Murr1026

I was really impressed with hair and make-up overall through the salon. The ladies don't say much, but it was fun! Make sure you are very specific on make up! We said a bit of a smokey eye but nothing too dramatic for my girls and 2 out of 3 were great. One of the ladies CAKED dark shadow on my maid of honors and glued her lashes on wrong, they actually started to fall off in the chair. We ended up pulling her lashes off her lids and re-doing her make up in the room after. Make sure you pick up some make up stay spray cause they do not do it for you! When I hugged my husband afterwards, my make up wore off onto his white shirt.

Hezmshaw, The photos are from the resort photographer. We had Simone, he was a nice French man, very easy going! I was so stressed about the photos as well but my now husband made a good point. You can spend so much money on photos for an outside photographer, pay the outside vendor fee but at the end of the day, everyone in our group is going to be taking photos, even ones that the resort guy might not catch. For the photos that matter, the resort photographer did an amazing job! They even have packages to upgrade what you get in your package. We had the Ultimate package and the video was cute, they ended up printing us 54 photos and they are 6x8... not 4x6 or 5x7. We were VERY happy with the resort photographer, glad we didnt drop an EXTRA $2000 on an outsider. If you are doing trash the dress, hire an outside photographer! In the ultimate package, we got the choice of the gold menu. We had some gluten free and vegetarian guests and they got to pick of seperate menus than the main one. For the majority of the guests, they got bruschetta, salad with vinegarette, steak and shrimp with tiramisu for dessert. The gluten free and vegetarian guests got to pick from a menu individually. It was a great selection and it was delicious all around! Well presented, delicious food! We started doing the speeches between the food courses and it flowed really well, then it didn't cut into our DJ time. We got up to do pictures with the miriachi band and do some mingling of our tables and the guys removed all the food before the DJ started. So didn't get to finish my steak but thats ok! My husbands family is very quiet. We still did the dinner and dancing. Although we were supposed ot be out on the beach, it was raining so we moved into the convention centre prior to the rain. We had a sit down dinner, dancing and everything! The nice thing was we could all eat together, have some speeches and tequila shots and enjoy being there together. Then peple either left on their own accord or got wasted and had to be driven back to their rooms! When all was said and done, we finished our party at 10 pm with an impromptu cake fight and it was a forced shut down by the staff. Then we all went and partied by the bar across from coco cafe! The live music is more like the resort DJ and its not every night. Sometimes he is playing outside or in the lounge, sometimes is karaoke or nothing, depending on the weather. There is a show in the square at coco cafe every night and that sometimes runs until 10 then the DJ doesn't start until 11 when he is playing in the lounge. Yeah we went in the low season/hurricane season and we had decent weather. Things pick up again at the end of October. We had 2 days of rain with all our guests and then our last 3 days after everyone left was rainy and windy. It was nice to relax without all the running around though. We found it hard to manage seeing everyone but after a couple days i let it go. I never got to have dinner with just our parents or just the wedding party. The nice thing about doing this resort wedding stuff is that it's your vacation as much as it is theirs. So do your thing, and people may join. We started off by usually all having breakfast around the same time, not planned. Then if you were just chillin by the beach that day word got around. We usually had all 30 of us in the pool or on the beach playing volleyball and swimming by 11 AM. Then if people were going to the ruins or Playa, they went. Sometimes there was a small group and they all went together. Most people asked about what plans for dinner were and showed up at dinner in small groups. I hear about people planning an ENTIRE week of activities for their group, we didnt want to do this and it worked out great. You and everyone else understood they were welcome to join in for daily stuff/small trips but it wasn't a pressured to do it type of thing. One thing to keep in mind is that even though your flight is sold out, not everyone will be going to your resort unless its chartered flight for just your group! There were only 25 of our group on the full plane and we were the only 25 going to our resort! Regarding my post on Dukoral, if any of your guests are getting gastro issues, do not let them take pepto or immodium. They need to get the virus out of their system, not hold it in! Or get a prescription of Cipro, it will help at first signs of gastro issues! Hope you have a great wedding, good luck! Mary

We had an issue with the travel agent approach to booking for our wedding. We started looking in April of 2012 for our Sept 3 2013 wedding in Dreams Tulum. We tried going through a few different agencies but their quotes were always higher than what the airline direct was advertising as a price. We all booked through Redtag.ca or direct with Westjet on our own. Worked out to be the better choice! We love flying with Westjet even though their prices may be a bit higher, they are more comfortable to sit in than any sunwing seat! Westjet now has the first 3 rows for upgrade seats, but only available for booking 24 hours before flight on check in. They leave those rows open for people who are booking Westjet Flights, not Westjet Vacations. It's $45 a seat but you get to board first, more leg room, an extra checked bag, unlimited food and drinks including alcoholic! It's prefect for the way down if you go that way, especially for the unlimited drinks! We didn't buy those seats for the way back although we wish we had!! Just watch that when/if you book online with Redtag, you verify that the Westjet vacations choice is with the westjet vacations tour operator. Everyone who booked under redtag flew on a westjet flight, but their tour operator was fun sun which is a sunquest company. So we didn't get to all ride together on the same bus to and from the hotel. It was a long hour and a half ride with half of our group...

One addition I forgot to give everyone planning to go to this resort at any time! When we booked our wedding in Sept 2012, I got sick with e-coli. I had previously taken Dukoral but did not know it only lasted 3 months. I STRONGLY STRONGLY recommend everyone in your group takes this oral vaccine. It prevents travellers diarrhea. We advised our entire group to take it and only 1 person did not take it, and she got VERY sick. 4 days of her 7 day vacation was spent in the room. Don't let your doctor steer you wrong on the way this works. You take one dose 3 weeks before your trip, one dose 1 week before your trip. Many doctors say 2 weeks and when you get there but this does not give time for the vaccine to take effect. Trust me, if you are there for your wedding, take this and you will be FINE! Of our 5 trips to mexico and various other countries, this has been a life saver (minus the one) . Other people we spoke to had gotten sick and wished they would have taken this!

Hi everyone, Just got back from our wedding on September 3rd. Now don't get me wrong, we had a wonderful time, we visited this resort to book our wedding and were treated like gold!!! Do not expect this same service when you are the resort. We were given an expectation when we booked it a year prior to the wedding. I understand everyone has a different expectation, do not let the little things ruin your trip. Just wanted to share a few things that we noticed or had happen to us: - There is loud construction happening in the deluxe garden view room area (Hacienda) if you are being placed here, ask to be moved before you even go to the room. They are jack hammering starting at about 8 or 9 am and hammering and making other noise prior to that, as early as 7 am. They are offering "upgrades" to the main garden/fountain area but a LOT of these rooms are double beds, not kings, so if a couple gets a room with 2 doubles, do not be surprised. - Due to the low season, not all the restaurants are open on a regular basis. The world cafe is always open for breakfast and mostly lunch but barely dinner. They don't have the poolside grill (Barefoot - burgers and hotdogs) open all the time either. Between 3:30 and 6 pm (when the a la carte open) there is no where to get food other than the Coco Cafe which is just sandwiches and small desserts, room service and if you are on the beach and it's not raining, your beach server. If there is a special event happening in the Seaside Grill, they don't post that El Patio sometimes takes over the Seaside Grill menu, something to watch for! The Seaside Grill was only open 2 nights of our 12 day trip there, one of those nights it was the menu at El Patio but there was no signage. - Annabel is an awesome wedding coordinator. We spoke with Nayeli the entire time of the pre-planning but never once met her! We did all our work with Annabel at the resort. She kept us organized and calm and went over and above to make our day special! Ask for Noberto for your server at your reception! He is a super fun guy to have at your party! - The photographers at the resort are great to take the pictures within your package. If you have specific groups or photos you want, be sure to stop in and speak to your photographer in advance! They do basic photos like family, wedding party, group and then just the bride and groom, so if you want something specific, take examples or give them a list! They took over 450 photos for us and we only got 50 printed for our book. They do offer a DVD with ALL the photos on them for $500. We started to pic our 50 and got it to 261 for the first round of downsizing, they were able to give us those 261 on DVD as they were our favorite for $250 US. It was a great price for the best of the photos! They do not do Trash the Dress off the resort in cenotes, just on the resort, so for $750 (give or take) you can do it in the pool and in the ocean. - The dive shop is full of great people! If you are Scuba Divers or Snorkelers, go visit them. Will is a great Dive Master! Go snorkelling off the beach by the dive shop, lots to see and if you go out 40-50 ft the water is deeper so you can see more. Watch for the 2 large queen angel fish by the water trampoline (which acts more as a water hammock than a bouncy fun thing!) - This resort is beautiful and located in a great area with a lot to do! We ove this area of Mexico and intend to return for our anniversary! - We did Xel-ha as a group and had a blast! Booked through the Best Day Travel operator on the resort at $89 a person all in. - The travel time to and form the airport is at least 1 hour and 15 minutes. We had an entire bus to ourselves with no stops at any other resorts and it still took over an hour. - The spa is great, use it if you can and get all your guests in there too! The cabin is beautiful and perfect for a romantic massage. The salon for your hair and make up day of is excellent. There was 4 of us total and it only took 1 hour and 25 minutes. We banked on at least 2 hours but it was nice to relax and grab a bite before everything went down. Our ceremony was at 3:30 and we started at 11 in the salon. We were back to our room by 12:45. - If you book a romantic dinner on the beach, make sure to ask if any special events are taking place at Seaside. A couple of our guests walked away from dinner and got a refund due to a large convention party at the Seaside, the music was so loud and the lights were so intrusive, they had to yell over to the table to hear each other. - We were able to switch our cocktail hour and reception from the beach into the conference centre due to chance of rain. Do not have a cake fight in the convention centre if you are moved due to weather or planned it there anyways. It is super fun, but the cleaning bill is a heavy price!! Best cake fight ever! - OH, and if you plan to have a large group dinner, they make you pay for it in any of the a la carte restaurants. Only the world cafe can accommodate you and if you give them a half our advance notice, they can make you a big table or have a whole section of tables for you otherwise if you just show up they get flustered. If you have any questions, feel free to message me personally! We had a great week before the bad weather set in and things started to close down. Overall, epic wedding at a beautiful resort!

Thanks TexasMandy! Did you get to choose your 50 photos or did you have the option of purchasing more than 50? Do you think it was worth hiring the outside photographer? If you don't mind me asking, who did you use?

I have a question about the resort wedding photographer! We have the package that includes 50 photos, do they only take the 50 photos and call it a day or do they take like 200 and you can pick your 50? I would love a outside photographer however my fiancé had a friend get married at Dreams in Punta Cana and he suggested we batter with the resort photog for a trash the dress and for extra photos. Not sure if that seems fair, has anyone else got any input on this?

Hi ladies! My fiance and I are have our big day September 3rd, 2013 at the Dreams Tulum! I can't wait! We are just starting to get some idea's for details together and are astounded by the extra costs! We have the Ultimate Wedding package... and 38 guests expected. And extra $3000 just for the food/services fee/taxes for those 18 extra people! I know that I have access to a wedding coordinator on site, but looking at some information that maybe previous brides or other brides have come across. Does the Ultimate Package, or any of the packages, include a dance floor or do you just have to pay extra for it no matter what? Also, we were thinking instead of paying an extra $8.50 per person for cake with the taxes, if we just went and got 2 dozen cupcakes off resort and brought them in ourselves? Anyone know of any cupcake places or bakery's in the area? It's really too bad about the Sky Lanterns, cause even one for the bride/groom to let go would be awesome!!! Did anyone have troubles with the packages choosing dinner menu? If someone is gluten free/vegan do they have those options or if they don't want Surf and Turf how much trouble is it to order chicken? Table set up for the Reception - are they all for you going to the location and setting up the tables if you bring your own runners, decor that kind of stuff? I hope everyone is having fun planning their weddings... I know I am!!!