Denise L's Dreams Tulum Wedding Review - April 10, 2009

[Denise L]

Ok Ladies here is my review from our wedding at Dreams Tulum April 10, 2009

 

Check In:

The check in went fairly smoothly. They had champagne waiting for us when we arrived at 8:30 PM…..I can’t even remember if they had towels. I think so but I didn’t use one. Not only was our wedding group on the bus but Teesha’s wedding group was as well so I think there was about 50 -60 ppl checking in at that time. A little busy but went fairly smoothly.

 

Rooms:

We were in the older section, but we really didn’t mind. Our room # was 5314, and we were the far building over by the sports rental place so it was pretty nice and quiet. We weren’t the room on the corner that had the wrap around balcony but the next one in, so we had a great view of the ocean and the pools. I didn’t unpack for the first few days b/c I was hoping to get upgraded but they were trying to charge us $40 a night, so we said forget it…and really we’re not that picky anyways. When we arrived we had a bottle of wine and fruit in our room.

 

Our fridge was stocked everyday with pop, water and beer, and when we needed more of something, room service was there in no time.

 

We had turn down service every night and they do leave a flyer letting you know everything that is going on the next day. There was always spa discounts too like pedi and mani for $50 or book a spa treatment b/w 9 – 1 and save 30%.

 

The night of our wedding, they had put rose pedals down in the hallway, filled our tub and put rose petals in it, and had a huge heart on the bed made of rose petals with too swans made out of the towels, and a bottle of champagne. It was soooo cute!

 

Food:

We thought the food was AMAZING and so did our guests. We stayed for 2 weeks and I could have stayed another and would have not gotten sick of the food. Again, we aren’t that picky.

 

Breakfast: We ate at both the World Café and the Seaside Grill. Service at the Seaside Grill is slow in the morning so if you’re in a rush the World Café is the better spot and they have a bigger selection.

 

After breakfast, the Veranda Bar has FANTASTIC latte’s, cappuccino’s, espressos and coffee.

 

Lunch:

El Patio: So good…..we could never decide what to order. Some of our favourtie’s were the mahi mahi, mozzarella sticks were delicious (I think I gained 5 lbs on those alone) chicken fajitas, ceaser salad. Food was great, but the service was slow.

 

World Café: Excellent. They have everything including pasta, meat, fish, and the service was fast.

 

Anytime you were hungry you can order nachos poolside or on the beach

 

Dinner: The waits were never too long, it was much busier the first week, and our guests who were trying to get a table for 10 were waiting on avg. 1 ½ when going to dinner at 7:30 – 8:00, but with 2 to 4 ppl you were about 15 – 20 min on avg.

 

El Patio: The Dorado Fish was my fave there and I had it twice. The ribs, mussles and red snapper were also a hit amongst our guests.

 

Bordeaux (French): This was my favourite restaurant. We ae there 3 times over our 2 week stay. The chicken breast with brie and bell pepper was to dye for. The salmon and grouper were also great. The ice cream for dessert came in a waffle bowl. We loved the atmosphere, felt like we were fine dining! More romantic then the Italian we thought.

 

Portofino (Italian): We only ate here once but they have a huge variety. I had the ravioli stuffed with cheese (can’t remember what kind though) which was pretty good but my husband had the Fusili Pesto which was very bland.

 

Seaside Grill:

We ate here twice, the surf and turf was our favourite and the tomato soup was excellent!

 

World Café: We only ate here once believe it or not, the food was really good but we couldn’t get enough of the a la carte’s. We only ate here the night of our rehearsal b/c they arranged to have a table set up for all 31 of us, which was fantastic.

 

Room Service: We thought it was fantastic. A bit slow our first night, but we had arrived a bit later and EVERYONE was ordering room service. The club sandwich was a hit and so were the fries!!! It was always warm and took no longer then a half hour. They were also very prompt at picking up our dishes once we were finished.

 

Beach: We had no problem with the beach, we actually expected it to be in worse condition then it was. We brought water shoes but never used them.

 

Spa: We thought the services and the staff were great, and the spa is BEAUTIFUL! The ladies that did our hair were super fast. Our appointments started at 11:00 and I was the last one out by 2:00, a bit rushed for our 3:00 wedding so I should have went at 11:00. Everyone was pretty happy with their hair and makeup, not really any complaints and two of my BM’s do not wear make up at all so we all stressed that we didn’t want a lot, and we were happy!

 

Kirk and I went back for out massages and facials (that were part of our package) two days before we went home. Again, no complaints, the ladies did a great job and the staff was very nice.

 

WEDDING:

 

Rehearsal: Our rehearsal was the day before the wedding and our rehearsal dinner was at 6:30 in the World Café. Since we went with the Ultimate package we had 50 pictures from the resort photographer included in our package. We weren’t even going to use them but Anabel asked if we wanted them at the rehearsal and we thought it was a great idea. We were able to get group shots and some really nice ones of Kirk and I, and then before each couple or family went into the restaurant to eat, I had the photographer take a picture of them on the bench outside so that we could give them all a nice picture of them from the trip. We were going to put it in their thank you cards but they’re really big. We chose our 50 for free and then they give you the CD with the 50 pictures on them and a nice album to put them in.

 

Wedding Coordinator – Anabel: When we first met with Anabel I was very impressed. She had every email with photos I had sent her printed out and in our file. They were very well organized and accommodating. I stressed that I didn’t want a big bouquet or one with the plastic handle. I wanted my bouquet wrapped in one of my dad’s ties since he passed away when I was younger and they did it for me no problem, as well as wrapping the girls bouquets with the yellow ribbon I brought. I was so impressed when I saw the set up…it was exactly how I imagined it. She had even pulled out a picture of Sunbride’s set up when we were going over details asking me if I wasted it set up similar to hers since I had also requested to not have the 3 large flower arrangement hung on the arbour. They substituted those with the flowers down the aisle for me. How they set up the reception on the beach couldn’t have been more perfect, I LOVED it and so did my guests!

 

My only issue with her…and kind of a big one is that she forgot to bring our vows to the ceremony. After we had exchanged rings and our witnesses were signing, I asked her about them and she said “Oh yeah memorized,†and Kirk and I were like “Wow she’s good, she even has them memorized! Well what she recited was about 10 words of nothing that we had put together. She had our vows printed out in our folder and she asked us if we want to say them to each other or repeat after the Justice of the peace, and we told her we wanted to repeat them and she didn’t even have them there!! Kirk was upset about it and at the time I could have cared less because the day was so perfect, but about 3-4 days after the wedding I was really mad that she didn’t have them.

 

Wedding Ceremony: Kirk stayed in his own room the night before and I had two of my BM’s stay with me the night before. All the ladies met in the World Café for breakfast and then we were off to the salon for 11:00. Carlos arranged to have champagne brought from the lobby for all of us while we were in the salon which was really great.

 

The day before the wedding, my dress and Kirks’ clothes were picked up from our room and delivered to the rooms we were getting ready in on the day of the wedding.

 

Everything went smoothly, we started a bit late and there was some dance competition going on at the pool so Anabel had to get that music turned off. I also asked her to put down all the Curtains (for lack of a better word) at the seaside grill so that as little ppl from there as possible were watching. It was so perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better set up. The bows for the chairs I purchased from wedding linens direct home page for about $1 USD per bow and they looked stunning! One of my best purchases for the wedding!

 

Cocktail Hour: They set up tables and the hor d’oeuvres on the beach for us and our guest hung out from about 3:30 until 6:30 but they all said the time went by very quickly.

 

Our hor d’oeuvres consisted of the proscuitto and melon, cream cheese and Melba toast, and the other one on Melba toast (can’t remember). I only had one of the p&m but it was a bit warm from sitting in the sun, and they were the last ones to get eaten. There was 31 of us and plenty of hor d’ourves to go around. I wouldn’t recommend more. We had the Caribbean trio come from 5:30 – 6:30 and I heard they were amazing. Unfortunately we didn’t get to hear them play.

 

Wedding Dinner/Reception: Our wedding dinner was on the beach near the seaside grill, at the exact same place where dollbird had hers (for those of you who saw her pics). We couldn’t have been happier…it looked AWESOME!!! It was windy our entire two weeks and Anabel said the day of the wedding we would have moved it poolside but it would still be windy. We decided to leave it since the beach was where we wanted to have it all along. The service and food was fantastic! We didn’t’ really know how things were going to work but it really was fabulous. We had the bruschetta which was okay..one small piece but good, then we ate the citrus vinaigrette salad which came in an edible cheese bowl…very good. Then we had the surf & turf and the mignon was AMAZING, cooked med. – med rare so if you like it well done, you would probably have to request that, and the shrimps were very tasty! Our dessert was a vanilla puff pasty in the cognac sauce. I wasn’t a big fan, but a lot of our guests really liked it. We also had wedding cake that was SO FRESH. It was vanilla with strawberry filling and we loved it. We didn’t get the remainder delivered to our room either which I was a bit disappointed about but oh well! The actual cake, does not look as nice as they do in the pictures! Also, the cake was for 20 ppl and it was PLENTY big enough for 31…not even everyone had some b/c there was dessert and I know the whole bottom layer and some of the middle layer was left.

 

Once dinner was over, we partied on the beach until 10:30. Anabel tried telling me the music had to be off at 9:30 and I said “Absolutely Not.†We used our Ipod and it was perfect! Our guests could walk up to the bar by the seaside gill to get what they wanted but there were also waiters. The waiters came around with tequila shots and limes for anyone who wanted one which was fun! Once the music was off…we moved our party to the disco and continued the phone there!

 

Videographer: We used the resort videographer and although the video is a bit cheesy, we are happy we have it. Anabel said he would be in the room around 2:00 and never showed up until we were on our way to the ceremony. I was so caught up in everything that I completely forgot all about him! Once the ceremony was over, he had some of our guest’s record their well wishes on the video which I love!!! One aggravating thing was that when he delivered the video to us a few days later my name was spelt wrong. I gave it back to Anabel and she had him change it and sent it back to me…but for the second time it was still spelt incorrectly…he changed nothing. So, I dropped it off to have it changed yet again and when I got the 3rd copy, our names were spelt correctly but he had changed the date on the front to read the 9th and not the 10th. I was so mad, and this was the day before we were leaving. It’s still like that today and I am waiting for them to send me an electronic copy so that I can print of a correct one.

 

Photographer: We used Moments That Matter Photography and are so glad we did! Lincoln and Lori did an amazing job and we couldn’t be happier. I can’t say enough about them and how we all enjoyed working with them. We purchased the half day package. Love them, love them, love them, I am constantly looking over the pictures and the slide show. You can see the slide show at Wedding Photographer Mexico , Cancun , Playa Del Carmen , Mayan Riviera

 

Overall: We thought the resort was fabulous and we will definitely visit another Dreams resort. The staff was so friendly and accommodating and ended everything with “It’s my pleasure†Our wedding was amazing and really was all we had dreamed of. Please let me know if you have any questions, and thank you to everyone for all their help. This thread truly is fantastic!!!!!!!!

[SunBride]

Awesome review, very detailed, will be very appreciated by future DT brides. Thanks so much for taking the time to post it. I'm so happy to hear everything went so well.

 

Based on your story, I would strongly recommend to future brides to keep a copy of their vows in the groom's pocket. I would have been SO POed if this had happened to me (which it coudln't though as we chose to memorize them).

 

Also, so many brides have complained about not getting the leftover cake so I think you guys need to start requesting it at the meeting and/or on the wedding night (although you are likely to forget).

[*Nadine*]

aw your pics are great!!! Very detailed review! I actually arrived at dreams tulum on

april 13th for my girlfriends wedding, which was on the 17th, and it was beautiful too! Great resort and I know other DT brides will appreciate all the info! You looked gorgeous, congrats!

[Soon To Be Mrs. Gomez]

Great details! Glad you enjoyed your special day!

[wahmsuzanne]

Denise ~ Thank you so much for your detailed review ... I was so emotional reading it. I've tried to stay upbeat and positive with the "drug wars" and now the "flu" our guests have not been very nice/supportive and I've let it get to me somewhat. As I read this I could picture us there and loving every minute of our time there! Thank you!!!!!!!!!

 

Your pictures are so beautiful (so are you!) and they did such a great job capturing your special day and some really fun details.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to help though of us still waiting for our big day! It's so important and such an encouragement ... I truly appreciate you. *huGs* Suzanne

[~Stephanie~]

Denise, great review! I'm so happy your day went well dispite some hicups. Thanks for sharing your photos, I love Moments that Matter and were made such a beautiful bride! Congrats MRS!

[beach2009]

Congrats Denise and thanks for sharing such a thoughtful review. Your pics are just gorgeous, glad you had a great wedding & honeymoon at DT.

[jmb0902]

Congrats MRS!!! You looked so beautiful and so happy... thank you for sharing! And I love the chair sashes - I think that is a definite must for us! THANKS!

[northernflasher]

Congratulations. Thanks so much for your awesome review, You've managed to chase away all the apprehension and doubts I've been having recently and replace them with excitement and hopefullness for a day as wonderful as yours. Your pictures are beautiful. Many, Many Thanks.

[michellepicksbrent]

Great review and pictures! Thank you for sharing and congratulations!!