Dreams Riviera Cancun - Brides post here (new thread)

[chrissyandrob]

Hi,

We did get the ultimate package and just add on for additional guests - seems cheaper than doing everything a la carte. I have 2 girls bringing down programs, bubbles and favors but I have everything else and it takes up so much space! I am starting to pack today! whohooooo!!!!

 

[aimeelaco28]

Hey girls!

Has anyone used live music for the ceremony? Just curious if most people just went with the technician?

[dimplesandsuga]

Congratulations ladies!!! HAVE FUN!  I can't wait!  11 months to go!!! lol 

 

Brooke, could you let us know how that goes, using the tech & equipment vs. the DJ? 

 

Congratulations everyone!!!
 

Originally Posted by brookeh68 

Hey girls!  We are leaving In 12 days!  ( June 15th)  We are so excited!  We just finished our playlists for the wedding and the reception and they are so awesome!  Im glad we are just using the tech and equipment now.  I was worried before but I think this will be perfect!  we started packing our decor and gifts and yes, the luggage fills up quick!!

 

[rtownsend]

Hi Ladies! Ok so as promised i'm going to write up our experience at dreams we just got back tuesday night.  We stayed for one week over the long memorial weekend holiday.  the resort itself was pretty great, we liked that it wasn't too big but wasn't too small.  we had a group of around 40 guests so we were always able to find ppl pretty easily.  we ate at all the restaurants except i did not try the mexican place. my husband did with all the guys one night and said it wasn't very good. the two places by the pool were fine and are the only places open for lunch other than the buffet and the grill which has fried food and not very good pizza. For dinner the french place and the japanese place were awesome. Not sure if ppl are using travel agents but my main complaint would be with classic vacations. the representative oscar wasn't there more than three hours each day in the afternoon, we had separate transportation from the airport to hotel set up for our group. (depending on how you book your rooms and the travel company i guess the hotel can include it but theres is like a bus and ours was all private and only ppl in our party).  Anyways back to the point, classic did a great job getting everyone there even when ppl had delays with their flights, however due to when our wedding was and when oscar worked he was not available to confirm transportation back to the airport. he was supposed to leave the iformation for my husband and i to at least hand out to guests and he failed to do this. may not seem like a huge deal but when you have 40 ppl leaving at different days and different times it got a bit annoying when all we wanted to do was relax after all the crazy wedding stuff. we all had to do it thru the concierge and they werent always helpful. in fact there was one lady in particular at concierge that always seemed a little off, unhelpful and rude.. dk her name but she always sat to the left closest to the wall... i would avoid if possible. 

 

the rooms were really nice we had a great ocean view room w/ jacuzzi on the balcony (we never had the chance to use it lol) the only thing i didnt like about the rooms were the pillows...not that great :-/ ( lol trying to be detailed).

 

Golf- husband and a few others went to the one they say is included... it is not! the only time green fees are free is after 1:30 and before sunset- so the HOTTEST TIME of the day. lol that was a big surprise for them. He said it was a gorgeous course and they did really enjoy it. They did the PGA course another day and loved that one as well. it was only slightly more and provided transportation in the cost which the included course did not. His suggestion is to just do the nicer PGA course. 

 

Staff-  everyone seemed friendly and helpful, you would see staff wheeling in carts of fruit like they were taking them somewhere and if you asked they would always let you take some. My only peeve and its a biggie is we had 3 pairs of shoes go missing over the course of 3 days.  all were very nice mens shoes. all by the pool or beach, one pair was at our wedding. it was just extremely annoying esp at the wedding. They do really encourage tiping which was no problem for us bc we're used to it here in the states.  Also, my husband and a few others in our party were fluent in spanish, after a few conversations they did find out the workers do not make very much money at all.  

 

Aqua World- they are by the pool, we set up an excursion with them to take our entire party snorkling in cozumel. it was fun and worth the ease just to use the company on the resort, they provided transportation to playa del carmen and we took the ferry over. for large groups they are willing to negiotate prices.  HOWEVER, my husbands step-mom is a huge scuba diver and went thru them to go on a deep 90 foot dive and then was supposed to do a second dive around 40 or so feet. She had an accident due to faulty equipment that could have been prevented!!! I WOULD NOT USE THEM TO GO DIVING. She's a very experienced diver but obviously only spending a few days in mexico did not feel it was needed to bring her own equipment.  I'm not a diver but ill do my best to explain what she told us happened. it was her and another guy as they were adjusting their gear before going out on the dive she noticed something was "slipping" with her equipment... maybe her nozzle that controls air? so she asked the other diver he agreed it was slipping, when she pointed it out to the ppl taking them out on the dive they said no no thats not a problem, itll be fine. She said afterwards she should have been more persistant and demanding. so she went down and at about 80 feet started to have issues. she said something about it seemed like air was coming in when it should have been going out or something and then she started to rise very quickly went from 80 to 30 feet in an extremely short period of time said she lost control and luckily was able to grab the rope before going all the way to the surface.  she had to be supervised to make sure she was ok bc it can do extreme damage, they don't even allow you to dive 24 hours before you fly. she was ok thankfully but lesson learned. 

 

Adventure photos-  we used what was included in the package to just do a separate session because we brought photographers i used to work for down with us. the pictures were ok, they took us around to all the areas that they use. nothing super creative as they do it all day every day but they had nice equipment and the pictures turned out good. One of the weddings down there the day before us did have issues, we saw the husband with one of the resort managers, the manager of the photo place, and the photographer who did the wedding... from what we were told the photographer went up to the wife at the reception and said you know for $800 more you can get the top package yada yada, it'll be ___ amount of discount, she liked the deal gave him the money, and then he didnt follow through.  Not sure what the outcome was. Other than this instance it seemed like lots of the other weddings used their services. 

 

 

Ok wedding stuff- Veronica did a great job i felt i was prety picky and difficult about flowers i wanted and what not and it all turned out great. We got married on the beach at 4 oclock, i wanted a later time but another wedding was going on at 530 so we werent able to. we got lucky tho it cooled off a little bit the day of and we had a really nice breeze the entire time. my only complaint was the beach area we were in was very small and we were all packed in really tight, we had 3 bridesmaids and 4 groomsmen. we also used the sound system since it was suggested and we had a larger party.... they did have issues with getting the music started we were told an ipod on a playlist would be fine but ended up having to bring one of the alarm clocks from our room down to actually get the ipod to work.

Cocktail HR- the food was great everyone said it went very quick at the the cocktail hour.  we used the marachi band for entertainment they were a big hit.  

 

The DJ did a good job we sat down with him a few days before the wedding to go over stuff, told him what kind of music we liked and didnt like and gave him all the important songs.  we were a little worried since we didnt have a choice of what dj to use. but he did a pretty good job.  The only thing was his connector for our ipod had issues too, (or he didnt have one not sure my husband took care of that issue) and we had to go get another alarm clock bc of the song we were introduced to and our first dance song. We just kinda went with the flow of things. understand its not going to go exactly perfect but its only little things that dont make a huge difference anyways.  he wont rush the dances and all of that so we did end up getting him to pick up the pace i was expecting him to be a little more in control of getting the party started.  I freaked out a little bit there bc the wedding that started after us started their music which you could here at our reception but we finished up the speeches really quickly and started the dancing maybe 5 mins later.  Once the music started all you could here was our music.  This was a huge relief bc from up in your rooms if there are two weddings going on you can hear music from both but down in the mix of it all there werent any issues. I was really happy that we paid extra to have the party go an hr longer this was worth it and then afterwards we all went to the club to continue the party. 

 

For dinner we went with the buffet since there were so many of us, we did the carribean buffet and it was good, the sea bass was excellent and the crab salad was my fav!

 

The only other major issue with the wedding was two guests stayed off the resort, we paid for them to come on the resort for the day (even tho we payed for the dinner and reception so it wasn't like they were using the resorts facilities...annoying yet i understand policy) anywho veronica made the front desk aware of this gave them a written letter with their names... they arrived and were held up for so long at the front desk they missed the entire wedding and arrived after during the cocktail hour.  This was very disappointing since they missed the most important part but veronica was very understanding and is at least reimbursing us for the cost of the day passes. 

 

Ohh lastly no one seemed to really have issues with the food, two or three ppl had upset stomachs towards the end of the stay but nothing super serious. My husband is now sick hes been having major issues since the day we left but i think maybe it was something outside of the resort, washing his hands n the bathroom at the airport and then eating food... we're not sure.  We did take down a strong antibiotic with us in case anyone had stomach issues, but we always do this when traveling to a different country. if you dont have time to see a doc before hand take down some immodium with you just in case. and they do have a doc on the resort...we saw the office by the spa.

 

Oh and the spa was great! we each got two massages with our package and he got the facial i got the body scrub. there was so much in the ultimate package it was almost hard fitting it all in.  the romantic dinner was very good too!  I got my hair done the day of at the spa they did a good job, also had them do my makeup since it was included in the package... i did not love 

[rtownsend]

opps posted before i was done!... so the makeup i did not love it was a bit heavy so i re-did it a bit when i got back to the room. the way the spa set my appt up is the one lady did my massage, hair nails and makeup. i did my nails like two days before bc i wanted to make sure i had enough time the day of for other stuff... we were down there so early my mani and pedi prior needed re-done...if you dont need to use the spa for nails i wouldnt they didnt do a great job and it was expensive.  i would def get more massages and the body scrub was nice. the neck back and shoulder massage was better than the sweedish but i had a different lady for the back and shoulder that really worked at the knots. it was amazing and very relaxing.  hmmm ok i think thats it for now if anyone has questions let me know. all in all we had a great time everyone had a blast our guests loved it. we would go back. oh we not use a dance floor although she did try talking us into a few times.. it wasnt needed if your on the pool deck or the pool terrace. (we were on the pool terrace).  we did have lights under the tables which were a nice added touch that i liked but not sure if our guests really noticed. i did bring down a lot of decorations and they cleaned up after but i didnt get any of them back... kinda wish i would have pushed harder for them i could have reused the lanterns i brought down again for a reception we're having here in a few weeks. But not a huge deal.  

 

feel free to check out my facebook to look at pics if you want!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13732591

 

 

[SharonMydung]

Great review..............Can you give me a timeline of how your wedding day went.  I know you had your ceremony at 4pm, what about your cocktail hour and reception?  May I asked which DJ you used, was it AVI productions?  Did the makeup artist follow a picture you brought or did they do their own style of makeup on you?

 

I tried to open your facebook page but there is an error message.

 

Thank you and Congratulations,

 

Sharon

Originally Posted by rtownsend 

opps posted before i was done!... so the makeup i did not love it was a bit heavy so i re-did it a bit when i got back to the room. the way the spa set my appt up is the one lady did my massage, hair nails and makeup. i did my nails like two days before bc i wanted to make sure i had enough time the day of for other stuff... we were down there so early my mani and pedi prior needed re-done...if you dont need to use the spa for nails i wouldnt they didnt do a great job and it was expensive.  i would def get more massages and the body scrub was nice. the neck back and shoulder massage was better than the sweedish but i had a different lady for the back and shoulder that really worked at the knots. it was amazing and very relaxing.  hmmm ok i think thats it for now if anyone has questions let me know. all in all we had a great time everyone had a blast our guests loved it. we would go back. oh we not use a dance floor although she did try talking us into a few times.. it wasnt needed if your on the pool deck or the pool terrace. (we were on the pool terrace).  we did have lights under the tables which were a nice added touch that i liked but not sure if our guests really noticed. i did bring down a lot of decorations and they cleaned up after but i didnt get any of them back... kinda wish i would have pushed harder for them i could have reused the lanterns i brought down again for a reception we're having here in a few weeks. But not a huge deal.  

 

feel free to check out my facebook to look at pics if you want!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13732591

 

 

 

[rtownsend]

Hi Sharon, 

 

So timeline for the day of, we did a quick rehersal that morning at 9:30.  We did this the day of because the day before when it was supposed to be we took our entire party snorkling in cozumel so we were unavailable. Me and my 3 bridesmaids started getting our hair done at the spa at 1pm, looking back i would have liked to have started earlier around noon just so we had more time to lounge and do pictures I felt just a little rushed because hair and makeup took awhile.  but im also a huge picture fanatic. there ceremony started around 4 and lasted for about 1/2 hour, the second half hour we did family photos.  at 5 the cocktail hour started and then at 6 the reception started.  we worked with the dj the hotel makes you use, i sat down with him ahead of time to work out how we wanted everything to go, we did our introduction song, first dance, then dinner, then the other typically dances, cake cutting party time! reception for us was from 6-10. if you bring pictures down and show the spa im sure they will follow, i didnt have a picture for makeup i just told her i wanted a very natural look, she asked me colors we agreed and she did her thing.  the eyeliner was just extremely heavy. she used the makeup they have. i told her i had some too but she asked that i use what the spa provides so i obliged. i didnt bring a picture of hair down with me but i had an idea of what i wanted and she had books and magazines so i looked through them and picked one out to give her a better idea of what i wanted.  I did do a trial run a few days before the wedding for my hair, just so the day of would run smoothly.  I would recommend doing this just to keep your stress level down.  

[justney]

I have a question (or 12 questions) about music during the ceremony for anyone who was married on the North beach.  How long of a song should I plan for my entrance?  Do my dad and I have somewhere to sort of "hide" before the ceremony begins?  How far is that from the ceremony site?  I'm having a hard time picturing it all.

Thanks Ladies!

[Chante]

Hey girls !

I have been reading on this forum for a while and  we've finally decided to get married at the Dreams.

I have 635 pages to read...hope to have time )

 

I am going to write to the resort tomorrow to see what is available for the end of January.

Meantime, if some of you have things to share, please do

 

Also, LCraney, could I receive the spreadsheet you were talking about ?

Thanks a lot

 

[dimplesandsuga]

Oh!  I too am interested in the response to this. I am getting married on North Beach May 12 and have no idea of what to do entrance music wise.  I don't want to pay for a pianist, or anything ritzy like that, but I also don't want music from my ipod to just start playing out of nowhere. I did think about having a series of jazz songs playing and then have it change when I'm come in but I don't know who to coordinate that. 

Originally Posted by justney 

I have a question (or 12 questions) about music during the ceremony for anyone who was married on the North beach.  How long of a song should I plan for my entrance?  Do my dad and I have somewhere to sort of "hide" before the ceremony begins?  How far is that from the ceremony site?  I'm having a hard time picturing it all.

Thanks Ladies!