickascarf is who I bought through on ebay.  I was picky about colors (I wanted white, yellow and a few fuchsia), and I waited until last minute to purchase these so they are def not the cheapest. They are $5.89 I believe a piece -not a great price, but I ran out of time -  free shipping, but wonderful quality!  So so soft, and all of my guests loved them!