BC Bride2be

Welcome to the forum Beth & happy planning!!

We didn't find it isolated. Playa del carmen was only about a 40min drive from Dreams and most of the excurtions were anywhere from 10 min to 45 min away. We actually loved that there wasn't a resort on either side of Dreams, made it much more intimate.

Welcome to the forum & happy planning!!

Welcome to the forum Jessica & Andrew!! Happy planning!

Hey ladies.. sorry for the delay.. I have finally finished my review!!

Dreams Tulum (Jan 17-27th ) First off, I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to all you BDW girls, the information I gathered from this site during the planning process was invaluable – I could not have done it without you!! And a big shout out to all you January brides… thank you for listening, encouraging and comforting me thru it all.. I miss our daily entries!! Flight: Sunwing –F Horrible. Delayed by 4 hours going down with no explanation as to why. And on the way back it took 22 hours from the time we left the resort (should have been max 10 hours), we landed at the Victoria airport at midnight – 15 minutes before landing they told us we will be landing because we needed fuel?? We ended up having to sleep in the airport and finally got back to Vancouver at 9am the next morning. They did nothing for us, no food, no drink, nothing. The funny thing was we met a couple that was on a trip with a $250 credit from Sunwing because the exact same thing happened to them last year. DH wrote them a letter when we got back but of course we haven’t heard anything from them and honestly if they did send a voucher I would rip it up.. we will never fly with them again. Arrival/Check in: A Amazing, although it was 3:30 in the morning by the time we finally got to the resort, the staff was so great. Quick with checking us in and getting our luggage to our rooms (and letting us know we could order room service for those who were hungry!). For the rest of the guests who were arriving from Toronto and Montreal the next day it was fantastic, champagne, pastries and cold wet clothes. The staff insured everyone felt so welcome and all of our guests couldn’t stop gushing about it! We loved our room, it was perfect. We were offered an upgrade to the honeymoon suite the next morning but we chose to keep our room for a couple of reasons, the first it was wonderful (8203) and the second we had already dump all of the OOT bag contents in the room had started the production line.. lol I honestly didn’t have the energy to pack everything up at that moment. There were several people in our group that received free upgrades. Most had booked the standard suite and then were upgraded to the junior suite (some asked and some just got the upgrade). The resort: A+++ Wow is all I can say, the resort was beyond our expectations and all of our guests (25 of us) felt the same way. Not one bad experience, the grounds were immaculate, the entertainment outstanding and the food was incredible!! We would definitely recommend this resort and return ourselves!! Wedding Coordinator: A+ We met with Landy on Monday and went thru all the details; she had all of my emails and answers to all of my questions that I had sent down the weeks prior. She was amazing, there is absolutely no need to worry if you haven’t heard back from anyone.. they have your questions and they will take care of everything! Wedding Day: A++++ Again it was everything we had hoped for and more. We decided early in the DW planning that we would be paying for our immediate family to come, so most of our budget went to this, honestly we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way (ok maybe with one exception.. if I had to do it all over again I would have hired the mariachi band.. I had seen them perform at a couple of other weddings that week and they were so fantastic, if you can - hire them!!). We received the free package and added a few things to it. We hired the resort photog (and we’re so happy we did), added extra flowers/corsages/boutonnieres and had dinner at Portofino’s in the wine cellar. I had a hair and makeup trial done on the Wednesday and I am so glad I did this. The makeup was way too dark and you could see the foundation so I decided that I would do my own makeup the day of the wedding and just get my hair done by the spa. We went in the morning to the spa and then at 1pm Trinidad (sp?) did my hair. Like others have recommended bring a picture, their eng isn’t great but I just showed her the pic and she did exactly what I had asked for. The ceremony was at 4pm in the chapel. Anabel came to my room at about 3:15 with my flowers and then came back to get me at 3:55pm. I am so glad we decided on the chapel, they did a fantastic job decorating it and the candles burning made it so romantic. Loved it!! We had written our own vows and the judge did a great job incorporating them into the legal ceremony. Landy translated and everything flowed, we were on the beach by 4:35 taking pictures!! The resort photogs name was philimone (sp?) and he was so much fun, gave good direction and was open to suggestions. Dinner was, as mentioned above, at Portofino’s at 6:15pm. It was so wonderful, the food, the ambiance, the waiters.. everything!! We had given Landy our decorations and place cards/seating chart, and it was perfect. We decided on the menu during our first meeting with Landy and then found out some of our guests had allergies; we were able to substitute their meals no problem. We brought our ipod and speakers and we played music during dinner and then we had our first dance after dinner! We had the room for the entire night so we didn’t have to rush - everyone had such a great time!! So I think that’s it, hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything. If you have any questions please send me a PM and I’ll get back to you! Here is the link to the pictures...

Welcome to the forum Lisa & happy planning!!

I agree, paying for one guest and not another is a hard call. It all comes down to the budget - perhaps instead of paying for one full ticket you guys can help out a couple of people (maybe couple hundred each instead of the all $$ for one full ticket). It may not be a lot but to those on a tight budget it could make the difference! When we decided on a DW we knew our immediate family (six of them) would have a really hard time with the cost. So instead of all the extras at the wedding we went for the no frills package so we could pay for them to come; for us that was more important. Honestly at the end of the day I think its more important that you don’t go into debt for your wedding if you can help it, if you can’t afford to pay for these people then you need sit down with your FI and together come up with a viable solution to either rework the budget or tell them sorry.

Welcome to the forum & happy planning!!

Welcome to the forum & happy planning!!

Welcome to the forum & happy planning!!

Welcome to the forum!! Looking forward to hearing about your trip, have fun!!

Welcome to the forum Nicola & happy planning!!

Welcome to the forum!!

We didn't use the mariachi band but there was another bride the day before our wedding that used them during her cocktail hour.. they were amazing. The judge we had did not speak eng and Landy translated, not sure you have a choice on this one if you asking the resort to provide the judge. The total cost for the judge was $50US You only need your Passport and tourist card, your bc is not needed. The safes work, no one from our group had problems with them You will need to rent the sound system if your ceremony is on the beach otherwise it will be hard to hear the music/vows. You can just give your ipod to Landy, just show her your playlists and you'll be good to go. Quote: Originally Posted by WisconsinBride I'm going to throw out there a few more questions that I keep wondering about. Has anyone used the Mexican Trio? and when did you have them play? Can the ceremony be done in English by the judge? Or does someone have to translate? The only documents needed for a civil ceremony are your passport, birth certificate and the tourist card Do the safes in the room work ok? Do you have to pay for the judge's transportation? About how much was it? Can you use an MP3 player to play music for the ceremony on the beach? Sorry I had more than I thought. Thanks ladies. Sounds like everyone has had a great time so far. I'm getting so excited!!