Dreams Puerto Aventuras Brides - POST HERE!

[echo2_62]

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Originally Posted by 2010wedding http://media.TheKnot.com/ImageStage/...arge_image.jpg I am thinking of doing this with orchids. Echo, you posted this idea awhile ago!! Its awesome!!

LOL, I don't even remember posting this but it does look really pretty! Shows how quickly I forget even my own ideas without working on them right away!

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Originally Posted by Oscar_Ernie I'm so excited to announce that I'm officially (finally!) a DPA bride-to-be. We are booked, deposited, and flying to Mexico November 1st!

Hooray for booking at DPA!! We can all relate to how exciting it is to have finally chosen, and booked, your resort. And since you've been on the site for a while I'm sure that you've got lots on the go or already done too so you're probably ahead of the game!

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Originally Posted by mwcfarms And on a totally seperate note I just have to share with someone I have reached my target weight. 2 weeks earlier than I had hoped. 35 pounds down. YAY.

Dee!! How amazing do you feel right now! That's so awesome to be able to say that you reached your goal (a hard enough struggle)) and managed to do it two weeks early as well. i'm sure you'll be a great inspiration to lots of other girls here trying to lose some weight before their weddings.

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Originally Posted by mwcfarms Dreams in los cabos put together a bonfire on the beach the night before the wedding with smores and beer. Which is an awesome idea and I am going to email jacy about that. Its not too bad here. I have to come into Calgary this week to try on Bridesmaid dresses and am looking for a shop other than ethos or bridal centre. Let me know of any that are easy to get too. I get lost downtown hehe. Talk soon.

I've seen bonfire pics on other reviews too and thought it would be lots of fun to have something like that, even if it isn't exclusive to our wedding group. If you hear anything back from Jacy I'd love to know!!

As for bridesmaid dresses, have you tried Beautiful Bride (on macleod trail - immediately south of glenmore on the east side in the same building with Spence Diamonds) or Cameo & Cufflinks?? I'm not sure on options at each but they'd both avoid the downtown/ 17th ave area?? Either that or there ae a couple places on 11th ave SW (S2 and House of Brides) or Mena's Bridal on Centre street just south of 16th ave NW (I got my dress at Mena's and they were really great to work with). And now that I said all that I realized that you will need dresses right away! So maybe check out Smart Set, RW & Co., Dynamite, BCBG - any of those usually have really nice dresses and I actually wanted to buy some for my girls from there! All of those stores are up in Cross Iron Mills so at least you could make a single stop to check them all out.

[2010wedding]

LOL, I don't even remember posting this but it does look really pretty! Shows how quickly I forget even my own ideas without working on them right away!

 

 

Echo-

You're not losing it!!! I found this on The Knot website and then thought of you and the hanging orchid idea! I love the floating orchid inside of the tall vase with the floating candle inside. Blue is one of our main colors so I thought this might be a cool way of getting the color represented!! White table cloth, blue napkins and then these? You can always leaves around the outside too.....

[2010wedding]

I found the DLC forum where the gal has a bonfire, pinata and smores after the reception. for additional $$. I LOVE that idea.....good find Dee! What a way to have a memorable party for everyone!! Bonfire on the beach you can't do in Calgs!!!

[2010wedding]

S2 brides on 11th is where I bought my dress and Sonia's is their sister store off of Edmonton trail. Really friendly places. What are you looking for Dee?

[mwcfarms]

She wants an alfred angelo BM dress and I just need a size. I have no clue so thanks for all those tips ladies.

[acwedding]

what made you pick Dreams Puerto Aventuras?

were still trying to pick our location

we thought we settled on barcelo tropical, but now i am having second thoughts

any suggestions help

pictures, posts on trip advisor, 3.5 star rating, and 2006 story turned me off barcelo

we like a good/big/interesting pool with bar, clean, great beach, good food, i like grand, my fiance does not like big buildings and concrete, he likes trees

 

thanks

[Rainfall]

Good Afternoon ladies.

 

Finally got my laptop back and now I have my review to post! Im getting my pictures organized and trying to get them from people yet so hopefully I get them soon. My Pro pics don't come in for another 4-6 weeks.

 

Dreams Puerto Aventuras is beautiful! I've never been to an AI before so this was really a treat! Eat and drink anything you want at whatever time you want. We really took advantage of the room service at late night when we had mini parties in our room. The food, customer service and restaurants are wonderful. I didn't like the sushi bar.

 

The hotel transfer was probably the worse part of the trip. We had some other people to drop off, and in the middle of rush hour, so our plane landed at 4:30 and going through customs (which we all got green light) and we got to the resort around 7:30. Please PLEASE avoid the time share group ( we fell for it) they all have mexico airport badges on but they say " Travel Advisors" so we thought they were legit. Turns out you can take a whole group to Tulum for only 100 but you have to pay it up front. So my suggestion is as soon as you walk through the sliding doors past customs, walk straight by these people and look for your transfer bus.

 

 

 

We stayed in room 744 with a breathtaking ocean view. We didn't see it the first night when we got there since it was dark but we were blown away in the morning. I would recommend a ocean view if you can afford it. All our other guest stayed in marina view and it was nice and quiet. The only suggestion I have for ocean view is put some sort of stopper on the window so you don't let the wind wake you or keep you up.

 

 

Wedding day: I recommend asking for Louisa if you go to the Salon. She did a wonderful job on my manicure, hair and makeup. I had a pedicure done by someone else it was not as great. It is a small salon, only one person working at a time, so you may want to book well in advance if you want to bring your entire party in.

Jacy had brought the flowers in about 10 mins before the ceremony and was running a little late, my ceremony was schedule to start at 3 but started around 3:15ish. No biggy I was too nervous to be keeping track of time. When walking down the lobby and to the gazebo all the guest cheered and clapped and it really made me feel like a princess The gazebo decorations was a blur to me, I honestly don't remember much of it so I am hoping the pictures will re-create the day for me. The band, waiters for the cocktail hours and servers were all wonderful and made the day perfect!

 

We meet with Jacy 2 days before the wedding to finalize everything, I had everything printed out for her so it was fairly easy to go through the details. I would recommend you bring a physical picture if you have specifics on decorations. I explained what I wanted and it wasn't exact but it didn't bother me in the end. Jacy has everything under control and you have NOTHING to worry about! They will make sure everything goes perfect for you. Jacy even stopped 5 kids from running right into the middle of the ceremony!

 

The ceremony was at the gazebo and it was windy but tolerable. I was actually afraid it was going to be too windy since all days before the wedding it was very very windy but on friday morning it was so calm I was sooo happy. We had the dinner at the beach and it was a great idea, I was a little concerned about the wind but Jacy said we can change the location that day if it was going to be a problem. It was nice on the beach with the breeze!

 

I had the vanilla cake during the ceremony and it was DELICIOUS! I really only had a chance to have some the morning after but it was still wonderful. During the dinner we had the surf and turf and everyone said it was great but I didn't really like the steak part of it. We had the shrimp pastry and asparagus salad and it was really good. We had the DJ for 2 hours for the dinner and they too did a wonderful job.

 

I was a little disappointed with the flowers since I didn't get exactly what I was quoted on. I didn't get a chance to meet up with Jacy afterwords and at that point I didn't really care. But other than that everything was perfect and the staff at DPA made sure of it!

 

My photographer was Sascha Gluck and he was aboslutly AMAZING! We had such a great time with him taking pictures before the ceremony that it put us all in a great mood. Larz did the pre ceremony with the guys and they all said he was wonderful. My husband and his boys HATES pictures but some how they manage to make it so easy that I cannot wait for the pictures! I would recommend him to anyone looking for a photographer. For the Video, I had it was the ultimate package. It turned out sub-par. I got it the day before we left and watched it in the room. I am happy I got a guest to film the wedding so that I can re-make my own video. So if video is important to you, you may want to consider a professional. ( Of course this was my opinion)

 

Girls you made the right choice to have your wedding at DPA and all your worries will melt away when you get there! Good Luck with your planning and please send me an email if you have any questions at all rainfall_mt @ hotmail.com

 

I won't be going back to DPA for my anniversary but def a Dreams resort so we can see more the world.

 

-Rain

[Ginalyn]

Thanks for the details Rain!! Sorry to hear about the flowers.

 

I'm glad you liked Sascha!! He and Lars are amazing! I still stalk his blog all the time, so I can't wait to see your pics!!

[mwcfarms]

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Originally Posted by acwedding what made you pick Dreams Puerto Aventuras? were still trying to pick our location we thought we settled on barcelo tropical, but now i am having second thoughts any suggestions help pictures, posts on trip advisor, 3.5 star rating, and 2006 story turned me off barcelo we like a good/big/interesting pool with bar, clean, great beach, good food, i like grand, my fiance does not like big buildings and concrete, he likes trees thanks

I chose Dreams PA because its smaller. Only has 321 guest rooms or so and I didnt want to be on a huge resort for my day. I love the fact that you dont need reservations for dinner and it had good reviews for family and couples. HTH's.

[echo2_62]

Quote:

Originally Posted by acwedding what made you pick Dreams Puerto Aventuras? were still trying to pick our location we thought we settled on barcelo tropical, but now i am having second thoughts any suggestions help pictures, posts on trip advisor, 3.5 star rating, and 2006 story turned me off barcelo we like a good/big/interesting pool with bar, clean, great beach, good food, i like grand, my fiance does not like big buildings and concrete, he likes trees thanks

I'd also been looking at the Barcelo Tropical for our wedding - I think it was one of my final three? I think prices were a factor against Barcelo because we had three departure locations to consider (three different provinces) and there was a lot of variation depending where guests would be coming from. DPA seemed to have less of a spread in cost overall.

I agree with Dee that one of my reasons for DPA was that it wasn't a huge resort so with any luck it wouldn't feel too overwhelming due to a large number of people. We weren't anticipating more than a couple of kids (and we actually will have none) but all the reviews were good for that just in case. FI wanted to make sure that we had a good selection of a la carte restaurants to choose from and also night entertainment/nightclub that we could party at since the majority of our guests are friends our age. Another requirement was to be close enough to Playa del Carmen that we can go whenever we want and not worry about spending too much on taxis back and forth.

And I've got to admit that seeing pictures of the wedding gazebo here kind of did me in. It was between a beach front gazebo or a super lush jungle-type setting which proved to be a bit harder to figure out. I just saw the resort promo pics (and I think Ginalyn's pushed me over the edge!) and knew that was where I wanted to be!