DREAMS PUERTO VALLARTA "thread"

[Dreams2011]

We left the deposit on our travel in June as well as providing the resort with the information to charge our credit card for the deposit in June. The remainder of our travel was paid in full in August then the deposit for the wedding was charged 2 weeks or so later.

[Cass423]

Getting married at DPV in April.  I feel like I should be planning more right now.  I am working through Destination Weddings and with Rebecca on-site.  So far Destination has been fantastic, and Rebecca is very helpful as well.  All of my guests are able to work directly with Destination Weddings for their travel plans.  It sounds like most of them are opting for the first tower.  We are staying in the Perferred club.  We have booked the ultimate package and our photography is included.  From other reveiws I have seen their photographer does a wonderful job.

[m1984]

uh oh.. now i'm really worried. a total of 26 of us booked and paid in full december 1st. nothing has come out on our card. okay i am sending an email right now!

[Crystal1880]

Hi ladies. I was wondering if anybody had the chicken ads steak combo with marrow and black pepper sauce for their entree? Did it include veggies or some other side?

[PalapaGirl]

I have a follow-up to Crystal1880's question---did anyone try any of the fish dishes included in the gold package menu, and were they good?  I'm offering my guests a steak option (the chicken and steak combo in marrow and black pepper sauce, minus the chicken) and a fish option (I can't decide which one!).

 

Here are the options Louise sent me:

MAIN COURSE

Chicken breast filled with fine herbs and mushrooms

Fish filet Provence style in a sweet mango sauce

BBQ chicken served with mashed potatoes and various buttered vegetables

Combination of steak and chicken with a flavorful bone marrow in a black pepper sauce

Fish filet "Vizcaina Style" filled with zucchini accompanied by Parisian potatoes

Chicken breast forester (mushrooms, little onion and bacon)

Chicken breast Provence style stuffed with vegetables and served with buttered potatoes

Fish filet stuffed with cheese and green pepper mousse

Chicken stuffed with squash blossoms

 

Also, here are the Mexican Canape options she sent me for the cocktail hour, which all sound delicious.  Did anyone have a favorite?

COLD
Ceviche in chalup
Guacamole and salsa with totopos
Tostadas of beef salpicon
Panela cheese in chipotle sauce
Chile stuffed with tuna salad
Acapulco shrimp ceviche on tartlets

HOT
Mini tamales
Mini tacos dorados
Chicken and cheese turnovers
Sopes with Mexican sausage
Chile popper

[Dreams2011]

We didn't have any of the gold menu main courses as we requested more traditional Mexican options instead, however, we did have 5 of the Mexican canapes. We choose the following:

 

Ceviche in Chalupa

Gaucamole & salsa with totopas

Acapulco shrimp cavishe on tartlets

Sopas with Mexican Sausage

Chile Popper

Boursin cheese canape (this one was not from the Mexican choices, but was really good)

 

These were all super tasty...I liked the last 2 the best from what I remember (I recall others raving about the Boursin cheese as well). The chile poppers were not very hot either if you were worried about that.

 

[KarenM]

 

 

Originally Posted by Crystal1880 

 

Hi ladies. I was wondering if anybody had the chicken ads steak combo with marrow and black pepper sauce for their entree? Did it include veggies or some other side?

 

That's what we had & it was very good. Came with mixed veggies (carrots, green beans) & mashed potatoes.

 

 

for the cocktail hour we had:

Guacamole and salsa with totopos

Tostadas of beef salpicon

Acapulco shrimp ceviche on tartlets

Mini tamales

we also picked chicken tenders for the kids to eat.

[SarahBen2011]

Question for all the Dreams PV brides out there!  I'm getting mixed emails about the actual timing for our wedding.  Have any of the WC's told you how many hours total you can have your events (ceremony + photos + reception)?  I'd like to have the ceremony 4:30 - 5.  Photos from 5 - 6:15.  Reception 6:30 - 10:30.

 

Has anyone else been able to secure a similar time block?  I'm getting worried that they're going to kick us out or something....

 

Thanks!!!

[m1984]

hey guys,

 

so good news to report. i emailed esman about our deposit and he responded the very next day saying he would process it. i'm not sure if it was the URGENT in the heading that did it or if it was him being so responsive but i'm glad that i can get answers when i need them. the actual deposit still hasn't come out yet but it's only been two days.

 

and sarahben2011, sorry i don't know anything about the times either. i'm looking at having the same timing so hopefully someone can comment. our ceremony's at 4:00 actually..

 

 

 

 

 

[kerrib]

Hey girls!

Sorry I have been MIA for a while, this site and thread is my saving grace. This past week was a whirlwind of crazy events starting with my grandmother unexpectedly passing away, my fiance's uncle also passed away, booking drama with guests, and the school I teach at changing our summer from August (when my wedding is) to July. When it rains it pours, right?

 

I had concerns about my timing too, but after reading this thread I found two timelines that I hope will help us out. You just have to take into consideration the time of the year you are getting married as that will determine the true sunset time. If you google sunset times + puerto vallarta, there are a bunch of sites that tell what time sunset is. (I am a little OCD!) Autjo and KarenM had the best time lines posted. See below.
 

Originally Posted by m1984 

hey guys,

 

so good news to report. i emailed esman about our deposit and he responded the very next day saying he would process it. i'm not sure if it was the URGENT in the heading that did it or if it was him being so responsive but i'm glad that i can get answers when i need them. the actual deposit still hasn't come out yet but it's only been two days.

 

and sarahben2011, sorry i don't know anything about the times either. i'm looking at having the same timing so hopefully someone can comment. our ceremony's at 4:00 actually..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally Posted by autjo 

Welcome mzbmbastic: The lady who performed our ceremony spoke perfect English. She was sooo nice and everyone thought we had hired her ourselves. Shoot an email to your coordinator to see who would be assigned to your ceremony.

Allyson: I put my timeline in the OOT booklet and here's the thread. We ended up modifying a bit due to weather so I listed what we actually did below.
http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...booklet-59470/

3:45-4 - seating of parents, entrance of attendants
4 - groom entrance
4:05 - bride entrance
4:10-4:30 - ceremony
4:35 - group pic at gazebo
4:40-5 - family pics on the beach, cocktail hour for other guests
5-6 - cocktail hour, we joined our guests from 5-5:30
5:30-6:30 - ttd style pics on the beach, cocktail hour for other guests
6:30 - bride and groom entrance to the party
6:30-7:30 - dinner
7:15 - tequila toast by groom
7:20 - champagne toast by bride
7:30-8 - cake
8-8:15 - first dance, father/bride, mother/groom
8:15-9:15 - dancing
9:15 - garter and bouqeut toss
9:15 - 10:30 - dancing
10 - got complaints that we were too loud
10:30 - Dreams is pretty strict about ending parties at 10:30... the entertainment team actually showed up and offered to take everyone to the bars. they do this every night, but it was nice that they knew we were done partying and come over to the terrace
10:45 - exited down the stairs
10:46 - ran back up the stairs hi fiving the guests and then jumped in the pool
10:47-11 - a bunch of guests jumped in the pool too and security showed up
11-11:30 - went back to our room for some "alone" time and to change
11:30-12 - partied at the lobby bar until they kicked us out
12-1 - partied at the sports bar until they kicked us out
1-2 - hung outside the sports bar until everyone went to their rooms and crashed

 

Originally Posted by KarenM 

Autumn, you guys are hilarious! I love the blow-by-blow with jumping in pools, security showing up & you guys closing all the bars. Too funny.


We had Lucie Aubert perform our ceremony. She is super sweet, her English is perfect & she did a wonderful job. We were both thrilled! I had emailed our ceremony script to Rebeca a couple weeks before we went and asked if it'd be OK for the officiant to use it & she said that was fine, but we didn't actually know who we were having until Tuesday when we met with Rebeca. They also have a couple stock ceremonies in case you don't want to write your own.

Allyson, Rebeca asked if we wanted to do a rehearsal/run-through the day before, but we passed. We didn't think it was necessary and we figured it'd all work out fine. If you want one, though, Rebeca's happy to accommodate you.

As far as our timeline, when we met with Rebeca we just gave her a general idea of what we wanted when and she took it from there. Although we knew we would be pressed for time, we were pretty laid back about it and everything worked out perfectly.

Our ceremony was scheduled for 6.
5:45 - DJ started prelude music while guests got seated.
5:45ish - P & the groomsmen came out.
6:00, or maybe 5 after, the bridesmaids walked down, then our 3 flower children, then me & my parents. The ceremony lasted maybe 25-30 minutes & then we had everyone stay for a group photo.
6:30-6:45 - families & bridal party stayed for more pics while the rest of the guests went to the cocktail hour.
We did pics for like 1/2 hr - 45 min & then around 7:15 we went to the end of the cocktail hour.
7:30-45 - dinner started. Sometime during dinner P's brother & 2 of my bridesmaids made speeches.
8:30ish - cake cutting, which Rebeca announced for us (totally recommend asking her to do this).
8:45ish - first dance (Rebeca let the DJ know to transition from the cake-cutting song to first dance song)
After the 1st dance we sat down for a minute to eat some cake (delish!!), then the dancing started and we ended just after 10:30.
Autumn's not joking - the DJ played the last song at like 10:30 and that was it.

(we didn't do father-daughter / mother-son dances or bouquet/garter tosses)

Afterward P & I went down to the beach & shared a cigar with a couple friends & then met everyone at the sports bar (which really is more of a dance club). A couple people had their ipods so we used the bar's hookup to play tons of different dance music and we were there til around 1:30.