Dreams Puerto Aventuras Brides - POST HERE!

[ChelseyB]

everythign is becoming more real. i'm going to book my room today!  has anyone been there.  is the ocean view something i should deifnitely do, or is the marina view nice as well?

[Julie Carson]

Ah! I can't believe it my day is almost here! We leave on Friday. Any last minute advice or questions ladies??

[AlisonDawn]

You must be getting so excited Julie!!! Enjoy every moment, it goes by SO fast!!

[ChelseyB]

Hi guys.  for those of you already married and posting pictures. did you use the resort photographer?  did you only get the package they provided? or upgrade to something else?  i would love to hear what you suggest.

thanks

chelsey

[AlisonDawn]

Hey Chelsey, I was married there in February and we decided to hire a different photographer. It really is based on your own personal preference though. If you like the photos the resort photographers take, then you will save a whole slew of money!! If not though, and you decide to hire an external photographer, ask Jacki if there are any refunds for doing so. We did this, and she gave us $100 off another aspect of our wedding.

 

I'd suggest Del Sol for your photos if you can afford it! They are all so talented and wonderful! I am still so in love with our photos, they truly captured the story of our wedding. And the best part is that you get ALL the photos (between 300-400) mailed to you on a disk, so you don't have to pick and choose which photos you need to part with.  But maybe the resort photog. does this as well? I don't actually know..

[Julie Carson]

August 14^th, 2012 Wedding Review

 

After months of reading the reviews on here and all the planning and excitement I can’t believe its over. Everything was amazing and I loved every moment.

 

5:00 wedding in gazebo

6:00 Cocktail hour barracuda bar

7:00- 11:00 Reception Banquet room on second floor above Portofino

 

We paid for the extra hour so that we wouldn’t feel rushed, and I was really happy we did, we needed it. I had read from many other brides that they felt rushed and it ended so soon. I definitely recommend it!

 

Dinner- We had 31 guests total. We did a buffet dinner because it was cheaper per person over 20 people and we were able to do more of a variety. The food was amazing all the guests were raving about how it was the best food of the trip.

 

Cake- The 20 person cake included was plenty of cake and it was so yummy.

 

Flowers-

 I told Jacki I liked orange and purple lilly’s and they came out perfect. The dreams of love package came with three giant flower decorations for the gazebo and they used them for the reception and it was perfect. I was stressed out about it not being enough flowers but it was plenty. I did get single flowers for my bridesmaids and they actually made little bouquets for them but I was a little disappointed. Most of the flowers were unopened, but it was a minor thing and I was still happy with them overall.

 

Music: Jacki provided music for the ceremony, cocktail hour, and we brought dinner/ reception music.

 

Reception Location-

This is what I stressed the most about over the last year, where to have the reception. El Patio is really gorgeous and I thought I might want to splurge and pay the extra cost once I saw it but it was too big for the size of group I had and the no ac was a huge factor. We went with the banquet room so that we would have the AC. It was great, we ate and danced all night comfortably. I would not change this choice for anything! There was a wedding on the beach the week we got there and they seemed to have a good time and the beach and danced too but it was just too hot for me. I know there aren’t a lot of pictures of the banquet room out there so I will post them when I can. The wedding on the beach we saw had a DJ and and it looked really cool with the lights on the dance floor. We almost added it but I had worked on a playlist for a long time and just went with it. It work out great and we had tons of fun dancing. We had a lot of fun with the limbo J

 

Decorations:

 I found chair sashes and table runners online for really cheap and brought them. Jacki put them out no problem for the ceremony and then brought them in for the reception. The tables had white table clothes and then a gold overlay and they put my purple table runners on top. I had expected the white/purple look and the gold was kinda of overpowering and I’m not a big gold fan….. Not a huge deal but I’m just mentioning it so you will know to ask if they are putting out table overlays and you might have a say.

 

Photos:

We had a family friend photographer take our pictures so we took a credit for the resort photographer. I would have been fine using the resort photographer though, everything for the wedding went so well I wouldn’t mind trusting the resort photographer. We took the pictures during the cocktail hour and it got dark on us pretty quickly. If you plan to take a lot of pictures and take your time I would consider having your wedding at 4:00 instead of 5:00.

 

Resort

The resort was wonderful. We choose it because of the adults/family pools options and because it was smaller. I wanted to be able to find everyone without problems and it was great.  I had read reviews on trip advisor that the place was swarming with kids and the beach was ridiculously small. Yes there were kids and yes the beach is small. But you can always find a quiet chair on the beach away from kids and the adult pool is great. The beach was enough for us and no one in my group complained about it.

 

Any advice I can give future brides is don’t worry. Jacki and her assistant Isabella are so wonderful! I’ll be happy to answer any questions anyone has. Pictures will be posted as soon as I get them! 

[ChelseyB]

noone has posted on here in a long time?  anything fun being planned by anyone?

[Lovesnick]

I am looking into having a beach bonfire, does anyone have any photos?

[Moments That Matter]

Great idea Lovesnick! have you looked at the Home page of this website? There's a great article on beach bonfires at the Barcelo........all the best with your plans and wishing you great times at your wedding celebrations......Enjoy

[Julie Carson]

I had looked into the bonfire but couldn't afford it. Looks like fun though! We did a rehearsal dinner at SeaSide Grill the night before the wedding. They will quote you a really high price if you ask to arrange it ahead of time. But I just went during the day that I wanted and talked to the manager and he said it was fine but we need to come early, like 6:00. They sat us all in the same area and it was perfect. The bonfire looks cool though!