Kate G

I'm glad someone knows what I'm going through! I am so sorry to hear your own mother is making a stink about it That is terrible.

Hi everyone! I am brand new to these boards and am also having my wedding at Dreams PV next May (5/18/13). I have been reading through these threads the last month off and on and figured I better join in the fun. I am using Eleane as my wedding coordinator and so far have found her to be very prompt and helpful in her responses. My only issue has been with the DJ so far...I read on here about some of the not so good experiences people had using the Dreams DJ and sent Eleane an email expressing my concern. That was probably my only frustrating email with her because I don't feel that she really addressed my questions (maybe a language barrier?) so I decided to just not take any chances and hire a friend from San Francisco to do it. Other than that my only questions I've had in my mind lately have been: 1. Hair and makeup - I am a natural girl and don't want to look like a drag queen or that I have heavy caked on makeup. I also don't want my hair to be 'typical weddingish prom hair'...if that makes sense. Anyone have information they can give on the hair and makeup job they do there OR if there are alternative places around to get some trials done at? This part is so important! 2. The wedding officiant. We are doing a symbolic ceremony and having our legal stuff done in the States. I read on the Dreams website that many times the people they have perform the ceremony don't speak English. Can anyone attest to that? If they don't speak English I just feel like having a translator stand there would be distracting and take away from everything. Another alternative may be us asking a friend (who is an ordained minister) to do it, but is this allowed there? 3. And finally, other hotels nearby for guests to stay at if Dreams is too expensive for them. I want to give my guests options but I know, especially since it's in Mexico, that people want to be as close by as possible. Anyone have tips on that? Thank you!

Hi guys - My name is Kate and I am new to the boards. I am having my wedding in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico at Dreams Resort next May. I wanted to start a thread to see if anyone out there can relate to what I have been going through planning my wedding. Here is a little about my story... My fiance and I currently live in Arizona (my immediate family and I moved here when I was in high school). I am originally from New Jersey and my fiance is from Rhode Island. He lived in Chicago before moving to Arizona to be with me. As you can see just from that description, we have family and friends spread out all over, including Pennsylvania, Oregon, Missouri, and Texas (to name a few other spots). So obviously, no matter where we chose to have our wedding we would be requiring the guests to do some travel - as I'm sure most people have to do in today's world! So what did we decide to do? A destination wedding! It seemed logical...everyone is going to have to travel in some capacity so why not have one big fun vacation for everyone where we will actually have activities and things to do. Seems obvious to me, as well as the fact that doing it this way saves US a lot of money (not saying it will necessarily be cheaper for the guests but this is our wedding and we want to be able to get the most bang for our buck). So why am I writing this...well...since the word has started to get out across family members about where we are having our wedding, there has definitely been some hostility. The concerns? a). Money for the guests to travel and stay at the hotel (which again doesn't hold up as a valid argument since people would be traveling regardless) . Mexico. Oooo so dangerous! Excuse my sarcasm. Yes I am aware of what has been going on in Mexico, but I would not be planning a wedding in an area where I was worried about my guests and family being kidnapped and beheaded. As one family member mentioned "I would no more travel to the middle east than Mexico." ...okay... I believe those are the two main concerns. So what is really igniting me to write this is because I had an exchange with a particular family member that I would have loved to be there who basically said in an email to my mother that it is obviously more important to me to get married on a beach in Mexico than have as much family there as possible. Wow. I want everyone we are inviting to be there, but this day is about me and my fiance in the end, you know? It is just hurtful to me to think that now some people that we are inviting are going to be somehow taking this as a slap in the face to THEM that we are having such an "inconvenient wedding." I am sorry I can't have my wedding in every guests' back yard, but that just is not realistic. And now I'm left feeling kinda crappy. So brides! Please tell me I'm not alone here...anyone else going through anything similar they would like to commiserate about?