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Kate G

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Everything posted by Kate G

  1. Thank you! Yes you will definitely be happy you spend a little more on that, it is so worth it!
  2. Thank you so much! You definitely should, you won't be sorry!
  3. Just got married in May and have learned a lot through the process! - I definitely agree with those that said people you thought would be there won't --- hardly any of my extended family came to my wedding and it was really hard. BUT I can honestly say on the day of the wedding, I wasn't thinking of any of them - Don't expect things to go entirely smoothly the day of; they probably won't...but it's okay! - Friendships might be challenged and you may feel that you aren't being made to feel as special for your wedding because a lot of people can't come, so they act like they don't care that much. - SPRING FOR GOOD PHOTOGRAPHY. I can't stress enough how important this is. We hired a photographer from my home state and flew him to Mexico, but it was worth every penny. Same goes for video. The photographer and videographer gave us priceless works of art that we will have for the rest of our lives...we could have saved a lot using the vendors at the resort, but to us, it was so worth it to spring for the good stuff! Here's our wedding film: http://vimeo.com/70227492 - You will most likely have to hunt people down for their RSVPs!
  4. Thanks so much! Our photographer was awesome, definitely worth the extra money to fly him down!
  5. Thank you so much! Yeah I loved having the long table, it worked well for having a small group
  6. Hey guys, here are some pictures from our wedding that our photographer posted on his site http://benchristensenphoto.com/category/weddings/
  7. Thanks for the kind words! I totally didn't see there was a whole review section, duh haha. Unfortunately I didn't end up talking to anyone in person about it but left them some lengthy comments when it was time to check out (they have you complete a survey before leaving). Haven't heard from anyone since, and don't expect to get any money back :/ It's unfortunate but what can ya do! It was still a great time
  8. That is so weird, I can't believe the same happened to you! Did you have Eleane or Fatima as your main coordinator? Looking forward to reading your review, and congratulations!
  9. So true, you plan and plan and plan and still it really is out of your hands when the big day arrives! I think everyone had fun though and didn't even notice what went 'wrong,' so in the end that's what's important!
  10. It is frustrating You're right, the planner should be there! Never heard about why Eleane wasn't there. But I really did have a beautiful time, so I won't look back on the negative! Hope things go smoothly for you!!
  11. Thanks Jenny! Unfortunately I never got a chance to talk to Eleane Oh well, we did have an amazing time despite it all. Congrats to you too! xo
  12. Hey everyone! I posted a thread giving my review of my wedding experience at Dreams, but wanted to post it here too in case people are just checking this thread. ---- Just got back from beautiful Puerto Vallarta and wanted to share my Dreams wedding experience with anyone interested. I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this thread so forgive me if it isn't. First off I just want to say Dreams is an AMAZING resort - it was absolutely breathtaking; more beautiful than I had imagined. The staff was super friendly, the rooms were nice and clean, the food was delicious. It was great. Now onto the bad :/ Unfortunately my bad part of the review concerns the most important reason for me being at Dreams: my wedding. I started working with Eleane at Dreams last May to plan my wedding there. I loved working with her; she always responded promptly and was very nice. When we got to Dreams we finally met with her in person to go over the details. I also met with the decorator, Tamara (offsite vendor but does many weddings at Dreams). Everything seemed to be going well and looked like it was all in line. The day of our wedding (5/18), I went to Eleane's office just to make sure I knew where I needed to be and at what time. Eleane told me that before my hair and makeup appt. to be in my room because they would be dropping off my flowers, and then after hair and makeup she would be there to help me get ready and walk me down to the ceremony at 5:30. Well, I waited for the flowers before hair and makeup and they never came. So I just figured they were running late and my maid of honor, mom, and I went to get our hair done. After hair and makeup we came back to the room to start getting ready. The flowers were there, but they were not in water. We had to fill up little cups to put them in and they almost tilted over because they were too heavy for the cups. Anyway everything was fine, not a big deal, but I thought it was odd they didn't have the flowers in water because they were starting to wilt. We hung out in the room for a while and our videographer was there getting some footage (we used our own photog./videog.) At around 4:30 I thought it was strange that Eleane still hadn't come up to the room so I called down to see what was up. Fatima, the other wedding coordinator, answered the phone and told me SHE would be up to walk me to the ceremony at 5:20. Huh? This was news to me. She didn't tell me where Eleane was but just said she would be there, so I just went with it. at 4:45 my photographer got there to get some photos of me getting in my dress, so I finally started to get ready. They took photos and videos and then next thing I knew I was looking at the clock and saw it was 5:26. NO ONE came up to get me and the ceremony was scheduled to begin in 4 minutes. I started freaking out. My mom got on the phone and told them her daughter was getting married and no one came to our room to get us. Finally we decided to start walking ourselves. Well, on the way out, Fatima did come up as if nothing was wrong. I was just relieved to see someone so I kinda just smiled and asked her where Eleane was. She said Eleane left for the day. Again...WHAT? The wedding coordinator I worked with all year just left, and gave me absolutely no indication. I was kinda mad to say the least, but was about to get married so didn't worry about it. We got down to the ceremony area to line up. Fatima was doing her best but things just seemed a little off, like at the last minute she was being thrown into this situation and wasn't sure of all the details. Well, the ceremony went fine (everything looked beautiful) and then the guests made their way to the cocktail area while we got some photos done. We had hired the mariachi band to play til 6:30, and at 6:10 we started walking up to cocktails and the mariachis were leaving. So we didn't even get to hear them play except for a little bit at the ceremony. We went up to the terrace to be introduced and at that point I was pretty agitated, just very anxious feeling because I felt like nothing was being handled and it was suddenly my responsibility to make sure the timeline was going right. We had to tell them when we wanted them to start dinner, no one had it handled. Dinner took an extremely long time, far more than the hour it was scheduled to take, so we didn't have enough dinner music (we just used our iPod, no DJ), and had to keep playing the same songs over. Again, not a HUGE deal but given all that I was feeling was going wrong it was really bugging me. I didn't really see Fatima much, and at one point my dad had to get up and ask someone to start speeding things along. Finally after dinner we cut the cake (that wasn't supposed to happen til later on but they brought it out). The cake had no decoration on it, just our cake topper. I wanted it simple but asked for some small flowers. There were no flowers on it. Then we went into dancing, but that all went by SO fast because dinner took so long. We probably had an hour total of dancing and it just flew by. To top it off, we went up to our room after and it wasn't decorated (they are supposed to leave rose petals and champagne and stuff). We had to call and ask that they do that. So I know I sound like a huge downer and am just focusing on the bad here. Overall I will remember my wedding as being a ton of fun and a beautiful day surrounded by loved ones. For the most part, it was. But those little details had me feeling so anxious that the first half of the wedding I couldn't even enjoy myself because NO ONE seemed to be handling it. I am really upset that Eleane bailed and gave me no explanation or heads up even. But Dreams was so awesome that overall I won't be focusing on any of this in the big picture - so that says something right?
  13. Hi Brides! Just got back from beautiful Puerto Vallarta and wanted to share my Dreams wedding experience with anyone interested. I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this thread so forgive me if it isn't. First off I just want to say Dreams is an AMAZING resort - it was absolutely breathtaking; more beautiful than I had imagined. The staff was super friendly, the rooms were nice and clean, the food was delicious. It was great. Now onto the bad :/ Unfortunately my bad part of the review concerns the most important reason for me being at Dreams: my wedding. I started working with Eleane at Dreams last May to plan my wedding there. I loved working with her; she always responded promptly and was very nice. When we got to Dreams we finally met with her in person to go over the details. I also met with the decorator, Tamara (offsite vendor but does many weddings at Dreams). Everything seemed to be going well and looked like it was all in line. The day of our wedding (5/18), I went to Eleane's office just to make sure I knew where I needed to be and at what time. Eleane told me that before my hair and makeup appt. to be in my room because they would be dropping off my flowers, and then after hair and makeup she would be there to help me get ready and walk me down to the ceremony at 5:30. Well, I waited for the flowers before hair and makeup and they never came. So I just figured they were running late and my maid of honor, mom, and I went to get our hair done. After hair and makeup we came back to the room to start getting ready. The flowers were there, but they were not in water. We had to fill up little cups to put them in and they almost tilted over because they were too heavy for the cups. Anyway everything was fine, not a big deal, but I thought it was odd they didn't have the flowers in water because they were starting to wilt. We hung out in the room for a while and our videographer was there getting some footage (we used our own photog./videog.) At around 4:30 I thought it was strange that Eleane still hadn't come up to the room so I called down to see what was up. Fatima, the other wedding coordinator, answered the phone and told me SHE would be up to walk me to the ceremony at 5:20. Huh? This was news to me. She didn't tell me where Eleane was but just said she would be there, so I just went with it. at 4:45 my photographer got there to get some photos of me getting in my dress, so I finally started to get ready. They took photos and videos and then next thing I knew I was looking at the clock and saw it was 5:26. NO ONE came up to get me and the ceremony was scheduled to begin in 4 minutes. I started freaking out. My mom got on the phone and told them her daughter was getting married and no one came to our room to get us. Finally we decided to start walking ourselves. Well, on the way out, Fatima did come up as if nothing was wrong. I was just relieved to see someone so I kinda just smiled and asked her where Eleane was. She said Eleane left for the day. Again...WHAT? The wedding coordinator I worked with all year just left, and gave me absolutely no indication. I was kinda mad to say the least, but was about to get married so didn't worry about it. We got down to the ceremony area to line up. Fatima was doing her best but things just seemed a little off, like at the last minute she was being thrown into this situation and wasn't sure of all the details. Well, the ceremony went fine (everything looked beautiful) and then the guests made their way to the cocktail area while we got some photos done. We had hired the mariachi band to play til 6:30, and at 6:10 we started walking up to cocktails and the mariachis were leaving. So we didn't even get to hear them play except for a little bit at the ceremony. We went up to the terrace to be introduced and at that point I was pretty agitated, just very anxious feeling because I felt like nothing was being handled and it was suddenly my responsibility to make sure the timeline was going right. We had to tell them when we wanted them to start dinner, no one had it handled. Dinner took an extremely long time, far more than the hour it was scheduled to take, so we didn't have enough dinner music (we just used our iPod, no DJ), and had to keep playing the same songs over. Again, not a HUGE deal but given all that I was feeling was going wrong it was really bugging me. I didn't really see Fatima much, and at one point my dad had to get up and ask someone to start speeding things along. Finally after dinner we cut the cake (that wasn't supposed to happen til later on but they brought it out). The cake had no decoration on it, just our cake topper. I wanted it simple but asked for some small flowers. There were no flowers on it. Then we went into dancing, but that all went by SO fast because dinner took so long. We probably had an hour total of dancing and it just flew by. To top it off, we went up to our room after and it wasn't decorated (they are supposed to leave rose petals and champagne and stuff). We had to call and ask that they do that. So I know I sound like a huge downer and am just focusing on the bad here. Overall I will remember my wedding as being a ton of fun and a beautiful day surrounded by loved ones. For the most part, it was. But those little details had me feeling so anxious that the first half of the wedding I couldn't even enjoy myself because NO ONE seemed to be handling it. I am really upset that Eleane bailed and gave me no explanation or heads up even. But Dreams was so awesome that overall I won't be focusing on any of this in the big picture - so that says something right?
  14. Haha how funny, we do totally do! Thank you soo much for that app...my fiance and I were just talking about how we need something to make the music flow well. We will check it out! Good luck to you too
  15. Thanks for the advice Lauren! We actually decided to bite the bullet and just spend the money to reserve at the Seaside Grill restaurant. My wedding coordinator told me that there is a 'wine consumption' charge they mandate to reserve for a rehearsal dinner, and there is then a set menu at the restaurant you choose. I think it ended up being like $300, which my fiance's dad is going to take care of since that would normally be the groom's side's duties anyway It does kind of suck since the food would be free anyway, but I just didn't want to take the chance of getting all 26 guests to a restaurant and not being able to sit together and have it seemed disorganized. So that's what we're doing now!
  16. Yeah I hear the rainy season starts in June and if there is any rain in May it is just a light sprinkling that doesn't really last long. So fingers crossed it all is okay! And we are only having 26 guests so sounds like we should be able to make the reservation!
  17. Hi Brides, For those of you who have gotten married at Dreams Puerto Vallarta or will be getting married there (my wedding is in May), what did you do/will you do about a rehearsal or welcome dinner? Since it's an all-inclusive resort it seems silly to spend hundreds of dollars to rent a restaurant out for dinner since the food will be included in the price to stay there anyway, but I am nervous about how it will work to gather everyone together and have us all be able to sit together at a restaurant. I will only have 26 guests so I don't have a huge party to worry about, but I am still wary of this. And I know about the bonfire, which sounds like a ton of fun, but we just don't want to spend the money on it. Any tips would be appreciated!
  18. Hi Brides, Getting married at Dreams PV in May and I was wondering, where do the wedding vendors eat? I will only have a photographer and two videographers and will obviously be feeding them, but wasn't sure if it's customary to just sit them with the rest of the guests. My wedding will be very small with only 26 guests, plus the three of them, and I am just going to do two really long banquet style tables. I feel like having a separate little table just for the three of them would be odd, but is it odd for them to sit with the guests? Thanks.
  19. Hey I have been doing a little research and it seems they use these things called fuel cells, which look to be just little squares of something. I think (from what I have seen) that those cells just get directly lit and then you release them. My decorator told me brides bring them from the US and Canada all the time. Hope that helps I still am not sure where to purchase them from though because some of the less expensive ones I've seen online have either gotten iffy reviews on them or don't have reviews at all. I just don't want them to be cheap and not do what they're supposed to :/
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