julieanddonnie

Quote: Originally Posted by neen Congrats Julie! Thanks so much for sharing all the details with us...every good review makes me feel better and better about our choice!!! I can't wait to go look at your pics! I'm wondering already if you know the name of the person who did your hair and makeup? Sorry I've been MIA, work has been crazy but I'm leaving next Thursday for Mexico and I will see if I can get the following from Landy (just added to my list!): - example of spreadsheet - list of linen/chair bow colors (pics too if I can) - different table sizes - music list for the DJ - the real deal with music for an outside wedding Let me know if there are other things you ladies would like me to find out about...I'm starting to feel bad for Landy already with all the questions I'm going to through at her, but I'm sure she'll have all the answers!!! The woman that did my hair and make- up was named Trinidad. I hope that helps!

Quote: Originally Posted by Theresa08 Julie, Thanks so much, this was so helpful. But I have a few more questions for you, if you don't mind. 1. Did you use the house DJ? Did you like him? 2. When you booked, was the "new" wedding guide out? I booked when the old wedding guide was available and I was confirmed for the Seaside Grill, outdoors, private event (because I want a DJ, which means they have to close the restuarant) and I am just trying to find out of they honor that. I did read in one of these threads that the are not allowing any new bookings to close the restuarant, but if confirmed prior, can I still get it? I am more concerned that I get to have my reception outdoors with a DJ and I see that they added so more outdoor areas for weddings, so that may be ok. 3. Just trying to understand what you meant when you said you couldn't eat all of the food given, were the portions that large, etc.? Also, what else did you mix in? 4. How many hours was the reception? Thanks for the tips on the appetizers, we changed ours to what you had. If you have any pictures, I would love to see them. Thanks again!!!!! 1. Did you use the house DJ? Did you like him? I did use the house DJ and he was fine played anything that we asked, mostly popular US music. 2. When you booked, was the "new" wedding guide out? The new guide was not out when I booked and I made up my mind on where I wanted things after I arrived and had a chance to walk around a bit. 3. Just trying to understand what you meant when you said you couldn't eat all of the food given, were the portions that large, etc.? Also, what else did you mix in? The portions were perfect they are not huge and not small, but I think it was just the number of courses and being out in the hot sun. We had lots of food that we did not eat. 4. How many hours was the reception? our wedding was at 5:00-5:30 we had the cocktail hour from 5:30-6:30, then went over to El Patio for our dinner and mariachi (for 45 minutets) 6:30-8:30 then the DJ played from 8:30-10:30. I hope that helps! All of our pictures (both professional, our and our guests) can be viewed on my husband's website: Donnie Franzen :: PowerMove Central I will warn you there are TONS! But it gives you a great idea of how much fun we had.

Quote: Originally Posted by Theresa08 Julie, I have about 42 people coming to the wedding as well. I am selecting the ultimate package. We just received an updated wedding guide and now I am not sure we can have our wedding outside with a DJ. What did you do? Also, I was wondering about the food for the cocktail hour/wedding. How was it? I don't like that I have ot pick only 1 entree for my guests. Hi Theresa! I also did the ultimate package, but I do know that your choices are dependant on what is available on your particular day. My wedding was on a Friday, so I was able to book El Patio (I wanted outside, but not on sand) this provided an actual patio. We did tables of 6 and then had a head table with just my husband and me. Our DJ set up right next to the tables which left a good amount of room for dancing. I tried to find a picture of the set up but unfortunately I could not find out that showed the layout well. I will say it worked perfectly for our group! The food was one of the things my guests went crazy for, many said it was the best wedding food they have ever had! It was 5 courses so even though you can pick one entree (I did the surf and turf) you can mix other things in other courses. We literally couldn't eat all the food we were given! (I would suggest just going with the wedding cake, I did two deserts and no one ate the wedding cake because it was served last and they were full! Also the servers were amazing! There were only two working our wedding but they were so fast and made sure everyone had a full drink. Here was what I selected: 1.- MUSHROOM STUFFED WITH CREAM CHEESE WITH BLACK TRUFFLE 2.- SMOKED SALMON ON MELBA BREAD (FAVORITE!) 3.- PROSCIUTTO AND MELON Dinner SHRIMP PUFF PASTRY IN A CORIANDER AND TOMOTO SAUCE SHRIMP BISQUE WITH ARTICHOKES MIXED ITLALIANS LETTUCE WITH CITRUS VINAIGRETTE SURF AND TURF VANILLA PUFF PASTRY WITH COGNAC SAUCE and Wedding cake Number: GOLDEN 01 Flavor : CHOCOLATE Filling (only ultimate ) : STRAWBERRY

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome! I do have pictures at: Donnie Franzen :: PowerMove Central

Blondie, We booked the horseback riding through the Apple vacations rep at the hotel. The only thing was it was about one hour away from the hotel. It was the family owned ranch and it was the only horseback riding where you could go for a swim with the horses and ride through the jungle. The others were just through the jungle. To answer the other question, I really do not think I would do anything differently. El Patio was outside, but it was right off the beach so there was a nice cool breeze once the sun started to set. I would say to book the DJ a bit longer. We only had the DJ for two hours so he started while people were eating desert because we started running out of time! The food was amazing as well! Landy is amazing - I asked her for her suggestions on locations when I got there and I was so glad I went with them! I highly reccomend doing excursions! We did one 5 out of the 7 days and it was totally worth adding to the entire experience and gives you and your husband some quality alone time!

I recently had my wedding in May at the Dreams Tulum property and it was amazing! We had 42 guests attend and worked through a company called Destinationweddings.com. I have some advise for things to look out for with both the hotel and a destination wedding company! Dreams Tulum: The property was amazing! Here are my suggestions: 1. Ask to be placed in the newer buildings! Some of my guests forgot and the arrangements were nice, but the newer buildings are much nicer. 2. Have a direct transfer from the airport! The direct transfer is about 1 hour and 15 minutes to the propery. If you have to stop at other hotels it did take some of my guests 2+ hours to arrive! 3. Watch out for the photographer and his pricing if you want to buy pictures outside of the package. I had trouble with him trying to over charge me and him wanting me to sign documents that were not describing what I was buying. 4. Ask how many weddings per day! I was told two, but there were four on my day- but honestly I wouldn't have guessed that there were four based on the wonderful service and attention I recieved. PICKING OUT DETAILS/BLOOD TESTS We were upgraded to a honeymoon suite, but instead chose a Jr Suite right off the pool for no extra charge because we had brought so many guests. We had the Ultimate Wedding package. We met with Landy, the hotel wedding coordinator, on the second day we were there. Their website and the documentation they send you is great and you are totally prepared. You need a blood test- which was fine they had a medic there that showed us the needles in the package, used alcohol and didn't leave a mark on us! He was great. We had our parents as our witnesses and all they needed was their passports. We picked out the locations where we wanted out activities. We chose the Beach ceremony (all flowers were included to match my bouquet), the lobby balcony for our cocktail party (while we took pictures) and El Patio for our reception- we also had a Mariachi band (Landy's wonderful suggestion) playing during dinner and then a DJ for a couple hours after dinner. It was beautiful! HAIR and MAKEUP I went into my hair and makeup appointment not have a clue what I wanted. I have chine length hair but wanted it off my face, because it was 95 on my wedding day! She made me look like my hair was super long and the makeup she applied was perfect- I do not wear a whole lot and this was my first time getting my makeup done by someone else. She was wonderful, I gave her hugs and basically all the cash I had on me because I was so pleased! PHOTOS Our pictures can all be viewed at Donnie Franzen :: PowerMove Central. (I cannot seem to upload any, they are probably too big!) We stuck with the inhouse photographer and videographer- both were amazing and took great shots! Very creative and really captured the beach wedding. We ended up buying the CD with all of our pictures for $345.75 extra, but I had to fight with the manager for that price (this is where I had trouble negotiating, but let Landy know and received an apology email from the photgrapher about an hour later). WEDDING PLANNER I didn't need to worry about a thing- Landy made sure that our ceremony and reception were flawless. She would check in with us every 30 minutes to see if there was anything that she could do. STAFF The staff was more than happy to help with anything! At the pool you develop a relationship with a couple servers that literally watch for your drink to get low and after day two they know what you drink and just keep them coming. The activities pool had entertainment and games then the same people would dance at the club! So you get to know them quite well too. No one expects a tip, but they are very grateful when you do give them one. We tipped $20 every other day just because they were so great! I would certainly reccomend Dreams TULUM! It was unforgetable! The travel company destinationweddings.com. I was assigned three different consultants... the first one was the reason I chose to work with the company, but due to a death in her family, I was assigned a new consultant. His name was David Victor. He was the most disorganized person I have ever met with. First he told me I wouldn't like the Dreams Property and he worked exclusively with an other resort in the Mayan Riv. He was upset that I did not want to change my mind as I had done my fair share of research and had already made up my mind. He quoted a bunch of my guests to arrive after the date of my wedding, and was just disorganized so I had to request a new consultant. I then worked with Christine Gulino who was fantastic! She got me an upgrade to the honeymoon suite and was very attentive to my requests! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Hello! I used the forum before my wedding and found it so helpful I thought I would try to post something about my destination wedding experience! My name is Julie (Kotlarz) Franzen My wedding was on May 16, 2008 at the Dreams Resort in Tulum, Mexico