Dreams Puerto Aventuras Brides - POST HERE!

m&d2011 · February 4, 2011

Originally Posted by tracyl5

So I definitely feel behind! I don't even have a dress picked out! To those that are getting married april, may, or june... are you going with a short or long dress. Are you going to change for reception? I definitely think a long dress has more of a bride feel to it. I just worry about sweating in it, if our wedding is on the beach and the reception is on the beach

We have 8 adults and 4 kids booked so far, I am still thinking about going with the Ultimate for the simplicity of it. The most important things to me are pictures, food and cocktails, music (being able to hook up our Ipod docking station to electricity) and I think the mariachi band would be super fun!!

Here is the time line I was thinking of. What do you girls think?

3pm-330 wedding ceremony on beach

3:30-4:30 cocktail hr while we are getting pictures beach

4:30-5:30 cocktail hr with appetizers and maybe the mariachi band (depending on if we go with the ultimate wedding) beach

5:30-6 freshen up, maybe change

6pm dinner at gazebo (unfortunately this is probably going to be on the beach or poolside because there is another wedding at 5pm:-()

Tracy

Hi Tracy, I'm getting married on June 18 and my dress is long and big and beautiful (lol, i think it is)...check it out its jenna by maggie sottero. I'm not changing for the reception. However, my photographer will be doing a trash the dress section with me the morning after, and we will be going to a cenote so i got a $99 dress from davids & bridal.

I did hire dj doremixx for the wedding because music and dancing are super important to me. Also, i thought the mariachi band was way too expensive so we don't think we will have that for the cocktail hour.

When I first started to plan my wedding, I spoke with Del Soll photography (because i wanted them so badly), at the end i couldnt afford them however, one thing they advised me was to have my ceremony around 6, because the sun will be perfect, plus less hot in june.

So, my ceremony is at 6. Cocktail hour will be around 6:30. this will be around one hour at the barracuda bar (i think), then reception after that. I'm still debating for reception either at pool area or renting el patio.

i also have the minister info if anybody needs.

Here is the info:

Make Up/Hair: Adrian Guerra - Styling Trio Riviera Maya - [email protected]

Dreams Minister: Alex Monroy - [email protected] (he is super nice and great to work with)

that's it for now ladies!!!!

tracyl5 · February 4, 2011

Originally Posted by m&d2011

Quote:
Originally Posted by tracyl5

So I definitely feel behind! I don't even have a dress picked out! To those that are getting married april, may, or june... are you going with a short or long dress. Are you going to change for reception? I definitely think a long dress has more of a bride feel to it. I just worry about sweating in it, if our wedding is on the beach and the reception is on the beach

We have 8 adults and 4 kids booked so far, I am still thinking about going with the Ultimate for the simplicity of it. The most important things to me are pictures, food and cocktails, music (being able to hook up our Ipod docking station to electricity) and I think the mariachi band would be super fun!!

Here is the time line I was thinking of. What do you girls think?

3pm-330 wedding ceremony on beach

3:30-4:30 cocktail hr while we are getting pictures beach

4:30-5:30 cocktail hr with appetizers and maybe the mariachi band (depending on if we go with the ultimate wedding) beach

5:30-6 freshen up, maybe change

6pm dinner at gazebo (unfortunately this is probably going to be on the beach or poolside because there is another wedding at 5pm:-()

Tracy

Hi Tracy, I'm getting married on June 18 and my dress is long and big and beautiful (lol, i think it is)...check it out its jenna by maggie sottero. I'm not changing for the reception. However, my photographer will be doing a trash the dress section with me the morning after, and we will be going to a cenote so i got a $99 dress from davids & bridal.

I did hire dj doremixx for the wedding because music and dancing are super important to me. Also, i thought the mariachi band was way too expensive so we don't think we will have that for the cocktail hour.

When I first started to plan my wedding, I spoke with Del Soll photography (because i wanted them so badly), at the end i couldnt afford them however, one thing they advised me was to have my ceremony around 6, because the sun will be perfect, plus less hot in june.

So, my ceremony is at 6. Cocktail hour will be around 6:30. this will be around one hour at the barracuda bar (i think), then reception after that. I'm still debating for reception either at pool area or renting el patio.

i also have the minister info if anybody needs.

Here is the info:

Make Up/Hair: Adrian Guerra - Styling Trio Riviera Maya - [email protected]

Dreams Minister: Alex Monroy - [email protected] (he is super nice and great to work with)

that's it for now ladies!!!!

You are really lucky to be able to have your ceremony at 6pm. Jacy said the only time I could have it is 3pm because someone else is having there wedding at 5pm. That is why we are having 2hrs of cocktails! No one in my family is going to want to eat dinner anytime before 6pm. We usually don't eat dinner until 8pm on vacation!! That is great that you are getting a DJ that should be fun. Our group consist of 4 toddlers and about 10 adults so if we want to do any dancing we will probably go to the club at the resort.

I am a little frustrated with the fact that the time of our wedding is the worst possible time
(I am hoping the beach is not busy with people at that time or they have a way of keeping them away from the ceremony)

and I wanted to have our dinner in the gazebo and that is not available.

I am rethinking getting the Ultimate package when there are so many things that arent going to flow. What do you guys think? Free wedding and just add extras? I am torn on this because I don't love paying 2800 to not have it in the location of my choice and so incredibly early!

Dreams2010 · February 5, 2011

Hi Ladies,

I just had my wedding on December 3rd., but never got around to writing a review.

Like everyone on this site, I was so worried about every little detail...but like you read on all the posts here, your wedding will be perfect! No matter what

The only time that was available for my ceremony was 2pm, because of another wedding...which I was not very happy with because it was so early in the day. When the day came, I found out that there were no other weddings that day!!! I was a little annoyed, but had planned for it at that point, so whatever. It was December, so it wasn't too hot and its breezy and shady out at the gazebo so we were fine. Our timeline went like this...brunch at 8am, hair & makeup at the resort spa 11am (took 45mins total for both...I was shocked but also very happy with how it turned out), girls get ready at 12:30, pictures until 2pm. Ceremony at 2pm, pictures with the resort photographer immediately after (again, I was worried, but they actually turned out really good, plus we had a friend take pics too). Guests just hung out, had some drinks at the bar/their rooms & freshened up. 4pm we had our cocktail hour at the Baracuda Bar with the Miriachi band (they were really fun and added a little "extra" to the cocktail hour. 5pm we had dinner on the beach next to the natural pool. Picture perfect. I wouldn't change a thing. Again, it was Dec, so it was a little chilly in the evening, I wore my gown and a pashmina. We had cake, speeches etc on the beach. After dinner (around 8pm) we went to Desires bar for a little "afterparty/reception."

We also had our civil ceremony in Canada before we left (just parents, moh, bestman, & grandparents to keep the Mexico wedding special). And then we had our AHR in January.

I had the Ultimate package. It was worth it for us because we did not hire any outside vendors. Both Jacy & Sandra are great. I communicated via email with Jacy the whole time leading up the wedding (she gets quicker as it gets closer to your wedding and then when I got to the resort I found out that Sandra would be coordinating my wedding. She had my file from Jacy, she knew everything I wanted it and it all went perfectly .

Here are a couple things that annoyed me, but whatever:

-ridiculous Mexico magazine photoshoot on the beach next to Baracuda bar (and our dinner setup!) while we were having our cocktail hour. (hot girl in a bikini being photographed as she sprawls over the beach bed). The guys loved it...ladies not so much. Sandra asked them to hurry and move, so the photographer came and took pictures of me and my husband and apologized, lol.

-Ultimate package covers 20 people...you pay extra for each addtl person's meal AND for each addtl person for the cocktail hour. Only an extra $150 or so for us...but it adds up.

-resort guests came to the baracuda bar during our cocktail hour and stayed for about 20mins...some more random girls in the bathing suits while I'm standing there in my wedding gown. I was annoyed but they were the ones who looked silly so I didn't say anything.

Some really good things...flowers, Mirachi band...Mexican fare during cocktail hour (tacos/quesadilla etc), ...resort videographer, resort makeup, and Sandra. We had cake at our wedding dinner, so we asked to exchange dessert for 2 appetizers instead. We also asked for late checkout for the "grooms room" for the night before the wedding and just used it for me and the bridesmaids to get ready in pre-wedding instead.

For those of you trying to decide if this is the right resort...it worked great for us. I brough my 6 month old, and my friend brought her 2 year old and 9 month old. It was not the best resort I have ever stayed at (restaurants were "good" rooms were very nice etc but nothing was amazing. I liked the fact that it had a family side and a adults only side for our single/ non-family guest, I also liked that it was small. There were only so many places you had to look to find everyone, and you could scan the beach pretty quick. I also loved the gazebo and thought it was beautiful. It is just as nice as it is in the pictures

Wow...that's alot of typing...too much for today. Hopefully someone finds it helpful! Let me know if you have any questions.

Happy Planning

AsiaJane · February 13, 2011

Dream 2010, congrats and thank you for the review! It sounded like you had a good time minus the photoshoot

I have a question about where everyone is having their reception at?! I can't really decide. I know I dont want it on the beach b/c i dont want to get a lot of sand on my dress seeing that I'm wearing it again. We have the late wedding at 5 pm. I think we mite go with the Dreams of Love Package. We have 30 people right now so it sucks that we have to pay extra for the addtl over 20 guest!!!

AsiaJane · February 13, 2011

Originally Posted by tracyl5

So I definitely feel behind! I don't even have a dress picked out! To those that are getting married april, may, or june... are you going with a short or long dress. Are you going to change for reception? I definitely think a long dress has more of a bride feel to it. I just worry about sweating in it, if our wedding is on the beach and the reception is on the beach

We have 8 adults and 4 kids booked so far, I am still thinking about going with the Ultimate for the simplicity of it. The most important things to me are pictures, food and cocktails, music (being able to hook up our Ipod docking station to electricity) and I think the mariachi band would be super fun!!

Here is the time line I was thinking of. What do you girls think?

3pm-330 wedding ceremony on beach

3:30-4:30 cocktail hr while we are getting pictures beach

4:30-5:30 cocktail hr with appetizers and maybe the mariachi band (depending on if we go with the ultimate wedding) beach

5:30-6 freshen up, maybe change

6pm dinner at gazebo (unfortunately this is probably going to be on the beach or poolside because there is another wedding at 5pm:-()

Tracy

Hey Tracy, I feel your pain. We didn't start planning our wedding until like 2 weeks ago, but Jacy has been good about answering our questions. My wedding dress is long, but light weight. Its a Mia Solano dress and I love it! I'm thinking about wearing a short dress for the reception. I like your timeline and I also think a mariachi band would be AMAZING! Let me know if you need any help.

candicechaves · February 15, 2011

How much to rent el patio?

freddiesgrl · February 15, 2011

Hi Ladies,

I got married at DPA on January 14^thand I learned so much from the reviews written by previous brides, so I figured I would return the favor.

I would like to start off by saying that our wedding day was absolutely picture perfect and I would not change a thing if we were to do it all over again. We had 40 people travel down to the resort for our wedding and nobody had any issues and they all enjoyed themselves, which was great to hear since we were the first to do a destination wedding.

Our room was beautiful, we had the honeymoon suite on the 5^thfloor and the view was amazing. We took advantage of room service a few times during our 12 night stay and the food and service were great.

When we arrived at the resort, I was a little uneasy because I learned that Sandra would be our wedding coordinator when I communicated with Jacy through e-mail for over a year and actually met with Jacy in June when we visited the resort. But as soon as we met with Sandra, my worries disappeared because she was awesome. My only suggestion is to bring all e-mails with you. Everybody in my family made fun of me because I carried a binder of all my e-mails with the Jacy, but it actually came in handy because Sandra said that we had the beach for our reception when we really reserved El Patio a week prior to the wedding. El Patio was $750.

During our first meeting with Sandra she took my veil, dress, and my husbandâ€™s attire for the wedding to get steamed. On the wedding day she delivered my dress and veil to my room and My husbandâ€™s clothes to his room. (He was able to get a complimentary room the night before the wedding which was nice because the guys had a place to get ready.)

My girls and I used the resort salon the day of the wedding and we were all very happy with the way our hair looked. There was only one girl doing hair, but she was quick and our hair looked great all day long. I would highly recommend using the resort salon.

We chose the Ultimate package and it was a great decision. The flowers were absolutely stunning. I did not like any of the flowers that Jacy sent me to pick from, so I sent her a picture of a tropical bridal bouquet and bridesmaid bouquet that I like about 2 months prior to the wedding and it was almost exact. The flowers they used to decorate the gazebo and ceremony table matched as well.

For our ceremony we wanted steel drum music playing as the girls walked down the aisle and for when I walked down the aisle. I had nightmares about this prior to the wedding because I had 2 songs on two separate CDâ€™s that I wanted, but the DJ made it all happen without a flaw, I was very happy. The symbolic wedding was very nice. The officiant spoke English very well and we said our vows in a microphone so all 40 people could hear us. The ceremony was about 15 minutes long.

We used the resort photographer (there was actually 2) they were both wonderful. One of them went to my husbandâ€™s room 30 minutes prior to the wedding and the other came to my room 30 minutes prior to get â€œGetting Ready Shots.â€ The videographer also came to my room to get a few shots before the ceremony. All of our pictures came out awesome!! We were nervous about using them, but I would recommend them to anyone. The best part was that we got to see all 639 pictures 4 days after the wedding and selected our pictures. The pictures AND video were ready for us the very next day! We also chose to do â€œTrash the Dressâ€ and again, they did a wonderful job. Because we did this photo session 2 days before we left, the photographer said he would e-mail the pictures for us to select the next week. To make a long story short, he did not send us our pictures until 4 weeks after the photo session only because I e-mailed Sandra threatening to cancel my payment on the photos, a half hour later the photographer e-mailed me finally (after several unanswered e-mails) apologizing stating he would send them the following day. The next day, they were finally sent to me! The TTD photos were once again beautiful. Even with all of the e-mail drama I would recommend them because their quality of work is breath taking.

We had the cocktail hour at Baracuda Bar where the Mariachi Band played. We also had Mexican food as appetizers. Everybody loved the entertainment and food.

Our reception was at El Patio. I totally recommend this location for the reception, it is well worth the $750. The waiters were very attentive and the food was delicious. We had the bruschetta, tortilla soup, mixed greens salad, and surf and turf. The wedding cake was also very good which we were surprised about since we didnâ€™t really care for any of the dessert at the specialty restaurants or buffet. We had the resort DJ for the reception and the music he played was good. People were requesting songs and he played them too. Everybody was up and dancing!

After the reception, we went up to our room to drop off cards, and our door and room was decorated for us! The door had a Honeymooners sign across it and there were rose petals everywhere! It was a nice touch! Every night during our honeymoon we also got a dessert.

We also went to the Desires Bar after the reception and partied more.

I want to end this by saying you have NOTHING to worry about. I read this several times before we left and of course I still worried. Sandra was an amazing coordinator who was there during the entire ceremony/reception to make sure everything was perfect for us. If you want something just ask, most likely they will find a way to make it work for you. DPA truly made our dreams come true. If you have questions I will try to answer them for you.

jessicap · February 16, 2011

Originally Posted by AsiaJane

Hey ladies, So Its official we just paid for our rooms! No take backs now. So far we have 26 people confirmed. More than I expected! We will be there June 8 - June 18th, Will anyone else be there around this time? Our wedding is on June 11th.

Hi AsiaJane!

We're getting married on June 10, and we'll be there June 7-16th. I'm finally very close to choosing a dress, but the rest of our plans are more or less up in the air right now until we confirm the number of guests. We originally wanted to get a group dinner reservation in lieu of a reception, but we might be over 20 people at this point... And since we're aren't hiring outside venders, it looks like we may upgrade to another package (we currently just stuck with the complimentary package). Anyway, good luck, and keep us updated!

AsiaJane · February 18, 2011

Hey Jessicap! That is awsome. I looks like we will be there at the same time. We will have to meet up and swap stories. We haven't done a lot as far as making any final plans. We are kinda on the fence about a few things. We are def goin with one of the packages bc we aren't hiring out side vendors either. We have 30 guest so far abs the number keeps rising:) What about you. How many guess so far? Well if you have any questions let me know and keep me updated on your progress! Xoxo Hello freddiesgrl - congrats and thank you for the review! It sounds like everything went pretty great. I have one question, you mentioned that the el patio was 750. Was that in addition to your package or was that included in your package? Also post pics if u

m&d2011 · February 19, 2011

Hi AsiaJane, the El Patio is 750 rental fee on top of the package cost. They would close the restaurant for you if you pay the fee.

I wanted to post the preliminary pics for some of my OOT bag contents...what do you ladies think?

Extra items will be: mini aloe vera, alka seltzer + personalized beach towel + personalized tote + welcome letter + itinerary of events + coloring books for kids + maybe koozie + chocolate