*Nadine*'s Dreams Huatulco Review - 12/29/09

[*Nadine*]

I wanted to get this out of the way sooner than later b/c I knew I would put it off otherwise. I hope I got everything and didn't miss something. Overall our wedding was more than we could have ever hoped for. All of our guests had the best time and raved about the wedding and resort. What more can a person ask for??

 

Travel Agent

Karen Gill (TPI) – Z (if it went that low but since it doesn’t I guess a F will suffice)

I could write a novel on all the bad experiences that occurred b/w my travel agent and I but I won’t bore anyone. All I can say is it was so bad that she actually has been ‘suspended’ and is pending termination from TPI. Never meant to get anyone fired but she was beyond horrible at her job and if I did even ¼ of the things she did, or used the excuses she did, I would have lost my job a long time ago. My piece of advice, steer clear of TPI.

 

Signature Vacations – C +

Signature is a charter and charters can basically do whatever they want, and that’s exactly what they do. Three months before our departure date they straight up cancelled one of the flights that carried 11 of my family members on it. We ended up needing to find them all new flights and book them separately which was an absolute pain so close to the wedding date. Because we booked over a year in advance we were guaranteed a price match if the prices dropped from the prices we booked at. However when they dropped they only matched prices for a couple of our departure cities and then didn’t match some other cities. It made no sense. They also never told us we could be upgraded to first class until one month before the wedding-and of course by then they were fully booked (or so they said). When we got to the airport we requested the option to get upgraded for free and they were rude to us in response, and then said it would cost us $1200. There was a nice agent there though who went and talked to the Air Transat manager and HE upgraded us for free. So Air transat gets an A+. Their service was great.

 

Resort – A

We were very very pleased with our choice of venue, especially since none of us had been there before. The hotel is very very clean and modern looking. We were there over Christmas and while they had some Christmas decorations up it was not cheap or gawdy looking at all. They also had a huge NYE celebration while we were there and it was done up in pink, silver and white and was so pretty. They did a HUGE fireworks show to at midnight that was awesome.

There are 5 pools, plus a kids pool- three of the pools are infinity pools. The hotel is shaped in a big U so it’s not too big and makes it easy to find people.

The rooms were all gorgeous and again very modern. We were in a junior suite and had a big deck with hot tub that was perfect for all the late night after parties we hosted!

 

Since it was dry season even the Christmas trees were brown! Ha!

[*Nadine*]

Location – A+

Huatulco is beautiful. . It’s still authentic Mexico and not touristy at all, which I think is what we loved about it. We were their in the ‘dry season’ so most of the trees were brown, except on the resorts, and it wasn’t as humid as you would expect. The weather is also unbeatable. It was 97 degrees every day we were there with blue skies and just a slight breeze. No clouds. Much better than the wind and 75 deg we experienced in Cancun for our honeymoon!

 

 

Beach – B+

I am not a beach person (im scared of sharks so I don’t go near the ocean) so you could probably ignore this portion b/c I don’t know what I’m talking about really. Dreams is set in a bay which is really pretty. There is snorkeling off to the left by the rocks, and you could also feed fish there in the mornings which was pretty cool (my neice loved this). The waves were quite big at times, and there was good surfing (12 foot waves) just two bays down from Dreams. The sand is not the white sand like in the mayan but it was fine, and the water was a great temperature for going in.

Food – B+

I think overall the food was very good. The buffet had an awesome breakfast and there was usually enough selection for lunch. There were 5 a la cartes and 1 buffet. We really enjoyed the Italian and Mexican restaurant. Never tried the seafood, and thought the Japanese was ok. Overall not too many complaints, I mean it still is mexico so you can’t compare it to nice restaurants around here. We also never had to wait to get a table which was awesome considering the hotel was full.

 

Entertainment/Night life – C+

The entertainment was pretty poor at the hotel. I never experienced it but my family went every night and said it was kind of a joke. However they did have a lot of activities and things to do throughout the days that they enjoyed. There is a disco at the resort but it was empty every night except us. Basically you make your own fun, which we had no problem doing every night at the lobby bar. Its an open air hotel (no doors) so was really nice to just be inside but feel like your outside all the time instead of stuffed in a closed off room. Some of my friends did go into town to a bar one night and had a riot though.

 

Wedding Corrdinator – A+

Gabriela is amazing. She took a bit of time to respond to emails before we got there but when we got there we knew it didn’t matter. She had absolutely everything under control and any questions I had she would say ‘I’ll take care of it, you don’t worry’. Her English was very good and she is so sweet. She went above and beyond with the ceremony and reception and it was gorgeous. I couldn’t have asked for much more

 

 

Flowers –A

The only reasons the flowers are not getting an A+ is b/c they arrived late (20 min AFTER the ceremony was supposed to start). They get flown in from Mexico city, b/c the florist in Huatulco has a contract in Mexico City, and they missed the first flight, therefore making them late to arriving in Huatulco. I had no idea what we were getting, I just told Gabriela the colors, and they were beautiful. They were still in PERFECT shape after three days. We just put all the bouquets in vases on the tables at the reception to use as centerpieces and it worked out nice

[*Nadine*]

Ceremony site – A+

I couldn’t really visualize how the ceremony site was going to look b/c during the day it’s the preferred section of the beach with chairs and huts, and it didn’t look like it was a big enough area. So when I came walking down the aisle (aka, along the beach) with my dad I was stunned, it was gorgeous and just perfect set up against the rocks. It would have been a nice secluded area except we had about 100+ onlookers who decided to attend the wedding as well. It was really quite crazy. My one bridesmaid even got yelled at to ‘SMILE MORE!’ as she was walking up the aisle. Priceless. They roped off right behind the bmaids and the guest chairs but the people stood right up to the rope (like they were trying to get in a nightclub or something). People are strange. I guess the one downside was there was no shade. We did have two big umbrellas set up for our grandparents but everyone else was in the hot sun for about 30min b/c we were late. All the groomsman’s shirts were soaked through by the time I got there.

 

They also had champagne with a strawberry waiting for every guest after the ceremony. Also a nice surprise!

And some of the onlookers..

[*Nadine*]

Reception – A+

Again, I could not picture how it was going to look b/c the space looked to small. It was actually right around the adults pool where we all spent every day hanging out. Again, I was blown away. Gabriela had lit up tiki torches, put candles going up the rock wall behind the gazebo, draped lines down the gazebo, put rose petals on the dance floor, put lights under the table so they would glow and lights around the pool. It was absolutely gorgeous. The food at the reception was also hands down the best food we ate all week, and all our guests agreed.

 

This was the reception site in the day:

And at night

All the lights around the pool right beside where the tables were set up

J’s brother and his gf put together a slideshow for us

 

Oh and we ended up with a cake. Everyone said it was really good and it was really nice. Looks a weird color in this picture though. I didn’t ask for a cake though, so another surprise.

The cigars for the guys and pashminas for the girls were a HUGE hit. Even though it was way too hot for a pashmina, they just took them back to their rooms.

[*Nadine*]

Hair & Makeup – A +

I was lucky enough to have my sister do my hair and a friend do my make up. My sister used to be a hair stylist and my friend is a freelance make up artist so they did a fantastic job. My hair did fall a lot b/c of the humidity but not as bad as I thought it would

 

Photographer – A+

We hired Nate Cordova to shoot our wedding after some recommendations from some other brides on here and we were not disappointed. Nate was a complete rockstar and literally spent four days travelling (2 each way) to save us money. He even had a layover in Mexico City one night where they kicked him out onto the street for four hours b/c they closed and he didn’t complain at all. He calls everything an ‘adventure’. All our guests loved him and I cannot wait to see the pics b/c he was honestly everywhere-without us every even noticing him!

 

Videographer – B+

We got a video b/c it was included in our package with Dreams. I actually forgot about it until this man wanted to meet with me to give us our ‘video’. Its actually really quite good and I cried watching it. I am so happy we have it even though I never thought I would care.

 

Honeymoon – A+

We went to the Excellence Playa Mujeres for our honeymoon and we were blown away by the resort. It is so elegant and beautiful it takes your breath away. The food was also so good, we couldn’t get enough of the 8 restaurants. The pools were too cold to swim in, and the weather wasn’t that great. But its what you expect for January in Cancun. We stayed in a two story roof top terrace room and it was amazing. Definitely get one if you stay there!

 

I hope this wasn’t too rushed and that I got everything! Any questions let me know!

[stacey]

Congradulations nadine!! You looked amazing, and I am so happy that everything turned out so well.

[Erika J]

YAY!! Fab review Nads!!!

 

I loved all the details and your ceremony set up was so beautiful. i loved the clean lines of it all!

[cbell]

Great review, you looked beautiful, can't wait to see more pics! The onlookers are ridiculous but incredibly amusing...who would stand there behind a rope to watch somoene's wedding?? But the setup and everything looked great, nice job!

[YaelM]

YAY!!!!!!!!!! Great review - so happy everything (minus late flowers) turned out perfectly!! You look great and the resort looks amazing!

[vlynnw]

Congrats Nads!! Great review, you are gorgeous and everything looks perfect!