Aaronsgirl - Dreams Puerto Aventuras Review and PICS

[aaronsgirl]

Here it goes!

 

 

 

General:

 

The resort is beautiful. It is very small and when we were there, June 30 - July 7th, it was pretty empty. After 11pm NOONE was out. I liked this, I am not a crowd person so it fit perfectly. It did start to get more crowded the last day before we left.

 

Check-in: 10/10

 

We arrived on Tuesday June 30, 2009. There were no lines we walked right up to the desk to check in. All of our guests were checking in at the same time. They put them on the 5th floor and us on the 6th which was perfect. My parents and sister did change there rooms for a ground floor which better suited them with the kids. At first the front desk guy didn't understand why they would change and was worried because it was a downgrade. It all worked out in the end after they asked that my dad sign a release that he asked for that room..haha. They loved being on the ground,rooms 150 and 148, right in front of the pool. They could sit on the patio and be feet from the pool, bar and restaurants. Servers even came to them to get them drinks. They didn't have to leave their patios some days.

 

Resort: 9/10

 

Dreams PA is a beatiful resort. It is small, which is why we chose it. The staff work so hard to keep every aspect of this resort beautiful. Rooms were very clean and modern. The floors are all tile and can get dangerously slippery so make sure you wear those slippers they give you:) We were in room 646 which had an amazing view. I highly recommend it. Some of our guests got marina view rooms which are cheaper. The rooms are no different but the view is just over the marina and oceana restaurant. Its not bad if you aren't planning to be in your room much anyway.

The resort offers 24 hour room service, which we took advantage of a few times. Our food was usually delivered in 30-40 minutes and was good. The room service menu is small, but the items were yummy.

 

Rooms/Housekeeping: 9/10

 

We stayed in an ocean view room and had the honeymoon package. There were flower petals all over the bed with towel art when we arrived. They had a bottle of wine and two apples for us as well. Everyday they made some cute little animal or doll out of the towels. We also got treats all but 2 night we were there. The chocolate covered strawberries were the BEST.

 

The rooms were kept very clean throughout our entire week. Sometimes I think they came twice a day. The reason I give a nine is because for some reason they took FOREVER to clean my parents room on the day of the wedding. I was getting ready in there and we had to call to ask them to clean it and then call again. Finally it did get cleaned on time.

 

Beach/Pools: 9/10

The beach is SMALL. It is beautiful though with warm water and soft sand. Don't plan to take long walks, although I think if you really wanted you could walk down the beach of the other resorts. There are a few rocks in the beginning of the beach but then it softens up. It didn't bother me at all. We snorkeled and saw a pretty good amount of fish and sea life.

I didn't get in the pool at all really. My sister and family spent all their time there. It was like bath water and usually more full than the beach. The swim up bar was nice and always served quickly. Towels are everywhere and we never had trouble finding one. The chairs did get taken quickly but we always found one somewhere even if it wasn't the best location.

 

Food/Restaurants: 8/10

 

The restaurants to choose from are:

Seaside Grill: by the main pool, easiest to go to. Food was good, pretty quick. Outside seating.

World Cafe: I enjoyed breakfast there every morning. This is the buffett choice and usually had tons of thing to choose from. We only ate there for lunch once, but they do change the choices each meal for the most part. Always had a variety of foods from different cultures.

Portofino: Italian; very good, most fancy, slower service.

El Patio: Mexican; we ate here for our rehearsal dinner. It was very good, good service.

Oceana: Seafood; loved this place; outside seating; tuna steak was mouthwatering. Crabcakes are the other good choice. No lobster.

Gohan: Sushi; did not eat there.

 

Entertainment/Things to do: 10/10

Although the resort is small they do a great job of keeping things going. They had some sort of show or party each night. A few nights vendors came in to sell various items. Sometimes they walked around the resort with a monkey, iquana or parrot that you could take your picture with(by them and pay about $10 for it). We were there on the 4th of July and they had a huge celebration(no fireworks they are illegal). On our last night they had a beach party with fire dancers. We had these at our wedding as a surprise gift from my family so we had already seen them.

 

Wedding Details:

 

Wedding Coordinator: 10/10

 

I worked with Jacy. Although during the planning process at home it took a week or longer to receive emails from here, when we got there she was very organized. She is sooo sweet. She did a great job making everything perfect. We did have some trouble with our decorations after the wedding, but she was the one who sorted it all out and had things under control.

 

 

Initial Meeting:

We met the day before our wedding. It was a quick meeting. She had everything ready for us and all the details correct. We sat in the lobby and made sure everything was the way we wanted it and then walked to the site to make sure we were all on the same page.

 

Spa/Hair: 9/10

The spa area is SMALL. It was only my sister, my mom and I so it worked out, but if you have a large party you will have to take turns going in and out. I had a french manicure and my hair and makeup done. The manicure turned out good after it dried. I kept smudging it in the beginning. They don't put you under any drying lamp just say okay your done. It takes a long time to dry with the humidity. Just get it done first and leave time for it to dry. I got my hair done next. I have naturally curly hair and she worked well with it. I was nervous about it getting very frizzy, but she handled it well and didnt puff it out at all. She also did an amazing job with my makeup. I had her use my own so that I knew I liked the colors and products. I was nervous in the beginning again and in the middle was very nerous because I looked scary, but in the end it was perfect and stayed on forever.

 

Flowers: 5/10

 

I didn't care too much about flowers so I only had my boquet, a boutinierr for Aaron and two centerpieces on the table. I wanted all white roses open wide. I got very closed roses with greenery. It was okay, but luckily I only carried it for a few minutes then left it on the table. The centerpieces didn't even match, they had roses and lilies. It was all pretty, but if I was picky about flowers I didn't get what I asked for. The did give me two flowers for my hair which were pretty, but they did die pretty early in the night. I would recommend fake flowers for your hair.

 

Photography:

We won a free package from Daniela Garza Photography from this site! I will do a review later about her when I see all the pictures.

Our package came with 50 photos which we exchanged for a centerpiece. A photographer and videographer were there for the ceremony and about 30 minutes of the cocktail hour. They showed us the pictures they took and we could purchase them for $10 a piece if we bought more than 3. We didn't buy any. They were okay.

The video turned out great. It took them awhile to get it to us so if you are leaving soon after your wedding I would make sure you discuss this with them immediately.

 

Ceremony: 10/10

 

Our ceremony was at 5pm in the wedding gazebo. I had them decorate it with simple white chiffon loosley hanging with no flowers. I liked the outcome. We sent our wording from our legal day to the minister before hand and he used it for us and added a little bit at the end about the symbolism of the ring as a circle. It was nice. He was a little hard to understand with his accent and the wind. We used a microphone which was a little weird for us. You could still barely here us on the video though. They did set up the sound system for us free of charge.

The best part of the ceremony was seeing my DH for the first time that day at the end of the aisle. He had a big handsome smile on his face. When I came down the big stairs from the main lobby the whole resort stopped and cheered. Everyone from the pool to the beach watched this walk with my dad. It made me VERY emotional which took me by surprise. I think they were the only almost tears shed all day. I was so nervous at the point that seeing Aaron and the end of the aisle calmed me down and from then on it was nothing but happiness.

 

Dinner: 8/10

 

We had our dinner set up on the beach with a long rectangle table by the lagoon. They did a great job. We started late I think(don't actually no the time) because they asked me 3 times if we were ready and finally we got all of us seated to start. By then it was getting dark so it had to be later than we were supposed to be seated. We had the shrimp pastry which was great, the italian salad - good, torilla soup - okay, surf and turf - I think it was cooked too long while they waited for us because it was very dry. The shrimp was good though. Dessert was tiramisu - yummmy.

Reception: 8/10

 

Our reception and dinner were in the same place so it sort of blended together. My mom surprised us with fire dancer which were so cool. We brought our own music so we basically controlled all that ourselves. We got through our dances and then our speakers died

There was a plug there, but it was too far away. By the time we got our extension chord which our photographer had to lone us they weren't serving us anymore. I was really bummed but didnt let it get to me. My DH got them to get us a bottle of vodka and we moved on. I would have like to stay there for much longer but it just didn't work out that way.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

Our wedding was everything we could have wanted. A few hiccups here and there, but we all enjoyed ourselves and I look at the pictures almost everyday still...haha. I am so glad we decided on a destination wedding. We very much liked Dreams PA, but did discuss trying other resorts if we returned to Mexico. Only to get a variety not out of disappointment.

 

Here is a link to some pictures my sister took(who should go pro and would love to if she could afford to stay home and work!!). I will post pro pics with a review when I get them.

 

 

Kristie's Wedding - a set on Flickr

[MarieSam]

GReat review, and you're right your sis should go pro ~ her pics are great!!!! Can't wait to see more

[weddinggirl72]

great pictures! love the umbrellas!!!

[Carolyn]

Wow your sister did an amazing job on the pictures. Congrats Mrs.

[Ginalyn]

Congrats Kristie!! I am sooo glad to hear that another DPA bride had a great experience. Love the pics!

[MsZ]

great review! your sister took some amazing shots!! Congratulations!

[RoryS]

Hi Kristie,

When I saw your sister's pictures - I honestly thought she was a professional photographer. She should definitely think about it!!

[JGAMMAGIRL77]

I love your pictures. They came out soo good!!!

 

Jess

[michellepicksbrent]

Great pictures and review! Congratulations!!

[YaelM]

Great review!!! Your sister is so talented!! I loved the pics