Dreams Puerto Vallarta Brides 2012- 2014

[aschackart]

We just got married at the Dreams Resort, and there is no better review I can give other than the wedding exceeded our high expectations. We are just sad that we only get to do it once!

 

Travel Agency: destinationweddings.com (D)- We had such a hard time finding a travel agency. The first two agents we contacted were simply uninterested in helping us find a location. They basically wanted us to pick a spot first, and then they would help with travel arrangements. We were initially very happy with destinationweddings.com because our agent was very helpful in sending us information on resorts that she thought would work for our wedding, which is how we found Dreams PV in the first place. However, after we were locked in, she was a disaster in booking arrangements for our friends and family. Every single person had to send her two or three follow up emails or phone messages in order to get quotes, and those quotes would be inaccurate a significant portion of the time. She was unable to get us any sort of discounted rates, even though we had about 40 people who committed to coming. The final straw was that we originally agreed to a flight that would bring us into PV at 1:40, but then we we got our travel vouchers in the mail, we noticed we weren't arriving in PV until 3:05. We assumed the flight had just been moved, but then two of our other friends managed to get on the 1:40 flight, and they said the flight had several empty seats. Basically, we had a three and a half layover in Phoenix when it should have only been two.

 

Dreams Resort (A+)- The resort is absolutely gorgeous. You are greeted with cooling towels and champagne.  Our room was in the preferred tower, which I highly recommend because you will want a balcony.  In addition, we got a free upgrade with a jacuzzi, that we actually used.  However, I saw the rooms in the family tower, and they were nice as well- every room has a view of the ocean. The resort is nestled in its own private cove, and the beach and pools are clean. The service is excellent, everyone is friendly and will go above and beyond as a matter of course. Other reviews focused on how good the food was- I found it was average. It didn't blow my mind, by any means, but it wasn't disappointing. Honestly, the best food we had there was the food at our cocktail hour, but more on that below.

 

Wedding Vendors- All the vendors I used were the ones from Dreams, and they were all great. Seriously, in my opinion, it's not worth paying for an outside vendor because everyone that Dreams used was excellent and exceeded my expectations.

Spa (A-)- Ladies, Angel from the spa is a genius. He did such a fantastic job on my makeup, and I was beyond floored. He did a great job on my hair as well, as well as the hair of one of my bridesmaids. Unfortunately, I had to take some points away because when I got a french tip polish change the day before my wedding, it was pretty much gone by the next day and I had to get it redone right before my wedding. Also, Blanca did my MIL's makeup, and she hated it. She ended up having her daughters redo it, and that made them late for my getting ready pictures.

Flowers (B+)- Oh how I wanted to give the flowers an A+! They were so beautiful, and they just pop in my pictures. All of my instructions were followed perfectly. Unfortunately, one of the lillies still had the pollen on it, so I had a dark orange stain on my wedding dress right before the ceremony! Fortunately it didn't show up in any of the pictures or anything, but it was the kind of thing that is obviously very upsetting at the time.

DJ (A)- The DJ was very good. We gave him a playlist ahead of time, and he followed it. Also, we had to move the reception indoors, and the DJ provided a seamless transition from outside to inside. He definitely managed to keep the party going!

Photographer  (A++)- We had Cris from Vallarta Adventures, and she was amazing. She stayed with us the whole day, and worked incredibly hard to get all the shots we wanted. She is also very talented, and also very patient. She was probably the one vendor we gave very little instruction to, and she just ran with it and had us posing all over the place. If anything, she pushed us so that we would get the shots we would want down the line, such as the one of my husband dipping me. Although it required a lot of effort, she ended up getting some really good shots.

Food (- Our wedding food was really just kind of blah. The cocktail hour food was great, especially the jalapeno poppers. Our guests literally devoured all of it, and were very happy. I also liked the chile poblano soup. However, my husband had the steak and chicken dish and he said the steak was gamey and the chicken was overcooked. My vegetarian entree was quite good though.

 

Wedding Coordinator: Fatima (A++++++)- I cannot give enough accolades to Fatima. Throughout the whole process, she responded to all of my emails promptly. She was very efficient in organizing everything. For example, she was the first person I actually saw when I arrived at Dreams (not through planning, she just happened to be out there). She greeted me with a big hug and immediately took my wedding dress for steaming. Also, right after the ceremony, she was waiting down the walkway with two pineapple martinis (our signature drink) for my husband and me. Our centerpieces that we brought ourselves required some assembly, she took care of it. She works very hard, and it shows in her attention to detail and customer service. I know some other brides that left reviews had an issue with timing, but for us everything was run smoothly.  The only downside, and I don't blame her necessarily, is that our cake topper got lost at some point when we switched from outdoors to indoors because of the rain.

 

And now what you really care about, pics!

 

 

 

[aschackart]

Hey ladies!

 

I just wanted to let you know that my review of Dreams is up! Long story short, we had about as close to a perfect wedding as you can get. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

 

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/dreams-puerto-vallarta-resort-spa-all-inclusive/reviews/7422

 

Best of luck! Enjoy your day!
 

[LaLa1116]

Hi Ladies!

 

While I am not getting married at Dreams (our wedding will be at Las Caletas), we will be staying there with our guests the week of the wedding.  I would like to get a hair and makeup trial done a few days before the wedding and would ideally like the stylist to come to the resort to do the trial.  However, when planning our engagement photo session during our site visit, Dreams said we would have to pay a $50 fee to allow our photographer on the beach and/or resort. 

 

Has anyone used an off-site stylist or vendor days before the wedding?  If you have, did you have to pay a guest fee?  I would really like to avoid a fee for a stylist just to come to our room for an hour.

 

Thanks in advance for any info!

 

Lauren

[kristadawn]

Hi Ladies! While I am not getting married at Dreams (our wedding will be at Las Caletas), we will be staying there with our guests the week of the wedding.  I would like to get a hair and makeup trial done a few days before the wedding and would ideally like the stylist to come to the resort to do the trial.  However, when planning our engagement photo session during our site visit, Dreams said we would have to pay a $50 fee to allow our photographer on the beach and/or resort.  Has anyone used an off-site stylist or vendor days before the wedding?  If you have, did you have to pay a guest fee?  I would really like to avoid a fee for a stylist just to come to our room for an hour. Thanks in advance for any info! Lauren

[kristadawn]

Sorry on my phone! Reply added to fast! I was told that they would charge us for anyone to com to resort, didn't matter why they were coming or for how long, daily fee . That stinks for your situation!

[kristadawn]

Did you bring your own dock station? I'm having a hard time with paying 650 to rent a dock station ?? Seems might be easier to bring on? However we are having very small 25 person wedding so not sure??

Hi Ladies! I know I'm way behind on posting a review--we've had 1 AHR already and have another one in 2 weeks (one in the town where we currently live and one in our hometown).  It's been wonderful but a little much--we've been married for a month now, and we are still planning!   @Tbasgall, we did an iPod reception.  I know that's not for everyone, and it is nice to have a DJ so you don't have to worry about a thing.  Our guests loved the iPod.  I asked everyone to send me song requests prior to the wedding, and we loaded the iPod up with all the requests plus songs we really like.  Our guests had a great time selecting songs themselves throughout the night (although I think we ended up dancing to Thrift Shop about 5 times).  

[MichelleD]

Hello All,

I am getting married at Dreams March 2014 and I've been searching through these threads to get some ideas about reception food. Can anyone recommend any dishes, especially the main course...what was good and what wasn't? I'm having a hard time with this.

Thank YOU!!

[LaLa1116]

Originally Posted by kristadawn 

 

 

Sorry on my phone! Reply added to fast! I was told that they would charge us for anyone to com to resort, didn't matter why they were coming or for how long, daily fee . That stinks for your situation!

 

That's what I thought.

[MichelleD]

Hey All,

Does anyone have more detailed information about the food they had at the wedding. I am struggling to pick the main course. Any recommendations or things to stay away from??? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Michelle

[kristadawn]

We are not geting Married until Nov 16 2013, so i cant  help with the exact food . However with my experience last few times we have been to Mexico in general I tend to choose chicken. From ALberta so mexico beef is not to our tastes lol.!! and seafod allergies so we choose chicken breast provence style/veggies and potatoes for main. Not super original but i didnt want to choose something different and be disapointed!

Krista