amesharpe's Dreams Tulum Wedding Review

amesharpe · January 14, 2009

Hi Girls!!! I know this is seriously overdue but here it is.

Choosing a resort

Let me start out by saying that Iâ€™ve read tons of reviews today of other resorts and I am absolutely sure that we chose the perfect place for our wedding. Matt & I stayed two weeks at Dreams Tulum and I definitely recommend it for all future brides if possible. We arrived 10 days prior to the wedding which gave me enough time to relax, soak up the sun, witness several other weddings and spend time with all of my family and friends.

There are several reasons why we chose this specific resort. First, we knew we wanted to stay at a Dreams resort. Matt and I had been to the Riu Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta the year before and I really wasnâ€™t impressed with the resort at all. My maid of honor had stayed at the Dreams in Puerto Vallarta last year and when we both came back and compared notes there was no question that the service was superior to other resorts.

I really liked the fact that Dreams Tulum was very secluded. And oh boy is it EVER secluded. There is nothing for miles in either direction on the beach (oh well except for the creepy bates motel thingy south of the resort about 2 miles). My Dad ran to the ruins every morning and he just loved it. Matt and I took several walks south of the resort early in the morning right around sunrise and it was amazing. It was like we were on our own island or something. We found many shells and even brought some home. I also really liked that the resort didnâ€™t require us to wear wristbands and that they had premium liquor (that way we knew what kind of hangover we were in for the next day)

Arrival, check-in & OOT bag delivery

Matt and I arrived on Tuesday Dec. 10th. We booked a private transfer through Apple Vacations although I donâ€™t really think itâ€™s necessary. The resort is so far off the beaten path, half of my guests booked private transfers and the other half just had the regular transfer. The other half said that they made one or two stops and it didnâ€™t really take that much time to stop and they loved looking at the other resorts that they stopped at.

When we checked in we were promptly greeted with warm hand towels, champagne and a â€œwelcome homeâ€ (very impressive) We also received our wedding appointment letter from Landy . We booked an Ocean view Dreams Suite (room 8336). It was beautiful and overlooked the activity pool by the Sea Side Grill. The bed was covered in rose petals and there was a bottle of champagne on ice as well as a letter from Daniel (also impressive).

All of my guests except for one couple booked Hacienda rooms. My travel agent put in requests for my parents, my maid of honor, my husbandâ€™s mother, sisterâ€™s and grandparents to be upgraded to Dreams suites if available. They were all upgraded as requested. We had guests arriving every day from Saturday to Friday. I was a little hesitant to drop off all of my OOT bags at once and hope they made it to the rooms so Landy suggested that we bring them on the days of check-in. That actually worked out great because we had planned on greeting all of our guests at check-in. It wasnâ€™t long before Erica (at concierge) and I became the best of friends. I had brought all of our guests iteniaries and we checked with the apple rep every day to see if there flight was on-time. We made sure that we were in the lobby about 1 & Â½ hours after the plane landed. We brought the OOT bags with us to the lobby and met with Erica. She took the bags and wrote down the room numbers for check-in. This is the important part. I actually got to see the reservations on her computer. The guests that we requested for an upgrade were listed as VIPâ€™s. I would recommend that all of you future brides ask your travel agents to request the guests you would like to be upgraded listed as VIPâ€™s. Erica took the bags and had them given to our guests at check-in. This way we could ensure that all of our guests did receive their OOT bags and we avoided the $2 bag delivery fee.

One major problem that was resolved perfectly

We did have one hiccup at check-in with my husbandâ€™s sister. I thought it was strange that when we arrived our bags stayed outside and we were ushered inside right away. On Monday we had 10 people arrive (the largest group) There were a ton of bags, children and we were just all excited to see each other. Mattâ€™s sister let her camera bag with two cameraâ€™s and a video camera stay outside with the rest of the bags (unbeknownst to her probably because of the excitement) It never made it to her room. She didnâ€™t realize it until dinner and was absolutely devastated. Everyone that arrived that day remembers seeing the camera bag on the top of all of the luggage outside. We notified the front desk and conceirege immediately. They were pretty unresponsive until I finally walked her back up there the next day and started asking questions like whether they had checked with anyone else that had checked in that day. They hadnâ€™t and I started to get upset. We decided to use the resort photographer so Mattâ€™s sister had brought all of this camera equipment to record the entire vacation and make a scrap book of our wedding for us. I asked to speak to Daniel and he was unavailable because he was in a meeting so Landy came down and we explained everything to her. Daniel called Mattâ€™s sister every day with an update on if they had found the bag or not. The day before the wedding they offered to drive her to Playa del Carmen and replace everything! She was a little concerned about buying cameras in Mexico and the warranties that would come with them so they gave her the replacement value in cash.

The Spa

The spa was beautiful. Matt and I went in and had a couples massage one day when the weather wasnâ€™t so great before all of our guests arrived. I didnâ€™t react to well to the massage. It must have released all of the toxins in my muscles and I was sick to my stomach afterward. I felt drunk and nauseas and wasnâ€™t sure that I could walk all the way back to the room. At one point I didnâ€™t know whether to ask for a golf cart ride to my room or to see the medical person on staff at the resort. I ended up going back to the room and sleeping for the rest of the day and through the night. After that I decided to give the complimentary massage offered in our Ultimate wedding package to my maid of honor and my father. Funny note: They gave my Dad the facial too. Of course they ended up giving me a facial too.

My maid of honor and I had pedicures the day before the wedding and then we both as well as my Mom had our hair and makeup done the day of the wedding. Donâ€™t worry about your hair. These girls are pros and they do wedding hair almost every day. Think about itâ€¦your hair stylist at home maybe does wedding hair a couple of times a year. We just brought a picture and they went to it. It took two girls about and hour and fifteen minutes to do our hair and makeup. The makeup wasnâ€™t that great. We definitely had to do some touchups on our makeup though. They were off on matching the makeup to our complexions. I waited until we got back to my room and we fixed it and it all turned out fine.

Ceremony & Reception

Matt & I met with Landy for about an hour the day after we arrived. If you are worried at all about the logistics about how the wedding planning will go once you arrive please do not. You will receive a letter upon check-in from your wedding coordinator. Matt was really hell bent on having a civil ceremony. I tried and tried to change his mind and get married at the JOP in the states before we left but he wouldnâ€™t have any of it. In hind sight Iâ€™m so glad he really pushed the issue. It turns out that you actually donâ€™t need your birth certificates if youâ€™re from the states. They only require your passports and tourists cards. We opted to bring our marriage licenses home instead of waiting the 4-6 months of waiting to have them apostilled. Landy told us that it was pretty much the same as having it notarized . We took a gamble and brought them home. I went to the Social Security office yesterday and filed the forms to change my name without any problems.

Landy took notes on everything that we wanted and I dropped a suitcase full of decorations, ribbons, menuâ€™s and programs off the next day. I decided the morning of the wedding that I really wanted the mariachi band instead of just using my ipod for the cocktail hour so my Mom hunted down Landy and she said she would check for us. When my maid of honor and I were having our hair & makeup done Landy managed to find my Mom by the pool and told her that she managed to get the Maraichi band. The day of the wedding everything worked out fine. There were a couple of little problems but they all worked out. I requested not to have any flowers on the gazebo thingy on the beach and they went ahead and put them up anyway. I requested not to have them because I really didnâ€™t like the way it looked and Matt is 6â€7 and I thought they would interfere with the pictures which they did. I also asked to have the aisle lined with palms which we didnâ€™t get but oh well. We planned on having the cocktail hour on the beach by the sea side grill and after the ceremony Landy said â€œso weâ€™ll meet you up at the lobby in an hour for cocktailsâ€ She managed to get that changed right away and everything worked out. So really the things that went wrong were so minor that I could have cared less.

We had the reception by the activity pool on the beach side. It was absolutely beautiful. They set up the speakers and we just plugged in the Ipod. The food was fantastic, I think maybe the best we had during the two weeks we stayed there and I thought the food in the restaurants was amazing. The servers were great and kept checking on all of us for drinks and such. And even after dinner and cake when we had moved on to the dancing they brought out tequila boom-booms and everyone that wanted to do a shot could sit in the â€œhot seatâ€ and have one! Landy just might be the best WC ever. She checked in with me or my parents about every 45 minutes. The shut us down about 11 oâ€™clock and we just moved over to the sugar reef bar until close.

Thatâ€™s pretty much it. I think it was the best vacation and wedding I could have ever imagined and Iâ€™m soo pleased with the way things turned out. Please feel free to contact me with any questions!

Oh and my maid of honor was proposed to the day after my wedding so weâ€™re now in the process of planning her wedding and have the Dreams resorts on the top of our lists!!!