Dreams Cancun - Questions for those married here!

[Rachel&Chris2011]

Did Cecilia charge you extra to party till 1? Also can you give me the make up contact info and who did your hair? Thanks again for the help!

Originally Posted by chipotle99 

Rachel, yes, it's the ballroom!  I had wanted the ballroom because I wanted to party till 1 in the morning...and this wasn't allowed anywhere else.  11pm is too early for my crew.  And in the end, the ballroom was perfect because it started to rain, about 30mins after my ceremony!  So here's my review little by little, or else it'll never get done!

 

Overall:  Dreams was the perfect place!  My family had a blast, I had 85 total guests, including 9 kids under 12 years old.  The Seaside Grill had the best steak we had EVER tasted, I mean, better than Ruth & Chris', def high quality.  The service was phenomenal, which I thought was the norm in Mexico, but turns out it's only Dreams! On honeymoon, we went to Tulum and then to Excellence Riviera Maya, which was 5 star all inclusive.  We felt the restaurants were better at Dreams hands down!  We heard so much about breakfast at Excellence, and when we got there, all we could think about was how much we missed Dreams and world cafe.  Oceana was fabulous too and a family favorite.  I also loved Himitsu, though don't go in there expecting authentic sushi...it's def the mexican version.  Delicous nonetheless.  It was laid back and the beach was by far the best we saw!  We went to Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Riviera Maya.  None had a nicer beach than Dreams!  Only Tulum came close, near the ruins, but still not so much a wading type of beach, more like a ride the waves beach there.

 

Wedding coordinator:  I had Cecilia, who happened to do my wedding on her birthday!  She was FANTASTIC!!!! I mean, I cannot rave enough!  She was dealing with all 85 guests, my demanding parents, and trying to organize our large wedding party along with many vendors.  She pulled through in every way.  She kept checking in on me and I saw her behind the scenes the whole day making sure everything ran smoothly.  She did an A+++++++++ job all the way.

 

Wedding vendor: I had Julieta wedding florist, who I raved about in the past for her amazing prices and great communication skills.  Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that you get what you paid for.  Had I been a little more uptight about things, she would have ruined my wedding!  She failed on EVERY front.  I had paid her to decorate the gazebo, FAIL. Her sorry job looked like crap, it would have looked better with nothing at all. Paid for a 12 piece mariachi. FAIL.  Only 8 showed up and played for 2hrs instead of the contracted 3hrs.  Paid for the ballroom to be decorated.  She showed me professional pictures of ballrooms she had done.  All lies, I do not believe for one second any of those photos were hers!  She charged me $400 for lighting that she never put up, $800 for draping that she never put up, and $400 for a white shiny dancefloor.  This was the absolute worse!  She put up these blocks of white painted unfinished wood with raw sharp edges, in a long skinny formation that looked like a landing strip!  It was so horrible that I would have rather kept the rug, but by the time I saw it, the guests were already seated!  I'll post pictures soon, but it was sooooo horrible. Had this happened here in the USA, I would have sued her for lying and straight out robbery and deception. On top of everything, after the wedding, she "lost" her cellphone and "went out of town" so she could never communicate with me regarding what she had done. Anyway, I wish I could delete previous messages where I recommended her.  Good communication definitely does not mean good work in the end.  I should have paid Dreams' high prices, everything they did for me was quality work in the end.  Here's a pic of the horrid dancefloor:

 

Bouquet: By Dreams.  Better than anything I could have imagined! I was really vague and asked for a "colorful bouquet with calla lilies".  Cecilia pulled through and gave me this gorgeous bouquet with calla lilies and fuschia and blue flowers, my wedding colors!  It was so amazing!  Same for the boutonnieres and corsages, all fantastic!  We also got the sweetheart table centerpiece included in the package, here's a pic:

 

Ceremony:  We were running late because my makeup got there late, and I really wanted to do the first look on the pier.  We ran back from that and the ceremony started 1hr later than we had stated!  It was fine because our guests were hanging out in the terrace with drinks and taking pics.  We had mariachi live for music, and it was great!  We had the sound system and my brother officiated.  We wrote our own thing since it was symbolic.  It was perfect (see pics on my prev post) and lasted about 30mins.  After that, everyone just went to the terrace and had drinks, and the Tower provided free evening snacks every night so we didn't even pay for cocktail hour.  With 85 guests, it would have cost me another $2k to do cocktail so we skipped it and I'm glad we did!  We all got free drinks and food anyway and people thought that it was a real cocktail hour! lol.  Here's a pic of our place cards, custom made shot glasses!

 

Reception:  We had the mariachi lead the wedding party into the reception hall, it was quite a scene, everyone loved this detail.  I had given Cecilia a million details to do: chair sashes, napkins, table numbers, seating charts, guestbook table with framed pics.  It was a ton of work and she pulled through with everything! Even put our seating chart on this really nice stand.  The ballroom was pretty bare and not the prettiest place, but we had a blast and partied until we got kicked out at 2am!  There was 1 waiter per table, and they were great, they even danced with us!  They kept coming around the dancefloor with trays of shots which kept the party going, and our guests kept choo-choo training around in a conga line, at one point there were 60+ people in a conga line and 2 waiters were shooting shots into the mouths of each person in the conga line! (there's a pic of this on my photog's website).  It was great!

 

 

 

 

[Rachel&Chris2011]

Sorry forgot my last question .... Did you have buffet style? I want to have a sit down dinner for 50 guests.
 

Originally Posted by Rachel&Chris2011 

Did Cecilia charge you extra to party till 1? Also can you give me the make up contact info and who did your hair? Thanks again for the help!

Quote:

Originally Posted by chipotle99 

Rachel, yes, it's the ballroom!  I had wanted the ballroom because I wanted to party till 1 in the morning...and this wasn't allowed anywhere else.  11pm is too early for my crew.  And in the end, the ballroom was perfect because it started to rain, about 30mins after my ceremony!  So here's my review little by little, or else it'll never get done!

 

Overall:  Dreams was the perfect place!  My family had a blast, I had 85 total guests, including 9 kids under 12 years old.  The Seaside Grill had the best steak we had EVER tasted, I mean, better than Ruth & Chris', def high quality.  The service was phenomenal, which I thought was the norm in Mexico, but turns out it's only Dreams! On honeymoon, we went to Tulum and then to Excellence Riviera Maya, which was 5 star all inclusive.  We felt the restaurants were better at Dreams hands down!  We heard so much about breakfast at Excellence, and when we got there, all we could think about was how much we missed Dreams and world cafe.  Oceana was fabulous too and a family favorite.  I also loved Himitsu, though don't go in there expecting authentic sushi...it's def the mexican version.  Delicous nonetheless.  It was laid back and the beach was by far the best we saw!  We went to Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Riviera Maya.  None had a nicer beach than Dreams!  Only Tulum came close, near the ruins, but still not so much a wading type of beach, more like a ride the waves beach there.

 

Wedding coordinator:  I had Cecilia, who happened to do my wedding on her birthday!  She was FANTASTIC!!!! I mean, I cannot rave enough!  She was dealing with all 85 guests, my demanding parents, and trying to organize our large wedding party along with many vendors.  She pulled through in every way.  She kept checking in on me and I saw her behind the scenes the whole day making sure everything ran smoothly.  She did an A+++++++++ job all the way.

 

Wedding vendor: I had Julieta wedding florist, who I raved about in the past for her amazing prices and great communication skills.  Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that you get what you paid for.  Had I been a little more uptight about things, she would have ruined my wedding!  She failed on EVERY front.  I had paid her to decorate the gazebo, FAIL. Her sorry job looked like crap, it would have looked better with nothing at all. Paid for a 12 piece mariachi. FAIL.  Only 8 showed up and played for 2hrs instead of the contracted 3hrs.  Paid for the ballroom to be decorated.  She showed me professional pictures of ballrooms she had done.  All lies, I do not believe for one second any of those photos were hers!  She charged me $400 for lighting that she never put up, $800 for draping that she never put up, and $400 for a white shiny dancefloor.  This was the absolute worse!  She put up these blocks of white painted unfinished wood with raw sharp edges, in a long skinny formation that looked like a landing strip!  It was so horrible that I would have rather kept the rug, but by the time I saw it, the guests were already seated!  I'll post pictures soon, but it was sooooo horrible. Had this happened here in the USA, I would have sued her for lying and straight out robbery and deception. On top of everything, after the wedding, she "lost" her cellphone and "went out of town" so she could never communicate with me regarding what she had done. Anyway, I wish I could delete previous messages where I recommended her.  Good communication definitely does not mean good work in the end.  I should have paid Dreams' high prices, everything they did for me was quality work in the end.  Here's a pic of the horrid dancefloor:

 

Bouquet: By Dreams.  Better than anything I could have imagined! I was really vague and asked for a "colorful bouquet with calla lilies".  Cecilia pulled through and gave me this gorgeous bouquet with calla lilies and fuschia and blue flowers, my wedding colors!  It was so amazing!  Same for the boutonnieres and corsages, all fantastic!  We also got the sweetheart table centerpiece included in the package, here's a pic:

 

Ceremony:  We were running late because my makeup got there late, and I really wanted to do the first look on the pier.  We ran back from that and the ceremony started 1hr later than we had stated!  It was fine because our guests were hanging out in the terrace with drinks and taking pics.  We had mariachi live for music, and it was great!  We had the sound system and my brother officiated.  We wrote our own thing since it was symbolic.  It was perfect (see pics on my prev post) and lasted about 30mins.  After that, everyone just went to the terrace and had drinks, and the Tower provided free evening snacks every night so we didn't even pay for cocktail hour.  With 85 guests, it would have cost me another $2k to do cocktail so we skipped it and I'm glad we did!  We all got free drinks and food anyway and people thought that it was a real cocktail hour! lol.  Here's a pic of our place cards, custom made shot glasses!

 

Reception:  We had the mariachi lead the wedding party into the reception hall, it was quite a scene, everyone loved this detail.  I had given Cecilia a million details to do: chair sashes, napkins, table numbers, seating charts, guestbook table with framed pics.  It was a ton of work and she pulled through with everything! Even put our seating chart on this really nice stand.  The ballroom was pretty bare and not the prettiest place, but we had a blast and partied until we got kicked out at 2am!  There was 1 waiter per table, and they were great, they even danced with us!  They kept coming around the dancefloor with trays of shots which kept the party going, and our guests kept choo-choo training around in a conga line, at one point there were 60+ people in a conga line and 2 waiters were shooting shots into the mouths of each person in the conga line! (there's a pic of this on my photog's website).  It was great!

 

 

 

 

 

[chipotle99]

Hey Rachel, here are the answers:

 

1.  Duration reception:  We have a LOT of dancers in my group, and 3hrs even wasn't enough.  In the end, my reception was 6-1 (7hrs) and it did NOT feel like enough! Nobody wanted to leave, and they kept dancing WITHOUT music and with the lights on, until 2am when they officially kicked us out.  We then moved to the jacuzzi and didn't hit our bed until 5am.  It FLEW by, I didn't have a chance to dance with everyone I wanted, and it was satisfying but still not long enough.

     That being said, I paid $$$.  Initially I did not want to spend, I have no money to spend.  Once I was there, it kind of just clicked that this was once in my life, and I was in Cancun with family and friends from all over the world that I hadn't seen in years (Guatemala, New Zealand, Ireland, UK, US, Mexico, etc).  So maybe it was a unique situation to me, but I suddenly didn't care about going into debt for a few more months in turn for the best party ever.  So I paid up.  You are forced to either pay for open bar, which includes the space and waiters, for $15 per person, plus tax and tip (comes out to ~$17 per person).  Or, you can rent the space, for the ballroom that's $500 an hour and includes the space, and waiters.  It seemed fair per USA prices which all resorts happen to have.  For my $85 guests, that came out to $1200 per hour or so for open bar, which I paid 2 hrs of, then the rest I just paid for the space.  Note that all you get is water if that's the case, they take all plates and juices, etc.  In the end, I spent about $9,000 with Dreams.  Not including my DJ and live band which were separate, and cake which was also separate.  In retrospect, this was the best money I ever spent.

     Also keep in mind, the only place you're allowed to go past 11pm is the ballroom.

 

2.  The rules say only buffet after 40 guests, but Cecilia hooked me up with sit down for 85 guests!  I think it was more formal this way and guests loved the food.  Everyone posted facebook pics of their dishes, it was great.

 

Think that was all that was asked of me.  I love this forum and it helped me out so much, please feel free to gimme all your Q's, I had a ton before my wedding too! 

[Rachel&Chris2011]

Thank you so very much! We plan on having the reception at the ballroom as well and extending the time till 1 am. I guess we will pay for the open bar for th 50 people coming for a couple of extra hours. Which DJ did you use? We got a DJ as well as fire starter/drum dancers for 30 minutes and maybe going to add another performer. I am flying in a photographer from home that we have used since we were kids. I'm not so worried about the money because in NY this would cost us a lot more, however I just want to make sure that this is possible. What did you do for centerpieces? I sent Cecilia pictures of the centerpieces I want and the florist she uses priced us at 150 per centerpiece.. which isnt too bad. I am comfortable using everyone that cecilia suggests because i know they will use the best, being that they do weddings there everyday she knows who to use and who not to use.. atleast i hope.. haha.. If you get a chance and dont mind can you email me some more pics of your day.. [email protected] 

 

Thanks again for all the info!! 
 

Originally Posted by chipotle99 

Hey Rachel, here are the answers:

 

1.  Duration reception:  We have a LOT of dancers in my group, and 3hrs even wasn't enough.  In the end, my reception was 6-1 (7hrs) and it did NOT feel like enough! Nobody wanted to leave, and they kept dancing WITHOUT music and with the lights on, until 2am when they officially kicked us out.  We then moved to the jacuzzi and didn't hit our bed until 5am.  It FLEW by, I didn't have a chance to dance with everyone I wanted, and it was satisfying but still not long enough.

     That being said, I paid $$$.  Initially I did not want to spend, I have no money to spend.  Once I was there, it kind of just clicked that this was once in my life, and I was in Cancun with family and friends from all over the world that I hadn't seen in years (Guatemala, New Zealand, Ireland, UK, US, Mexico, etc).  So maybe it was a unique situation to me, but I suddenly didn't care about going into debt for a few more months in turn for the best party ever.  So I paid up.  You are forced to either pay for open bar, which includes the space and waiters, for $15 per person, plus tax and tip (comes out to ~$17 per person).  Or, you can rent the space, for the ballroom that's $500 an hour and includes the space, and waiters.  It seemed fair per USA prices which all resorts happen to have.  For my $85 guests, that came out to $1200 per hour or so for open bar, which I paid 2 hrs of, then the rest I just paid for the space.  Note that all you get is water if that's the case, they take all plates and juices, etc.  In the end, I spent about $9,000 with Dreams.  Not including my DJ and live band which were separate, and cake which was also separate.  In retrospect, this was the best money I ever spent.

     Also keep in mind, the only place you're allowed to go past 11pm is the ballroom.

 

2.  The rules say only buffet after 40 guests, but Cecilia hooked me up with sit down for 85 guests!  I think it was more formal this way and guests loved the food.  Everyone posted facebook pics of their dishes, it was great.

 

Think that was all that was asked of me.  I love this forum and it helped me out so much, please feel free to gimme all your Q's, I had a ton before my wedding too! 

[peterpanpixiedust]

I need some help!  I thought I asked this before, but the search turned up nothing.   What straightener did you ladies bring with you to Dreams?  I went on my site visit last year, and my CHI did not work at Dreams.  It did, however, work at my fiance's family's timeshare resort, The Royal Sands, just 5 mins down the hotel zone.  I am looking for a professional grade straightener that will work (not Conair or Hot tools).  I don't know why the CHI would work at one place in Cancun, but not another.  And I don't think it's Dreams wiring, because my hair dryer worked at Dreams.  I don't want to rely on a converter, because I have heard that they don't work well with flat irons.  So, just asking if any of your flat irons worked down there.

[rudebaga]

Hello Ladies,

 

I posted a couple questions a few weeks back, but never got any responses, so I'm trying again...

 

Wondering when you guys started hearing back from your WC to start putting together your wedding package.  Our wedding is 7 weeks from yesterday.  Our date was set and our contract drawn up for the Ultimate Pkg back in March/April...will I be hearing from them soon about flower selections, booking the photographer (want to make sure I get Juan Navarro! His pics look amazing!), appointing an officiant, etc...???

 

Also, I had read a while back on the Dreams website that they were working on providing a web address that friends/family that couldn't make it to Mexico to attend your wedding could go to to watch a live feed of the wedding online.  Anyone know if this is true or has been able to utilize this for your wedding?

 

Thanks ladies!

Debbie 

[wilsoml2]

My CHI worked fine at Dreams. I've been in their standard rooms and in the tower. Didn't really matter since it was always so humid when I was there that my hair immediately frizzed when I stepped outside. I hope you can figure something out, I can't go anywhere without my straightener!
 

Originally Posted by peterpanpixiedust 

I need some help!  I thought I asked this before, but the search turned up nothing.   What straightener did you ladies bring with you to Dreams?  I went on my site visit last year, and my CHI did not work at Dreams.  It did, however, work at my fiance's family's timeshare resort, The Royal Sands, just 5 mins down the hotel zone.  I am looking for a professional grade straightener that will work (not Conair or Hot tools).  I don't know why the CHI would work at one place in Cancun, but not another.  And I don't think it's Dreams wiring, because my hair dryer worked at Dreams.  I don't want to rely on a converter, because I have heard that they don't work well with flat irons.  So, just asking if any of your flat irons worked down there.

[wilsoml2]

If you want anything specific, you have to email the WCs with your requests. Otherwise, I don't think they'll contact you until you arrive at the resort and set up a meeting with them a few days before the wedding. At least that was my experience. For instance, if you want Juan Navarro I'd definitely ask for him. We did not specifically ask for him ahead of time and got some of his assistants since he was out of town. They were still amazing (he runs a good business) but some brides may have been put off a bit. Apparently he has like 5 photographers working under him.

 

As for the video thing, I don't think it was up and running at the time I was there (July 2010). I could be wrong though since we didn't use it. I think I remember another bride saying that somewhere. Hope that helps! 7 weeks will go by fast, good luck and congrats!

 

Originally Posted by rudebaga 

Hello Ladies,

 

I posted a couple questions a few weeks back, but never got any responses, so I'm trying again...

 

Wondering when you guys started hearing back from your WC to start putting together your wedding package.  Our wedding is 7 weeks from yesterday.  Our date was set and our contract drawn up for the Ultimate Pkg back in March/April...will I be hearing from them soon about flower selections, booking the photographer (want to make sure I get Juan Navarro! His pics look amazing!), appointing an officiant, etc...???

 

Also, I had read a while back on the Dreams website that they were working on providing a web address that friends/family that couldn't make it to Mexico to attend your wedding could go to to watch a live feed of the wedding online.  Anyone know if this is true or has been able to utilize this for your wedding?

 

Thanks ladies!

Debbie 

[jana297]

You can also email Juan direct to see if Dreams has booked your weddinfg with him or his associates. He gets back to you immediately.

 

Juan Navarro [[email protected]]

 

I hope this helps. Also I would call the resort. They are slow with emails. When you call don't let them just transfer you to voicemail ask someone to go get your WC. I would call in early afternoon for her.

 

[rudebaga]

Thanks Ladies, and thank you Jana...I will contact Juan directly!