DREAMS PUERTO VALLARTA "thread"

Susana that is great! Congratulations! I was really apprehensive about using a photographer so far from home, but now I am so glad that we did! Keep me posted with your wedding plans!

Hey ladies,

I was catching up on this thread as I haven't been on here too much. I thought I would throw my 2 cents in. Just wanted to reassure all you Dreams brides you have nothing to worry about. I was married on Nov. 10th there and everything went great. I was extremely nervous beforehand because of only contacting Diana thru email. I was pleased with her performance when we got there. I had emailed her pics of flowers I was interested in beforehand and she sent it to the florist to see what was in season. It turns out a lot that I had picked was not avail, at that time of the yr. Thank goodness I had picked out multiple bouquets. The one I settled on was not the exact replica of the pic but was gorgeous and HUGE....the flowers looked good as new even days after the wedding. We were married on the gazebo and had our reception at Las Palmas terrace. We rented the sound system and it worked great. We were married legally by the judge and I decided to do a symbolic ceremony also for about 350 $ extra. I was glad we did because the legal ceremony does not cover the traditional vow exchange and blessing of the rings. The legal ceremony involves more paperwork than anything else. The minister who did our symbolic part was great, she picked a nice reading from the bible and did our sand ceremony for us. it worked out well. We even got a printed out copy of the symbolic ceremony from the minister as a keepsake. We got our license in spanish the day of the wedding but had Erica ( the girl who translated for the judge) take it to the "courthouse" to be translated back into English for us. It was delivered back to our hotel in about 3 days. It cost 50 $ to do that.

Our cocktail and dinner food was great. The wedding cake was so-so but was included in the wedding package we chose. The bartenders were always looking to get you another drink. They were very friendly. We had the mariachi band for the cocktail hr and it was totally worth it. We also had fireworks, they were great and surprised all of our guests. I think we had them go off after our cake cutting.

Our photographer was Juan Carlos Tapia. I thought he was great, we're in the process of waiting for our pics so can't comment on that. I would recommend bringing in an outside photographer. The one provided in the wedding packages is the hotel photoshop. There work is OK but your pics aren't touched up and they are not that creative like the photojournalists.

I did not take any decor with me just used what they offered... chair covers and I picked flowers for the centerpieces on the table (part of the wedding package). That was plenty, the beach in itself is the real decor. I gave Diana our guest sign in book, name cards for tables, and wedding flip flops ahead of time and she had them there ready at the reception site. She actually hung around the reception site most of the evening checking in to make sure all was okay. I know she started work our wedding day around 930 and did not leave until at least after 10, she truly is busy. I don't think you will be disappointed with having your wedding at Dreams. I would do it all over again.

Thank you so much for that mini review....it helped me tons. I've also be on an emotional roller coaster about whether I made the right decision for a resort. I'm over it now!!! Haha it is what it is. Great to get your feedback on the whole legal marriage process. We are having a legal marriage, but would like to do the sand ceremony and exchange vows as well. It's nice to know it's possible. Anyone know if you can get Gerber daisy's in Nov??

FYI if you are on a tight budget promovision does photography as well as video. For photography you pay $900 US total. For that you get unlimited photos, no time constraints, they have color/ B&W and can do natural, posed or artistic. You get all the pictures touched up and on a high resolution CD, which you can take home and then print as you wish.

Yes, thank you for the review!! I'm glad it turned out well - you were so worried in your earlier posts! It's so hard when you can't just call up and get definitive and quick answers from the hotel

We are trying to finalize our date and I am trying to figure out what to do about whether or not to hire an outside WC - which will be determined by cost difference but it's really hard to figure out how much the hotel will charge us.

Can you tell me which package you bought?

Did they decorate the Terrace for the reception?

Do you actually eat out there as part of the reception?

I am also confused about how much more per person it is for cake because we will have a lot more than the 10 or 20. Did you have to order "extra" cake?

Also, with the dinner, what is the special wedding dinner? Is it the "wedding options" on their website (they have like 9 options but then no extra per person charge so I don't know how much it's really going to cost us? Or is it the different buffet options? Those have prices per person but I wasn't sure if those were extra all together (not a part of the packages). Speaking of, how was the food at the reception? We're not looking for something spectacular, but would like something decent.

I noticed the upgraded wedding package includes the use of the gazebo. Do you have to pay for this if you use their basic package? what about the beach and the terrace? Are those just a matter of reserving them or do you have to pay to use them?

Sorry for all of the questions but any insight you can shed on these would be great!

Thanks!!! Jamie

So I am a Dreams PV bride for sure now! Very excited....we are getting married 11/28/09 at a Catholic Church in town and then will have the reception at Dreams...the plan is for everyone to stay at Dreams.

Jess, congrats I'm getting married right after you! Dec 4, 09!

Their new WC, Rebeca has been awesome with me! I thought she would want to wait until right before the wedding to discuss details and decor, but she told me to go ahead and send her questions and to get started.

ps. After I finished Cal Poly, I moved to SD for two years....have many friends there. Will actually be there on the 31st.

I forgot to ask....Does anyone have any feedback on the hair styling at Dreams? It's incl in the package.

I know in Lauren's review she said the hair turned out pretty much how she wanted and the makeup was good. Just wondering if anyone else had comments.

That is awesome Jill! Do you know when you will arrive into town??

Also, I'm trying to figure out an inexpensive Welcome Dinner place that is not at Dreams - any suggestions?