dreamstbride

We're back! and yes it has been a long time since returning, so I do apologize now for the delay. we are now husband and wife! We couldn't be any happier! Now for a review...Im not sure if this even sure if this is a review... Here's the thing... My Mom always told me… If you don’t have anything nice to say…Don’t say it at all... My review is def on the "don't say it at all" side. Unfortunately, from beginning to end dealing with Dreams Tulum was TERRIBLE!!!! By beginning I mean from our arrival on wards...I don’t think I have a single good thing to say about the way they handled our wedding. Long story short... As Im sure many of you know...At the beginning of Oct Dreams Tulum was closed. The Government took possession of the resort. And it was shut down. Closed until further notice. They then began re-locating all Oct and November weddings to other well reputable resorts. Our wedding group ended up at the Barcelo Maya Palace. The resort itself! Beautiful! If we weren't having our wedding there, a vacation there would have been really nice. What happened was that Dreams Tulum re-located us to a resort that was at capacity, in regards to weddings! When FH and I arrived on Sunday night, they didn't even have a room for us. The Barcelo was FULL! They wanted to stick us so far away. This was unacceptable, seeing as we are the bride and groom and all of our guests were getting better rooms than us.This was not going to fly. The following day, when FH and I went to meet with the WC from Dreams, she told us that’s we would pretty much be having our wedding inside. This was due to the fact that the resort was packed with weddings our day. Every other wedding party was given priority over us,and due to the fact that we had the smallest group we weren't of importance. Sure those words didn't directly come out of her mouth, but they might as well have, considering the treatment we were receiving. We were being shoved into a meeting room, for our reception. We were pissed! We did not spend all that money and take time off work to be swept under the rug and be put in a meeting room. This room didn’t even have a window. We were livid. After DAYS of dealing with nothing but crap from both resorts. We decided to move our wedding to a whole other resort. At their cost. Once we brought it up Dreams and Barcelo, they became active and started to help. We finally got our reception outside thanks to a fellow bride, who said it would be okay if another wedding reception was held a few yards away from theirs... Thank god for her sweet soul! Other wise we would have been celebrating our reception in a conference room. In the end our day did was nothing short of perfect. But that’s only because we were so over the moon. And so happy to finally be getting married. There still were sooooooo many mistakes along the way, example - they brought us the wrong cake, then they brought us the right one, but it had the wrong filling. A filling DH hates. Other tid bits here and there, not important to DH and I but oh lord did my mother throw a fit... My biggest problem with this whole fiasco... Our marriage certificate. We received the certificate two days after the civil ceremony. Perfect! Nice timing! Until I notice my mother's age! I guess her writing wasn't clear and they added an addition 7 years to her age. Weird seeing as they had the year she was born written down as well, I guess they didn’t want to do the math. One or two years, no big deal, but 7!!! Not going to happen! We had to send it back! Now instead of coming home with proof that we got married, we have nothing. The other certificate (English version) I guess it goes with the DW territory but it sucks. In the end what was important is that we got married. He is all that was important to me, during this whole thing... I’m sorry I couldn't give a proper detailed review... I don’t think any one wants to read, me complaining about almost everything... lol! no fun! no fun for me to type (and re-live) and no fun! for you to read. ps) The only thing I can recommend!!! Bring your own photographer! It’s so totally worth it! We had an amazing photographer with us. We even got to do a Trash the dress that turned out so beautiful! I couldn't be happier with the pics. Also... Barcelo's in house photographers and videographer. Really good! Better than I imagined! I recommend them too, if you cannot afford to bring your own. I really liked their pictures. The video. Kind of cheesy at times, but oh so good!!! Def a wonderful keep sake! I would def recommend them. If you do have any questions regarding the resort, I am more than happy to answer! Any how, here are some pics a lot of pics… sorry there are so many... Its hard to choose...Its a mix of our photographer's pics and some of the resort photographer's pics. DH and Groomsmen getting ready. DH opening his wedding gifts.A Stainless steel Dogtag with his birthday,mine, and our wedding date engraved. Getting my gift from DH. It made me ball like a baby!

Quote: Originally Posted by morenaindc dreamstbride - did you also bring the chocolate brown runners and sashes? or do they now offer that color? I did not bring those with me.The wedding coordinator from Dreams Tulum got them for me. I showed her a picture of the deep chocolate brown color we wanted and she arranged for us to have them. I am positive though that Barcelo can get you the same thing. In any color you want. You just have to ask. And they do charge a bit more for them.... best of luck

AWWWWW!!!!!! CONGRATS!!!! DH and I got engaged in Disneyland! its true what they say.... Dreams do come true.... In the magical kingdom! Best wishes!

Great review Leanne!!!! As mentioned in the other thread, Great pics!!!! You and your new hubby look FABULOUS!!!! Congrats Leanne!!!!

Chest X rays ? Crazy!!!! Ive never heard of this!!!

aw Leanne! Great pics! Im happy everything worked out for you! Looks like you had a great day! ps) LOVE the fire dancers!!! awesome idea!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Tracy_S I am a little nervous and somewhat concerned about having to do the blood test down in Mexico the days before my wedding... has anyone already done this? As I hate needles and anything to do with them... some advice would really help me out!!! Thanks! DH and I got our blood taken in Mexico! We got married at the Barcelo Maya Palace. On the resorts property there is a medical office. This is were we went to get our blood work. The Dr there didnt speak the best English, but I come from a Chilean family, so I speak perfect Spanish. It helped... Most resorts do have a medical office... DH is terrified of having his blood taken. He's fine with needles but not good with blood being drawn. We just had him lie down, and he was fine. Also, I was talking to him the whole time, to distract him. It all worked out in the end. If you can have your FH talk you thru it, you'll be fine best of luck

Quote: Originally Posted by MonoAmor Joann! Ive been looking on here trying to see your feedback! Im glad you made it home safe and sound. My aunt told me she met you, I was like WTF where is this girl! I dont think I saw you all week!! Im sorry you had troubles with Dreams. I was kinda in the same boat, I cried the whole first day I was there in the VIP lounge lol. After I realized how bad Dreams effed up I kinda just ignored the wedding the rest of the time and let my Dad talk to them. He kinda was able to sort it out so we got some of what we wanted but for us they tried to charge us more money (Dreams that is). In the end, was it exactly what we wanted? NO! But we still had a great week down there cus Barcelo rocked. I love your pics, they are fabulous! Post a review girl! To all the other girls, I HATED when people on here would say "once you get there the WC will kick in to gear so dont worry about it now". So I dont want to say that, but I will say that when I met Gabriella she is very competant, but also very busy. She had it more together than my WC from Dreams and she arranged for small things that I never had even thought of. I hope that is a little reassuring. hahaha! yeah! Your Aunt and I had many great talks... She is a sweetheart! That girl photographer, who took over the guy... She was ours. We liked her. As for the crying in the VIP lounge!!! oh yeah! I did A LOT of that too! I was furious! They didnt even have a room for us, when we arrived. It was bad! I wanted to pick up and leave! The first 3 days were terrible! We thought having a DW would be much less stressful than one at home... It ended up being just as bad, if not worse, considering our guests payed over $1500 to be there. I cant believe how badly Dreams Tulum treated us. We were on the verge of taking legal action...(thats why its taken me so long to write about them...) I cant believe they wanted to over charge you? Thats brutal!!!! We were getting all the extras, we had requested taken care of by them. Good! considering all the hell they put us thru...It should have been the same for you! As for writing a review... I dont know if Ill write one. Its mostly all negative! I dont think I want to relive it all. But questions... I will answer I'' deg be posting pics though! When are we going to see your pics? Barcelo was a great resort though.. If there was no wedding to factor in... It would have been a good place to have a nice vacation.

Quote: Originally Posted by beachhappy What was the name of your resort photographer and if you had to do it again would you still use your own in addition to the resort photographer? I have no idea what her name was...? But she was a very cute little blonde woman! young! mid twenties! She was great! We did end up taking their 50 pictures that was included with our package... And we are pleased. Hmmm... Our photographer or there's I think I probably still would have brought Kevin! He did a great job too! He photo-shopped all pics and played with the colors. The in house photographer kept things limited. Also... We got to do our Trash the Dress with our photographer. Which was sooooo worth it! B/c we got some really amazing shots! I dont think I would have changed anything. At one point we had three photographers on us, plus the videographer. Plus, they all got different angles. Which we liked. (the pics I posted above, are just me photographing... not pro's...)

Its not that it was Barcelo's fault... We were originally booked at Dreams Tulum. We had been booked for over a year and a half. Dreams Tulum underwent a government closer. And Dreams Tulum took it upon themselves to relocate their guests. The sent us to Barcelo Maya palace. I was actually sort of looking forward to this big new, and very pretty resort. But when we arrived we found out that our wedding day was packed. Barcelo and Dreams tulum had about 6 wedding that day! They were at occupancy for wedding. And seeing as we were the smallest group, they chose to try and sweep us under the rug! We werent putting up with that! If we were just dealing with Barcelo. And originaly booked our wedding there, I know it would have been a different story! Dreams dropped the ball BIG TIME!!! They sent us to a resort that couldnt and didnt want to deal with us. It was terrible. You Barcelo brides are going to be treated great though! If you've booked there! You'll be happy! Its a great resort! And as mentioned before... I really liked the in house photographer and videographer! We ended up having our reception on the rooftop terrace. Not a usual spot for receptions... They might make an exception though... As for the food. We chose the surf'n turf. Here are pics of our reception... Our table set up. Everything you see on the table )besides the center pieces were brought by DH and I closer up food... Smoked salmon Aspargus soup the surf'n turf, the lobster tail is HUGE! dessert Our wedding cake this is a pic of Dh and I doing our first dance, this also gives you an idea of the space on the terrace...

Here are the sexy jungle, cenote shots this one isnt sexy, but its one of my favs

Hey ladies! I have tons of sexy shots, here are a few of our TTD on the beach enjoy!

Hey ladies!!! I know this is super late! But alas... I am back from our wedding at the Barcelo Maya Palace! I didnt have the best experience, but it was mostly due to Dreams Tulum. The Barcelo Maya Palace, is a beautiful resort! Huge! The beach is amazing, kind of rocky, but once your out in the water! its gorgeous! If anyone has any questions, please do not hesitate to ask... One thing I want to share! the resort photographer and videographer! They did a GREAT job! better than I thought! We flew our photographer down with us,but we still used the in house photographer! They did a great job!

Leaving tomorrow night for Mexico! We wont arrive until Sunday morning though... any who... Just wanted to let you ladies know, I ll take lots of pics, and Ill be sure to post a review once we're home! 6 days until Im a married woman! eek!

Quote: Originally Posted by alin & mako I just wanted to say hi from Mex ladies. I am here at the Barcelo Palace. It is a beautiful hotel and the rooms are super nice. For me the only bad thing is that it is really big, so long walks, and the sand at the beachis not very soft. But the food is absolutely delicious and they have been able to accommodate everything I have asked for so far. My wedding is on Sat. I already met one of the other ladies from the forum here, I know there will be several of us here this week. 4 more days until the wedding!! Time flies once you get here, it is crazy!! Hope you are all well and not too stressed. O'h, and I met with Sandra and Liz her and hey are on the ball. Felt so much better after the meeting, I am not worried about it at all anymore. Such a relief!!! EEK!!!! How exciting!!! 4 days to go!!!! Thank you so much for letting us know how things are going! we leave late late Sat night and arrive in Cancun Sun morning. Im getting super excited now! Its good to hear you are liking the resort (besides it being so huge...) Best of luck on your special day! Congrats! and best wishes

Quote: Originally Posted by mexicanbridewithquestions The wedding coordinator at Eurostar Blue Tulum told me that they allow pets. And have pet massages even. It's kind of far from EDR, but it's an option. WOW! this is so neat! I only wish I had known this sooner... Our lil wiener dog would so be joining us! She's the light of our life... And we hate that we're leaving her behind such a neat option for those who want to take their other family members... Thanks for posting that!

They both have their pro's and con's I even made a list... Paradisus was our top choice! But in the end we didnt like that it was still so close to Cancun. We wanted to be further down south. I think Paradisus, is a nicer resort though, It has beautiful locations for weddings. The Barcelo, in my opinion has NO good wedding locations. All locations are not very private. In the end I was given the choice to move the wedding to the 12th, your date. But the Barcelo won, only because its further south. Which is what we really wanted. As well as a lot of our guests... If you dont care about where exactly along the coast you are, I suggest booking the Paradisus before it gets scooped up but thats just my opinion Best of luck!

Thats what FH and I are doing... We have our one piece of luggage, and then in a smaller suit case we have packed all wedding gear. As far as I know there is a luggage restriction. So the third bag will be charged extra. But I think its only $20 (dont quote me on this...) We're bringing, our wedding favors, and decor, ect, in that luggage, and it all fits perfect.

DIDO^ Ive received nothing either! Ive emailed the WC at Barcelo Mayan Palace too, hoping to maybe get some answers from her too. No such luck I've had no response from any one... We leave in 9 days! I hope I get some answers by then...

which are the other grills again? Besides the coral beach grill, are there any other open air grills? THANKS ladies!!!

WOW! Katie!!!! THANK YOU so much! This info rocks! You have totally helped THANKS again so very much!

Katie!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Oh lord!!! such drama! This is getting so crazy!!!! I too have yet to receive any news!!! Piggy! Quick question... Whats the middle beach location like

THANKS for posting this Amanda!!! Calms my nerves just a little bit. Thanks again. Cant wait to see the pictures!!!

THANKS Leanne :)