DREAMS PUERTO VALLARTA "thread"

[coolashellmel]

 

Hello Ladies! 

I was (and still am) a n00b as I never had the time to post much but, I just wanted to go over my wedding at Dreams in case people wanted any insight/opinions.

 

I got married there 4/16/2011, which was a Saturday. We had a total of 30 guests, all of which stayed at Dreams. I had never been to Dreams before! Yes and I decided to get married there without ever seeing it!  I first started planning back in January of 2010, our coordinator then was Samantha. We set the date, paid the deposit. It was about December of 2010 when Esman took over as our coordinator. This is the first thing I would like to point out- if you want a unique experience, a wedding like no one else’s – don’t get married at Dreams. This is just my opinion. They have a formula, a set up for each location. If you are looking to have a wedding that will be inexpensive, that you won’t have to do that much planning for, and all your friends and family will really enjoy- then come to Dreams. The turn around on the coordinators is so high because they are stressed out! We saw Esman in his office till  9pm every night (when wasn’t at weddings!) He was at ours the entire time too. There was 1 wedding every single day we were there. I know I saw at least 2 in one day as well.

 

HOTEL: We arrived the Thursday before the wedding. We booked a preferred tower suite with a jacuzzi for the duration of our stay (7 days), also so we could get the free wedding package and add the dinner/cocktail ala cart. While we waited in the preferred tower lobby they told us that we were in the other tower. Turns out they upgraded us to a penthouse suite for our whole stay! The room was two stories with a living room, 2 bathrooms, a tiny pool on the first floor balcony and a Jacuzzi off the second story balcony! Needless to say we spent a lot of time in our room, and so did a lot of our guests. The staff is great there, they are all really happy to be there! One of our guests said the maid told him they make $50 pesos a day, so we tipped a lot during our whole trip (GUILT!) The food at Dreams is good, not amazing but, good. They haven’t quite grasped the dessert concept as all their cakes/donuts/pies/sweets just taste weird. The pools at Dreams weren’t even worth visiting. The adults only pool was filled with older people that would sit in the same spot all day and never leave. The main pool is very loud with a lot of kids screaming. The Terrace pool was the only decent one, and it never had an empty chair either. Why bother with the pools at all? The ocean is AWESOME and warm and always plenty of lounge chairs open. The spa is rinky dinky but I had an awesome wrap! My friend said her massage was the best one she ever had. The salon is not good, my mani/pedi was messed up in less than an hour and they had me sitting in a folding chair the whole time (2 hours!) complete waste of money.

 

WEDDING COORDINATOR: He seemed really vague and made me feel a worried when we first started.  I was convinced that I needed to be doing so much more but, it wasn’t until I got to Dreams that I realized these people got this down. We met with Esman the Friday before the wedding. We brought our centerpiece stuff to his office and told him how we wanted the tables, where to put the flowers. We signed a contract, and that was it. I mean he didn’t really have anything to show us. There was no tasting of food or looking at flowers. We just crossed our fingers. He kept telling me “You’re so organized!†(which I’m totally not!)

 

 

WEDDING DAY! They gave my husband his own room for the day so the groomsmen could all get ready together, at no extra charge. They steamed his suit and my dress and delivered them.  My bouquet and my bridesmaids’ bouquets were delivered as well.  I had a makeup/hair girl so she did everything in my room. The Gazebo looked so perfect, the beach in the background makes it all look amazing! The officiate was a nice looking young lady but, her vows were very long. They had us sign the wedding certificate with a bic pen (I had asked Esman to bring our guest book pen over but, he forgot!) When the ceremony was over, they had 2 servers waiting at the reception with weird pink and blue drinks for everyone. They were really good and no one really expected that! The reception area looked amazing, the centerpieces I had made were dolled up even more by Esman and it really made them look better. We paid for the sound system and that was totally worth it, having a microphone came in handy for the speeches.  The reception food was better than the restaurant food there! We had dessert, then wedding cake which seems weird but, I ate both! Our music was jamming but, I think we should have had drinks served BEFORE the ceremony because no one was dancing and getting into it till 10PM. Then they cut us off at 10:30pm on the dot!

 

REGRETS: I know the OOT is like a nice thought but, our guests didn’t seem to care about them. If I could go back I wouldn’t have made them. They took too much time and weren’t really worth it.

 

My flowers were un-impressive. I went with the cheaper ones and I do regret it. I asked for pink roses and white gerber daises and I got some pink, some lilac and ivory/almost yellow gerber daisies! They looked like grocery store bouquets L However no one noticed this but me, my mom especially loved them.

 

We booked Kirsten from Elizabethl Lloyd photography(www.elfoto.org). We had told Esman that she was our “friend†and he did not charge us to have an outside photographer. But, we didn’t get the one that came with the wedding package either. So I guess that was our compromise. Kirsten arrived with food poisoning from the night before and informed us that she would be leaving after the ceremony and Jillian from Jillian Mitchell photography (www.jillianmitchell.net) would be filling in for the reception. Kirsten was a little too quiet for what we were expecting; she was having trouble directing our loud crowd. I could barely hear her when she was telling me to pose. Jillian is really into action shots, so the reception pictures look totally different and I liked her better. We got the website link after one month and the pictures look great but, all they offered for the double photographers and the long wait was a “free slide showâ€, which we got just last week. And we still haven’t gotten the Disc with the images sent to us. Overall I would not recommend them because I expect more when spending that kind of money.   

 

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:

Walking down the “aisle†to the gazebo random people were walking back from the beach, a guy almost walked right into me! Dreams really needs to block that area off or something. During our reception at the (Las palmas terrace pool area) people kept walking up the stairs to see what was going on. The bathrooms are right below the terrace level, complete with little kids running around dripping wet. Again, should be reserved totally for the occasion!  

 

OVERALL: I married my dream man and we had a great time, that’s all that matters! We may go back to Dreams sometime but, probably not till we visit some other resorts first. 

[aprilmay]

I would try to spread some of the breakable stuff out with other guest's carry-ons (ie-parents, wedding party etc). That way you don't have to worry about it breaking and won't go over the size/weight allowance.

 

I had 13 gift bags packed in an extra suitcase with all my OOT stuff and we had our luggage searched in Mex.  There was noooo problem at all.  She just asked me what the all were and I said they were gifts for my guests with candles, etc (I had my wedding dress in my arms) and she just nodded and didn't care at all.

 

Originally Posted by kerrib 

We already bought all of it here and I really like it. I don't want to chance not finding something I like when we get down there, I had thought about that, too. $40 for paper is crazy!! I knew it wouldn't be cheap to ship but I figured it would be easier than lugging it all to and thru the airport. After asking around on a few threads, I'm really nervous about shipping. FI and I are now thinking we'd rather go thru the hassle of lugging it around then it not making it, arriving broken, and/or costing an arm and a leg.
 

 

 

[kerrib]

Thanks Aprilmay!

[NM2011]

We are going back and forth on the same thing now too. I know you can ship to Mexico a friend of mine plans corp events in Cabo all the time and does it. BUT I'm freaked out still there are too many what if's. Plus considering it is $20-50 for an extra bag on the plane might just be cheaper to take it on the plane with you depending on how much the shipping is...

 

Originally Posted by kerrib 

We already bought all of it here and I really like it. I don't want to chance not finding something I like when we get down there, I had thought about that, too. $40 for paper is crazy!! I knew it wouldn't be cheap to ship but I figured it would be easier than lugging it all to and thru the airport. After asking around on a few threads, I'm really nervous about shipping. FI and I are now thinking we'd rather go thru the hassle of lugging it around then it not making it, arriving broken, and/or costing an arm and a leg.
 

 

 

[JMikla]

We cancelled our wedding at Dreams for December as it just got to big and we decided to have it at Las Caletas. Dec 3rd is available for those ladies looking for a date in 6 months

 

Looking forward to staying at Dreams in the week leading up to the wedding though.

[SarahBen2011]

How big is your wedding now JMikla?  I've thought about changing from Dreams as well and Las Caletas seems amazing!!! Going to another location with 50 people seems like a logistical pain though... do they arrange transportation for all your guests?  Isn't it much more expensive?

 

I'm jealous!!!!!

[khannan]

We ended up taking an extra bag on the plane with us.  It was better to pay the baggage fee than to pay for shipping.
 

Originally Posted by NM2011 

We are going back and forth on the same thing now too. I know you can ship to Mexico a friend of mine plans corp events in Cabo all the time and does it. BUT I'm freaked out still there are too many what if's. Plus considering it is $20-50 for an extra bag on the plane might just be cheaper to take it on the plane with you depending on how much the shipping is...

 

 

 

[JMikla]

70 and counting.  The extra person fee for cocktails, dinner, dance floor, DJ and decor at Dreams made it make a lot more sense for us to have a more private affair at Las Caletas.  The wedding at Dreams was looking like 10K and Las Caletas all in including transportation to and from the marina and boat ride for all of our guests will be 12K (including photographer, make up and hair which I had to add on as they come with the Dreams package but are  extra at Las Caletas)

 

Kelly is the coordinator there and is AWESOME!

 

Hope that helps, let me know if you have anymore questions. I am happy to say that I have 5 months and bit to the wedding and feel zero stress.

 

Originally Posted by SarahBen2011 

How big is your wedding now JMikla?  I've thought about changing from Dreams as well and Las Caletas seems amazing!!! Going to another location with 50 people seems like a logistical pain though... do they arrange transportation for all your guests?  Isn't it much more expensive?

 

I'm jealous!!!!!

 

[BarbieBrideU]

Hey ladies

Question, how soon did you/are you planning to send out invitations?? Our save the dates went out last month. Our wedding is in February... Just wondering what everyone's timeline is and how it has worked for them..

Thanks!

[kerrib]

We sent our STD out 10 months ahead and our invites 5 months ahead with a RSVP date of 3 months ahead. We based the RSVP off the date Dreams gave us in our contract for rooms because we did a room block; anything not released back to the resort 90 days out would of been a charge to us. We asked guests to make reservations prior to responding. This worked well for us, and we only had a few slacking guests to phone down. This gave us time to know how much of everything we needed to buy as far as decor, OOT bag supplies, etc. This way we didn't need to buy it all at once.

Originally Posted by BarbieBrideU 

Hey ladies

Question, how soon did you/are you planning to send out invitations?? Our save the dates went out last month. Our wedding is in February... Just wondering what everyone's timeline is and how it has worked for them..

Thanks!