48 replies to this topic

[stacey]

Sorry it took so long to write my review, but once I got back from my honeymoon I hit the ground running at work. I couldn’t have pulled off this wedding if it wasn’t for all of you ladies. I would have been a crazy bridezilla by time I got to the alter. All I have to say is that everyone had a fabulous time.

Friday October 10th.
We had a 10:40 Pm flight with Mexicana out of San Francisco. 6 of us flew out together. We hired a limo bus to get all of us to the airport with all of our luggage. This is without a doubt the best idea we had. It was stress free, and we partied all the way.
Mexican airlines: A++
The airplane is not top of the line, however the stewardess where so polite and helped me find a safe place to put my dress since I carried it on. The serve free meals and free alcohol, and play a movie during the flight. Also we each checked two bags and did not have to pay for an extra bag. One of my bags was waayy over weight and they did not charge for that either. I would fly again with them in a heart beat.

Saturday October 11th
We arrived in Cancun at about 10:00. Going through customs was pretty easy; none of us had any problems. We were met at the end of customs by a Royal Tours representative who had our last name on a sheet of paper, and directed us to our private van which took us to the resort. He was very professional and told us all about Cancun along the drive.

Royal Tours A+
Dreams Cancun Resort and Spa A
We were met at the lobby where they took our luggage and directed us to check in where we were given a cold towel and champagne. Check in was easy; however our room wasn’t ready yet. It wasn’t the end of the world my parents were already there so we changed in their room and headed to the beach.
Our room was in the club tower and when we checked in they had a cute honeymooner’s banner across the door and the bed was decorated. It was cute, but a few days early. I thought the room was nice, but nothing special.
On Saturday afternoon I met with Claudia. Now before then I was so upset with her. Her communication was crappy and I felt like I had nothing planned. However when we met she had everything that I had ever sent her ready to go. I feel like I could have planned the whole wedding that day. And I pretty much did because I changed so much. I changed the menu, the photo package (I used the resort photog) I changed the location to the gazebo (we were originally going to use the sand) we changed so much. It was not a problem at all.

Claudia
Communication: D-
Execution A+

Monday We had our rehearsal and Claudia was there to help us out. Ely’s grandfather is a Lutheran Minister and did the ceremony (although we legally got married at home) Rehearsal went smoothly.
Rehearsal dinner on the other hand is a whole nether story. DH parents were supposed to through out rehearsal dinner or the welcome dinner. However they decided that they were going to be cheap and did not want to pay for dinner at the resort. So we had no set plan. It was my MIL job to see if she could reserve tables for us a few days before. Long story short she dragged her heals, and then when she finally did do it, they told her no. So we told everyone to meet at the Mexican restaurant. End the end we had so many different tables all over the restaurant and it was not a rehearsal dinner at all, which is a bummer, but oh well.

That night the resort gave Ely a separate room so I spent the night alone. I really appreciated it because it gave me time to relax and just get mentally prepared.

Tuesday October 14th Wedding Day
I woke up really early, at about 6:30am. I got out of bed at 7:00 and went on a long walk by my self around the resort. It was nice to reflect and just get myself prepared for the big day.

Ely divided the resort in half, he got one side, and I got the tower side.
At 10:00 am I met my bridesmaids in the Tower lobby where we enjoyed breakfast and talked about old times and the up coming day. To be honest I was starting to get nervous and barely ate anything. We took another stroll to help calm my nerves.

At 12:00 my MOH went to her hair appointment and Ely’s sister is my hairstylist and she came into start doing my hair. My other two brides maids went to the salon at 1:00 I decided to pay to have their hair done so that my sister-inlaw didn’t have to stress. The salon did my make-up however. I think they did an amazing job on the girls hair and my make-up. She was even able to cover my tan lines.

Wedding Set up = c
Claudia had the reception set up just like I asked. I gave her the seating chart and the place cards etc.... There were a few place cards missing so a few people didnt have seats. I didnt find that out until we got home. They thought that I just forgot about them, but that wasnt the case, so im not sure what happend with the place cards. My place cards were star fish with their names on them. Im dissapointed because when the waiters were clearing the dinner tables they through them all away.

The seating for the ceremony was a little F*d up. Claudia had chairs set up for 36 people. Except we had 7 in our bridal party, our minister and the two of us so that left 10 extra seats. Ely had more of his family come then mine so my side of the row looked almost empty and sort of made me sad. I wish I would have thought of that detail when talking to Claudia. So when you do the set up be sure that she doesnt set out seats for the people in the bridal party.
DJ Mania =A
When we first decided to hire him Claudia sent us a list of all his music. DH and I were not thrilled with his music choices. We decided that we were going to do all of our music our selves. So we took the time to put everything onto the I pod, but I didn’t fire him yet because it was really important to me to have an MC and run everything. When we had our meeting with Claudia we talked about it and we decided to keep him. We met with him the day before the wedding and told him that we wanted him to use your I Pod. It had everything organized, Dinner music, dance music, 1st dance, father daughter etc….. The night of the wedding he played the dinner music, and the important songs, but he wasn’t playing our dance music. At first I was a little annoyed, but he chose GREAT songs that everyone danced to. I think that everyone danced the entire time and no body took a break. In the end everyone told us that it was the most fun they had at a wedding, and I think it was due largely because of what the DJ did. I’m very happy we decided to keep him.

Juan Navarro = B+
It wasn’t in our budget to bring in a different photog so we decided to stick with the Dreams photographer Juan Navarro. I wished I would have been able to meet with him a day before the wedding, but I didn’t even think of it. He was very professional and nice and listened to what I had to say. But through the whole picture taking process I felt like it was rushed and a little scattered. When Ely and I went to take our pictured of jus t the two of us I wasn’t really having fun and felt tired and frustrated. But I think that was my fault. The photog called us the next morning and arranged to meet us at our honeymoon resort to deliver our photos. In less than a week we had our photos in a book and on a disk. I thought the photos were pretty good and I was happy that he delivered them to us.

Videographer= A
I don’t remember his name, but it is the one that Dreams uses. Not much to say about him he shows up shoots what he is supposed to and left. But he delivered the video to us the next day which I thought was awesome.

Cigar Roller = F-
Ok maybe that rating is a little extravagant but the cigar roller is truly a horrible person. All of our guests loved that we had someone there rolling the cigars, it was a pleasant surprise for them and the all raved about how great they were. But then DH and I went to pay the bill. We were expecting a $300 to $400 bill. But then he told us we owed him $1,800. I almost died. We started to debate this and he said that he rolled 58 cigars. I told him that was not possible because we only have 36 guests, not everyone smokes cigars, I didn’t even get one, and we told him 1 cigar per person. He was not a nice man and started to get mean and yell. I was so embarrassed that this was happening in front of my guests. Soon my dad got involved and a friend of ours who speaks Spanish. Claudia came running over clearly embarrassed, and also obviously afraid of the man. Our friend that spoke Spanish saved our butts because the cigar man said he was there the whole time counting all the cigars that the guy rolled. Our friend had the whole cigar “experience” on video and that man was not there most of the time, so how could he still be counting. In the end we still paid the man $700.00, and then he went to some of our guest and tried to charge them for the cigar that they had gotten, finally I told him to F^$% off. The whole thing was a nightmare. I’m still angry about the whole situation. So be ware if you hire him, set him straight from the beginning.

Trash the dress shoot
Critsey Rowe A++++++
Long story short I was given the opportunity to do a free shoot with Critsey. She did an absolutely amazing job. We met her on Isla Mujerus to do the shoot. We had so much fun with her driving all over the Island to take shots. The pictures came out better than I could of ever of imagined. I wish I would have saved the money to hire her for our wedding. I would have done it in a heart beat. She lives in South Carolina, so if you could do it, I would suggest flying her in.
Critsey Rowe - Destination Wedding Photographer

In the end the wedding was amazing. We had 36 people and had sooo much fun. The ceremony was EXTREMELY windy, so much so that Claudia asked if we wanted to move it in-side but we said no. The reception was on the club terrace where we partied our butts off and drank like sailors. At the end of the night almost everyone jumped in the pool together in our nice wedding clothes, I think I was one of the first people in, with my wedding dress. We are still getting phone calls and cards from our guests saying that they had an awesome time and that our wedding is going to be a hard one to beat!

Here are our proffesional phots from Juan Navarro
Snapfish: Share:Registration

Here is a link to our TTD teasers (ill post the rest as soon as we get them)
Stacey and Ely Isla Mujeres Mexico | Critsey Rowe - Destination Wedding Photographer

Here is some of our non-pro pics that I posted earlier
http://bestdestinati...om/forum/t31264

If I left anything out, or if you have any questions please let me know!!

[ErinB]

Great review, Stacey. I 'm sure future brides will really appreciate all of your detail.

I'm sorry the cigar roller caused such drama! I hope it didn't ruin your memories of your wedding.

I'm off to ogle your pictures!

EDIT: Those pictures are amazing! You looked so beautiful! I love the one of you walking down the aisle and your shoes peeking out! I saw your dress after I cought mine and seriously considered changing it! LOL

[Banana11]

Stacey your pics are so beautiful! I love the guests standing in the heart shape with you and your DH in the middle! So sweet!

[Jeremy_Gilliam]

Sounds like you had a wonderful wedding and experience! Congratulations!

[Jenn3878]

Awesome review Stacey! You looked STUNNING!! Which photo package did you get!? I am looking at your pics now!! Sorry to hear about the cigar roller! Wonder if they will use him again at Dreams?

[stacey]

Im not sure what photo package we got, but I think the price was like $1,200 or $1500, something like that.

[SunBride]

I love your signature pic, it's beautiful and the colors are amazing.

[Yari]

Great review!

The cigar roller was a total ass. Sorry you had to deal with that. Also that blows about your placecards! I had a similiar situation occur to me, so I totally understand.

[**~Jenn~**]

Stacy..Thank you so much for your review!!! And your pictures are beautiful!! Did you just add on to the Photography package that comes with your wedding package? Did you just have to pay the difference?

Thanks again for your review!! :-) & Sorry about that Cigar Roller!! Sounds like he was trying to get over on you guys!!

[SIMBASIM]

So glad you posted some pics from resort Photog! They are great...Thanks for the review!