Dreams Puerto Aventuras Brides - POST HERE!

[freddiesgrl]

32 days til my wedding!  Jacy is e-mailing me more quickly now which is nice.  I just hope that I am not forgetting anything!  I'm starting to stress out alittle with Christmas and the wedding right around the corner.

[Jesken]

 

 

 

 

Hi Ladies -

 

Im sorry it took me so long to post my review:  but i have been in contact with DREAMS head office since returning from Mexico - we got married 11/30/2010 - and had 55people at my wedding and a VERY detailed decor and menu (most of the decor i had shipped to hotel with exception of linens, candalabras and chair covers) - and all the details left to the hotel or Jacy i am afraid were not followed through on.

 

We have been since compensated for the shortcomings, however more importanly we will never recapture the moments - and i wanted to let all you 'Brides to be' know that you must ensure you SEE everything before the day of the wedding, especially if you have special requests that are not in the package - to ensure you are getting what you payed for.

knowing the details i required and the number of guests, I had a hired a wedding planner here from Toronto working with Jacy for 8months leading up to the wedding day, and the hotel still failed to followed through. I want to mention that i did see 2 weddings a day while there for 2weeks and spoke with many brides, and those weddings with 20 people or less seemed to go without any confusion or upset - so for all those brides who have a larger party and more details - this is for your reference.

 

Overall - the hotel is AMAZING, the staff is AMAZING, the food is GOOD and the location is PRIME. I have been to Mexico 15x - and this hotel is exceptional for what you pay. I would definitly go back with my family - its great for kids and the we loved the location (close to playa and Tulum).

 

I dont want to be the bearer of bad news - but i also dont want any other brides (or grooms for that matter) to have to go through what we did. We were more than compensated after the fact, but we can never get the moments back!

 

I am only going to list a few examples of things that went wrong:

1. The candelabras we rented (picture was provided to Jacy – from the Dreams resort in Cancun) were the wrong ones: the candelabras we ordered were gold with glass tops to shelter the wind from the candles themselves. The ones we got were BLACK (which didn’t match the rest of my décor) – with candles that were too large for the holders, and to make matters worse – since there was no shelter from the wind the wax went all over the linens, the $500 cigars, cutlery, hand woven fans, the $1000.00 sombreros and the guests – including burning my dads hand!

2. Flowers – a picture was provided to Jacy (from the resort webpage) which had 25 or more cal lily’s – I ordered 2 vases for $50each, what I got was 2 vases with 5 or 6 flowers in them.

3. Food – my husband and I went the week before to ensure we could taste the menu and pick the food we liked from the various restaurants at the resort; we choose a menu which was simple and suitable for my guests (since 2 had food allergies and several were intolerant to dairy). Our menu included, but wasn’t limited to: surf & turf with regular mash and veggies with the option of Grouper – grilled with garlic & butter for the main course. We were informed the day before the wedding that we needed to ask all of our guests what their choice was – which meant my mom needed to run around to 55people and ask them if they wanted fish or meat – this, along with everything else discussed here, should have been discussed with us in advance, not the day before. What we got was a fish stuffed with veggies and covered in a cream sauce (which most people couldn’t eat due to dairy allergies) and a mash potato that tasted sour.

4. The Cake – the cake we ordered was from the ultimate wedding package and we provided our own cake topper. What we got looked nothing like the picture, and since it was so small my cake topper fell over and the cake itself toppled on itself – I therefore couldn’t serve this cake nor did I take any pictures with it which is part of our tradition. The restaurant manager informed us that he made the cake smaller since we served tiramisu with our meals – even though I paid $5 a piece for the wedding cake for up to 35 people – since Jacy informed us that a cake for 35 people would easily feed a wedding party of 55 people. The cake we got would maybe would of feed 20 people.

As i mentioned - we had a lot of details - we hired the violinist for the ceremony (they were ok) and the reggae band (who were over an hour late). We reserved the barracuda bar for our guests only - it was to be private as we paid per person per hour - but had other guests in their shorts eating the food we paid for and mingling at the bar in their shorts and bathing suits. Jacy was MIA for most of the day/night - but i had a great deal of help from my aunt, sisters and friends. I AM SORRY again for the poor review and wish you all an amazing wedding!!!!!! I think its better to be informed and go there in control and demand to see everything and get everything in writing. Take pictures if your not happy and meet with management next day! AL LTHE BEST TO ALL THE BRIDES TO BE - i am positive my wedding has changed things and processes and action plans have been put in place to ensure no one else has the same experience.  

[tracyl5]

Does anyone have any experience with the kids club at Dreams? My sister has a 2 year old and I just noticed that the kids club is 3 and up. It is complete deal breaker for us since we have a 6 and two 4 year old that will get in fine. My sister would be the only one stuck with a kid..... I have emailed Jacy to see if there is any exception but have not heard back. I will be so diappointed!!

[tracyl5]

Does anyone know if the chief concierge is still Gaby or Jennifer?  Thank you for your help:-)

[Tifuhhknee]

 

Originally Posted by tracyl5 

Thanks Jessica!     I think we are going to book this week but I am kind of bummed because the only time they have available is 3pm. I was really hoping to have our pictures when the sunsets. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is there anyway to do the pictures after the cocktail hour? Help!!!

 

 

 

Originally they gave me the time of 3, but I asked Sandra (the WC I was in touch with) if I could have 5 pm and it wasn't a problem.

[Tifuhhknee]

 

Originally Posted by m&d2011 

My important question is about day passes for outside vendors. I'm hiring mostly outside vendors and DPA wants to charge a fee fe each. Did anybody run into this and if so, did you pay for each or were able to negotiate?
 

 

 

I was told they cannot come onto the resort with just a day pass, that a room has to be booked for each outside vendor (specifically my photographer). My TA talked to the hotel and the cheapest way to do this was to get a room at the local rate (which is like 110 pesos). WAY cheaper than what we pay for ourselves!  And all he has to do is show his ID to get the room at that rate (he will not be staying, but whatever).  It's something worth looking into.

[tracyl5]

Does anyone know if you and your guest book through Expedia etc. can those nights apply towards the comp wedding?

[AsiaJane]

Hey Ladies,

 

Do you have your wedding dresses yet?  I'm going dress shopping this weekend and I'm thinking about getting a short wedding dress since everyone tells me June is hot.  What are your thoughts?! I mean our wedding is at 5pm so I wouldn't think it would be that hot?!

[TammyWright]

 

 

Originally Posted by tracyl5 

 

Does anyone know if you and your guest book through Expedia etc. can those nights apply towards the comp wedding?

 

 

they do not apply normally.

[jillianamy]

Hey everyone!

 

I just wanted to post really quick about the amazing experience we had at Dreams PA!  My hubs and I were married November 10th, 2010 at 3:00pm and it was an absolutely beautiful day!  We had 21 guests and everything from the weather, to the food, the decorations and flowers was perfect!  My WC was Jacy and although she is very busy lady, she did a fantastic job and everything was just how I wanted it!  The food at the reception was AMAZING and we brought our own Bose sound system and IPOD with our own dinner and dancing music for the reception.  We chose to have our reception at the outdoor location just adjacent to Oceana (the seafood resteraunt) and it was beautiful and private.  I kept thinking to myself "this is just amazing- I cant believe I only paid what I paid!!!"  (as a side note, one of my bridesmaids was married a year ago and planned her wedding over 2 very stressful years and spent ooodles of money and was not satisfied with her big day.  Because of this, I did NOT in any way want to be stressed out and broke and not enjoy my wedding!).

 

I had my hair and makeup done at the spa at Dreams- the spa was fantasitc and my husband and I also enjoyed a couples massage on the beach the day before the wedding.  My hair was perfect and I was very happy that all my bridesmaids were happy with their updo's as well.  We used the resort photographer and we were thrilled with the photos.  We had photos taken of the two of us by the water and family photos taken as well.  We had over 450 photos and they sold us a package with 75 prints and two CD's of every photo for $800.  The photos were beautiful!  This was one of my big worries heading to Dreams because I didn't want to lose the memory on crappy photos but they were great!

 

The resort itself was fantastic- the food was great and you can order room service 24/7 (like at 3:00 am when you get home from the disco!!!).  There was no shortage of activities going on and our entire group had a great time! 

 

Thanks to everyone on  this site for all the great tips- I couldn't have planned my dream wedding without all of your helpful posts!!