Silver

Hi everyone! I am so sorry it has taken me so long to post the details about my wedding, but I haven't even been home a week. As you might be able to imagine, it is so nice not to have think about a wedding right now - especially the first weekend. First and foremost, do not stress about anything. There is really nothing to worry about and everything will work out. My wedding was AMAZING and if you can believe it - BETTER than I ever imagined! As most of you know, we went to Huatulco in January to meet with Rocio and to get to know the city. That trip was extremely useful as we made some great contacts when we were down there. During our wedding trip, we met with Rocio the 2nd night we there to confirm the details. I met with the new florist the next morning to discuss the flowers since he wasn't around in January. Please don't think that Rocio has forgotten about anyone! She really does have a huge whiteboard calendar in her office with everyone's wedding dates on them. She also focuses on the weddings that are about to take place. She also has a folder for each bride and keeps the e-mails in separate folders. She will respond to you. As for the details. The day before the wedding we arranged a bay tour with our 50 guests and we utilized one of the contacts we made in January to assist us in arranging it. We did not go through the Apple rep, because as you know, they overcharge. We were able to get 4 vans to transport our guests to the harbor by talking to the bellmen. We also arranged a rehearsal dinner that night, after the bay tour, for all our guests. The hotel was very accommodating. We held our "mexican" dinner on the terrace and it was beautiful. They even provided music for us. We also had a rehearsal that morning with the minister as we incorporated several mexican traditions into our wedding ceremony and needed to practice since we had no idea what to do. Rocio assisted in writing our ceremony - which was beautiful! The weather in April is completely different from the weather in January. It is definitely warmer and the tide is completely different. The water was rough and it was red flag the entire 10 days we were there. Needless to say - we spent the entire time at the pool. This was not a problem, since the hotel wasn't even close to capacity so we did not have to fight for chairs. Due to the high tide, there was minimal beach. We had a choice to move the location and have the wedding on the beach at 4:30 or choose a location by the pools and keep the original time of 5:30. We really wanted a beach wedding and planned to have it down by the Barracuda - by the rocks. The area that we would have had to had the wedding was not particularly pleasing (large drain that they were going to cover up with plants and cement wall) and we didn't want to have the wedding in the HOT sun at 4:30 - we moved our location. The new location was in front of the main infinity pool and was centered between two palm trees. The view was amazing - as we had the pool and then the ocean as the view. It was actually better than the beach and we were extremely happy with it. The older guests were also happy with it as they did not like the sand. We were very lucky in that they hotel was able to have the wedding in this location. There was a Mexican Fest that night and due to the fact that the hotel was not at capacity, they were able to push back the start time of the fest. I am not sure they would have been able to do this in high season. The hotel staff was so accommodating and extremely helpful in making our dream wedding come true. As for the flowers, I totally changed the flowers and did not use what was included in the ultimate dreams package. I had sent some pictures of what I wanted ahead of time and discussed this with the florist. I had also looked at his website and liked some of what he had used in the past. We had an "altar" of 4 large bamboo poles covered with white organza with flowers on the top and at the bottom. The aisle was then lined with 3 shorter bamboo poles on each side with white flowers and some green leaves and organza streamed between them. It was truly beautiful. It did cost extra, but was totally worth it. They also then moved the bamboo poles to the reception area - which was by the gazebo. The chairs for the ceremony had white organza bows, which I did not request - but they were beautiful. Antonio, the florist, did such a beautiful job with all the flowers including the bouquets and boutonnieres. As for the reception, I had brought my own table runners that were in my colors, so I only utilized the basic white tablecloths, which they do not charge for. If you want to add additional linens, there is a charge. I also did not use the standard chairs with the white covers, as I wanted to use the brown bamboo chairs that they use for group events/fests, etc. My colors were brown and aqua so the brown chairs looked great! Much better than the white chairs. Rocio also had them put lights under the table - which added an extra touch. I also upgraded the flowers for the tables and had three vases of different sizes on each the tables. The food was the best that I had at the resort over the 10 days I was there. Even the guests thought that the wedding dinner was the best food! It was delicious. The cake was good too. I am so happy we did not hire a DJ because by the time we were finished with dinner, the toasts, first dance and father/daughter dance - there was only about an hour or hour and a half for dancing. My guests took full advantage. The sound system is really good and we utilized our IPODS with playlists that we had put together. We regret taking so much time to put together playlists since we really only got to play around 12 songs! Almost all of our guests ended up in the disco after the reception which was so much fun. We basically had a reception that went until 1 a.m. We took over the disco. Again, I think we had an advantage as it was slow season and the hotel was not at full capacity. Fabian LaSala is an amazing photographer. We chose to utilize him for the entire day and paid the additional money (in traveler's checks). He is worth it! I cannot believe how beautiful the pictures are. My married friends were jealous as they felt that he was a better photographer then most of them had - even in the States! We have most of our pictures posted on our wedding website, so if you pm me, I will give you the website address. What else? Oh - we utilized a local guitar player/singer - Jorge (can't remember his last name right now) that we had found when were we there in January. He was playing in the hotel lobby bar. He is terrific, We were able to pick our own songs and he sang and played his guitar. We also utilized him for the cocktail hour. Our guests loved him. He was a great addition. Please let me know what questions you have! I am happy to answer any and all of them. If I think of anything else - I will come back and write more. I had such a great time planning my wedding, I am seriously thinking of starting up a business to do it full time! Our wedding was truly the best day of my life! I really owe it all to Dreams Huatulco and Rocio!

Hey everyone! I can't believe I am leaving in 2 days! My wedding is a week from tomorrow. I am soooo excited! I will definitely share all the info that I can - including pictures.... Time flies - I can't even believe it!

Jesse, Thanks for the great review! I know it will be great! Can you believe I am 3 weeks away? We have 50 guests so far..... My friend is my hairdresser and she is coming to the wedding - thank god! I also was able to access the website but there were no pictures posted. I can't wait to see them!

Nadine, I was quoted $800 for the whole day - but that is with the gold package. Part of his fee is already included with the gold package....

Nadine - I checked out your website. It looks great! Looking forward to hearing from the March brides!

Hey girls - I have some questions that I thought I would throw out there. I am hoping others have some answers: Is anyone using a DJ for their music? What are others doing for their rehearsal? Is anyone planning an activity for their guests?

Ang - have a great time! I know it will be absolutely fantastic! Can't wait to hear about it....

Andie, Thanks so much for all the information! I was down there in January and met with everyone but it is great to have first hand experience of the wedding. I met with the florist and she seemed great. Can you please let me know why your flowers were awful? What kind of flowers did you choose? Also, I am interested in having the lights under the tables. Did they charge you for this? I am very interested in the pricing and what they charged your for. Can you provide any of this. I am changing up a lot of things, but I can't get the pricing. Can you please send me some pictures? My e-mail is [email protected]. Thanks so much! Silver

Mel - I will send you some pictures that we took in January.....

I agree - I am looking forward to other girls' reviews. We are planning on either a 5 or 5:30 wedding - depending on the sun. I think we will decide the final time when we are there. I put 5 on my invitation but I don't think it is a big deal if we move the time back. The wedding that we saw did have the hour cocktail party on the terrace by the lobby bar. I believe their wedding was at 4, then pictures, then cocktails, then the dinner. I think they plan on hour for the cocktail party. It definitely gives you time to take pictures.

JesseJ - I understand why you are so upset - I would feel the same way. What time is your wedding? They can't have both weddings at the same time. I wouldn't worry about the disco either. When I was there, the disco wasn't very crowded. Plus - if you have any single people at your wedding - it might give them a chance to meet some other singles.. I did see the ballroom when I was there. It is behind the front desk. There are several rooms but it can also turn into one large room. It is complete - so you don't have to worry. As for the additional cost for the cocktail hour - I don't know. I guess I didn't think about it. The reception can only go to 10:30 due to noise restrictions, possibly 11. I don't think you can extend it beyond that.

Jawedding - I agree in that you will fun at either resort. I was in Huatulco last weekend with my fiance and we loved it! We are getting married at the Dreams in April and really did not consider any other resort. Mainly because our travel agent highly recommended the Dreams properties. She has had many brides get married at the Dreams properties and they have all been fabulous! We loved the Dreams properties. Everything is brand new except for the concrete structure. They are continuing to plant trees and flowers so it still looks a little bare. That was one of my concerns when I saw some of the pictures. However, after being there, I am no longer worried. There are 7 restaurants at the Dreams hotel, which is nice as it offers some variety. There is a tennis court, that is not yet open due to the renovations. The fitness center is also brand new and is scheduled to open, along with the tennis court, in the middle of February. The beach at the Dreams is, in my opinion, the best beach along the Tangolunda Bay. It has so much more character than the beach at the Barcelo, or the Quinta Real. The Dreams beach is next to rocks and is beautiful. There was barely anyone at the beach at the Quinta Real. The chairs at the Barcelo beach are roped off, which I didn't quite understand. There is a ton of shade at the Dreams, however you need to go "stake out" a chair early in the morning. They appeared to go fast. It was rather crowded when we were there. We did not see Las Brisas as you cannot get to it from the beach at Dreams. You can see the hotel across the bay, but I did not get a close look at it. So, I really can't comment on the beach or anything at the Brisas. I think one of the most important things to consider is how responsive they are to you as a bride and the questions you have. Rocio at Dreams has been fabulous! She is great at returning e-mails. If Las Brisas is not responsive, that will only add to your headaches. Definitely keep that in mind. If you have a date in mind, it might be to your benefit to check with both hotels to see if they have availability. Hope this helps!

No problem! You will be so happy with everything. It is really a great resort. Plus, we got really good rates. I heard while I was there that the prices are only going to continue to increase. Let me know if you need any other information. One question for you - are you considering having more video as well? I am still unsure about that. I know that some of my friends that have had destination weddings wished that they had captured more video.

Hey everyone! I have so much to write about, I don't really know where to start. Ok - so here it goes. First of all, Rocio is amazing! She is so nice and very accommodating. She lived in California for awhile which is why her English is so good. She really tries to work with and listens to your requests. The ceremony can be on the beach or at the gazebo, which is in a couple of the pictures. You can also have your ceremony in town at the church. That is not included in the package, but it can be arranged. We are definitely doing ours on the beach. There was a wedding going on while we were down there which was on the beach. It was in front of the pool which is not very private. Everyone around was watching. If you want a more private ceremony, you can move it further down the beach. This ceremony was symbolic and was also very short - about 10 - 15 minutes. The ceremony can be as long as you want it. There was another wedding earlier in the week that was at the gazebo and was a legal ceremony. I was talking to someone that saw that ceremony and they did not like it. They said the legal ceremony is basically reading a legal contract out loud, in spanish, which is translated to english. We were going to do a legal ceremony, but based on what we heard, changed our minds. Plus, it is much easier to do the legal ceremony in the states. I met the florist that the hotel works with and she is extremely nice. I brought some pictures of some ideas I had in mind. Obviously, changing or adding flowers will be an additional cost. I don't know yet what the estimate is for the flowers I was requesting. The reception sites that I saw was on the terrace down by the gazebo. It is a nice area and you can actually use the gazebo space for the dance floor. You can also do a beach reception and they do have a dance floor that they use. The one thing that you need to be careful of is the tide which can be quite high sometimes. We were going to do a beach reception, but also decided to move it to the terrace since we have around 50 guests attending. The menu is fixed but if you have the gold package you can also select items from the silver menu. There is the additional charge for the guests over the 20 that are included. I think it is around $85 - all in. There is a charge for guests that are not staying at the hotel as well - however, if you already have over 20 guests, you are paying for them anyway. I also met Fabian, the photographer. His pictures are great! He really takes the time to capture great photos. You can upgrade the package included and have him take pictures from the time you are getting ready, to the end of the evening. The reception can't go past 10:30, but they may let you be outside until 11. The are is surrounded by rooms, and it makes sense that they try to control the noise levels. You can go to either the lobby bar, which has some outside seating, or the club. The club has a dance floor so if your guests still want to dance it is a good option. There is also a cigar bar - but is very smoky inside. The spa and the Japanese restaurant are scheduled to open around 2/15. They seem to be on schedule. The fitness equipment - at least bikes and treadmills in another location until the spa opens. The hotel is looking great. I was worried that it looked a little sparse, but they are planting more plants and flowers everyday. It is only going to improve. The staff was great - everyone was very nice. We did not have any problems at all. I have a minor in Spanish and talked in Spanish as much as possible. Everyone's English however, was good. I know this is a lot information and I am sure I have more. I also have some pictures, some of which are similar to the ones that Nadine sent. I can e-mail these if you want - just send me a private message. All in all, I am extremely happy with the hotel and the staff. I am really getting excited now as it seems real. I highly recommend this hotel!!!!! I think everything is going to be great! Oh - one more thing - be prepared to get your dress wet. It seems like every photo had the bride walking down the beach dragging her dress in the sand..... I just a got a call today that my dress is in - so excited to actually try it on again!

Ok - I am taking notes based on your questions. I will try to ask as many of them as possible when I there this week. Yay! Can't wait to get out of this cold! Jesse - I would love the pictures of the beach if you have them. I have seen pics of the ceremony set up but not of the reception. I have pictures of the centerpieces, but I think you already received them.