MrsLewistobe (Amy's) Dreams Cancun Review 05/02/10-LONG!

[MrsLewistobe]

Hi ladies! We are back and a little settled in so I wanted to write this review and get it posted quickly. I know many Dreams brides are waiting to hear about and see photos of the new gazebo. Let me just summarize by saying that the Gazebo is still beautiful and the Dreams team is wonderful! Especially Cecilia- she is a sweetheart and will go out of her way to make all your Dreams come true!!! Overall we had a wonderful wedding and so much fun with our friends and family in Mexico!

 

Continental Airlines- F- This was actually one of the worst flights we have ever been on! As I was walking onto the plane, I was holding my wedding dress in the white bag and the flight attendant just started shaking her head at me. Then she went into this long disgusted ramble about how now the airline is trying to fit more people and that they don’t have storage closets anymore. She said I would just be mad at her for crumpling it up. She said I should just put it in our overhead bin. I hadn’t even asked her for anything. Not very good customer service skills in my opinion. Then a guy walks down the aisle and falls as he is trying to get into the seat beside us. Well a male flight attendant had to literally pick him up. At first we thought something was wrong with him and felt bad. But as soon as he was seated and opened his mouth we realized he was just completely hammered drunk! He wouldn’t leave my poor fiancé alone. He punched him in the leg and wanted to talk. We couldn’t even understand him! It was awful! Not a great start to our trip!

Cancun Airport-B- Well of course it is hot and stuffy when you get off the plane here. I was holding my dress, he was holding his suit bag and of course all of our luggage. We waited in immigrations for about an hour. Once we received our luggage we went to the security line. I was nervous because I had one suitcase filled with wedding stuff and gifts. But I had printed out a piece of paper explaining that it was for our wedding, not for resale and translated into Spanish. I even had some receipts attached and was hoping this would help if I got the red light. They did pull that bag off and open it, but she just said oh your wedding, ok! So that was no big deal and I was worried for nothing.

 

Apple Transportation-C- Well since you are hot and ready to go, it is not too fun to wait in a hot van until they fill it up with people. They used to offer drinks for sale in the van (beer, water, etc) but they acted like they didn’t know what were talking about. They said it is not allowed anymore. They stopped to drop off other guests at their hotel first. If I had it to do over again, I would hire a private company for us. I think many brides on here use Cancun Transfers. It just would have been nice to hop in a private car and have a drink on the way to our hotel.

 

Dreams Check-In- A+ They greeted us with wet cloths and champagne! Now we are talking!! J We were upgraded to the 2 story honeymoon suite and we were very excited!! It was very spacious and there was a balcony upstairs and down both having a gorgeous view of the water and gazebo! J They had a honeymoon banner on our door and champagne chilling in the room for us.

 

 

Wedding Coordinator-A+++++ I had Ceclilia and she was FABULOUS!! I can not say enough good things about her! I know many people get frustrated because she can’t answer your emails fast enough. And I was very nervous right before leaving. I found out about the gazebo being torn down and that the new one was under construction so I was in a frantic mode. She told me the new one would be ready in time for my wedding and for me not to worry. Well the day we checked in, they were still working on it. They were still painting and polishing the floor, etc. But our meeting with Cecilia went great! It only took about 30 minutes. She had notes and emails that I had sent. She is VERY organized! She is the sweetest person and she works very hard! She is running all over that resort and always available to help you with any concerns you have. I tipped her in the very beginning and she was very grateful. So just try to be patient and relax. She will take care of everything when you get there.

 

As a general note, it was super windy the days we were there. Everyone kept telling us that it wasn’t normal. I don’t mean just a little windy like some other brides have mentioned. It felt like hurricane force winds! It was so bad that they had to close down the Seaside Grill. One night were waiting to get into Oceana and were going to wait at the swing bar with drinks. Well the wind blew so hard it was in people’s eyes and drinks…not a good situation. We called the pathway between the two buildings the wind tunnel. When you walked thru it you had to hold down your dress, it blew off hats, broke sunglasses, etc. It was fierce winds. And on the day of the wedding after getting ready at the spa I had to walk from the main building over to the tower building near the gazebo. Let me just say we held a huge bag in front of my head hoping to block some of the wind and save my hair. It didn’t work out so well. My beautiful fresh flower flew out and Cecilia had to bring me another one. There would have been no hope for a veil, but I hadn’t planned to wear one anyway. Once we finally made it to the gazebo, the wind was not as bad there.

 

Dreams Spa-A++ I was very happy with the spa! They did hair and make up for my matron of honor and I. We enjoyed it, they brought us miami vice drinks (half pina colada, half strawberry daiquiri) while we were sitting in the chairs being pampered. I pointed to a few pics I liked in their book. I knew I wanted my hair up with a flower and I told her to do whatever she thought would look best. I told her I wanted my make up pretty natural and I was very pleased with the outcome. However, keep in mind that is so hot there and I felt like I had sweated most of my spa applied makeup off prior to the wedding starting. But this was nobody’s fault. I had my appointment at 1:00. We didn’t get out of there until almost 3:00. This time worked out fine, it gave us time to grab a couple more drinks and get ready leisurely. The photographer was going to arrive around 4:45 to start photos since our ceremony started at 5:00.

 

P.S- The couples massage out by the water is WONDERFUL! It was part of the wedding package and I recommend doing it outside. It was so nice, in little huts over the water. They are enclosed on the sides for privacy. There was a nice breeze and of course you could hear the ocean .

Also many of the ladies in our group used their resort coupons and got facials. They all LOVED them and were very impressed with their spa.

 

Wedding Setup, Ceremony & Reception-A+ I brought my own pink and orange chair bow sashes. We decided not to order extra flowers. My fiancé wanted it to look clean and simple. He didn’t want us to take away from the view of the water. But looking back, I sort of wished we would have had two arrangements placed on the front of the gazebo. I saw another wedding that had it and I think it looked elegant. I guess Cecilia must have thought ours looked bare, so she tied two of pink and orange ribbons around the columns. Not exactly something we would have done, but she was trying. The actual ceremony was perfect! I thought the new gazebo looked fine, and the view is just breathtaking! We didn’t really care for the new rocks and the fact that the far right side is not surrounded by water any longer. But when you are at the gazebo it is still very beautiful and you still see plenty of the turquoise water. It is easy to exclude the rocks from your photos. So for all the ladies that were worried, don’t it will be fine! And you will love it when you arrive and see for yourself!

 

All of our guests kept raving about how gorgeous it was! We had the lady minister, I can’t remember her name. I believe she was from Canada, and she was very sweet and we could understand her. I will note as others have said, Cecilia asked us if it was okay to be religious and pray and we said yes. She did read from the bible and I think she did three prayers. Just FYI.

 

After reading that another bride on here did this, we thought it was a fun idea, so we asked if we could have shots of tequila instead of champagne. Cecilia said no problem. We asked them to chill Cazadores tequila and bring it with limes. But the only problem was that the waiters handed it to us and we walked down the aisle to the palm tree to wait for our guests. Our plan was for us all to do the shots together. Well they didn’t know so many of them took their shots while walking down the sidewalk to meet us. Lol. Anyway it was still fun and cute for our pics. We just needed a bit more communication.

 

Once the ceremony was over we ran to do our photos while the rest of the guests went to the cocktail hour. Since it was so windy we had to move our cocktail hour and dinner inside. I was really bummed about this at first. Because I really had my heart set on having it on the beach. But in the end we decided it would be a mess with sand blowing everywhere and we wanted our guests to be comfortable. So they set it up in the Tower Lobby. This was fine, at least you could see the pool and water view out the windows. And for those of you worried about a rain back up plan this would be okay. We had DJ Mannia so I felt bad that we were playing the music in there. But I guess they do it all the time.

The only negative thing is that they can’t shut down this lobby. So hotel guests are still walking thru to the bar and elevators. I noticed one guy walked in without a shirt and then stopped put it on and darted to the elevator. Lol. But mostly the guests were very respectful of the reception going on.

 

I am a little out of order, sorry. When we went to take our photos the guests went to the cocktail hour. I asked Cecilia to get the mariachi band to start a little later so we could be there some while they were playing. So she told Juan’s team and they knew we were sort of in a hurry. And since it was so windy we decided for just the two of us to go down to the lighthouse. His team was great! Daniel was in charge in of our photo shoot. They carried our drinks, shoes, etc. and I believe they took over 500 photos. He said the lighting was fabulous this time of day. They seemed very creative and I am sure we will get some great photos. I would highly recommend them to anyone planning a wedding in the Cancun area.

 

When we made it back to cocktail hour, the mariachi band was in full swing and the guests were LOVING it! We jumped in and danced around a little with them, posed with their hats and had a few pics taken. Needless to say everyone was sad to see them go. But I told him DJ Mannia was about to take over.

 

Dinner was served and it was very good! We had the scallops for an appetizer, the lobster bisque and then the Dreams Trilogy. A funny note, I let the hubby- to-be select the dessert. He talked to Cecilia about different things that weren’t on the menu. We ended up with Churos filled with cream and sprinkled with cinnamon, maybe a little hot fudge with ice cream on the side. He thought why not we are in Mexico. Lol. And we had a few children attending too so he thought they would enjoy it. It was a big hit, however I didn’t get to taste any.

 

We went with the basic wedding cake in the Ultimate Package. I just asked for fresh flowers in our wedding colors to be on top. We ordered a marble cake, part vanilla & part chocolate. It was wonderful! Very moist and not too sweet. Cecilia told us that we could order room service and have some delivered to our room. And we did take her up on this! Late that night it was nice to have a piece when it was just the two of us and enjoy it.

 

Back to the reception, after the dinner and lots of shots of tequila, many of our guests were looking a little restless. So I asked DJ Mannia to play some fun dance music. Many of our guests were younger in their twenties and sort of a party group. So he played the SHOTS song! This brought everyone to the dance floor. We have some hilarious photos and videos of this. Cecilia was such a good sport, a couple of the men were trying to dance with her and asking her to go to the clubs with them. She just laughed and smiled. I apologized and got them away from her. Lol.

 

But since our group had started drinking way too early in the day many of them were exhausted. And the others were wanting to head out to the clubs. The hotel entertainment staff takes groups out every night and some of our gang decided they wanted to go. I was sort of disappointed with this. Because the groom and I were sort of torn. The older group didn’t want to go and they said we could move the party upstairs to the mother and father of the groom’s suite. They ordered wine and cheese trays for their room. So we decided to shut down the reception a little early. I asked Cecilia about it and thanked the team from DJ Mannia. I told them it wasn’t their fault. I thought they did an excellent job. She advised me that they would still charge me for the entire time. I understood this and said it was fine. We only had 25 guests. So I would say unless you are sure that your guests will stay and dance, then I wouldn’t spring for the DJ. I think it would have been fine with an ipod.

 

The next day I said I don’t know why we shut it down early, we should have just stayed and let everyone go wherever they wanted. Hubby said quit worrying about it, it is over and everyone had a great time! Some of our group went to Coco Bongo, they had a blast and have some funny pics!

 

But overall the reception was great! And the wait staff was outstanding! Funny side note, obviously lots of us tipped the bartenders and wait staff. After it was over the father of the groom said he was handing out hundred dollar bills at the beginning to make sure they took good care of us. Well we didn’t know he did this and we tipped them big as well. I guess they were happy and they worked really hard.

 

We did have a few hiccups at Dreams. The air conditioning in our honeymoon suite wasn’t working properly and we had to move rooms. But the management was very accommodating and Monica at the front desk was an angel! She helped me on numerous occasions. I even invited her to the wedding. Lol.

 

And since it was so windy they had to close Seaside Grill. Well this made Oceana overcrowded. It took us three hours to get in and have dinner for our group. But again there were over 20 of us and we understand that they don’t do reservations. The hotel was 98% full too. But if a very nice private dinner is important to you, then I would say book it and pay the extra $. I wished we would have used part of the DJ money for a private welcome or rehearsal type dinner instead. Again, this is not normal for Dreams. They usually will accommodate your party. This was just because of the weather and closing of the other restaurant. And they have been very apologetic since. We plan to return to this and other Dreams resorts!

 

The only thing I would suggest is to try to plan your trip where you have a couple of days at the resort AFTER the wedding to relax. I ended up running around trying to keep everyone happy and getting a little more sun that I planned on. I was red in my wedding photos. And I really regret not having time to do a Trash the Dress photo shoot. I think that would have been wonderful! I asked my hubby if we can fly back for it soon, but I haven’t talked him into just yet. Lol.

 

Sorry I tend to be a motor mouth. I think I have covered most of the important things. If anyone has any questions please just let me know. Just know that if you book your wedding at Dreams Cancun, they will do their best to make it a “dream†and a great time that you and your guests will never forget! I would highly recommend them to anyone considering a destination wedding in this area. We are still getting emails from everyone saying how much they loved the trip and enjoyed the wedding! I will post a link to the professional pics once we receive them. I have already seen some of the proofs and Juan is fabulous to work with via email! He really wants all of his brides to be happy! I think I should have the photos this this week!

 

It was a great wedding! And I would definitely recommend a Destination Wedding to anyone considering it. It was almost care-free! Like everyone says, just don’t stress at home if they aren’t answering your emails, it will turn out gorgeous when you arrive! If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask! Congrats and Best Wishes to all the future brides! This website was a lifesaver and I am glad I could finally contribute!

 

Here’s a link to a Shutterfly account where some photos friends and family took are posted. Please let me know if this doesn’t work for anyone.

 

 

Amy

[MrsLewistobe]

Okay I don't think that shutterfly link was working. So try this one, it is still under construction. But if you click on the photo/video tab it will show you the photos I have uploaded. Sorry for the issue! So go here to view the photos and I will upload the pro ones a.s.a.p.

 

http://nickamyswedding.shutterfly.com/

 

Amy

[carolina24]

thank you soooo much for the great review!!! I'm glad everything turned out so well, can't wait to see the rest of your pics

 

congrats

[AishaB]

It seems you guys had a bit of a time getting there, but thank God your stay and your big day was just lovely. Congratulations!

[JanineA]

What a very detailed review. I think the pic of you two in gazebo is so cute! Thanks for the review and congrats!

[JENISE]

Great review. Glad to hear everything (except the Continental flight :[) went very well. Congrats on becoming a Mrs!

[KimmyD]

Thanks for the review. Can't wait for the rest of the pics!

[Lady_Di]

Yikes, so much for customer service for Continental! Sorry, I laughed a bit about the drunk guy. I can't believe the nerve of people.

 

Glad you had a great time!

[FutureMrsHolt]

Congratulations on becoming a Mrs. Thank you for the review. We are considering doing a Dreams wedding and this was one of the resorts we were looking into.

[wilsoml2]

Thanks for the review! I also appreciate the mention of the view. I hate those square rocks in the water break, I was hoping that they wouldn't be in our pictures.

 

We're planning on having our reception in the club lobby as well, but I was hoping the DJ would set up on the patio portion so we could dance outside all night. It doesn't look like yours was quite set up that way, did they have to move the tables to make room for dancing?