Teesha's Dreams Tulum Resort and Wedding Review

[Teesha]

Resort

 

10/10

The resort is absolutely beautiful. For those of you, like me, who can not afford to do a site visit prior to your wedding, have no fear!!! Dreams Tulum is perfect for anyone who wants their wedding at a smaller Mayan resort (although small is not quite how I would describe it). To put it into perspective, we had 6 guests stay at the Grand Bahia Principe resort, which is 5 or 6 resorts all attached and you have to take shuttle buses to get anywhere on the resort. They also told us you could easily get lost on the way to dinner or a show. This does not happen at Dreams Tulum.

 

Beach

 

8/10

I had read a lot of reviews about the beach, so was completely prepared for what we were going to get. All the girls who have written about the beach are right, it is rocky and there is a lot of seaweed. However, as I am not a salt-water person anyway, this didn’t make any difference to me. As a warning for anyone who is excited to jump on the trampoline, we had 3 guests get injured. Apparently, once you jump on the trampoline there is no guarantee it will still be under you when you come down LOL!!! So 3 different people landed, feet first, in the water on a rock and ended up limping for the rest of the trip.

 

Service

10/10

The service at the resort is impeccable. I have never been to a resort where all the staff was sooooo nice. You can’t pass anyone without someone saying “Holaâ€, so be prepared to be saying it to everyone you see. During dinner, all the wait staff says “It’s a pleasure†to anything they do for you. It was the nicest sentiment I’ve ever heard and makes you feel very special. The staff does work extremely hard and completely depends upon tips, so if you have a good experience please be sure to show your appreciation by tipping. Any amount is appreciated by them and we usually left a couple of dollars after every “fancy†dinner we went to.

 

Food

 

10/10

I give the food such high ratings because of the great selections. There is something for everyone! Our favourite restaurant was probably the Asian, Himatsu. However, my husband tried sushi for the first time and fell in love with it. The sushi is super fresh! My only recommendation is not to order the sushi with cream cheese in it. For some reason they put a ton of cream cheese in the sushi that overpowers the whole experience. You’ll see what I mean if you order it

 

Since we were there for 2 weeks we were able to go to all the restaurants a couple of times. At a couple of the restaurants, French and Italian, the portions were smaller so we would sometimes visit another restaurant right after LOL! It was very convenient that the resort does not take reservations and it was first come first serve.

 

Lunch – the grill on the beach is very convenient for a lunch time snack, especially if you’re not ready to leave the sun just yet. They usually had BBQ pork, chicken, ribs or hot dogs with tortillas and salsa and salad. It changed everyday. A lot of our guests really enjoyed the Sea Side Grill for lunch or the Mexican. Both restaurants had similar food, but the Mexican had more fried pub type of food – good for a hangover!

 

Breakfast – We went to the buffet almost everyday for breakfast, but if you want a change, like to be waited on and would like to enjoy the scenery, try the Sea Side Grill – very relaxing.

 

FYI – Every Tuesday and Friday the resorts have a Mexican and Caribbean Fiesta (respectively) in the big open area behind the coffee café. It is just a huge buffet and the food was fantastic. If you are thinking of doing a big group dinner and don’t want to pay the private event fee, this is the perfect venue for that. You just need to get there right at 6pm to get tables relatively close together (they are all tables of 10 or 12 – I think).

 

Rooms

 

9/10

After reading Rachel’s review, we took some advice from her and emailed the resort to ask for a room upgrade. We had booked the cheapest room, which was probably a hacienda garden view suite. After much back and forth with Javier he double upgraded us to a Dreams Suite and offered to give us the honeymoon suite for $40 or $50 a night. We stuck with the free upgrade to the Dreams Suite and the room was gorgeous!

 

Our only complaint about the Dreams suite is the location. The new section is close to the pool and all the other amenities. The problem is the noise. One day we tried to take an afternoon nap and had no luck. You can here music playing, kids screaming and doors slamming all day! The noise actually starts at about 6am everyday with the wait staff carrying dishes or pushing carts to and from the restaurants.

 

Hacienda rooms – all of our guests were in these rooms. Do not worry if you are put here, these rooms are really nice as well. The bonus is that they are quiet. There is a hammock on the balcony of every room and the patio opens up to a shared area with a fountain in the middle – it reminded me of Melrose Place LOL!

 

 

Wedding – Dreams of Love package (Silver – 43 guests)

 

10/10

Like many of you on here, I was super stressed about the wedding beforehand. I would like to alleviate your fears. The wedding was perfect!!! Landy was our coordinator and went above and beyond for us. There were a couple of hiccups along the way, but once you’re there you completely relax and take everything in stride.

 

I had read that upon arrival you would have a letter in your room setting up your first meeting with the coordinator. There was no letter! We didn’t get the letter until the day of our meeting. When you meet with your coordinator, she goes over the entire contract with you and shows you all the prices for the items you are paying for and you have to pay for everything upfront at that first meeting – so bring your cash or your travellers cheques!!! She also tells you when you need to go for your blood test. Most of the items are exactly what you agreed on and what is in the wedding guide, some are not. We were quoted $45 for bridesmaid bouquets and only paid $35 for them, so sometimes it works out in your favour. Yes, you do have to pay a fee twice for the music, this is their policy and there’s really no point arguing it. There is also a fee for setting up any paper lanterns you bring, we didn’t argue. Overall we were very happy with what we paid as we had guesstimated more than what the actual cost was.

 

There is a second meeting that you will have that you need to bring your witnesses to (they will need their passport and tourist card) to sign documents. The coordinator will also take any items that you need set up. We met with Landy again the day before and passed over everything – menu cards, shot glasses, place cards, starfish, tulle, paper lanterns – and she took notes of where everything was to go. Everything was in the right place for the reception!

 

We had downgraded to the silver package prior to leaving after going over the packages with a fine-tooth comb. All you really get extra for the Ultimate package is the mariachi band, the different menu and the couples massage. We agreed the band was not a necessity and instead downloaded Mexican music to our iPod that we played during the cocktail reception. We also liked the Silver menu better than the Gold and were very happy with the food. Actually our guests were still talking about how good it was days later. You can actually see the menu in our professional pics…link below. So we saved $700 US by going with the other package. I also had asked about switching the photographer for the videographer months earlier, as we had booked our own photographer. Landy had agreed, but when I confirmed with Anabel just before we got there, she claimed that switches were no longer allowed. I sent her Landy’s original email and she quickly said they would allow it this time, but it is not allowed moving forward. So ladies KEEP ALL YOUR EMAILS!!!!

 

Wedding Extras – we decided that we wanted our guests to have a full Mexican experience so instead of flowers for the centrepiece we opted for a bottle of Tequila on ice. Landy got us the bottles of tequila for $25 each to save us from going into town. We probably could have bribed the bar staff but went this route to avoid the hassle  She also had salt and lime wedges set up in margarita glasses – we were pleasantly surprised by this.

 

During our first meeting with Landy, we discussed where everything was to take place. We had originally wanted everything on the beach – ceremony, cocktails and reception. Landy then told us that the Sea Side Grill would be closed that night and asked us if we wanted to have the reception in there instead. At first we were suspicious and asked about the cost, but Landy told us that we could have it for free because it was going to be closed anyway. Not sure why the Grill was closed on a Thursday evening, but we were very happy to save the $750 private event fee. We checked the following Thursday to see if this was a regular occurrence, but it was open. My husband thinks they closed it specifically for us due to the number of guests they would have to serve on the beach from the Grill. I don’t know if this is true or not, but we were very grateful to have the restaurant as it was very windy that night and I’m sure people would’ve had sand in their food if we were still on the beach LOL!!!

 

Photography – Del Sol Photography

 

When I first booked Del Sol, I was told that I would get associate photographer Diego, however, Vincent and Paco showed up. BTW – I only paid for one day pass ($55) and didn’t get charged the additional pass; I also didn’t know I was getting 2 photographers . I was very happy to have Vincent after reading Rachel Martin’s review. She was right, he was fantastic!!! He totally put us at ease and was very professional. He’s from France, but his English is very good. When he couldn’t think of the English word, my husband and him spoke French and just translated for me! I completely recommend Del Sol to anyone who thinks pictures are important. I wrestled with the cost for a while but do not regret the decision at all. Vincent and Paco stayed for 4 hours and took amazing pictures! Here is a sample, I haven’t received them all but love most of what is here:

 

04.09.09 Teesha and Martin | Dreams Tulum | Photos by Vincent

 

All in all, our wedding was everything we hoped it would be and more! Feel free to write me if you have any questions and I will do my very best to answer. This forum was fantastic leading up to my wedding day and I would love to give back wherever I can!!!

[Blkatz]

your pictures are so pretty!!

[sunstarsmoon]

Beautiful pictures. Love all the bridesmaids dresses and of course your dress was beautiful. also I thought the starfish in the sand to mark the aisle is a really good idea

[SunBride]

Thanks so much for writing such a wonderful and detailed review! I'm happy to hear everything went so well.

 

I jumped on the trampoline and didn't have any issues, but perhaps it is tied down differently now than it used it be.

 

Recently at work somebody said to me "it's a pleasure" and it immediately brought me back to my stay at Dreams Tulum because the staff must have said that to me like a hundred times during my stay! They are very polite and try really hard to please you.

 

The cream cheese sushi was my favorite! But that is probably because I'm not a big fan of sushi. My sister reffered to it as "sushi for beginners"

 

The Dreams Suites actually run along the entire walkway from the lobby to the beach/pools. So if people want to be where it is more quiet then you'd probably be better off being somewhere between the lobby and beach rather than beachfront. I do remember it being a bit noisy during the day too (didn't bother me though since we didn't nap).

 

I think they reguarly close some of the restaurants sometimes, so you probably just got lucky that it happened to be that night and that Landy offered you that private event for free. You are right though that it's also probably easier for them, saves them from setting up tables on the beach.

 

LOVE your pictures. I also thought of the starfish in the sand idea which was my back-up idea if they were giong to charge me a lot for the flowers in the aisle. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE your bouquet!

[Shannond4156]

Great review. Sounds like you had a great time. Your pictures are beautiful!

[*Nadine*]

Your pics are STUNNING! I love the color of your girls dresses and its making me want to switch mine!! oh man. My girls are doing the jcrew thing in the same color (clover) but different styles as well. I love it! congrats!!

[wahmsuzanne]

I'm sure I'll have more to say (Congrats and everything's just beautiful!!!!!!!) ... did they make your bouquet? It's awesome!!!!!

 

Add:

 

Wow!!!!!!! What a stunning couple! I love the pics of you on the staircase from above you ... you are gorgeous. Everything looks so nice ... the placeholders are wonderful too. Again, it's all just amazing! Congrats again and you must be so happy ... looks like it was perfect. *huGs* Suzanne

 

P.S. Could you share what Mexican music you downloaded? Thanks!

[BirminghamBride2010]

WOW!!!Picture are beautiful. Loved the bridesmaid dresses.

[*Kerin28*]

Great review. Thanks. It seems like you guys had a blast. Congrats!

[wahmsuzanne]

Another question ... did you get the rose petals for the isle from them? If so ... how many bags did you use? How many starfish total for your isle ... how far apart and where did you get them (cost). thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!