LindseyM

Well, Yamina isn't new...she booked our wedding 6 months ago when we were there for a visit. I just think the language barrier is troublesome sometimes. The $599 is for hair and make up. I wanted my girls to have the works. I booked it and then the spa emailed me the invoice. I am glad you said that about the shipping!! I am definitely not doing it now. OMG I am going to have so much to pack.

Ahhh you are right, it is a glass stopper! Someone else said they used glue, but I am not sure how exactly. The glue was supposed to keep the sand from messing up. Does anyone remember how to do this?

So our invitations are going out this weekend! They're at the printer now and we got samples yesterday...they are AWESOME! My sister in law to be designed them and I am so thrilled with them. I am seriously bummed though because Yamina told me the Barracuda Bar would be perfect for welcome cocktails. Um no, it closes at 6. She confirmed today. What does our invitation say? 7 at the Barracuda Bar. I am confused as to why she'd suggest it in the first place, but whatever! We will have to correct it in our welcome letter. We also ordered a heart shaped sand ceremony vase and cork bowl set from Wedding Star. It's engraved with our initials and date. I LOVE IT. Also got 7 cameras for the reception tables and bridal party tank tops from etsy. I feel like I get a wedding surprise in the mail every day, I love it!! Question about shipping - how many of you are shipping things to the resort? Honestly, I'd like to just pack them so I know they're with me, but I'm nervous about checking all the extra baggage. I am nervous to ship because if something [like our sand for the ceremony or artificial flowers] gets stuck at customs, we're beat...we wouldn't have it. Thoughts on this?

I am using the resort. For 5 girls, plus my free hair and make up it is $599. I am excited though! When I was there, the spa was fabulous! I don't think they will screw it up.

You know, I didn't see it in my tour but the website says it's beach side. My coordinator suggested it. If I am imagining correctly, it may be the one on the beach that has swings for bar seats.

Hi, Kate! Your date was almost our date. That's the date of our at home wedding. We decided against a welcome dinner and we're just telling our guests to gather at the Barracuda Bar at a certain time for drinks. It's a good way to save money. Then we're having a family/bridal party only rehearsal dinner the next night. We're booked in the honeymoon suite. Our TA said if we got a certain amount of rooms we'd be upgraded to that at the price of a garden room. The ground room floors are not suites, from what I understand. We're doing our ceremony on the beach, reception on the pool deck, and cocktail hour at the north jacuzzi. In case you missed it, here is a link to my youtube channel with the tour. It's videos 1-11. It will help you envision things a lot more. http://www.youtube.com/belcantoragazza

For some reason mine's not on here anymore... 2/24/2012 Bud and Jackie 2/25/2012 Mariah and Jens 3/18/2012 William and Kate 4/21/2012 Ankswt03 (Amanda and Jeremy) 4/22/2012 SweetMelissa (Melissa & Nick) 5/12/2012 Dimplesandsuga 5/21/2012 CKNMVS 5/23/2012 Aimeelaco28 5/24/2012 weddingprincess (Shannon & Brad) 6/3/2012 Mrskatieperry (Katie and PJ) 6/9/2012 Ssapper 6/18/2012 juliej84 (Julie and Ash) 7/20/2012 LindseyM (Lindsey & Kevin) 7/28/2012 Mnunez 8/7/2012 Nj2012 (Nikki & Joe) 8/10/12 Annie & Jon 8/24/2012 Sarah-Jane (Sarah and James) 9/1/2012 Cbandemer (Colleen & Brian) 11/19/2012 melinmontana (Melissa and Kael) 12/17/2012 Savs1027 (Savanah and John) 4/27/2013 Vika Yakovleva (Vika & Anthony) 5/3/2013 Kthorpe

Did you get a chance to see my tour videos? I've posted them a few times but they're back a few threads. Let me know, I can post the link again. We were able to see the resort in person back in June when we were on vacation at another resort. Let me just tell you...we saw 3....Dreams beat everyone! It's nicer than a Sandals!!!! We're doing 6 pm on the North Beach and then using the North Jacuzzi for a cocktail house. We chose the pool deck for reception from 8-11. I am really excited! I did find out there's another wedding on our day, an hour before us...I hope she comes on here so we can coordinate!! I am nervous, but I know they have it under control. On our tour, Jorge told us they did 62 weddings last May. Insane!!! Not sure what July will be like, I am just hoping it doesn't rain.

That's awesome! I know we're in one of the honeymoon suites, not sure a room number yet though. As it get closer we will coordinate! Whats your name? Where are you from?

Ash, I heard from Yamina they will not start contacting you to finalize decisions til about 2 months before. Even so, I bother her regularly and even though she sometimes takes a week to reply, she does. I think you can do the sand ceremony but you need to bring the supplies.

We're using the resorts photographer because they really aren't good about letting you bring in an outside vendor. It's almost not worth the aggravation. That said, I am pleased with the weddings I've seen and you and find them by googling like Amanda said. Also, some brides have posted their slide shows on this thread.

We're bringing silk flowers down that we ordered off of etsy. I told Yamina and she okayed it so I would think so!

Hey, mnunez2! My wedding is Friday the 20th. When are you going down? We leave the 27th so I'll miss your wedding but maybe we'll run into each other!

Added our names!!

I'm glad you liked it! I really wanted my fiance to walk around with it so I could share it with you girls.

Meters...I would guess.

Is anyone else out there getting married on July 20, 2012?! Yamina says there is another wedding booked the same day!

Check out my youtube channel: BelCantoRagazza for the Dreams site tour. It's videos 1-11. It's the entire resort. They show cocktail hour locations as well as various other locations. I hope this helped. http://www.youtube.com/belcantoragazza

Hi girls, If you check out my youtube channel BelCantoRagazza you will see my tour of Dreams. I posted it here before but maybe you missed it? You can see the pool terrace [patio?] and the pool deck in my videos. I'm not sure which ones are which but watching the entire tour is videos 1-11 and they are really worth watching!! It gets us so excited to check them out... here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/user/BelCantoRagazza?feature=mhee

Thanks! I will have to keep working on them. I'd really like to use him.

I'm really annoyed right now!!! I know some girls on here have used and are using outside vendors. We want Cancun Wedding Video to come in and do a cinematography type video for us since our wedding is OUR DAY. Yamina said no. No outside vendors. I'm sorry. I love Dreams. I loved it when I visited... but I think it's complete garbage that you cannot use the vendor of your choice. In the states you could!!! I just said this to her: Yamina, With all due respect, I read the message board on BestDestinationWeddings.com and many, many other brides have used outside vendors. In fact, I know of one right now who is using an outside DJ. I know that Mike Cantarell has done weddings there before as well. We really, really like Dreams, but it would be a shame to have to take our wedding to another resort because we can't use the videographer we want. This is our dream wedding and we want everything to be perfect. If you can't negotiate letting us use Mike Cantarell then we might have to consider another resort. Thanks in advance. Lindsey FI says I sounded a little snotty but I don't care. I think it's a stupid policy and there are way of working around it. What would they do if one of my guests was a videographer? I asked if Mike could be a guest and pay for a room for him and she said no. I am really aggravated. Jerks. </end rant>

We're in the process of deciding this too. We want Cancun wedding video but not sure if they will allow it. Resorts videographer is www.videowedd.com. I am not a fan based on what I see. We like the cinematography style.

I really want to hire Video Cancun for our videographer...their prices are much more reasonable than the resorts. Do you know what the outside vendor policy is? Has anyone had trouble with this? Thanks! Lindsey

Hi All!! Some of you requested photos of my flowers from Etsy seller AlexisGraceDesigns. The reason I decided to use real touch flowers instead of the resort florist is because of the cost. I knew what flowers I wanted and the quote they gave me was outrageous! $300 for my bouquet and $200 for the bridesmaids. I felt I could do better. I really liked working with Kim [the designer] because she kept in touch every step of the way and the bouquets all go together! If I were going to use the resort flowers, it would've cost me $700 for flowers I didn't really love. Kim gave me flowers I really love, a forever keepsake, and saved me over $300!! I have some photos here to show you. I think that in pictures you cannot even tell they are real touch flowers and not real flowers. The roses and hydrangea feel SO REAL to the touch. So do some of the orchids but some other orchids and the calla lilies are silk. Nevertheless, I am SO PLEASED with this purchase and would definitely use her again! All of the bouquets: Mine, three bridesmaids, maid of honors, and a toss bouquet. They came in the bin but they were laying down. I bought $1.00 vases to stand them in until we leave. My bouquet from the top. Starfish are part of our theme, so my bouquet is adorned with little glass starfish. Maid of honor bouquet - kind of like a mini of mine: Bridesmaids bouquet Boutonnieres and Corsages from left: groom's father, grooms mother, groom, groomsman - there are more but I just chose these as examples.

Who are you using for your cake? I would do that but it's included in the ultimate package so I'm not sure!