The Dreams Tulum Resort & Spa was overall a very nice honeymoon destination. It is all-inclusive, which can be a positive or a negative. We have experienced horrible food, drinks and service at other all-inclusive resorts, but that certainly was not the case at Dreams. The staff was so friendly and eager to please. There are seven different restaurants on the grounds, ranging from Italian to Chinese/Sushi to steakhouse. We liked the Seaside Grill and Himitsu the best. In fact, the food at Himitsu was SO good that my husband and I both ordered a second serving of the appetizer after tasting how delicious it was! I was a bit embarrassed, but they were happy to serve us whatever our hearts desired. We stayed in a Dreams Ocean Front Junior Suite and loved it. The restrooms were very nicely decorated with two sinks, separate water closet, open shower and jetted tub. The king bed wasn’t the most comfortable, which was disappointing. In the rooms they have mini fridges which can be restocked as often as you like. We called a couple of times each day requesting more Coronitas and water, which they promptly brought. The beaches are beautiful, but getting in the water can be a bit treacherous. The resort is located along a reef, and going in the water without water socks might cut up your feet or even bust your shins! Another scary part of our experience were the many topless women who frequented the beach. If you like this sort of thing, this might be the place for you. My husband and I, however, were quite offended and trekked down the beach to escape the visual atrocity! The location of the resort is very close to many adventure spots such as Xel-Ha, Hidden Worlds Cenote Park (our favorite), and the Tulum Ruins, and catching a collective on the road outside the resort is an easy and inexpensive way to get just about anywhere.

We booked a block of rooms for our guests and were given a group rate (only about twenty dollars cheaper than their regular rate). They were all pleased with their rooms. We booked all different types of rooms (king, two queens, handicapped, and suites). Everyone was pleased with the cleanliness of their rooms, as well as the amenities offered. We were told that the beds were very comfortable as well. If you know where you are going, it is quite easy to get to. It should be mentioned, however, that the hotel is hidden behind a few restaurants and other hotels and can be tricky to find for first time visitors. Other than that the location is great. It is right off the freeway and is close to many eating establishments. They do offer a hot continental breakfast in the morning (waffles, eggs, biscuits, gravy, cereal, pastries, coffee, juices, etc.), but we heard that it was extremely crowded. Because of its closeness to the ever popular outlet mall, it is normally a full hotel. It is the best in the area though, so if you are looking to put your guests in the nicest hotel available in San Marcos, Hampton is the way to go.

Pennington’s Cakes is a small bakery just of I-35 in San Marcos. They were recommended to me by a friend from college, so I decided to set up a tasting. Their website is nothing special, which was misleading for me because so many bakeries have fancy websites nowadays. My fiancé and I chose the cake, filling, and frosting flavors we wanted for our tasting and showed up ready to eat the morning of our appointment. The shop is small and crowded, but we soon learned that the taste of their cakes was in no way connected to the presentation of the bakery. We took in a picture of the cake we wanted, but if you aren’t sure what you want, they have many binders full of photographs of cakes they’ve done in the past. We went with a three tier square white cake with raspberry filling and smooth buttercream frosting. To decorate the cake we chose a sage green fondant ribbon to go at the bottom of each tier and went with fresh flowers as the cake topper (orchids and hydrangea). The prices at Pennington’s blow all other bakers out of the water. Our cake, delivery and set-up cost less than one hundred dollars! When we showed up to our reception we were so happy with how the cake turned out. It looked perfect and tasted delicious! At the end of the night we had the top layer boxed up to save for our one year anniversary. Well, to tell you how good the cake was…my husband and I woke up the next morning and decided we couldn’t wait until then, so we had half of the top layer for breakfast. We did save the other half for our anniversary, but we were tempted to eat it all.

We rented padded fruitwood folding chairs from Dripping Springs Party Rental to set up at our ceremony site. I dealt with Kimberly and found her to be extremely sweet and helpful. They offered the best prices in the area too. The morning of the wedding my fiancé and I drove to their warehouse and picked up the chairs ourselves instead of having them delivered to the site (to save money). Their business is relatively new, but they have a tremendous selection for such a new company. The chairs were in pristine condition and were even covered with cotton bags to prevent scratching. Their warehouse was very clean and organized. All we had to do was drive up to the overhead door and they were ready to load us up. They were very flexible with the drop off time the following day, which was great because we wanted to be able to sleep in. I can’t think of a single complaint.

My fiancé and I both felt that music for our ceremony was a top priority. We wanted something classic and something that blended well with the feel of the open-air chapel where our ceremony would be held. We love Pachelbel’s Canon in D and knew that we wanted that song to be played as I walked down the aisle. I stumbled on Terry Muska’s website while searching for ceremony musicians online and fell in love with his classic guitar version of Canon in D. He is so, so talented. I called to get a quote for him to play during our ceremony, and he said he would play the pre-service (twenty minutes before the ceremony as our guests arrived), the actual ceremony, and the postlude for $350. I booked him immediately! Terry was very organized. He sent us a Music Planner to map out the music for the ceremony, where he should set up, and what he should wear. We got exactly what we wanted. The music before, during and after the ceremony was perfect. He was so easy-going and kind. Everyone thought his music was the perfect complement to our ceremony.

I wanted to surprise my husband with a vintage car after our ceremony, and it seemed obvious from very early on that Antique Limousines of Austin was the company to go with. They had a handful of antique cars that were in impeccable condition and very well-priced (all of which you can see on their website). I picked the 1937 Cadillac Limousine, and I was thrilled with my selection. I paid online and gave them all the pick-up and drop-off information through e-mail. They sent me a detailed itinerary of the wedding day to confirm all the information was correct, so I didn’t have a thing to worry about. They even told me the name of our driver. After our ceremony we walked down the path to be greeted by a gleaming 1937 Cadillac and a sharply dressed driver ready to whisk us away. Our photographer and videographer were excited that we chose this car because it provided them with many good photo opportunities. The car was just as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside, and our driver couldn’t have been friendlier. He told us that Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey had used that same limo after their Austin wedding years ago. We laughed and joked that our marriage will surely outlast theirs!

Booking Pink Posh Photography was one of the most exciting aspects of my wedding. I had seen their work online and fell in love with the artsy quality their photos had. They write a blog on their website where they also post pictures of recent sessions, and I became wildly obsessed with it! Their personalities shine through in the writing they do on their blog, and you really get an idea of what fun, passionate people they are. I contacted Mariae to see what kind of photography packages she had to offer and was thrilled to find out that I could afford her! I quickly paid a deposit to book the date and she immediately sent me over a contract. She was very attentive and made sure to inquire about what types of pictures were most important to my fiancé and me. Mariae and her assistant Thurston showed up right on time on my wedding day and went right to work snapping pictures. Mariae stayed with me while I was getting ready, and Thurston took care of the chapel and the guests as they arrived. They were both so friendly, and as nervous as I was to be photographed all afternoon, it wasn’t awkward at all. They made me laugh and made sure everyone was comfortable. The pictures turned out to be just as wonderful as I had expected. The colors are beautiful, the images are candid and sweet, and they captured every special moment and more.

If you are getting married in or around Austin, I wouldn’t go with any other florist but Stacey Hogge of Petal Pushers. She was probably the friendliest and most outgoing of all the wedding vendors we worked with. She has a floral studio on her property in Dripping Springs, and will meet with you just about anywhere. We met her at a Starbucks one afternoon to discuss our floral ideas. She brought a huge album of her work, but I already had a photo of the exact bouquet I wanted. I had spent hours looking at her work on her website, so I knew that I would love whatever she did. I ended up going with a variation of the photo I had – it was made up of ivory roses, artichokes, scabiosa pods, pale green hydrangea, and china berries. When I went to pick it up the morning of my wedding, I was overjoyed! It was by far the coolest, most beautifully unique bouquet I had ever seen…and it was MINE! She also made a very cool, very simple boutonniere for my fiancé that matched my flowers perfectly. Her prices were great and she couldn’t have been more friendly.

I had to plan my wedding from another state, so finding a minister was quite a task. Many ministers are not willing to do ceremonies without first counseling the couple, which was impossible for us because we were out of state. I searched online for an independently ordained minister and found Reverend McGinley. I e-mailed him a copy of the ceremony that we wanted and he was more than willing to accommodate our wants and needs. He had done ceremonies at the chapel where we were getting married, and he only charged $200, so we were thrilled. My fiancé and I traveled to Austin one weekend to meet with different vendors and had a sit-down meeting with him to discuss our ceremony. He was extremely friendly, but seemed oddly uncomfortable. We paid the $100 deposit to save the date and decided to correspond through e-mail until the wedding date. He was very attentive and sent me reminders to get our marriage license, which I appreciated. About two weeks before the wedding I sent a final copy of the ceremony that my fiancé and I had chosen and Reverend McGinley responded that he had received it and read over it entirely. On the wedding day he showed up plenty early and even gave my mother a copy of our ceremony on beautiful paper. He signed our marriage license and agreed to mail it for us (we did provide him with the addressed and pre-paid envelope). The actual ceremony did not go at all like we had hoped. Reverend McGinley delivered the words as if he had never seen them before. To make matters worse, he left out the “Hands Ceremony,” which was the part my fiancé and I were most looking forward to. At that point there was nothing we could do but smile, so smile we did. I didn’t want to make him feel bad, so I just let it go without addressing our disappointment. I did double check the numerous e-mails we had sent back and forth to make sure the “Hands Ceremony” hadn’t been left out on my part, and it was there in every single e-mail. We’re still a bit confused as to how that happened. Overall he was very friendly, but his delivery of the ceremony was not good at all.

My mother-in-law happened to run across Chapel Dulcinea while surfing the Internet one evening, and I cannot express how glad I am that she did! The chapel was built by an academy for writers in the spirit of Dulcinea, the true love and feminine ideal of Don Quixote (the beloved main character of Miguel de Cervantes’ novel). To honor all lovers getting married there, Chapel Dulcinea is completely FREE! Yes, free. They require a $100 deposit to hold the date and time, but will return the money when you arrive for your ceremony. You may also donate the money to the chapel (as I did) in gratitude of this lovely location. Although there is meaning behind each architectural design of the chapel (which you can read about in the books they sell in the Welcome Center), all I can really say is how spectacular it is. It was built on a cliff overlooking the pristine Texas Hill Country, and yet it blends beautifully with the landscape. It is a very small chapel, however, and will only work for very small ceremonies. If you choose to have your ceremony at night, the chapel is illuminated by gas lamps. There is also a century-old bronze bell inside the bell tower at the front of the chapel which brides and grooms can ring after saying their vows. The sound resonates through the valley and is so very romantic (not to mention a great photo opportunity). There is a bridal changing room at the Welcome Center that has a sink, several mirrors, outlets, toilet, and anything else you might need while getting ready. The people at the location are so easy to work with and will help you with absolutely anything. One last thing – they sell wine with a picture and the story of Chapel Dulcinea printed on the label which makes a great wedding favor for your guests. If you live in or around Austin, this place is perfect for small ceremonies. You won’t regret your decision to get married here!