Dreams Tulum Wedding 11/23/2007 Review - Long

[donandcorri]

Hello everyone,
I got back Monday morning from two fabulous weeks at Dreams Tulum!

I'm going to try to be as detailed as I can but if you have any questions just ask - I'm more than happy to help if I can.........

We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and I met Sandra for the first time the next day. She had all of the details we had previously discussed printed out & ready for review. I would suggest bringing your 4 witnesses to your scheduled meeting as Sandra requires copies of their tourist card & passport. We didn't bring our witnesses & it was a little difficult trying to coordinate getting them together after our meeting.

We made arrangements for the blood test, dress steaming, rehersal etc and also reviewed & confirmed all details of the wedding including what time the photographer was to show up & what time the Carribean trio was to play.

We chose the Ultimate Wedding Pkg for $2400 USD

Hair & Make-up:
They did a pretty good job on my hair & make-up though it wasn't exactly what I wanted. My sister's hair looked great but her make-up was a little off (it made her look older). My suggestion would be to bring pictures for both hair & make-up and speak up while they're working on you.

Flowers:
The flowers were fantastic!!! I had brought pictures of what I wanted for my bouquet, BM bouquet & the boutonnieres. They all looked exactly like the pictures. For the corsages & ceremony/reception decor I just requested that they use the same flowers as my bouquet and they turned out beautifully!

Ceremony:
We got married at the gazebo located by the Seaside Grill which seemed to be the most popular location. I think I saw a wedding there almost every day. I had also brought a picture of what I wanted the ceremony set-up to look like and it ended up exactly like the picture. We had a female judge who did the ceremony in Spanish & then Landy translated. They have a sound system that you can use @ no charge for the ceremony so we brought a CD with the processional, recessional & a song to play during the signing of marriage docs. I was a little disorganized & gave Landy the CD about 5 minutes before the ceremony along with our bubbles & fans and it was all taken care of - absolutely no problems!

Photographer:
I had some worries about using the resort photographer however, by the time I got my *husband* to agree to booking an outside photographer, we couldn't locate one in our price-range that we liked and was available. The resort photographer did a really nice job - I was very pleasantly surprised. He took photos from about 1/2 hour before the wedding for "getting ready" shots to about 1 hour after the wedding doing shots around the resort. We definitely have some cheesy shots but there are still lots of great shots. We got an album with 36 prints with our package and then paid $350 to get all the shots (just over 200) on cd - this was cheaper than paying for additional shots. We had our photos & CD the day after the wedding.

Videographer:
A videographer (Oscar's Video) and 15 minute edited DVD was also included in our package. I thought we were just getting the ceremony but he stayed after the ceremony and followed us around with the photographer. We ended up with a video of the ceremony along with a sort of slideshow to music. It's a little hokey but I still really enjoyed watching it.

Cocktail Hour & Reception:
We had planned on having both the Cocktail Hour & Reception on the beach but it got really windy & a bit rainy after the ceremony so we were given the choice of moving indoors to the wine cellar. We decided to move indoors. The staff were very quick and efficient about moving everything from the beach to the wine cellar in Portofino. We had the Cocktail Hour with Caribbean band playing in Portofino as it wasn't opened yet then moved to the wine cellar for dinner. Our wait staff was fantastic - very efficient and friendly. The food was delicious - we were all stuffed after!! We barely managed to get a bite of cake down after.

And Finally... Sandra & Landy:
I had some concerns based on our email communication (or lack of) prior to the wedding. They managed everything wonderfully! You really could go down there having planned only what you're going to wear and Sandra & Landy would still put together a fantastic wedding for you.

Alright, I think I've rambled on long enough. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll try & post some pictures later on.

[donandcorri]

[Karen]

Great review! Congrats! Jay and I were married at Dreams Tulum in July and had a great experiance too. I agree that the slow and fragmented communication with Sandra and Landy was nervewracking but like you they pulled through and gave us the wedding of our dreams (no pun intended). Your pics are beautiful and I love your gown! Wishing you much wedded bliss!

[DreamsTulumBride]

thanks so much ! I am leaving in 36 hours to Dreams Tulum! ! ! My wedding is just around the corner!

[babycow]

Congratulations! Your pictures are just breath taking, they are really impressive and you look beautiful. Thanks for doing this review, it is so reassuring that things will go smoothly no matter what kind of communication I’ve had with Sandra or Landy.

[bride_2_b08]

love your pics!! thanks so much for a great review I feel a lot better now.

[LisaG]

Great review! James and I also got married at Dreams Tulum, and used their photographer. I think they did a great job on your pics!! Congratulations!!

[royfa]

Congratulations!

[AmyInMI]

Thanks for the great review!! I can agree with everyone regarding the concern related to the lack of communication before the wedding but it is very reassuring that everything went so well!! Thanks again and congrats!!

[ccarmany23]

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing the information. I have not decided on location yet and have seen a lot of information on Dreams Cancun but not the Tulum one.
I was wondering how big your group was and if you saw an area that would allow for DJ/Music or had heard of a nearby disco that could be rented out?

Thanks and congrats!