Mel's Dreams Cancun Wedding Review 8.13.09

Dreams Cancun

8.13.09

Flight Mexicana Airlines

I called the airlines days prior to ask about storing my wedding dress and the rep on the phone told me that I could store my dress in the 1st class closet no problem, just to ask the flight attendant. When I got on the plane, I asked the first attendant I saw, and she said that I had to put it on the overhead compartment and they did not have a 1st class closet. She was very rude and so were the other flight attendants throughout the flight to many of the people flying. Maybe they all just woke up on the wrong side of the bed!

On the way home, everything was great. I didn’t care about storing my dress in the closet. All the ladies were very nice to everyone on the flight. They woke up on the right side of the bed.

Apple Transportation was awesome. Quick and easy!

Location of resort- This location is the BEST location in Cancun! It’s literally the last hotel on the tip. It is so close (walking distance) to clubs, flea markets, malls, etc.

Check In- Check in was fast and easy. We got our room right away because we did arrive after 3 pm. We were able to give the front desk our OOT bags and they had no problem handing them out to our guests when they arrived. We had 2 other couples with us the first night and all the rest of our guests were coming within the next 2 days. We opted to just keep the cheapest room that came w. our package, seeing that we were not going to be in our room much anyway. When we got to our room, it was beautiful. They had campaign and fresh fruit for us, rose petals all over the floor, and music playing. Our view was amazing. We had the ocean view and it was breathtaking.

Resort

WOW...I can NOT tell you how amazed I was with this place. I have been to Cancun twice and Jamaica, and have never been to a resort this nice. Some of my guests have been to other resorts as well and no other could top Dreams. The resort was so clean and well kept. The staff was so friendly and always had a smile on their faces. Waking up and seeing the dolphins play every morning was awesome! Most of our guests got the dolphin view rooms, while some did have garden view- BUT all was beautiful.

Restaurants

Seaside Grill was really good and we ate their twice. We did not have a formal rehearsal dinner where we would pay extra, we just went to the restaurant with the group of 16. We had to wait about 10 mins, but they were able to get us 2 tables of 8 right next to each other.

One night was Mexican night at the lagoon. They have nightly entertainment shows and dinner buffet at the lagoon while you are watching the show. It was delicious. Another night was Caribbean Night with the Fire dancers show. Again- very good. We ate at World Café for breakfast everyday. Once again- Had NOTHING to complain about. I am not a breakfast person, but I ate there everyday!

We ordered room service almost every night for a late night snack. (ITS FREE!) Food was okay- I liked the club sandwich. BUT they say its going to be 30-45 mins to get your food and we waited almost 2 hours one night and actually fell asleep before they came.

Bars at resort-

Awesome service…. We often went to the same bars that had Cazadores tequila because that is our fav. I really liked the pina coladas. Some may say that the drinks were very light- but I did not have a problem with them. If you want extra liquor, just ask! – as they will say “It’s my pleasure!â€

Wedding Coordinator- Cecilia A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We met w. Cecilia the day after we arrived. She’s so darn cute! We had scheduled an excursion that day and told her we had to make our meeting quick. I must say, one of the many reasons that I wanted a DW was because I did not want stress of planning. So, we actually got our meeting done in about 30 min or less! We had chosen our dinner menu the night before to discuss w. her so that went quick. I gave her my idea for bouquets/centerpieces and she showed me pictures. It was very easy- I trusted all her judgements, just told her my overall idea of what I wanted. She was so sweet and had everything we had discussed in previous emails all in front of her. I seriously don’t know how she remembers it all though. We met the next day where I gave her our ceremony music, chair sashes, favors, “I DO†wooden pieces for ceremony table, and Sand Cermony stuff. I just told her to “Do her magic!†lol. And that she did…..

Wedding Day-

Right before my dad and I left my room to head down to the gazebo!!!

Ceremony:

Everything was more than I expected. Cecilia really made sure that everything was perfect. We had opted for no gazebo décor and she had left over chair sashes that I brought, so she tied them on the gazebo posts instead.

View from above:

Seats

We decided to have the sound system for the ceremony and I am so happy we did! I would recommend this to anyone. I actually could not believe the volume of it, everything was perfectly heard over the waves. We had many onlookers and it was just an awesome feeling that everyone was watching our special moment. Everyone was very respectful and just hanging out by the small pool watching. The location of the gazebo is very private though compared to the rest of the resort. Our judge was a woman and easy to understand. She always had a smile on her face. So, my husband had added extra songs on our cd incase we needed them during the time before I walked down. We did not need the songs at that time, but at one point during the sand ceremony- I faintly heard one of the songs, Ave Maria by Beyonce, playing the background while the judge was talking and I just started to cry! It was just surreal that they chose that song to play. I asked my hubby after if he told them to play it during the ceremony and he said he had no idea. It was really a touching moment.

TIP- For sand ceremony, bring vases with corked tops! Cecelia thought that our vases were awesome because normally they have to melt wax to keep the sand from coming out and she said its messy and does not look as nice. I found mine at Michaels for $1.00 each vase. They are smaller but do the job and I just glued on a ministarfish.

continued on next post!!!

We were announced and walked back down the aisle to Bob Marley “Could You Be Loved†and instead of having a toast of champaign at the end, we arranged it w. Cecilia to have the waiter bring shots of Cazadores for everyone. Hey… we are in MEXICO!

Cocktail Hour-

We opted to swap cocktail hour for an hour longer reception and more flowers. There is a bar right in the lobby of where we were having our reception, so our guests just hung out there while we took pictures.

Dinner- Club Terrace

Beautiful location… beautiful set up… since we had 14 guests, we had one long table and we sat in center on one side. It was great for small wedding.

We had the Mexican trio play during dinner since we did not have cocktail hour and it really gave the mexican vibe. I am half Mexican so my dad was requesting songs and they played all his requests! Food was fabulous, - Ceasar Salad, French Onion Soup, Dreams Trilogy, Bella Alaska.

Cake: We chose Vanilla cake, no upgrades, and it was delicious. Everyone loved it. They also moved everything from the ceremonial table to the cake table, which was fantastic.

Reception:

We brought our own BOSE sound system docking station and it worked very well. I would recommend doing this, especially if you have a small group. Our group loves to dance, so we really did not need any MC to get anyone up! We had a blast and even invited some onlookers to come join us!

First dance

Cha-Cha slide

Dancing Salsa w. my pops.

More fun!

The waitstaff was awesome! At one point of the night, I told them to come take shots and I will be the waitress, it was so funny. I wanted them to have fun too!

After our time was up in the club terrace, we asked if we could move our docking station into the gazebo and continue our party. They said it was no problem, and my dad tipped Eriberto to serve us a few more rounds out by the gazebo. It was awesome having fun and dancing with everyone in the gazebo right next to the crashing waves.

Photographer/Videographer-

We stayed with the package Dreams offered and I was very happy with the pictures. I should be getting my video on Monday, but I am sure it will be great! The only problem was the sun. Now know we are in Mexico and I love the sun of course, but we should have asked the photographer to shoot on the other side of the lighthouse so we were not facing the sun, or maybe he should of thought about that too. It was VERY hard to keep our eyes open from the sun! Overall- very happy with the pictures, they gave us extra in our album and we purchased the CD of all of the pics they took. (Over 400)

*** I WILL POST PRO PHOTO PICS SOON! ***

I still feel like I am forgetting more info, even though this is probably the longest review ever!!! PM me with any questions you may have!!!  Overall this wedding definitely a DREAM wedding and I would not have done it any other way!

Everything turned out amazing! I love the "I Do" sign on your cake table and it looks like your guests had such a fun time!

Great review, congrats!

Great review, everything looked beautiful!!

Great Review!!!! Love all the pictures - u look so happy! Glad everything went well

wow everything looked so beautiful! Great review

Thanks for the review! I'm planning on getting married at Dreams Cancun as well, and I'm not a big planner either so I'm glad to hear that everything worked out well for you! I was considering using a Bose system as well, but we'll have a few more people, probably 20-25. Do you think yours was loud enough for everyone to hear while dancing?