Dreams Los Cabos 6/18/09 Wedding Review

[blondie25]

First of all I wanted to thank this forum… my wedding wouldn’t turn out to be as amazing as it was without it.

I always wanted to be a June bride and when the time came to choose the place for the wedding I wanted to be assured that the weather would be perfect. =) I looked at every island possible and ended up in Los Cabos Mexico, because pretty much it doesn’t rain there. As most of you I was stuck and needed to choose between the Riu or Dreams (I only wanted an all-inclusive resort). At first I was leaning toward Riu … but they had so many rules and regulations (80% of guests need to stay at the resort no outside photographer no Suzan Morall on premises of the hotel) Dreams on the other hand was pretty much easy to deal with (except waiting to emails for weeks).

Let me just mention that in the process of planning Swine Flu news did not help… luckly only 2 people cancelled and we ended up with 28 people. Ok let me start with the review..

TRAVEL

We used Continental Airlines (B-)and originally it was supposed to be a nonstop flight, however due to swine flu they cancelled all nonstop services and bumped us on stand by with a stop in Texas. The plane was overbook and they couldn’t even find the place to put my dress, until the pilot volunteered to put it in his closet which wasn’t really long enough(luckily the bottom of my dress doesn’t wrinkle). On the way back they lost one of our suit cases and found it a week later.

All the hotel and air packages were booked through ORBITZ (A) and everyone was very happy with the price and the rooms. 90% of the guests were located on one floor on the quiet side of the hotel. Few couples even got a free upgrade to governors suit.

When booking the hotel and air package we booked the airport transfer I think it was Grey Line and had no issues with them.

DREAMS RESORT(A-)

The resort is very nice… everyone is very friendly and try to make you enjoy your stay. The room was cleaned 2 times a day fridge was restocked all the time. Everything was very clean. My only complaint is that for some reason bed linen were kind of wet all the time first night we called house keeping to complain, they came in within minutes to change it and it was still wet (all guests had the same problem). The food was very good especially at the Oceana(my favorite). Almost every night the restaurants were busy and we needed to wait for the table 20-60min.

We did not have a welcome dinner because most of the guests were arriving the night before the wedding and were too tiered .

Marianna (A-)

I did not have an outside wedding coordinator Marianna did everything we asked for. She is very friendly, accommodating and a hard worker. The only reason she got an A- was because sometimes it took a long time to answer emails. However, when the time was getting closer to the wedding day she was responding a lot quicker.

WEDDING DAY

SUZAN MORAL (A+)

Ladies, she is expensive but her stylists are very good. I did a hair and make up trial 2 days before the wedding. We took a taxi from the hotel 25$ each way. Diana was my stylist and she did the hair good right away, however we wouldn’t get the make up done right and she did not stop until we got close to what I liked. The day of the wedding Suzan decided that they needed to start earlier than planned ( because I was such a difficult bride). They did my hair and make up great everyone loved it. My mom did not die a trial and the day of the wedding she didn’t like what they did at first and after she verbalized her opinion they fixed everything and she looked great. My mother in law did not want to use Suzan and decided to try Dreams Salon for make up. She paid the money and wanted to put a bag over her face so she was make it to the room to wash it of. Did not see it but heard it was horrible.

Photo and Video Mango (A-)

I used Jerome for the photo and video and his price was very reasonable when I booked a package plus he gave me a discount for a TTD the next day. His pictures turned out great the video was good too. I didn’t like the fact that the video was only 36min and he taped us for 5hrs. So, lots of stuff were cut out. Also make sure you provide your videographer and photographer with enough songs. I didn’t give him enough and some songs he choose were not that great (my fault).

Here is a link to the pictures Picasa Web Albums - MangoWeddings - Olga+Alex (Dr...

Rev Marco(A+)

Everybody loved him. I cried throughout the whole ceremony. If you can get him I highly recommend him. His speech was out of this world all the guests said they never heard such a wonderful ceremony. Thanks Rev Marco you were wonderful.

FLORENTA FLOWERS (B+)

The prices were reasonable. Most of the flowers were fresh and the centerpieces were very pretty. However, for my bouquet I ordered light pink roses and instead I got dark pink. Marianna brought them in and once I saw them I wanted to cry, however I knew I couldn’t or the makeup would get ruined. I told Marianna that this is not the color I ordered. Luckily she got in touch with the florist and 30 min before the ceremony my new bouquet arrived and it was gorgeous.

Food for the reception and cocktail hour (B+)

I did not try the food at the cocktail hour but my mom said it was good. As for the reception… the crab cake was very tasty. For the main course we ordered Sea Bass and 90% of the guests wanted Sea Bass and instead we got Mahi Mahi(it was not tasty at all).

I complained to Marianna the next day and she said that they didn’t get the delivery or something like that. She apologized and said that she knows nothing can be done now and as a compensation gave us chocolate covered strawberries delivered to the room with a certificate for free stay for 5 days 4 night within the year. We did not expect it and were very glad that we actually complained =).

DJ Richardo (A)

Very professional has good equipment played some songs that we asked for and the rest were chosen by him and everyone was dancing. So I would definitely recommend him.

FIREWORKS (

Marianna ordered fireworks for us and for the price they were not very good. We ordered 2.5 min and it was shorter. Again we complained to Marianna she agreed and the company gave us 20% back from the original price.

CAKE Jennifer Hatton (

I chose Jennifer because she was cheaper and payed for it. The cake did not taste good. I had 3 tiers each one different flavor and each flavor did not taste good. The cake looked ok nothing special I wouldn’t suggest her. If I knew I would have ordered a cake from the resort and had a better tasting cake.

DECORATIONS FOR THE RECEPTIOON (A)

We rented Tiffany chairs from delcaboeventdesign the prices were reasonable and the chairs looked great.

Other decorations we used white table cloth and Marianna gave us yellow napkins. Chinese lanterns were nice touch on the oceana terrace. (Be prepared people actually sit on the balconies and watch the wedding). I also got the votives which I brought from home(ordered them from oriental trading)and Luminaries from Marianna. Luminaries were useless don’t bother ordering them.

On a final note ladies don’t stress I planned the wedding without a site visit and visout a coordinator and I did it all in 7 month. Everything overall turned out great. I did not even imagine everything would turn out so wonderful. Can’t wait to go back and use my free night. Good luck. Olga

[Ginalyn]

Great review, thanks for sharing! We are date twins Awesome pics...I love your dress!

[dinogomez.com]

Good review. Thank you for sharing!!

[erinleigh]

Great review, great dress!

[Ana]

Awesome review Olga! Its really great to read such an honest review. Despite the mini setbacks I'm glad to hear that everything went well. Your pics are gorgeous and everything turned out to be amazing! yey! Enjoy being married and heading back to Dreams for your stay

[ACH2009]

Congrats on your wedding! Thanks for the review!

[*Heather*]

Great review! Thanks Olga. I'm glad to see that even though there were little blips, all of your vendors did their best to make up for them. I love your pics too! Congrats!

[melette]

Such a great review Olga! Now I'm even more excited for our wedding date to arrive! Your pictures are gorgeous!

[marcoloscabos]

Hello Olga and Alex!!!!!!

 

Thank you for the nicest review I have your wedding in my mind like it was yesterday... I still remember Alex's face when I took out the napking with the glass for him to break! Hehehehehe He didn't know I knew he wanted to do it.

 

Once again thank you for the high score and I was honored to be at your wedding. Please give my best to your families and lots of love to you guys.

 

Hope to see you soon in Cabo!

[*Nadine*]

Congrats Olga!! You look so hollywood glam in your pics, just gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!!