Dreams Puerto Aventuras Brides - POST HERE!

[Lovesnick]

Originally Posted by sherryro13 

 

Thanks for all the great pointers!

What was the cost to extend the time in the restaurant for 1hr?

Also did you go with a dj or just bring your own ipod dock?  I am torn on what to do.

 

I have been searching for the Bubba Kegs but they are all quite expensive when I have to buy 34-40.

Great Idea with the chips and cookies, I was going to make a Costco run before leaving and bring down some goodies.

 

It was $18 per person to extend for the first hour, you could do a second hour for $15 per person.

We had our ipad. We organized everything into playlists so it would be easy to jump to different songs for the first dance, cake cutting, etc. Ipads don't have the ability to crossfade songs, which kind of sucked, so if you want to do that, I would bring your laptop or a device that can do this. Everyone was dancing without a dj, I suppose it depends on your crowd. I found the oldies were the biggest hits, something everyone can appreciate. The thing that is nice about doing the music yourself is you can choose exactly what songs you play.

 

The Bubba Kegs are definitely cheaper from shopbubba.com than if you bought them in the stores. The resort has nice large glasses though, so mugs aren't a must if you want to save costs.

 

If you can do it, I would recommend trying to buy snacks when you are down there. I would be concerned that they would get crushed on the way. And everyone liked all the funny names that they had for the snacks. It was really cheap, you could take a quick cab ride to the Chedraui and get a big flat of chips and large packs of cookies and candy.

[ChelseyB]

i just returned from the resort for our wedding.  man o man was it sooo much fun.   overall it was 100% a wonderful success and so much fun, but i'm going to share the things that i wish i had learned before i went, so this post may sound negative, but i'm not trying to be negative . it was 98% wonderful and only 2% negative. promise. 

 

jacki was amazing and took care of everything.  she would just say "dont' worry about it, i got it"  and she did.  the reception was at el patio which was the perfect space. i'm so glad we decided to do that versus the beach. the beach weddings were just too bright with all the lighting they used. and everyone at the resort was watching the entire time. el patio was way more private.  we saw a wedding not quite on the beach, but on the bonfire location and that looked alot better than the beach location. 

 

i had my hair and makeup done at the spa and pedicure.  the spa is beautiful but it was the most expensive pedicure that i've ever had and it wasn't that impressive. i would suggest just getting them done before you go. the makeup looked good and the hair looked pretty good but they used tons of hairsparay that kept my hair in place in case it was windy and now when i look at the pictures i just feel like my hair looks glued in place. i wish i would have asked them to just let it blow in the wind a bit.  i think that would have looked more natural.  

 

some other unfortunate things is that a large group of us got "mexico belly" if you know what i mean.  luckily we had three doctors in the group who had brought stuff to deal with it kind of.  but it still put all that got it out for about 24 hours. i would definitely suggest going to teh dr and getting some medicine from your doctor in case you need something for vomitting or diarrehea once you get there.  also, we had one person have their wallet stolen from the room.  he had not put it in the safe.  noone that used the safe had any complaints.  my sunglasses disappeared from our room (again not in the safe) and we heard a story of a guy walking in on the maid going through his back pack.  

 

the food was very very good at portofino(italian) and el patio(mexican). i got the lobster 2 nights because it was so amazing. teh lobster costs extra but to me was worth it. 

 

the rooms were awesome. there are different size rooms in the same price bracket. the first night the room we got was smaller than my mom's room, so we asked for the larger room and they moved us the next day.  the 7th floor is the preferred club level and that was awesome. we are so glad we got that.  they had top shelf liquor and snacks all the time. a lso they had breakfast up there so we didn't have to go down to the loud busy buffet in the morning and could just have a quiet breakfast up with our family in the morning. often i would order room service and then take it out to the 7th floor lounge to have with my family.  the room service food was much better than i've had at other resorts.  especially the chicken fingers.  super yummy. 

 

okay now i just really want to go back so i'm going to stop writing, but please ask if you have any questions. 

 

chelsey

 

 

 

[toniron]

Thanks for the feedback. My wedding is September 1, 2013 and we are planning on using El Patio.  The place looks amazing!! Thank you for suggesting to use the place longer, I had not thought of that.  Do you have any pictures? 

 

Toni

Originally Posted by Lovesnick 

I am happy to help! We booked El Patio way in advance, mostly because we wanted it so much. There was another wedding on our wedding day, so it could have been possible they booked the restaurant before us, and we didn't want to take that chance. There are only 2 weddings a day, at 3pm and at 5pm. It seems like a lot of people choose a wedding on the beach.

 

We had a buffet, the Mexican one. It was absolutely spectacular. There were a lot of choices for people, and I knew everyone would find something they liked. We also took out the chicken mole and added the coconut fish from the Carribbean buffet menu, it was pretty much the star of the dinner. I had read a lot of other people said sit down dinner takes awhile, and buffet was pretty quick.

 

I brought down photo frames (large ones, 8x 10) that had the table numbers and photos of my husband and I from each year corresponding to the table number. I brought down tealights and glass candle holders from Ikea as well. Pretty much it, with the exception of the cake topper, guest book. The candles near the front of the restaurant (where the windows are near the ocean) blew out, but the others stayed lit. Honestly though, the ambiance in the restaurant was so nice, I don't think candles would be necessary at all. Jacki took the flowers from the gazebo and split them to the cake table, guest book table, and head table. So we bought little centerpieces for each table, a tall round vase with water and a lily in it. $30 each, kind of steep. They charge so much for everything, if you have something in mind you would really like, I would bring it. I honestly don't think you need much in that restaurant at all, something personal for you and your fiance maybe. The place sells itself.

 

If I could give one piece of advice, pay the extra money to have an extra two hours in the restaurant. We paid for one extra hour and wished we had way more. It seemed like less when we were dancing around and drinking, but I would highly recommend paying for longer, even if you have to cut from somewhere else. We went to the sports club after which was fun, but everyone really enjoyed dancing in the restaurant and having it to ourselves. It is not cheap to do this, but without a doubt the one thing I wish I did. It was an incredible night though, whatever you do will turn out great!

 

I saw you are doing welcome bags, we did too. The towels aren't necessary, they have big beautiful ones that you can take as you please, and leave on your chair when you are done. We got Bubba kegs shipped to the resort, which was great. The glasses they give at the resort are large nice plastic glasses so travel mugs aren't a necessity, but if you want to go that way, Bubba kegs were great. We also added hand sanitizer, spf lip balm. Also, when we got there, we went to the grocery store (Chedraui, quite near the entrance to Puerto Aventuras) and bought big boxes of small bags of chips and cookies. People loved to have those snacks when they arrived, esp since the chips from the gift shop were $10 for a small bag!!!

 

Let me know if you have any more questions, I am happy to help, You will have a great time!

[sherryro13]

Originally Posted by ChelseyB 

 

i just returned from the resort for our wedding.  man o man was it sooo much fun.   overall it was 100% a wonderful success and so much fun, but i'm going to share the things that i wish i had learned before i went, so this post may sound negative, but i'm not trying to be negative . it was 98% wonderful and only 2% negative. promise. 

 

jacki was amazing and took care of everything.  she would just say "dont' worry about it, i got it"  and she did.  the reception was at el patio which was the perfect space. i'm so glad we decided to do that versus the beach. the beach weddings were just too bright with all the lighting they used. and everyone at the resort was watching the entire time. el patio was way more private.  we saw a wedding not quite on the beach, but on the bonfire location and that looked alot better than the beach location. 

 

i had my hair and makeup done at the spa and pedicure.  the spa is beautiful but it was the most expensive pedicure that i've ever had and it wasn't that impressive. i would suggest just getting them done before you go. the makeup looked good and the hair looked pretty good but they used tons of hairsparay that kept my hair in place in case it was windy and now when i look at the pictures i just feel like my hair looks glued in place. i wish i would have asked them to just let it blow in the wind a bit.  i think that would have looked more natural.  

 

some other unfortunate things is that a large group of us got "mexico belly" if you know what i mean.  luckily we had three doctors in the group who had brought stuff to deal with it kind of.  but it still put all that got it out for about 24 hours. i would definitely suggest going to teh dr and getting some medicine from your doctor in case you need something for vomitting or diarrehea once you get there.  also, we had one person have their wallet stolen from the room.  he had not put it in the safe.  noone that used the safe had any complaints.  my sunglasses disappeared from our room (again not in the safe) and we heard a story of a guy walking in on the maid going through his back pack.  

 

the food was very very good at portofino(italian) and el patio(mexican). i got the lobster 2 nights because it was so amazing. teh lobster costs extra but to me was worth it. 

 

the rooms were awesome. there are different size rooms in the same price bracket. the first night the room we got was smaller than my mom's room, so we asked for the larger room and they moved us the next day.  the 7th floor is the preferred club level and that was awesome. we are so glad we got that.  they had top shelf liquor and snacks all the time. a lso they had breakfast up there so we didn't have to go down to the loud busy buffet in the morning and could just have a quiet breakfast up with our family in the morning. often i would order room service and then take it out to the 7th floor lounge to have with my family.  the room service food was much better than i've had at other resorts.  especially the chicken fingers.  super yummy. 

 

okay now i just really want to go back so i'm going to stop writing, but please ask if you have any questions. 

 

chelsey

 

 

 

 

Hi ChelseaB,

Congrats!  How was the bonfire?  was it worth the cost?

I am thinking of skipping the cocktail hour but am not sure what the guests will do while we are off getting pictures.  Can you please give feedback on the menu items you chose and if you substituted anything in or out of the wedding package?  I am thinking of removing the massages and the mexican trio to get a credit to apply towards other items.

What did you use for favors and did you bring your own chair sashes?

[ChelseyB]

Originally Posted by sherryro13 

 

 

Hi ChelseaB,

Congrats!  How was the bonfire?  was it worth the cost?

I am thinking of skipping the cocktail hour but am not sure what the guests will do while we are off getting pictures.  Can you please give feedback on the menu items you chose and if you substituted anything in or out of the wedding package?  I am thinking of removing the massages and the mexican trio to get a credit to apply towards other items.

What did you use for favors and did you bring your own chair sashes?

the bonfire was awesome.  it just was too short!  but we had alot of musicians in our group and my husband had planned a little musical show, so that's why it was soo amazing.  i wouldn't have given it up though for sure. 

 

we skipped the cocktail hour as well which was a very wise decision. all of the guests just went over to the barrcuda bar which is the bar out towards the ocean with swings. that is where we were taking pictures anyway, so we were with the party the entire time pretty much.  the cocktail hour flew by and jackie was quickly ushering us into the reception. i defintiely recommend opting out of the cocktail hour. 

 

i unfortuantely did not get to eat any of the wedding food because that was the day i was dealing with "mexico tummy"  so i had saltines for dinner.  isn't that sad!  we had the carribean menu and he said teh coconut fish and the beef shishkabobs were his favorite.  the cold salads didn't get eaten much it seemed so if you can substitute more warm items for the cold items that may be a good thing. 

 

we got the silver wedding pacakge so it didn't include the mexican trio so i can't speak to that.  the silver package had everything we thought we needed. the massage was nice. we did it the first day there which i think was a good thing because we were so anxious when we arrived. 

 

we did not bring chair sashes but i dont' think we needed them at all. the flowers they provide are quite large so they serve as plenty of decoration.  i just brought two starfish to hang on the first two chairs as we went down the aisle. 

 

we did not give favors at the wedding. just a gift bag when the guests arrived. we kept it simple but did include inflatable flamingo drink holders which i got off of amazon which were a hit. 

 

are you using the resort photographer?  if so i have some suggestions on that as well.  so let me know

[sherryro13]

Originally Posted by ChelseyB 

 

the bonfire was awesome.  it just was too short!  but we had alot of musicians in our group and my husband had planned a little musical show, so that's why it was soo amazing.  i wouldn't have given it up though for sure. 

 

we skipped the cocktail hour as well which was a very wise decision. all of the guests just went over to the barrcuda bar which is the bar out towards the ocean with swings. that is where we were taking pictures anyway, so we were with the party the entire time pretty much.  the cocktail hour flew by and jackie was quickly ushering us into the reception. i defintiely recommend opting out of the cocktail hour. 

 

i unfortuantely did not get to eat any of the wedding food because that was the day i was dealing with "mexico tummy"  so i had saltines for dinner.  isn't that sad!  we had the carribean menu and he said teh coconut fish and the beef shishkabobs were his favorite.  the cold salads didn't get eaten much it seemed so if you can substitute more warm items for the cold items that may be a good thing. 

 

we got the silver wedding pacakge so it didn't include the mexican trio so i can't speak to that.  the silver package had everything we thought we needed. the massage was nice. we did it the first day there which i think was a good thing because we were so anxious when we arrived. 

 

we did not bring chair sashes but i dont' think we needed them at all. the flowers they provide are quite large so they serve as plenty of decoration.  i just brought two starfish to hang on the first two chairs as we went down the aisle. 

 

we did not give favors at the wedding. just a gift bag when the guests arrived. we kept it simple but did include inflatable flamingo drink holders which i got off of amazon which were a hit. 

 

are you using the resort photographer?  if so i have some suggestions on that as well.  so let me know

 

Thank you so much for all your tips!  Yes we are using the report photographer. 

If you didnt get chair covers included in the silver package what did the chairs look like?  Were they the bamboo style or a nice white chair?

If thats the case I might just go with the other wedding package...... we were thinking we needed the most expensive package but are finding we may not need some of the items.

[ChelseyB]

Originally Posted by ChelseyB 

 

i just returned from the resort for our wedding.  man o man was it sooo much fun.   overall it was 100% a wonderful success and so much fun, but i'm going to share the things that i wish i had learned before i went, so this post may sound negative, but i'm not trying to be negative . it was 98% wonderful and only 2% negative. promise. 

 

jacki was amazing and took care of everything.  she would just say "dont' worry about it, i got it"  and she did.  the reception was at el patio which was the perfect space. i'm so glad we decided to do that versus the beach. the beach weddings were just too bright with all the lighting they used. and everyone at the resort was watching the entire time. el patio was way more private.  we saw a wedding not quite on the beach, but on the bonfire location and that looked alot better than the beach location. 

 

i had my hair and makeup done at the spa and pedicure.  the spa is beautiful but it was the most expensive pedicure that i've ever had and it wasn't that impressive. i would suggest just getting them done before you go. the makeup looked good and the hair looked pretty good but they used tons of hairsparay that kept my hair in place in case it was windy and now when i look at the pictures i just feel like my hair looks glued in place. i wish i would have asked them to just let it blow in the wind a bit.  i think that would have looked more natural.  

 

some other unfortunate things is that a large group of us got "mexico belly" if you know what i mean.  luckily we had three doctors in the group who had brought stuff to deal with it kind of.  but it still put all that got it out for about 24 hours. i would definitely suggest going to teh dr and getting some medicine from your doctor in case you need something for vomitting or diarrehea once you get there.  also, we had one person have their wallet stolen from the room.  he had not put it in the safe.  noone that used the safe had any complaints.  my sunglasses disappeared from our room (again not in the safe) and we heard a story of a guy walking in on the maid going through his back pack.  

 

the food was very very good at portofino(italian) and el patio(mexican). i got the lobster 2 nights because it was so amazing. teh lobster costs extra but to me was worth it. 

 

the rooms were awesome. there are different size rooms in the same price bracket. the first night the room we got was smaller than my mom's room, so we asked for the larger room and they moved us the next day.  the 7th floor is the preferred club level and that was awesome. we are so glad we got that.  they had top shelf liquor and snacks all the time. a lso they had breakfast up there so we didn't have to go down to the loud busy buffet in the morning and could just have a quiet breakfast up with our family in the morning. often i would order room service and then take it out to the 7th floor lounge to have with my family.  the room service food was much better than i've had at other resorts.  especially the chicken fingers.  super yummy. 

 

okay now i just really want to go back so i'm going to stop writing, but please ask if you have any questions. 

 

chelsey

 

 

 

 

the chairs were white and looked very beautiful. 

 

the suggestion i had about the resort photographer is that she kept taking pictures of us from the back and we ended up with more pictures of us from teh back then of our faces.  i don't see us using the back shots as much as we would face shots, so i wish i would have stopped her from turning us around so often and just asked for more front shots.  otherwise the photos were very good. 

[Timothea]

Hello all!  Had my wedding last week and everything was wonderful.  I will post details and reviews in a few days, just busy getting caught up at work now.  Feel free to ask any questions!  I ended up having the ceremony in the gazebo and the reception at el Patio.  One think I recommend is tie clips, the guy's ties were flying all over the place.  Good gift idea!

[jrack]

Originally Posted by Timothea 

 

Hello all!  Had my wedding last week and everything was wonderful.  I will post details and reviews in a few days, just busy getting caught up at work now.  Feel free to ask any questions!  I ended up having the ceremony in the gazebo and the reception at el Patio.  One think I recommend is tie clips, the guy's ties were flying all over the place.  Good gift idea!

So excited to hear all of your feedback. How big was your group? we are having a group of 40 and was hoping El Patio wouldn't feel too big and empty if we rented it out. Did you get the extra hour? did you feel like you needed it?

[jrack]

Originally Posted by Timothea 

 

Hello all!  Had my wedding last week and everything was wonderful.  I will post details and reviews in a few days, just busy getting caught up at work now.  Feel free to ask any questions!  I ended up having the ceremony in the gazebo and the reception at el Patio.  One think I recommend is tie clips, the guy's ties were flying all over the place.  Good gift idea!

Also, were there theme nights/entertainment at PA? Did you go to the 'night club'? If so how was it?