Dreams Cancun Wedding Review

Natalie Z · November 1, 2007

susan your review is awesome!! Everything looks gorgeous!! I can't wait to see more pics! The teasers of you on the wedding day look beautiful! Congrats!!

SusanK · November 3, 2007

The Ceremony...

Ok, so honestly, this is sort of a blur. But a few things stick out it my mind. First, it was windy! The few days before our wedding, it wasn't, but most of the time the gazebo area is quite windy. I didn't wear a veil (never wanted to), and was glad I didn't. The small pool train on my dress was blowing around enough. In fact, my poor dad stepped on it a couple of times because it was blowing around towards his side as we walked up the aisle.

The ceremony started off great. We were at the very front of the gazebo with the bridal party flanked on either side of us. However, a couple of minutes into it, the minister moved us into the middle of the gazebo behind the table. The bridal party turned to face on, and I quickly realized that the guests on Matt's side could not see ANYTHING. The only thing they saw for the rest of the time was the GM backs. Looking back, I should have said something... it would have been kind of funny, but at the moment I froze and for most of the rest of the ceremony I just felt bad that they couldn't see anything. I don't know why we were moved into the center of the gazebo. The only reason we needed to move was for the sand ceremony, but that was at the VERY end. So, if you have a large bridal party and large gallery, make sure that you are not moved inside! The lighting is also compromised. The pro photog was able to compensate, but all of the guests' pics turned out dark.

As far as the minister goes... I can laugh about it now, but she was sort of a disaster. I forget her name, but Dreams uses her frequently. I kinda like the idea of being married by a woman because a few of my ministers growing up were women, plus, I was told she read English well. I had spent HOURS writing our entire ceremony. It wasn't that long ~15 minutes, but IMHO opinion it was beautiful. Well, she didn't exactly butcher it, but it wasn't how I would have read it. First, I e-mailed the ceremony to the WC a few months ahead of time. I don't know when exactly the minister received a copy, but it was atleast a few days ahead of time, as I was assured that she already had a copy when I met with the WC upon our arrival. Anyway, this lady read English fairly well, but it was quite obvious that she hadn't bothered to look it over... it really seemed like it was her first time reading it, that day. Plus, it looked like she grabbed it straight from her printer just moments before (it was probably still warm). Having done so many ceremonies at Dreams, she should have thought about the wind factor and at least put it in a nice binder or something. Imagine her trying to read the ceremony on a folded up piece of paper, as the wind is blowing... I thought the whole ceremony was going to blow right into the ocean. On top of that, I couldn't stop staring at her make-up. She had bright pink, blue, and purple eye shadow all the way up to her eyebrows, and it was all that I could see, well besides her bra through her thin white shirt. Ikes!

Luckily, a big chunk of the ceremony was three readings by two of our friends and Matt's grandfather. They had actually practiced (what a thought!!!) and did a wonderful job. They MADE the ceremony. If it weren't for them, it would have been pretty much a disaster.

Another funny thing...when the BM tried to give the rings to the minister, something happened, at Matt's ring fell to the ground and bounced around a few times (thought that was going to go in the ocean right along with the ceremony). That actually made me smile though...and Matt said right away.. "that was my dad...Kevin (the BM) didn't drop the ring, my dad did that to let us know that he was here with us".... which I believe, because his dad does little unexpected things from time to time to let us know he's watching over us. So, it actually turned out to be the highlight of the ceremony.

In retrospect, it probably would have been better to just let the minister do her normal thing and add in the readers for a personal touch, but how was I to know. Well now the rest of you are warned. I think she was my one disappointment. Oh well!

I did feel like I had to apologize to everyone on Matt's side for not being able to see anything, but luckily they were pretty gracious about it... they said that at least they heard it, and that they would be able to see it on video. Not ideal.

Which reminds me... the sound system for the ceremony is a must-have! Between the wind and the crashing waves, no one would have heard (on top of not seeing) anything!

The sound guy also did a great job with our processionals and recessional. I brought along a burned CD of the two processional and recessional...and he nailed the timing. Good job! BTW, out recessional was a big hit ("I'm a Believer" by Smashmouth from the Shrek soundtrack)! We got lots of compliments on that...funny what people most remember... not always what you think.

1elephant · November 3, 2007

wow, susan, this is a hell of a review!!!! i hope the ppl at dreams pv are just as great!

jlink78 · November 3, 2007

Susan! I cannot thank you enough for your awesome review! You are a bride's dream come true!

Everything looks like it was so amazing. Did you have the reception inside the lobby and then the dancing outside on the terrace? I'm definitely thinking of moving our reception indoors since it will be quite warm in August. I love the idea of having the dancing outside though. Do the big glass doors open up to the terrace?

Thanks so much! You rock!

Sarah · November 3, 2007

Aww Susan, I love the part about Matt's dad & the ring. That is so cool

RoSean · November 3, 2007

Susan, you are one organized woman!!!

The delivery of your review is fantastic. I felt like I was there at your wedding. Can't wait to hear more...

Can you pls. post your florist contact info. I'm thinking of switching to Daniella now. These reviews are so helpful.

Saraha · November 3, 2007

wow thanks for your through detail on everything, its sounds like you had a beautiful wedding..... I cant wait to hear the rest.

SusanK · November 4, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoSean

Susan, you are one organized woman!!!

The delivery of your review is fantastic. I felt like I was there at your wedding. Can't wait to hear more...

Can you pls. post your florist contact info. I'm thinking of switching to Daniella now. These reviews are so helpful.

Here's the florist's website. There's a link to contact her. Like I said above, she's wonderful! I sent her pics of what I wanted, and she nailed it!
http://www.vanessajaimes.com/

SusanK · November 4, 2007

The Reception.....

....was perfect!

Cocktail Hour

We were of taking pictures during the cocktail hour, so we missed all of that, but from what others said, it was very nice. The cocktail hour was on the Terrace. The Mariachi Trio played. We chose the Gold Menu, and heard it was very good...especially the chicken fingers...all the guys raved about them and were calling room service later that night to special order them.

*A funny side note...after the reception, several guests headed to the lobby bar and continued to drink. When they eventually got back to their rooms, everyone started ordering room service until about 5am. Well, they completely ate the resort out of chicken wings, and really gave the 3rd-shift room service staff a run for their money. A couple of the staff commented that they had never worked so hard on 3rd-shift before... and they were wondering while all these Americans were ordering lunch sandwhiches at 4am. It was pretty funny!