Dreams Cancun - Questions for those married here!

[knorris27]

hello everyone,

i am new to this site... i am getting married at the dreams in cancun on jan. 5th, 2007.. just wondering if anyone has any tips!!!!

[Michelle&Steve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by knorris27 hello everyone, i am new to this site... i am getting married at the dreams in cancun on jan. 5th, 2007.. just wondering if anyone has any tips!!!!

'08?? thats really soon!! congradulations!! and good luck with planning.. there is a looot of good info in this thread.. so read through it if you have time... and let the girls know what you need help with.. they are greeeeat with that...

have you decided where your doing your reception and ceremony?

[knorris27]

everything seems to be in order.. i really wish i would have found this website when i started the planning! i have been going into everything blind. now its just down to choosing the food, what i want in my welcome bags, etc. we are having almost 100 people, so it is alot to accomodate!!!

i read through most of the info, and emailed some of the other girls my personal questions. thanks for all of your help in advance!!

~katy

[aaguedaa]

Ok so this is what happened to me I just want to share...

I've been talking to Daniella for about two weeks now and i already had the date for my wedding separated and everything, so the next step was to fill the questionnaire so I could get a quote ... and bam!! Daniella tells me that one of the main requirements for me to have my wedding there is to have me and my husband and al least 80% of the wedding guests staying at the hotel!!!! what?! I have 200 people for my wedding! I can't make them stay on that specific hotel, more so if they're paying for it!! is not like we're only 30 people!; as if she wasn't rude enough the three times I talked to her on the phone...

Anyway, I'm trying to talk to Claudia now and see if they can change that rule, so my guest can stay at any hotel they choose; because I have already booked 30 rooms on a different All inclusive hotel for them to stay at, at a very reasonable price if I may say.

I'm just very dissapointed that no one mentioned this requirement before, so instead of wasting my time talking to a very rude person and waiting ages for her to reply to my questions, I could have just started planning somewhere else.

I just read everything you guys have to say about your wedding at Dreams and everything sounds so lovely I wish I could have a nice wedding too, but we'll see how everything goes... wish me luck!

[*JillD*]

Do you realize that you're going to have to pay a day pass fee for anyone that doesn't stay at the resort?

 

For us, we wanted everyone to stay at the same hotel, that was part of the whole fun of having a destination wedding. We sent a letter out, told everyone where it was and who to contact for reservations and no one ever even questioned staying at a different resort.

 

If you wanted to try to get everyone to stay at dreams you could politely mention on your website or in a newsletter that if they stay elsewhere they will be responsible for the day pass fee.

 

I can understand why the resort would do this. To be honest, if I were a guest staying there I would be kind of annoyed if 200 people suddenly showed up for a wedding at the resort and were taking up the time of the bartenders and staff, when those of us that were paying to stay there should still be getting good service. I'm not trying to sound unsympathetic, but I can see why this is a policy.

[aaguedaa]

Hey thnx for answering! and I think you have a point, but the way I see it is even if we were staying at the hotel the bar tenders and else would have to cover my wedding because we're paying them to do so, and Im pretty sure they have extra staff for weddings anyway. Also the people we're inviting come from several places arround the world and for some of them Cancun can be a very expensive vacation, I obviously want to get the best deal for them without compromising my perfect wedding; I will definately mention Dreams so they can have the option to stay there if they want to, but the thing is that I can't make them stay there so I can't assure 80% of them will be staying there.

I asked Dreams if they could give me a better rate because of the amount of people I'm having and they told me to try and get something through travelocity or expedia wich doesn't assure everyone is gonna get a good deal; while in most of the other hotels do.

I do see that paying the day pass is kinda stupid, but all im asking is not having to assure 80% of them will stay there because I don't know.

Am I making a big deal out of nothing??

[PaulaV]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaguedaa Hey thnx for answering! and I think you have a point, but the way I see it is even if we were staying at the hotel the bar tenders and else would have to cover my wedding because we're paying them to do so, and Im pretty sure they have extra staff for weddings anyway. Also the people we're inviting come from several places arround the world and for some of them Cancun can be a very expensive vacation, I obviously want to get the best deal for them without compromising my perfect wedding; I will definately mention Dreams so they can have the option to stay there if they want to, but the thing is that I can't make them stay there so I can't assure 80% of them will be staying there. I asked Dreams if they could give me a better rate because of the amount of people I'm having and they told me to try and get something through travelocity or expedia wich doesn't assure everyone is gonna get a good deal; while in most of the other hotels do. I do see that paying the day pass is kinda stupid, but all im asking is not having to assure 80% of them will stay there because I don't know. Am I making a big deal out of nothing??

Have you tried using a travel agent?
I think most of my guests are staying at Dreams, but we have a much smaller wedding.
I didn't know of this rule, but my TA (Tammy) dealt with them for us.

[*JillD*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaguedaa Hey thnx for answering! and I think you have a point, but the way I see it is even if we were staying at the hotel the bar tenders and else would have to cover my wedding because we're paying them to do so, and Im pretty sure they have extra staff for weddings anyway. Also the people we're inviting come from several places arround the world and for some of them Cancun can be a very expensive vacation, I obviously want to get the best deal for them without compromising my perfect wedding; I will definately mention Dreams so they can have the option to stay there if they want to, but the thing is that I can't make them stay there so I can't assure 80% of them will be staying there. I asked Dreams if they could give me a better rate because of the amount of people I'm having and they told me to try and get something through travelocity or expedia wich doesn't assure everyone is gonna get a good deal; while in most of the other hotels do. I do see that paying the day pass is kinda stupid, but all im asking is not having to assure 80% of them will stay there because I don't know. Am I making a big deal out of nothing??

If you're having that many people you should go through a TA so that they can get you a group rate. They can also try to steer people in the right direction (getting them to stay at dreams)

[*JillD*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TiffJT I never heard the about the 80% rule either, saw it posted in the website, and it doesn't appear on the contract I have, so I don't see how they can enforce it. I saw where you'd have to buy a day pass for guests not staying at the resort and on the contract it looks like it may cost more per plate if your guests don't stay at Dreams because it quotes a price per plate and says something about for "guests of Dreams". The only requirement I remember seeing was having to stay 7 nights at Dreams, which we got around by staying 5 at Dreams and then honeymooning 5 nights at Secrets Capri which is owned by the same company. My TA negotiated that, as Claudia was very insistant we had to have 7 days at Dreams at first, so I would definately find a good TA because Claudia seems to listen to what TAs say much more than brides.

I never heard of a rule about staying 7 nights at dreams. I know that to get the "free" wedding package you have to book 7 nights in the jr. jacuzzi suites, but we only stayed at dreams for 5 nights and then we went to El Dorado which is a totally different line of hotels. we never had any issues with this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TiffJT I finally found out who the "mystery photographer" at Dreams is. Claudia said his name is Juan Navarro and a bride who used him gave me his website http://www.juanphotos.com. The bride also said the videographer's website was Video and Photo Services in Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Mayan Riviera. He is Miguel Angel Cantarell - which would be Claudia Rodriguez's husband, so I'm really hoping that Dreams is still using him in June! I'm using Cecilia Dumas for pics, but Claudia refused to give me a credit like the girls using Claudia Rodriguez's team because she "doesn't know" Ceclia. I was pretty annoyed about that, but I guess I'll just have Juan take family photos for the guests which will be nice for them.

Miguel did our video and it came out FANTASTIC!!! I expected just raw footage and it was SOOOO much better I was so happy I got it.

[knorris27]

i understand your frustrations. that is one of the difficult parts of getting married out of town. we have 92 guests coming and all are staying at the dreams. we didnt really give anyone another option. i was a little nervous to do this at first but then i decided oh well. if people can make it, they will be there, if not, there isnt really anything you can do about that.

having them stay at another resort would also be hard because then you couldnt all see eachother during your whole trip.

hope you figure everything out.

katy