cancunbride

 

 

 

 

 

the kids signed the certificate

Dreams Cancun Trip and Wedding Review

May 11, 2009 - May 18, 2009

 

Boarding ALASKA Airlines from LAX

 

They were super sweet to me, they right away asked me if I was getting married and they allowed me to board the plane first and allowed me to store my dress in the pilots closet. They gave us a few bloody marys while we were on our way out there. It was a little cold in the plane but it was a good flight overall.

 

Once we arrived at the Cancun, MX airport, my travel agent AT VACATIONS FOR LESS, LOS ANGELES set us up with someone to have us picked up and taken the the hotel. He was there as soon as we got out of the airport with a sign. I ignored everyone as I walked through the airport so nobody really bothered us with time shares or rentals. They pick you up outside of the airport NOT inside. So if anyone bugs you inside the airport its not OK. lol

 

Check-In /Room

 

As soon as we arrived, we checked in. I asked the conciere in the front to give me paper and envelopes and I left small notes in the front desk for all my guests, welcoming them and thanking them for coming and to toss on their bikinis and to meet us in the pool area. ALL the guests were happy to receive them and were touched.

 

THE HOTEL

 

The resort was beautiful!! Everything was clean and very well maintained. The service was outstanding. Everyone is always walking around with a smile and greeting you with a smile. I requested cucumbers every morning for my eyes and I would have them at my door at 9am every morning, cold. My kids and husband swam with the dolphins on the resort and we negotiated the fee. They did $300.00 for our son, my husband, our daughter, and my nephew. Speak with Claudia, she hangs out in the back near the basketball court. Dont forget to mention that you are getting married, that always helps with any type discount. We didnt get the pictures or video because pix were $25.00 each and video was $70.00.

 

RESTAURANTS

 

We ate in every single restaurant there. The Seaside Grill was great, only thing I didnt like was that there is a dress code, men cant just walk in with shorts and flip flops after hanging out in the pool, they wont allow you in for dinner. My favorite plate here was the scallops as appetizers for dinner and shrimp skewers, mmmmmmm. We had a group of 15 there and it literally took us about 2 hours to get our food I was very upset that I complained to the hotel about the service. Seaside Grill offers an amazing shrimp vegetable soup for lunch for anyone who is hung over, this is the thing to eat with sprite. Feels sooo goood and it takes it away. We usually had breakfast at the World Cafe almost every day... the selection is amazing and I recommend the fried beans and cheese tortillas with the green sauce on top. mmmmmmmmm. The Sushi Restaurant, Himitsu accommodated us and it was ok, not really great but my favorite roll was the Dreams Roll it was amazing. We also ate at the steak house Oceana by the beach at night, I had the Rib Eye medium, with baked potatoe and ice cream. It got pretty chilly down there, the cheesecake was not good, as a matter of fact it was grosss!! I do not recommend that.

 

JET SKIING

 

There is a guy who works with Dreams near the beach who provides cayakying (?) and snorkeling for free to those staying at the hotel. He was super nice but expensive. We wanted to rent from him but he couldnt come up with a good deal so we walked over to the guy next to the hotel on the beach and we were able to negotiate the price and he gave us an hour for $55.00. We rented 14 of them and it was beyond fun!!!

 

Claudia (Our Wedding Coordinator)

 

She is beyond the sweetest person ever. As soon as I arrived at Dreams, I called and asked to meet with her to get everything set up and pay her and she immediately asked me to meet her in the lobby and we went over everything. She was flexible with things I didnt need and allowed me to switch things off for other things. For example makeup, I didnt need it and she allowed me to give it to my mom. We also extended the reception for an extra hour and she extended it at a discounted price, discounted me Mannia and didnt charge me for the kids. She gave me 3 free centerpieces that were worth $150.00, She gave me a free bag of rose petals and since I had candles to light she told me that was not going to be possible and would guarantee that she would find me a sand ceremony set and not to worry about it. She found an awesome set and sand and we used that.

I did tip her $100.00. She discounted me so much on little things here and there and lets just say my wedding went on till 11:30pm with music and lighting... *tip ladies tip!!! Just a little note, colored napkins add so much elegance to your tables ladies...

 

Also, Claudia said that she always tries to upgrade her brides to a higher room. I booked a regular room and after I tipped her I ended up in a Jacuzzi Junior Suite. It was beautiful. We used the jacuzzi once but never again, just didnt have time. Plus when you use it it tends to attract ants so I was over it real fast. lol

The Wedding Day

 

I got a green tea cellulite/firming wrap... I highly recommend this, they gave us all a 30% discount and it was amazing and worked miracles on everyones stomach, legs, wherever you wanted to look slimmer, it worked. All the girls were in love with it. The spa was fantastic and the people who worked there were very nice and accommodating. My husband got a facial same day and he loved it to.

 

Flowers / Cake

 

I absolutely LOVED my bouquet and my centerpieces they turned out better than I expected, as a matter of fact they were gorgeous. I gave Claudia a picture of what I wanted and she did a better job.

 

I also loved my cake, and it was DELICIOUS, I went with something not to sweet since we had just had the desert. I got vanilla cake with strawberry filling and the cake was all white. I added white wooden letters that said I do around the table standing up with rose petals around them!! I am normally not a big cake person, but I loved the cake. Only problem was that the letters got lost and the cake was never delivered to my room. Although, Claudia did offer to pay me for the letters. I will be providing her with a receipt since I am gluing those letters on my wedding frame.

 

The ceremony was beautiful, I could not have asked for a better location to be married. The weather was perfect, not hot not cold. We decided to go with the red carpet and have my son toss the flower petals that Claudia gave us. The judge was a female she was a little hard to understand at times, but overall it was a beautiful ceremony. We exchanged vows that she gave us, which were beautiful and then we handed the kids rings and we both exchanged vows with them and then we did the sand ceremony and then she read a love poem and pronounced us husband and wife. I heard from several people that our ceremony was beautiful. We rented the sound system, and the technician played all of the music correctly. We gave Claudia our cd with three songs,

 

The wedding party walked into

YouTube - Forrest Gump Theme - Alan Silvestri

 

Then I walked into

YouTube - Katie Melua - Just Like Heaven

 

We all walked out to

YouTube - Lenny Kravitz - I Belong to You

 

We had about 60+ onlookers, but I honestly didn’t care they were all cheering us, it felt great. As we all walked out we were greeted by the waiters handed everyone a glass of champagne, even my kids got a glass, I had no clue until they told me they drank weird apple juice. haha I wasnt upset it was a beautiful day!

 

BTW, we did rent the sound system, its a must its soo noisy up there and i made fans for everyone to place on their chairs..not necessary as its pretty windy up there already but it was a nice touch.

 

Cocktail Hour

We had the cocktail hour in the garden area, and they brought out our drinks, an appetizers. I heard the tempura was amazing.. she allowed me to chose three cold and three hot. I got the trio, they put everyone into the drinking mood. We didn’t spend too much time as we needed to get our pictures done.

 

Dinner / Reception

 

We had our dinner and reception on the beach. It was so nice being right on the beach! Our table was set up like a square so that we were facing all our guests who were seating in circled tables. We rented the white flags to add a touch to the setting and we also rented the illuminated dance floor. For dinner, we had the scallops, and lobster bisque (never saw the cheese bread) Then for our main entree we had the shrimp and steak dinner with rice. It was good just the food servers were kinda slow and people were waiting for their food to arrive. So we decided to do the speech to keep everyone entertained. We asked for the champagne to get served so as they were bringing out the food we had the speeches going and champage being served. As soon as my husband and I finished eating, and the speeches were said we did our first dance. So some were still eating but we were dancing. Then I danced with my father, By your side, Sade and my husband with his mom and then I danced with my brother.

 

The reception flew by! Our dinner, first dances and speeches took up some time but not much, as soon as all that was done, we started the dancing... Carlos from Mannia was amazing.. he played everything and got the party started quickly, not one person was sitting down, we kept ordering rounds of tequila 2 for each person so everyone always had something to drink.. Carlos played spanish and english and everyone loved it. I then did the flower toss and he played Single Ladies we all danced and I tossed it. YouTube - Beyoncé - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

 

Then came the garter toss, He played YouTube - Divinyls - I Touch Myself

 

I sat in the middle of the dance floor and my hubby was naughty and took it off with his teethe.. lol I tossed it and then then partying/dancing continued...

 

Cake cutting time came and he played pour some sugar on me. lol

MANNIA introduced the wedding party one at a time, they each stood up and everyone saw who was who.

 

MANNIA provided me with 4 cds of all our songs from the wedding. I tipped him $100.00 he was awesome.

 

Once 1130 came, Claudia came and asked me if I wanted to give thanks on the mike so i did and so did my dad.

 

 

Keepsakes:

 

I purchased starfish necklaces for all my female guests and money clips for all the males. They all loved their gifts. You can see the necklaces on the girls.

 

Shoes

 

I wore Christian Louboutin hot pink slip ons.. To be sold. There a size 9

 

Hair piece

 

Feather hair piece, to be sold also.. in mint condition

 

Undergarments..

white lace panties with lace white nipple covers since I couldnt wear a bra.. hubby loved it.

 

 

Photographer - Cecilia Dumas

 

We booked Cecilia from 3:30 to 6:30 and she was wonderful! She came to my room at 2:30 and took some photos of us getting ready and then proceeded down to the gazebo to take some photos of the guys. She was very easy to talk to and very fluent in english. She made us feel very comfortable. I didn’t even notice her there during the ceremony. She came the following day and took our TDD pics and then she came to the hotel and delivered the pix on Sunday. She also gave me the cd with all the pictures on it. 600+ pix

 

Video Guy from HOTEL

 

I was going to not go with this video and go with the gazebo decoration.. wow!!! IM SO GLAD I DIDNT, THE VIDEO IS AMAZING AND I CRIED WHEN I SAW IT. I WILL SEE IF I CAN UPLOAD IT SO THAT YOU GIRLS CAN SEE IT.. ITS AMAZING. The video was delivered to my room the following day with chocolate covered strawberries. BRIDE AND GROOM.

 

Weekend Partying.

We went to Daddy O's. They wanted $35.00 per person but we were able to negotiation girls free guys in for $25.00 and we had unlimited drinking. It was fun, had a blast. Took some pics and they glued our pix on a tequila bottle and sold them to us for $15.00

 

EXPLORERS CLUB AT DREAMS

 

Kids get checked in at 9am and they do all kinds of activities with them, the kids didnt want to come out of there so they were there till 9pm every night. They had a blast. Everyone checked in there kids and they were able to be comfortable without having to check up on kids every 5 minutes, they even fed them.

 

PASSES FOR YOUR GUESTS

My guests didnt have to pay, I gave them a room number and once they got there they just said the room number and were able to get in without a fee.. I had two of my guests actually spend the entire weekend with other friends there without being questioned.

 

MOVIE RENTALS

See the concierge on your floor. They are free and you can just take them up to your room and return them the following day

 

 

 

 

 

If you scheduling a hair appointment get it with the short lady... I dont remember her name, cheezeeee, but she is GREAT!! She did everyones hair in my wedding, the other one (tall one) is not that great with hair. Here is a picture of my hair (teaser)



and the other side, my feather piece.. it was SOOOO windy up there

The vows come first, then you turn around and do the sand ceremony, then theyturn you back around and read a poem and finally pronounce you husband and wife, kiss your bride. We added a ring exchange for our kids as well then they got to sign our weddng certificate

Hi everyone.... Im back from an amazing wedding!!!! I DIDNT WANT TO LEAVE, i will be writing my review later on today

I am going to use Cecilia for my wedding next week... did she only take cash or did you give her a cashiers check?

Im about to leave to the bank, did anyone use their check card/visa out there to pay for their wedding or did they only take cash? Im a little skeptical about going to the bank and withdrawing so much cash at one.

Well in my opinion it just really depends on the age group of the people you are inviting to your shower. My family members were between the ages of 50- 70 and they decided to give us money instead of a gift. My other guests were between 25-35. Most of my guests loved the money tree idea because they knew whatever they bought us, we already had, and it was just going to get returned or stored in the garage. I would do the shower invitation and have them rsvp and then just leave it up to your maid of honor to advise the guests of such tree. Here is a picture of my tree for you to see... If you can see, my guests even brought cards and placed them in the basket where the tree sat. They all had a check or cash or a gift card. I thought it was hit. We didnt get any gifts except a Jorge Foreman Grill and a Blender which we already have. Those two things will be returned as we dont need them.




Also if you notice, they are hanging from little white envelopes. My MOH made the guests write their address on the outside of the envelopes. So when I collected them at the end, I am now sending thank you cards to all those addresses. I dont think its tacky, I think its just the way you go about it that can be tacky.

We are paying for this all on our own also. But we said it from the beginning that it was going to be like this. We didnt want to expect anything then get nothing. MIL said she would give us a few thousand and came up with $O.OO cents last minute. Overall, we paid for everything and not complaining. It is what it is..

thank you girls... you girls sold me on unpacking some of my stuff... Il be leaving the day after mothers day Monday morning so I wont be logging in for a week since I want to be computer, cell phone, free for a week.

 

Love you all...

 

BTY, I posted my bridal shower pictures for everyone who has been asking me to. Thats the dress Im thinking of using for my TDD since my other dress was not made correctly.

those are soo pretty but I have a question. How are you getting the sand back over since they dont have covers?

I had this same problem for my co ed bridal shower. What we did was made a money tree and when people rsvpd over the phone and asked my MOH where we were registered at, she told everyone that she would be having a money tree for anyone who wishes to tie money on the tree as a gift or a card since we already lived together and had everything we needed. She indicated that the money would contribute to our honeymoon. It was a great idea, we collected 1500.00 among 60 people.

Then if I can hang out in a bikini all day like my FI wants me to then I am ok with that as well. I can just take a few sarongs and thats it. Dresses I can wear for breakfast only since Ill be drinking almost all the time. lol

 

OMG.. I cant believe I am ahead of your game, sorry Claudia didnt respond, I have made my own vowels and I will discuss that with her once I get there. Whatever I need to take care of which is not much I will do this weekend.

 

My MOHs mother made all the bouquets for the bridesmaids and for my daughter and during my bridal shower my sister in law who was suppose to be holding onto them left my daughters on the table and someone accidentally picked it up. We found out who took it but since then that bouquet has been tossed and my cake I DO letters were lost too when the cleaning took place, now Im back to making another one and buying new letters... ughhh

Barbados is beautiful Harty, my friend just got back from there, you will have a beautiful wedding, trust me.

Well girls Ive been running around like a chicken without a head since Im leaving Monday to Dreams. I just wanted to pop in and say hi to everyone!

 

Im super excited and confident that everything will turn out beautiful. We had 5 people back out last minute but in reality Im not upset over it, Im actually happy- saved us some money.

 

I will pop in before I leave again...

 

On another note, for those of you who went out to Dreams did you all pack tons of dresses? I think Im over packing. Im taking 2 dresses a day, is that too much, considering Ill be in a bikini all day. Do the restaurants have dress codes where you have to dress up in heels and dresses?

YAAAAAAAAAAAA CONGRATS!! You such a trooper!!

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG IM SUPER UPSET!!! WTF NOT OK WITH ME. I THINK I WILL SHOOT AN EMAIL TO CLAUDIA RIGHT THIS SECOND, I COULD OF BACKED OUT AND I DIDNT. I AM DEFINITELY GOING TO COMPLAIN

having coco locos for all of you girls in Cancun. Thank you for always supporting me through thick and thin... Love my BDB...

 

I just had my coed bridal shower, Im going to post pictures in a bit

I am on the fence between moving our wedding or sticking it through. I am leaning more towards sticking it through and having my dream wedding at Dreams afterall. I emailed my travel agent out here about the situation and she has put my mind at ease... here is what she sent me

 

Hi Sylvia,

 

I’m sure you’ve been a bit stressed over this flu situation.

 

just want to share with you my recent experience as I actually just got back from an annual Mexico Tourism conference I attended in Acapulco where we meet with hotels from all over Mexico. I arrived there last Saturday and it was an interesting atmosphere to say the least since we were all there to sign 2010 contracts and discuss marketing opportunities and that’s pretty much when the news about the flu epidemic was released so that became our major topic of conversation. The feeling is that although the epidemic is real it is also very much sensationalized by the media, considering the millions of people living in Mexico and the number of cases that have been identified and number of people that have died, keeping in mind that in the US the average number of people that die during any given flu season is 36,000 (as reported by CNN). Unfortunately many people in Mexico are mal-nourished or don’t have the means for medication and that can lead to death when in most cases it is a very treatable disease as any other flu only that this one is a new strain that they are just identifying and hope to have a vaccine for within a couple months.

 

They also reported today that this flu has been very mild and this is the same way other flues have started in the past only that we did not have the type of media coverage we have nowadays to see it in real time.

 

There have been no cases of the flu identified in any of Mexico’s major beach resorts including Cancun and the entire state of Quintana Roo.

 

I’m sure we’ll continue to receive updates everyday and I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything new.

Best regards,

 

Teresa

 

In addition, I received this email from Cecilia Dumas

 

Hello Sylvie, i understand you might be stressed over the flu situation, anyway there is not even one case of flu here in cancun or riviera maya at the moment, thanks god.

We will be in touch, everything will be ok and I will see you at your upcoming wedding.

 

Have a nice day! - Ten un lindo dia!

 

Cecilia Dumas

 

www.ceciliadumas.com

My wedding is May 14, 2009 and I have looked for plan B. I contacted Atlantis and it is an arm and a leg to get married there and I dont think I can pull it off in one week. They dont do anything for you but take your money and provide you with table linens. Everything else you have to do, they hand you over a list of vendors and you have to contact them yourself. I have had 6 people cancel out on not attending, my brother wont be attending because of our argument and that means no ring bearer for him as his son was my ring bearer. One of my groomsmen is paranoid so he is refusing to go, Im soo upset.

 

I will just play it by ear, my MOH is so supportive, she is like Im going to be there regardless of what is going on to support you.

 

Im trying to stay positive and just hope that this all goes away by the time we leave on May 11

I just tried to come up with Plan-B, I am in contact with Atlantis the Resort in the Bahamas... Its a bit pricey but nothing in that side of the world is going on. lol I guess I can minimize my guests for those not wanting to attend and just have a small intimate ceremony. Its running about $150 pp and a 3500.00 venue fee. The rooms are alot less expensive running at 199.00 p/n

I was in tears and upset because it was all going downhill but in reality, I can careless whos all going now, if they come, they come, if they dont, sorry!! Its all about me and having a fairytale wedding. My MOH is going to call my guests to reconfirm that they are still attending and if they are not, better for us, we can save some cash!!!

Hey girls...

 

Just wanted to let you know things for me are not as great as they were...

 

I just got cancellation from one of my groomsmen not being able to attend. He stated that HIS COMPANY isnt allowing him to travel to Cancun.. lol Are you serious? This isnt work related, this is personal time. Anyhow, I know hes paranoid about going but tossing me a lame excuse about his job not letting him go... oh well!! I understand if your paranoid but to make it a bigger deal than what it is is hurtful. We had 2 groomsmen men flying into Mexico City and my TA was able to get them direct flights into Cancun Airport which was great. My entire wedding party is still excited about going.

IM stocking up on anti bacterial liquid, baby wipes, and Emergen-C.

 

My brother and myself have gotten into an argument because he decides to get drunk at my bridal shower and make a complete a$$ out of himself has texed me he is not attending and wont be in my wedding party. My nephew is my ring bearer and he will not be attending either.. Im super sad!!!

 

FI says that at this point it doesnt really matter who goes as long as we are there, that's all that matters

Dont feel bad, Im flying out on the 11th also... crossing my fingers Im allowed to fly out...

Here is an email from Claudia everyone.....

 

 

Dear Silvia

 

We understand your worries about traveling to Cancun. We are operating in a normal basis, last weekend we had 5 weddings, we have 2 today, 1 on Thursday, 2 on Friday. Why don't you wait a couple of days more so you can take a decision.

 

An option could be to move your ceremony date to another optional date or you can check availability at Punta Cana in Dominican Republic, to ease your stress.

 

Hotel is operating normal, yes we have received cancellations of course, all the employees are working, etc, and there are no illness people here.