Sannjn

You're Welcome...glad I could help! We had 35 guests (counting my husband and I) and also a 4 year old and 2 infants. I originally wanted our reception to be at El Patio (each day their was a wedding and their reception was at El Patio and it looked nice). It is nice set up and away from other guests. BUT there was a business conference going on the same day as our wedding so we couldn't get that area. But...no big deal...what are you gonna do? So they set up our tables next the the pool and one of the bars. At first I was thinking 'by the pool? Really?' because it gets kinda busy during the day...but around dinner time everyone is eating and drinking...not swimming. So it was a beautiful set up and no other guests were even around...just us. And there were waiters asking for our drinks and bringing out our food. And the food was pretty good! We also rented sound equipment so we plugged in our ipod and they also had a microphone attached. So during dinner people stood up, cut the music and gave a toast with the microphone. Then when we wanted everyone's attention to hand out 'Thank you' gifts to our parents and friends who helped with wedding prepping, cut the cake and toss the garter/bouquet my husband and I went and grabbed the microphone and told everyone ourselves (instead of a DJ). It didn't matter, everyone there was our closest family and friends.

I got married at Dreams Tulum on June 23rd and it was amazing!!! Once you get there, it becomes really easy what you need/want to do. We scheduled our meeting with the wedding coordinator when we arrived. We told her what we wanted and if she couldn't answer our question she looked into it for us. We ended up meeting with her 3 times before our wedding...we arrived Thursday afternoon meet with her and went over all the details. We meet with her again on Friday to have 2 of our witnesses sign paperwork (it was their anniversary the day before so they had a romantic dinner planned) and to pay our balance. We also arranged a Welcome Party in the ballroom for Saturday night. It was so easy to set up!!! Told her we just wanted to have a dinner with our family and friends and to have a sound system we could plug our ipod into. Well I pretty much left it at that, she told us where to go and when we got there the tables were all set up and people were serving our guests drinks. It seriously was so simple! And the wedding coordinator came by just to make sure everything was ok. We meet again with the coordinator Monday morning (day of the wedding, we got married at 5pm) and gave her all of our decorations...we had name place cards (with who was going to sit at a table together), decoration for the tables, favors on the tables, a monogram letter for our cake (I just gave it to her and told her I wanted it on the cake). And to my amazement...everything was all done when I showed up! I couldn't believe it! It was so easy!!! AND just to let you guys know...I'm very anal, plan like a manic and can be controlling (my husband would acknowledge that!). After a couple days in Mexico and hanging out with you family and friends you will naturally relax more...so whatever happens, happens. We brought our own photographers...we have 2 amazing photographers in our areas so they gave me a great rate and I paid to fly them out there. The best investment!!! My photographers were amazing!!! Other things that were really easy and helpful... *she asked what kinda of seating I wanted...how many people at a table then how many tables I wanted. *since we didn't need to have photography in our package (Dreams of Love) we asked to if we could have that offer for our Welcome Party. I forgot to confirm beforehand and I showed up to the Welcome Party and the photographer was there and we got 36 free photos! *I gave her a big bag full of stuff for our decoration, went over everything with her when I gave it to her and she made it happen! So...to sum up my experience... Brides...RELAX!!! Once you get there you can negotiate, figure out what you want, tell them what you want and they really do try and make it happen and tell you want is and not possible. I was really impressed how on top of it the wedding coordinators are. And this is from someone who plans and likes to be able to control everything. This is your wedding and you are doing a destination to release A LOT of the stress from local weddings. So relax and enjoy. NO MATTER WHAT...it will be beautiful and you and your guests are on vacation. The one thing I would have done different, and I'm totally serious!, I would have had my ceremony at 3pm instead of 5pm. IT WENT BY WAY TO FAST!!! I wish I had more time in the day to enjoy the happiness and being in my dress (which I felt absolutely beautiful in!!). Don't worry about the heat (I got married in June!)...you get use to it after being there for 3-4 days and your mind is else where (you are in the moment, not thinking about heat). I did have turquoise parasols for people to use for the sun also...it was also part of my decoration. Believe me...it will be amazing and beautiful. Who else do you know can show wedding pictures with you, your husband, family and friends on the beach with beautiful turquoise water behind you!!! Since I don't know how to post photos...here is a website of my photographers blog. It has about 5 of our 'Trash the Dress' session pictures on it. We did that session the day after the wedding (right before we left for our honeymoon resort). We are the only destination wedding our photographers have done. POISE PHOTOGRAPHY

Lucy...I'm pretty sure this is your bikini...I really like this one too and it is our wedding colors. I'm afraid to get it though...I've got NO bust and those types of tops don't give much extra, if you know what I mean. BUT I did like that someone brought up not having tan lines for a strapless wedding dress...which I have.

I'm getting married in 47 days and still need to get a white bikini!!! I can't find any in my area (I live in a smaller town) and I've also checked out the Victoria's Secret website. Where did you get yours?

Your awesome Sunbride! Thanks for the suggestion of putting the brown in the back, turquoise in the front of the gazebo and alternate the bows on the chairs with turquoise and brown. Love it! I do really like the white on the gazebo...it just looks so clean and pure...BUT I need to make a decision because I can't have them all! Thanks for your input. Also...I really like the color of your husbands suit...that is the color I want (instead of just tan). Do you know what color that is or where he got it? We were probably just going to rent a suit (they have a Cruisine line which is lighter material) but I only saw it in tan...but I didn't ask about another color. Monica - Love your idea for the gazebo! To bad you aren't getting married right before me so I can use it. I'm getting married 4 days before you!

Sunbride...I ABSOLUTELY love how you decorated the chairs and gazebo!!! I've now decided to change what I was going to do. I have already bought turquoise parasols (one per couple) and dark brown fans. I WAS going to pay extra to have dark brown bows tied around the chairs...but now I'm going to bring my own dark brown tulle instead (to soften it up a little instead of the rich dark brown bows). Here is my dilemma and could use some advise. I like how the tulle on the chairs match the gazebo...do you think that dark brown tulle on the gazebo will look good? I'm concerned it might look to 'dark' (although I understand that tulle is more translucent). I love how you have the turquoise on the gazebo and how it looks so cool, clean and crisp (if that makes sense)...and so beachy. We also will have a bright layer of turquoise when everyone is sitting using their parasols. I think it will look good, but any advise would be great. Stargazer lillies are my favorite...so I'm going to ask to have the same thing done with the flowers along the aisle and the sides of the gazebo. If we go with brown tulle on the gazebo...I could either wrap turquoise or white ribbon around the flowers on the gazebo...what do you think? I'm starting to get really indecisive. I'm pretty good with matching colors, but I'm having a hard time visualizing this! If any of you other girls want to chime in, please feel free! I'd like to figure out what I'm going to do and buy the products so I can check it off the list and not worry about it anymore! Thanks...Sarah

Neen...Thank you for taking the time (and caring) to copy and paste to the other forum. Lisa...Thank you for your response. What you did is what I'm thinking of doing. I was considering ordering these really cute straw bags (for the Welcome Bags) but there is no way I could take them with me, I would have to directly ship them to Dreams Tulum. I can't believe that 3 of your bags came up 'missing'. That is awful...I mean, I don't mind bringing extra bags if the workers want to keep them (which I may want to do)...it just sucks that 3 of your guests didn't get the Welcome Bag you put together just for them!

Hello Ladies!!! Ok...I'm 78 days away from getting married and starting to think more seriously (and realistically) about getting everything I need to the resort. For the event I will be bringing...Welcome Bags with goodies (including shirts made with our wedding logo & CD's), parasols & fans for the ceremony, glass sailboat favors...and possibly some other things I haven't quite figured out yet. My question... How did everyone get there stuff to the resort? ....Did you bring extra luggage? ....Did you ship it to the resort? ....Ask family and friends to carry some things? Other question for transporting options if I were to... Bringing everything with me... If you carried everything with you, did you have any problems with customs? Shipping some items... If you had things shipped to Dreams Tulum, how far in advance did you ship it? How long did it take to get there? Did you feel comfortable shipping? Did Sandra/Landy take care of it? AND...did you guys have the bellboy deliver the bags to your guests room before they arrived so it would be in their room when they walked in? I saw this as an option in the 'WEDDING GUIDE' for a $2/bag fee (tipping for bellboy). They said I just needed to give them a list of my guests and when they arrived. Did anyone do this? Any extra info would be great! Thanks for the help!!! -Sarah

Sunbride...first off, thank you so much for your newsletter!!! One of my best girlfriends is putting it together for us. I had planned to do a 'trash the dress' session the day after the wedding at the ruins also! Thanks for the heads up about my dress...I guess I will be wearing my regular clothes there. I just hate having to be 'sneaky', it sucks that they wouldn't just let us use the historically site for beautiful pictures. Oh well. Thanks for the info! Can't wait to hear more...

Thank you so much for all your input and information. I'm getting married on Monday, June 23, 2008. I've been doing alot of research and think I have everything pretty much figured out (well...except knowing exactly what the set ups of the ceremony and reception will look like without extra costs). I'm pretty sure we will be getting the Ultimate Wedding Package. My question is regarding a private welcome party we are planning saturday night to introduce all our guests to each other and give our thanks to everyone for being there. We will probably have around 35 people. I know it cost $750 to have a private party and I'm going to see if we can rent sound equipment for the party (we are going to do this for the wedding also, plug in our ipod...the equip is $150 to rent). I've sent Sandy 2 emails and haven't gotten any response. Does anyone have any other info about this type of party because this is all I have right now. Also...since we will be getting the Gold menu for our wedding dinner, that doesn't include it being private, does it? We are planning on eating either on the beach or the patio area (which looks really nice). I understand there could be people around...but it isn't really a big deal, is it? We also want to play music (via our ipod and sound equipment)...it will be ok for the beach and patio location...right? Thank you for reading and your help! Sarah

I'm so sorry to hear your frustration. Planning all this is quite stressful with getting everyone booked and makign sure you get what you want. I'm getting married at Dreams Tulum Resort & Spa and couldn't be happier about my decision. The room prices are really reasonable and the wedding coordinator on site, Sandra, is so nice and helpful. I've heard past Dreams Tulum brides say that you basically show up, make your decisions, and Sandra takes care of by the time the ceremony takes place. I've read nothing but great things about her. Hi Jennifer...I'm getting married the same day you are! The following day (the 24th) we are transfering to EDR for our honeymoon. Good luck with wedding planning!

Thank you so much for your replies!!! We will be getting either the Dreams of Love or Ultimate (leaning more towards this) wedding package. I think I'm going to reserve the Deluxe Garden room (the cheapest room) and cross my fingers and hope we get a free upgrade to the Dreams Junior Suite Garden.

I've read many posts of room upgrades for people getting married at the resort. I'm getting married in June and trying to decide which room catergory to get. If they give the bride and groom a free upgrade upon arrival, I would like to pay for a room in the 'hacienda' section. For those of you who got the free upgrade, what room did you have reserved and what did they upgrade you too? Thank you so much for reading, I'm putting my deposit down tomorrow and hoping I can get some help from you. Thanks!

I'm getting married June 23, 2008...I need to choose either 3pm or 5pm for my ceremony time. If I had to chose my perfect time, I'd say, is 4pm and have our reception dinner (on the beach) at 5:30pm because I've read that the sunsets around 6:20pm. I'm worried 3pm is to early to start dinner at 4:30...but at 5pm we would start our dinner around 6:30 and my main concern is that our pictures will be closer to sunset and I want to have full, beautiful sun in our pictures (but not have this so much for dinner). I'm leaning towards 5pm...am I worrying about something that really isn't going to happen? (the sun setting when we want to take pictures after the ceremony?) Thanks for your help...you guys really are the best!

Thank you both so much for your input...it is exactly what I needed. It is official...we are getting married in Mexico (legally)!!! I'm so excited! I really didn't like the idea of being married (signing papers in the states) before the ceremony. Thanks again.