cubsfan

Quote: Originally Posted by sunitam Congrats Mel!!! im so happy that you got your dream wedding!!! You were a beautiful bride! I had a question about the sand ceremony- what wording did you use, and was it said by the minister? I though I read somewhere that you had to get one of your guests to say the wording? And did you just carry the heart shaped bottle with the mixed sand in your carry on when you flew back home? thanks for the great review and congrats again! Thank Sunita! I just used whatever was their standard sand ceremony. Whatever it was, it was beautiful. I Must admit I do not remember what the words were exactly, lol, but I know that they were perfect. Oh no, the lady read everything. Im sure if you wanted one of your guests to, sort of like having a "reading" at a traditional wedding, you could work that out w. the WC, but we just had the lady say it all. Cecilia actually wrapped all my stuff back up for me after the ceremony and delivered it to my room. I had it wrapped in bubble wrap so it would not break and put it in my regular luggage no problem. I just made sure to put everything in large zip lock bags and labeled everything that was for my wedding on each bag. That way if they looked through my suitcase, they would see that everything was for my wedding. I had no problems at all. I even carried my bouquet in my carryon on the way home and had no problems, they just had to scan it for bugs. LOL.

Quote: Originally Posted by JT3 Hi, this was a great review... I can't wait to see your pro pictures from Juan. I do have a quick question where did you purchase your chair sashes? -Judy You won't believe the price I found on the sashes.... $6.50 for 10 sashes. Here is the site: wedding linens direct home page They have tons of colors! Hope this helps! Cecilia took care of all the sashes and even moved them from the ceremony to dinner chairs too!

Forgot to mention hair/make up in my review.... Wonderful experience w. that too. The girls there were awesome. I did not even have a picture with me with any idea, i just looked at the books they had and also trusted her judgement w. just an idea of how I wanted it and it was awesome. My MOH thought hers was beautiful too. Make up was great- I just wanted natural color, not too dramatic and she did just that! The spa is just amazing. when you walk in you seriously smell the relaxation. (not sure if that makes sense but you will understand what I mean when you walk in there lol)

Quote: Originally Posted by keni03 I am so happy to hear everything went well. I was just at Dreams August 20th. I just get afraid of planning our event there because I get serious mixed reviews on here about them and its very scary! I am so happy to hear your even turned out well :-)...I have a long wait for my day but I hope it is beautiful like all your ladies on here!!! can't wait to see the pics Juan took of you guys :-) hmmm.... I must of missed the bad reviews because I have only seen very positive ones, but I must admit that the main reason I chose dreams was because of the location/gazebo. Once I saw that, I fell in love and did not even think twice about having it there and so happy we did. What other places are you considering?

Quote: Originally Posted by wilsoml2 Thanks for the review! I'm planning on getting married at Dreams Cancun as well, and I'm not a big planner either so I'm glad to hear that everything worked out well for you! I was considering using a Bose system as well, but we'll have a few more people, probably 20-25. Do you think yours was loud enough for everyone to hear while dancing? Oh yes, it was loud enough. We had 16 including us... I thought it worked great, and we also were able to move it so easily to continue our party afterwards. Very easy to just create playlists on the ipod. ONly thing that was missing was the MC announcing things- not a big deal to us. Only thing is I only recommend the BOSE system, as the volume is great, we checkd out other systems and they were not as loud or good quality. The Bose system we had was a portable system and the battery worked all night.

Quote: Originally Posted by Weddingin2010 Everything turned out amazing! I love the "I Do" sign on your cake table and it looks like your guests had such a fun time! Thank you so much! I actually got the letters from Michaels and had the starfish as part of my beach bathroom decor at our house. LOL. They put it on our ceremonial table during the actual wedding and moved it to the cake table too, it was great.

My review is up on the reviews thread!

Reception: We brought our own BOSE sound system docking station and it worked very well. I would recommend doing this, especially if you have a small group. Our group loves to dance, so we really did not need any MC to get anyone up! We had a blast and even invited some onlookers to come join us! First dance Cha-Cha slide Dancing Salsa w. my pops. More fun! The waitstaff was awesome! At one point of the night, I told them to come take shots and I will be the waitress, it was so funny. I wanted them to have fun too! After our time was up in the club terrace, we asked if we could move our docking station into the gazebo and continue our party. They said it was no problem, and my dad tipped Eriberto to serve us a few more rounds out by the gazebo. It was awesome having fun and dancing with everyone in the gazebo right next to the crashing waves. Photographer/Videographer- We stayed with the package Dreams offered and I was very happy with the pictures. I should be getting my video on Monday, but I am sure it will be great! The only problem was the sun. Now know we are in Mexico and I love the sun of course, but we should have asked the photographer to shoot on the other side of the lighthouse so we were not facing the sun, or maybe he should of thought about that too. It was VERY hard to keep our eyes open from the sun! Overall- very happy with the pictures, they gave us extra in our album and we purchased the CD of all of the pics they took. (Over 400) *** I WILL POST PRO PHOTO PICS SOON! *** I still feel like I am forgetting more info, even though this is probably the longest review ever!!! PM me with any questions you may have!!!  Overall this wedding definitely a DREAM wedding and I would not have done it any other way!

We were announced and walked back down the aisle to Bob Marley “Could You Be Loved†and instead of having a toast of champaign at the end, we arranged it w. Cecilia to have the waiter bring shots of Cazadores for everyone. Hey… we are in MEXICO! Cocktail Hour- We opted to swap cocktail hour for an hour longer reception and more flowers. There is a bar right in the lobby of where we were having our reception, so our guests just hung out there while we took pictures. Dinner- Club Terrace Beautiful location… beautiful set up… since we had 14 guests, we had one long table and we sat in center on one side. It was great for small wedding. We had the Mexican trio play during dinner since we did not have cocktail hour and it really gave the mexican vibe. I am half Mexican so my dad was requesting songs and they played all his requests! Food was fabulous, - Ceasar Salad, French Onion Soup, Dreams Trilogy, Bella Alaska. Cake: We chose Vanilla cake, no upgrades, and it was delicious. Everyone loved it. They also moved everything from the ceremonial table to the cake table, which was fantastic.

Dreams Cancun 8.13.09 Flight Mexicana Airlines I called the airlines days prior to ask about storing my wedding dress and the rep on the phone told me that I could store my dress in the 1st class closet no problem, just to ask the flight attendant. When I got on the plane, I asked the first attendant I saw, and she said that I had to put it on the overhead compartment and they did not have a 1st class closet. She was very rude and so were the other flight attendants throughout the flight to many of the people flying. Maybe they all just woke up on the wrong side of the bed! On the way home, everything was great. I didn’t care about storing my dress in the closet. All the ladies were very nice to everyone on the flight. They woke up on the right side of the bed. Apple Transportation was awesome. Quick and easy! Location of resort- This location is the BEST location in Cancun! It’s literally the last hotel on the tip. It is so close (walking distance) to clubs, flea markets, malls, etc. Check In- Check in was fast and easy. We got our room right away because we did arrive after 3 pm. We were able to give the front desk our OOT bags and they had no problem handing them out to our guests when they arrived. We had 2 other couples with us the first night and all the rest of our guests were coming within the next 2 days. We opted to just keep the cheapest room that came w. our package, seeing that we were not going to be in our room much anyway. When we got to our room, it was beautiful. They had campaign and fresh fruit for us, rose petals all over the floor, and music playing. Our view was amazing. We had the ocean view and it was breathtaking. Resort WOW...I can NOT tell you how amazed I was with this place. I have been to Cancun twice and Jamaica, and have never been to a resort this nice. Some of my guests have been to other resorts as well and no other could top Dreams. The resort was so clean and well kept. The staff was so friendly and always had a smile on their faces. Waking up and seeing the dolphins play every morning was awesome! Most of our guests got the dolphin view rooms, while some did have garden view- BUT all was beautiful. Restaurants Seaside Grill was really good and we ate their twice. We did not have a formal rehearsal dinner where we would pay extra, we just went to the restaurant with the group of 16. We had to wait about 10 mins, but they were able to get us 2 tables of 8 right next to each other. One night was Mexican night at the lagoon. They have nightly entertainment shows and dinner buffet at the lagoon while you are watching the show. It was delicious. Another night was Caribbean Night with the Fire dancers show. Again- very good. We ate at World Café for breakfast everyday. Once again- Had NOTHING to complain about. I am not a breakfast person, but I ate there everyday! We ordered room service almost every night for a late night snack. (ITS FREE!) Food was okay- I liked the club sandwich. BUT they say its going to be 30-45 mins to get your food and we waited almost 2 hours one night and actually fell asleep before they came. Bars at resort- Awesome service…. We often went to the same bars that had Cazadores tequila because that is our fav. I really liked the pina coladas. Some may say that the drinks were very light- but I did not have a problem with them. If you want extra liquor, just ask! – as they will say “It’s my pleasure!†Wedding Coordinator- Cecilia A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ We met w. Cecilia the day after we arrived. She’s so darn cute! We had scheduled an excursion that day and told her we had to make our meeting quick. I must say, one of the many reasons that I wanted a DW was because I did not want stress of planning. So, we actually got our meeting done in about 30 min or less! We had chosen our dinner menu the night before to discuss w. her so that went quick. I gave her my idea for bouquets/centerpieces and she showed me pictures. It was very easy- I trusted all her judgements, just told her my overall idea of what I wanted. She was so sweet and had everything we had discussed in previous emails all in front of her. I seriously don’t know how she remembers it all though. We met the next day where I gave her our ceremony music, chair sashes, favors, “I DO†wooden pieces for ceremony table, and Sand Cermony stuff. I just told her to “Do her magic!†lol. And that she did….. Wedding Day- Right before my dad and I left my room to head down to the gazebo!!! Ceremony: Everything was more than I expected. Cecilia really made sure that everything was perfect. We had opted for no gazebo décor and she had left over chair sashes that I brought, so she tied them on the gazebo posts instead. View from above: Seats We decided to have the sound system for the ceremony and I am so happy we did! I would recommend this to anyone. I actually could not believe the volume of it, everything was perfectly heard over the waves. We had many onlookers and it was just an awesome feeling that everyone was watching our special moment. Everyone was very respectful and just hanging out by the small pool watching. The location of the gazebo is very private though compared to the rest of the resort. Our judge was a woman and easy to understand. She always had a smile on her face. So, my husband had added extra songs on our cd incase we needed them during the time before I walked down. We did not need the songs at that time, but at one point during the sand ceremony- I faintly heard one of the songs, Ave Maria by Beyonce, playing the background while the judge was talking and I just started to cry! It was just surreal that they chose that song to play. I asked my hubby after if he told them to play it during the ceremony and he said he had no idea. It was really a touching moment. TIP- For sand ceremony, bring vases with corked tops! Cecelia thought that our vases were awesome because normally they have to melt wax to keep the sand from coming out and she said its messy and does not look as nice. I found mine at Michaels for $1.00 each vase. They are smaller but do the job and I just glued on a ministarfish. continued on next post!!!

I am so excited to see the new dreams brides on here! This is an awesome forum and you WILL NOT be disappointed in Dreams. It has been 3 weeks since my wedding and I can't stop thinking of it! Yes, I still have to do my review and I PROMISE I will soon

Quote: Originally Posted by sunitam Hi all, I have a question for past Dreams brides.. Im thinking of maybe doing a sand unity ceremony but dont know that much about it..I was wondering where in the ceremony it is done (is it done right after the vows and before the exchange of rings?), what is the wording of the ceremony and who says it, and is it hard to bring the vase of sand back through customs it seems like you would have to hand hold the bottle of sand when you fly back or else the sand would get mixed too much in your luggage? any feedback would be appreciated!!! Hey Sunitam! Zorlack summed it up great, and it really is a beautiful touch to the wedding. One recommendation that I have that we did was find vases with cork lids. We did this and Cecilia said that this was so clever because they usually have to use wax to seal them for the couple. The cork looks so nice too. I researched sets online and found them for lke 40-60 per set plus extra for the sand., but I actually got mine from Michaels for $1.00 each. YES $1.00 each!! I glued a starfish on the center vase.

Hey ladies! I am back too- got back Sat but am a teacher and started school MOnday! been craaaaaaazy busy! I am sooooooooooo happy and amazed w. my dreams experience, it was perfect. Will write a review soon! I also had the pleasure of meeting MRS BUTLER!

Ahhh, I leave tomorrow!! Holy crap it came up so darn fast! Wow! Im so excited and anxious! I drank a little too much at my Bachelorette party last night so the next drink I will have will be on the beach!!! yes!

Quote: Originally Posted by keni03 *I just want to know if you ladies think the cocktail hour is worth having? I am trying my best to keep our dreams budget in the 4,500 range with 40 ppl and if they will allow me to trade the cocktail hour for 15 more people to have dinner that helps me alot in cost. What do you guys think? I think that you will be fine w/o the cocktail hour. I have read many posts on here and people say they can just go to any bar and have cocktails, the only thing they would miss out on is appetizers and if u want to just save money, I would do it this way. I am skipping cocktail hour as well. During this time, you and your party will be taking pictures as well.

Quote: Originally Posted by rabutler816 Hi. yes the lobby bar is probably the best "Rendezvous" I plan on squeezing all 75 of my guests in there Friday (14th) eve for our Meet and Greet. I heard it was what a lot of other brides did as well. I arrive the day of your wedding? is it at the gazebo. I can sneak and look at it out my window (from Tower) ))) Hey thanks for your reply! Is the Lobby Bar called Rendezvous? That way I can put it in my welcome brochure Wow, you have so many guests!!! thats awesome, yes our wedding will be at the gazebo Thursday at 3! Im so excited and I cant wait to be there already! I just feel like I still have a crap load to do! ahhhhhhh. lol.

I would like to have my guest meet for a welcome "cocktail hour" instead of a dinner at one of the bars. What would be a good place for this? Lobby Bar? Thanks in advance!

Thank you to everyone who have answered my questions... got a few more! lol Did any of you do OOT bags and if you did, what is dreams policy w. handing them out? Can I give them to the front desk with a list of my guests. We are only having 14 guest, 4 of which I will be giving their oot bags to them when we get there because they are going the same day as me/same flight everhting. the others I wiould like to have given out as they arrive by the front desk. also, do you use CD or IPOD when renting docking station for ceremony> Thankyou!

Hi, Im still undecided about our menu and need to get that done this weekend! Anyone have any suggestions on what was awesome and what was not so hot?! Thank you in advance! Ahhhh 2 more weeks!

Quote: Originally Posted by PhillyBride09 Hmmm...It depends on how fast you walk..LOL If you are renting the sound system, I can tell you not to worry too much. Your WC is in constant contact with the sound guy. She tells him when it's time to change the music and etc. haha, yeah I guess you are right! I was just picturing it as a long walk way from the pictures I have seen. We are having parents and best man/moh walk in to the hawaiian somewhere over the rainbow, but im not sure if we will need to play the entire song? I dont know, Ill just let the sound guy take care of it! Thanks!

Can anyone tell me about how long the distance of the walkway is leading up to the gazebo? Im trying to figure music length out Thank you in advance!

Hi! Does anyone know of any good site to order shot glasses with our logo imprinted on them? Thank you in advance!!! :0)

Thank you! Your pics were so beautiful! Thanks for the very informative review as well. I CANT WAIT!

I happy to hear of someone who has used him! :0) DO you have any pics available for me to see to just get an idea of places he can take pics and things like that? If you do, I would greatly appreciate it! I cant believe its getting so close!

Anyone know what the wedding package comes with as far as pictures? Do they take them at the reception or when you are getting ready? Or just at the ceremony and after the ceremony? Thanks! :0)