Dreams Riviera Cancun Wedding Review 10/6/2010

mindylcarter · October 17, 2010

We chose the "Paradise" (complimentary) package.

Resort: Beautiful, and the rooms are just like the photos. We were given a free upgrade to one of the best rooms on the resort - oceanfront with a jacuzzi on the deck. The king size beds are very comfortable. Nice minibar and maid service was very good, although they forgot to leave me coffee twice.

Food: Fabulous! Soooo much better than what I expected for resort food. Our favorites were the french and japanese restaurants. The only restaurant we did not eat at was the mexican. We ate breakfast at the World Cafe every morning but one, and it was so god and the choices are so numerous. We ate lunch at the World Cafe on our last day, and realized we had cheated ourselves all week, as the food was also delicious there for lunch, and again, numerous choices.

Drinks: Average to below average. If we didn't ask for a double, we could not even taste the alchohol. I found the best way was to order a shot of top shelf liquor along with my drink of choice. The same drink was served 5 different ways depending on the bar you went to. My after dinner drink of choice was Baileys and Frangelica, which was excellent. I found most of the other liquors seemed to be watered down.

Wedding Flowers: Beautiful and just like the photos. I could not have been more pleased.

Decorations: I was under the impression that some type of floral arrangement was provided on the center table at the gazebo, or some type of fabric draping, etc. There was nothing. I was disappointed in myself that I let the pictures on the site and in the brochure cloud my understanding. I wished I would have brought some fabrics or artificial flowers with me

Sound System/Music: Terrible. Such a disappointment. This was the only item we spent the extra money for. It was $200 for 1 hour but we only used it for maybe 30 minutes before we dispersed. I recorded a song with other musicians that I wanted played while I walked down the isle, and I selected a song for my bridesmaid to walk down the isle to as well. I made 2 seperate CD's - the first contained music to play while the guests were being seated, and the other was to be put in when they were ready to start the ceremony and my bridesmaid was walking down the isle (I only had 1 bridesmaid). The next sone on the 2nd CD was the song I recorded for my husband and the song I wanted to walk down the isle to. It was a suprise for him and all the guests, and took months of planning to practice and record. The tech stopped playing the song for my bridesmaid as soon as she finished walking down the isle, and forwarded directly to my song, which was also abruptly stopped as soon as I made it down the isle...only ahout 20% of the song was played. I was sick and very upset. Maria was our coordinator, and I told her how unhappy I was with the way they butchered my music and ruined my special suprise, and I told her they would never cut off a solosit or live musician in that manner. Of course, no concessions were made.

Minister: she was very nice, but her English was very broken, and she stumbled through the ceremony. I was not happy with her at all. I wrote the ceremony myself, and even I could not understand most of what she said, so I am sure my guests had no idea what she was saying. Very disappointing, considering the hours I spent researching and writing the ceremony.

As soon as the ceremony was finished, a waiter brought us a tray of champagne which was very nice.

We had our reception at the Bourdoux french restaurant, and they did a beautiful job. We only had 6 guests so we ate off the menu. The table was decorated beautifully and rose petals were scattered on the table. We had at least 2 waiters attention all night. The service was wonderful. The wedding cake was DELICIOUS! It was the best dessert we had all week!

Our wedding ceremony was definitely rushed...both myself and my bridesmaid felt the coordinator just wanted to get me down the isle and go do something else. I felt that because we did not purchase a lot of extras or have a private reception/cocktail hour, that we were not given adequate time or attention during the ceremony. If I had to do it again, I would not rely on the discretion of the coordinator, but I would go over everything in advance with regard to timing, etc., and be very stern with exactly what I wanted. I thought that I did that with my music, but it did not come out that way.

One other thing: DO NOT RENT A CAR! We rented a car from the AVIS counter to go on a couple excursions to Playa Del Carmen, and we were pulled over by a police officer at a road stop, and the police took $80 of our money before he would let us go. This is a very common thing but we did not know it at the time. We were doing nothing wrong, but there is an AVIS sticker on the cars, and they will pull you over and take your money. They have machine guns and speak no English (or act like they don't) and we were very scared. Everyone at the resort were very sorry, but of course there was nothing they could do. The AVIS rep will not tell you what to do if this happens (obviously if they told you there is a good chance the police will pull you over and take your money, you may not rent a car.)

Everyone in our group was very happy with the resort, and there were absolutely no complaints. They take excellent care of the guests, and the staff are very laid back.

Brenners · February 25, 2011

Thank you for the review. This is one of the resorts that we are considering.

can bride · September 14, 2011

Originally Posted by mindylcarter

We chose the "Paradise" (complimentary) package.

Resort: Beautiful, and the rooms are just like the photos. We were given a free upgrade to one of the best rooms on the resort - oceanfront with a jacuzzi on the deck. The king size beds are very comfortable. Nice minibar and maid service was very good, although they forgot to leave me coffee twice.

Food: Fabulous! Soooo much better than what I expected for resort food. Our favorites were the french and japanese restaurants. The only restaurant we did not eat at was the mexican. We ate breakfast at the World Cafe every morning but one, and it was so god and the choices are so numerous. We ate lunch at the World Cafe on our last day, and realized we had cheated ourselves all week, as the food was also delicious there for lunch, and again, numerous choices.

Drinks: Average to below average. If we didn't ask for a double, we could not even taste the alchohol. I found the best way was to order a shot of top shelf liquor along with my drink of choice. The same drink was served 5 different ways depending on the bar you went to. My after dinner drink of choice was Baileys and Frangelica, which was excellent. I found most of the other liquors seemed to be watered down.

Wedding Flowers: Beautiful and just like the photos. I could not have been more pleased.

Decorations: I was under the impression that some type of floral arrangement was provided on the center table at the gazebo, or some type of fabric draping, etc. There was nothing. I was disappointed in myself that I let the pictures on the site and in the brochure cloud my understanding. I wished I would have brought some fabrics or artificial flowers with me

Sound System/Music: Terrible. Such a disappointment. This was the only item we spent the extra money for. It was $200 for 1 hour but we only used it for maybe 30 minutes before we dispersed. I recorded a song with other musicians that I wanted played while I walked down the isle, and I selected a song for my bridesmaid to walk down the isle to as well. I made 2 seperate CD's - the first contained music to play while the guests were being seated, and the other was to be put in when they were ready to start the ceremony and my bridesmaid was walking down the isle (I only had 1 bridesmaid). The next sone on the 2nd CD was the song I recorded for my husband and the song I wanted to walk down the isle to. It was a suprise for him and all the guests, and took months of planning to practice and record. The tech stopped playing the song for my bridesmaid as soon as she finished walking down the isle, and forwarded directly to my song, which was also abruptly stopped as soon as I made it down the isle...only ahout 20% of the song was played. I was sick and very upset. Maria was our coordinator, and I told her how unhappy I was with the way they butchered my music and ruined my special suprise, and I told her they would never cut off a solosit or live musician in that manner. Of course, no concessions were made.

Minister: she was very nice, but her English was very broken, and she stumbled through the ceremony. I was not happy with her at all. I wrote the ceremony myself, and even I could not understand most of what she said, so I am sure my guests had no idea what she was saying. Very disappointing, considering the hours I spent researching and writing the ceremony.

As soon as the ceremony was finished, a waiter brought us a tray of champagne which was very nice.

We had our reception at the Bourdoux french restaurant, and they did a beautiful job. We only had 6 guests so we ate off the menu. The table was decorated beautifully and rose petals were scattered on the table. We had at least 2 waiters attention all night. The service was wonderful. The wedding cake was DELICIOUS! It was the best dessert we had all week!

Our wedding ceremony was definitely rushed...both myself and my bridesmaid felt the coordinator just wanted to get me down the isle and go do something else. I felt that because we did not purchase a lot of extras or have a private reception/cocktail hour, that we were not given adequate time or attention during the ceremony. If I had to do it again, I would not rely on the discretion of the coordinator, but I would go over everything in advance with regard to timing, etc., and be very stern with exactly what I wanted. I thought that I did that with my music, but it did not come out that way.

One other thing: DO NOT RENT A CAR! We rented a car from the AVIS counter to go on a couple excursions to Playa Del Carmen, and we were pulled over by a police officer at a road stop, and the police took $80 of our money before he would let us go. This is a very common thing but we did not know it at the time. We were doing nothing wrong, but there is an AVIS sticker on the cars, and they will pull you over and take your money. They have machine guns and speak no English (or act like they don't) and we were very scared. Everyone at the resort were very sorry, but of course there was nothing they could do. The AVIS rep will not tell you what to do if this happens (obviously if they told you there is a good chance the police will pull you over and take your money, you may not rent a car.)

Everyone in our group was very happy with the resort, and there were absolutely no complaints. They take excellent care of the guests, and the staff are very laid back.

We are not having a reception or dance either....just a supper in one of the restaurants. Were you allowd any decorations in the restaurant or did they supply that? Did you have a beach civil ceremony with both a judge and minister? did you bring your own decorations or did you get them as add ons down there at the resort. Was the brides bouquet selection ok?