Dreams Tulum 6/04/08 Review- wow kinda long

wow, i can't believe it's finally my turn to post a review!! i'll try hard to make sense and make it worthwhile- although i feel all the reviews i read always say the same thing- that the wedding was fabulous.... and so was mine!

 

where to start?

 

it all started in 2005, when i was skipping down the hall at work and caught shawn's eye. got engaged in 2007 and here we are!

 

Dreams Tulum

we choose DT because last year we went on a trip with some of my friends and stayed at dreams cancun. it was amzing there and the service was so excellent and we were impressed with dreams. when we went on a xel ha excursion, we passed DT and it looked very impressive. So after we got engaged, i looked at DT ( i always wanted a DW, my family only consist of dad and 2 brothers- everyone else is in japan) and loved their website pics- the grand entrance and most importantly, the chapel. so we decided on the chapel

 

we stayed in the honeymoon suite, our guests stayed in either the dreams jr suite or in the hacienda section. our room was awesome- 8240, second floor- i read somewhere that the first floor honeymoon suite was not too good, too close to the pool. i agree, you walk out your balconey and the pool is right there, but at the same time you can walk into your room thru your balconey- easy access!

 

i would defintely recommend the newer dreams section, the rooms are beautiful. all most everyone was satisfied with the hacienda as well, except for the one couple that we were hoping that nothing would happen to. we had read many negative reveiws about DT's room, but was encouraged with all the positive that we read on here. but all the negative reviews- no hot water, construction, broken faucets, poor plumbing, multiple room changes- all happened to them. the one couple we were hoping that everything would go smoothly for. they seemed okay about it, she had water turned off in the middle of washing her hair, so she finished up with bottled water. after they moved into the dreams section- they were fine.

room service took a little long, but it was posted in their menu that the wait would be 30-45 mins, and it was.

staff was very nice and all of us had a great time.

food was yummy as well.

 

Sandra/ Landy-WC

i dealt mostly with landy and now sandra is no longer doing wedding but doing sells. true, long response times, but with all i read on the forum, i was expecting it and knew all would be well, and it was! landy was really good at getting back to me right away closer to the wedding date, well at least within 24 hours through email. we had our meeting on monday, i got married wed. she took care of everything. ***i think you can totally get away with not paying the day pass**** we had 3 guests and paid 45 bucks each, and they were only there for the ceremony and reception, which we paid for anyways. it would have been different if they were there earlier to enjoy some of the dreams stuff, but it was purely only for the wedding and i don't think anyone (secruity) checked- i'll have to get back on that one. so anywho- back to monday. meet with her, went over flowers, cake and food- just like everyone said she would. i gave her my suitcase of stuff- guestbook/markers, lumanries, memorial candle, programs, fans, tears of joy, glass cups i took from the room and tied ribbon to make them tealight holders for our head table, etc- told her where everything goes and it was done. she was awesome, professional and very very sweet and nice.

 

flowers- i was so over deciding on anything that i let my friend pick the color of flowers. i wanted cally lillies, but not in season. overall- i wasn't obviously too picky with the flowers, but the bouquet came out very lovely.

 

cake was tres leches and yummy. it was beautiful and nicely decorated with beautiful flowers

 

food- amazingly good. i didn't really get to eat but the cesar with blackened chicken was delicioso! everyone seemed to like it and was impressed. we had to pick one entree for everyone- so we went with chicken and 1 fish for the vegetarian. BTW it was the same chicken that they serve at PORTOFINO the italian resturant

 

our reception was at the new convention center thing, and it is very nice and impressive- i say impressive alot, but it was! i didn't want it on the beach or outdoors, i figure they can eat outdoors on their own. plus i get bug bites like crazy and i didn't want to think about bug spray.

 

so naturally....

 

we had our ceremony in the chapel. it was raining the 2 days before our wedding, but the skies parted and the sun shined and shined and shined... and warmed/ steamed up the chapel pretty well!! our wedding was at 5pm, hoping it would cool down.... but no, it was probably the hottest day that week. it was VERY warm, all our guests were polite to say "yes, it was a bit warm" but it was...hot. DH and I were sweating, like sweat rolling down, my BM patting my face like i was a surgeon. I had fans for the guests, but not for me! my BMs were faning me, i think i was extra warm b/c of the veil. the GM had a washcloth passing amongst them to wipe off sweat, passed it to DH and he patted me some too. sweet gesture, but i really wanted it in the chapel b/c it was so mexican antiquey- which was my theme. the ceremony was only 15-20 mins. we were fine. ***advice- have ice cold water bottles available with the fans and maybe go with 6 or 630pm- depending upon how much light you need for pics**** so the tears of joy turned into sweats of joy. and our marriage started off hot and sweaty... and hopefully for many many more years too come!

 

we had a friend do a hand cermony. i had a memorial vase with a single white rose, a memorial candle, and a pic of my mother. as well as a memorial pic of her in my bouquet, and we left a single rose on a seat in the front pew for her as well. maybe that was too much....

 

we hired sol for photography and she is just as beautiful in person as she is in her pics. what an amazing talented person. i so wanted to be her next BFF, but i dropped the ball, i forgot to order her and her assist. dinner. i offered her mine, but she said no thanks. but she worked the whole time, so really i don't think she would had time to eat anyways- or i like to tell myself that. we really just let her do her thing, and i'm sure the pics will turn out fab, except i had that one friend that always cut in front of her to take her own pics...aghhhh she worked so hard, i hardly had time to convince her how cool i am and fun to hang out with. we told her if she's in pasadena in july, she's totally invited to our AHR and i promise to feed her.

 

since we had sol, we subbed in a videographer- forgot his name. he was cool i guess, just filmed. said our video would be shipped to our house, so i'll let you all know how that goes

 

the SPA: freaking awesome!!! so nice!! and everyone is super duper friendly. the spa concinge (splling?) was so nice. her name is jennifer, she's canadian, speaks spanish and gets to live there. how fun is that? i had a hair trial the day before- went well, but for the actual day went with a part, and it was more then i could have asked for. not totting my horn, but wow, i looked good. Tatiana is her name. she has the most prettiest green/blue eyes. she did my make up as well- i was alittle concerned initially b/c 1. i didn't want to come out with black eyeliner and red red lipstick looking like a "conchita" and 2. asian makeup can be tricky, the whole eyelid thing. but like i said, i looked pretty hot. it ws very natural and it stayed, even through the whole sweating fiasco. she did my MOH too, but she took it off in the room, she said it was too dark and did her own, but i swear, she looked the same with different lipstick. but she's gorgeous to begin with

 

i also had a body scrub and massage before my hair appt and the faciliities are top notch, very comparable to burke williams, on a smaller scale. both my moh and i are spa snobs, so, we were impressed.

 

anything else?

 

tuesday before the wedding we took a group tour with matt addock's referred company- sinal tours. its on the forum. we went to coba and grand cenote and all my guests were very impressed- that word again, i need a thesarus! very professional, on time and most importantly, safe cautious drivers. we had a friend who lost his whole family in mexico when the tour bus lost control, so safety was very important to us.

 

honestly i can;t think of anything else.

 

oh yeah... we had a bonfire afterwards, we only had to tip the guy $30 for it. it was a nice way for everyone to wind down, and it was a lovely night. i wanted fire dancers, but they were performing that night at the resort, so i thought maybe the guest can check them out on the way to the bonfire, but it didn't work out that way. the fire dancers were close by, but we were face to the ocean so, we missed them, i suggested to go see them, but no one moved. i would have loved it if they performed for us. but like my moh said, no one knew so, its not like they missed out on anything. but the fire dancers would have been a nice touch.

 

we rented a sound system for like 150 for the reception and just played my prepicked ipod during the reception. no one introduces you so, i had my lovely and talented BM to MC. she was awesome, and her DH is a DJ so he fiddled with my ipod and we actually had a great time dancing as well- on carpet!

 

please any questions, ask me. i know this forum was monumental in my planning and i would love to give back to the newbies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i forgot we had a rehersal the night before as well, then hung out at the sugar reef afterwards

 

 

What awesome pictures! Thanks for the review. I am so happy your wedding went well!!!

congratulations! You look gorgeous and like you were having fun.

Congratulations! You looked gorgeous and your dress is beautiful. Glad you guys had a fantastic wedding. Love the pics you posted too!

Yeah! Your review! And a great one at that!

So happy and relieved your wedding turned out beautiful. You looked amazing! Love your veil, where did you get it?

 

Thank you for the advice on the chapel. I'm planning on getting married there for the exact same reasons as you, it's just so beautiful, so Mexican.

But now I'm worried about the heat. My wedding is in late November so maybe it won't be too hot in there. I think I'm just gunna play it by ear and test it out the days before the wedding. If its too hot then we will switch locations (but I hope not too!).

 

Thanks again!

 

Oh, and did your guests who stayed off the resort just walk in? Did they say anything when they drove up? I know there is a security guard at the gate even before they drive in.

Congratulations!!!!! And thanks so much for the detailed review! Glad to hear everything went well WOOWHOO!

They ask for room numbers when you arrive and leave, but I don't think they keep track to make sure the people who are coming are teh people who had left, because we would leave with 4 people in a taxi, and we would often give one of our room numbers when we left, and another room number when we arrived and they didn't say anything.

Also there are no bracelets.

I can totally see how you could get away without paying for day passes.

In fact, I can see how you could get away without paying for some people period, just paying for the room and everyone else staying in the room for free! Not suggesting it, but I'm just saying, with no bracelets...