mrscantatore

Hey Valerie! So i only had to pay the $300 for Dino because its up to 3 persons on one charge...but they have to be per company. So for dino and his lighting assistant, i only had to pay 300. But, like im sure they told you before, this only gives them permission to come onto the property; this doesnt permit them to eat or drink at all! If you are having the reception at baja norte, and you want them to eat and drink, you have to pay for the additional per plate price for them both Its def a downer and a pain in the tush, but its the only way to have the outside vendors come onto the resort! we havent seen anything yet so i dont know how they came out! time will tell!!!!!!!!!

of course!!! ask away with any questions you may have!

Thanks, Valerie!! So glad it was here, we enjoyed it and now its over lol. You must be so psyched for your wedding!!! YAY!!!

Awww, thanks so much! Means a lot..it took a lot of patience and man hours to get that all done! Haha I appreciate you being so kind J Everything was handmade and DIY and I was pretty much solo on all the projects but im glad with the outcome. Yay! Questions: Did you have a cake? yes! I had the standard RIU cake—all I did was purchase the couple on top. Simple. You could surely do a lot more with it if you wanted to, but cake wasn’t that important to us so we kept it as simple as possible. How much did you pay for each centerpiece? they are beautiful, and I'm afraid my budget is too tight for them. They were 65 each. The florist was awesome and a pleasure to work with. Did you have live music or a DJ? How did that workout? I had the RIU DJ…he was fine. Played what I wanted, but his English was terrible so I had to translate for guests what songs they wanted. Other than that, he was awesome. No complaints. Who did you use for photography? I used Dino Gomez. I had to pay the vendor fee also…that runs an extra 300 dollars. Sorry for the hundred questions. . . lol Don’t be sorry! Ask away! Im here to help!!

all sent! let me know if you need anything else! Erika

thanks so much so sweet of you to say!! you must be excited with all the planning!!

ps, here are the girls paper flowers...theyre kusadama origami and a terrible pic of my brooch bouquet. there are better ones but i just cant find them! lol also, for the concerns people have with using the RIU renova spa hair dressers....you'll be amazed how good they really are. they listened and did EXACTLY what the girls wanted. Each of the 6 girls chose a different hairstyle, but in the end they all had side buns. here is my sisters. the girls looked amazing!

Pictures!!!! Ceremony at the Gazebo the groom waiting patiently because the girls were late lol Program Back Cover Flower girl and ring bearer one of the brides maid and groomsmen walking down! were ready! ribbon wands were a hit! bridesmaids (and sister in laws) with their wands and paper flowers the bridal party did an awesome job w the entrances to the reception! Centerpieces table set up let me know if you want to see anything else!

thank you so much! was def awesome and memorable!!! well i hope that they one day down the line they organize it a little better with suggesting what you did or just having a quick formal one the day before with the coordinator. would help a bit! lol i wish my WC stayed with us. im grateful for the waiters though...they were on the ball and helped a lot! pictures to come!

Here it is!! Hotel Check In- Joey and I had reserved a ocean front room and were hoping for the quiet side of the resort…what we got was a partial ocean view, blocked by trees in the noisiest part of the resort w a terrible view in general. You could barely see the ocean and it was on the 2nd floor…literally on top of the buffet so our room smelled like food. And mold! The smell was so bad that I had to ask to be moved because it was terrible for my asthma. They told me that it would take 2 days to get another similar room and that was okay…just as long as I didn’t have to stay in the molded room! EW!!! Thank god for the hotel being so gorgeous and the food amazing and the staff, well sweet as peas, so it wasn’t a problem at all—more like a hassle. Wedding Coordinator- I was assigned to Kylene…she was great over email…detailed and always got back to me ASAP…and was great and on point when we first met. Only thing that I didn’t like about her (or maybe their protocol?) is that all of us were confused at the ceremony. She came to pick us up…direct us to the gazebo, and THAT WAS IT. it was confusing knowing what was going to happen at the bottom because I had 7 girls and guys and no one was sure where to go…all she said was stand along the side. Which seems logical, but when youre down there, clearer directions would have been awesome. We looked like we were deers in headlights lol! After the ceremony, the wrong song was played (though It was clearly stated on the ipod) and we were left standing there for what felt like 5 minutes when no one could find a pen to sign the documents and Kylene left to speak to the DJ and left us there just standing there like mopes… L Another pain in the tush was that I had 55 people and they had just started pouring the champagne when we were done so I had to wait for ONE waitress to pour 55 glasses and pass out 55 glasses before we could do the toast…it really did waste like 15 minutes of photo time. My only other gripe was that she disappeared. I thought she would be with us the rest of the night and she wasn’t. She welcomed us in, stayed for about 15 mins and I didn’t see her again that night. I was grateful there weren’t any problems that needed her assistance bc when I asked where she was, I was told she left. And it was 8…I wish she had told me that because I did have something to ask her L Welcome Bags- I had people come in for 3 days so each day I gave the front desk labeled bags to give everyone. Most people got theirs though the 3 or 4 who didn’t and who later found out there were bags waiting for them, went back that night and they were gone. And I didn’t have them either…seems they went to the same place my socks go…lol 51 out of the 55 got them…sounds good to me! Rehearsal Dinner- We had it at “El Medano†and invited our entire wedding to come. We didn’t want to miss a beat with all our friends and family so everyone ended up coming and just eating near each other in the back…no extra money was paid for this because it wasn’t a closed or private event…it was just pure coincidence that a big area of the restaurant was open for all of us to have dinner together! As I said earlier, I wish the rehearsal dinner was an actual rehearsal. Would have been good if Kylene actually told us where to stand, how to walk, what happens next, etc. That I didn’t like at all L Minister- Was sweet and adorable. No complaints there! Ceremony Set up- Everything I gave Kylene to set up was there…and beautiful. No complaints AT ALL J Reception- It was at Baja Norte and were glad we chose this location. Only downfall was that it was so chilly that night. People had to put on their sweaters and sweatpants under their dresses because it was chilly!! Go figure cause the other nights were warm. LOL. We all laughed about it and in the end it wasn’t a big deal at all. All was fine at the end of the day! Flowers- I loved them all!!! I loved Alina and she was awesome. She did a great job on the arrangements that go on the Gazebo and on the centerpieces…they were so super cute and really made the table POP! I had a brooch bouquet and my girls had kusadama origami flowers so we didn’t use her for bouquet services. In a nutshell, I think that covers it all! If you guys have any questions let me know!!! Erika

so ladies I am back! had a beautiful wedding at the palace and only have good things to say! there were some trips along the way but other than that, it was a stress free day and i think everything turned out so well!! My one complaint that i hope they change is the need for an actual rehersal...for the rehersal dinner. since we were running 15 mins behind (girls took forever to get ready!) its like the coordinator thru us to the wolves! No one knew where to stand, what happened after the ceremony, etc. We were going in there blind and im sure the uncertainty will surely show up in our wedding pics ill post pics and a more detailed reveiw soon!! erika

Tara! Seriously. I agree with the dress and the heat. everyone else will be breezy and happy...us...a hot mess! lol I am doing it on the resort. I am having a simple half up/down do, so there is no need to go out of the resort. From what ive seen other people say, it seems that if you have a picture, they will do it for you as close as they can...so im sure i will be okay. I've seen some of the hairstyles made by other brides and it seems to be fine. I guess that would be up to the hairstyle you decide! I have 52 guests and we are having an a la carte at Baja Norte...actually my wedding will be almost exact as kary's lol! ask away! i know when i just started i had a million more, so go for it! ask away! we actually leave on saturday so i'm even more psyched!!

Hello Terbear! just so you know, you should contact Sakura and ask her what wedding coordinator is assigned to your wedding. She isnt the coordinator, but more like the person who books your wedding. I believe the only 2 coordinators are Kylene and Jatziri. Im sure if you ask her who it is, she will get back to you asap. And ps, it will be HOT!! Right now its about 92 and its only May!! try to book your wedding later in the evening...may be a lot cooler than right in the afternoon. That may help! Good luck and happy planning!

ROS64-- Do you have a confirmation number? They run your entire wedding off your confirmation number in the subject line...maybe its that? There is no way that they cant discuss already...the wedding is weeks away!

June Brides...were getting close!

haha, it is! Its getting closer everyday...!!! people think im nervous for the vows, but really, im super nervous that im going to forget something! haha

Joey and I first met while we were both on vacation in the Dominican Republic. He was with a group of friends celebrating their graduation from their Masters Degrees and a girlfriend and I just wanted to get away for a week. Fate and similar colored bracelets brought us together! I had noticed him and the group he was with because it was a small resort; I had actually seen them a couple of times but didn’t pay much attention because I was fresh out of a relationship and just wanted to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle from NYC. Turns out, so was he… On our 3rd night there I noticed one of his friend’s smoking outside the bar. I just stopped in my tracks and just had to ask him WHY he had a different colored bracelet like we did and why we didn’t match anyone else in the resort. Turns out we were both there on our family’s time share and that entitled us to have those amazingly bright, florescent bracelets! So long story short, he looks at me and says, “come on, let’s go meet my friends…I think you would really like to meet Joeyâ€. I obliged and was curious which one Joey was…was he the tall handsome man I’d been sort of eyeing the past few days?? (I was crossing my fingers that it was) So upon walking in, up starts house of pain’s “jump around†and there in the midst of us looking for him, his friend starts to laugh and says…â€yep that’s him.†I look and all i see, about 4 feet above the rest of the crowd, is a tall, doof jumping and practically touching the ceiling with his spiky hair and I couldn’t help but laugh and fall for him a little right there. After he finished his routine, haha, we met, and I was hooked. We just meshed. We just talked and laughed and caught glimpses of each other and smiled when we did. It wasn’t even 10 minutes into that we were talking about ourselves and we were just dumbfounded with the coincidences. First of all, we were both from New York; he was from Queens and I was from the Bronx and were literally about a 10 minute drive from each other. Then work. He was interning and then starting his new position at 5 Times Square in New York and I was working at 4 Times Square! We just couldn’t believe we went that far to find someone that was literally across the street from me, lunched and hung out at the same places and we just never met. It was because of that we knew we were destined…he was my kismet—my fate. My destiny. And I had to travel all that way to meet my prince charming who was literally right under my nose. He is the reason I believe in “meant to beâ€. We're happy and silly and just enjoy eachother. Its nice when someone gets you... Our love story will continue and start a new chapter when we get married June 2, 2012 at the RIU Palace, Cabo San Lucas.

Why am i just seeing these replies now! hahaha So i am currently almost there and just working out the final touches for everything. I know wedding season is underway at the palace because i havent heard back from the WC for about a week just want to finalize some last minute touches so i can concentrate on me getting there with all my family and to enjoy it. this has to be the WORST part of destination weddings

I am really excited about the trash the dress session also...seems like fun I am actually doing mine a few days before the wedding---we leave the monday after our ceremony, so we wanted to be able to fit it in. I will obviously be using another dress (LOL--IMAGINE!?!?) I'll most likely buy something off the rack, just to have for the session. He is doing the same for us. Its a HUGE relief that he will be taking us to our destination...especially that im sure he knows Cabo more than we do! haha

SO sweet!!! We also have coozies and the usual in travel kits as well. we figuered it would be good for our guests to have some of the things we all tend to forget to bring form home! Did customs give you a hard time transporting all those materials? I am bringing all my receipts just in case...im afraid they may stop me for assuming i was trying to re-sell these things in mexico!!! ps, sweet play on the ring pop, super cute!

VK Miller-- Are you having a TTD session also? How many hours are you using Dino for? I love his work, btw! AND WOW to kary-- Its coming close!! be sure to share your experiences with us!! were having similar ceremonies/receptions so id love to hear some feedback!

Ladies: I was just wondering if you guys are going through the same thing I am…Seems like everything we had prices for on the extras list, has gone up…and a lot…at minimum 20% +. Its killing me!! Everything listed, up, up and UP some more. It’s insane to me. I also don’t really care for them not posting these prices either. It’s already April and they don’t have an updated list? UGH. Extremely annoying and unnecessary. Has this happened to many of you? I was specifically referring to the DJ (with lights) and the vendor fee. Thanks! Erika

What did you put in your gift bags? Were you able to have the front desk give them to people as they checked in or did you have to pass them out personally?

thank you so much!! youre right...the huppah is absolutely gorgeous! love everything about your wedding. Great planning on your part for sure!!

I cant see the pictures!!! Can you possibly imbed them in the postings? Not sure why i cant Sounds like you had an incredible experience and an amazing time! So excited for you!