Dreams Riviera Cancun - Brides post here (new thread)

[Shellbee]

Originally Posted by Nicole2013 

 

Hi!  Thanks for sharing your pics they are gorgeous!!.

 

 I have a question.  I see you had the reception in the ballroom.  Did they charge extra for the drapery?  Also this slideshow they did.  Do they do them for all the wedding packages or do you have to pay extra for this?

 

Thanks!!

Hi Nicole!  No, they did not charge me extra for the drappery.  I know that it is like an $800(?) option according to the Dreams Wedding brochure but i did not get charged. 

[Shellbee]

Originally Posted by MCree 

 

Great idea!  I am going to look into this in an attempt to save money!  Thank you!!!  

Though our honeymoon suite had a gorgeous view, in our opinion the other rooms were just as nice!!!  Only difference was that our room was a little bigger, had 2 jacuzzis, and litterally over looked the ocean... that's what you are paying for... the actual ocean view.  But we would have been just as happy with a premium room.

[yacki62]

Originally Posted by Savs1027 

 

[email protected]

that's the email I have.

 

Just from reading this board for the past 10 months, it seems the Caribbean buffet was the most popular! that's what we're doing

Savs and Upcoming Brides and Future Brides:

 

So I just got back from our wedding and I know there was a couple things I told you that after having our wedding there I would let you know. However, I'm drawing a blank right now. But I know your wedding and other December 2012 brides are right around the corner so any questions you may have please let me know.

 

Here are a couple things for upcoming brides to think about in terms of timing:

-Sun sets at 5:30 sharp, but the pool is more or less shaded around 4:30 pm

 -Our ceremony was at 3pm with cocktail 5pm and dinner 6pm- I thought these were great times and left us picture time in between with lighting and the sunset

 

-We had the cocktail at the North Jacuzzi- Great Spot

-Reception- Pool Deck- loved the ambiance but the only complaint I have is that it was extremely windy on our day and all the sand from the beach was blowing up and getting all over us and in our eyes. If they would put up some sort of clear shield thing in between it would help but after some drinks people didn't mind at all.

 

-Rehearsal Dinner- We reserved 10 ppl at Bourdex, but to be honest its not that necessary unless the resort is super packed as we were able to sit 12 people another night at the Portofino with no problem.

 

-Food: All the restaurants on the resort were GREAT, our favorite was Portofino as there are just sooo many choices on the menu and you really can't go wrong with any of them.

 

Photographer- We had Anel- she is absolutely amazing to work with and her pictures turned out well. Will post slide show once I have it.

 

DJ- Cesar- he got the party started and we didn't sit down the whole night. This was money well spent!!

 

Spa- My hair and make-up turned out great, I did take a picture with me for my hair and they did it exactly like the picture. However, some of the others in my group did not and just described to the girls what they wanted and they all turned out awesome.

 

Overall- The DREAMS Riviera is by far the best All Inclusive Resort in terms of food, service, cleanliness and just everything all together that I have every been to. I'm soo happy I choose to have our wedding here. The only downfall is that the resort is very Family oriented (more kids then expected) but you get used to it after a day or so.

 

So, those of you who have choosen this resort for your upcoming wedding and are stressing about the non responses from the wedding coordinators, TRUST ME AND DON'T WORRY!! They are extremely busy and will have everything organized once you meet with them and it will all turn out perfectly I'm type A and had to trust past reviews that the coordinators had it together and stop stressing and I'm so glad I did as they really do have all your info in a folder ready to go and make your day come true!

 

Best of Luck to all future Brides out there and CONGRATS!!!

[Newbride2013]

Hey Emily-  I just recently posted an "unofficial" review on the review page.  My wedding was August 30th and it was PERFECT.  This website had helped me a lot when i was planning my wedding.  You picked a great resort!

Can you please tell me how or where to get tithe review page to read it?

[RobynKelly]

Originally Posted by Fifi Gigi 

 

Hi Everyone!  I've been reading this VERY HELPFUL thread for a couple of months now, and am getting ready to leave for Dreams on Tuesday for our wedding on the 27th (AHHHHH!).  We have the Ultimate package, and are having our Greek Orthodox ceremony at the gazebo, cocktails at the jacuzzi and dinner on the pool deck.  We hired the firedancers for after dinner.  We're staying in a preferred club oceanview for 4 nights, then moving to a master suite for 6 nights.  ANY last minute tips or things you wished you had known/brought/changed would be SO appreciated!  Thanks everyone!!!

Congratulations! Cannot wait to see your photographs, we are getting married on the 19th Apr 2013 so a while yet. we are also thinking of having the fire dancers although we were told they would be $350 for a 15 minute set!! not sure if the budget will stretch!

 

I hope you have an amazing time!!!!

[RobynKelly]

Originally Posted by RobynKelly 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fifi Gigi 

 

Hi Everyone!  I've been reading this VERY HELPFUL thread for a couple of months now, and am getting ready to leave for Dreams on Tuesday for our wedding on the 27th (AHHHHH!).  We have the Ultimate package, and are having our Greek Orthodox ceremony at the gazebo, cocktails at the jacuzzi and dinner on the pool deck.  We hired the firedancers for after dinner.  We're staying in a preferred club oceanview for 4 nights, then moving to a master suite for 6 nights.  ANY last minute tips or things you wished you had known/brought/changed would be SO appreciated!  Thanks everyone!!!

Congratulations! Cannot wait to see your photographs, we are getting married on the 19th Apr 2013 so a while yet. we are also thinking of having the fire dancers although we were told they would be $350 for a 15 minute set!! not sure if the budget will stretch!

 

I hope you have an amazing time!!!!

sorry typo! 29th Apr 2013!

[Dominique 161]

Originally Posted by RobynKelly 

 

Congratulations! Cannot wait to see your photographs, we are getting married on the 19th Apr 2013 so a while yet. we are also thinking of having the fire dancers although we were told they would be $350 for a 15 minute set!! not sure if the budget will stretch!

 

I hope you have an amazing time!!!!

 

Im getting married on the 19th April!!

[Dominique 161]

Originally Posted by Laurbee03 

 

Hi ladies! I know some of you are stressing because you haven’t seen a review up here for sometime now. My wedding was on November 3^rd and let’s just say there is no need to stress because when you get there everything gets taken care of.  We had about 75 guests. Hurricane Sandy got in our way so we ended up leaving for Mexico a few days earlier and had plenty of time to get everything situated.

I’ll start with my wedding coordinator, Gina, I couldn’t say one negative thing about her. Everything I needed she was there to help in any way. Jorge her assistant that will be with you for your reception was also great. They will meet with you to go over every detail of your wedding to ensure they have everything correct. If you have already confirmed something with her through email and you decide you want to change it, that’s no problem and she will change whatever you want. She is very through and gets every detail you want. Jorge was also on top of everything as well.

Linda the officiant is great! She will sit with you to go through the entire ceremony and all the scripts with you. You get to pick everything you want and how you want your ceremony. There is absolutely NO reason to stress about this part. She will ensure everything is exactly what you want.

The DJ Mauricio is the say way. The songs you want to be played and the order he will go over everything. Even if you have sent him an email he will go over everything again and you can make any changes you want when you meet him. For the ceremony if you decide to hire him to be your sound guy he will ensure that everything goes smoothly and there are no hiccups with the music. I saw weddings there that just had a technician from the resort do the music and it would either stop or something went wrong. I highly recommend paying the extra money to have him do the music for you. I had no problems at all. At the reception he was great and play all the music I asked for.

My photographer was Frank. I have heard great things about all the other ones but he was the one I was appointed too. I reviewed his work prior to the wedding and I was very satisfied. After working with him I wouldn’t have chosen anyone else and would recommend anyone to use him. He went above and beyond! For the wedding, he was there to capture every moment and anything that I wanted photographed he had no problem doing it. We had the ultimate package which included a TTD session. Instead of doing it at the beach and pool Frank recommended we go to a cenote(fresh water cave)  and take pictures. Although it did cost an extra $300, it was the BEST decision I made. Frank took us there for the entire day and we did 8 hours of photos. He did everything to ensure that these pictures would turn out right. His idea on photography and his ideas were outstanding. I know there are not a lot of reviews about him on this website but I hope this one will inform people of how great he was. I have not seen all of the pictures yet being as we just got back from our honeymoon in Europe, but the ones he did show me were beyond my wildest imagination!

Lets move on to the wedding itself. Everything went exactly how I had imagined! We had our ceremony on the North Beach which in my opinion is the best location since it is the most private and you don’t have as many guests sitting around and watching your wedding. All the other locations had so many people just standing behind and watching. Not what I would want AT ALL. Linda did great and there was nothing that went wrong! Next was our cocktail hour at North Jacuzzi. Again, the best location in my opinion being as it is the most private and you don’t have many people watching. We had the Mexican Trio playing which were great. The food was amazing as well. Then we had the reception on the Pool Deck. It was a great location the only thing I will say is depending on how you have your tables set you, sand can blow in your face. We had our sweetheart table facing everyone and we didn’t sit very long being as the sand kept blowing in our face from the wind. We choose to have a sit down dinner which at first when they told me how long it would take I was worried it would take up too much time but we asked the food manager(who will be at the reception and is wonderful) to rush dinner since our guests didn’t take long to eat and it ended up being fine. It only took about 45-1 hour. We choose to give our guests the option of sea bass or chicken. Both we were told many times were delicious. After that the party started and let’s say it was amazing. Our group was pretty crazy and everyone seemed to have a good time. We choose to extend our reception one hour which they give you the option to do so and I HIGHLY recommended doing that. It didn’t end up costing too much more and I couldn’t have imagined not extending the party being as it felt like it went by so quickly.

People keep asking about flowers and hanging lanterns. I brought my own lanterns to hang and was not charged a fee. I saw that someone else wrote that they were not charged and therefore I asked them about it and they waved my fee. Hopefully they will do the same for all of you. Regarding flowers I opted to have high vases with multiple different flowers. We ended up having 9 tables and each arrangement was $100usd. I sent Gina pictures of the colors and types I wanted (I was given options that were reasonably priced) and she did exactly what I wanted. As far as other decorations go I brought a lot myself. Chair bows, cake topper, paper lanterns, guest book, guest name table cards, table numbers and holders, flameless candles, and white paper bags to make way to the reception in the dark (great idea!). They had no problem setting up any of the decorations and they did exactly what was told. If you do want any of your stuff back you will have to tell them and follow up. They said they would deliver it to my room the next morning and never did. Make sure you follow up and get what you want back.

I also keep seeing people talking about getting a room upgrade to the presidential suite. I saw that someone previously got upgraded to it and was able to walk out directly from their room to their ceremony. When I arrived I talked to Gina about the room and I was able to get the room from the night before the wedding (Friday ) to Monday when we left. That was absolutely fantastic and it was everything I wanted. I somehow got lucky and I was the only wedding of the day. The Friday before there were 3 weddings in one day. Also, I hear people asking about tipping. I did end up tipping just about everyone at the wedding. My family also ended up tipping some of the waiters that went above and beyond. Although, I am not sure how much I tipped everyone since my husband and dad was the one giving out the money.  Lastly, I hear people mentioning they are worried about going through customs when they arrive. I didn’t have any problems and I brought out of town bags for every guest. I had every receipt incase they did happen to stop me. they asked what all of the stuff I brought was for but I was very quick with them and they just let me go.

Overall I couldn’t say anything about Dreams. The food was wonderful, the staff was so helpful and polite, and the wedding staff makes sure all your requests are met and it is the wedding of your dreams. If you all have any questions let me know and I will do the best to answer them J I am not sure how often I will be checking this since my wedding is over but feel free to email me [email protected] I hope this eased some of you who are stressing about them not responding but it is a wedding factory and they will get to you about 2 months before your wedding and start to finalize stuff.

 

 

Thank you for an amazing review!

 

I cant wait to see your photos.

 

[RobynKelly]

Originally Posted by Dominique 161 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobynKelly 

 

Congratulations! Cannot wait to see your photographs, we are getting married on the 19th Apr 2013 so a while yet. we are also thinking of having the fire dancers although we were told they would be $350 for a 15 minute set!! not sure if the budget will stretch!

 

I hope you have an amazing time!!!!

 

Im getting married on the 19th April!!

Sorry Dominique, that was a typo, i meant the 29th April!

[RobynKelly]

Hi Ladies,

 

has anyone had/having any drapery on the gazebo?

I really dont know whether to bring my own or not? Does anyone know what Dreams charge for it?

 

thanks in advance!