draktak

This may or may not help you, but here was our experience... We booked in June 2013 for our February 2014 wedding (happened earlier this week). In August 2013 we saw travel agency Apple Vacations was quoting us the same wedding package for a ~10% better deal than what we were paying to Dreams. Dreams would not price match what we were seeing quoted by Apple Vacations which I thought was ridiculous! (especially since Apple Vacations is likely taking a 5 to 10 percent travel agency commission). We never threatened to cancel the wedding, partially because we were only 6 months out upon discovery of the price difference, so it's possible we were just not trying hard enough. If you are flexible on the January 2nd date, I'd suggest calling Apple Vacations and talking to the wedding department about a wedding. (Note: I have no affiliation with Apple Vacations, I'm sure other travel agencies could do just as well... but I think Apple is the biggest one in the Cancun area).

Groom here who was only loosely involved with the planning - our wedding was 3 days ago. We had 39 people including us (4 tables) near the dolphin pool and there were not any privacy issues (just an occasional couple that would walk by in the distance). Assuming it's in the evening, I don't think any of the reception areas have privacy problems. I saw a cocktail hour or reception on the beach near the seaside grill in the mid afternoon that looked kind of like a spectacle though (too many beach goers within a 500 foot radius IMO). I think the thing to keep in mind is that around dinner time or as the sun is setting, guests are either in restaurant/bars or at their room... very few on the beach or just walking the resort. Most people are in the sun all day and even the wild ex frat looking dudes seem to lose rather than gain steam.

I got married at Dreams Tulum earlier this week. I'm also a hobbyist photographer (and have done some weddings). We hired an outside photographer for getting ready, ceremony, and shots of us & family/friends immediately following the ceremony on the beach. Since our Dreams wedding package included the Dreams photographer, we had him take pictures of the cake cutting & reception for an hour. Here's my feedback: - The photographer was charismatic and outgoing and good at getting pictures of all of our guests. During the cake cutting he also took the initiative to have us pose and do a couple silly things that made for fun pictures. - He had a good sense for lighting with his bounce flash, but didn't use an umbrella flash or remote flash which I thought was a bit disappointing. As expected, in the final shots many people had shiny looking foreheads and gloomy black backgrounds. This would not be a problem during the day, but a dark reception should always have remote flashes IMO. -He had a good sense for posing and creating flattering angles. This is probably the most important factor in a wedding photographer. -The day after our wedding we narrowed about 120 pictures down to the 50 we liked (we ended up at 52 after the first pass through of "remove or keep" which the photoshop guy said was close enough to 50). - The pictures we had to choose from lacked basic digital editing (there were problems with brightness/contrast/white balance). After getting home from Mexico yesterday I popped the CD in and in about an hour had corrected this, removed some pimples/blemishes, removed shine from some foreheads, increased detail of black clothing, lightened some of the backgrounds, etc. - About 5 of the 50 prints were unacceptable without digital edits, and another 10 were just a bit disappointing. It's a bit surreal someone at dreams doesn't at least do a 10 second per picture digital editing job before making the prints. My Conclusions: -If you want many pictures and a wedding book, use an outside photographer. -If you use only the resort photographer, plan to do some digital editing on your own. Don't put much value on the prints you will receive, just print them on your own. -For everyone with a package that includes the Dreams photographer: At a minimum I'd suggest downloading Google Picasa (free software) and see if you like the picture more after applying the "I'm Feeling Lucky" filter to each pic. There is also a fairly easy to use blemish reducer/remover in Picasa. For pictures taken after the sun is down, you will likely want to find someone who knows how to work Photoshop and can dodge/burn the picture.